Gundam
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the anime series. For the mecha themselves, see
Mobile weapons.
The
Gundam Series (ガンダムシリーズ, Gandamu Shirīzu?) is a
metaseries of
anime created by
Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or "
mecha") called "Mobile Suits" (MS); usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name
Gundam. The metaseries started on April 7, 1979 as a serial TV show called
Mobile Suit Gundam. That first TV series has since spawned a franchise that has come to include works released in numerous media. Titles have appeared in the form of multiple television series and
OVAs, movies,
manga, novels and video games, among other modes. The story from the original 1979 series has been considerably extended with sequels, prequels, side stories and alternate timelines. As a result, the title
Gundam has become a collective term for the seven distinct but related timelines that can be pieced together from the stories that appear in the
Gundam franchise. Generally speaking, the timelines do not intersect, but they do contain a few common elements such as the titular war machines called
Gundam. However, all
Gundam timelines and worlds, long after their own anime series, do eventually intersect and combine in the series
Turn A Gundam.
[1][2]
The original timeline for the Gundam series was the
Universal Century (UC) series, which included
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985). Since the 1990s, alternative timelines have been produced and developed, including the
Future Century,
After Colony,
After War,
Correct Century, Cosmic Era and
Anno Domini timelines.
As of January 21, 2008, the
Gundam franchise is a 50 billion
yen trademark.
[3] A year 2000 press release stated that retail sales of Gundam items had totaled $5 billion.
[4] In the 2008 ranking of average sales figures for anime copies sold in Japan (1970-2008 total sales figures averaged by episode),
Gundam series were in four of the top five places:
Mobile Suit Gundam ranked second, with
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny third,
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED fourth, and
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam fifth. Also,
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing ranked 18th and
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ ranked 20th.
[5] Gunpla's (Gundam Plastic model) holds 90% of the Japan character plastic model market.
[6]
Academic fields in Japan have also viewed the series as a good inspiration in research fields, with the Gundam academy (or officially
International Gundam Society) being the first academic institution based on an animated TV series.
[7]
[edit] Overview
[edit] Concept
Mobile Suit Gundam was principally developed by renowned animator
Yoshiyuki Tomino, along with a changing group of Sunrise creators who went under the collective pseudonym of "
Hajime Yatate".
During its conceptual phase, the series was titled
Freedom Fighter Gunboy, or simply
Gunboy for the gun the robot was armed with, and the primary target demographic were
shōnen (boys). In the early production stages, there were numerous references to the word "
freedom": the
White Base was originally "Freedom's Fortress", the
Core Fighter was the "Freedom Wing", and the
Gunperry was the "Freedom Cruiser". The Yatate team combined the English word "
gun" with the last syllable of the word "free
dom" to form the name
Gundom. Tomino then changed it to the current title, suggesting that
Gundam signified a powerful unit wielding a gun powerful enough to hold back enemies, like a hydroelectric
dam holding back floods.
[8]
Most Gundams are large, bipedal vehicles controlled from
cockpits by a human pilot. The majority of these "
mobile suits" have a cockpit in the "
torso" of the machine, with a camera built into the "
head" to transmit images to the cockpit (with the exception of the head-mounted cockpits in
Psyco Gundam) and are non-sentient machines, with the exceptions of the
artificial intelligence A.L.I.C.E. in the
side-story Gundam Sentinel[9] and four mobile suits built with the EXAM System and sharing a
Newtype human soul in
The Blue Destiny.
[10]
[edit] Innovation
Mobile Suit Gundam is said to have pioneered the
real robot era of
mecha anime.
[11]
Unlike its
super robot cousins,
Gundam attempted a realism in the robot design and weaponry, by running out of energy and ammunition or breaking and malfunctioning. The technology is practical and is either derived from true science (such as
Lagrange points in space and the
O'Neill cylinder as a living environment) or at least well-explained, feasible technology, requiring only a few fictional elements to function (such as
Minovsky Physics as a means of energy production from helium-3).
[12]
The necessity of developing humanoid robots is also explained, albeit fictional. The fictional Minovsky particle pervasive in Universal Century is depicted as interfering with radar-guided long-distance cruise missiles, anti-aircraft guns, missiles, and all early warning systems, with weapons systems having to rely on human eyes. In Universal Century, the space-based Principality of
Zeon rebels against Earth Federation, requiring a weapons system that could function in zero and normal gravity and be able to open and close air locks, plant demolition charges, and engage with enemy tanks and planes; with a robotic giant being an excellent choice. Once mobile suits have been developed by one side, the opposing force had to develop a similar system, just as British invention of tanks lead to the development of tanks in Germany, and eventually led to tank-to-tank battles.
Gundam's realistic scientific setting has gained a reputation in the field itself as well. On July 18, 2007, when
MIT's Astronautics Department's Professor Dava Newman displayed a
biosuit, the suit was referenced as
Mobile Suit Gundam's Normal Suit is now real by various news agencies.
[13][14] On February 14, 2008, when
NASA proposed research into
nuclear thermal rockets,
Technobahn, a scientific journal in Japan, referred to the usage of nuclear thermal rocket engines on mobile suits in the
Gundam universe.
[15]
[edit] Narrative
The narrative itself revolves around the mobile suits and their pilots fighting in a war, in which destruction and dehumanization are inherent, through multiple sides; each faction having their own
heroes and
villains, all of which have their own unique motives, failings, and virtues.
Gundam also features political battles and debates on various important philosophical issues and political ideals on the nature and meaning of war, the ideal of pacifism, and the continuing evolution - natural or engineered - of humanity and its consequences. These are often framed in the series as a debate between the protagonist and antagonist over the course of a duel, as they try to convince each other of the righteousness of their causes.
Finally, most of the stories are basically structured as "coming-of-age" dramas, where the main protagonist (and sometimes the main antagonist) and most of the cast's personalities, points of view, allegiances, goals, and actions may or may not change dramatically as events unfold. This makes the plot seem more realistic than earlier super robot animated series where the hero and cast usually act in the same predictable manner, with little connection between the episodes. The best example of this is how the personalities of longtime rivals,
Amuro Ray and
Char Aznable, are influenced by their experiences in the
Gundam saga.
[edit] Characteristics and variations
As a
metaseries, Gundam functions with different designs and coloring (with most following
Kunio Okawara's
original Gundam design). Producer
Masahiko Asano wrote in his notes on the production of
S Gundam that everyone seemed to have their own idea of Gundam and in the meeting, they were trying to find the asymptotic view for everyone in the meeting.
[16]
- In the Universal Century timeline, "Gundam" is the name of the Earth Federation's (Chikyū Renpō, 地球連邦) first experimental general-purpose mobile suit, which is incredibly powerful, compared to most of the mass-produced models eventually used by either side. Afterwards, many powerful mobile suits based on the Gundam's design also carry the name, such as the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II, MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, LM312V04 Victory Gundam, etc. The Anaheim Gundams, or Greek alphabet Gundams are a series of mobile suits developed by the fictional company Anaheim Electronics, some of them are notably carrying different style heads than other Gundams in the series, like the Rick Dias (Gamma Gundam) and Hyaku Shiki (Delta Gundam). In this timeline, Gundam often stands for General-purpose Utility, Non Discontinuity Augmentation Maneuvering weapon system.
- In the Future Century timeline, the word "Gundam" refers to a space colony's entry in the "Gundam Fight", a competition that determines which colony would rule the Earth for the next 4 years. The pilots who use these Gundams are known as "Gundam Fighters". However, some suits that are called Gundams are not entries in the Gundam Fight at all, with the most operative examples being the JDG-009X (JDG-00X) Devil Gundam and the JMF-1336R (JMF1336R) Rising Gundam.
- In the After Colony timeline, the word "Gundam" refers to most mobile suits constructed out of a special alloy called "Gundanium", which can only be mined and produced in space. This alloy gives the Gundams high resistance to conventional weaponry and renders them stealthy under radar, due to its nature of absorbing electromagnetic radiation. Every Gundam has a unique name that befits the nature of the suit and/or its origins, such as the XXXG-01W Wing Gundam, XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe and the XXXG-01S Shenlong Gundam.
- The After War timeline is a loose continuation of the Universal Century continuity, presenting an alternate scenario, with many of the mecha designs loosely based on Universal Century suits. The After War timeline features a post-apocalyptic setting where virtually all colonies orbiting earth were de-orbited, with the resulting cataclysm almost exterminating humankind.
- In the Correct Century timeline, the name "Gundam" is given to the Gundam "Turn A" mobile suit by a specific character, who was originally an ace pilot, but was placed under suspended animation. The color scheme of the Turn A reminds the character of the Gundam mobile suits from previous eras.
- In the Cosmic Era works, Gundams are mobile suits that carry a specific type of operating system, first secretly produced (without the programmer himself knowing what he is programming the system for) by the one of the protagonist's robotics research group, and faced a few upgrades by various factions throughout the story. The acronym of the operating system always spells "GUNDAM" , thus, these suits are called "Gundam". However, this is retconned by later toys and scale models tagging the "Gundam", after the unit's own name.
- In the Anno Domini timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam 00, the term Gundam is the generic designation of a line of unique and highly effective mobile units developed by Celestial Being, such as the GN-001 Gundam Exia and GN-002 Gundam Dynames. Distinct from concurrently introduced weapons, suit torsos contain a core generator system known as the GN Drive or Solar Furnace, capable of sustaining independent unit function for an indefinite period of time without needing to refuel. In addition, onboard propulsion recycles the generator's GN particle exhaust for high-speed, virtually unlimited output. The particle exhaust disrupts the use of conventional radar and a range of wireless communications.
- See also the Japanese article for Gundam Type /ガンダムタイプ for details.
[edit] Calendar system
The majority of
Gundam, including the earliest series, occur in the
Universal Century (UC) calendar, with later series set in alternate calendars or
timelines mostly unrelated to the UC system (at least three of these calendar systems were actually initially numbered after the year that the series premiered, with 1979's
Mobile Suit Gundam taking place in UC 0079, 1995's
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing in After Colony 195, and 2007's
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 takes place in 2307).
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam takes place in the Future Century (FC), where space colonies have gained the upper hand over Earth, consequently attempting to put an end to the internal power struggles now plaguing the planet.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing takes place in the After Colony (AC) calendar system, set after the foundation of the first space colony, where Earth firmly maintains repressive control over its colonies.
- After War Gundam X takes place in the After War (AW) timeline, set after the conclusion of the 7th Space War, where the Earth is devastated by massive colony drops.
- ∀ Gundam takes place in the CC (正歴, Seireki?) calendar system, which director Yoshiyuki Tomino intended as the distant future of all previous timelines. The CC sees the colonies becoming much stronger than the Earth, but unlike the FC timeline, takes a more aggressive stance towards it. The English acronym of CC is Correct Century (コレクトセンチュリー), in the official Japanese ∀ guide book.
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, its sequels, and spinoffs take place in the Cosmic Era, with CE referring to the years after the foundation of the first space colonies.
- The latest entry in the franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, is the first series to occur during the Anno Domini (西暦, Seireki?) timeline.
Bandai and Japanese-speaking fans unofficially refer to projects not directly related to the first
Gundam series or its staffers (such as
Gundam Sentinel and
Mobile Fighter G Gundam) as "Another Gundam" stories, and to projects made after 1989 as "
Heisei Gundam" stories. On a survey for a
video game that would become
Gundam: True Odyssey, the Cosmic Era series (including
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray) were collectively referred to as "21st Century First Gundam" (a reference to the original
Mobile Suit Gundam series). English-speaking fans have used the term "Alternate Universe" ("AU" for short) as a nickname for the stories that do not take place within the Universal Century timeline, but this is made unofficial for use in Japan.
