"I'm going to bed." - Hayley
While this project was never meant to review extremely short films (we didn't cover the SEED Astray promos included on the Stargazer DVD after all), I'd like to talk about this film clip before the next couple of Hathaway pieces drop.
This film clip was released during a broader news and statement of intent stream by Bandai Namco. They're a pretty common format for Japanese media companies: a boring guy lists some announcements and announcements of upcoming announcements while a few actors/idols go "uwaa~ sugoi~" as part of their active listening. The actual news points were the 30 minute prologue to Gundam SEED Freedom is receiving a theatrical roadshow run to milk the worst nostalgia act a little bit more and that some sort of Gundam Wing animated work has entered production. If this is an adaptation of Frozen Teardrop and not just some 10 minute fancam like various other Sunrise shows have recently received (check out the Xabungle one!) then you can look forward to a fun post here in a couple of years' time. Finally, this music video debuted along with a declaration that there will be an ongoing Gundam promotional campaign to stretch the 50th anniversary in 2029 with a 3 year long hype train. This was all couched in frequent mentions of attempting to expand interest in the franchise outside of Japan.
So, the film clip. A crowd is looking at the statue of the original Gundam (Hajime Katoki's redesign with all the gross panel lines and water slide decals included) with awe on their faces. A grandfather looks at the group wistfully then flashes back through his life as a fan. This includes rushing home from primary school to watch the original show, navigating teen years with the help of Zeta and ZZ, taking his girlfriend to Char's Counterattack, inspiring them as they overcome problems early into their marriage. His shock at G Gundam and Wing impressing his son, X and Ɐ exist on screen, then further bonding with his son over tapes of the various OVAs, games of Federation vs Zeon DX for Sega Dreamcast (not pictured) as they lose their minds over the Cosmic Era through 00. The 2010s and 2020s continue on in a rapid flash of lead characters smiling for the camera while his son gets married, has kids of his own. Finally, back to the statue, it walks away from its scaffolding and becomes the real Kunio Okawara original as Amuro entices the grandfather (and everyone else I guess) to stride into a bold new future through the door of fandom.
If you've read all my previous, often profane ramblings on this franchise then it should be clear why I felt the need to talk about this one. It's a (poorly run) multimedia megacorp rewriting history and creating its own mythology. Mobile Suit Gundam was a ratings and merchandise flop cancelled two months before it's originally scheduled end point. Nobody was watching it but weird women who fell so deeply in love with its cast and themes that they started book clubs and magazines, one of which would ultimately become a major power player in the anime commentary print industry at large. It was certainly not watched by many young boys and the men who eventually entered the fandom did so because of the 1981 movie recut and Bandai's first runs of plastic model kits. Gundam wasn't for the kids it was for weird women and even weirder military nerd men. Nope, that's not the story now. Gundam was for little boys who became men who became family men who have passed down the torch across multiple generations. Nearly 50 years in we can maybe let a few girls in. Maybe they'll paint an Acguy kit pink and make it look like a teddy bear.
Bandai Namco keeps wondering how to penetrate the international market. They tried with Wing, then oversatured shelves of G Gundam excess stock. They funded a Canadian sci-fi channel grade movie. They ran large marketing campaigns for a bad reimagining of the original show. They paid a German company to kinda make iGLOO 3 the other year and they've been working with Legendary Pictures on how to give the franchise the big expensive poorly lit modern Hollywood treatment. All the while they ignore how compelling the original work's writing and art direction still are. You can't ram Gundam through a boys' club hole because the original show never fit through there in the first place. Mobile Suit Gundam wasn't the first robot cartoon of the 70s to be an anti-war piece. Combattler V, Voltes V, Daimos and of course Zambot 3 all came before. The big difference, even more than the mechanical designs was that Gundam was the first to break free of the obvious artistic influences Mazinger Z put all those other shows through. Gundam ditched the Koji Kabuto style sideburns and reusable Toei Explosion(tm) to take on board the work of artists like Osamu Dezaki's contributions that decade. It's shows like The Rose of Versailles and Aim For the Ace which led to Amuro seeing time itself and Char borrowing his ex-boyfriend's shower.
As I've said before, Gundam has to always be at least a little bit gay and girly for it to work. This video clip demonstrates how those at the helm of this accursed undying franchise are doomed to repeat the same mistakes over and over.
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