#have amuro come up with the idea at the same time char comes up with the idea. have char have two other actual friends

[recentanimenews]

FEATURE: Why You Never Get Sick of Seeing Char Aznable Ruin Garma’s Life

  Today marks infamous Gundam villain and completely-innocent-man Char Aznable's birthday. What better way to celebrate than showcasing the Red Comet's love for good-natured betrayal? While Char might currently hold the title of anime’s most prolific back-stabbers, one classic case of betrayal continues to stay fresh in fans 'minds: the tragic tale of Garma Zabi. It's time to take a trip down memory lane.

  Even Pretty Hair Won't Save You From Sweet, Sweet Revenge

  During Mobile Suit Gundam’s original broadcast, little was known of Char or his backstory. Char’s initial appeal was undoubtedly his indisputable combination of fearlessness and mystery. Unlike all the other Zeon goons, Char wore a mask for undisclosed reasons, further adding to his allure. Besides a chance encounter with Sayla in Episode 2, everything and everyone about Char and his relations was totally up for interpretation. Until Gundam’s fifth episode aired on May 5th, 1979. Suddenly, Char had a friend and ally. His name was Garma, and he had nothing to blame except the misfortune of his birth.

  Char and Garma return to a hero's welcome

  “Re-Entry to Earth” begins a series of events that both lead to Gundam’s first major arc involving Char requesting the Zabi family's aid, Zeon’s most powerful asset. Up to this point, everything had been a game of cat and mouse between Char and White Base — an obvious fight between good and “evil.” However, the introduction of Garma signals the series pivoting from one-and-done episodic conflicts. Garma is not just a bad guy, but a bad guy with an implied backstory related to Char! And yet, something seems off. Char isn’t just playing dirty against obvious good guys or lasers now. He’s playing the political game.

  After several failed attempts to capture White Base, Char offers Garma a chance to claim Amuro’s Gundam for himself under a strategic guise. Garma naturally takes the bait, depicted as selfish and vain in ways Char’s charisma can control. While both are hungry for clout and power, Char ultimately emerges the victor by guiding Garma’s forces directly into White Base’s line of fire. Garma crashes to his death in a fiery blaze, only barely putting together the pieces when it’s too late. This is when Char reveals his true intent: to destroy the Zabi family from the inside out. This classic betrayal isn’t just about Garma, but as Char announcing himself as a whole new class of anime villain with unprecedented nuance.

  Innovating the meaning of "friendly fire" since 1979

  Variations on a Theme

  While Garma’s death sets off a chain of increasingly escalating events in Mobile Suit Gundam’s Universal Century timeline, this is specifically an early series watershed. And, of course, it’s also a huge meme. Theatrical screenings of 2016’s Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky film included a short animated PSA depicting Char and Garma on their cellphones reminding guests to mind theater etiquette. The two tease each other with catchphrases from Mobile Suit Gundam’s tenth episode, “Garma’s Fate.” The phrase “Hattana, Char!” or “you betrayed me, Char!” has become relentlessly parodied in everything from merchandise and boxed cookies to official parody manga like Mobile Suit Gundam-san. Garma’s classic quote has now become shorthand for Char (or anyone else) unexpectedly screwing someone over.

  Local man ruins everything (Source: Gundam 0079: The War for Earth, Screenshots taken by Blake Planty)

  Perhaps the strangest depiction of Garma’s betrayal is the 1996 FMV game Gundam 0079: The War for Earth. While exclusively released in Japan, this title used American actors and roughly adapted the first ten episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam. The title included many English-language firsts for this franchise entry specifically — including a delightfully hammy rendition of Garma’s famous last words: “Char, you craven traitor!” whereas the Japanese-dub preserves the classic line. Other versions of Garma’s final blazing moments of glory include the long-running strategy game series Gihren’s Greed. The 1998 title and its sequels depict a more mature Garma attempting to pacify Zeon if the player manages to have him survive Char’s sabotage. The 2001 Playstation 2 game Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo provides one of the first accurate depictions of Garma dubbed in English, this time translating the famous line as: "Char, this time you double-crossed me!" While these variations on canon never change the essential arc of Char’s first major betrayal, they nonetheless suggest a long-lasting fascination with a one-note character. With each revisit to classic Gundam, inevitably something new is always added.

  Garma after Char gives him the bad news (Source: Mobile Suit Gundam: Journey to Jaburo, screenshot by Blake Planty)

  Getting Back to Basics

  Garma’s popularity could possibly be attributed to how unexpected Char’s betrayal was at the time, especially for a pioneering series like Gundam. Garma’s always been a plot device, albeit one that got a surprising amount of development (five whole episodes!) before his demise. It wasn’t until classic Gundam character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko began serializing Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin in 2001 that Garma finally got his narrative due. In this adaptation of the original series, a new arc was added about Char's previously mentioned academy days. Unlike the previous iterations of Char’s epic betrayal, this re-telling serves double-duty in developing Garma and Char’s shared megalomaniac tendencies. Char encourages a notably docile Garma to start a student uprising and in the process, plants all the right manipulative seeds to make his master plan work years later. It’s mind games all the way down.

  Garma speaks to Char after the Battle of Loum

  In an interview regarding his performance as Garma in The Origin’s OVA adaptation, voice actor Tetsuya Kakihara commented, “If I ended up portraying Garma as that epitome of a ‘spoiled kid,’ he'd end up a truly saccharine character.” Kakihara added that, had he played Garma without “a bit of mischievousness” Garma wouldn’t believably buy into Char’s plans nor “come together” as a character with a strong sense of pride. The Origin’s depiction of Garma would have to match up to Shuichi Ikeda’s reprising his original role as Char with the audience very well knowing how it all ends. In other words — portraying Garma as two-dimensional and vain as he was in 1979 simply won't do when everyone knows the beats. The Origin isn't exactly coy about this, either. After Garma happily introduces himself to Char as his new roommate, the scene immediately cuts to an explosion on a battlefield as Char laughs. Best. Friends. Forever.

  Mood 

  Mobile Suit Gundam is a story that never gets old. No matter how many times it’s told, it’s always exciting to see how classic material gets reimagined over the years. While Garma’s betrayal might’ve been shocking the first time, it’s now just another part of the ebb and flow of Gundam lore. Yet, there’s excitement every time you know it’s coming — the same way audiences still anticipate Darth Vader telling Luke he’s his father. When "the moment" happens, it's all the sweeter for being the culmination of something bigger than itself. It’s not just a win for Char, but a win for Gundam’s talent for making nearly 41 years of twists feel as fresh as ever.

  Who are your favorite Gundam besties? Let us know in the comments below!

      Blake P. is a weekly columnist for Crunchyroll Features. How come Casval and Char are never in the same room together? His twitter is @_dispossessed. His bylines include Fanbyte, VRV, Unwinnable, and more.

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[g-29astarothtrinity]

RX-78-2 Gundam

OOB Showcase - Click photos for Higher Resolution

Real Grade 1/144

Mobile Suit Gundam 0079, Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin, Gundam v Hello Kitty, Ready Player One

The original Gundam, and arguably the progenitor to everything that followed. It’s the all-time poster-boy for the franchise, and the go to for crossover Gundam appearances into other media such as the most recent Gundam v Hello Kitty event celebrating the respective anniversaries, and the movie Ready Player One which lightly reintroduced Gundam to audiences outside of Japan. I haven’t held an RX-78-2 Gundam since when they were selling Mobile Suit in Action figures at Target during the ‘90s. It was the first Gundam figure I ever had as a kid, during a time when Gundam Wing was all the rage, and despite never having watched the classic original anime in full (really wish Bandai would post it to Youtube under Gundaminfo, or at least license it to be streamed). I tended to lose things easily as a kid, so I have no idea what happened to all the Gundam figures I had back then. As such, there’s much nostalgia in this kit for me personally. However, I will be sharing my thoughts on this kit as objectively as possible.

As with most real grades, this kit looks absolutely fantastic out of the box. There’s great detailing and panel lining, albeit some of the panel lines are just a tad too shallow, requiring one of two more passes with a panel lining pen. Color variation is also very pleasing, with two tones of white, blue, and red with touches of a light beige among the white panels. While I wasn’t too big of a fan of the lighter blue, I’ve come to enjoy how it breaks up the torso design. All this carries over to the weapons and equipment as well. I especially appreciate the decision to go with a white and black combination for the body of the beam rifle, and the nice detailing on the beam saber hilts since most RG kits I’ve built tend to lack any surface detailing on their beam saber hilt - that’s mostly due to the designs though to be honest. 

This kit is also no slouch when it comes to articulation, being essentially the pilot kit for the Real Grade line it better not be. It delivers a fantastic range of motion, and can achieve almost any pose desired. However, as it was the first kit of the line, it suffers from articulation problems that are unfortunately characteristic of early Real Grades. While it can achieve a wide range of dynamic poses, it can have trouble holding those poses due to some loose joints. Only the shoulder joint, neck, back and front skirt panels are guilty of this, but the first one is especially crucial to posing. It will have trouble holding up its arms in certain positions, slowly slipping down as the shoulder joint is simply too loose as is out of the box. Perhaps some top coat will fix it, and I hope that it does. the front and back skirt panels can move independently, but the front skirt panels suffer from the same issue that the skirt armor on the RG MS-06F Zaku II did, in that they can fall off easily when lifting the legs up since the torso inhibits their movement a bit. It can of course be moved to allow full 90 degree lift of the legs, but not without some posing of the front skirt panels in a way that will allow so. It just takes a bit of a work around. 

Now for a really irksome issue. This kit only comes with the articulated “real grade hands” and the closed fists hands. No pre-posed hands, and the real grade hands lack any effective means to locking weapons into place since they only have a small slot into which only the ranged weapons can plug into via a very finnicky peg. While the kit does include a pair of beam saber hilts that have pegs, these pegs refuse to slot into the real grade hands no matter how close to breaking the hands I go, and seem to made with the sole purpose of pegging into storage slots on the inside of the shield. This means that one of the most iconic weapons of the Gundam, is also one of the most unpleasant to pose with since essentially loose fingers are now tasked with holding a lengthy beam saber without a solid connection point. These “real grade hands” are simple the worst, and don’t really work on 1/144 scale kits. While I’m glad they were removed starting with the RG Unicorn Gundam, it’s unfortunate that Bandai didn’t realize just how ineffective these finnicky hands are earlier. Despite this one major issue though, I still really enjoy this kit.

The Real Grade RX-78-2 Gundam was trip down nostalgia lane for me, and I really enjoy the kit. It should be evaluated as a pilot kit for the Real Grade line. A prototype that was a proof of concept; that Master Grade-level quality could be implemented at a 1/144 scale effectively. While I do plan on getting the MG 3.0 of the RX-78-2, as well as the The Origin variant, I got this kit to launch what I call the “Rivalry Project”, starting with the most iconic rivalry in the entire franchise: Amuro Ray V Char Aznable. I will essentially be collecting the major suits they piloted in their faceoffs, and brief cooperation during Zeta Gundam. Up next in this project, in fact, is the HG revive Hyaku Shiki. I’ll write in more detail in a separate post for anyone interested. It seemed fitting that the first gunpla for this project, would also be the first Gundam I ever got as a kid first getting into what is now my all-time favorite sci-fi franchise. 

[flayallstertorturedmind]

Fukuda Interview report *UPDATED* A while back, I did promise a Fukuda interview. Well here it is (even though it's not the same one). This was taken from Fukuda's appearance at Kyoto University on Nov 23rd. The interview report was posted on Char Custom BBS and its contents have been confirmed by people who attended this event. Warnings (at the event): - No autographs or handshake - No tape-recording or video-recording - No use of cell phones It started off with Fukuda saying "please don't post this (interview report) on the internet" and he kept repeating this throughout the event. Apparently Fukuda never worked for Tomino. Q: Reasons why you became part of the anime business? A: I love Tomino-san! Only saw the last part of G. My favorite series is Turn A. Haven't watched anime in the past 10 years. Instead, watched a lot of drama and movies. Star Wars is my favorite movie. Tomino hates Titanic. Though I like it *laughs* Q: Difference betweeen reality and anime? A: After all, anime's war is only a fashion. I read newspapers like Mainichi and Asahi, but anime isn't really serious. They call it "anti-war discussion", but can't comprehend it because it's hard. With my son, I only discuss war on the level that it is bad. Q: Difference between First (MSG) and SEED? A: First was during the Vietnam War era while SEED was created during the Iraqi War. They say war, war, but it's only a robot anime afterall. Gundam elapsed on its own through the times so I wanted to bring it back to a pure robot anime, Combattler V-type. Q: Are Mwu and Raww Newtypes? A: Both are the last remaining Newtypes. They were the last Newtypes in the world so I wanted to write a story where non-Newtype people try to solve the problem. Q: Any plans for the next series? A: I can't say it. It's top secret. Movie plan was killed. There are plenty of Gundam and Mr. Tomino is still doing it so please guess. (translator's note: talking about the Zeta compilation?) Q: Why did Waltfeld live? A: Originally, I didn't plan for him to live, but let him live because there weren't a lot of cool adults left. When I saw the VA's acting on screen, I said to myself, "Man, he's not going to die." When Morita-san heard that, his face had a look saying, "What are you saying when he's planning to die." Q: About Yzak? A: He wasn't really a hot-blooded-type character, but his personality changed due to Seki-san's (Tomokazu Seki = VA for Yzak) acting. Q: About Dearka? A: Dearka wasn't suppose to switch sides, but I made it happen since the sales of Buster Gundam were bad. Sasanuma, Dearka's voice, had a real sweet voice so it was hard for him to completely become a bad guy. Q: About the 3 dudes (aka EA Gundam pilots)? A: I'm not going to give out their profiles. Just between ourselves, they are criminals sentenced to death. They plea bargained as Gundam pilots in return for lesser punishment. Q: About Raww, Azrael and Patrick Zara A: They are type of people you can't talk to to solve things so their deaths were forthcoming. Q: About Athrun? A: Unlike Kira, Athrun was a disciplined soldier at the start. Which is why I eventually had to 'break' him, but that didn't happen until episode 36 *laughs* Q: About Cagalli? A: Even though she told Kira that he's a coordinator, she has no discrimination feelings. Her father told her to study, but that's not her personality which is why she piloted Rouge. Originally, Fllay was suppose to pilot it, but I made them change it halfway. Q: About Lacus? A: People say they don't really understand Lacus and even the staff don't. Only I and Morozawa know her. Her personality never changed from the start. Q: About Fllay? A: A worried woman who was looking for a place to stay. Q: About Fllay's Lalah-esque meaning? A: The title of that scene was "What Fllay wanted to tell him." (a way to let the audience know what Fllay wanted to say). However a dead person can't express their feelings so Kira never heard those words. Which means Kira never got to know Fllay's feelings and he has to carry the burden of her death. Q: The finale you had in mind? A: Fllay was suppose to be a human bomb. She returned as a human bomb to Archangel. She was going to blowup outside of the ship along with Ssigh. Then Kira was going to die with Athrun losing an arm... Q: The meaning of the neutral country Orb? A: That's just an ideal. Japan that is. However, they weren't occupied. Think about it, in order to be ruled you need massive military power and that's troublesome. Q: Any thoughts on any episodes? A: Hmm, names... I'm not good at naming. Idea of SEED came up while I was on the phone. It started with a discussion of naming it with 'S' and I thought of Sin Gundam. However, you can't use that in America. God Gundam was no good in America so... *makes a joke about God Gundam's name* so I named it Freedom. When I thought of this name and announced it to everyone, everyone sorta froze and said, "What?!" This is when I believed, "This is it." About Justice, you have Ultraman (Justice). Usually you avoid having the same names, but "Hey, this is the almighty Gundam! Move out of the way!" Kira derived from "killer". Yamato is very Japanese. Amuro was "Zerosen" (aka the Japanese WW2 Zero fighter). Kai Shiden was from Shidenkai (another Japanese warplane), but Yamato is very easy. BTW, Athrun was derived from yo-ake (dawn), Cagalli from kagaribi (bonfire), Lacus from mizu-umi (lake). Q: Meaning of SEED? A: At first, there wasn't a meaning. Those came afterwards *laughs* Q: Problem between Natural and Coordinator? A: Since DNA-related subject is a complicated matter in reality too, there were a lot of gray area in the anime as well. Q: How come the corpses were very graphic? A: It was necessary. The TV producer stressed, "Show what you have to show" so Fllay's sex was included. About the death of Fllay's father in episode 11 and death of Elle-tan (the girl on the shuttle) in episode 13, the producer passionately said "it has to be more cruel!" Q: About Fllay? A: I thought of 2 ways to keep Kira attached to Fllay. One was to give Fllay a big scar on her face and other was sex. I wonder if I should have given her the scar *laughs* Q: About the VA? A: Auditions, but I already decided who was going to do whom. I fell in love with Kuwashima-san (VA for Fllay and Natarle) from her works in movie dubs. Same with Ishida-san (Athrun's VA). Fell in love with his dub as Luke Skywalker. I was definitely going to use Mitsuishi-san and Seki Tomokazu-kun. Q: Meaning of each coul? (one coul equals a 13 episode segment of the show) A: 1 & 2 - Kira's war intervention 2 - Kira destroying himself due to woman relationships 3 - Recovering Kira 4 - didn't comment Q: Models of each character? A: Kira's model was Tatsuya Fujiwara (played Shuya Nanahara in Battle Royale). During that time, Battle Royale was on. Lacus was Audrey Hepburn. Q: Merchandise aspect? A: Anime has to be successful in the merchandise department. Turn A was sorry in terms of merchandise. *laughs* The plamodel staff froze after looking at the moustache. I was shooting for something in between First and Wing. Q: About the difference between the planned story and the final product? A: Aile/Sword related Strike series plamodel sold over 900,000. I wanted it to hit the one million mark so Rouge appeared. <-- this may have been a joke) The name 'Rouge' was already decided. Q: Any influence/ideas from other Gundam? A: Before I started, I watched CCA and F91. I watched the first ep of X and returned the video. *laughs* Q: Who does Kira like? A: He doesn't really like either of them (Fllay and Lacus). Q: What is your message of this anime? A: If it's boring, please turn off the channel. Isn't it funny when people still watch it even after they call it boring. *laughs* Q: Morozawa is the scriptwriter because she is related? (ie they are married) A: No. I fell in love with her abilities. Cyber Formula went well too. Q: Any SEED production stories? A: The plan was set in August. The plan went to Mr. Tomino in December. When I was working on SEED, the president told me, "Mr. Tomino won't be involved." The president told me to go greet him anyway so I visited him during the New Year's holiday. Tomino was enraged, "I made Turn A to unify Gundam!" He later said, "Don't trust Bandai" and recommended the book "Cure of Turn A". Q: About Gundam? A: Out of all of the previous series, only Tomino-san's Gundam lasted a year (Translator's note: Not quite sure what Fukuda means here). Gundam is serious. Production cost of other anime is about 10-12 million yen, but SEED was 25 million yen (Further note: Presumably, Fukuda means on a per-episode basis rather than the entire series cost as a whole). This is a business where money comes by adding "Gundam." Gundam is awesome. For normal anime, they have to get it within 9 million yen. However, there are times you go over the budget which means you cover the excess cost with merchandise goods. For Gundam, no one argues if you use 15 million yen because it is guranteed that you can recover the cost with merchandise goods. Q: Where did you spend the most in? A: About 10 million yen went to 3DCG. (*many who attended said this really didn't answer the question) Q: About Mwu stopping Dominion's beam. Is that a miracle? A: It was an anti-beam shield so it can stop it, right? Someone refutes Fukuda by "Isn't Lohengrin an anti-fortress beam..." and Fukuda replies, "I didn't know that *laughs*" Other random comments by Fukuda: - Currently working on next Cyber. - Director pay for Gundam is good *laughs* Comments by RGZ - This is about how most of Fukuda's recent interviews are. - Based on people who attended this, some were saying Fukuda didn't seem to fully understand the meaning of the questions (which might explain some of the answers being weird) and kept saying "off the record". - In case you didn't catch it, SEED movie seems dead while Zeta compilation is still ongoing. - Last, I would like to thank Neo-Era for proofreading this :)

[laurarolla]

Gundams Rising: Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

This is a heck of a turn from the previous first episode.  Zeta, released in 1985, came in the aftermath of Gundam's six years of influence.  In that time, a number of other shows followed in Gundam's footsteps, creating a new subgenre of sci-fi in anime.  The Real Robot genre would receive a number of notable entries before Zeta even came around, including Macross, VOTOMS, and even Tomino's own follow-ups with Xabungle and Dunbine, as well as Space Runaway Ideon, a pessimistic blend of the new Real Robot ideas and the old Super Robot ideas.  However, it's probably most important to quickly point to Zeta's direct series predecessor, a Real Robot series called Heavy Metal L-Gaim.  In particular, we need to mention L-Gaim's character and mechanical designer, Mamoru Nagano.

Nagano provided a few significant designs for Zeta Gundam, with the Rick Dias being uniquely important to this first episode, “The Black Gundam.” The emotional draw of the first episode of Zeta Gundam relies on a number of little factors, and the Rick Dias itself is one of the most significant of those.  We start off the episode following a familiar looking man in red, piloting a red colored Rick Dias.  His wingmen refer to him as Lieutenant Quattro, but it's extremely obvious that he's none other than Char Aznable from the original Gundam.  Char and his team are doing pretty much the same thing they were in the first episode of MS Gundam: gathering recon on a secret Federation mobile suit project.  The look of the Rick Dias and the somewhat ominous music play with the audience a bit, calling into question how we're supposed to feel about what Char is doing.

On the colony itself, we meet our series protagonist, Kamille Bidan.  Despite what you might expect from such a name, Kamille is indeed a young man, skipping out on high school club activities to go to the spaceport. He's followed by Fa Yuiry, who is legitimately more overbearing than Frau, as well as less significant to the episode.  Seriously, Fa is entirely superfluous at this point and serves only to allow Kamille's more emotionally aggressive tenancies to be shown as build up to his confrontation with a member of the Titans.  The journey to the spaceport provides us with a much better picture of the idea of life in the space colonies than we got in the original Gundam, and shows a lot of the value of really embracing the differences that exist in a sci-fi setting, something many later Gundam series would use to even greater effect.  Kamille mentions wanting to meet Captain Bright again when the pair arrives at the spaceport, but his plans get a bit sidetracked when Titans pilot Jerid Messa makes a snide comment about his name, leading to Kamille's arrest for assaulting a military officer.

Char infiltrates the colony alone, managing to hack his way through most of the security doors before finally blasting his way into the industrial district of Gryps.  There, he finds a black Gundam flying around and doing maneuvers, and that same Gundam finds him and chases him down. The unknown pilot hunts him down, even firing on him as he escapes through the route he entered from, having to fight his way past some security he didn't have to contend with on the way in.  He's force to retreat and rejoin Apolly and Roberto, who were on distant recon duty.  By this point in the episode, it's made clear that we're supposed to be rooting FOR Char this time.  He shows restraint in his actions here, using minimal force on the engineers or security forces that chase him down, even after getting grazed by gunfire.  The Titan's Gundam, on the other hand, attempts to use a mobile suit scale machine gun on a human being in a space suit during peacetime.

Meanwhile, Kamille is being interrogated by an officer of the Titans, who introduces the AEUG to us as a group of rebels akin to Zeon.  As such, we now know the name of Char's faction this time around, and we realize that the roles of the original series appear to be reversed, with the Federation's Titans unit being the oppressive villains of the series and a terrorist faction of spacenoids opposing their actions as heroes.  The officer here also hints at the idea of conscripting Kamille into the military due to his apparent talent with mobile suits and his physical and technical prowess, or perhaps he's inferring that Kamille might be a member of the AEUG terrorist organization.  In the end, a lawyer comes in and frees Kamille from Titans custody, only for him to get himself in trouble with them again before he can even leave the interrogation room.  However, in a stroke of morbid luck, he's given a chance to escape thanks to a Gundam Mk. II crashing into the building he's in, causing chaos that he can exploit to make a break for freedom.  There's also a tiny detail here that fits with something shown earlier.  The episode actually shows us that there are multiple Gundam Mk. II units, at least 3 of them, with the one attacking Char being different from the one that crashes into the building here.

Turns out the pilot that crashed into the building is Jerid, the guy Kamille punched earlier, and a number of Federation soldiers, Titans or otherwise, run about tending to those injured by the damage to the building.  A woman calls out to Kamille, but he barely acknowledges her as he continues to run out the door.  In a fun coincidence, Captain Bright happens to pull up just out of Kamille's field of vision as he's stealing a car to escape the military police, and when all is said and done, he takes a moment to stop and acknowledge that he has no idea what to do now.  The episode comes to a close by switching back to Char as he calls in long range fire from the Argama to strike the colony, bookending the episode with another clear reference to the first episode of the original Gundam.

There is no mobile suit combat in this episode, and that fact tells us a lot about the distinctions in tone and pacing compared to Mobile Suit Gundam.  Zeta begins as a story based more on intrigue and confusion, taking nearly half the episode to give us good proof of who the heroes are even supposed to be this time around.  Kamille seems like even more of a typical teenager than Amuro, combined with a clear insecurity about his name and subtle hints that he doesn't feel totally in control of his life.  Kamille has an interest in technology and spaceships, but he seems almost obligated to train in martial arts.  His mother is a direct factor in his life, a stark contrast to Amuro's more independent living situation.  While Amuro flailed about without structure, Kamille chafes under the expectations of others, giving us two familiar, yet vastly different protagonists.  Kamille's differences from Amuro reflect the very different feeling of Zeta as a whole, and the show gives us a clear sign that it will take its sweet time to tell the story it wants to tell.

Over the years, I've come to enjoy Zeta as a whole less and less, but this first episode is a fantastic start, and was a great way to start off a new Gundam series, showing that the innovative progenitor of the Real Robot genre could continue to innovate enough to remain relevant in an age of competing innovators.

[recentanimenews]

Celebrating Gundam Day with Legendary Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino

On Friday, November 15th, it was officially declared Gundam Day in NYC. Not so coincidentally, it happened to be the same day that the legendary creator of Gundam himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino, was in New York City for the first day of Anime NYC. Later, in a crowded room full of hundreds of fans, Austin Walker of Vice Games brought him out for a candid, illuminating chat about the legacies both he and Gundam have left behind. He walked on stage to a standing ovation and hundreds of fans chanting his name, to which in English he simply replied, “I love you too.”

  Walker began the discussion by asking what about Gundam has made it so enduring in Japan and around the world. “Every single thing I work on, I try to make a super mega hit... and they all fail,” Tomino said. “You tell me.” Walker replied that with Gundam, he told a story that brought people in with action and spectacle while sneaking in a universal message with characters they could relate to. “In short,” Tomino added, ”Because I made it.”

    When asked about how he thought animation had changed in the past forty years, Tomino said it was a difficult question since he hasn’t really watched any recent anime. Walker pointed out that he made Gundam Reconguista in G back in 2014, to which Tomino replied, “Five years ago when it first aired it didn’t get much public recognition. I’m still very depressed about it.” He added that he’s currently remaking it so that it can be popular this time, but that it would be hard to market to the audience since it’s aimed at kids.

  Walker asked if there are any technologies he has now making anime that he wishes he’d had before. Tomino said that new technology allows him to create different types of space colonies and bases he couldn’t before. “I really wanted to create a donut shaped base. The fact I can do that now with digital animation is a very big plus.” 

  Walker noted all the different mediums he’s worked in over the years and asked which of them is his favorite. Tomino said that because he’d started out in TV animation, film was newer and more interesting for him, but licensing always posed an issue which is why he made novels. 

    When asked how he’d evolved as a creator, Tomino admitted “I don’t think I’ve evolved at all... I’m getting up there is age, so I’ve been finding it hard not to a backward roll. It’s a daily fight.” Walker added that with the rerelease of Reconguista in G everyone will be able to see for themselves if that’s true, and invited Tomino to introduce everyone to the Regild Century it takes place in following the Universal Century, to which Tomino groaned. 

  “What if the theme of it was 'I wanted the earth to be eradicated.' I can’t blurt something like that out,” he began. “I realized having such an opportunity like this to meet all of you, there’s something I have to rethink. In short, to be here and to meet all of you and to actually have fun, it’s something good for me because it makes me think about the future. In terms of what I mean by I have to rethink... I have to look at how I can envision humankind evolve in a good direction and hold on to hope and bring new stories.”

  “Most of all what I wanna say is I am at this age, but those of you who are young, I want you to be like, ‘Man, adults shouldn’t be so dark and depressing.’ I want you to think that’s bad and go home and create new ideas and concepts by seeing negative examples. I’m hoping to help be a part of the experience to teach you to go back and create new animation that tackles real life problems and within the creative process come up with possible solutions.”

    “Coming here to New York City this time I felt deeply that perhaps this is the best place that can give birth to new hopes. I’ve actually been to other gatherings in many cities across the world. I feel the emotional atmosphere of Anime NYC is so much more colorful and diverse than any places I’ve been. It doesn’t get me down, so I myself can remain positive as well. Thank you.”

  Walker then asked Tomino which of Gundam’s many themes means the most to him, to which he answered, “We all must aim to become Newtypes.” When asked if there are any themes he’d like to see Gundam address in the future, Tomino simply said, “Actually, I don’t think so. I think we’ve covered quite a bit.” Walker concluded his Q&A by asking if the people of the Universal Century learned anything from all the conflict and destruction of their time. Tomino replied that it’s actually because he doesn’t believe they learned anything that they arrived at the story of Reconguista in G.

  The floor was then opened to audience Q&A. One audience member asked if Turn A Gundam will ever get a prequel. Tomino admitted that he’d never even thought of it, which makes him feel like he can’t write a good enough backstory, so he considers its story already complete. Another asked if Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam will ever get an anime, to which Tomino slyly smiled and answered, “I think so.”

    Another asked if there are any moments or scenes from Gundam that are significant to him on a personal level, to which Tomino said that he makes it a point not to have any favorite moments or scenes. He later gave a similar reply to a similar question about characters, and added that he finds himself leaning towards background and supporting characters who get little screentime. One audience member pointed out all the musical credits he has for Gundam and asked if that was done out of necessity or if he has any musical background. Tomino said that in the beginning he’s ask other people to write the lyrics, but was never quite satisfied with the results. He does try to lean on professionals whenever possible.

  When asked about what inspires him when naming characters and how they connect to the personalities, he said, “It’s a very challenging process. Each and every time I figuratively sweat profusely. It’s a very momentous and gargantuan process, especially because I like to use unique names. I do have to sometimes use existing names. It’s very difficult.”

  Another audience member eluded to Gundam’s more adult themes and asked how he’d like to see younger Gundam fans and their understanding of them evolve as they grow older. Tomino said that he can’t speak to the more recent series and that he had always been aiming for a ten to fourteen year old demographic. However, he pointed out, plenty of movies we enjoy as kids have mature themes we don’t appreciate until we’re older. “That’s the power of movies. I no longer feel like I need to aim for a certain audience. I can make things people of any age can enjoy, and they’ll find new things to appreciate as they grow older.”

    When one audience member asked if he’d always envisioned Gundam’s popularity, he said “It was always the master plan.” When another asked how involved he was in the life-sized, moving Gundam statue being built in Yokohama, he admitted, “I was quite involved in the beginning, except no one would listen to my opinions. I don’t know if I’ll actually be able to like it.”

  One referenced some comments he’d made recently about the works of Makoto Shinkai lacking intimacy and asked what anime were sexy enough for him. Tomino said that he didn’t think “sexy” was the right nuance for what he’d said, but added that in his mind the ideal sexy animated character is “Disney’s Snow White.” Another asked him for his opinion on the relationship between Char Aznable and Amuro Ray. Tomino suggested they ask the two of them directly. 

  As the time wound down on the panel, one fan asked which of his non-Gundam shows should Gundam fans watch. Tomino said that as much as he’d love to recommend some, he wouldn’t. “My personal philosophy is if the creator themselves pitches a project, it’s because it’s unpopular or unsuccessful.” For the last question of the day, someone asked if he’d ever drawn inspiration from American sci-fi such as Star Trek. Tomino said that sadly, he had been too busy writing his own space odysseys when those were airing, so he was never immersed in them.

    The first of five Gundam Reconguista in G compilation films is set to release on November 29, 2019 in Japan.

  Are you a longtime Gundam fan? A newer one? If you could ask Tomino one question what owuld it be? Let us know in the comments below!

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Danni Wilmoth is a Features writer for Crunchyroll and co-host of the video game podcast Indiecent. You can find more words from her on Twitter @NanamisEgg.

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