Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) | An Anime Retrospective
October 20, 1963. The first episode of Tetsujin 28-gou airs on Japanese television. January 1, 1973. The first episode of Babel II airs on Japanese television. April 6, 1973. The final chapter of The Moon by George Akiyama is published in Weekly Shounen Sunday. October 28, 1973. Boss Borot debuts in episode 48 of Mazinger Z. May 8, 1975. Musashi falls fighting against the Dinosaur Empire in episode 51 of Getter Robo. October 8, 1977. The first episode of Zamot 3 airs on Japanese television.
April 7, 1979. The birth of the "real robot."
Mobile Suit Gundam as a series almost needs no introduction, but I'll humor you just a little bit. It's the OG serious mecha anime for serious dudes. It didn't invent pain and suffering in giant robot cartoons, but it sure did codify it, and don't even think for a second that Evangelion owns that title. Being the creator of the "real robot" genre, we have this show to be thankful for the depth of variety in giant robot anime that we enjoy today. Anyone watching Kyoukai Senki or 86 this season has Mobile Suit Gundam to thank for their existence. As the second most financially successful mecha franchise of all time and one of the most critically acclaimed anime series ever made, there's very few people within the anime space who don't know what a Gundam is. If they don't know its name, they definitely know its face-plate. Whether it's 2016's Iron-Blooded Orphans, '95's Gundam Wing, or '94's G Gundam, one way or another, everyone is familiar with the form of the white devil. Today we'll be looking at where it all started, with the original, full 43 episode Mobile Suit Gundam TV anime from 1979.
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| Yoshiyuki Tomino in 1981. |
The Men Behind The Machines
Mobile Suit Gundam was the brain child of a cabal of creative staff simply credited as Yatate Hajime, as well as the show's director, Yoshiyuki Tomino. "Kill 'Em All" Tomino had had his feet in the industry pretty much since the beginning, directing and scripting more than a handful of episode of Tetsuwan Atom (aka Astro Boy) from 1964 to 1966. He also directed a few episodes of Ribbon no Kishi in 1967, storyboarded episode 90 of Kyojin no Hoshi (Star of the Giants) in 1969, and storyboarded almost a third of Alps no Shoujo Heidi (Heidi: Girl of the Alps) in 1974. His directorial debut was in 1972 on the anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Umi no Triton (Triton of the Sea), and before Gundam he'd directed three other giant robot anime; Brave Raideen in 1975, Muteki Choujin Zambot 3 in 1977, and Muteki Koujin Daitarn 3 in 1978.
His co-pilot on Mobile Suit Gundam was Animation Director and Character Designer Yasuhiko Yoshizaku. YAS, as he also goes by, also had a good chunk of industry work, with his first major role being animation director the 1973 anime Zero Tester. He and Tomino first worked together on Zero Tester's sequel, Zero Tester: Chikyuu o Mamore!, where YAS juggled multiple hats as animation director, storyboarder, and episode director. YAS was no stranger to giant robot action either, as not only had he worked alongside Tomino on Brave Raideen and Zambot 3 as an animation director and key animator, but he had also worked on key animation and storyboarding for the 1976 anime Chou Denji Robo Combattler V. While YAS handled character design, Mobile Suit Gundam's mechanical design was a two man force. Tomino himself drafted many of the shows robots and vehicles, while everything else was handled by one Ookawara Kunio. Before Gundam, Ookawara's designs were mostly featured in Tatsunoko Production shows, such as Science Ninja Team Gatchaman in 1972, Space Knight Tekkaman in 1975, and Time Bokan Series: Yatterman in 1977. Like YAS, Ookawara also worked with Tomino on Zambot 3, in addition to also providing mechanical designs for Daitarn 3. Additionally, he also had had experience doing giant robot designs for Gowapper 5 Gordam in 1976 and Chou Denji Machine Voltes V in 1977.
The show's music was produced by the tag team Arranger Matsuyama Yuushi and Composer Watanabe Takeo, with vocals being written by Tomino himself under the alias Iogi Rin. Matsuyama had started with work in the early 70s, working on 1971's Tensai Bakabon with Watanabe. He worked with Tomino on Heidi, Zambot 3, and Daitarn 3 before Gundam. Watanabe had gotten his start a bit earlier, doing music for Zero-sen Hayato in 1964. It's possible he might have heard Tomino's name when he was doing the music for Kyojin no Hoshi in 1968, but he definitely would have known his name when he was doing music for Heidi. Watanabe and Matsuyama were frequently credited together in this period of time, and like Matsuyama, Watanabe also worked on the music for Daitarn 3 and Zambot 3 under Tomino's direction. Finally, the screenplay was a five man split between Hoshiyama Hiroyuki, Matsuzaki Ken'ichi, Araki Yoshihisa, Yamamoto Yuu, and director Tomino. Hoshiyama, Matsuzaki, and Araki were all a part of Tomino's Daitarn 3 squad, with Hoshiyama and Araki additionally working on Zambot 3, Matsuzaki doing mechanical design assistance on Uchuu Senkan Yamato in 1974, and Yamamoto scripting episodes of Brave Raideen, Combattler V, and Yatterman.
"Can you survive?"
The story of Mobile Suit Gundam chronicles the life and times of one Amuro Ray during the events of the One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. Through circumstances, he ends up as the pilot of the titular mobile suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam, and together with with his fellow crew-mates of the assault carrier White Base, fight against various installments of the forces of Zeon. As he fights, particularly against his rival and Zeon's strongest ace Char Aznable, a mysterious power awakens within young Amuro.
On the other side of the battlefield, we have the Zeon ace who pilots red mobile suits, Char Aznable. Char has always been one of Gundam's most popular characters, and his dominance in the Newtype Magazine character popularity polls to this day are a testament to that. And it makes sense. While Amuro's every-man journey in to the depths of what war does to people can be something of a slow burn, Char's character is more immediately dramatically intriguing. We've got a mysterious pilot who wears a mask, has a bombastic personality, and is such a good pilot that he can outmaneuver even the advanced Gundam in the beginning. He's a schemer, and there's a mysterious connection between him and the White Base crew member Sayla Mass, so we wonder what the deal with that is. And then in episode 10, he betrays Garma, who we thought was a close comrade and friend of his. Char even mockingly tells Garma to blame his death on the misfortune of his birth! The coldness of that line aside, now we REALLY want to know what this guy is about. What's his connection to the royal Zabi family? Char is a mystery to be solved, and he's a damn interesting one with a, in my opinion, very solid conclusion. And moreover, Char is just COOL. There's not a lot of elements of Mobile Suit Gundam that I'd say were "cool," like how the Giga Drill Break from Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann was "cool." But when Char stabbed a GM with Z'Gok and then crouched in front of the explosion? That was cool. Char and Amuro's final duel on A Baoa Qu? Very emotional, but also very cool. Char shooting a bazooka straight through Kycilia's face? That. Was. COOL. Like with Amuro, Char's character doubles down in complexity during Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, but just like with Amuro, I think the story presented with Char here was absolutely fantastic.
Char really only has one character that's truly in his corner, and that's Lalah Sune. Lalah is a weird character to pin down because all of her episodes are heavily focused on exploring the concept of Newtypes, and so it skimps out on fleshing out Lalah as a character. Within this specific show, as a plot device Lalah is fine, but she's referred to a lot in follow up material, and the fact that her entire character is that she really loves Char and mind-fucked Amuro a couple of times means that every time she's brought up after this, my reaction is just going to be like "Oh yeah, she was a character wasn't she," rather than whatever emotional reaction the creators were hoping to elicit. Even her introduction in episode 34 when she meets Amuro made me think I'd skipped an episode. They were doubling down on the psychic Newtype stuff from second 1 of that episode, so perhaps it was supposed to be jarring? Either way, Lalah is a character that didn't leave a particularly strong impression on me, but I don't hate her either. "The Duel in Texas" is probably my favorite episode, and her inclusion in that wasn't a detriment. Pretty much all the episodes she was in were good, she has a really weird and unique mobile armor, and she's voiced by Keiko Han (who played Luna starting in Sailor Moon R), so I can't hate her. Aside from Lalah, Char technically fought alongside many members of the principality of Zeon. Of course at the very top there's the royal Zabi family. For the most part, each member was quite one note in a very "Super Sentai villain organization" kind of way, but like Sentai's better villain orgs, as a unit of the Zabi family had a pretty interesting dynamic. Each member had a different creed that they lived by, and applied themselves to the cause from various degrees of sincerity. Gihren wanted to be space Hilter, while Garma wasn't that interested in the war and just wanted to marry the girl of his dreams and look at his giant portrait of himself in his office all day probably. Tomino's realistic portrayal of war extended even to the villains, which made them an interesting bunch to watch crumble internally. Of course, there were many of "villain of the week" type generals in the Zeon army. There was everyone's favorite Zeon commander, Ramba "This is No Zaku Boy" Ral, who was easily the best part of the Amuro Desertion arc. Hamon, his wife/girlfriend/side-piece, was an unexpected but interesting addition to the arc as well. You also have M'Quve, who's one note trait of being really into fine china and Lady Kycilia wasn't that interesting, but he was pretty much the best choice as the primary antagonist for "The Duel in Texas." I think Char really was the best antagonist, but Zeon was a pretty good villain faction all in all.
Meanwhile, on Team Amuro we have the crew of the White Base. I say "Team Amuro" somewhat in jest, since they really weren't all gung-ho for him at the start. They had to come together as a team over time, particularly after the death of Ryu. Ryu's death was easily one of the cheesiest moments in the entire show, but I liked him as a character. But easily my favorite of the White Base bunch was Kai Shinden. At the beginning of the show, the crew as a whole loathes Kai's cowardly, shit-talking, smart-ass nature, and they make sure to let him know every chance they get. But Kai doesn't care, continuing to crack one liners and make light of the hellish situation he finds himself in. "Back into the coffin" might be the most underappreciated line in the entire Gundam franchise. So he spends most of the early series cracking one liners, getting punched in the face, and almost dying in the Guncannon, but then in episodes 27 and 28, he finally gets his time to shine. The two episode spy arc was easily one of the best of the show, with Kai's character arc front and center. I think I enjoyed Kai's desertion arc more than Amuro's previous, and that's not just because Char was involved during Kai's episodes. Similar to Amuro's desertion, Kai's episodes really gave a deep dive into the character. Kai is dead tired, worked to the bone, at the face of death on an episode to episode basis, and now the military is roping him into their nonsense. But his interactions with Miharu and her siblings really bring Kai from the comic relief jackass to a full character on the same level as Amuro and Char. "Back into the coffin" made me love Kai, but "I guess I really am a coward" made Kai my favorite. He's the best, and I honestly like him as much as, if not more, than Char, and that's sayin' somethin'. The rest of the White Base crew was pretty good as well. Bright's arc of trying to figure out how to coral a bunch of rookies and civilians was interesting. Fraw Bow's journey mirrors Amuro's from normal civilian to veteran military soldier minus the psychic Newtype powers and genoicding of Zakus, but I would've liked her to have more screentime to really emphasize her side of the story. I thought the White Base kids, Kikka, Letz and Katz, were going to be extremely annoying, but they ended up being a fun little comic relief troupe, a welcome addition to the overall bleak atmosphere of the show. I definitely had some key favorite characters of the Federation forces, and overall I think the White Base crew were a great supporting cast for the show.
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| Album cover of Mobile Suit Gundam: Gundam On The Battlefield. |
Listening to the soundtrack while watching Mobile Suit Gundam is an interesting experience that I can only describe as being in perfect harmony one second and then being thrown about like a ragdoll the next. It's a really good soundtrack, and I honestly do like the whole album in a vacuum, but listening to the soundtrack as its set in the show often time felt like someone somewhere in the chain of command was unaware that this was supposed to be a space war epic featuring the horrors of war. I mean just from the opening song, you have this bombastic opening that makes you feel like you're tuned into a new season of Yatterman or Muteking the Dancing Hero. Meanwhile the ending song "Eien ni Amuro" is somber, a little tearful, and feels perfectly in touch with the usual tone of the show. Now don't get me wrong, I love "Tobe! Gundam" and will not hesitate to belt it out whenever an anime convention's karaoke room has it on the song list, but the song itself is so at odds with the actual show that it almost feels like its trying to trick you as a false front. Like here's this fun bombastic intro song, and oop, now Amuro is suffering alone with PTSD. In the OST proper, you have stuff like "Pathetic, but Decisive" which can really set the mood for a tense scene, the first part of "From Sleep" which gets you ready to watch another episode of the space war epic, and my favorite song "Amuro's Journey", which really makes you feel the despair of war. Meanwhile, whenever the second part of "From Sleep" or "Gallant Char" kicks in for a battle as Amuro screams in rage, or "Gundam on the Earth" plays while the narrator asks if I can survive, I find myself torn between the horrors of war and the boppingness of the OST. I actually listened to "Gallant Char" in full for the first time for this article, and the fact that it goes full disco dance party halfway through is almost more wild than any of the Newtype shenanigans in the show proper. Even in spite of the writing and music being at odds some times, there are some really really strong tracks in this. "A New Awakening" is very close to being my favorite song on the album. To me its one of the songs that really captures the whole essence of Gundam. And there are plenty of songs on the OST that are of its caliber, like "The Menace of Zeon". All in all it's an amazing soundtrack with some absolutely stellar stand-out tracks that go all in on the classic 70's instrumentation, and while the fact that it can be campy as hell while characters are fighting for their lives and having breakdowns is probably a part of its long lasting appeal, I can't help but feel that later shows soundtracks nailed down the tone better... like Mobile Fighter G Gundam for example.
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| Plastic Crack. |
There's an old meme about how some people who watch real robot anime like Gundam miss the themes and story because they're too focused on the cool robot action. I like to think that I don't fall into this group of people, but damn Gundam has some sick robots. Of course, the titular Gundam is a classic machine that any anime fan should recognize. The samurai aesthetic is clean, and while it doesn't exactly fit the "military vehicle aesthetic" like the Zaku II or the later Gundam Mk. II, I still think it works nicely as a middle ground between the more extravagant designs of super robots before it like Mazinger Z and Getter Robo, and the much more subdued designs of later real robot anime like the Ingram series from Mobile Police Patlabor and the Scopedogs from Armored Trooper Votoms. Zeon's classic machine, the Zaku II, is an equally classic machine that Zorak has made an excellent video on that everyone should check out. It was a bit hard getting used to Zeon's other grunt unit lines, especially the weird runty ones like the Z'gok and the Acguy, but they grew on me over time. Big Zam is mostly known as a meme, and it definitely has an odd design, being a giant clam on legs. But the level of threat it brings in the actual show is almost unmatched, and its final moments with Dozle Zabi at the helm were a sight to behold and one of the many many highlights of the back-half of the show. My personal favorite machine in the show was the Zeong, the legless bastard with big, non-rocket punch style detachable hands with finger lasers. The fact that the classic mono-eye design used for the first Zeon mecha, the Zaku II, shows up again for the final boss was a perfect touch. Finger lasers are one of then most under-utilized mecha attacks, and Zeong's were as cool as any other. Its the first weapon designed for Newtypes, and I think its still the best. Not every design in the original series is a total win though. Many Gundam anime and spin-off material have weird looking robots, and 0079 is no exception. I already said the Gundam is a classic design, but once you stick the B-Parts on it, it just looks silly. The plane-taur look is strange to say the least and looks completely impractical. Even from a toy design standpoint, it just looks ridiculous, although I can't say I wouldn't have wanted to play with it as a kid. On a similar note, The G-Armor setup is also completely wild, though less in a "it looks totally stupid" sense. I watched that machine fly around on screen for over a dozen episodes, and you still couldn't convince me that that beast of a tank with wings could ever lift off, not even in space, let alone on Earth. But easily the most ridiculous of the White Base's arsenal is the Gunperry. The Gunperry isn't really all that insane of a design, considering it's fundamentally just a cargo plane. But the hover wings jutting off the front and the sides just looks so damn odd. The Gunperry shows up in a few other Gundam series, and it looks incredibly stupid every time. I might be the only one in this camp, but dammit, the Gunperry has a bad design, and I will gladly die on this hill! But overall I loved the mechs and vehicles in this show. Shout out to the Big Uncle.
The Rise and Fall and Rise of 0079
Despite everything it had going for it, Mobile Suit Gundam was looking like it would be cut short due to low ratings and poor toy sales. However, the power of fujoshi and female otaku's love for heartthrob ace pilot Char Aznable was able to keep the series going for four more episodes beyond the original cancellation date. When Char returned, enthusiasm for the show shot up dramatically, with many fan magazines suddenly coming out thunderous praise of the show. The hype rode well past the end of the show, and during rebroadcasts, the show reached a maximum audience rating of 29%, up from the 5% low during the original broadcast. The show was re-packaged as a movie trilogy which aired in Japanese theaters from 1981 to 1982. In 1980, Bandai purchased the toy rights for Gundam from the original holder Clover. They then created Gunpla, made a metric fuckton of money, and started a plastic crack addiction that spread to the entire planet. The Gundam series continues today as a massive financial behemoth, the 17th most financial successful media franchise of all time.
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| Tomino in 2017, photo credit Ollie Barder. |
Director Tomino went on to have a massively successful career, not just directing Gundam's theatrical adaptations and sequels, but entirely new mecha anime such as Space Runaway Ideon in 1980, Combat Mecha Xabungle in 1982, Heavy Metal L-Gaim in 1984, Brain Powerd in 1998, and Overman King Gainer in 2002. In 2014, 15 years after his last TV Gundam anime work, he directed Gundam Reconguista in G, a work that is currently getting the original Gundam anime's theatrical adaptation treatment. On October 26, 2021, Yoshiyuki Tomino was one of the twenty people awarded the Person of Cultural Merit award. Animation Director Yasuhiko Yoshizaku would be heavily involved in anime production up until the mid-90s, working with Tomino on all of his Gundam projects up until the 1991 movie Mobile Suit Gundam F91. After that point, he would turn to focus more on drawing manga, a field in which he achieved much critical acclaim. In 2015, his manga Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, which began publication in 2001, began being adapted into an OVA series. Mechanical Designer Ookawara Kunio stayed with the Gundam brand, but he also continued to support robot anime wherever they were being made. In 1990s, he contributed mechanical designs to the Brave series (1990-1997), Shippuu! Iron Leaguer (1993), Ginga Hyouryuu Vifam 13 (1998), and Betterman (1999). Throughout the following decades, his name and style would come out wherever giant robots and spaceships could be found, such in 2004 with Choujuushin Gravion Zwei, 2006 with Super Robot Wars OG: Divine Wars, 2013 with Valvrave the Liberator, 2014 with Space Dandy, and even 2016 with the Prism Paradise movie Minna no Akogare - Let`s Go PriParis (making him the sole holder of the production credit "PriMecha Design"). Most recently he did the mechanical designs for this season's Gundam Breaker Battlogue.
The music team of Matsuyama Yuushi and Watanabe Takeo continued to produce music up until the early 90s, with their final official work together being on 1992's Candy Candy. Matsuyama does pop up one more time in anime history though, credited with music production of 2014's Japan Animator Expo. Matsuyama Yuushi passed away on April 7, 2017, and Watanave Takeo passed away on June 2, 1989. Screenwriter Hoshiyama Hiroyuki continued to write for giant robot anime such as Muteki Robo Trider G7 in 1980 and Fang of the Sun Dougram in 1981. He also wrote for some legendary classic anime, such as City Hunter and Dirty Pair, both from 1987. He continued to write for anime up until 2002, with his final project being for the movie Turn A Gundam II: Moonlight Butterfly. Hoshiyama Hiroyuki passed away on February 2, 2007. Screenwriter Matsuzaki Ken'ichi kept his feet mostly in mecha anime, doing series composition for Super Dimension Fortress Macross in 1982 and Super Dimension Century Orguss in 1983. Additionally, he wrote about a fifth of the episodes from 1987's Metal Armor Dragonar, and his most recent work was a small handful of episodes for 2005's Zoids Genesis. Araki Yoshihisa, like his fellow screenwriters, kept his hands with mecha anime. He also wrote for Trider G7 with Hoshiyama and Xabungle with Tomino. He also did some brief work as a shoujo anime writer, writing the first episode of Attacker You! in 1984 and three episodes of Mahou no Idol Pastel Yumi in 1986. His most recent work was the screenplay for the 1994 OVA adaptation of Grappler Baki. Screenwriter Yamamoto Yuu was the odd one out of the group, opting to mostly write for one off OVAs and children's anime rather than stick strictly to giant robot anime. He did write a bunch of episodes for the J9 trilogy of mecha anime from 1981 to 1983, but that's pretty much all of his mecha work. He mostly wrote for long-running kids comedy anime like Perman (526 episodes between 1983 and 1985) and Obake no Q-Tarou (510 episodes between 1985 and 1987), not that he wrote every episode of those shows though. His final work was the majority of the episode scripts for the 2001 TV anime Gyouten Ningen Batseelor. Yamamoto Yuu passed away on November 25, 2018.
Mobile Suit Gundam is a anime that I think everyone should give a shot. Beyond just being one of the cornerstones of anime history, its a really solid series that has a lot of good, weird, and interesting ideas that make it a worthwhile watch, in spite of how many times the core Gundam story has been retold over the years. Sure, the animation can be a bit wonky even for its age, but I think its worth the time of anyone who calls themselves an anime fan, especially if they like giant robots and mental anguish. Next time, we'll be jumping forward six years our time and eight years UC time to 1985/UC0087 for the direct follow up series, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. 'Til then.
SOURCES & FURTHER READING
1. AniDB Listing: https://anidb.net/anime/715
2. "Making Gundam: The Inside Story" Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7N6MAP_1z_k
3. The "Mobile Suit Breakdown" Podcast Overview of 0079: https://gundampodcast.com/episode/0a46bc695a9a429d/1-36-implications
4. "Inside the Boy Inside the Robot: Mobile Suit Gundam and Interiority" Thesis Paper: https://scholarsbank.uoregon.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/1794/23156/Moore_oregon_0171N_12036.pdf?sequence=1
5. "Why Mobile Suit Gundam '79 (Still) Matters" Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J88z3ekdrns
6. "Watching Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: The First 10 Episodes" Blog Post: https://mattdemers.com/gundam-0079-the-first-10-episodes/
[Editor's Corner] 4,934 words, the new longest article on this blog. What a behemoth. I'll be honest, this is the only post so far that I've been nervous about. Mobile Suit Gundam is an extremely well-known, well-regarded, well-covered series. Literary analysis has never really been my strongest skill, and I'm not exactly an expert on animation and art theory either, so I was worried that my excessively long, mostly skin deep analysis of the show would be something of a waste considering how deeply the show has been dung into in the past. But I feel like with this article, I've taken a big step towards really cementing the way I'd like to write about anime. As I watch and re-watch more and more stuff, I think the deeper more interesting takes will come, but I think I've found the format. I like the way it looks and feels. Speaking of feels, did you notice the extra touches on this one? The section titles, the italicized titles? Actually having a spoiler warning finally?? I really did put in the bare minimum that would be required of an academic paper work, so I hope it made the reading experience a bit better than normal, despite the length. I'd like to shoot to have the next article out by either the end of this month or the beginning of the next. The next article I publish won't actually be Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, although that will be my next anime retrospective. So look forward to the next piece, until next time, take care of yourself. [Editing pass finished at 7:33pm 11/03/21]
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