Release Fate of X, Turn-A, V, and ZZ--no Plan B?

[HellCat]

I'll take this review for everything it's worth but as with anything in life balance it against my own experience. An informed opinion is to be respected but isn't an absolute, so I'll continue to view the international side as VERY grim but keep an open mind.

You keep hoping and dreaming...

No need to be rude about it, this isn't about naive hopes and dreams. I think that would be the case if I was saying something daft like "Sure is a shame those Turn A DVDs got delayed but I'm sure they'll be coming any day now!"

I know full well the situation we're in. Gundam found a gateway and lost it because of very poor decisions and a clear case of lack of mainstream interest. The idea it's destined to become a beloved franchise in the West isn't the view I'm presenting. I think the interview covered that perfectly when it was compared to trying to replace Star Wars.
What I am saying is I see enough to offer even the slimmest of hopes that the very least we aren't going to see attempts to push it end anytime soon.

Part of that is the tidbit about Sony registering the domain for a movie. With the success of Transformers and Pacific Rim coming soon, this would seem to be the ideal time to try such a thing. Maybe it'll go nowhere, like the other bazillion Hollywood anime adaptations. But at the moment there's a tiny glimmer of a developing story and even if the interview did say that live action movie attempts were shot down in recent years, it also makes it clear that there is Hollywood interest. With Gundam failing to take off in animation and gaming, whose to say recent Western cinema trends haven't provoked giving such a project a second look?

So, yeah. Call me a stupid dreamer if you want. But to my mind I'm basing my opinion on a collection of external factors, even if it is 0.01% of hope to a majority of 'Well, that was a drawn out mess...'

[Mark064]

But at the moment there's a tiny glimmer of a developing story and even if the interview did say that live action movie attempts were shot down in recent years, it also makes it clear that there is Hollywood interest. With Gundam failing to take off in animation and gaming, whose to say recent Western cinema trends haven't provoked giving such a project a second look?

I don't know about that. It seems like the Hollywood interest was there because it was popular at a time. Hollywood has been filled of doing things based on existing products and leeching off the popularity of that. This of course doesn't always work *cough*Battleship*cough*. So it should be no shock that the idea of a Gundam movie was thrown around, though I'm sure this has been done with just about anything popular in the last 10 years.

The problem with a Gundam movie was highlighted in this interview except not so directly. Sunrise/Bandai isn't going to relinquish control of the product in any way. If you have a group refusing to budge in any way at all, a cooperation between two companies is impossible.

[Admiral Larsen]

But at the moment there's a tiny glimmer of a developing story and even if the interview did say that live action movie attempts were shot down in recent years, it also makes it clear that there is Hollywood interest. With Gundam failing to take off in animation and gaming, whose to say recent Western cinema trends haven't provoked giving such a project a second look?

I don't know about that. It seems like the Hollywood interest was there because it was popular at a time. Hollywood has been filled of doing things based on existing products and leeching off the popularity of that. This of course doesn't always work *cough*Battleship*cough*. So it should be no shock that the idea of a Gundam movie was thrown around, though I'm sure this has been done with just about anything popular in the last 10 years.

The problem with a Gundam movie was highlighted in this interview except not so directly. Sunrise/Bandai isn't going to relinquish control of the product in any way. If you have a group refusing to budge in any way at all, a cooperation between two companies is impossible.

Pretty much Mark064 highlighted why all this talk about anymore Gundam coming to the west should just stop. Right now the money made from Gundam shows and merchandise in the west is peanuts compared to what it is making back home in Japan and to a lesser extent in Asia. With that brutal look, why should Bandai and Sunrise invest anymore time in America anyway. Not to mention the reception that it got after Gundam Wing with poor showings of the orignal mobile suit gundam followed by the brutal reaction that they received from America on Gundam SEED and SEED Destiny.

To put it in comparison unlike Toho and its Godzilla franchise, Bandai/Sunrise does not need help from American fans due to the lack of interest in the shows and perhaps to a lesser extent the different expectations that fans on both sides of the Pacific have (again this is where SEED and Seed Destiny come into play). Whereas the Godzilla series is condemmed in its home country and Toho is willing to take the risk of turning to American studios for help (and I hope to hell they pull it off).

Sometimes I think we should just break the rules here and go for DVDs and Blu-rays through controversial means (if one doesn't want to pay the high prices by going through legal means).

[ProfessorMecha]

Well, after reading all of this I feel pretty damn depressed.

[Amion]

dont'cha though? I guess this settles it! I shall now learn japanese and immigrate. So long mother country, you just don't have enough Gundam to set my patriotism on fire.