#i kind of expected something like this to happen since its gundam | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

arkon-z · 9 months

Text

Now that the shine has worn off, I can look over TOTK with a more critical eye. Spoilers below the cut.

TOTK is an excellent game. It's an open world Zelda game done right, even moreso than BOTW, I think. But it can't decide if it's a proper sequel to BOTW or a standalone game in the same setting. Like, there's a lot of continuity, and lots of things progress as if time has passed, but some things are ignored and we're just not supposed to question it. I understand that they have to write it with the knowledge that every game is someone's first Zelda game, and they can't rely too much on a player's prior knowledge, because some people just won't have any. It wants to be a good sequel, but it just won't commit. Let's take it point by point.

Point 1 - What happened to all the Sheikah tech?

Ancient Sheikah technology is a huge, critical part of BOTW. The Shrine of Resurrection is why Link is still alive. The shrines were built to train the destined hero. The towers... were just kind of there (they had a believable explanation in HW:AOC though). The Divine Beasts were the main threat for most of the game. Ancient Sheikah tech is absolutely the driving force of the plot in BOTW. And in TOTK, all of it is gone and no one mentions it at all.

But it's still there in some capacity! Purah re-aged herself somehow, right? And there's that power switch Josha used to turn on the skyview towers; that's obviously Sheikah tech. The towers themselves seem to employ a lot of tech, so you could argue that Purah cannibalized what materials she could find to build them, and you could also argue that the original shrines sank back into the ground or otherwise deactivated once Calamity Ganon was gone. But it still doesn't explain the Divine Beasts being missing. How do you lose 4 mountain-sized animal Gundams in just a few years? What happened; did people just bury them again?

How it could have been fixed - If Purah really did scavenge all the tech she could find for the skyview towers, have her say so. You don't think she would have bragged about it? Even if it was just to take the credit for what she told other people to do? Actually, especially if she told other people to do it? You know she would have.

Also, make the Divine Beasts set pieces. Put them somewhere out of the way on the map in their respective regions and just them into landscape. Give someone a couple of lines about, "Yeah, once Calamity Ganon was gone, they just stopped working." They could be exploitable, but otherwise inactive. They'd serve as a kind of memorial and reminder of the Calamity. Which leads to my next point:

Point 2 - Why doesn't anyone talk about what happened?

I know that the story has to stand on its own because you can't rely on what the player knows going into it, but this was not the way to do it. TOTK is a direct sequel that refuses to commit. Some characters remember Link, but not all the ones you'd expect. Giving him Tony Hawk Syndrome was pretty funny, though. And while everyone talks about the Upheaval and the chasms, almost no one says anything about the Calamity.

Sure, the Upheaval is the new hotness, since it's directly affecting them in the moment, but very little time has passed between the two games. It's never said directly (this game has such commitment issues), but based on the ages of some of the kids, Mattison specifically, it can't have been more than 5 or 6 years. Even so, they should still say something. More people should be like, "Gosh, it was so nice to have some peace after the Calamity disappeared, but that sure didn't last long!" Or, "Man, just when things were going well with the peace in Hyrule, this Upheaval happens!"

Instead, they talk about it like it happened a long time ago, and the game even encourages you think the same way. The 'nostalgic hairband' and 'nostalgic fabric' nudge you to believe it happened a long, long time ago, rather than what seems to be about 5-6 years. NPCs talk about the events of BOTW like it happened in the previous decade. One of the few things that acknowledges the Calamity is the school quest in Hateno village, where the pre-teen kids demand proof of 'this so-called Calamity' because they weren't around to see it, so how do they know it happened? Like, come on. Even if they weren't born when it happened, they would have heard stories about it from their parents.

TOTK acts like it's trying to distance itself from BOTW so it can stand on its own, but it can't quite do it. It relies on so many established things that not acknowledging them feels so weird.

How it could have been fixed - stop acting like it's this disaster from a previous decade. Have more people comment directly on the situation, or remark on what life was like during the last game. They could even express frustration that they had just gotten their lives back after the Calamity and now this!

Point 3 - What about the Champions?

In BOTW, people loved to talk about the Champions. How cool they were, how much they did for their people and how much they were missed after they were killed in the Calamity. It makes sense for people to be fixated on them - Hyrule has been stuck in a kind of cultural stasis ever since the war from a century ago. Calamity Ganon is still there and thanks to his control of the Beasts and the Guardians, it is still an active threat. The people can't build new villages or explore very much because it's still dangerous. They want the Champions back because they represent hope and safety, which is something they desperately need. So during that whole century, they've become legends and the people revere them, telling their stories to keep hope alive. Everyone in the regional zones will gush about their respect Champion given the opportunity.

In TOTK, you're lucky if you even find one of them mentioned by name in a book.

Again, this is not what people are like. You don't spend a century talking about a local hero and then forget them all at once. There are some sideways hints in certain lines of dialog, like maybe an NPC mentions the weapons of their people's Champion, but no direct names. It's TOTK pretending that many years have passed by making it seem like the people have moved on. But they shouldn't! The Champions are heroes! Everyone talked about them, there were memorials* and songs; some of the older NPCs even remembered them. Not nearly enough time has passed for people to forget them like that. Link himself should be a little upset that no one is even talking about them anymore - he remembers the Champions. They're one of the few things he does remember from his previous life, to say nothing of the fact that he freed their spirits from their respective Beasts. It's insulting in every respect, especially from a meta standpoint. Nintendo went out of their way to hype up the Champions for BOTW in all their marketing, then killed them off before the game started and to have everyone just stop talking about them is so bizarre.

How it could have been fixed - I know this is for the sake of newcomers to the series. TOTK is going to be someone's first Zelda game, and you don't want to alienate them by assuming they know who the Champions are. So what they should have done was still have the people talk about the Champs, though it doesn't have to be as much. In addition, there should be one or two NPCs in town who will mention them directly, and they should have a dialogue prompt for Link to ask about them. This is not hard; both games do this everywhere. It's all you need - a brief history lesson on these important characters from the previous game to satisfy new players, and an acknowledgement of them to satisfy returning players.

Actually, you could do the same to help out with point 2. Each of the towns should have one or two NPCs who mention something about how things have changed since Calamity Ganon was defeated. Link can ask for more info, and it's the same deal - bring new players up to speed, satisfy returning players who wonder why the hell no one is talking about the previous century of plot. And they could have some fun with it too! They could talk about this 'incredible hero who saved Hyrule' and when Link says 'that was me btw', they just scoff and insist that there's no way some short, skinny guy like him could be the hero.

That covers most of the issues I had with continuity between the games. My thoughts on the rest of TOTK's story will have to be in another post.

*Urbosa got done dirty in BOTW. Mipha and Daruk both got statues, Revali had a platform named after him, but what did Urbosa get? Nothing, unless I'm not remembering it.

#botw #totk #totk spoilers #fan analysis #totk discussion

10 notes · View notes

sturmovik · 2 years

Text

Gundam: The Witch from Mercury Ep. 2 impressions

[G-Witch episode 2 spoilers]

Shet ang ganda! There was no action at all this episode but I think it's better than Ep. 1. The emotional beats, the plot + character development, the art, worldbuilding, the voice performances. Woooo my god this anime has exceeded hype so far!

Poor bb Suletta can't catch a break. But alas, that is what it means to be a Gundam protagonist. I love Miorine too, good subversion on the damsel/princess in distress trope imo; even if she's trapped in her father's corpo nightmare kingdom, she's asserting herself and trying everything she can to take back control of her life.

Oh, I also noticed that this timeline does have unmanned/AI-operated mobile suits like Gundam Wing. But unlike Wing's mobile dolls, which were super-efficient killing machines, the drone suits here seem to be more like fodder. But it's too early in the show to say for sure.

Something to note about the red MS after the ED: it deployed what looked like its own Bits or "drones", perhaps its own GUND system that allows it to control autonomous weapons. My guess is that in providing Gundam Aerial (w/c uses illegal tech) an avenue to exist, the other corpos will start bringing out their illegal GUND tech using similar excuses/loopholes, kicking off an arms race and escalation of tensions.

Now I wanna talk about the worldbuilding since this episode we get to learn more about the world of the Gundam Ad Stella (AS) timeline. I really like it so far. I think it’s a vision of a future that could happen if people like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos are allowed to run rampant in space. Just look at how they run their companies now; if they expand to outer space with similar impunity, they'll turn it into an authoritarian corporate dystopia just like AS Gundam.

The trend in recent Gundam AUs (like IBO and WfM) seems to be putting emphasis on powerful private institutions like corporations holding authority in outer space, rather than state actors like the Federation and Zeon in the UC*, and I think this is a reflection of how Gundam interprets our present-day trends and projects them into the future. Who are the loudest, most influential, and most capable (in terms of resources) advocates of space colonization and exploration today? It’s not world governments, but aggressive megacorporations who see opportunities to expand out to space in order to shape the kind of future they want for themselves. This latest Gundam presents a rather dark projection of that future, and I am interested in seeing how our protagonists will challenge the oppressive systems that hold it together.

*though even the UC has this angle, particularly with the massive earth-space corporation Anaheim Electronics, which from Zeta Gundam onwards holds what is essentially a monopoly on so many industries, mobile suits in particular, giving them power to start and end conflicts with impunity whenever they deem it profitable.

To end on a lighter note, oh my goodness LOOK AT THE ED! you don't draw Suletta and Miorine like that and not expect us to ship them!! (+ in the OP they were holding hands and smiling at each other aaaa) My heart cant take this they’re so cute!!!

Consider me 200% on the hype (and shipping) train for Witch from Mercury. See y’all next week.

#gundam #anime #rambling #the witch from mercury #spoilers #g-witch

25 notes · View notes

skye-huntress · 2 years

Text

The Witch from Mercury Reaction

Episode 5: “Reflection in an Icy Eye”

In hindsight, I should have probably stopped at the ad break to start because I have so many thoughts to organise. A lesson for next week.

First off, I must shamefully admit that I was disappointed that the “Icy Eye” in the title was referring to Elan and not Miorine. I knew it was going to be one or the other, and I was obviously hoping for the latter. We’ll get an episode focused on her, not next week by the looks of it, but we’ll get it.

I was just thinking a few days ago that I wanted to know more about the duelling records of the other members of the Duelling Club, although I was specifically thinking of Elan. I got the feeling that if any one of them could have beat Guel if they wanted, it would be him. In hindsight, I wish I could have been wrong about that.

It seems its rare for him to accept duels, meaning he doesn’t do it on a whim or some ego trip, they have a purpose like testing his skills or the capabilities of his mech.

I’m coming to the conclusion after this episode that everything about Peil Technologies is downright creepy at best. Even the fact that they have four co-CEOs, how does that even happen? Are they quadruplets or something? At this point, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were clones of the same person.

But the major bombshell is Elan being an artificial human that isn’t even referred to by name by the Co-CEOs. Given the number they refer to him by, he was likely not the first “Elan Ceres”. Considering what they were working on, I wouldn’t be surprised if a few “Elan”s died piloting Gundams, only to be replaced by the next “Elan”.

So now we know why he was interested in the “witch”, Suletta. He thought she could be like him, but he needed to confirm whether the reason she could pilot Aerial and live was the mobile suit or the pilot.

Can I just say, I was cringing at how everyone, mostly the girls, just kind of assumed it was a date. At least Suletta didn’t seem entirely convinced. Hopeful, but not convinced. Probably because Elan is straightforward and says what he means, if it was a date, he would say it is.

Also, I have to ask, why is Chuchu’s response to everything always violence?

Jealous Mio-Mio is jealous. Who is surprised? However, she has every right to be concerned about this not-a-date, and unfortunately her concerns were completely validated.

Now Guel’s reaction is interesting. I don’t think it’s so much jealousy as it is genuine concern for Suletta. He’s spent more time around Elan than the girls have, and even if he doesn’t know anything about him, he probably is very weary of him. Meanwhile, he’s seen first hand what an honest, kind-hearted, but sensitive person Suletta is. He might not know what’s exactly is going on, but his intuition is probably telling him something is very off about this situation.

When Elan was doing his subtle interrogation, there were a few interesting details to note. The most noteworthy for me was how Suletta feels when she pilots Aerial, which is implied to be the opposite of what Elan expected, but something we’ve seen first hand. Suletta feels most at ease while piloting Aerial, there’s no apprehension and certainly no pain, and a huge contrast to how Suletta usually acts outside the cockpit. Which is probably very different to how Elan feels about piloting the Gundams he has. The part about Aerial being family is also a critical point, though one that Elan cannot comprehend since he has no family.

Elan believes he found his answer, and it wasn’t the one he wanted. He wanted Suletta to be just like him, someone who could understand him and hus suffering, but she is not “special” at all. Aerial is the special one. At least, that is his conclusion. Those of us who watched the Prologue know it isn’t that simple. What he knows now is still outweighed by that which he still does not know or understand, some of which was actually hinted at in the answers Suletta gave him.

The first time Suletta gets to see any emotion from Elan and its anger. The idiot bought his own lie, and now he feels betrayed. Well, he’s not the only one there. Suletta thought he was kind, now he’s blowing up on her and tearing at the feelings she shared in confidence and she doesn’t understand why.

And then Guel shows up and shit escalates.

And now Suletta knows how Miorine feels. At least all Suletta wanted when she challenged Guel is an apology, she had no idea that Miorine’s engagement was part of the stakes.

Also, can we talk about how Guel repeated Miorine’s line for the last episode what seems to be word for word. The line about the members of three branches being “the enemy”. And of course, Suletta who is honest to a fault immediately points out that includes Guel himself.

Are my eyes mistaken? Did Chuchu really comment about Miorine being “mean-spirited”? She’s not wrong, but this is Chuchu we’re talking about. The girl who wakes up every morning and chooses violence, calling someone else “mean-spirited”.

So as much as I wanted Guel to win this one, he had no chance in hell. And indeed it seems his recklessness and impulsive did work against him.

Elan’s Gundam has its own drones and it will be interesting to see how they stack up against Aerial’s.

So the end there, Guel’s mech was completely immobilised and Elan could have easily finished it quickly. Instead, he chose to cut the whole thing to pieces, slowly and aggressively. And rather than cleanly cut off the blade antenna, he ripped it out with his mechanical hands. This isn’t the same, cool and collected Elan we’ve saw at the start of the episode, he was aggressive and needlessly violent.

And now he’ll get his duel with Suletta, and he has named his stake. Logically speaking, it makes sense that he and Peil Industries want it to learn its secrets, but I also think a huge part of this is because Elan knows it will break Suletta to lose her family, and he wants to hurt her.

And through all of this nonsense, Miorine is completely ignored even though this affects her. As bad as Suletta felt about Guel and Elan fighting over her, this situation is even worse for Miorine because of how there was zero consideration given to her. Suletta didn’t even tell her she agreed to the duel beforehand, and she is supposed to be the considerate one. Even though I know Suletta’s not going to lose, there’s a good chance this causes a rift between them that they’ll have to fix

As for this upcoming duel, Elan has already made one critical mistake, he’s underestimating Suletta. She might not be an artificial human created specifically to pilot Gundams, but there’s a reason why she’s piloting Aerial and not her mother. It was Suletta who first woke Aerial up and formed a connection with her when her ace pilot of a mother couldn’t. It has nothing to do with what she is and everything to do with who she is. Aerial is special, she’s one of a kind, but no one understands like Suletta does. There is some kind of symbiosis between the two

As for Elan himself, I think his revelation has knocked a few screws loose. Which might be a good thing, he’s more likely to make mistakes if his anger gets the better of him. It’s also possible the pain he feels when he ups the Permet score will make it difficult for him to keep a clear head, which is not a problem Suletta has to worry about.

The only thing I’m wondering right now is what Suletta’s stake will be. Knowing her it will probably be something simple like asking Elan to explain to her how he honestly feels, but that’s just pure speculation on my part. She might surprise me.

#the witch from mercury #g witch #g witch spoilers

27 notes · View notes

self-loving-vampire · 1 year

Note

While I'm still not ready to commit to Tsukihime,

I totally watched Witch from Mercury because of you (at least sooner than I had initially intended to.)

What are your thoughts on it?

I'm especially interested in what you thought of Suletta's mom; while it's not explicit per se, I get the vibe that she's full-on manipulating her daughter, which is especially jarring to me given the context of the prequel.

Like what we see of her when Suletta's not around compared to when she is makes it seem as though she's only acting like she was in the prequel when interacting with her, and while it's true both sides of her can be real, either way it's uncomfy because Suletta doesn't seem to be in on whatever her revenge plot is at all.

Similarly, it threw me off when Suletta had a (albeit reasonably) horrified reaction to her mom killing people considering her casual attitude toward combat; after the prequel (and being inadvertently spoiled tbh) I spent the whole series expecting her to casually slaughter people as soon as she got the chance to, and when she didn't I was like 'wait where's the traumatic part?' only for it to be a post-credits stinger lol

It's also interesting that she seems to interact with Aerial as if it's not one but several small children; they vaguely hinted at this with silhouettes of kid her running around playfully (and the reflection of toddler her in the opening). I'm guessing she somehow imprinted on the system in such a way that she's effectively interfacing with her childhood self and that somehow makes her immune to adverse effects or something like that. I wonder if her mom encouraged her to be happy-go-lucky in order to maintain her compatibility or something.

I do wish they would go into more details on how the system works/why she's compatible, (maybe they will later) but regardless they're handling this much better than most entries I've seen. It feels like a fresh take on the established concepts of what separates Newtypes/a Gundam from regular pilots/mobile suits, and I really like that the technology was weaponized prosthetics control software; it's actually a really cool take on why human-shape mecha even if we're meant to just accept that aspect at this point.

Overall this is probably my favorite Gundam, and while I haven't seen them all by a long shot, I really like how the school environment/the duels with the 'princes' provide a gradual introduction to both the faction politics and the Earth/Space conflict; a lot of times Gundam series introduce so many plot points so fast it's too difficult for me to keep up with the intrigue.

[As an aside, the conflicts between earth and space, as well as faction conflict over technology that turns its wielders into political pawns (at a school for combat no less) reminds me of Planetes and Mai-Otome respectively, if you happen to have seen either of those. If you like hard sci-fi I highly recommend the former if you haven't btw]

Speaking of Mai-Otome, I've always been a sucker for princess/knight dynamics, especially when they're both girls, and even if they didn't lean into it as hard as I was expected I was not disappointed.

It also helps that the protagonist's Gundam has modular funnels (which they decided not to call 'funnels' in this show in particular for some reason) as its gimmick; that's always been my favorite weapon mechanic, and I love to see it/again that Suletta talks to them them like a bunch of tiny siblings.

Anyway I'm hyped to see what they do now that we're in the 'open warfare' phase for season 2.

Hm... Not sure I have much to add to this since I haven't seen any other Gundam series that I can remember, so I don't really know what kinds of technologies are a thing in that universe.

I feel like that kind of knowledge would be useful when speculating about what the strange reaction in episode 6 was or why Suletta has high compatibility. It's definitely possible that there is some kind of human mind stored inside and there's definitely hints that could be read that way, I just don't know if that's really a thing that is possible in that setting.

Prospera definitely has a lot of extremely suspicious moments, and I have seen speculation that she might have conditioned or mind controlled Suletta through her catchphrase, and something about her mood and eyes did seem off at the end there.

As an aside, I think that what Suletta did was about as justified as it gets. The person she killed was an armed assassin seconds away from shooting at her young fiance and an injured man, so it could be considered defensive. The troubling part is really that Prospera most likely had a hand in causing that situation to happen in the first place and doesn't seem to mind putting her daughter through it.

She may display more open affection than the other bad parents in the show, but she really seems to treat her child as a tool all the same (just more covertly). We really do need to abolish the family. This kind of thing keeps happening.

Also kind of a tangential thing... I don't know what this says about me but even back when I used to feel empathy I recall not having much of a reaction to my father shooting people in front of me. Specifically, shooting gang members from his car while we were on the way back from buying groceries. No one else in the family seemed to worry too much about it either. He has also separately bragged to me about killing unnamed enemies of his while trying to intimidate me into obedience (unsuccessfully). I feel like my reaction to seeing the guy get splattered would have probably been very different from Miorine's there.

My guess is that living in El Salvador might be desensitizing to varying degrees but that's speculation.

Anyway, if you like that kind of weapon mechanic then you might enjoy playing a Sage in FFXIV (which has a ton of Gundam references according to a friend who loves both of those things). I'm more of a Dark Knight main but I do like playing with these flying beam cannons.

Healer class by the way.

#witch from mercury spoilers #long post

4 notes · View notes

suzukiblu · 3 years

Text

Fic Writer Meme

Tagged by my dear @dancinbutterfly, and like, obviously I will take any excuse to talk about writing.

1) how many works do you have on ao3?

168, although a few of those are podfics that the podficcer credited me as a co-author on. Actually less than I would’ve expected, tbh.

2) what is your total ao3 word count?

1,431,989. Honestly also kinda less than I would’ve expected at this point. I will blame all those old fics I never brought over from LJ and ff.net for this expectation.

3) how many fandoms have you written for, and what are they?

I literally cannot tell you, the ancient ways have been lost to me. I can give you my Ao3 fandoms, though!

Marvel Cinematic Universe

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Overwatch

The Witcher (Netflix)

Young Justice (Cartoon)

Animorphs

Star Wars

Good Omens

Venom

Fantastic Four

Leverage

League of Legends

Daredevil

Supernatural

Care Bears

World of Warcraft

Spider-Man

X-Men

Slender Man Mythos

Additionally, long ago: Naruto, Gundam Wing, Digimon, Ranma ½, Bleach, Inu-Yasha, and many scattered other fandoms of my youth. So, so many others. So I’ve written for 25+ fandoms, at least.

4) what are your top 5 fics by Kudos.

a mark, a mission, a brand, a scar (13004)

I once started out to walk around the world but ended up in Brooklyn (8450)

it’s a long way forward (so trust in me) (6965)

oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me (6818)

if the bad times are coming let ‘em come (5362)

5) do you respond to comments?

Not really these days, though I hoard and treasure them like a freaking DRAGON. I used to respond to all of them but sometimes I’m just not around and then it becomes awkwardly late to reply and also they kinda . . . pile up a bit. I do try to answer all the comments with questions in them, at least, as long as the questions aren’t literally spoilers or anything like that.

6) what’s the fic you’ve written with the angstiest ending?

I don’t usually write super-angsty endings, I think? I don’t FEEL like I usually write super-angsty endings, anyway, at least not these days. I think I did it more often when I was more into, like, drabbles and shortfic. Now I just spend way too long on stuff to give it a downer ending.

The most recent angsty ending I can think of is wanna hold him, maybe I’ll just sing about it, though eventually I did write a sequel to that to soften the blow a bit. And also torment people a bit. Both, technically. Technically both.

7) What’s the fic you’ve written with the happiest ending?

blondes really do have more fun, definitely. It’s very . . . giddy, I guess? What with the gender euphoria and all. There’s angst and heavy emotions in the actual plot but the highs of the happy parts/ending are probably the highest/happiest ones I’ve written, and Supergirl gets everything she wants without having to compromise or give up anything else.

8) do you write crossovers? If so what is the craziest one you’ve ever written?

I write fusion fic more than crossovers, really, but I have written a LOT of fusion fic. Some of it has been weirder than others, tbh, but probably the Avatar: The Last Airbender/Animorphs fusion that I have been lovingly slaving over deserves to be this answer if only for how much extremely sincere effort I have put into it over the years.

9) have you ever received hate on a fic?

Mild hate, but occasionally. I don’t really tend to remember negative comments, tbh, though it does sometimes make me not want to reread the comment section I know they’re in. But a lot of the hate I’ve gotten in the end just seemed like socially-awkward people being unnecessarily blunt instead of just hitting the back button, so I try not to take it personally. Can’t please everyone. Don’t WANT to please everyone, frankly.

10) Do you write smut? What kind?

Yes, and the kind is “a lot”. Sometimes I don’t really feel like it but definitely I have done a lot of it. I try for Feelings and also to be safe, sane, and consensual as much as I can.

11) have you ever had a fic stolen?

I . . . am not sure? Though probably, after being at this for all this time. Someone once told me that someone picked up a fic I’d (at the time) abandoned and just started writing/posting more of it without asking or telling me about it, but I never actually found said fic and I don’t know if that technically counts as “stealing” anyway.

12) have you ever had a fic translated?

A few times, yup, it’s pretty gratifying! I also like to run them back through Google Translate and see what they say, haha.

13) have you ever co-written a fic before?

yoooo @dancinbutterfly, @rainnecassidy! Also done it with a few other people long, LONG ago, but that was back in the LJ era. Don’t think I’ve technically collabed with anyone else lately, although sometimes people will give me ideas for stuff I’m writing or offer suggestions when I’m stuck on a thing, which is very helpful.

14) what’s your favourite ship?

Like . . . per fandom? ‘Cuz we could be here a while. Most recently it’s Jaskier/Geralt, for a while it was Aziraphale/Crowley, DEFINITELY for a while it was Steve/Bucky . . .

You know, I guess technically my all-time favorite ship is actually Naruto/Sasuke, because I made a LOT of friends in Naruto fandom and it actually hugely influenced the end of my teenage years and beginning of my adult life and so, SO much of my writing. So like, if nothing else it wins on influentialness.

15) what’s a WIP that you want to finish but don’t think you ever will?

Let ‘Em Come. @rainnecassidy and I wrote that AU a long-ass time ago now and I never did my half of the sequel fic because I got too distracted with another longfic I was working on at the time and then took a real long fandom break. I always felt kind of bad about it because people seemed to bother her for said sequel more than they bothered ME for it, since her fic was the last posted part. Unfortunately I just don’t have the spoons or the MCU-focus for the research and effort it’d take anymore. Also, like . . . it’d probably be pretty long, so unless I was REAL obsessive about it it’d take a good long while.

Basically I think its time has just passed at this point, alas.

16) what are your writing strengths?

Sex, action, snark, and weird fusion fics. Also making people love things they usually hate, that’s one I get told a lot.

17) what are your writing weaknesses?

Fitting physical descriptions of . . . literally ANYTHING into the story. Just, anything. Physical descriptions are hard.

18) what are your thoughts on writing dialogue in other languages in fic?

I try not to do it, personally, because I know soooooo very little about other languages. Sometimes I’ll sprinkle in a little bit of it, but usually I feel like it’s better to avoid it, personally.

19) what was the first fandom you wrote for?

I literally could not even tell you. The first fandom I REMEMBER writing proper “fic” for was . . . Ranma ½, I think. I thiiiiink. But that was a long-ass time ago and I never even posted it anywhere because those were the days when I despised typing things up beyond all measure, hah. And before that I remember writing Animorphs . . . comics? Storyboards? Something like that. Kind of a cross between the two.

20) what’s your favourite fic you’ve ever written?

I do not know! There’s really just too many, tbh. Some top options are you found me when no one else was looking, best friends means you get what you deserve, clay kids, Avamorphs, handmaiden!Anakin, oh don’t you dare look back, just keep your eyes on me, and . . . and I could go on for a dang MINUTE, honestly, haha, I’m just gonna stop myself here before I get too carried away.

I tag whoever happens to be reading this that wants to be tagged; have fun with it!

#meme #a/b/o #some not sfw links in here #fair warning #long post

8 notes · View notes

tominostuff · 4 years

Text

Oshii Mamoru x Anno Hideaki Char’s Counterattack Fan Club Book

Published: January 1993

Just the first 3 pages as a teaser lol

Influence

Anno: As a creator, I like CCA because you can hear Mr. Tomino’s very genuine voice in it. But Mr. Oshii, you tend to dislike doing that. You try to sugarcoat your true intentions and hide it deep within. So, it’s unexpected that someone like you enjoyed CCA.

Oshii: Well, isn’t it just that? As you said, Mr. Tomino’s raw voice is all out in the open.

Anno: Yes. It’s very direct. I think sensitive people may even harbor hatred for it.

Oshii: (Kazunori) Itou-kun apparently stopped watching 5 minutes in. When he heard the first “heavenly punishment” line, he couldn’t follow along anymore and stopped (laughs). Since he used to be at Sunrise, he probably sees more.

So [whether or not you like the movie] is probably decided by what kind of reaction you’d have to hearing lines like 修正 “correction” or 粛清 “purge” or 天誅 “heavenly punishment.” Since there’s bound to be many people who have a dislike towards words like that. Especially older people react towards “purge” and “correction.” For the pre-war faction, “correction” meant military lynching and for people after the 70s, “correction” means demonstrator/political radicals or controlled lynching. There’s also the Red Army (JRA) issue as well.

If it were a movie, they may have not been bothered by it but since it’s an animation. There is a gap between the raw human intentions and the drawn world. And that actually makes a bigger impact. So for people who dislike seeing undiluted emotions show up on screen, they just can’t do it.

Anno: I wasn’t bothered by it.

Oshii: I think you and I were making things during the awkward off season of animation. People like Miya-san (Miyazaki Hayao) who were swept along by Toei and made animations for kids versus people who were pursuing movies and ended up in an anime studio...our generation of people is the in-between, so we understand both sides. We are caught between both the part that’s making shows for kids and the part that wants to make movies that we are personally satisfied with. So, depending on where you place the center of balance, you end up making a completely different thing.

On one hand, I felt that this movie could only be accepted by people like that. The older folk just thought it was bad. People in the anime industry especially. And for younger folk, they don’t know how to process an undiluted political world like that one. Despite all of this, the theaters were pretty full. And that’s probably due to the influence of Gundam.

It was around the same time as Patlabor. Even though Mr. Tomino did whatever he wanted in Gundam, and I worked on Patlabor with the same Shochiku, when the high ups at Shochiku came to the press release for the previous Patlabor installment, they just said “I didn’t understand anything” and left. “Nothing made sense.” They were grumbling, “but robot anime originally was like this” as they went home. Which I think was thanks to Gundam (laughs).

Even so, I was impressed that a script like CCA was greenlit. How could they release something like that. Probably because they weren’t watching it very seriously. Everyone is so enchanted by the surface-level space war aspect that there’s very few people who accurately grasp Mr. Tomino’s intentions.

Anno: I didn’t understand it the first time I watched it.

Oshii: The idea itself is not anything exceptional. It doesn’t come up to the surface but… to exaggerate, this is about present day, but as a phenomenon, in Japan maybe after the 70s? Among the political ideas that collapsed in the 60s was a type of retaliation ideology….. There’s a bit of nihilism in it, but basically there existed a political thought that placed its basis on the idea that “humans are no good.” However, that never made its way into the mainstream and much less in a world like animation, the center of popular culture, the fact that it showed up so suddenly was a surprise. It was almost pure literature.

To want to retaliate against humanity or to want to correct humanity… truth be told, I also had similar thoughts. For example, the upcoming Patlabor has a bit of that in it. There’s a desire to seek revenge against a kind of deceptive inquisitiveness of this generation. However, I’m hesitant about being too direct about it (laughs)... more like I personally, am not a fan of being so direct…. And to go so far as to start saying the intellectuals that, the masses this. That part of the dialogue was probably an exact reflection of Mr. Tomino’s beliefs. As a method of expression, I would never do something like declaring my true beliefs during the movie.

Just, the one thing I don’t get is why he suddenly did something like that. I actually haven’t watched the Gundam series too seriously so when I saw that, it seemed out of the blue. Perhaps he had laid the foundations for it earlier but I actually haven’t watched anything since Zeta Gundam. Watched the first Gundam and then suddenly CCA. So I don’t know what happened in this gap but it probably wasn’t anything sudden, it was probably always present.

Anno: Yes. I think he spit out everything he had accumulated, or more like, he put an end to things.

Ideologies

Oshii: When you’re working on anime, you’re required to be different from an ordinary movie director. Even though it may look like we’re doing whatever we please, there are some things that we just can’t do. In a live action, even if it’s a bit explicit it may not be a huge problem… but with anime, there’s the first psychological barrier of the people who have to draw it. And when you think about it, the first person who did those things was Mr. Tomino. Like the child who fires in front of his mother. Or the boy or girl, I forget, that got their head blown off along with their helmet.

When I saw Ideon, I believe it was when I was working on The Wonderful Adventures of Nils at Pierrot, it gave me such a shock. And it became the topic of discussion among directors at the studio. We wondered if it was okay to make something like that. My mentor, Mr. Tori (Hisayuki Toriumi), was someone who would do rather sadistic things. Like, Gatchaman was horrible. People would get hung with chains and beaten with a whip or Joe the Condor would get his face stepped on and messed up. He’s done pretty controversial things over the years. However, he never was as raw. After all, we had passed the era where such direct expression is allowed.

There were a few taboos that were said to exist in anime, the destruction of bodies being one of them, but the bigger one that existed was probably, “politics.” To express your own political beliefs in the anime you were creating. I don’t mean things like post-war democracy or Tezuka Osamu’s humanism, etc, but radical revolutionary ideas, betrayed ressentiment (concept of resentment or hostility related to 19th century thinkers like Friedrich Neitzche), feelings of grudge, etc. have no place in anime. No one explicitly says it but as you spend time at the studio, you naturally begin to realize that’s the limit. If you want to do it, you have to change its shape. So like in Urusei Yatsura or Patlabor, I had to disguise it as a type of metaphor or a running joke. So even if you’re allowed to have a miniature battle for authority in a school setting… well, originally, even that was going too far, I was told many things by different people… it wasn’t like anyone said anything openly but no one thought to do it in the first place. The reason why is because everyone thought animation was the wrong place to be testing such ideas, who’s going to want to watch something like that.

Back when Toei made Future War 198x, circulation boards went around and the Toei Animation Company labor union went on strike and all that, but inside, there were a lot of debates happening. Especially among directors wondering how they should take it all. Regardless of the fact that the age of the average anime watcher was increasing due to the anime boom, where exactly do we place the limit? Is it okay for us to try things that an ordinary live action director might do? For the generation of directors above us, these questions existed in a more tangible form. Whenever there was destruction of bodies or kiss scenes, like Mr. Tori did once in Gatchaman, every time something like that would happen on screen, production companies would file complaints or the TV stations would complain, and there would be this back and forth. Even so, there were people who wanted to depict these things. But in other words, that was it. The complaints were only on the artistic level. What that person did in CCA is leagues beyond that.

The philosophies or policies or themes, those things aren’t in there because the movie needs it, no, the ideology is first and foremost (laughs). It’s probably forgiven because it’s underneath the umbrella of Gundam but even so, I was surprised that they could go that far.

And, I was surprised a second time when there was no reaction to it. I spoke about this with Anno over the phone but, there’s no talk about it, good or bad. Why is there no reaction to such a radical outburst? There were probably a few entries to some anime magazines, I’ve seen a few of them myself, but in the end they were just the usual debates about war in Gundam.

In that way, it was as I expected. By “as expected” I mean, even if one speaks of such ideals in animation, who is going to see it, and how? This is a problem that I’m always facing myself because the stories that I want to create aren’t reaching the audience that I desire. And that’s probably because it’s anime. If it were live action, you could just leave it alone and a bunch of critics would come along and say what they want. Even if it’s just some boring police drama, they’d dig up all this nonsense to write. Conversely, [CCA] didn’t receive attention because it was anime. Because it was anime, the ideas presented in it were overlooked. To Mr. Tomino, that was probably extremely regrettable. Because I am always experiencing similar things. The anime isn’t reaching the people who are supposed to see it. That is what I felt from it.

Anno: Anime as a method of expression is very infantile. Especially facial expressions, angry faces have raised eyebrows, crying faces have tears in their eyes, blurry pupils means they are crying; if a foreigner saw this, I don’t think they’d understand. Japanese people are trained to understand to some extent so they know “oh they’re crying right now.”

However, whether the character is crying because they are happy or because they are sad, cannot be understood through just the art, without dialogue and the whole package. So, whether hands go flying or blood is shed, at the end of day, they’re all cell humans. Even if they speak, it's just 3 frames of mouths going open and close. I think the sincere attitude of trying to go so far through such childish means of expression and in the even more remote region of robot anime is amazing. I don’t think there were any directors like this until now.

Oshii: Yeah, there weren’t. I didn’t think he would take it that far. Although, I had sensed that vibe from Gundam itself. The structure of war depicted in it probably made that kind of thing possible. I don’t know how much he had pre-planned while he was creating the initial settings for the show but… it’s probably something similar to Patlabor where you start realizing “oh this is possible too” as you go. But, I kind of understand why it came out of a robot anime. With gag anime or home drama, school stories, these things would definitely be caught in a check at some stage. It’s probably due to the very combative world of robot anime, which depicts war, that kind of thing was passed (laughs).

Anno: That’s right. It was probably only possible because it had its beginnings as “just an ad for robot toys.”

Resignation

Oshii: Back when Urusei just finished airing, I met Mr. Yasuhiko at a magazine interview. It was right when the manga, Todonotsumari, was serializing in Animage. The first thing that person said was, “Animators like the ones depicted in [that manga] don’t exist. The anime studio environment that you are creating there is the furthest from an anime studio in reality. It’s what doesn’t exist the most. Why do you do this?” That’s when I sensed a bit of the resignation or frustration that generation of uncles hold towards animation. To put it bluntly, it's a type of inferiority complex.

I, too, was told that when I entered Tatsunoko. “In the end it’s just an ad for toys. So don’t put too much effort into it. If you don’t keep it at a minimum, you’ll only feel disappointed at the end. If you become too serious about making a masterpiece or making a film, you won’t make it in this industry.” I got a lot of that. Whether they were sakuga directors, animators, producers, bosses. From different people, in different ways, I was told many things. To summarize, that’s pretty much what they’d tell me. “The anime job is not a place for that.”

I’m generalizing but the generation above us started from a place of resignation. Like the background artist who couldn’t feed themselves off of oil paintings or the animator who couldn’t become a mangaka, it’s not nice to say but the industry was full of people who drifted into it. It was that kind of world. But there were good sides to it being that kind of world. No one would comment on what other people were doing.

Like, I was told at the beginning, “Don’t criticize other people’s work.” And not only did this apply to people in my own studio but I also wasn’t allowed to say this and that about what Toei was doing. From the start I was still in the mindset of a film bro so I’d complain “what is that?” but I was told off not only by older directors but also by directors my own age. Was it Mashimo Koichi? (laughs). “It’s easy to spot as many faults as you’d like in other people’s work. So there’s an infinite number of criticisms you can make. The only thing that matters is what you yourself creates.” To that I said, “I don’t think so. I have the ability to state why boring things are boring with logic to back it up so I should be allowed to. If we don’t say these things out loud, nothing will change. In exchange, I don’t care how badly my work gets criticized.” That’s a very normal thing. Bar fights are constant in the movie industry. “Why doesn’t it work in the same way in the anime industry?” is how I felt.

So, until I met Miya-san I was always frustrated. Meeting Miya-san was the first time…. cause that person is the same way. He says whatever he wants about other people’s work…just as I thought, this kind of person does exist. Even as we argue, even as we lovingly tear each other’s work apart, we are still together. I think that’s a very important skill as a director and even beyond that, I was perplexed as to why this wasn’t allowed in the anime industry.

The one thought I always held within all of this was that, before the sponsors or stations or whatever, the anime industry carved out territory for itself and didn’t try to leave it. So when the industry was forced to the forefront with the anime boom, the previously anonymous animators and directors suddenly found themselves in the limelight. And with that, all of the inferiority complexes came flooding out in a warped way.

For example, Mr. Yasuhiko’s Crusher Joe is unnecessarily cruel. Like small animals getting turned into meat clumps with a machine gun. Or patricide or siblings killing each other. Everything that had been suppressed until now came flooding out in a very warped way. Endlessly mass producing worthless children’s media that's neither good or bad would turn one’s literary consciousness inwards. So when you’re finally able to put work out there under your own name, all of that came out. Basically what I’m saying is that the balance is off. How far can you take things, from where should you start dialing back; everyone has their own parameters based on their unique method of expression. But they let everything out, completely ignoring these parameters.

When I saw this, I was full of complicated feelings. “Why do you guys have to have such a complex towards making animation?” I hated it so much because the generation below me doesn’t really have these taboos or warped perceptions.

Anno: They really don’t.

Crime of Conscience

Oshii: On the other hand, there are many things that you can do in anime that wouldn’t be allowed in Japanese movies. Ideas that would be stamped into the rejection pile for a Japanese movie can be expressed to a certain degree in anime….is what people discovered. One way to put it is, if you take “the way anime is viewed” in a societal sense and work within those means, then anything is possible…..or at least I felt (laughs). It’s only useful up to a certain point of course. Using a tactic of pushing and retreating to mix things up while creating a proper product on the other end was how I was doing my job. At the time. Even now I feel I work in a similar way but it’s different. We become wary and don’t do it like that. We’d try to cheat things by having it take place in an alternate universe. Or if you’re trying to depict a rebellion, don’t draw it from the rebel side but from the police side instead (laughs).

Even today, although it takes a different form, the idea that animation is for kids still persists. Showing nude bodies, and not cute things like shower scenes or skirt flipping, but in the context of lovers or affairs, passionate love or a world where politics are spoken about so clearly, is going to be rejected. But if you add “somewhere out in outer space,” sometimes it slips past the radar and gets greenlit.

However, I think Mr. Tomino knew what he was doing.

Anno: I think so too.

Oshii: When I saw it, I thought “he did this on purpose.” There’s probably parts that I understand because I am also a creator. It was well balanced. There was none of the off-balanceness of Mr. Yasuhiko. Of course, what lies underneath is the same. At the foundation is this inner warped hatred towards animation movies. On the other hand, he understands that he’s just an anime person and can't express things well when he’s separate from anime. That kind of thing, however, was pretty well controlled when it came to Char’s Counterattack. Therefore, there is no doubt that it was a crime of conscience.

However, even if it was on purpose, I still think the film was too blunt. I thought it would be better to disguise it a little more, dress it up a little more, camouflage it, and wear a covering, something.

Anno: On the contrary, I thought that’s what made it so masculine or cool.

Oshii: It’s dangerous. Danger is not about being socially sanctioned, criticized, or denounced, but rather straightforward words suggesting revolution, intellectuals this and that, and correcting or imposing sanctions on humankind… if you are not careful about it, the intentions may be flipped on you. In other words, you run the risk of becoming a gag. Political language is rather delicate, isn’t it? If you do it too much, like those violent student protesters who often appear in TV dramas, it becomes a comedy act that’s so ugly you can’t even call it a parody. That’s why, in Urusei Yatsura, Megane, the plot device guy, was doing everything exaggeratedly as a running joke. That's because I thought that if I didn't do it that way, it wouldn't pass, and I, personally, wanted to see it. There was a part of me that felt detached. And that was funny in itself. The fact remains that even to me, that era, while there were some painful parts, I also felt that it was humorous. Some parts are nostalgic, and some parts make me feel even disgusted. I found some salvation in letting everything out through a plot device character like Megane. That kind of thing, if you do it seriously, it's just painful.

In short, political language is pretty delicate…. Going back to the phrase “heavenly punishment.” I’m positive that there’s people who laughed at that phrase. Because we’re talking “heavenly punishment” in a space environment. What he’s doing is describing the “February 26 Incident” verbatim but the world he’s created is a future battlefield in outer space. There’s an immense gap. The younger generation may not care about it, though. I've always felt that kind of thing from Sunrise. There is something off about them. It seems that there are people who strangely want to enumerate dead languages.

My scariest thought is that there’s probably people who laughed at CCA. That they found it comical. The fact these imperial loyalist type characters are living out the “one person one kill” kind of world in outer space. I avoided writing these kinds of stories for this exact reason. ‘Cause at some point, someone is going to laugh. Like the drama, “Hyokin Tribe” from back in the day. You write the drama very seriously and in the end, it all flips on its head. It’s the generation where (serious) things are seen in a cynical manner. I am conscious of the enemy waiting, ready to turn everything into laughs. Especially when it comes to anime, anything is possible so you take it very seriously until the very end where it’s all comedy. The moment that becomes obvious, everything you’ve accumulated becomes invalid. So I prefer it the other way around, to create the mood, “this is a lie, it’s all jokes,” and then reveal that it was actually my true intention all along. I feel that it’s more effective to build up the jokes and then bring it into the real world at the end. In short, you can’t be seen through this way. If you ask me, the modern movie goer is rather twisted. A naive audience doesn’t exist. Within that, however, many anime viewers are among the exceptionally naive. They get impressed right away. As if they’re prepared to be impressed. Compared to the average viewer, anime watchers are easy to deceive, to the point where I go, “why are you so naive?” They easily go along with your tricks. They are waiting, ready to go along with anything you offer them. It’s the same mentality as the people who come to anime events and go, “since I’m already here, I am prepared to get my money’s worth by laughing at everything, even the parts that aren’t funny, and have a good time with everyone.” From a customer’s point of view, it’s such a naive mindset….maybe even going past naive into sly territory. Speaking broadly about movies in general, half-baked drama, half-baked crying or overly sentimental things doesn’t work on audiences nowadays. Rather, they are looking for ways to laugh at it.

Ever since that TV drama, "Stewardess Monogatari", I've been endlessly wary of such things. The goal is to make people laugh, not be laughed at. The movie is useless unless we (the creators) hold on to the hegemony.

Oshii: So when I saw CCA, I thought, there are definitely people out there who got together to drink and laugh out loud while watching this movie. And those who didn’t, said they couldn’t bear to watch it and stopped watching. Since they immediately develop a dislike for it. And the people who watched it seriously are hardcore robot fans, or Gundam fans…… they probably watched it very passionately (laughs). When you remove all of that, the message is clear. It’s completely anachronistic….. well, rather than anachronistic, I think what he’s doing is to a certain extent effective. It’s similar to what I was doing last year (Patlabor 2?).....he's speaking very sincerely, but depending on what kind of world and audiences see this movie, it will become a very unfortunate movie.

Anno: I think that movie is so one-sided though. I can’t imagine he had the audience in mind while he was making it.

Oshii: Well there was a sense of agitation, “there’s no way you’ll understand!”

Anno: I get that sense from the fighting spirit of the film.

Oshii: Because humans are somewhat beyond saving, even if you look at history, we haven’t done anything good. Probably even in the next century, whether humans go out into space, humans will repeat the same stupidity, getting everything and everyone involved and ruining it. That’s why he said, if God isn’t going to do it, I will.

Tsuge (Patlabor) and Char were thinking the same thing, basically wanting to impose punishment. It’s the story of a terrorist who, even if they don’t manage to impose that punishment, can reveal the naked truth just for a moment. It's the world that Miya-san hates most (laughs).

Miyazaki Hayao

Anno: But there’s probably a part of Miya-san that actually wants to write that kind of story.

Oshii: Somewhere yes. Take Nausicaa for example, within that world called “Nausicaa” there are characters with that sort of “scent.” Even that person (Miyazaki) has his own variations of this. It’s just that he has internalized that making it a reality would be a bad thing.

Anno: But his true feelings are Lepka (Future Boy Conan) or somewhere around there.

Oshii: Yes his real thoughts are somewhere different. That’s because that person is very strategic about what he puts out into the world and how. And it’s not necessary for the work to align with his truth.

Anno: Speaking of revealing one’s truth, I had expectations for Porco Rosso but what part of that was true, damn it (laughs).

Oshii: His truth was in there. But not of observations on humanity or the world, his truths about his personal life was the only thing in it. Especially surrounding troubles with women (laughs). And of course, only people who know him personally would understand such a thing. In that sense, it goes far beyond the craftiness of Patlabor; Porco Rosso is way more sly. He let everything out in that film and even left excuses for himself.

When you take off the pig mask, Miya-san is underneath. If he truly wanted to create a world that’s so unheard of and positive like that, why did the pig need to wear a trenchcoat and smoke? They just need to be going oink oink. It would’ve been a much more fun anime that way. If he wanted to make an anime that’ll make the kids happy, then there’s no need to make it so hard boiled, they should’ve just been oinking….cause pigs don’t need to speak. The pig goes oink oink, and is for some reason is good at piloting a plane. Then it would’ve been so much fun. But it’s not like that. And the reason it's not is because he wanted to show his truth….more like, he wanted to dispel his own sorrows through making this film. The audiences had it okay but his staff who had to go along with this are so pitiful. That’s the true pig curse. I bet they couldn’t stand it. Because they’re Miya-san’s excuse.

#cca doujin #hideaki anno #mamoru oshii #finish someday #translations #interview

51 notes · View notes

recentanimenews · 3 years

Text

FEATURE: Why You Should Give The Original Mobile Suit Gundam A Shot

The original Mobile Suit Gundam series, one of the most famous and deeply foundational anime of all time, is now on Crunchyroll! However, if you haven't seen it yet, that's totally understandable. It was created back in 1979, and since then, there have been dozens of sequels, spin-offs, OVAs, films, and manga. So while it's easy to say, "Just start at the beginning! Duh!", it's also easy to look at the labyrinth of titles in the Gundam franchise and slowly back away in disbelief and anxious horror.

That said, you should watch the original Mobile Suit Gundam. And not just because it's a classic, but because of how much it's informed what we know of the anime medium today, its place in anime history, and just how entertaining it still is to watch. So here are five reasons to check out the original Mobile Suit Gundam:

It's Kind Of A Miracle That You're Even Watching It

When Mobile Suit Gundam first aired, people didn't exactly dig it to the extent that you'd think a long-running franchise would be enjoyed in its nascent period. In fact, it almost got abruptly canceled, with the production staff barely able to get one more month of episodes added just so they could wrap up the story. However, when Bandai bought the rights to create quality Gundam model toys, fans latched onto the idea that these big ol' robots were, indeed, pretty cool. And so, on the brink of disappearing into the swamp of forgettable '70s robot shows, it was instead revived and renewed and now Gundam pretty much sits on the Mt. Rushmore of anime franchises and is the closest thing the mech genre has to a worldwide household name.

Gundam Fandom Majorly Influenced The Anime Fandom Of Today

In 1981, an event was devised called Anime's New Century Declaration, and during its conception, it was mostly meant to be a promotional gathering for the 1981 Gundam movie. A few hundred or so people would gather, they'd listen to Gundam creator/director of the film Yoshiyuki Tomino talk about why you should check the movie out, and then they'd go home without much fuss. According to historian and author Matt Alt, something a little bit bigger occurred:

"What happened was 20,000 people descended on Shinjuku and the cops were called and people worried about trampling, and it kind of turned into Anime Woodstock. A bunch of young anime fans who'd been expected to grow up and leave the "silly" cartoon stuff behind. But this generation was like "Screw that. If we're productive members of society, then why is it a problem for us to read manga and watch anime?" It was a huge coming out for that demographic and really set off a trend.

Back in the '70s, anime pretty much existed to sell toys, and as long as you put the sponsored toys in the show, they gave you free creative reign. But in spite of it being a show that sponsors and producers were using to sell toys, Tomino ended up making this baroque, dramatic space opera that was a thinly veiled critique of war and post-war Japanese society. And the hero was, to be blunt, kind of a geek. He wasn't a muscle-bound superhero. He's introverted and shy and would rather be fooling around on his computer than going out to war, and I think that resonates with people who would rather be doing the stuff they love than being forced to fit into the world by older people who don't understand them.

It provided a platform for the maturation of anime into something that wasn't just primarily around to sell toys to kids."

3. The Protagonist Is Super Interesting

Alt's insight about Amuro brings me to my next point: A weirdly common claim is that Neon Genesis Evangelion was the first mech-centric anime "to be about the people, rather than the robots." And don't get me wrong - Neon Genesis Evangelion is good. It's SO good. But when it comes to characterization, Mobile Suit Gundam is no slouch. Protagonist Amuro Ray is stressed, y'all. Thoughout the series, the trauma of battle and war begin to weigh deeply on him, and he has a lot of trouble both fitting in and dealing with the fact that he might lose the people that he's trying to fit in with at any time. So while he is indeed the hero character, his internal struggles make him both relatable and very sympathetic.

4. CHAR AZNABLE, BAYBEEEE

Regardless of whether you've been introduced to him by a Mobile Suit Gundam series or a meme, there's a good chance that even if you don't know his name, you know the look of Char Aznable, the main antagonist of the series and one of the most iconic anime characters of all time. Full of pride, infinitely confident and the prize warrior of the Principality of Zeon, Char is a jerk and I love him. So many of the wonderful arrogant villains of modern anime are simply riding his stylish red shirttail.

5. You're Watching A Ton Of Great Talent At Work

Along with creator Tomino, the staff of Mobile Suit Gundam is pretty solid. You have writers like Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, who'd go on to work on Dirty Pair, Urusei Yatsura, and Osomatsu-kun, and Yu Yamamoto, who'd end up scripting the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy and the J9 series. The anime studio Sunrise would eventually develop the anime series for Dirty Pair, City Hunter, Patlabor, The Vision of Escaflowne, The Big O, and, of course, Cowboy Bebop. Oh, and if the confidence in Shuichi Ikeda's role as Char sounds familiar, it might be because you've heard him as Shanks in One Piece. And if you can't quite put your finger on where you've heard Toru Furuya, who plays Amuro, you might know him better as Dragon Ball's Yamcha.

Anyway, Mobile Suit Gundam is fantastic and if you're curious about it, or just looking to rewatch it, it's now on Crunchyroll. Check it out!

--------------------------------------------

Daniel Dockery is a Senior Staff Writer for Crunchyroll. Follow him on Twitter!

Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features.

By: Daniel Dockery

#Anime #News #Latest in Anime News by Crunchyroll!

2 notes · View notes

mahoushoujotechsupport · 10 months

Text

ok lets get started

ok so starting off, something that i've been wondering since suletta tested out calibarn, why did lfrith have these layers but not calibarn? i'm guessing maybe that has something to do with calibarn having no filter or maybe the layers kept you at a lower permet score since elnora asks dr. cardo to raise the score and dr. cardo scolds her about it. like yea the scenes are supposed to be be parallels to each other but the way calibarn works when hooked up to someone is so different it seems

who'd have thought on first watch everything this little gremlin would get up to

the samaya sisters sure do love fucking spanking people wtf

honestly really love nyla and wendy. i'm so happy we got to see them one last time in episode 24

i know the actual earthian vs spacian subplot of the series bores some people, but i do wish they'd gone into it more than they did. like i remember when i first saw this shot and was wondering if they'd get more into class issues but they really didnt at all. i know expecting radical politics from a mainstream series is kind of setting yourself up for disappointment, but at the time it seemed promising

i wonder if the light novels or anything will ever go into elnora's past. she claims here that dr. cardo saved her life and that without her gund prosthetics she'd be dead and i've gotta wonder if maybe she wasn't lying about the mining accident she brings up in episode 2, or if she really was the daughter of mercurian miners

also worth noting that elnora's voice as she speaks to eri here uses the same loving tone of voice she uses with suletta over so many of their phone calls later on. i know a lot of people hate on prospera but its so hard for me to dislike her at all. she went through so much and lost basically everything.

has anyone ever caught this before? so nadim helped to get ochs earth to invest into the vanadis institute?

look at her stupid little faces

so like we can just safely assume this was probably belmeria, right?

little brat. really though, i hope suletta and miorine start celebrating her birthday at some point

nadim's reaction to both elnora and eri missing from their living quarters is honestly heartbreaking once you know what's about to happen. did he have any idea what was about to transpire in the next few minutes?

like he had to have known he wasn't coming back once he got into that lfrith

the pre-production lfrith bits remind me so much of the pharact's bits. *screams in el5n*

yes, yes, i know the main theme of the series was forgiveness but goddamn i wanted this stupid asshole dead

sarius' face here as he's likely being told about the folkvangr massacre really is something. gotta wonder what it was like for him those 20+ years having to work with delling. i wonder if the grassley orphanages came to be because of this tbh

the birth of milfchar

there is absolutely nothing that can do this scene justice if you're not just watching it. the music, elnora's horrified look at realizing eri is the one to synchronize with the lfrith.

i've rewatched the prologue probably a handful of times over the last like half year or so and this scene just always gives me goosebumps lol

just awful shit lol

so back in early december or so, when i finally decided to check gwitch out, i watched the prologue while i was really fucking high and i cannot tell you how much this scene fucking wrecked me lmao

i reached image limit for this post but god i hope hearing people sing happy birthday just fucking haunts rajan for the rest of his life

man, i still remember watching the prologue for the first time and really just not knowing what i was getting myself into since i had never watched a gundam series before, but like even as a standalone watch, the prologue fuckin delivers

ok onto episode 1

#g witch #rewatch time #g witch prologue

16 notes · View notes

arcaneranger · 5 years

Text

Final Thoughts - Netflix Exclusives 2018

Oh my god you guys, I’m finally done. I’m free from the prison of 2018, just in time to actually finish my premieres for spring of 2019. But first, let’s talk!

2018 was the year that Netflix really went all-in on producing its own anime and picking up some big names, so we saw Devilman Crybaby made specifically for the service and high-profile shows like Dragon Pilot and Hi-Score Girl basically hijacked by the streaming service and delayed for months in the U.S. so that the biggest name in the game could release everything in bingeable packages. Unfortunately, bringing in an auteur like Masaaki Yuasa for Crybaby and throwing all the damn money at him worked so well that, long before any of these shows would even premiere, they decided to seemingly take any anime pitch under the sun, and wound up financing disasters like Hero Mask and B: The Beginning. Really, these shows kind of run the full gamut from garbage to god-tier, with an unfortunate tipping of the scale in the wrong direction. I haven’t gotten to see Ingress yet at the time of publication though, so we’ll have to see whether 2019 will start in a good direction.

ANYWAY.

DROPPED

WORST OF NETFLIX: Back Street Girls -GOKUDOLS-

I still don’t get how anyone thought this was worth promoting. The entire concept is offensive, and yet it was directed by a master and veteran of the medium (who is also a woman), leading me to just throw my hands in the air and resign myself to never having a satisfactory answer for why Netflix would pick this up to begin with. Dropped after 1 episode.

Hero Mask

One of the most incompetently written first episodes I’ve ever seen gave me absolutely no hope that Hero Mask was going to actualize into anything watchable or even average-looking. It was boring and unintelligible. Dropped after 1 episode.

Fate/EXTRA: Last Encore

What the fuck was Akiyuki Shinbo even doing on Fate? Did he do this at the expense of season 3 of March comes in like a lion or something? Probably not, but geez... This seems much more like someone attempting to copy his style than the genuine article, but nope, there’s his director credit. In the end, I suppose that Fate/EXTRA, despite being a very interesting game, was not ever going to be adapted well - the protagonist is almost literally a blank slate for a self-insert of the player, and their servant is also not set in stone - but I kind of would have rather had nothing than this. Dropped after 2 episodes.

SWORDGAI The Animation

Oh hey, yet another “the Animation”, it definitely doesn’t sound pretentious yet. I don’t have much to say on SWORDGAI, or at least not any more than anyone else - it’s stupid, very earnestly stupid, and doesn’t seem aware enough of that fact to be entertaining for more than a hate watch - and my hate plate is full already. Dropped after 1 episode.

Last Hope

I remember almost nothing about Last Hope other than that it was both pretentious and nonsensical, which kind of illustrates why Yoshiyuki Tomino is wise enough to stay out of anything that isn’t his beautiful Gundam baby, and it’s a shame that Kawamori (father of Super Dimensional Fortress Macross) doesn’t stick with what he knows, which is mech design. (No, seriously, he’s got a ton of credits on MAL and they’re almost all for that.) Dropped after 1 episode.

BAKI

Oh, BAKI, it’s okay, you’re a remnant from a different time. That time was right around when Mars of Destruction seemed like a good idea. It’s not that bad so I shouldn’t really mention them in the same sentence, but the hyper-violent imagery of this show is on the level of the Berserk manga. It’s unfortunate that I had to leave it after one episode because Netflix picked up a sequel that relies heavily on your pre-existing investment (just like with the Dragons TV show, for the record). Dropped after 1 episode.

A.I.C.O. Incarnation

I stuck with this one longer than any other that I didn’t drop, but in hindsight I shouldn’t have wasted my time. It’s one of the worst-looking Bones productions I’ve ever seen and the plot is a dumb ripoff of a much better science fiction series. Dropped after six episodes.

B: The Beginning

Probably the biggest waste of money on this list, B has such lavish animation that you can almost forget that you have absolutely no clue what’s happening or what the context of the story even is. It tries really hard to be both Psycho-Pass and Death Note at the same time to the point of cutting between them multiple times per scene, and it just ends up a badly jumbled mess, albeit one with really pretty colors. Dropped after 3 episodes.

Kakegurui

I still don’t have much to say here because the topic has been so thoroughly covered by The Anime Pope, so I’ll resummarize here - this is a show about gambling where the stakes seem utterly meaningless, even though it tries to impress us by showering money on the characters.

Children of the Whales

It’s so pretty, but it’s so boring. Children of the Whales succeeds in looking beautiful, but fails as a story that wants to be grim and apocalyptic but comes across as a soft-hearted small-village story that gets surprisingly violent four episodes in. This should have been the tone from the beginning, and the entire thing needed a good kick in the pants. Dropped after five episodes.

FINISHED

Sirius the Jaeger (6/10)

One that I waited a long time for after seeing the PV at Anime Central last year, and wound up pretty disappointed by in general. It looks nice (...at first), given that P.A. Works at least knows how to make a show visually appealing on a consistent basis, but the plot jumps so far into cliched stupidity by the end that, even though it had a few twists I wasn’t expecting, they couldn’t save it from being something I won’t recommend to anyone with as much anime experience as myself.

Lost Song (7/10)

(Author’s note: Yeah, apparently nobody on all of Tumblr has made a GIF of this one...)

Lost Song was a pleasant surprise that I wasn’t expecting to be invested enough to finish. One of the best of LIDENFILMS’ output, it manages to weave together a decent fantasy Symphogear AU fanfic, with interesting third-act twists peppering the last few episodes that made it memorable despite looking pretty generic. There’s a sequel due this year, too!

Hi Score Girl (7/10)

A very visually distinctive show with a neat concept that didn’t dive far enough into the heavy subjects it brings up, Hi Score Girl sits in a place where I like the presentation of it a lot more than I like the story. Don’t get me wrong, the romance is certainly cute, and I won’t begrudge a love triangle if it’s meant to be the primary conflict of a show, but the fact that it spent most of its last episode setting up for later robbed it of the chance to give us a satisfying place to leave off until the next part of this adaptation. Luckily, it got a second season, hopefully to finish the adaptation later this year.

Forest of Piano (7/10)

A good first try by a fledgling studio, but not one that lives up to what it really wants to be due to some very bad habits. I still distinctly remember the constant character shilling, and it feels like the story could have happened a little faster if not for the breaks every few minutes to heap praise upon the protagonist. Also, the mo-cap piano playing still looks weird. I’ll probably watch the sequel though, to see if it gets concluded well.

Dragon Pilot: Hisone to Masotan (8/10)

I literally just did my write-up for this one, so I don’t have much new to say here, but I’m pleased that Dragon Pilot turned out as well as it did despite not being what I quite expected from it.

Aggretsuko (8/10)

A fantastic and rather unorthodox look at what it’s actually like to be an adult in the Japanese workforce, Aggretsuko was an early darling of the year, and the only things that could have made it better were a more interesting visual presentation and a less squirrelly ending. Shame that the Christmas Special was...not good.

Devilman Crybaby (9/10)

It was so, so good...right up until the end. Yeah, that’s the only thing holding this back from a perfect score - I really, really hate the ending, and it needed to be changed. I know that, for most people, the best show of the year was either this one, or the most conspicuous work that hasn’t yet appeared on this list, though, so…

BEST NETFLIX SHOW OF THE YEAR: Violet Evergarden (10/10)

Oh God, what beautiful cry-porn. I hope that Kyoto Animation was paid well for their best show in years, and I’m kind of shocked that the two shows that made me sob the most this year both came out in the same season (thanks, A Place Further Than the Universe). I won’t spoil more than I did in my original review, but Netflix should be pushing this to literally everyone who would be even casually interested in watching it.

And that’s it! Last but not least, the last list won’t be a roundup of the whole year (since, you know, I’ve already done that in big chunks), but a list of the Class of 2018 Superlatives. Look forward to it!

#arcaneanime #netflix 2018 #violet evergarden #devilman crybaby #aggretsuko #lost song #sirius the jaeger #dragon pilot #hi score girl #forest of piano

562 notes · View notes

despair-tummy · 4 years

Text

A bottom heavy Gun.dam X Hajim.e fic for a trade.

[[MORE]]

Hajime held back a sigh, taking a moment to shut his eyes and rub his temples. College life was difficult, he expected that. But the number of tests to study for and essays to write was starting to wear him down. He glanced at the clock, it was roughly two in the morning. Fortunately, his classes for tomorrow (or more like today) weren’t going to start until later in the afternoon, so he figured he could stay up later and squeeze in a bit more studying before he called it a night.

He sat cross-legged on the floor, a textbook in his hands, a neat collection of jot notes on the floor and a bottle of water to sip from as he read and added to his notes. A yawn escaped his lips, he tiredly rubbed his eye. Maybe he should get some coffee? Or the very least a snack to give him some energy.

The moment he set his textbook aside and stood up, the door to the apartment room he and his boyfriend shared had opened. Right away Hajime was hit with the greasy smell of fast food the moment Gundam stepped inside, armed with a brown fast food bag under his arm.

“Praise me, mortal, for I have brought salvation to this pitiful realm!” Gundam announced as he strode on inside.

“Oh sweet, you bought food,” Hajime said, watching him set the bag down on the coffee table.

“But of course, what kind of supreme overlord of ice would I be if I didn’t provide those loyal to me proper provisions,” Gundam announced as he dug through the bag, which was packed with copious amounts of burgers.

Unlike most people, Hajime didn’t comment on the amount his boyfriend got. He grew accustomed to Gundam bringing home large quantities of food at random times, especially when it was late and he was in need of a snack. He fished two burgers out of the bag and allowed Gundam to have the rest like always.

Gundam’s recent spike in appetite often led him to do this often, Hajime supposed it was just the freshman fifteen’s way of sneaking up on them... well primarily his boyfriend.

Both of them unwrapped a burger from its paper wrapping and tucked into one. It only took Gundam three quick and large bites before his burger was gone, sure enough, he reached into the bag for a second one.

Ever since they started attending college, his boyfriend developed a taste for fast food. And it showed. Hajime wouldn’t call Gundam fat, but the influx of food seemed to go straight to the lower half of his body. Giving him a very pear-shaped figure, especially if you took into consideration just how big the extent of his thighs widen too, his plump and round not so little rear, and just the smallest little hint of a soft tummy. Once again, not exactly fat, getting there? Possibly. But... well for a lack of a better word, he was thicc.

“Feast, for tonight we will put our abilities to the test!” Gundam announced loud enough for the neighbours next door to them to yell at him to be quiet. Hajime guessed it was only a matter of time before they eventually complained to the landlord. But to be fair, these walls were paper thin.

“Thanks for grabbing these, I was thinking about getting a snack,” he spoke, deciding to stop thinking about any future noise complaints and to focus on eating.

Hajime unwrapped his burger, biting into it as he watched Gundam start his second one. As per usual when his boyfriend ate, he tore into it with gusto. Polishing it off in three big bites, still chewing the last bit as he reached into the bag for another. Repeating the process for each and every burger.

Gundam must have been on his third one by the time Hajime finally finished his first. He was too distracted watching Gundam eat, packing away each and every burger like it was nothing.

“Do you intend to let that power restoring morsel go to waste?” Gundam inquired as soon as he swallowed.

“Huh?” Hajime blinked, only now just realizing how long he must have been staring. He looked down at the second burger he had in his lap. “Oh... you can have it if you want.”

He handed over the burger to Gundam, who immediately snatched it up and unwrapped it. Finishing the patty in record time before letting out a satisfied burp.

“The supreme overlord of ice thank you for your generosity,” he said, using a napkin to dap the grease off his lips.

“No problem, they were pretty filling anyway.” a bit of a lie, Hajime easily could have eaten a second one by himself, but truthfully it was more satisfying to watch Gundam quickly eat another burger like it was nothing.

“Heh, after such a feast of power I would prefer to sit in my throne and oversee the realm, but even I must keep our castle in the proper balance!” translation, he normally would laze about on the couch watching television but needed to clean up the mess of burger wrappers.

He watched as Gundam turned around in order to pick up one of the many paper wrappers he carelessly tossed over his shoulder and on the floor during his binge. Hajime tried not to stare at his boyfriend’s rear, but it was getting ridiculously hard not to by the sheer roundness packed into Gundam’s pants. How did those pants even fit-

It was almost comical how it happened, as soon as Gundam bend over his tight pants just couldn’t keep it together any longer. A loud rip filled the small apartment and Hajime had a front-row seat to see the wardrobe malfunction. The large gaping hole exposed the pale white skin of Gundam’s ass. Hajime felt his face turn pink, why did his boyfriend insist on going commando with that invisible underwear nonsense he rambled on about?

Luckily (or maybe unluckily) he didn’t have to think about it too long, Gundam’s hands flew to the massive tear in his pants in a desperate attempt to cover it.

“It... it would appear my ancient garments had lost their power.” Gundam managed to say, though it was with much less confidence than usual. Making his embarrassment as clear as day.

“It would appear so...” Hajime muttered under his breath and sighed. “Do you have a pair of sweats or something?”

“But if course! The great Gundam Tanaka has thousands of powerful garments!” he announced, making his way over to his room to change.

A few long minutes later and Hajime’s boyfriend still had yet to return.

“Gundam, you okay?” he called out.

“Hajime, it would appear I am in need of some of your special essence.”

Hajime held back a sigh, wondering exactly what Gundam got himself into while doing something as mundane as putting on pants.

He made his way to the bedroom, and sure enough, there was Gundam, with a pair of black yoga pants on... well, almost on. The stretchy fabric hugged his thick thighs like a second skin but failed to fully cover his rear, leaving half of his ass spilling out. Gundam’s hands gripped the pants, he tugged at them in a desperate attempt to pull them out his ample bottom. But to no avail, all that did was cause the two pale masses to jiggle in a way that reminded Hajime of gelation.

“It would appear I alone do not have the power to wear this garment, but perhaps if we combine our power I could defeat whatever curse this garment is hiding.”

Hajime’s face flushed red at the request, but still, he nodded and made his way over.

“So, do you just want me too...” he grabbed the waist of the pants.

“Yes! Tame the beast in the way of my quest of wearing this garment!” Gundam confirmed.

And so, with as much strength as Hajime could muster, he began to tug alongside Gundam. It was a miracle Gundam could even get it passed his thighs on his own, he could only imagine the struggle to do so. Because it was proving to be a tough battle to get the pants to move the last few inches to properly cover his rear. It took an embarrassingly long time, but together they managed to get his pants over the rest of his round bottom.

“The garment is finally on! I knew it couldn’t overthrow us!”

Hajime had to wipe a drop of sweat off his forehead. “I didn’t expect it to be such a workout.”

“Heh, with powerful being such as myself and ancient garments like these, it is normal to have an energy-draining fight,” Gundam said, a trickle of sweat dripping down his forehead, showing he was equally tired from trying to get the pants on his bottom-heavy figure. Hajime doubted all the burgers he ate before helped. “But even beings such as myself need to save mana. Tomorrow I shall venture out into the deepest depths of this realm in search of a garment worthy of being worn by the supreme overlord of ice!”

“If you’re going out shopping, mind picking up some milk then?” Hajime requested. “We’re all out.”

“But of course, it is the least I could reward you with,” he said before he took a glance at the clock. “Hmmm, it would it appear my quest had taken up much of your time.”

“Huh, yeah... I still got some material I gotta cover-“

“Nonsense!” Gundam interrupted. “You used up so much power to assist me even while on your quest for forbidden knowledge! You must recover otherwise you’re abilities will be useless.”

“I understand, but I’m not even tired.”

“Then I shall assist you with your slumber!”

Before Hajime could get a single word in, Gundam grabbed his arm and somehow positioned him to have himself sitting on the bed, with Hajime’s head resting on his pillow-like thighs.

“How’s this? Do you feel yourself succumbing to a peaceful slumber?” Gundam asked.

Hajime’s cheeks flushed red, but he couldn’t deny how comfortable his boyfriend’s thighs were... He didn’t want to get up and study, just stay here and listen to the sounds Gundam’s full stomach would occasionally make.

“I..l guess I could rest my eyes for a bit,” he answered, finding his eyes growing heavier the more comfortable he got. Especially when Gundam ran his fingers through his hair.

“Rest my dearest dark prince, when you awake you shall be refreshed with a plentiful amount of power for your next quest.”

It wasn’t long before Hajime found himself fast asleep with his head comfortably resting on Gundam’s lap.

#Stuffed Ronpa #my fics #My fics

14 notes · View notes

originaldanganronpascenarios · 5 years

Note

Sdr2 boy’s s/o ends up being executed after killing in self defense

Idk why am I tagging spoilers anymore-

Thank you for requesting angst. A Heartbreaker like this mostly helps me relax lol. But wait I see something... Is it SOMETHING I WILL CRY WHILE WRITING!?

SDR2 Boys whose S/O gets executed after killing in self defense

Slight Spoiler Alert (not in every case) slight ooc for people who tried to kill s/o

Gundham Tanaka

The motive of starving to death made you a bit scared. What you didn't knew that someone was coming after you...

Kazuichi had mixed feelings but he didn't wanted everyone to die... He thought that you whould be easiest target and he planned to strike at night time so you whould be pretty exhausted.

When it was night time you promised to meek up with him. You trusted him as you knew he wouldn't try anything shady.

Kazuichi attacked you but you managed to doge it. He was surprised by how fast you moved despite not eating for two days.

You snatched out his weapon and hit him in the head. You thought it whould just disarm him but you aimed for the wrong spot therefore killing him. You weren't aware of that but you quickly shut door behind you and dashed towards Gundhams room since luckily Kazuichi didn't mess with elevator.

Gundham was worried when he saw you at this hour. You told him the whole story and he was furious.

Next day what you heard was body discovery announcement. Only you and Gundham knew what happened. He wanted to protect you as he was ready to sacrifice himself and everyone else for your sake.

But it's impossible to fight Hajimes logic... You were the blackened. Gundham desperately tried to save you but he knew it wouldn't work. Yet he didn't gave up no matter how many times you told him that it was fine.

After trial was over he hugged you one last time and felt like never letting you go.

And so you were about to be brutally executed right in front of his eyes.

He needed to be held back since normally he whould just jump in and not care about a thing. If he was about to die he whould die he can't let you be there alone.

Of course all his effort went nowhere as he was held back.

Fujuhiko Kuzuryu

As the new motive was presented- despair disease Fujuhiko literally commanded you to be in the motel team even though he felt safe when you were around you couldn't be around diseased ones since if you catched the diease or the one of the sick killed you he wouldn't be able to forgive himself...

You couldn't sleep that night and you saw Hiyoko walking around alone... It was quite shady so you followed her not noticing in what condition her kimono was.

When you went inside there was Mikan trying to kill Hiyoko. You quickly grabbed Hiyokos hand and pulled her towards you. Thanks to that she survived. You yelled at her to run.

You couldn't believe that you saved Hiyoko... Ibuki was there too and she was still moving so Mikan didn't strangle her yet.

It was now fight you vs Mikan you just tired to calm her down and disarm her. She kept changing at you. You managed to make her stay still. Ibuki was still alive and when he saw what was going on (even tho she was sick) ran away.

You wanted to stun her so you can run away but you ended up killing her. There was her blood on your hands. You couldn't believe it...

When the body discovery announcement played Hiyoko was quiet to everyones surprise...

Ibuki doesn't remember anything from when she had the diease...

As the trial started you knew you whould have to say that you did it. You rather die yourself than for everyone else to die. Hiyoko didn't sold you out but she whould later and you know it.

When they seemed to be stuck you told them that you did it. When everyone was shocked Hiyoko told the truth.

Fujuhiko couldn't belive you saved Hiyoko and ended up blackened... After he lost his best friend Peko he can't afford to lose you too!

He tried to say something but it was hard... He couldn't belive that you will die...

He hugged you and you made a promise that he will survive and escape with everyone.

After your execution ended he never stopped thinking about you. He thought that Hiyoko should be the one to die not you! Hell he whould exchange everyone's lives for you.

Hajime Hinata

You and Hajime were very close even though the killing game was going on you decided to not play monokumas game and just live on the islands while thinking about how to escape.

It turned out someone in fact tried to play this sick game.

You went to help prepare the old building for the party. When you saw Nagito cleaning up he was kinda suspicious. You thought you were paranoid so you continued to help. He was too chill to play this game.

You were wrong he got knife out and tried to kill you.

You moved quite fast and he was so impressed. You were ultra scared as he was getting more and more creepy.

He didn't gave up even though you found a way to get the knife out of his hands he kept trying to kill you.

You stabbed him once. Just so he whould stop but he was crazy. Teruteru heard you fighting so he went to investigate and he saw you struggling to run away while Nagito said that you should kill him.

Teruteru ran for help and Hajime was the closest person he ran into.

But when the boys came there was you crying covered in cuts all in blood and in front of you was Nagitos dead body.

Hajime could tell what happened as he ran to you and hugged you when body discovery announcement played.

Everyone gathered and it was obvious who was the culprit...

You told them that he attacked you and you had to defend yourself everyone believed you but you had to get executed anyways.

Hajime tried to fight monokuma. It was just no fair for you to die becouse you defended yourself but monokuma wouldn't listen...

And so you were executed he felt so much despair as he saw your body drop.

Everyone tried to cheer up Hajime after your death and he was determined to end it.

Nekomaru Nidai

Nekomaru allways thought you were strong and he was your support throughout killing game.

You both knew that other one won't kill no matter what... You were wrong.

You never knew you whould have to kill someone but it was on accident! You met up with Gundam in the strawberry tower and you had to fight.

He was very strong so that's why you were extremely surprised to came out as victorious. It was becouse you grabbed a hammer he had with him. You thought it wouldn't kill but you swinged too fast and too strong.

As you left the crime scene it was impossible for you to cover up the crime. Some of Gundhams blood splattered on you.

Not like you wanted to cover up the crime! You wanted to live a bit longer even just on this trial... So you can hear Nekomarus voice one last time.

This broke your heart since everything was pointing at you and Nekomaru siad that it's impossible for you to kill anyone. You teared up as you confessed.

He was too shocked he didn't even vote for you. Nekomaru kept asking you why.

You said that it was in self defense that you wanted to stun him and run away but you ended up killing him.

You and Nekomaru hugged one last time and it was quite long embrace before you got dragged away.

He was too stunned to do something he couldn't belive how weak he felt at that moment.

Kazuichi Souda

You and Kazuichi didn't quite understand new motive being some game... So you just tired to ignore it.

You overheard Hiyoko talking to Mahiru about it. Thinking they whould try to kill someone you tried to investigate it on your own. You followed Hiyoko to the beach house and saw Peko.

You knew fight against her is for you lost. Her plans were now ruined she could have drop it or fight to get her young master out of there. Luckily for you she used the bat instead of her sword so it was less deadly for you.

You took your chance and managed to get her off guard as you somehow threw her across the room she landed pretty badly and you couldn't believe what you did. Yet a lot of luck was on your side.

You ran away to find Kazuichi Ibuki Hajime and Chiaki in the restaurant. You told them about what happened and your fight with Peko. You thought you didn't kill her but it was the exact opposite.

Fujuhiko saw her body and after all of your group joined with body discovery announcement he yelled "Wich of you bastards killed her!?" your eyes widen. She... Died!?

Kazuichi freaked out as he can't let you die. Now everyone knew it was you...

Trial was extremely short and so you were about to die. Kazuichi kept crying as he knew he won't see you again...

He hugged you very closely. You hugged him back and monokuma was done with this whole emotional thing and so you got executed.

He kept yelling your name when he was held back by others.

He wished he could tell you how he loves you just once. To hold you... be close...

Ultimate Imposter

Its whierd that you were together for such short time yet get along so well.

With his skills you knew you can get out of there easily without any blood shatter.

When he announced the party you couldn't stay back and relax so you decided to help out out of your own free will.

Basically you went from market to building with needed supplies. When you were heading back you heard what Nagito and Teruteru were talking about. You were shocked... Nagito wanted to kill someone?

When he left you looked for a knife Nagito hid. You wanted to give it to Twogami and tell him to watch out for Nagito. But you were stopped.

You didn't expect Teruteru to act like this and he told you to give him the knife as he will just leave it in the kitchen. He looked too suspicious for you to follow this order.

And so you started fighting. You ended up killing him. You didn't wanted to but you don't have idea what kind of fate waits for you.

You tried to mess with the crime scene and as you existed the building you couldn't believe what happened.

About 3 hours later body discovery announcement went off...

Twogami thought that he failed as a leader...

You didn't wanted everyone to die but you didn't wanted to go down either.

You were proven to be the culprit. You apologized to everyone but told them what actually happened becouse what Hajime said want entirely the truth.

Twogami then felt guilty for not monitoring preparations for the party...this could have been avoided...

Nagito Komaeda

He was crazy but your crazy. You understood him and loved him deeply. When he got despair disease you wanted to stay with him and went for the hospital team.

You were around his room as allways waiting for information about his condition. But thought it was pointless so you went down to rest- Hajime and Fujuhiko.

Hajime tried to start small conversation but you decided to take a walk.

You saw Mikan walking towards music venue... Wait shouldn't she be at the hospital?

You went inside and she was preparing something. When she noticed you she started acting not like herself. She then tried to attack you with rope she had with her. You quickly went on stage and took the stepladder. You hit her in the head 3 times very hard.

Then you realized that she was dead... You ran away from the venue and went to your cottage since it was getting late.

In the next morning after you were back in the hospital body discovery announcement went off and you now knew you didn't had much time left...

Nagito was cured and you spent all the time with him. He saw you looking kinda down but you didn't stop your investigation.

When the trial started you were ready to tell the truth. But you let yourself live for at least few more minutes.

When the truth was revealed Nagito was surprised his S/O? Was filled with despair to kill poor Mikan? You told what actually happened and if you didn't act you whould end up getting killed.

Nagito forgave you as you hugged him for the first and last time.

He watched your execution and wished it was him there instead of you.

Teruteru Hanamura

You felt like Teruteru was the only person you could get along with. His perverted remarks didn't annoy you.

Before the party was about to begin he seemed kinda off. Poor Teruteru worked whole day in the kitchen... You thought that was the case and you gave him advice: go. And. Rest. He accepted your offer and so he was gone.

You were helping with last preparations and you ran into Nagito placing something under the table.

You asked him if something was gone and if he was looking for anything.

When you saw a knife you could tell what was going... Unlucky for you the door was somehow shut like in some horrors...

Nagito charges at you and you dodged it as you quickly used that moment to grab a knife.

After that you quickly stabbed him but in the wrong place you aimed for. You ended up killing him...

You ran away and went to your cottage so you could change. What will happen to you!?

After Body discovery announcement and investigation class trial began...

When you were being suspected for the first time Teruteru kept arguing saying you couldn't possibly do it.

But when there was no more room left for argue you started apologizing... You apologized so many times and you were crying like crazy.

Teruteru forgave you but he didn't wanted to lose you! He tried to reason with monokuma but it was impossible...

He couldn't look at you die. He looked away tears in his eyes as he sobbed while watching his beloved S/O die slowly and violently...

~Mod Chiaki

#Gundham tanaka #fujuhiko kuzuryu #Hajime Hinata #nekomaru nidai #nagito komaeda #kazuichi souda #ultimate imposter #teruteru hanamura

46 notes · View notes

relialin · 5 years

Text

TRICKSTER AGE vol. 32, 2016/10/15 Toshiya’s Creativity VOL.01 -The Five Senses-

Translated by DIR EN GREY - Italia

Please DO NOT repost or use any parts of the translation without permission.

Toshiya, bassist of DIR EN GREY, the rock band that achieves an overwhelming support all around the world and, of course, in Japan. He currently conducts the production of the apparel brand he launched by himself, “DIRT 100% Natural Dirty / DIRT 100% Dissolutive Dirty” and he started a series in this magazine. This time, as a kickoff memento, we must look for his interests and preferences, as he’s doing well in both music and apparel, so we did an interview having the five senses as theme; sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch.

SIGHT

What are the things Toshiya has been seeing until now? The things that left an impression on him were many during his boyhood, as he’s curious about many different hobbies. That influence still goes on now…

“Sight”

Movies, Gundam, manga: childhood memories.

I haven’t watched any movie recently, but if I have to tell a movie that left an impression on me, that’s “E.T.”. It’s the very first movie I watched in a theatre since I was born. That time, since we were expecting my brother or sister to be born, I went to the theatre with my father, just the two of us, for the first time to watch that movie. Even if I was a child, I remember being greatly impressed by it. I said “Won’t he [E.T.] come to our house?” (laughs). I wanted to become his friend, I wanted to play the famous scene when they put their index fingers together.

I’ve been telling this since before, but I started liking Gundam when I was at the elementary school. The one that had an impact on me was “Mobile Suit Z Gundam”. The contents were clear, in the end the protagonist turns into a vegetative state and while watching those inappropriate things for a children I was like “what the hell is that?” (laughs). It was very different from the things about robots and heroes I’ve been knowing since that moment. I didn’t even understand the plot properly at that time, but to some extent, ever since I can remember, when I watched it I thought that it was a surprisingly deep story. I think it’s a story not suitable for children in which the good are rewarded and the bad are punished, in which there are opinions on both sides and each side fights for the things they must protect. I guess I liked it also because of that. Even if I started watching it in real time starting from “Z”, my favourite mobile suit was Qubeley. The robots I knew had an angular shape but, since Qubeley had a round shape, that streamlined feature was innovative.

I also went buying the gunpla with the pocked money I received. The first one I bought was a Char’s Zaku and, just in half of his body, you could expose the mechanics it had inside. Then there were supposed to be some kind of miniature bulb you had to insert where its eyes were so they could shine properly. That’s why I felt like it was more a thing to display instead of a thing to play with. But it was too difficult and I couldn’t build it well, so I remember asking my father to build it for me. Last year I went to the “Gunpla Expo Worldtour Japan” and there was a modeler named NAOKI who I became acquainted with, but that person is amazing. Recently, when I made a temporary store for my fashion brand, I was given a Qubeley gunpla as a present and I was so happy about that.

The mangaka I like is Morohoshi Daijiro. When I was in elementary school or so I went to play at one of my relatives’ place and at that time he had the Weekly Shonen Jump volume in which “Ankoku Shinwa” was serialized. I started to like the atmosphere of the pictures and the contents a lot since I read it. As for the plot, its basis were ethnology and archaeology and it also had quite a SF atmosphere… Besides, having the mystery factor, it was a worthwhile reading. Also, the unique design was good too. In addition to this, I also liked sports manga, a little bit of everything, I read pretty much everything.

HEARING

“Hearing”: something you can’t miss being an artist. According to Toshiya, it’s a valuable sensation that shakes many different emotions and also makes childhood memories come back alive.

“Hearing”

A sound in which one feels comfort, and then music.

I guess a sound in which I feel comfort is the sound of public baths. I hear it when I use the baths, the voices and the sound of daily existence echoing make me feel good. But this good feeling I get by using the baths may be just a bit deceiving. Talking about public baths, lately [the number of] stylish health centers has increased, isn’t it? Somehow health centers have a mechanical image. Like, they are way too beautiful… Getting into the bath and then eat one thing after another, it seems like a task that just leads to mere sleep. I feel like that’s completely different from public baths, they have an heart-warming aspect, I feel like they’re somehow close to onsen. Well, it doesn’t necessarily means that I hate health centers because I said so. When I go to other regions because of the lives, I go [to health centers] with the staff. There I get my body scrubbed. But, to my surprise, it happened I got it done by young girls and therefore I was a bit in panic (bitter smile).

The sound I hate is the noise of road construction in the middle of the night. When to that sound when I’m just about to fall asleep while lying down willing to sleep, I end up waking up bothered by it. Because of that my drowsiness disappears and I can’t sleep at all even if I’m willing to. I really want it to stop once for all.

I’m totally fine with high frequency sounds that are often labeled as detestable like the one you get when you scratch on a blackboard. Everyone around me was just like “Argh!” and seemed they hated it, but I was fine.

I was born in a rural area in Nagano and, since the mountains were close to where I was, I prefer the sound of nature instead of the peacefulness of the town. Even the sound of the frogs in the summertime could calm me down (laughs). As there were rice fields all around, you could hear them croaking the whole time. That reminds me that in the past I have a feeling there were some kind of Notostraca in the fields, but lately I can’t really see them. Even if it’s something that I recalled by chance. It’s not like I look in the fields all the time (laughs). I look at them when I stare out of the shinkansen windows while travelling to another region or when I go back home to my family. Then, I can’t see fireflies anymore. When I was a child, they often used to come to rest on the window screen and shine. I strayed a bit from the topic, but when I think about sounds, memories of a long time ago come back to my mind like this. I guess it’s because the things I felt from my childhood still remain just like this.

Talking about music, I can listen to everything. Or, in a better way, I listen to a wide range [of genres]. I listen to pop music and enka as well. When I was a child, my mother liked Sawada Kenji and Anzen Chitai and their music was often playing in the house. Then there was Yamaguchi Momoe, I think. I remember listening to her along with the others. That’s why, instead of pop being a recent thing, it’s more a thing of long ago… I tend to feel like listening to nostalgic things. Talking about really old song, I think I can know their melody too.

SMELL

“Smell” and “scent”. The one that impacts Toshiya the most is the former one. He says he hasn’t a very sensitive sense of smell. He doesn’t even have a good nose.

“Smell”

Food and places… smells that linger together with memories.

[The smell] I like… well, I think that probably you’ll understand me if you’re Japanese, but isn’t it the smell of the curry you have on Saturdays? (laughs) Like, when I came home from school and walked down the street, I could sense that peculiar smell of people preparing dinner coming from every house around. I really liked it.

Then, I also like the smell of rain a lot. I can’t compare it well with anything, but I like that wet smell that I can’t even express. Or rather the peculiar smell of soil and asphalt. I feel like my heart calms down. Besides I think that the smell of historical buildings feel somehow familiar to me. When we travel to different regions while on tour, I occasionally go to visit castles and so on, but I can sense a familiar smell when I go to my grandma’s place in the countryside. It rather feels quite humid. When I recall that scent, which was a smell to me during my childhood, all the time anywhere I am I’d connect it to my memories. Then, even the scent of museums and libraries is soothing, even though it’s not like I always go there. I like the characteristic scent and the silence. Lately I also enjoy entering cafés etc. and relaxing in there. I have a luxurious time [in there].

Among the smells I hate, the very first one to come to my mind is the one of stinky tofu. It’s eaten all over Asia and it’s made by fermented tofu and it’s a food similar to Japanese natto or kusaya, popular among foreigners. Again, its smell is just way too strong. I think we were probably touring somewhere around Shanghai or Taiwan and, as I wandered around the streets with all the members, there was a smell far from being the one of udon. It was so bad to that point of saying “I guess people’s dying somewhere because of this?!” (laughs) Actually I don’t know if that smell killed people. But its smell is so strong to the extent you pinch your nose. Since I was feeling uneasy about it, I asked the local people “What smell is it?” and they answered me “It’s the smell of food”. I thought “It can’t be true!” but people say that, even if it smelled so bad, once you eat it, you get into it. It’s horrible if you just take a smell of it, but I heard it’s delicious if you can manage to put it in your mouth. Even if I was told those things, it was absolutely impossible for me. I can’t eat it. Or perhaps I should say I can’t take it to my mouth (laughs).

I wasn’t really joking when I told that I pinch my nose. Either speaking of it, I think I’m an insensitive person. Sometimes there’s people who perceive something like “It doesn’t feel good” and who have a fine ability for sensing things. But I feel like women are definitely more sensitive about that.

TASTE

Toshiya, the one who isn’t picky about food, so far. As he said “I’m not that sensitive to taste, but I end up overreacting to hot and spicy food”.

“Taste”

He’s not really picky, but in fact he has a sweet tooth.

When we travel to different regions while touring, I look forward to eating those regions specialties. Even if I say so, I’m not even the type who’s a picky eater. It may sound unexpected, but I like sweet things. I like both japanese-style sweets and western-style sweets. I buy pretty much sweets of the konbini. After having breakfast, I drop in at the konbini and while thinking “Mhh…” I’m already reaching out for them (laughs). It’s hard to say what’s my favourite sweet thing. It fairly depends on the mood I’m in that very day. Mh, maybe it’s the moon cake (laughs). When I see it, I often feel like grabbing it. Some drinks to accompany it are hot green tea, soy milk or cow milk. The chemistry between those three and the moon cake is the best. I also like alcohol, so I drink it too while eating sweet things. Even moon cake and sake are absolutely perfect!

I don’t think there are things I can’t eat, but I don’t like spicy foods. Red things like chili are definitely out of discussion, and I don’t really like pepper as well. But for some reason, I’m fine only with wasabi. Since I’ve never eaten anything that stimulated me since I was young, I guess I haven’t that much immunity against hot food. Even the curry at my parents’ home wasn’t hot. In the past, when I used to go to play to at my friends’ home, I usually had curry. I remember being astounded after eating by its excessive hotness. Like “Is curry this hot?!”.

Then, I thing I still can eat but I don’t really like is coriander. I guess I prefer not to eat it. The ones who like it seems to appreciate it very much, but I can’t believe it. Lately on TV I saw many shops specializing in coriander, many all-you-can-eat coriander restaurants and so on and I thought that isn’t a thing I would eat like that. I heard there are many women who likes coriander, although I think that sweet things are suitable for women, but I can’t understand coriander.

There’s one more thing I hate. When we were on tour overseas, I really hate the pizza we used to have on the bus. It was more a matter of quantity than a metter of taste. It didn’t feel like japanese delivery pizza, a single slice was already too huge. We ate it all together, but it was… (bitter smile). I can’t like it. The pizza we ate in Italy was delicious, so it’s not like I hate pizza. That catering pizza we had overseas was awful.

Speaking of food, I used to cook often before. But lately I don’t do it that much. I used to make hamburger and cabbage rolls. When I cook, I may pay particular attention to it. Before I tried to cook thinking that if I cooked using incredibly expensive ingredients, it would have been super delicious, but it wasn’t really like that (bitter smile). I guess I didn’t like it because I wasn’t raised in a bourgeois family.

TOUCH

It feels that “touching” leads to many different sensations and behaviuor. It’s also something that’s connected to one’s interests and likings and that becomes an important factor to determine one’s appearance. How’s Toshiya’s touch being surrounded?

“Touch”

Painting, developing, building up.

It’s not really a hobby, but from long ago, around the time I went to Art school, I liked drawing. When I was a child, since in my neighbourhood there were more girls than boys, I often played with girls. But I started hating being rallied for playing house and from that time on I started drawing at home by myself. Since crayons stained, I draw a lot using pencils. Speaking of what I used to draw… I feel that I used to draw a lot of robots, as expected. I also draw the character of a picture book I liked called “Memementama” all the time. Like, it was this kind of cute ghost with just one red eye and a black body, a bit round. This mementama liked red things, so it would eat all red things. The story is a bit grotesque because the point of it is that when it finds out its own eye is red, it ends up eating it.

Then lately I’m interested in Rolex. In the past I used to think that Rolex were somehow too royal, but since I had the chance to hold in my hand one that was made in the same year I was born, I changed my mind and thought that good things are fine. From that time, whenever I tried to look for many different things about them, it was more interesting than expected. The Rolex company itself became a sort of secret society and the whole thing didn’t become evident. Maybe that’s because the brand image is firmly encircled. Because of that, nearly every information coming from Rolex comes like something that an employee leaked. Now I know things like that model was made around that time, but that’s a leaked information as well. Even that model and the newest one will change and I’ll seem like not knowing it anymore, but surely in a few years won’t anybody leak anything once again? That kind of hidden side is also intriguing.

Speaking of touch, I’m also interested in how a body is made. Meaning that I like to touch my body by myself. I’m turning training into an habit. When I say training, no matter how effort I put in doing it, but when I lost my concentration even for a bit, it loses all its meaning. That’s why I have to keep doing it every day. When I first started doing it it was fun, but the fatigue piles up little by little and doing it every day is tiresome. There are also times in which I’m too tired to do it. However, when neglecting it like that, my muscles disappear immediately. When I do it, I gain them on the part I trained, but when I don’t, they will degenerate two times faster… I think that kind of simple cycle became interesting. From that I learned again that I have to keep on doing anything.

“In conclusion”

About his current interests, roots and serialization.

This time, as a commemoration of the very first column of the series, we had to investigate Toshiya’s interests and likings by interviewing him about the five senses and, lastly, we tried to ask him about the things he’s interested in right now.

“Let me think… maybe it’s the long drama called “Maguromaru” (laughs). It’s the most interesting among these days’ dramas. Until now it was “Aibou”.”

In the entry of Smell the word “castle” popped up too, and it seems like he likes historical things very much.

“When I was a child, during Tango no Sekku [the festival that later became Kodomo no Hi, children’s day] I used to wear a paper helmet and an armour and, instead of having my name written on them, they had like “1Xth generation”. After having asked to my grandmother many things about that, somehow it felt like my family was a line of warriors. In my hometown Nagano once ruled the Takeda family, but there were the twenty-four generals of Takeda Shinken and it feels like my family was a descendant of one of them. That’s why, considering that, I may somehow feel fascinated.”

Toshiya is active in many fields like being a musician and making apparels but, does he assimilate various data from daily things in order to create anything?

“As far as the things I’m interested in are concerned, I think I’ll try to look into it them some extent, but I’m a lazy person (bitter smile). Because of that I guess it’s a fifty-fifty. I think it’s okay not to know in particular those things that I may be interested in, but I’m also fine not knowing. So, I’m the type who don’t really think he will create something from himself. But I cherish the connection with this.

It seems that the attitude of reaching out as much as possible for things he’s interested in didn’t change since he was a child.

“In fact I’m spoiled. I’m the type who gets anything he wants, but as I grew old I realised that there are also things I can’t get. So I learned that maybe I have to reach a good compromise with myself (laughs). But if there’s any chance, I tend to reach out for it. That’s because otherwise I won’t be able to grasp it.”

In this time serialization, we’re planning on having his creative part as a feature. As the one in charge of editing says, it seems that there are already a many different projects, but perhaps even showing his other aspect, the one that’s different from the usual one of him playing the bass on stage, would be great.

“I wonder how will it be. As far as personal things are concerned, I guess I’ll refrain a bit from telling them because I want to keep them for myself. That’s why I’m a bit afraid of telling the truth (laughs).”

This series, which will dig into Toshiya from various points of view, will start for real in the next issue. Don’t miss it!

#direngrey #dir en grey #toshiya #translation #toshiya's creativity

129 notes · View notes

warmau · 6 years

Note

hiii! i really love ur sci-fi/apocalyptic aus and would LOVE to see some of that for nct dream!!!

people really wanted more sci-fi so here it is!!! find yuta, johnny, sicheng & haechan (here) find taeyong, taeil, mark, doyoung, ten, & jaehyun (here)

Jeno

extremely clumsy time-traveler

the ability to travel through time and sort of skip back and forth between it is distinctive to jeno’s family

so when he inherited it ,,,, everyone in the family expected he’d just you know ,,,,,, be GOOD at it

turns out - he’s not

as good at everything else as jeno can be,,,,,,the one skill he’s born with - is the one skill he can’t exactly harness

do you know how many time he’s accidentally time warped in the middle of doing his homework?

he ends up in 17th century france and is like bonjour,,,,uh,,,,,,anyone here know how to do algebra

or that one time he jumped into the future and almost got hit by some dude on a hoverboard

life is hard when your one weird hiccup can send you propelling through the space-time continuum

and whats worse is ,,,,,,,, he’s sworn to secrecy

which is not great because “oh jeno, what’d you do this weekend - why didn’t you come play video games at jisungs?” oh well i just was hanging out with dinosaurs or whatever

like you can’t say that

and jeno is bad at lying because he gets all smiley and cant stop it and mark is always like bro are you good

jeno smiling so wide it hurts: fine! i uh,,,,,,,,just had homework to do!

and one time,,,,jeno trips over the top stair in his house and it sends him to the future

except he’s still,,,,,,,in his neighborhood,,,,,but everything is just,,,more technological

like the stop signs are holograms and the cars are just tinier versions of themselves all hovering above the ground

and then

and then there’s you

with your hoverboard under your arm - your hair a wacky bright color - and your talking to a tiny little person whose inside the watch on your hand

and jeno is like ,,,,,,, just gaping in the middle of the street

and unfortunately you walk right into each other

and you’re like HEY didnt the motion detector we all have in our brains tell you to move LEFT

and jeno is like the what in my brain

and you look him up and down and you’re like wait

where’s your receptor button? why arent you wearing the geo-transmitter? where’s your hoverboard or inline skates?

and jeno is like i ,,,,,, i uh,,,,,,left them at home

and you’re like what you can’t leave them at home - tap your watch and they’ll appear in your hands like any normal persons stuff does

jeno just shrugs and is like oops left that watch at home too

and you’re like how it’s like,,,,,locked onto your hand when you’re five

jeno in his head: the future is freaky

jeno out loud: it,,,,,broke?

you stare at him for a while,,,,,,,,,,for one he’s got dark hair. no one has had that color of hair in a while

he’s wearing an outfit that scream 2018 which was like fifty years ago

and

“ARE YOU FROM THE PAST?!?!?!”

jeno jumps, pulling you closer and shaking his head frantically as onlookers turn for a second but then focus back on their watches

“no what are you talking about how could i be from the past i -”

“siri 107 - locate this dudes profile.”

“siri 107?”

suddenly there’s a loud beep and from your watch a ray of blue light scans over jeno’s body

after a tinkering second there is a beep again

“unidentified. no profile. perhaps he’s a senior citizen?”

jeno’s eyebrows furrow “i am NOT a senior citizen”

you grin, “then you have to be from the past. everyone under the age of thirty has a profile. when your born doctors upload your info into the database.”

you come closer and closer till your centimeters away from jeno’s face

he tries to pull back but something stops him

past the wild hair and clothing he doesnt understand,,,,he has to admit your face is damn near perfect

maybe - he thinks - it’s that the future has perfected genetics or something

but then again everyone around you two still looks different,,,,,,you just,,,,,,you look so angelic

and his frozen stare makes you tilt your head to the side

“why are you staring at me?”

jeno gapes, blushing down to his collar and looking away

“n-nothing i just,,,,ive never i,,,,,,uh -”

your giggle cuts jeno’s sentence off

your watch does some kind of noise and jeno asks what it means

“it’s reading your mood - it says you think im cute.”

jeno opens his mouth to protest, but again he’s a bad liar so all he gets out is a “wh-what?”

“it’s fine, i think you’re cute too!”

you reach up to touch his hair

“this retro style is actually my type -”

you peer down into his eyes again

“and if you are from the past that makes you interesting. i like that.”

jeno feels his heart beat a little faster in his chest

and just as your about to let your hand drop, and jeno reaches out to catch it

thinking he might as well just admit it, if you think it’s cool that he’s from the past then maybe you wouldnt mind talking to him more

and its not like he has anything better to do

what, go back to his time and do homework and miss out on a cute date with you - a cute person from the future?

but just as he opens his mouth, your eyes wide with anticipation

everything begins to warp

and jeno groans because

goddamnit, he time traveled back! right at the most important part!

standing at the top of the stairs of his house, jeno touches the spot on his cheek

your warmth is still present as if you’d been there with him only seconds ago

“great, now this stupid family gift is even interfering with my love life.” jeno grumbles

but maybe,,,,just mabye,,,,,the next time he sneezes he’ll find himself back in 2068

on that date

with you

Renjun & Jisung

mecha pilots!

they were both scouted by military personnel while attending school

renjun, who’d been an avid member of engineering club and robotics, had been chosen for his ability to work and operate machinery way beyond his experience

jisung, who was part of track and archery, was chosen for his agility and aim

renjun’s mecha is large and looks more like a lifesize gundam figure, painted a rich forest green and nicknamed ‘giant’

he has tweaked it to be able to turn both of its arms into high powered canons and even installed a system in the cockpit that would let him infiltrate other mechas and haywire their internal systems

he takes ALOT of pride in keeping his mecha perfect and any bumps or dents or broken parts he fixes

even before going to get himself checked out by the doctors

his body suit is green to match his mecha and he wears a pair of goggles that have built in alerts from the mecha database

jisung calls renjun ‘the nerd pilot’ because renjun really only ever reads instruction manuals on tech and doesnt enjoy doing tricks during practice or during fights

jisung on the other hand,,,,,,,,,,

his mecha is smaller than renjuns - but it transforms into a jet whenever high speed chasing is involved

it’s a bright, flashy silver and has stickers and spray paint all over it

jisung calls it ‘lightening’ while renjun calls it ‘scrap metal’

since jisung is slightly more of a ,,,,,,,wild card in battle

his mecha is built to chase and surprise enemies, it doesnt have as many setups as renjuns but it is faster and more agile

so whenever he can jisung does tricks like spinning it upside down or flying circles around renjun to piss him off

his suit is the same silver, but with stripes of gold down his arms and legs and he wears a motorcycle style helmet with the same silver gleam

he usually comes out of a battle with some kind of busted lip or broken arm

and his mecha in pieces

but he still manages to jump around and party and dance and high five the squad leader like they’re old buddies

he’s the energy of the team - but he also kind of annoys everyone (in the best way possible, even though renjun disagrees)

you’re a part of renjun and jisung’s unit, you became a mecha pilot to follow in the footsteps of your parents who are now both retired from the field

you somehow get along with both of them, keeping up with jisung’s unhinged energy while also being interested in renjun’s intelligence

the three of you are an unlikely trio and no one outside of the squad gets it

but in battle - you guys are perfect

renjun always has the best plan and firepower, jisung can hunt an enemy down to the ends of the earth and you - have the knowledge of a true mecha pilot

no situation goes without jisung and renjun getting your approval in their own different ways

there’s been a string of attacks by an intergalactic bandit in your city, he keeps sending meteors full of poison down onto the city

the mecha unit has been put in charge of stopping the meteors from hitting the city below

and so you, jisung and renjun are out on patrol of the skies when you spot one

you send out a location signal to the other two guys and soon enough all three of you are on the meteor, getting ready to catch it

but at the last moment the meteor glitches, and suddenly you realize that the bandit disguised his ship as a meteor and is planning to land in the city

right away jisung starts firing, swirling around in the air trying to hit the ship

renjun is yelling over the coms that he needs to stop - he could hit the ship and send it crashing down onto the building below

but before jisung can decide to listen to renjun, that’s just what happens

and in the moment - you’re the one rushing down after the ship in your mecha

using the arms of your machine to catch the ship and land it safely into the middle of a grassy park nearby sending all of the civilians scattering in shock

the only problem is, the bandit hops out of the ship - pointing a alien looking weapon at you and through the shield of your mecha

he shoots

if you wake up and see renjun - you sit up fast

only to realize your head is throbbing and you fall back against the bed

renjun is pacing back and forth in your ER room, muttering to himself

and you try to let out a small sigh

rushing to your side you only smile at renjun, but he shakes his head

“your stitches” he motions to the side of your face and you blink

“di-did the bandit get me?”

“he got a shot at your face, but thankfully it wasnt a gun - so it was a bullet but some kind of outerspace weapon. it cut into your skin, but im running tests on it right now and ill figure out what is it and i will get him. i will make him pay for this.”

renjun’s usually calm, studios attitude turns serious

the soft browns of his eyes turn almost pitch black with anger when he thinks about it

and you have to put your hand over his to make him return to normal

“but im ok, right?”

“you could have died ,,,,, you could have caught his ship and he could have broken into your mecha and killed yo-”

“but im alive!”

you try to make it sound happy, but there’s pain in your voice

renjun quiets down, watching you

“is my mecha ok?”

“don’t worry, you know i can fix that.”

you let out small laugh, “yes, mechas are your specialty.”

renjun watches you - he’s never really known what to do when he feels like this

every battle - he worries about everyone, but you ,,,,,, with you it’s another level of anxiety

before he can think to stop himself he leans down to kiss your forehead gently

“please be careful”

he whispers and your heart stops

but having renjun close like this feels right and you let your eyes fluttr close

“renjun,,,,,,”

“yes?”

he pulls away but you keep your eyes close out of embarrassment at your next statement

“can you kiss me,,,,,,,”

you gently tap your lips

“here?”

renjun feels his skin boil under his suit,,,,,, “w-why”

“you can fix a mecha with tools but fixing a persons heart usually means a kiss,,,,,,or two”

renjun swallows, leaning down again and pressing a chaste - nervous kiss on your lips

maybe, he thinks, that feeling of worry about you isn’t just worry maybe it’s what people talk about when they mean love

if you wake up and see jisung - you wince at the pain in your head

but sit up anyway, throwing the hospital blanket to the side and trying to throw your feet over the side of the gurney

“hey hey hey - where do you think you’re going ????”

jisung jumps from his seat beside your bed and takes a hold of your legs - pushing them back

and urging you to lay down again

you scowl at him

“jisung, that bandit is still out there.”

you can tell from jisung’s multiple bandaids and dirty suit that even after you’d passed out that the unit when on to fight

but jisung huffs

“yeah, he is. but unit 4 is on it. our unit’s priority is you now! making sure you don’t get hurt anymore!”

you narrow your eyes, but let out a sharp gasp

your fingers reach up to trail the stitches over your eyebrow and jisung tells you that the bandit cut you with some kind of alien weapon

“whatever, im not dead and unit 4 will need our backup-”

you try to sit up again but jisung takes a hold of your wrist

“listen, you know that i would love to get you out of this stupid hospital bed and back out into the battle. we could pull up in our mechas like cool ass superheros!”

the spark in jisung’s eyes makes you smile a bit

“but,,,” the spark dulls again

into a serious expression that you haven’t seen on jisung’s face since one of the mecha pilots had fallen in battle last spring

“but you are more important then that. you know me, i love impulsive crazy things. but there’s one thing i love more than that.”

you shift in the bed, suddenly hyper aware of how red jisung’s ears are becoming

the chair where he’d been sitting is his mecha helmet

a half disheveled blanket is thrown over the arm and you wonder how long jisung has been here

in this room

waiting for you

“what is it,,,,,,,the one thing you love more?”

your voice trembles, but you think you might know the answer

jisung crosses his arms, trying to rack his brain with some kind of little lie

but he flings his arms up

“it’s you! YOU! There I said it, are you happy!”

you manage to let out a good laugh this time, despite the pain in your head

“hey don’t laugh at me confessing my -”

“come down here so i can kiss you”

jisung jumps a bit, startled at your words

but with one look to see if the doctor is coming, he obliges and you put your hands up into his hair

kissing him gently and softly and for the first time

energetic, wild jisung is timid and shy

you can’t believe it,,,,,,it’s so cute

(but when you tell jisung that - he insists that there isn’t anything cute about him - a suave, cool mecha pilot)

(but maybe he’ll let you - only you - call him cute. as long as you don’t tell renjun)

renjun who witnessed the kiss from behind the hospital curtain: ill never let him live this down

Jaemin

the “winged” boy

born after a unique mutation in his genes while he was in the womb, jaemin’s white feathers sprout from his back in full glory when he turns only ten

now, as he is much older, he is hailed by scientists and people all over the world as a ‘real life angel’

but more than anything

jaemin’s wings are a bother

they are too large for him to be able to get through doors without a problem - revolving doors are out of the questions

all of his clothing has to be torn for wings to fit through

in the summer - all the feathers make everything ten times hotter

he cant enjoy anything like a normal person. not without everyone gwaking in awe

the weekly tests conducted by doctors and scientists from around the world are not fun, at all

and worst of all

if anything,,,,,,,,,,,,,anything at all,,,,,,,,get stuck in his wings

he can’t pick it out - his arms won’t reach

but,,,,all of these struggles are kept under lock and key by jemin

who is always smiling and being kind

and acting just like the ‘angel’ he is nicknamed

because he doesnt want others to be let down, to know how much of a hassle being different really means

and although he can fly, he much prefers to walk - its the only thing human about him that he can control

but ,,, ,as much as everyone is marveled

and thinks he looks like he’s just come to life from a biblical painting

there are people who deem him

a “freak”

at least that’s what the neighborhood bullies call him when they smear paint and gum in his wings in the back alley of some street

horrified and unable to even spread his wings out because of the stickniess

jaemin tries desperately to claw out any gum or paint for his feathers

but it’s hopeless

he must look so pathetic alone here like this,,,,,,,

“are you ok?”

jaemin closes in on himself at the sound of someones concerned voice

you can see a shadow, but it doesnt quite look like a persons

you come closer and closer

and jaemin tries to curl in on himself

but it’s too late

your gasp lets him know that you’ve seen him

how ugly he looks, his wings all a mess and his body shaking with fear

but instead of calling him another insult, instead of running away

you bend down and begin to pick out the wads of gum

“who would do this? they’re so cruel,,,,”

jaemin’s shoulders relax slightly as he comes to figure out that you have no intention of hurting him

he turns a little, his face which had been hidden behind his wings is revealed

and you smile at him

the expression makes something warm fill up inside jaemin’s chest and he tells you meekly that you don’t have to help

“what do you mean? your wings are big, you couldnt possibly clean them yourself. ill get all of this gunk out - don’t worry!”

jaemin’s heart skips a bit as you reach over beside his cheek - reaching to the feathers behind to pluck some gum from there

jaemin thanks you quietly as you work, humming the tune of a song you like

so careful and sweet it nearly lulls jaemin into a comfortable sleep

“the paint won’t come out,,,,ill need some water,,,”

jaemin’s eyes meet yours, wide and worried

you stand back and think, before snapping your fingers

jaemin feels awkward, standing in the shower of your apartment

but you’re also there

“sorry,,,but youll have to keep some of your clothes on ,,,,” you flush pink and so does jaemin

but it’s the only way you’ll be able to get all of the stuff out of his wings

jaemin nods, but then pulls at his shirt - giving you just enough time to look away

and when you turn back

he’s curled up with his knees to his chin, his exposed back and wings looking cramped in your tiny bath

you turn on the water, cupping it and gently lathering it into the wings where theyve been stained with purples and greens

it is tedious and take a lot of time, but somehow you manage to get jaemin’s wings looking pristine again

and you offer him some sweats as he gets out of the tub, his jeans faded dark from the water

it’s awkward, but after having you do something like that for him - jaemin just doesnt know how to thank you

you dont even know him all that well, but you sacrificed all this time and effort

“don’t thank me, it’s only natural to help someone in need.”

you say - as if reading jaemin’s confused mind

you set down some tea in front of him but jaemin suddenly does something that nearly makes you knock it over

he pulls a feather out of his wings - with a tiny wince

but then he hands it to you

you stare at it, flabbergasted

until you get up, find some string and knot the feather throughit

placing it over your head you grin as you show the makeshift necklace to jaemin

who turns a scarlet color and closes his wings around him in a large, swooping motion

you giggle and ask him to open them up

and when he does, peeking through them you lean in to kiss his cheek

and jaemin nearly faints - his first kiss - of any kind

and it feels so warm and nice that he can’t help but open his wings open a little more and in a whisper ask,

“again?”

Chenle

talks to ghosts

let me correct myself, ghosts talk to him and chenle is like

“please stop nagging me you were born in the tang dynasty what do you know about millennial fashion”

the ghosts that stay around him and in his house tend to be ancestors

but when he goes anywhere,,,,he can see the spirits that are attatched to others

and since those people cant communicate with their loved ones

they tell all their problems to chenle

who looks a little weird having a conversation with thin air

when in reality he’s telling another sad ghost aunt that their niece is fine - she’s standing right there minding her own business no he’s not going to go over there and tell her that auntie misses her little honey and NO hes not going to ask if her cat ‘muffins’ is still alive

muffins spirit who is meowing in chenles left ear: meow

the only time chenle gets a break from all these ghosts is when he’s sleeping

or when he’s really focused on something

so sometimes he’ll practice martial arts for hours, worrying his friends and family

but it’s just because it helps keep the ghosts away

and no one else can understand because who would believe him???

even hanging out with mark or haechan is work

because they have ghosts around them - everyone does

so its like trying to talk to his friends AND their dead family members

“no one understands me,,,,,”

chenle murmurs one day as he’s walking to school - being followed for like three blocks by a wandering spirit of an old women who isnt sure where her husband is

“isn’t this where our farm was?”

she asks and chenle groans, looking over to the rows of apartment buildings

“not anymore i guess.”

he says aloud and catches some glances from passerbys

he keeps walking but the women is insistent on chatting and chenle is not having it

not with that chem quiz coming up and the fact that he’s already late

turning around on his heel, he glares at the ghost

“listen, three hundred and fifty years has passed! you are dead - your husband is too and i don’t know where -”

“don’t talk to her like that!”

surprised, chenle turns and sees you standing there

you have the same uniform as him, but he’s sure he’s never seen you in school before

you march over to stand beside him, looking over at the women who floats above you two

“ma’am, this boy doesnt know where your husband is. but im sure he is resting somewhere. you should go there too, let go of worry. you will find him there.”

your voice is calm, nurturing

the ghost stares back at you before breaking into tears and slowly, slowly disappearing

chenle blinks, turning to you

“wait - you - you - could see her?!?!?!”

you huff, “did you think you were the only person who could see ghosts in the whole world? believe me, you’re not that special.”

you turn to head back on your way

but chenle catches up

“are you a transfer?”

“yep!”

a spirit that peeks out from inside your backpack sticks its tongue out at chenle and he blinks again

“whose that?!?”

“he’s a kid i knew back home, passed from an illness and has been with me since then. he’s kind of -”

the ghost glares back at chenle

“don’t bother them!”

it chimes and hides back into your bag

“he’s kind of protective.”

you finish and chenle lets out a kind of “huh” noise

you two keep walking and chenle asks how you deal with the ghosts, all they do is nag him

you agree - they are naggy but it’s all about convincing them that they need to pass and not linger

“animal ghosts are the worst though, they don’t know about passing,,,,,and then they just-”

“meow nonstop in your ear? believe me i know.”

chenle motions to his leg, where a fluffy apparition is weaving between his legs

you laugh

and chenle suddenly forgets about your weird introduction and instead sees how cute the sound of your giggle is

but snapping back into it you two reach school

and chenle goes, “what class are you in?”

“ummm 5-A.”

“cool, youre with me!”

chenle smiles and suddenly - another spirit appears on his right

“wow so smooth, you wanna impress them and you go ‘cool youre with me!’ might as well just tell them you’re a big nerd-”

chenle groans

“this is the school ghost, he’s an ass.”

the ghost grins at you and tilts his head

“hey chenle, they can see me can’t they?”

“i can!”

you grin back

“huh, well let it be known here that chenle is a big nerd and probably already loves you-”

chenle nearly shouts from the ghost to shuttup, but notices the looks of students and keeps it back

you just laugh, “well us ghoul translators or whatever have to stick together don’t we?”

you reach out, offering your hand to chenle

who takes it, red blush and all

the school ghost makes a gagging noise and the ghost from your bag pops up again to chastise chenle for touching you

but for the first time their voices fade

and all chenle sees is your smile

and he can see that you’re thinking the same thing

im so happy there’s someone else like me ,,,,,,,

1K notes · View notes

zerochanges · 5 years

Text

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative - One Night Movie Premiere

If you told me ten years ago that I would be able to regularly watch anime movies on the big screen in theatres I would have surely not believed you. Besides maybe a few Pokemon movies or an occasional film in some mega franchise I don’t particularly care for such as Naruto, the prospect would probably seem alien to me even. So it’s funny how times have changed and how anime screenings in theatres is becoming increasingly more common in North America. Just last month I was able to watch the phenomenal Dragon Ball Super Broly film in a packed theatre with a ton of other nerds and it was a delightful experience. Before that I got to see the fun anime version of Die Hard known as My Hero Academia: Two Heroes, and before that a love letter to Go Nagai known as Mazinger Z Infinity! Now only a month after Broly I get to watch an honest-to-God Mobile Suit Gundam motion picture in a theatre too? I feel like the luckiest guy alive.

If I am being honest, I actually hate going to the cinema most of the time, and spent many years avoiding doing just that. I was always the type of person that was happy enough to rent a movie once it released on DVD/BD and that was the extent I would need out of cinema at large. The only exception I started to make was when Disney purchased Star Wars, and that was more out of fear that ravenous fans online couldn't keep their mouths shut than it was about anything else. Over the years however I started to develop a greater appreciation towards movie theatres at large and a lot of that has to probably do with anime. As I began to become a serious collector of anime and made the transition from my old DVDs to crisper BDs I realized I was at the point where as a fan I wanted the most out of my all time favorite movies--because these were not just my favorite anime movies but my actual favorite movies, and that’s when I realized I truly wish I could have seen them the way they were meant to be; on the big screen, with an insanely powerful surround sound system, with fans all gathered around cheering at the best moments. I will probably never get this experience for Akira, or Galaxy Express 999, or the many other films that mean the world to me now, but I can get the experience for future movies, so I don’t want to miss out ever again.

Gundam is one of my favorite franchises from my childhood. As a young kid I fell in love with the amazing robot designs and was blown away at the prospect of an anime that just felt so different from DBZ, which besides Pokemon was probably my only real understanding of anime at that age. As a teen and young adult especially the franchise became increasingly important to me and left a lasting impression on my psyche. I can’t tell you my favorite Gundam series nowadays because the answer will probably be different every time. Maybe I’ll say the original Mobile Suit Gundam, warts and all, it’s everything I love about anime from the 1970’s and to this day I still love the original Ocean Group dub from Canada. This dub while wooden and showing its age terribly will forever be etched in my mind as the definitive voices for most of the Universal Century characters despite Shuichi Ikeda buttery smooth, ecstasy inducing voice in most of the Japanese series. Maybe I’ll say Zeta Gundam as Kamile was a character my younger self identified a lot with and the series as a whole left a very strong impression on me. Maybe I’ll say Turn A Gundam, a beautiful psychedelic series that displays some of the best writing from series creator Tomino.

So yes, having a chance to see any Gundam film in theatres was something I couldn't miss. Even if said film ended up just okay it wouldn't matter, as not in my wildest dreams did I actually think I would get this opportunity. I figured the closest I would ever be to seeing Gundam on the big screen would be if I happened to be in Japan for some reason around the time a new Gundam OVA or film was being screened. When Gundam Narrative tickets went on sale for North America I bought them the day online orders were opened and was even the first person to buy a seat at the theatre (thanks to reserved seating I could see nobody else had bought a seat yet). It didn't matter to me that I had to drive 45 minutes to the cinema, nor did it matter to me that I honestly knew nothing about Gundam Narrative, I just wanted to experience Gundam this way at least once in my life. And so last night I made the trek across the city and finally got to see Gundam like I never have. Now I have decided I want to share some of my thoughts and impressions about it. This won’t be a formal review, nor is it meant to be, as more or less I’m just expositing some of my thoughts, off the cuff.

First a little background information. Sunrise’s current "UC NexT 0100" project that tackles the next century of Gundam’s UC (Universal Century) time-line as well as their ambitious promise to deliver a new theatrical Gundam film every 1-2 years from 2018 onward is something to behold, so it’s no big surprise to me that the first film to kick off both of these initiatives would be a sequel to the highly acclaimed Gundam Unicorn OVA series. Saying Sunrise is kind of on a Unicorn kick right now would be an understatement after all. I actually don’t mind this so much however like a lot of people seem to, as Unicorn deserves all the praise it got and there is no two-ways about it being a pivotal factor behind Sunrise’s returning commitment to the UC time-line again after releasing nothing major in it for nearly a decade. Gundam Narrative serving as a sequel to Gundam Unicorn is something I am totally neutral about.

My greater concern going into the Gundam Narrative film was more that Gundam and films have a pretty rocky history. Honestly most Gundam movies tend to be more on the awful side. If I had to rate all the ones I've seen I would probably only say Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky and Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower are fantastic, the original Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy is an excellent compilation movie series and a good enough replacement for its own television version, the Zeta New Translation films are incredibly disappointing and omit too much, Char’s Counterattack is a hot mess that barely makes a lick of sense, Gundam F91 would have been a fantastic TV show but as a movie it makes me sad, A Wakening of the Trailblazer is okay but also undone by its own weirdness, Endless Waltz is what you would expect out of Wing, the Turn A compilation movies are pointless, and G-Savior sure was … a thing that exist.

Well I am happy to say Gundam Narrative is among the rare films for the franchise that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish! A lot of this has to do with the scale being relatively small versus the usual scale in Gundam films that are way too big for their own good. Narrative’s laser focus on chasing after the missing Unit 03, the Golden Phoenix sibling to the two Unicorn and Banshee units we've seen in the previous Gundam Unicorn series allows it to tell a story largely separated from politics and the world at large--and let’s the characters become the main focal point of the film like any good movie should.

This aspect alone is missing from so many other Gundam films and is partly why so many fail at being a good viewing experience. I’d say the few that do find that focus, mainly the Thunderbolt series of films and the original trilogy of movies made from the 1979 TV series are the best in the franchise’s filmography. A ton of other Gundam films tend to be bloated as well with rather boring middle sections, so the brisk fast pace of this 90 or so minute runtime for Narrative was a welcome relief. There are some awkward cuts to the film sure, but honestly I felt this beat sitting in the theatre for two and a half hours bored at the long winded middle section that goes nowhere like some previous Gundam films are especially guilty of. This was just enough time to tell a story of this scope properly. Of course the characters and scope of the story isn't enough to carry an entire film so the fantastic soundtrack from returning Unicorn composer Hiroyuki Sawano helped to sell a lot of scenes in the film as well.

The biggest factor that made Narrative for me however had to be the film’s focus on the more metaphysical aspects of Newtypes. Despite my disliking of a lot of Char’s Counterattack I still find the more psychedelic (so to say) aspects of it to be fascinating, just as I always have when such spiritual topics have shown up in prior Gundam works by Tomino and the many teams at Sunrise. While far from perfect I always enjoyed this kind of kooky spiritualism to the Gundam universe, a sort of new age 80’s science fiction interpretation of the soul would be the best way I can describe it but there’s no real way for me to do it justice nor to make it not sound ridiculous. Since Tomino has left a lot of Universal Century Gundam series have focused more on everyday soldiers instead and not so much on Newtypes, the future evolution of mankind, and the soul. In fact I always felt Sunrise somewhat shied away from a lot of these aspect to Gundam since then, so when we got to see this aspect return near the very end of Gundam Unicorn it was a nice treat to me personally. Having it permeate almost the entire runtime of Narrative’s story had me over the moon. A lot of people disagree, and more power to them, but I just can’t get enough out of the spiritual aspects seen in Narrative.

Gundam Narrative being a modern UC time-line production means it of course has references and lore connections to a ton of other classic Gundam series and moments. I really enjoyed most them even if they were just silly fan service moments. I love that we got to see the famous Colony Drop drawn with modern day high budget animation and it wasn't just reused old footage. Getting to see clips of the Psycho Gundam ravage Hong Kong City was a joy on the big screen even if it lasted only about 10 seconds. I loved that we got to hear some of Char’s Dakar speech again in Narrative--this gave us an opportunity to hear Keith Silverstein, the modern English voice of Char since 2010 handle this legendary speech of his from Zeta Gundam.

Speaking of the English dub my favorite performances were definitely Griffin Puatu’s portrayal of the protagonist Jona Basta that had to carry a lot of the emotional weight of the film and Stefan Martello’s portrayal of the off-the-walls insane Zoltan Akkanen who was just a pure fun villain that ate up every scene he was in. The Narrative Gundam itself being a reworked prototype of Amuro’s Nu Gundam from Char’s Counterattack four years ago was also a fun way to fit another Gundam into this time frame and I love it gave us such a classic looking Gundam in the Unicorn era of the franchise.

I had almost zero expectations for Gundam Narrative, and all I really wanted was the big screen experience for Gundam. As someone that loves the psychedelic spiritual aspect of Tomino’s old works, and someone with zero expectations that a Gundam movie can really be all that good anyways I walked away from that theatre last night loving what I saw. Gundam Narrative has me personally excited for the future of Gundam films, especially if it means we may see more theatrical screenings in North America for said films. This is probably not a film for everyone, and is definitely heavy on both your love of Gundam Unicorn and your love of some of the craziest stuff Tomino would whip out in his heyday of working on the franchise, but if you’re like me I think this one will be a lot of fun, even off the big screen.

#Gundam #Mobile Suit Gundam #Universal Century #Gundam NT #Gundam Narrative #Anime

11 notes · View notes