MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM
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
For more information on Gundam please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan:
