Category: Mecha

The Speakeasy: A Reverse Thieves Podcast – Drink #010

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Anime 3000 presents The Speakeasy Podcast:
Drink #010: The Red Comet, Romance in the various Gundam Universes

When you think of Gundam you usually think of a mixture of real robot battles and politics as the foundation of the various series that make up the franchise. But the relationships between the characters is an equally important part that is easily overlooked because of all the cool robot fights. High on the list of debate are the romantic relationships; some are praised as highly realistic and touching, others are viewed as melodramatic but engaging, while still others are seen as travesties. The problem is that few fans agree which relationships from which show go in which category. In this episode we will examine the relationships that stand out the most in our minds from all the Gundam series we have seen. We start with the works of Tomino and go up to the present with Gundam Unicorn and Gundam 00.

(Listen) (Show Notes)

And now your helpful bartenders at The Speakeasy present you a drink invented by Hisui:

The Red Comet (It gets you feeling toasty three times as fast)

6 oz. vodka
1 can Red Bull

Drop a shotglass of vodka into a Highball glass of Red Bull. Bonus points are given for being dressed as Casval Rem Deikun with a mask or at least wearing all red. Anyone dressed as Quattro Bajeena has to drink a Hyaku Shiki.

NY Anime Festival & Comic Con 2010: Premieres

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I was blown away by the amount of premieres and showings announced for NYAF. This was the first convention I have been to in a long time where I spent a good deal of my days actually watching anime. And it was not from a lack of having other things to do. There were things here that literally couldn’t be seen anywhere else not even in Japan yet, like Mardock Scramble, or things that only recently hit Japanese theaters, like Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer, plus all manner of things in between. These were the biggest draws for me this year, and from the crowds that packed in for most of these showings it seems I wasn’t the only one.

hisuiconNYAF was the Cannes Film Festival for anime films this year. I saw part of three anime films you cannot see in English even with less that legitimate means. I have been to some awesome premieres but there were three major coups this year. The Gundam 00 movie and the Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya were being shown before they made it to DVD in Japan and we got to see Mardock Scramble before audiences in Japan. Any one of the three would have been amazing but all three in one place was simply breathtaking. Being able to see the first episode of Star Driver and talk to the producer was merely icing on the cake.

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Invincible Super Man Zambot 3: The Birth of Minagoroshi no Tomino

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hisuiconYoshiyuki Tomino the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam is synonymous with bringing the real robot revolution in anime. But before that series was made Tomino created the revolutionary Invincible Super Man Zambot 3. While Zambot 3 is nowhere near as well-known as many of Tomino’s other works, its influence on his later shows is undeniably. Like many of Tomino’s shows Zambot 3 is a flawed and somewhat troubled show but one that sticks with the viewer after they experience it. This is not a review but more of an examination of the value of Zambot 3 to a modern audience.

Tomino is known not only for his own body of work that stretches back to episodes of the original Astro Boy TV series but also for how his ideas go on to influence plenty of other shows thereafter. Zambot 3 is important to Tomino’s history and mecha shows overall spanning even into the 2000’s. Like many a show that was ahead of its time things don’t always go smoothly and believe me Zambot 3 is far from a masterpiece, but it’s important to appreciate its going out and doing something exploratory.

hisuiconThe story seems like the standard fair 1970’s giant robot show outline. The Gaizok are invading the earth with robotic monsters called Mecha Boosts who are commanded by the ruthless Butcher the Killer. The Mecha Boosts can only be defeated by Zambot 3 piloted by Kappei Jin and his two cousins using technology from the planet Beal that was wiped out by the Gaizok. But the main twist is that instead of being welcomed as heroes the people of Earth condemn the pilots of the Zambot 3 and blame them for anything and everything related to the Gaizok invasion.

The families of each pilot also play major roles in the series which seems rather uncommon in robot shows. People both civilian and otherwise are central to the themes and the series very rarely takes the happy ending approach. I have to wonder why Zambot 3 is only 23 episodes long, it is such a strange number! But thankfully it is a complete story. Though quite a few of the episodes can be chalked up to monster of the week, there is usually some hints of matters to come. It is also too easy to dismiss episodes because of the many themes and issues that are popular or tropes nowadays forgetting Zambot’s time period.

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