MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00

Author: Andrew Nguyen Source: Bandai Entertainment Official Site: gundam00.net, mbs.jp/gundam00 (Japanese), gundam00.bandai-ent.com (US) Special Thanks to Robert Napton

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00 (Kido Senshi Gundamu Double O) is the latest television series in the long running Gundam metaseries. Premiering in October of 2007, it is the first Gundam series to take place in the new Anno Domini timeline. Directed by Seiji Mizushima (FULL METAL ALCHEMIST) and with music composed by Kenji Kawaii (GHOST IN THE SHELL , THE SKY CRAWLERS), it earned great success though not to the level of its two predecessors, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED (Kido Senshi Gundamu SEED, 2002) and MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED DESTINY (Kido Senshi Gundamu SEED DESTINY, 2004). It is the first Gundam series to air in widescreen and hi-def. Furthermore, in another first for a Gundam series, Sunrise made two seasons of GUNDAM 00 with 25 episodes each. Taking place in 2307 AD, Earth has exhausted its fossil fuel resources and now draws power from an enormous solar collection system with its main core being three enormous orbital elevators. The countries of the world have formed up into three main blocs: the Union of Solar energy and free nations (known as `Union` for short), the Advanced European Union (AEU) and the Human Reform League (HRL). Each of these three blocs control one of the three orbital elevators. Despite the creation of the solar elevator system, and at times due to its presence and what it represents, humanity continues to wage war with each other. Furthermore, despite the obvious risks, all three blocs wage an ongoing grand zero-sum game with each other.

The AEU conducts the latest test of its newest mobile suit for the public at its main orbital elevator. Suddenly, an uninvited guest arrives in the form of an extremely advanced and unidentified mobile suit. It quickly dispatches the new AEU mobile suit in front of the shocked eyes of the audience before departing back into the sky. Another incident occurs later in space near the HRL’s orbital elevator as two advanced mobile suits similar to the one the AEU encountered intervene in a terrorist attack. They quickly annihilate the attackers before fading back into the darkness of space. Before anyone had any time to speculate about the identity of the attackers, a video broadcast cuts in to which a bespectacled bald man with a brown beard named Aeolia Schenberg takes responsibility for the incidents. To the shock and incredulity of the entire world, he announces the emergence of his 200-year old creation, a private military organization called Celestial Being, their advanced mobile suits called Gundams, and their intent to eliminate war as a whole from the world by conducting armed interventions. In other words, Celestial Being is conducting the same type of action that it is trying to eliminate from the world. While any skilled pilot can use the Gundams, most of the main pilots of the mobile suits operate under the designation of Gundam Meisters (the word `meister` a German word for Master).

The series takes place from the point of view of Setsuna F. Seiei, a young teenager from the war-torn Middle East who is one of the Gundam Meisters. Deeply scarred by his experiences as a child soldier, he is grimly determined to pursue the Celestial Being`s goal of eradicating war. Piloting the GN-001 Gundam Exia, he works alongside three other Gundam Meisters who also have their own personal dark histories that contribute to their devotion to the cause of Celestial Being. During the course of the TV series, they face off against a variety of foes including powerful ace pilots from all three superpower blocs, another group of Gundam Meisters, traitors within Celestial Being’s ranks, and a group of mysterious humans who call themselves Innovators. Led by Ribbons Almark, the Innovators have several mysterious links to Celestial Being including the fact that one of them is also one of the four main Gundam Meisters although at first he does not know his true heritage. Working in the shadows in the first season, Ribbons emerges as the main villain in the 2nd Season and his Japanese voice actor is a pivotal veteran of the original TV show MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (Kido Senshi Gundamu, 1979).

The first season focuses on Celestial Being’s armed interventions and the gradually vicious response of the world to these attacks, which result in a Unified World Government. Due to renegades within its own ranks, Celestial Being ends up nearly destroyed at the hands of this Unified World Government, which takes the name of the Earth Federation. The second season, taking place five years later, deals with the reemergence of Celestial Being from the shadows in new Gundams, including the advanced GN-0000 00 Gundam of which the series has derived its name. With Setsuna taking on the role as the unofficial leader of the Gundam Meisters, they wage war against the Earth Federation’s elite A-Laws who have operated unchecked throughout the world. Later they discover the existence of their mysterious backers, Ribbons and the Innovators and switch their focus on them. Ribbons and his people believe that they are the true heirs to Aeolia Schenberg’s legacy and plans for the human race. However, as key details about Setsuna’s past reveal themselves, including a dark link with Ribbons, he undergoes an incredible change of his own (a change that Schenberg hinted at long ago) as he and Celestial Being battles against Ribbons and his Innovators. After the broadcast of the 2nd season finished in Japan, the producers combined the two seasons of the TV series into three special edition movies which played in Japan from late 2009 to early 2010. Both seasons of the entire series have already arrived in the US with the Syfy Channel airing the show and DVDs of the 1st and 2nd seasons available from Bandai Entertainment.

On September 18 2010, a new theatrical movie premiered in Japan. Named MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00: A WAKENING OF THE TRAILBLAZER (Gekij?ban Kid? Senshi Gundam Double O -A wakening of the Trailblazer), it takes place two years after the end of the 2nd Season and attempted to wrap up plot threads left dangling at the end of the TV series. In another first for a Gundam series, the new threat comes from extra-terrestrial life forms. The main plotline deals with a new mysterious threat that is not of this world, which unites the members of Celestial Being, in refitted Gundams, with their former foes in opposing this threat. This new threat has a link to a wrecked explorer ship, possibly owned by Celestial Being, found near Jupiter 130 year ago. Finally, it deals with bringing Aeolia Schenberg’s plan to its final fruition, as there are hints that he had foreseen a situation similar to what the human race now faced. It premiered in other Asian countries later in the fall and then in America at the New York Anime Festival on October 10, 2010. Bandai Entertainment has already announced plans to release it in America with both the Japanese and an English dubbed version of the movie. Like other Gundam series, GUNDAM 00 has side stories that accompany the main series. These side stories dealt with events that take place before and during the series as well as its future. For the US, Bandai Entertainment has already released a manga and novel version of the series as well as a manga side story called GUNDAM 00F. It occurs at the same time as the events of the 1st season of the TV series and covers a second group of Gundam Meisters under the command of Celestial Being that covertly supports the main group seen in the show.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00

Produced by Sunrise, Mainichi Broadcasting Production Crew Original Concept: Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino Director: Seiji Mizushima Series composition and screenplay: Yousuke Kuroda Music: Kenji Kawai Character Designer: Yun Koga, Michinori Chiba Mechanical Designer: Kanetake Ebikawa, Kenji Teraoka, Kunio Okawara, Hitoshi Fukuchi, Naohiro Washio, Seiichi Nakatani, Tayayuki Yanase Producer: Hiro Maruyama (Mainichi Broadcasting), Hiroomi Iketani (Sunrise), Shin Sasaki (Sunrise) Executive Producer: Seiji Takeda (Mainichi Broadcasting), Yasuo Miyakawa (Sunrise)

Cast Setsuna F Seiei: Mamoru Miyano Lockon Stratos: Shinichiro Miki Allelujah Haptism: Hiroyuki Yoshino Tieria Erde: Hirohi Kamiya Sumeragi Lee Noriega: Youko Honna Feldt Grace: Ayahi Takagahi Ian Vashti: Hideyuki Umezu Lasse Aeon: Hiroki Touchi Wang Liu Mei: Kei Shindo Hong Long: Kenji Takahashi Haro: Arisa Ogasawara Nena Trinity: Rie Kugimiya Ribbons Almark: Tohru Furuya Graham Aker: Yuuichi Nakamura Billy Katagiri: Yuji Ueda Kati Manequin: Minami Takayama Patrick Colasour: Kenji Hamada Soma Peris: Arisa Ogasawara Sergei Smirnov: Unshou Ishizuka Ali al-Saachez: Kenji Fujiwara Marina Ismail: Ayumi Tsunematsu Shirin Bakhtiar: Michiko Neya Saji Crossroad: Miyu Irino Louise Halevy: Chiwa Saito Narrator: Tohru Furuya English Version

Staff ADR Production: Ocean Studios Licensed by: Bandai Entertainment Translation: Paul Baldwin Voice Direction: James Corrigall Executive producer: Ken Iyadomi Chief Producer: Nobuo Masuda Supervising Producer: Diana Gage Producer: Dennis Hrehoriac Script Adaptation: Mike Bridges Script Consultant: Mark Simmons Cast Setsuna F Seiei: Brad Swaile Lockon Stratos: Alex Zahara Allelujah Haptism: Richard Ian Cox Tieria Erde: Samuel Vincent Sumeragi Lee Noriega: Lisa Ann Beley Feldt Grace: Chantal Strand Ian Vashti: Peter New Lasse Aeon: Andrew Francis Wang Liu Mei: Maryke Hendrikse Hong Long: Samuel Vincent Haro: Tabitha St. Germain Nena Trinity: Nicole Bouma Ribbons Almark: Michael Adamthwaite Graham Aker: Paul Dobson Billy Katagiri: Kirby Morrow Kati Manequin: Cathy Weseluck Patrick Colasaur: Trevor Devall Soma Peris: Tabitha St. Germain Sergei Smirnov: Michael Dobson Ali al-Saachez: Scott Micneil Marina Ismail: Paula Lindenberg Shirin Bakhtiar: Ellen Kennedy Saji Crossroad: Gabe Khouth Louise Halevy: Kelly Sheridan Narrator: Michael Adamthwaite

For more information on Gundam please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: