The Official Gundam The Origin Anime Thread Mk I

[Seto Kaiba]

Wait, I don't remember that? When in the world did he do that? And why?

He isn't SHOWN doing it, but he mentions having contacted Anaheim Electronics to sell them on his plan to overthrow the Zabis and restore the Deikun family to power in Munzo... hoping to get them to provide weapons and support for his planned coup in exchange for influence and favors down the road.

As to why, the Ral family's influence was more or less kaput and the Deikuns were too vulnerable to ask for help for such a thing, so selling out that way would've been the only hope of launching such a coup.

[Deathzealot]

Blink. And why would Anaheim go through with that?

[Seto Kaiba]

Blink. And why would Anaheim go through with that?

Jimba Ral was pretty obviously not playing with a full deck in Gundam: the Origin... so who knows what he was thinking would entice Anaheim into supporting his planned coup d'etat. He never gets a chance to go into detail, as Don Mass immediately starts reprimanding him for such a moronic idea and his having unwittingly leaked that Casval and Artesia were living with Don Mass leads immediately to the aforementioned assassination attempt that sees him stabbed to death.

Unlike his original version, Origin's Jimba Ral is a paranoid nutjob who hates the Zabi family with a passion and blames all the world's ills on them. Nothing drives that home quite so effectively as seeing him hiding in a closet in his own home, armed to the teeth, for fear that the Zabis were coming for him.

[Deathzealot]

Ah! That explains it. So Anaheim would likely not even give Jimba the time of day. Though now that is an idea though... but this isn't a story idea thread.

[BrentD15]

Unlike his original version, Origin's Jimba Ral is a paranoid nutjob who hates the Zabi family with a passion and blames all the world's ills on them. Nothing drives that home quite so effectively as seeing him hiding in a closet in his own home, armed to the teeth, for fear that the Zabis were coming for him.

Kinda why I don't like the Origin as much because it doesn't stay as faithful to the original show's character depictions.
There's no image of Jimba Ral holding little Artesia like in the original, and instead he's a jibbering conspiracy theorist.

[Seto Kaiba]

Kinda why I don't like the Origin as much because it doesn't stay as faithful to the original show's character depictions.
There's no image of Jimba Ral holding little Artesia like in the original, and instead he's a jibbering conspiracy theorist.

Really, this kind of thing is one of the reasons I prefer Origin to the original.

Mobile Suit Gundam: the Origin's take really gives you a good feeling for how Side 3 wound up devolving into a militant nationalistic mess that declared war on the Earth Federation. Munzo's politics were dysfunctional as hell at every level.

IMO, it never really made a ton of sense how the obviously-evil Zabi family could waltz into total power in Munzo in the original series when Munzo had far more reasonable authority figures like Jimba Ral to turn to, and Zeon Deikun himself was a hippie peacenik who spent his days dreaming of a new mankind with fundamental empathy. The new take in Origin makes a LOT more sense. Instead of being a hippie peacenik, Zeon Deikun was a highly popular but deeply unstable demagogue who whipped the electorate in Munzo up into a frenzy with his anti-Federation and Ereist rhetoric and was on the verge of calling for war when he conveniently died. Jimba Ral was a true believer in Deikun's firebrand oratory and none too stable himself, being fiercely defensive of his family's influence (which was dependent on Deikun's) and jumping straight to accusing the Zabis of murder most foul when Deikun died. Deikun's death, even if it was murder, was arguably the best thing that could possibly have happened to Munzo at the time considering he was about to call for an unwinnable war on the Federation. While the Rals were busy showing how unstable Jimba was and arguably holding Deikun's family hostage, Degwin Zabi was demonstrating to all and sundry that he was the only cool head in the place by arranging the state funeral, calming the populace and parliament in Munzo, burying Zeon's call for war like the terrible idea it was, and generally trying to get the Side's sh*t together. Degwin was able to take power because, compared to the Rals and even the Deikuns, he WAS the reasonable one and only looked more reasonable when his son's car was bombed and refusing to retaliate when the Rals were suspected of orchestrating it. The Zabi family only started showing its unreasonable side when Gihren took the reins and the grudge Zeon held against the Federation government came roaring back to the fore.

[Dark Duel]

There's no image of Jimba Ral holding little Artesia like in the original, and instead he's a jibbering conspiracy theorist.

Are you referring to this image? I always thought it was Ramba Ral who was holding Artesia in his arms in this picture.

I mean, It's definitely Ramba in Origin volume 3, but I always thought it was him in the corresponding shot from the series as well despite the absence of a mustache.
I compare the man in that picture to this picture of Jimba Ral and the Deikuns, and to me the man holding Artesia in his arms in the first image looks a lot younger than the bearded Jimba Ral in the second image.

[BrentD15]

There's no image of Jimba Ral holding little Artesia like in the original, and instead he's a jibbering conspiracy theorist.

Are you referring to this image? I always thought it was Ramba Ral who was holding Artesia in his arms in this picture.

I mean, It's definitely Ramba in Origin volume 3, but I always thought it was him in the corresponding shot from the series as well despite the absence of a mustache.
I compare the man in that picture to this picture of Jimba Ral and the Deikuns, and to me the man holding Artesia in his arms in the first image looks a lot younger than the bearded Jimba Ral in the second image.

Oh, well I thought that man holding her was Jimba for some reason.

[BrentD15]

Episode 4!
Poor Astraea. Deprived of her daughter's letters, she dies alone in the tower.
Ramba and Mash duke it out in mobile workers.

"Edward Mass" (I can't really like how they pronounce the name. It sounds more French than anything) beats up a cowboy suspecting him of being a spy, and we meet the real Char Aznable. And poor Lucifer finally dies. Poor kitty.

Finally, we get to the part where Char and Edward switch places, so that "Char" saves himself while "Edward" dies.

"Char" seems rather cold and cruel towards his sister when he leaves. Was this intentional?

[Seto Kaiba]

Poor Astraea. Deprived of her daughter's letters, she dies alone in the tower.

A victim of Side 3's horribly f'ed up politics...

Finally, we get to the part where Char and Edward switch places, so that "Char" saves himself while "Edward" dies.

It really cements what a total bastard this version of Casval is... he plants a gun on his identical stranger neighbor so he can send his unwitting body double to die along with hundreds of others on an inter-colony spaceliner and assume his identity to go undercover and murder the Zabi family. You trusted the wrong man, Mr. Aznable.

"Char" seems rather cold and cruel towards his sister when he leaves. Was this intentional?

Probably. After assuming Char's identity, Casval went out of his way to avoid any kind of contact with the real Char's family... even via letters. It's be very in-character for him to try to protect himself and Artesia via a little cruel kindness, trying to distance himself from her before his "death".

[nelomaxwell]

The Origin was a good look at how the Red Comet came to be. I wonder if we'll get a series reboot out of this?

[yazi88]

I've been saying it for awhile that Origin version of Char is ruthless and matches the CCA version of Char who has no qualms about sacrificing anyone or anything in order to reach his agenda/goal.

[Dark Duel]

"Edward Mass" (I can't really like how they pronounce the name. It sounds more French than anything)

It’s supposed to. I’m traveling ATM and don’t have the books on hand, but Origin uses the French spelling “Édouard” rather than the English “Edward” for Casval’s alias while at Texas Colony.

[BrentD15]

Episode 5! Zeon Bootcamp!
"Char" nearly gets his cover blown because he couldn't invest in brown-colored contact lenses. Also, the faux bromance between "Char" and Garma officially begins. Let's applaud with chants of "Pick them up!"

We get introduced to the Ultracompact Fusion Reactor design that will revolutionize mobile suit development for the rest of time.

The Earth Federation accidentally causes a food crisis by destroying an agricultural wing of the colony. Char and Garma are assigned to clean-up, they discuss the latest of mobile suit developments.

Also, we get previews of Lalah and the famous Gundam in the openings and endings.

Overall, a pretty good episode establishing the relationship between Garma and Char, and the future of mobile suit development.

[Seto Kaiba]

"Char" nearly gets his cover blown because he couldn't invest in brown-colored contact lenses.

Even if he had, you can't wear contact lenses 24/7... wearing them for long periods without removing and cleaning them is a great way to injure your cornea and/or get an infection.

Plus someone would doubtless start to wonder why young Mr. Char Aznable, who doesn't wear corrective lenses, is buying so much contact lens cleaner. His roommate, who knew the real Char from school, would surely notice the contact lenses.

[BrentD15]

Episode 6, aka How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Dozle

Char and Garma's insurrection has begun, and Char gets his signature mask from the guy that figured out he's no actually Char, but actually Casval himself! He later dies after commandeering a Type 61 MBT, while not figuring out to climb out of the tank to wave his hands and shout.

Zenna and Dozle have a couple moments together, first as a distraction from his lil' bro's rebellion, and then to propose to her! Mineva, your mom and dad.

Speaking of kittens and puppies, Dozle easily stole the whole show this episode, from his reaction to his brother exhausted from leading the attack on the Feddy scum, to his demeanor about proposing to Zenna. It's not hard to see why he was well liked by both the Zeon and Federation; he's got a heart as big as himself.

Spoiler

Hopefully not terminal.

Char, for some reason, decides to be transferred to Earth before joining the new MS development program, and I don't understand why he would want this? To distance himself from the insurrection?

Finally, we get a second cameo with Amuro and his dad Tem moving to Side 7. The tune introducing us to Side 7 gave me so many happy memories of playing my PS2-era Gundam games, like Federation vs Zeon and Encounters in Space.

Overall, a great episode from the characters to the action. I'm actually looking forward to the next!

[BrentD15]

So, Episode 7.
This one has a lot more Tem Ray in it, and how he believes that the RCX-76 Guncannons aren't real mobile suits.

Also, Char, Ramba, and the Black Tri-Stars sortie against these "fake" mobile suits, resulting in the death of Dr. Minovsky himself, probably the brightest mind of his era and the unsung contributor to nuclear power in the Universal Century.

Also, Kycillia is going undercover on the moon.

EDIT: My goodness, I nearly forgot about Lalah. Apparently, she was already a very powerful Newtype.

[BrentD15]

Episode 8!
A more Amuro-focused episode, we get introduced to Fraw, Kai, and Hayato. And I must say, after playing the Gundam games on PS2, it's weird to not here their original dub VAs. Kai is nowhere near as shrill, but Hayato sounds a lot like his older VA. I swear, there's a story as to why they didn't get their original VAs to voice these characters, and it was bothering me since the end of Unicorn.

Also, Char casually talking to Lalah while fighting a Feddy fleet, and the introduction of the MS-06C. You'd think the introduction of the Zaku II C would've been a bigger deal, but it wasn't even verbally acknowledged at all in the episode. Also, Ramba Ral sees the reality of Zeon attacking the spacenoids they claim to fight for as a farce is a good character moment for him.

Sorry for the triple posting, but the lack of activity on this site has been bothering me.

[Seto Kaiba]

Also, Char, Ramba, and the Black Tri-Stars sortie against these "fake" mobile suits, resulting in the death of Dr. Minovsky himself, probably the brightest mind of his era and the unsung contributor to nuclear power in the Universal Century.

Is it really being unsung if the reactors, and the exotic particles that make them go, bear his name into eternity?

Also, Kycillia is going undercover on the moon.

The best part is how screamingly ugly her outfit is. It's like she decided the best way to disguise herself, being one of Munzo's highborn, was to dress like a fashion victim.

[BrentD15]

Also, Kycillia is going undercover on the moon.

The best part is how screamingly ugly her outfit is. It's like she decided the best way to disguise herself, being one of Munzo's highborn, was to dress like a fashion victim.

That would be good, right? Nobody would suspect that.