Year: 2009

Gundam 0079, Whoops! Sorry I beam-sabered your girlfriend!

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Gundam. That is a word that means so much to anime fandom in Japan. There were realistic robot anime before Gundam but almost every real robot show after Gundam either borrows from Gundam or goes out of its way not to be Gundam. I have watched most of the recent Gundam series but I have always wanted to see the origin. Every other part of the franchise has in some part paid homage to its founder. Anime of all genres have made reference to the series. Revered by many fans as the pinnacle of the franchise to which all later iterations are mere hollow shadows. It is required viewings for anyone who wants to fully understand what anime is all about. So here we go. We shall try and tackle one of the giants of anime once again of for the first time.

With the 30th anniversary falling in 2009 it seemed appropriate and also a solid reason for me to finally sit down and watch the series that kicked off a franchise I am coming to enjoy more and more. To be honest, I never really felt comfortable calling myself a Gundam fan, and have refrained from doing so, until I watched the beginning. So now that I have solidly planted myself in Gundam history I plan on watching more of the grandiose back catalog of shows because original Gundam is as good as boasted. I’m not sure if you are reading this because you want to know if you should watch original Gundam or if you have already watched it and just want to know what we thought, but either way it should be interesting!

Gundam 0079 starts in the middle of a most horrific war that will become a mainstay of the franchise. Several space colonies lead by the principality of Zeon have declared bloody independence from Earth. Due to atrocities on both sides, half the population of humanity has been wiped out. Gundam begins during a lull in the fighting. Amuro Ray was just a nerdy kid into electronics on the orbital colony Side 7 until the day that the Zeon forces, lead by the mysterious ace pilot Char Aznable, attacked the colony. During an attempt to steal the Federation’s newest technology, Amuro winds up defending the newly created battleship White Base with the revolutionary robot called Gundam. When most of the command staff of the White Base is killed in the raid civilians, low ranking military personnel is forced to man the ship. So a team of mostly untrained survivors must try to get the most highly sought technology back home to Federation controlled territory. What effect will this untrained crew have on the war? Who will survive?

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Ongoing Investigations: Case #038

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Caught up with the English release of the D.Gray Man by reading books nine through twelve. We get fully into the new arc which includes a big transformation for Allen. This also starts really dealing with who the Noah and the Arc are. The intensity seems to have kicked up which didn’t seem possible! There are some major battles with some major deaths. The art has fully evolved and it’s striking and well done. It feels like I have an affinity for shonen fighting that doesn’t get as much attention and this is one of those titles that gets overshadowed.

Since Narutaki and I are trying out a three month subscription to Crunchyroll, I decided to take a test drive a few series. The first series was Gintama. Gintama always interested me just for its odd premise. A comedy series set in a Edo era Japan that has been visited by aliens and forcefully made to open up to these invaders echoing actual Japanese history. Being set in this period can only mean one thing: Shinsengumi. The Shinsengumi are not main characters but they seem rather important to the overall plot. Gintoki Sakata, Shinpachi Shimura, and Kagura take odd jobs but otherwise live in poverty. The first two episode drop you right into the action with the main cast already acquainted which threw me off. However, It works well for an episodic comedy like Gintama. It is a quirky and amusing but never really made me laugh out loud. I like Kagura because she is so delightfully horrible but rarely malicious. Unfortunately, she happens to be one of those “lets make fun of the Chinese” characters the Japanese love. Can’t say I want to rush out and watch more but I would watch it at say an anime club or with a friend.

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Castle Point Anime Convention 2009

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If you are willing to experience them, there are benefits to every size of convention. Castle Point Anime Convention is a small college con in New Jersey at the Stevens Institute of Technology. It was a Sunday only event from 10AM to 7PM with a MC Frontalot concert after.  I was invited to participate in a panel by Evan from Ani-Gamers. It’s not that hard to get to from New York City so I was only too delighted to help out while having a Sunday activity at the same time.

I started my short trip with the NYC subway to the PATH Train. After that it was only a few blocks to the campus which was very convenient. There was a on and off drizzle the whole day so not having to brave the elements too long was greatly appreciated. The path I took to the college due to me remembering the map oddly threw me off a bit so it took me more time to find registration. I got my ticket then ran into Evan on my way to the Otaku History panel. Otaku History was run by Walter Amos and Rob Fenelon. It reminded me of what they said during their guest spot on Anime World Order but there is always something new to say. They went over how anime fandom started in America and how is has grown and changed. Most of the focus was on the earliest days since those are what most people don’t know about. They had some cool old American anime fanzines and I learned the origin of incredibly long and descriptive anime titles.

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