After a couple of years of setbacks and delays thanks to
the Pandemic, the Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise is coming back in a big
way. Sure we did get Gundam Hathaway
last year but in 2022 we’ll be getting a brand new TV Series, Mobile Suit
Gundam: The Witch of Mercury, as well as another new movie (remember when there
was an almost 20 year gap in between original theatrical releases and now it’s
one every 3-4 years?). This new movie,
however, isn’t 100% new though. The
announcement of a film based on Cucuruz Doan’s Island got my attention the
second I heard it and now that new info is coming to light…I have some thoughts
to share, and I’ve narrowed them down to five.
Ergo, todays Top 5 Wednesday will cover my Top 5 Thoughts on Mobile Suit
Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, which is currently due out in Japan in the
Summer of 2022.
The original Mobile Suit Gundam TV Series clocks in at 42
episodes…or at least in every US release.
In Japan the show ran for 43 episodes but one episode in particular was
considered so terrible that Yoshiyuki Tomino pretty much disowned it and tried
his best to make sure it never saw the light of day after its initial
broadcast…that’s Cucuruz Doan’s Island.
Now copies have made their way online and I even saw an Parody version
in GuttedWren Studios’ Mobile Suit Gundam Abridged, so its feasible to watch
this lost episode.
Plus who know’s, if
the movie does well enough maybe the episode Tomino really wants to forget
might end up as an extra feature on the Blu Ray
#4-It’s a Retelling of The Lost Episode
The Cucuruz Doan episode in the Anime happens fairly
early on after the White Base arrives on Earth.
Amuro Ray gets lost during a patrol and stumbles upon the island where
the titular Zeon pilot is looking after three children he orphaned during a
battle.
The Movie looks to be keeping
the general premise but is changing up the timeline in a way that’s…well
odd.
According to released synopsis, the
film will pick up just after the Battle of Jaburo which ends the third act of
the TV Series and see The White Base discovering Doan’s Island while on route
to Odessa, the most important Zeon base on Earth, for a new offensive.
In the TV Series, the Battle of Odessa
happens around the halfway mark.
All
these changes are kind of baffling and I wonder if we’ll see that battle happen
in the movie…more on that later.
For
now, this brings up another sticking point with me.
#3-Why TF is Sleger here?
Sleger Law is a character I don’t have a lot of love for
and see as one of the few weak elements of the original Gundam Series.
He’s assigned to the White Base just after
the Battle of Jaburo and stays with the crew until his death in the Battle of
Solomon a few episodes later.
Sleger is
essentially a replacement for lost and cherished crewmate Ryu Jose, who
sacrificed himself to save Amuro from the last of the Ramba Ral Unit.
Sleger has none of Ryu’s wisdom or charm and
comes off as an oaf who isn’t shy from slapping guys or girls to make a point.
They even force a romance between him and
Mirai Yashima just to make Bright Noa a bit jealous.
Tl;dr, Sleger is a dumb character and I cant
believe the stories being reworked so they can bring him back when Ryu is one
of the best characters in Gundam who deserves to come back for another story.
#2-How Long is the Movie?
So this is where the possibility of seeing the Battle of
Odessa comes in.
There have been short
Gundam Movies in the past.
The 08
th
MS Team film, Miller’s Report, is just shy of an hour and, is itself, just an
extended version of an episode from the OVA.
Depending on what the creative force behind Cucuruz Doan’s Island have
in store, could this just be a quick revisit to the One Year War, maybe
clocking in at 45mins, aka the average length of a lot of Shonen Films?
Gundam Hathaway was just over 90 minutes and
some of the longer Gundam films have been compilation features like the
original Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy which average in at two and a half
hours.
How the heck are they gonna pad
out a 23 minute TV Episode?
My guess is,
like I said, more fight scenes including the Battles of Jaburo and Odessa and
maybe set up to send the White Base into space to join in on Operation Star
One, the offensive campaign to take the fight into Zeon’s home territory.
I guess we’ll have to wait for the actual
runtime to come up with more theories.
#1-A Possible Tease of Bigger Things to Come?
So not only does this movie have connections to a lost
Gundam Episode, it was also the subject of a spin off Manga from Gundam: The
Origin.
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin
MSD: Cucuruz Doan's Island ran for five volumes (mustve done a lot of backstory
and post Anime episode work on Doan and the kids).
And, as we all know, The Origin itself, or
rather the Origins Arc of The Origin, was adapted into a six episode OVA that
remains one of the best entries in the series.
If we’re revisiting and reworking old Mobile Suit Gundam tales…maybe I’m
jumping to conclusions but with the 45
th Anniversary of the
franchise coming up in 2024…could we be seeing some set up for a full OVA
quality adaptation of The Origin?
Like I
said, The Origin is more than just a prologue, said prologue comes in around
the middle of the Manga and the rest of the original Gundam story plays out
more or less the same…maybe some difference, idk I haven’t read it, to my
shame.
Ever since The Origin became and
OVA, fans have been wondering if the time has come to go back to the show that
started it all with new animation and a chance to show the battles in greater
scope and detail.
I’m one of those fans
and dammit…this needs to happen.
So I
guess I should hope for the best for Cucuruz Doans (seriously spelling that
name is a pain) Island.
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