Better than Newtypes: Perspective Changes in Turn A Gundam 

It dose not.

@@korbinservergundam It definitely dose

@@marcjustinpascasio9955 You cannot be more Wrong Turn it was the worst ever. I hated the show before but then I decided I'd give it a chance and I watched it and it only made me hate it more it's absolutely trash. G savior is better

Yeah kind of astonishing how the discourse around Gundam often seems limited to comparing the details of the mobile suits rather than the storytelling and themes. This is my attempt at addressing that lack.

​@@NyardOn that note how do you like the Mobile Suit Breakdown podcast? I think it debuted a little while after you published this video, but I think they're doing a pretty good job at looking at it through a more academic lens than the videos that focus comparing mobile suits.

@@JaceyMitchell I haven't checked it out, thanks for the recommendation though. That sounds interesting.

TBF as much as its substance is rooted in humanity in the midst of conflict and art needed to convey those values, gundam is a material and media vehicle to sell toys. To do otherwise would be like watching professional wrestling for the so-called background drama and not the over-the-top choreography and gladiatorial flirtation with injury. Unless they do something spectacularly bad like G-Reco somehow managed to do, the toys will always sell which is what keeps the franchise afloat. As the western animation audiences and toys market prove, it takes more than a passionate fanbase to keep a franchise relevant. There have to be views, sales, and some form of commodity that is moved. In tangential allusion, I'd paraphrase Dan Olsen of Folding Ideas in saying 'a line must always go up.' And so, G-Witch has proven this recently as well. As long as the dialog isn't so obtuse and confusing to the point it becomes an obstacle, the story itself only needs to reach a certain bar then be carried by every other aspect such as animation, MS designs, its music, all the other production values, and the gunpla sales for an iteration of gundam to succeed. One review I did come across was a review of IBO by BOOFIRE191. Although it did come a year after yours, it's pretty informative and tries to reframe everyone from the collective tunnel vision over the disappointment that 'they didn't win' to the greek tragedy-like fall of the protagonists caught in circumstances more gray than black and white, as well as notable inversions of established gundam tropes. That said, overall I think Gundam as a franchise on the whole fails to honestly embody the ideals its original creator intended. Like you said, after Tomino repeatedly concluded his stories with newtypes killing each other and ending up badly, he made Turn A without newtypes and reached the most uplifting ending he could come up with. But that also ignores and betrays what the franchise has become to its fans ALA death of the author. To most fans, gundam is about harsh reality amidst planetary conflict, and conflict will only ever repeat and repeat in spite of differing technology. That's just where humanity is in this current epoch. In that sense, Turn A is a fairy tale because Kihel & Dianna's opportunity to switch places and perspectives is almost too fantastical, and the fact characters get to see the horrors of previous stories in the UC timeline, is just unreal. And yes, you can use the Turn A as a washing machine or to dry clothes, but it's played off in a sort of pretense that it isn't a weapon. In the same way you can use an loaded rifle to pitch a tent--it's not an outright wrong usage, but it's a blase way to go about it that undercuts the gravity of what has been established, that gundams and guns were created to take lives. So yeah, it can seem intrepid and novel to use a gundam like that, but IMO the framing of the scene feels irreverent and childish, and can waved off or ignored. That all said, it's just too on the nose and hollywood-esque in a way, that after a bunch of character get a different perspective the problem is solved after some climax and the world is suddenly better off. Gundam was inspired by the country's generational experience of war to branch off from super robot into real robot, but under the auspices of Sunrise, Bandai, and other toy & media companies it needs to keep its franchise alive, it has deviated from its exact ideal as something anti-war into an echo of it in order to just carry on, whether as something for corpos to exploit and make money, or for people to genuinely enjoy. So in that vein, i think such ideals better summed up and convey in One Piece. While it is generally in the same cultural boat as gundam, I feel it has kept more of its initial integrity intact inspite of its fans and success than Gundam, considering its author's sheer dedication. Particularly through the story of Nico Robin, Frankie, and the allegory of Pluto; "it isn't a crime to exist."

vibbing

it's also a rehash so there's that

I always loved that name. "Correct Century." Because in the end, isn't is just that? A timeline where humanity has a chance to be better, to build something from the ashes of the past. Where humans can learn, be better and embrace each other as brothers and sisters, no matter where they came from. A century that has chance for everything to finally go correctly. A more beautiful century

@@lemmythetrash-goblin8291 and no colony drops

@@lemmythetrash-goblin8291 I mean, why was it even called that in the show? Who named it C.C. more than 2000 years ago?

Yea, I would describe Tomino that way. Great ideas and world, but questionable characters and writing. A lot of his stuff is just all over the place, feeling either inconsistent or contrived. The battles for instance just felt forced, like he had some "battles per episode" quota to fill.

Thanks for your thoughtful comment! To me the process of perspective changes is never finished but is an ongoing practice of trying to see the world through the others eyes. As the world changes and new factions and conflicts form the same means of perspective changes can and should still be happening. I don't see it as an Evangelion like instrumentality, because the way to see through the others eyes necessitates individuality. In Eva the metaphor of instrumentality was to give up being a person because of how unavoidable conflict is, in Turn A if anything being a person becomes richer and more unique by having such a vibrant and diverse world. Conflict is not avoided by erasing difference but by increasing and cherishing differences. Either way, you should really watch Turn A I'm sure you'll find it very interesting.

Watch the show.

@mrdaddy569 maybe watch the shows.

I love you your perspective of the baker. Myself I see it as rather than a perspective change, perhaps a perspective regression. I haven't watched turn A yet so I don't know what kind of life they had on the moon, but it made me think of what if one could be the thing they wanted to be as young kids, which at least used to be simpler such as fireman, plumber, doctor, nurse or baker. How many people would work on those simpler professions if they could live from it? But if in the moon they knew a different life style, then maybe it doesn't hold. But I still like that evokes that return to innocence.

They aren't nor they're ment to represent them.

that's like saying the Vagan in Gundam Age are newtypes... which they aren't.