Author: Andrew Nguyen Official Site: z-gundam.net (Japanese), gundamofficial.com/worlds/uc/zeta (US) Special Thanks to Erik Jansen (MediaLab)

While MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (Kido Senshi Gundamu) turned out to be a success, particularly in the form of a compilation movie trilogy, several years would pass before a sequel would take place. That sequel, the 50-episode MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM (Kido Senshi Zeta Gundamu), premiered in March 1985 to immense success. Its popularity has reached the point where fans and critics alike consider it to be one of the Gundam series most outstanding entries. Directed by Gundam series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, many consider it to be one of his finest works, even when compared to his classic works like AURA BATTLE DUNBINE. As a director, Tomino added a level of realism to his series that few others at the time were willing to do: actually killing main protagonist characters. In the late 70`s and early 80`s this practice was almost unheard of thus earning him a nick name among fans as “kill’em all” Tomino. While ZETA GUNDAM had an enormous body count over the course of the series, particularly at the end, it would not be his most prolific use of the practice. Between the end of the One Year War (UC 0079) and the beginning of ZETA GUNDAM, dark changes have occurred in the world of the Universal Century. The Earth Federation, which served as the protagonist faction in MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, has turned into a dictatorship, oppressing its huge orbiting space colonies in a horrific fashion. The reason for the change was that in the aftermath of a horrific Zeon remnant operation named Stardust, which occurred in UC 0083, the Earth Federation creates an elite task force to ensure that an event like Operation Stardust, which cost the Federation 66% of its entire fleet, would never happen again. Given the moniker of the Titans, this task force is sanctioned to hunt down Zeon renegades and as well as groups opposed to the Earth Federation. However the Titans function in a manner similar to that of the former Principality of Zeon, the antagonists in the original series. In a real world sense, the actions of the Titans often invite comparisons between them and the infamous German secret police force, the SS, during World War II. In UC 0085 (two years before the series begins), riots break out on one of the orbiting space colonies and it grew out of control as the regular forces could not contain it. As a result, the Titans came in and crushed the uprising by gassing the entire space colony, exterminating 3 million people in the process.”

However, almost the entire public never learned of the event as the power of the Titans was already growing out of control. Despite an extensive information blackout, a resistance movement that had been years in the making learns of the incident and considers the option of commencing open warfare against the Titans. Under the name of the AEUG (Anti-Earth Union Group), they wage war against the Titans and attempt to reform the Earth Federation government. Its members include Earth Federation soldiers who are disgusted with the Titans along with former Zeon officers who had previous infiltrated the Earth Federation government. The AEUG also has an Earth-based element in the form of the Karaba group. Later in the series, a third organization arrives on the scene in the form of Axis. Axis, in truth, is the true gathering place of the remnant Zeon forces that survived the One Year War and escaped to a massive asteroid without the knowledge of the Federation. The Zeon remnant group functions as a wild card as both the AEUG and the Titans attempt to secure an alliance with Axis Zeon to strengthen their own forces. Its main purpose is to revive the Principality of Zeon. The show takes place from the main point of view of Kamille Bidan, a civilian teenager who gets involved in the resulting Gyrps War between the AEUG and the Titans. In a series of events that began with Kamille getting into a scuffle with a Titans officer, he becomes involved in the conflict after inadvertently helping the AEUG steal three RX-178 Gundam-Mk II prototypes from the Titans. After witnessing the death of his parents due to the callous actions of the Titans, Kamille joins the AEUG and pilots one of the three Gundam-Mark II prototypes. Later in the series he upgrades to the MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam, the main mobile suit of the series of which he helped in its design. Amongst the large cast that Kamille interacts with in ZETA GUNDAM are veterans from the first series. The most important is the legendary Zeon ace Char Aznable who at first goes by the name of Quattro Bajeena. He takes Kamille under his wing while serving as a key mobile suit pilot in this series as well as a key subordinate to the AEUG’s leadership. Later he takes command of the AEUG as a whole when the Titans assassinated his predecessor. Other famous faces include Char’s bitter nemesis, One Year War hero, and original Gundam pilot Amuro Ray, former White Base commander Bright Noa who assumes command of the AEUG’s flagship Argama, and Hayato Kobayashi who serves as commander of the Karaba resistance movement while his adopted son Katz fights alongside Kamille during the battles in space.

After looking over the problems that had occurred during the development and broadcast of the TV series, Tomino commenced work on a compilation movie series to the show under the overall series name of MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION. This new Gundam production consisted of a trilogy of films that appeared in Japanese theaters in mid and late 2005 and early 2006. The footage for all three movies consisted of a mix of footage from the TV series as well as new footage for the movies themselves while the movie series altered or deleted several critical events that occurred in the TV series. In the aftermath of the release of the movie trilogy, Tomino has stated the events of the movies to be an alternate take on the TV series (it in fact can be an Alternate Universe). As such it doesn’t affect the Gundam shows that occur later in the UC timeline such as the recently released MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN (Kido Senshi Gundamu Yunikon) which uses the events of the TV series as part of their back stories. As before, most of the original cast of ZETA GUNDAM reprised their roles although several of the characters had new voice actors. In the case of one of the characters (Sayla Mass who appears in a cameo role), the production crew used library recordings as the voice actor of Sayla had passed away in 2003. Released during the 25th anniversary of the original series and the 20th anniversary of the television version of ZETA GUNDAM, the movie series did excellent business in Japanese theaters. In appreciation for the success, Tomino, who had a series of financial setbacks with recent animated works, posted a personal thank you letter to the audience on the movie trilogy’s website. After the release of the final movie in the trilogy, Bandai Entertainment announced that it had licensed the show for release in the US but delays soon crept in. Four years later, the three films are finally set to arrive on American shores in DVD format on June 22. The DVDs will be in the Japanese language format with English subtitles. Also the movies have already theatrically premiered in America at the Chicago Film Festival in October 2006. They also had another screening, which took place on May 15th at the VIZ Cinema in San Francisco.

MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION

MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION –HEIRS TO THE STARS MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION II -LOVERS MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION III –LOVE IS THE PULSE OF THE STARS Animation Production: Sunrise Licensed by: Bandai Entertainment Staff Chief Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino Script: Yoshiyuki Tomino Storyboard: Yoshiyuki Tomino Music: Shigeaki Saegusa Original Creator: Hajime Yatate, Yoshiyuki Tomino Character Design: Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Art: Junichi Higashi, Masatoshi Kai, Mechanical design: Kazumi Fujita, Kunio Okawara Sound Director: Sadayoshi Fujino Director of Photography: Saori Kibe Executive Producer: Takayuki Yoshii Producer: Keiichi Matsumura, Satoshi Kubo Assistant Animation Director: Atsushi Shigeta, Shukou Murase, Toshihiro Nakajima Character Animation Director: Naoyuki Onda Design: Mamoru Nagano Digital Color Design: Takako Suzuki Editing: Kumiko Sakamoto, Shigeyuki Yamamori Mechanical animation Director: Morifumi Naka Planning: Kenji Uchida Theme Song Performance: Gackt Unit Director: Kou Matsuo Cast Bin Shimada as Paptimus Scirocco Nobuo Tobita as Kamille Bidan Shuuichi Ikeda as Quattro Bajeena / Char Aznable Daisuke Gouri as Bask Om Hirotaka Suzuoki as Bright Noa Juurouta Kosugi as Henken Bekkener Kazuhiko Inoue as Jerid Messa Masako Katsuki as Reccoa Londe Maya Okamoto as Emma Sheen Satomi Arai as Fa Yuiry Tohru Furuya as Amuro Ray Yoshiko Sakakibara as Haman Karn Yukana as Four Murasame Ayu Hiramoto as Mineva Lao Zabi Chizuru Ikewaki as Sarah Zabiarov Daisuke Namikawa as Katz Kobayashi Fumi Mikawa as Operator Fuyumi Shiraishi as Mirai Yashima-Noah Gara Takashima as Hilda Bidan Hidanari Ugaki as Ted Ayachi Hidetoshi Nakamura as Buran Blutarch Hiroshi Matsumoto as Matosh Hiroshi Okamoto as Mechanic Hiroyuki Shibamoto as Torres Hisayo Yanai as Letz Kobayashi Houchu Ohtsuka as Yazan Gable Ikuya Sawaki as Franklin Bidan Issei Tanaka as Cidole and Dedham Juurouta Kosugi as Narrator Kaori Shimamura as Sarah Zabiarov (part III) Katsuya Fujiwara as Deeba Baro Kazumi Tanaka as Wong Lee Keaton Yamada as Jamaican Daninghan Keiko Han as Lalah Sune Kenichi Mochizuki as Caeser Kouji Ishii as Blex Forer Kouji Totani as Kacricon Cacooler Kôzô Shioya as Roberto and Saegusa Maki Sawamura as Haro and Qum Maria Kawamura as Beltorchika Irma Marika Hayashi as Mouar Pharaoh Masashi Yabe as Officer Mayumi Asano as Lila Milla Rira Naoki Imamura as Captain of the Alexandria Nizou Mikawa as Navigator Nobuyuki Hiyama as Hayato Kobayashi Rio Natsuki as Stephanie Luio Rumiko Ukai as Fraw Kobayashi Sayaka Aida as Shinta Shingo Hiromori as Astonaige Medoz Shoko Tsuda as Namikar Cornell Tadahisa Saizen as Ben Wooder Tomomichi Nishimura as Jamitov Hymem Toru Ohkawa as Apolly Toshio Furukawa as Kai Shiden Toshiya Ueda as Melanie Hugh Carbine You Inoue as Sayla Mass (Library Recording) Yuka Komatsu as Kikka Kobayashi Yuu Asakawa as Rosamia Badam

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

• MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00 to Stream on Crunchyroll
• MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UC (UNICORN)