Excellent expansion of the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime story.
Creative Staff
Story: Yoshikazu “Yas” Yasuhiko, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Hajime Yatate
Art: Yoshikazu “Yas” Yasuhiko
Mecha design: Kunio Okawara
Cover design: Grace Lu
Translation/Adaptation: Melissa Tanaka
What They Say
It is the year Universal Century 0079, in a space colony the Earth Federation is storing and testing a new piloted robot for use in the battle against the Principality of Zeon. The experimental RX-78 Gundam mobile suit is scheduled to be transported to Federation command in Jaburo, deep within the Brazilian jungles. Unfortunately, before the transporter would arrive, the Federation would come under attack from Zeon. With few resources available against the Zeon’s most mobile mechs, Federation forces strike back using their new weapon, the mobile suit Gundam.
Caught in the crossfire is a young teen named Amuro Ray. Not willing to see innocent people die like this, Amuro crawls into the cockpit of the closest machine around him. Whether it be a tank, jeep or jet, he was going to use it to help stop this slaughter. And what he happened to slide into was another Gundam. Having never operated a machine like this, what are the chances he can do anything to repel an experienced squad of mech-piloting invaders?
Volume 1 includes an essay from Hideaki Anno, director of the hit anime Neon Genesis Evangelion, Color pages from “Yas,” and an essay from Kadokawa Publishing Executive Shinichiro Inoue.
The Review
Technical:
The hardbound and very sturdy cover here is very striking, with the RX-78 Gundam emerging through orange-ish smoke and debris and the title prominently displayed dead center. The blue of the Gundam’s chest makes it stand out for good contrast. The back cover continues the orange theme though overlaying a space colony being invaded by very tiny Zakus (easy to miss at first glance) with a loquacious summary of the beginning of the story.
The paper feels nice and smooth and looks glossy. The art is well defined and very striking in the action areas. There’s a LOT of information on each page, which is natural considering this volume and subsequent ones will contain two issues of the original Japanese release in each book. It’s still a lot of information on each page to take in though on the initial reading and feels like reading a text novel at times. Sound effects are written in impressive fonts throughout.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
This is my first opportunity to write an actual manga review. I don’t really read very many manga as I’m more of an anime fan. However, as a long time fan of the original Mobile Suit Gundam film trilogy, I was ecstatic to learn there would be a new manga being released in the U.S. covering the events of the films and their predecessor TV series. What I didn’t totally expect was to see that the events of this era would be expanded on so well and that the films’ director and character designer Yoshikazu “Yas” Yasuhiko would be able to transpose the most active elements of the anime in manga form so well.
As some of you reading this are aware, the series was originally conceived as a set of novels by Yoshiyuki Tomino. The anime adaptations went in a different direction than those novels but still retained much of the elements that helped eventually define anime’s “space opera” genre. Many have seen the story of how teenager Amuro Ray lives on a futuristic space colony near his girlfriend Frau Brau and with his father, who has been working to build a new kind of mobile suit (the general term for giant robots in this world). His father hopes this mecha can help the Earth Military Federation defeat the armies of the Zeons, whose mecha have proven very capable in battle.
One set of Zeons come to the colony hearing rumors of the new suit and scout around a bit, attacking everywhere. Meanwhile, the EMF have a new battle ship called The White Base docked at this colony. In the ensuing attacks, many of the top personnel are injured or killed, and the ship’s quartermaster, Bright Noah, winds up taking command and presses several civilians to serve the ship. Meanwhile, Amuro finds the Gundam prototype and its operating manual, which he uses to defeat the invading Zeons, though at heavy cost to personnel as well as to his own morale. A Zeon scout survives however and reports to his ship’s commander, Char Aznable, who has a record for wiping out EMF ships and mecha, earning his nickname “The Red Comet” due to his mobile suit’s red coloring. Char wears a mask and has his own agenda against the Zeons, but this is developed in later issues.
Much of this is covered in the anime adaptations, and it’s nice to see imagery which have become iconic in the anime (and articles covering the anime) rendered beautifully and in great detail in high-contrast comic format. The strength of Yas’s manga here though, lies in building up the supporting civilians who appear and their contributions to the war. For example, we see the fate of the original captain of the White Base here covered in great and moving detail. We also see the EMF’s lack of respect initially toward Bright’s improvised crew, as well as the Zeon scouts’ first encounter with an EMF mecha, which sets the tone for much of what comes. There’s also the White Base pilot Mirai who seems to have a lot more on the ball than a civilian should, as well as the initial development of Sayla Mass, who Gundam fans know to be an important character later on. The best element takes place in a segment when the White Base crew decides to attack Char at a moon base due to a vulnerability they count on. Fellow mobile suit pilots Hayato, Kai and Ryou get to shine in this attack as it takes place WITHOUT the use of Amuro and the Gundam. It’s a great segment, the likes of which I’m looking forward to in subsequent volumes.
In Summary
The events here cover about 1/3 of what you may have seen in the first MS Gundam movie, but with a lot more information given. It’s rather similar to Space Battleship Yamato 2199 in that respect. In fact, Bandai recently announced Gundam Origin is supposed to get the anime treatment in 2014. Hopefully they’ll retain this new material in the process. It’s an excellent piece of work and I’m really looking forward to collecting this series. I’m honestly happy to plunk down my $30 and support Vertical Inc’s efforts to bring this familiar but expanded story in a new version, right up to its very end. Recommended.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: A+
Packaging Grade: A
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical Inc
Release Date: March 26th, 2013
MSRP: $29.99
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