Sci-Fi Epic or Glorified Toy Commercial? | Gundam: The Origin Retrospective 

Surprised nobody has made note of the soundtrack used in this video 😩

Everyone says Gundam is more daunting than it actually is. It is just 0079, Zeta, ZZ, Char's Counterattack. Everything else is build around that core.

Friend, this journey is going to be long, but I trust you to finish the Gundam timeline even if it's off-screen.

The "correct" way to experience the Gundam series as a whole would have been the production order, especially the U.C. timeline, The Origin assumes you are familiar with the characters as it adapats a flashback happening in the middle of the manga run, changes a bunch of stuff as well

This is such a remarkable deconstruction of the Origin. I especially loved how you pointed out the parallelsto real life history. I never noticed that before, and I've seen the Origin a dozen times!

am always down when someone starts thier journey into one of my most beloved universes

I've been a Gundam fan since the early 2000's and I enjoy watching review videos like this. Seeing someone's else's first time prospective. 👍

The mecha genre is one giant toy commercial, and it just so happens that I love Toys and I wanna buy all of them. So it's all good.

While Tomino Yoshiyuki definitely deserves credit for Gundam (and many other mecha series), a lot of credits for Origin OVA should go to Yasuhiko Yoshikasu a very prolific manga artist that did character designs for original Gundam & many other series. He started writing MS Gundam: The Origin manga in 2001 that retell the story of the entire 1st Gundam while also added a LOT of details and nuances to it. The OVAs were the adaptation of parts of the manga that's not from the original series that's focuses on Char. Oh, he also one of the directors of the OVAs himself. I'd even say that, personally, MSG Origin manga is my preferable version of the 1st Gundam story.

Crowley Hamon's increased character development was 😙🤌

It's always pleasing to see an anime fan who can finally move forward from Evangelion/Code Geass/Gurren Lagann as the only mecha shows that they watched. But kudos to you for watching Macross Plus before this. Gundam is a great franchise. Even with their own occasional valleys & misssteps, majority of the Gundam anime entries are still ranging from decent to masterpieces. So I will see your journey with great interest.

This video is so detailed and put together that I hope more people get to see it!

It’s amazing that you mentioned Von Braun doing what Dr.Minovski did and the fact that the gundam is made and produced in Von Braun City on the moon.

"Doesn't focus on the psychological trauma that might arise from having a high schooler pilot a mech..." Hoooo boy.

Despite what some comments say, this OVA has never been officially stated as non-canon or an alternate universe. Instead of having people trying to police you with their own headcanons, here’s an actual official statement on how Sunrise views “canon”. This is an excerpt from an interview with the main producer at Sunrise who oversees all of Gundam, Naohiro Ogata "Well, it’s been over 40 years since that first series, and even just looking at the Universal Century timeline, not everything necessarily fits neatly together. I mean, the original TV series and the movie trilogy have their inconsistencies, and the sequels don’t always line up perfectly, either. So, while we do try to keep a coherent big picture in mind, at the end of the day, each individual project has to stand on its own merits." And "I get that for a lot of fans, the animated version is “official history,” but we as creators don’t box ourselves into “this is the official history” or “this is a parallel story.” There’s always room for a director or designer to put their own spin on the source material. Hopefully, fans will appreciate and enjoy those fresh interpretations." Source: GUIDING GUNDAM INTO THE FUTURE 2023 | Zeonic Scanalations

The gundam was treated with such importance because it was the basis for the Federations mobile suit program. Everything the Federation had learned about MS was funneled into the gundam project and it in turn enabled the EF to mass produce Mobile suits of their own. Now while the gundam was an incredibly advanced and powerfull mobile suit thanks to its beam weaponry, I wouldnt say that the gundam was treated like the atom-bomb. The EF never believed that a single Mobile suit no matter how advanced would decide the outcome of the war. However it was used, quite successfully, as a diversion that cost Zeon many of its best pilots and drew attention away from the EFs planning of the famous massive counter offensive at odessa and the fact that they had began to massproduce their own Mobile suits.. Zeon was so blinded by the Gundam and the white base that they didnt realize that the EF was lifting a giant club over its head to bash Zeons skull in.

Origin is one of the most satisfying series to watch, next to Thunderbolt and the original

The MGSV references earns you a like

Origin is so freaking dope. I’m loving this shorter form gundam where the series are the length of movies. Like Thunderbolt. Too old to be watching 50 episodes anymore.

Subscriber earned! Gonna love to watch your journey through this. After I finished it, I was so disappointed I hadn't gotten into it sooner.

This analysis of gundam the origin is incredibly well done, hope to see more!

I will follow you and your Gundam journey and always leave a comment to support your path. Godspeed.

"While Gundam doesn't really focus on the psychological trauma that might arise from having a high schooler pilot a mech..." I mean, its not the FOCUS, but there are a lot of moments like early on Amuro getting PTSD during the Ramba Ral arc and going from not wanting to shoot people to killing like a deranged mad man (the episode where he reunites with his Mom and she basically disowns him) and of course the death of Lalah.. And then in the direct sequel Zeta Gundam how the war has traumatized him so much he's scared to even get into a cockpit of a Mobile Suit- or go into space in fear of seeing Lalah's ghost. Yeah Evangelion goes more in-depth with it, but Amuro definitely comes out of the war pretty scarred.

to be fair, everything is a "product" commercial, everything needs money to be made, with mechas it's just easier and cooler to produce a toy, and it's nice to have a model of one of your favorite characters, so it's a win-win

The Origin is a little different from the base timeline, so don't be too weirded out if you see Char acting differently

Yess finally someone talking about MSG Origin my favorite tbh. Please make more gundam content love the analysis!

Almost everyone has the same notion about gundam until they watch it. I had similar notions too, until i eatched witch from mercury when it came out. Then i dug a hole myself and starting watching more and more gundam (and getting more and more gunpla 😅)

Universal century talk with Chrono Trigger background. Sold.

+1 sub Great breakdown of The Origin. Enjoy your long journey on the Gundam series.

I love engaging with this content

Liked and subbed I will join you in this gundam journey gladly I can't find any gundam tubers (in English at least) that really cover the technology and history of the setting. The O'Neil Cylinder is pretty self explanatory through visuals, but the fact that they exist in a fusion based energy economy is kind of a big deal. That's why people live at Jupiter. Don't skip the OVAs, the ones that aren't necessary are so good that they may as well be. Stick with UC at first to get your bearings and understand the tropes/patterns; it enriches the experience. Happy watching!

watched twice. Once for the soundtrack once for the review XD

This was a fantastic video. It’s great getting to hear what newcomers think about this fantastic franchise. I would love to see you review the rest of the Universal Century, Zeta is one of my all time favorite tv shows. Many of the alternate universes are also worth checking out, like G Gundam, X, 00, and IBO, though I would avoid SEED/Witch From Mercury.

If you do decide to check out any of the alternate universes down the line, I'd rate Turn A as the most unique, in terms of taking the gundam concept and doing something interesting and new with it.

W content as always

Awesome retrospective and I agree with many of your points here, I hope you make more videos on the rest of the franchise, UC Gundam at least. While it's absolutely an extended toy commercial as far as the IP owners are concerned, and even the toy companies that originally backed it, there's no getting away from the fact that Tomino wanted to create something that was far more than just that, and I think it shows.

I appreciate the Drake reference. Very timely.

First RU-vid video where I got ALL of the memes. +1 sub

its actually explained by Revil thag regardless of who took the life of Zeon be it Degwin or the Federation, the war was inevitable and Degwin had every right to take over considering he is literally his right hand man, whoever poisoned him even if he was alive Zeon would have declared autonomy and subsequently declared war against Earth in fact his speech was a preamble to a war declaration meaning no matter what Casval or whoever was the remaining member of Deikuns family was fated to take over Zeon, the path to becoming Char is inevitable, in fact Degwin did Zeon a favor by at least postponing the war and during the start of the war on loum he negotiated a ceasefire with Revil and the federation but Revil was so much of a chad that instead of taking the surrender in peace he went to the Antarctic treaty to officially declare war against Zeon, man literally said there are no old people in Zeon(meaning most of the soldiers are young and inexperienced, ultimately deeming them ineffective compared to the Federation that has both old and young people working for them, mostly old people in fact in a lot of depictions of gundam during the OYW most of the mechanics were old and the higher ranking officers were old meanwhile zeon had more younger leaders) basically saying that their chances of winning were better and he was right, what he probably didnt know is that zeon will keep coming back as long as there are oppressed spacenoids and thats how the main gundam timeline was so long, because Revil went ballistic and opted for conflict I mean he probably had his justifications but I dont know if its a better fate than surrendering to zeons demands, its not like they was asking for the entire Earth they just wanted to stop the war and stop the federation from controlling space.

I’m afraid to tell you but char indeed have a super power

Well... Char not having powers is debatable. He is a Newtype after all. Also don't forget to watch the Keroro Gunso anime since it's heavily linked to Gundam. Also it's very funny 😉

Fun Fact: The Origin is in it’s own timeline (as Thunderbolt is it is own continuity) Since you started the original series (hopefully with the compedium movies) remember that if something doesn’t adds up is because they are in different continuity

You got my sub And I demand more Gundam content

From what I've seen the Gundam original anime wasn't ultimately successful up until they released the various toys. So you could say they were the commercial for the Anime. Before that it was actually much more popular with women from what ive heard at least. Its also important to note how much engineering is involved with the model kits they are so well made very few companies create kits of the same quality, I may be biased though as I am a massive Gundam nerd. PS I will be eagerly waiting for your future uploads :)

As someone who saw all the gundam shows...good luck.

It's true with all Scifi Epics isn't it? Look at Star Wars. Lucas introduced multiple new ships, new trooper variations, heck even the main characters saw completely redesigns between each film. Stormtroopers became Snowtroopers, then became Scout Troopers. Tiefighter saw Tie Bomber by 2nd film, then Tie Interceptor by the 3rd. X-Wing gave way to the Snow Speeder, then the A-Wing and B-Wing. Even Rebel Troopers got a new coat of paint in each film. I mean you think it was just Diseny doing it? George was doing it from the start. As the wise Yogurt said. "Merchandising Merchandising Merchandising!" Gundam is no different.

I noticed you make the common mistake of assuming there are good guys and bad guys, as normally is in anime when it's really a scale of grays, with Char as the main antagonist of MSG, but don't worry about it, you'll notice it as you watch. Also the "NGE is a deconstruction of the mecha genre" still one of the funniest jokes Eva fans believe as real, when it's the opposite

I think that gundam took cues from ww2 so it pioneered just how horrible world wars are. Tomino was born during ww2 so he felt the real effects.

I think "Eva deconstructed giant robot shows" holds more water if you qualify it with "giant robot vs kaiju shows." But overall I agree with that point.

Man gundam origin is just politics and war crimes it's amazing and I don't care what people say it's fucking good

Gundam is what made the real robot sub genre popular as opposed to the already popular super robot subgenre.

just wanted to inform you that technically speaking, gundam the origin is not in chronological order in the gundam story as gundam the origin is actually a separate parallel timeline of the one year war, and not actually reflective of the actual story of gundam. the story itself does follow the plot and story of the gundam 0079, but they are not 1 to 1. Though i would wish they would have the Origin anime follow into the one year war like it does in the manga just so we can have a soft remake of the original gundam

once you have finished the original, i would like to see you do a cover of War in the Pocket and 08th MS Team'

The thing that this isn't supposed to be a prequel to the original series. It's based on the flashback arc of the same name manga.

I wouldn't really recommend The Origin as a first show since it spoils the original series. I'd say the 79 series is a better start but I can see why people may begin with The Origin.

There is some truth to the toys commercial, the original Gundam had a very low animation budge and if I am correct Yoshiyuki the director ended up hospital for a good deal of the show from overwork. So the original anime was hit and miss and it was the toy sales that got the series off the ground. Of course the story and world building was good in the series and its clear like you pointed out the Yoshiyuki put a lot of thought into the series themes especially when it came to showing war and what the characters went through. The Gundam that followed the original had a much better budge and then animation and continue the trend of really show casing the theme of war.

I saw this video and was too scared to watch cuz I feared an extreme L take, I am SO happy youre getting it

Origin sure does has a lot of interesting and upgraded visual, but narratively they downplay plenty of key factors in the story >making the Federation had suits earlier in the war (despite being absolutely awful completely washed down the importance of project V) >making the escape of Revil as elaborate plan by Zabi instead of Fed spec ops downplaying their role >making Gundam as Aneheim product instead of Federation in house production

Man, start with origin The animation style jump will be crazy hahahaha Anyways welcome to the gundam world's

One thing to note (though I’m sure someone has already noted it) is that Origin is technically a different timeline. The animated portion can be considered canon as it doesn’t clash with anything established by the original series aside from slight changes to character personalities. The Origin in it’s entirety is a manga retelling all of the first Gundam series with a more modern framing and streamlined pacing as well as notable changes. To make it easy, you are free to just take ecerything that is animated under the Universal Century monicker as canon as this is more or less how Bandai and Sunrise words it. Have fun on the journey and whatever you think of it, don’t skip Double Zeta when you get there. It’d be neat to hear your opinions on the original series, Zeta and beyond and perhaps how they may subvert your expectations. And just a little nitpick; Gundam seldom has villains. It has antagonists. That goes for Char, the Zabis and others beyond the first story

0079 and zeta gotta be some of the best anime of all time

The origin was amazing !

Both

I'm begging you - please watch ZZ. Yeah the first 10 episodes are a bit goofy, but it truly is a nice change of pace coming straight from Zeta, and I swear to you, you'll enjoy Jadau and his journey.

Everyone always talk about evengleon how it revolutionized mecha but conveniently never mentioned how much the creator took inspiration from things like gundam,ideon and most of ultra series

Gundam is worth going through

found it neat mike pollock voiced teabolo, nothing serious just cool

Let's goooo

PS it is okay to watch the movie trilogy instead of original gundam series.

The reason why Gundam the Origin has lack of mecha fights is because Mobile Suits are brand new concept and they're still in test development stage before Zaku I was made. meanwhile the Earth Federation's first mobile suit is just an oversized tank known as Prototype Guntank. If you wanna watch the Gundam franchise then please stick with Universal Century timeline only because alternate universe are just fake alternate timelines that has no connection to Universal Century and their technology makes no sense, but the only exception is Turn A Gundam because it was set many thousand years later after Universal Century ended.

Your problem is watching the origin. It had a lot of issues, to be honest I would just watch it as an afterthought because it’s not canon.

You really need to watch Zeta. it's the direct sequel of the OG.

The Origin was born as a manga from wich Bandai doesn't make model kits. The model kits they made from The Origin Is only from the small part of the manga they adapted in animation. So no, it's not a glorified toy commercial because the goal of the manga is to retell the classical first animation series with more focus on realism (the authors of the manga worked on the original series too).

Let’s gooo

hearing the 'starting with the origin' hurt me so bad i hope you have fun at least

The reason why non-gundam fans don't consider Char as a great character compared to Griffith and Johan is because Char took so many Ls throughout his career.

Goofy Ahh Scifi Epic Toy commercial 😊

Both.

My guy really watched Phantom Menace before A New Hope

Didnt transformers started out the same? Toys first then series after

I live in low income government housing commonly referred to as section 8.

Good retrospective, though like many others have said in the comments, you probably shouldn't have watched The Origin before the original and blah-blah-blah

I'm not sure how you can call Origin a toy commercial when they never made any toys for it. Where's my Char action figure, huh?

What I actually recommend to everyone trying to get into Gundam is that watch anything but the sequel and maybe the prequel. Some good AU Gundam shows are 00, G, and X (rushed ending tho). Maybe IBO and AGE too, but it's the more polarizing one in the fandom. Speaking of polarizing, if you love characters drama and willing to compromise some flaws in it's writing, go for SEED. I still think SEED is over hated.

The originis its own continuity, wherein thr Guntank is old, and the Guncannon is a piece of junk made by small minded fools not taking their job seriously. It is an adaptation of a manga that serves as a retelling of the original series with various differences. The only other animated thing in the same timeline as the Origin is the Doan's Islamd movie.

Very interesting to hear from someone who hasn’t watched the original or Zeta. The Origin did have a lot of great model kits though, I could see fans of lesser Gundam series that primarily focus on the models being grumpy about it, especially since it’s “not canon”. Personally I thought it was great to see young *Ramba Ral* and all the ZEON prototype suits. Felt like a treat for fans of the original.

If you make it all the way to Char's Counterattack, prepare to be immensely disappointed. Great movie, great production, but ultimately disappointing

Please do a video essay on samurai champloo and code geass🤤🤤🤤🇺🇲🇯🇵🍑😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😭

Fun fact anno himself was personally looking forwards to gundam the origin's manga. Btw origins is a separate continuity that cant fit into the original anime and changes a lot. Kinda screw yourself

Bruh Amuro literally suffers from exhaustion. It shows the suit taking toll on the mc. Get the facts straight man.

The Origin is not the start of the series. It's part of an alternate universe that has absolutely no bareing on the rest of the franchise at all and is officially recognized by Bandai and Sunrise as non-canon. Stop spreading misinformation.

I'm in the minority, but I'm 99% sure he didn't kill Deikun. Every piece of media shows him as appearing fairly shocked at Deikun's death. Especially Origin. Unless he's acting shocked (which, let's face it, anime is usually unsubtle about these things - the show goes out of its way to highlight Kycilia's involvement in Sasro's death), it's reasonable to assume he wasn't Deikun's killer. On top of that, he does seem to genuinely believe in Deikun's cause. On top of it, Degwin's ascension actually _prevented_ war, or at least delayed it for about a decade.

*Gloried toy commercial* that is so utterly insulting to the original Gundam show, that is leagues beyond anything coming out in this era, more than Evangelion. The West just had the unfortunate experience of not being exposed to Gundam properly.

You will include thunderbolt

Good thing about gundam there’s a series for all kinds of tastes. Even the bad ones like witch of mercury/SEED fans