Wednesday, December 7, 2016

T5W#69-Top 5 Gundam Stories I Want to be Told (in Anime form)


Almost 37 years in, the Gundam Franchise is seeing no signs of slowing down its output.  Even today, it’s in as good, if not better, shape than it has ever been.  Iron Blood Orphans is airing it’s second season in Japan, as well as it’s first season on Toonami.  Gundam: The Origin just released it’s fourth episode and looks to continue the tale in 2017.  And once the first season of IBO has wrapped up early next year, Toonami’s looking to air the tv version of Gundam Unicorn: RE0096.  I’m happy, I really am.  My favorite Anime franchise continues to grow and flourish.  And while I know plans are probably in the works for what comes after Iron Blooded Orphans, I wonder about the stories that haven’t been told that I might want to see down the line.  Call it an early Christmas list, but here are five stories not yet told in the Gundam universe I’d like to see on the screen somewhere down the line.

 

#5-Full Length Gundam F91 Series
As many people know, Gundam F91 was meant to be a big relaunch point for the Gundam Franchise following the end of the first era of Gundam (1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam through 1988’s Gundam: Char’s Counterattack).  Yoshiyuki Tomino sought to create a new 50 episode series set in the far off Universal Century as a fresh start point.  With the theatrical success of Char’s Counterattack, the studio decided to nix the idea in favor of another movie.  As you also know…this didn’t turn out so well (See my review of Gundam F91 here: http://gundamanimeblog.blogspot.com/2015/06/mobile-suit-gundam-f91.html).  But what did Tomino have in mind originally?  How would the journey of Seabook and Cecily have gone if it was a TV series or a trilogy of films.  I think there’s either a manga or novel continuation written by Tomino that covers this.  Still, Gundam F91 is a sadly, wasted potential entry that deserves to have it’s full and unaltered vision shared with the fans…if they even still care about this one.

 

#4-Gundam Seed The Movie
I hate Gundam Seed Destiny, many of you know this.  Even so, the prospect of a Seed movie always intrigued me.  Originally, the project was announced following the end of Seed Destiny.  Details were scarce, especially the plot.  But Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, along with several big names from Seed and Seed Destiny, had been confirmed to be major players.  More importantly, the Seed Movie would have been the first, full length original Gundam movie since Gundam F91. However, delays kept mounting (eventually Gundam 00 The Movie would come out) and, sadly, Seed and Seed Destiny’s chief screenwriter passed away this past year.  Nevertheless, I’ll always wonder what this tale would have been and if it could have somehow redeemed the Seed universe…killing Shin Asuka off in the first five minutes would have been a good start.

 

#3-Gundam Unicorn Sequel
The conclusion of Gundam Unicorn left a bookmark at a pretty important turning point in the Universal Century.  The revelation of Laplace’s Box seemed set to upset the balance of power and when last we saw the Nael Argama and Banagher Links, aka the more or less protectors of the box, they were headed away from Federation forces after them and their game changing discovery.  Now up until Unicorn, there was a 30 year period of the Universal Century between Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack and Mobile Suit Gundam F91 that hadn’t been explored.  Imagine the ramnifications of the Laplace’s Box revelation.  I’m not saying it could spark another all out war but it definitely set in motion great changes for the Colonies, Earth Sphere and Newtypes.  Where do things go from here and how will they set society up for where we find it in F91 (relatively peaceful)?  Even if it doesn’t involve the cast from Unicorn, though I’d like to see Mineva back at least, this is an era of Gundam that is begging to be checked out.

 

#2-Gundam Wing: Episode Zero
While this is a manga (and a good one at that), Episode Zero was originally intended to be included in the Gundam Wing Anime.  However, time and budget constraints forced these origin stories of the Wing Boys and Girls to be either totally scrapped or cut down immensely and folded into Gundam Wing Endless Waltz.  You’d think with the boom Gundam Wing had in the early 2000’s in the US would have sparked Japan to go back and do an OVA feature on these lost tales, including the ambiguous epilogue to Endless Waltz.  If you haven’t had a chance to read this manga, and can somehow find it, I recommend it highly if you’re a Wing fan.  And if you’re as big a Wing fan as I am, you also hope that one day, Episode Zero becomes a feature length theatrical release, OVA, or TV Series…whichever allows it to be made faster.

 

#1-Sei and Reiji Reunite
Ever since these two parted ways at the end of Gundam Build Fighters, ive wanted their reunion.  Sei and Reiji learned a lot from each other: confidence, friendship, a deeper understanding of Gunpla Battle.  To see a second season of one of the best Gundam series ever go to crap cause it focused on a cast without faith or likeability, was a total gut punch.  It didn’t help that the end of Build Fighters Try-Island Wars, teased Reiji enjoying life with his wife, Aila, and their daughter.  F*** BUILD FIGHTERS TRY!!! What we need is a story where Reiji returns to Sei’s world and the two partake in a new kind of Gunpla Battle.  The game will no doubt have changed but the bond between these two would overcome any and all obstacles that would come their way.  They’re the feel good heart of any Gundam fan.  We need to see them together again and show the world that, unlike Team Try Fighters, they know how to make Gunpla Battle, and Gundam in general, look like a good time.

No comments:

Post a Comment