What is the future of Gundam??

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
Post Reply
bhayes82
Posts: 79
Joined: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:36 am

What is the future of Gundam??

Honestly,

with regards to Alternate Timelines i think Sunrise/Bandai have really extended themselves creatively.

Everything from G Gundam to AGE Gundam to the more comedy oriented Gundam shows.

And right now they're doing anime adaptations of the mangas which i think is brilliant.

Unicorn, The Orgin, Hathaway Flash, Thunderbolt.

but ultimately, the most interesting timeline is the U.C. timeline, they keep coming back to it.

i read also there's possibility of doing a SEED destiny movie being developed.

i say they should attempt to do Crossbone Gundam, Gundam Sentinel, Blue Destiny next after hathaway's flash.

I read one of the creators of the Orgin anime state he'd love to do the old series w/ updated animation which is a brilliant idea actually.
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am with regards to Alternate Timelines i think Sunrise/Bandai have really extended themselves creatively.

Everything from G Gundam to AGE Gundam to the more comedy oriented Gundam shows.
Alternate universe stories have been the Gundam franchise staff's one creative outlet for ages now... though even that well has apparently dried up, given that their current AU flagship (Gundam Build) is literally just a thinly disguised commercial for MSV gunpla.

This franchise is stagnant as f*ck.


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am And right now they're doing anime adaptations of the mangas which i think is brilliant.

Unicorn, The Orgin, Hathaway Flash, Thunderbolt.
It's not brilliant, it's just way easier to get funding approval to adapt an existing work into a TV anime or OVA than it is to develop an original animated feature... doubly so if it's popular or beloved by the fans. That's why they're hardcore mining the light novels for ideas right now.


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am [...] but ultimately, the most interesting timeline is the U.C. timeline, they keep coming back to it.
Mainly because that's the one the die-hard Gundam fans are most attached to... the AU shows are allowed to fade away once their time in the sun is over, but the Universal Century will never ever be allowed to die because it brings out the fans willing to spend big on merchandise.


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am i read also there's possibility of doing a SEED destiny movie being developed.
Hasn't that been in development hell for, like, forever?


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am i say they should attempt to do Crossbone Gundam, Gundam Sentinel, Blue Destiny next after hathaway's flash.
Well, I'm sure they'll get there eventually... they do seem to be blowing the dust off every old title in a frantic search for something marketable.


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am I read one of the creators of the Orgin anime state he'd love to do the old series w/ updated animation which is a brilliant idea actually.
No, it's just lazy... a declaration that they don't have any ideas of their own.


bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am What is the future of Gundam??
Oh, the same future it's always had... every few years, Sunrise will trot out a new Universal Century anime that's got the one story UC Gundam has been mercilessly flogging since Zeta. All that ever changes is what we're calling this season's space nazis. The series will follow the same tired plot beats as the same expies of the original series characters do their predictable dance of "war bad, communication good, Federation and Zeon are both jerks".

The exact same sequence of events will happen over and over again with monotonous regularity and increasing frequency now that they're running backwards to fill in gaps in the timeline, to the point where it's now faintly absurd that anyone is surprised when spacenoid fascists rear their heads and are immediately and inevitably up against a Gundam that wrecks their sh*t. As often as this happens, you'd think a good percentage of Neo Zeon's followers would just walk away the minute a Gundam shows up, because they know where this is going and that fight only ends one way.

Humanity will never ever get its sh*t together, and happy endings will be overridden with increasing frequency as more and more gap-filler stories are added to the timeline... until the whole miserable business eventually reveals the Universal Century has been one long war, like something out of WH40K.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Dark Duel
Posts: 4833
Joined: Mon Aug 21, 2006 6:39 pm
Location: A blue City in a red State

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Seto Kaiba wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:05 pm
bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am i read also there's possibility of doing a SEED destiny movie being developed.
Hasn't that been in development hell for, like, forever?
Well over a decade, IIRC. I think the last time there was anything concrete was from the late Chiaki Morosawa in 2007 or 2008. Honestly, I think at this point, It's a pretty safe bet to assume this one's not happening.
// ART THREAD // NOT ACCEPTING REQUESTS

"You can learn all the math in the 'verse, but take a boat in the air you don't love, she'll shake you off just as sure as the turn of the worlds. Love keeps her in the air when she ought to fall down. Tells you she's hurting before she keens. Makes her a home."
User avatar
branman88
Posts: 82
Joined: Thu Jul 10, 2008 10:37 am
Location: A place Beyond the Time

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

I imagine it's a safe bet that we'll probably get Moon Gundam animated in the next decade, given how quick it's gotten model kits.
I AM THE CHOSEN CHILD OF GETTER!
User avatar
tHeWasTeDYouTh
Posts: 302
Joined: Sat Mar 13, 2010 9:32 pm

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

I think we will get a lot of Build Fighter shows every year and a few UC manga/novels that get turned into short anime series(Origin, Unicorn, Thunderbolt, Hathaway). I think the AU is gonna slow down or die. The days of getting Seed, Wing, 00 are long gone. I really liked IBO but it seems a lot of Gundam fans disliked the show. Build Divers will be the new AU.

As Gundam fans at least we get good shows from time to time, imagine all the Macross fans that will never get another amazing short series like Plus or Zero......RIP
Last edited by tHeWasTeDYouTh on Mon Mar 30, 2020 5:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.
YOU'RE MESHI
DAMNYOUYAMATOTAKERUNOMIKOTOOOOOO!
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

tHeWasTeDYouTh wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:38 pm I think we will get a lot of Build Fighter shows every year and a few UC manga/novels that get turned into short anime series(Origin, Unicorn, Thunderbolt, Hathaway). I think the AU is gonna slow down or die.
Personally, I suspect if anything will eventually kill Gundam it'll be the Build series.

It's a lowest-possible-effort targeted advertisement for gunpla, in the fine old tradition of the Saturday morning kids show toy commercials with the barely-there plot. Why bother developing actual stories when you can just endlessly rehash old designs in a tissue paper thin knockoff of Angelic Layer for the merchandising bucks?

That said, I'd wager there'll still be the occasional moment of creative rebellion as Sunrise's staff desperately try to inject some fresh concepts into Gundam, just probably not 50 episodes long. Both 00 and IBO were twice as long as they needed to be. In 00's case, the first season ending is a better series finale than the second season's or the movie's.

What I suspect they'll gradually slow down with is adapting UC light novels and manga. There's not a lot there of adaptation-worthy quality, a lot of it is pretty badly written borderline fanfic material. They'll bang out a couple titles like Hathaway's Flash and Sentinel and then cross their arms and sigh mightily while they contemplate their option to either let UC lie fallow or do another bloody Neo Zeon war.


tHeWasTeDYouTh wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 9:38 pm As Gundam fans at least we get good shows from time to time, imagine all the Macross fans that will never get another amazing short series like Plus or Zero......RIP
The problem there is "amazing" is subjective... both of those OVAs were poorly received in Japan.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
DragoMaster009
Posts: 125
Joined: Fri Aug 22, 2014 7:10 pm

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

I think you're pretty much the only one who hates the Build series as a whole, even the first show which normally a lot of people like over the rest of the seasons.
User avatar
Kuruni
Posts: 2925
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:43 am
Location: sitting next to a yandere loli
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

I'm simple man, so just give me MS Girls the series (or animate Sun-Musume) and I'll be pleased :mrgreen: .
My girlfriend was a loli.
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Seto Kaiba wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 3:05 pm
Alternate universe stories have been the Gundam franchise staff's one creative outlet for ages now... though even that well has apparently dried up, given that their current AU flagship (Gundam Build) is literally just a thinly disguised commercial for MSV gunpla.

This franchise is stagnant as f*ck.
Wait, you mean other Gundam series aren't just a thinly disguised commercial?

Okay, maybe not thinly, but they are all just product commercials.(FG isn't a gunpla commercial)
It's not brilliant, it's just way easier to get funding approval to adapt an existing work into a TV anime or OVA than it is to develop an original animated feature... doubly so if it's popular or beloved by the fans. That's why they're hardcore mining the light novels for ideas right now.
Which is fun because they use to have the almost opposite idea.
Since those works are already making money, why bother animating them?
While the other works that aren't making money, why bother animating them?
Thus they just keep making new original shows.

It is not until Unicorn where they suddenly switched their stance.
Mainly because that's the one the die-hard Gundam fans are most attached to... the AU shows are allowed to fade away once their time in the sun is over, but the Universal Century will never ever be allowed to die because it brings out the fans willing to spend big on merchandise.
Their stance seems to be the idea that the adult fans have more money to spend on products, while children are financially dependent and thus new original shows aimed at kids will have a longer time before it will be making lots of money, but if they needed to harvest money in the future, they need to be making high quality kids shows now, so that these kids will be spending their hard earned money in the future on Gundam products when they are financially independent.
Clover just wanted to appeal the kids and have their parents buying the products, but Bandai is obviously trying to get a good kids show since their sponsorship. That is why we still get shows like AGE and Builders.

UC will eventually lose most of its value when the generation simply fades out.(Humans have a limited lifespan)
Having shows within the UC timeline and is appealing to younger audience is likely useful because they do not carry the bias of the older shows at first and when they grow up, they might be interested in other UC shows, and may buy the products as well. This might be why they are introducing the UC timeline back with many shows. (Unicorn seems to be relatively successful in this area of younger fans)
bhayes82 wrote: Wed Mar 25, 2020 11:44 am i read also there's possibility of doing a SEED destiny movie being developed.
Hasn't that been in development hell for, like, forever?
Because the script writer (the wife) was sick(cancer) and the director(the husband) refused to use another writer.
The forever is probably true, because she died last year.

Well, I'm sure they'll get there eventually... they do seem to be blowing the dust off every old title in a frantic search for something marketable.
Sentinel will likely be the last possible item in this list, right after rebooting FG.
Since they still have to pay a copyright fee for that series.(Sotsu has the copyright to Gundam but the Sentinel is a cooperation between two companies)
No, it's just lazy... a declaration that they don't have any ideas of their own.
Remaking/Rebooting a series is quite common nowadays, and people loved the idea.
However, that probably won't happen in a short period.
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko did hint about remaking FG when he is directing Origin, but recently he also said the projected ended and there will be no FG ep.
Oh, the same future it's always had... every few years, Sunrise will trot out a new Universal Century anime that's got the one story UC Gundam has been mercilessly flogging since Zeta. All that ever changes is what we're calling this season's space nazis. The series will follow the same tired plot beats as the same expies of the original series characters do their predictable dance of "war bad, communication good, Federation and Zeon are both jerks".

The exact same sequence of events will happen over and over again with monotonous regularity and increasing frequency now that they're running backwards to fill in gaps in the timeline, to the point where it's now faintly absurd that anyone is surprised when spacenoid fascists rear their heads and are immediately and inevitably up against a Gundam that wrecks their sh*t. As often as this happens, you'd think a good percentage of Neo Zeon's followers would just walk away the minute a Gundam shows up, because they know where this is going and that fight only ends one way.

Humanity will never ever get its sh*t together, and happy endings will be overridden with increasing frequency as more and more gap-filler stories are added to the timeline... until the whole miserable business eventually reveals the Universal Century has been one long war, like something out of WH40K.
One really hope that they will one step up the MS Igloo game where they get a show where the protagonist doesn't pilot a Gundam but fight against one.(No, Not using a Gundam to fight a Gundam type of story, but using other methods to fight a Gundam)
Kuruni wrote: Thu Mar 26, 2020 4:24 am I'm simple man, so just give me MS Girls the series (or animate Sun-Musume) and I'll be pleased :mrgreen: .
That'd be a brilliant idea, and reboot the AGP line.
The MS Girl note is also very interesting: http://www.yatate.net/msgirl/01.html
User avatar
Seto Kaiba
Posts: 2230
Joined: Mon Feb 06, 2012 7:18 pm
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

MythSearcher wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:31 am Wait, you mean other Gundam series aren't just a thinly disguised commercial?

Okay, maybe not thinly, but they are all just product commercials.(FG isn't a gunpla commercial)
One of the reasons I had a lot of respect for Yoshiyuki Tomino was that he had no use for the idea that anime was just for glorified toy commercials... he wanted to focus on serious dramatic storytelling, not pushing merch. The merchandising is an inevitable thing with the razor-thin margins the anime industry operates on, but a series can focus on telling its story and if it's a good story the merchandising support will come naturally without prompting. It doesn't have to be a commercial.

That's why I can't stomach Gundam Build. It might be a perfectly serviceable series, but I'll never know as I can't get past how incredibly blatant it is as an animated commercial for MSV gunpla kits.


MythSearcher wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:31 am Which is fun because they use to have the almost opposite idea.
Since those works are already making money, why bother animating them?
While the other works that aren't making money, why bother animating them?
Thus they just keep making new original shows.

It is not until Unicorn where they suddenly switched their stance.
Reality was going to catch up with Gundam eventually... even being the 800lb gorilla of the anime industry wasn't going to protect it from shrinking margins, rising production costs, and the play-it-safe habits of investors forever.


MythSearcher wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:31 am Remaking/Rebooting a series is quite common nowadays, and people loved the idea.
Remaking/rebooting a series is common, but the trend has been wearing out its welcome for a while now... we've hit the "another bloody" threshold on those a while back and audiences have started pushing back against some of them like the idea of rebooting/remaking Lord of the Rings or The Princess Bride.


MythSearcher wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 3:31 am One really hope that they will one step up the MS Igloo game where they get a show where the protagonist doesn't pilot a Gundam but fight against one.(No, Not using a Gundam to fight a Gundam type of story, but using other methods to fight a Gundam)
Unlikely, but it'd be WAY more interesting than the usual Universal Century formula fare... I enjoyed the hell out of MS IGLOO.
The Macross Mecha Manual
Yes, we're working on updates...
User avatar
Kuruni
Posts: 2925
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:43 am
Location: sitting next to a yandere loli
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Seto Kaiba wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:41 am That's why I can't stomach Gundam Build. It might be a perfectly serviceable series, but I'll never know as I can't get past how incredibly blatant it is as an animated commercial for MSV gunpla kits.
It would still be a blatant commercial so I don't know if you would consider it an improvement or not, but I remember that the older Plawres Sanshiro (yup, there's such show before Angelic Layer) add a serious twist with people start to realize the potential of such battle toys and villains want to use it for military purpose (I also heard that there're good guys who want to see it used for medical purpose, but can't remember that bit). The closest thing Build series ever pull on this angle is how Takeshi use a gunpla to sneak in and unlock the door to bust Gunpla Mafia's hideout, but that's it. I really wish they would follow up with more out of arena gunpla operation (including battle), but it never happen (aside from how EL Divers use gunpla as their bodies in real world).
My girlfriend was a loli.
Henyo
Posts: 690
Joined: Sat Sep 13, 2014 10:24 am
Location: Hidden Tramo Village

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

maybe Gundam could go the whole Macross route? Idol and aliens and all. i mean they already covered the character type in Lacus and that one from the Build series. and since Gundam has been getting more mainstream coverage in the west maybe they can take cues from the likes of Halo, Gears and DOOM maybe?
MOOK: ITS A YURI FANBOY!
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Kuruni wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:04 am It would still be a blatant commercial so I don't know if you would consider it an improvement or not, but I remember that the older Plawres Sanshiro (yup, there's such show before Angelic Layer) add a serious twist with people start to realize the potential of such battle toys and villains want to use it for military purpose (I also heard that there're good guys who want to see it used for medical purpose, but can't remember that bit). The closest thing Build series ever pull on this angle is how Takeshi use a gunpla to sneak in and unlock the door to bust Gunpla Mafia's hideout, but that's it. I really wish they would follow up with more out of arena gunpla operation (including battle), but it never happen (aside from how EL Divers use gunpla as their bodies in real world).
More recent example will be LBX?

Builders had the limitation they tried to set up with that the Gunpla can only move inside the ring they set up, so it'd be a bit harder to use them for military purposes.
(I'd say people should just start developing smaller devices to emit the Plavski particles and attach it on the Gunpla, but that's just me.)
User avatar
AceWhatever
Posts: 300
Joined: Mon Oct 08, 2007 10:19 pm
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Kuruni wrote: Sat Mar 28, 2020 5:04 am It would still be a blatant commercial so I don't know if you would consider it an improvement or not, but I remember that the older Plawres Sanshiro (yup, there's such show before Angelic Layer) add a serious twist with people start to realize the potential of such battle toys and villains want to use it for military purpose (I also heard that there're good guys who want to see it used for medical purpose, but can't remember that bit).
The whole point of the main character's father starting a PLAWRES company was to help his friend research technologies that eventually lead to making artificial limbs for humans.

The problem with the Build series isn't that it's being more blatant about marketing gunpla, but that it didn't have any remote interest in being a well written setting. Say all you want about how Try and onwards were bad because of executive meddling, but if you ask me it's just a continuation of problems that began in the original BF. If we were ok with magic pixie dust from another dimension allowing plastic models to move, then nobody can hold the writers accountable for the utterly moronic depiction of MMOs in Divers.
User avatar
MythSearcher
Posts: 1845
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2013 4:36 pm

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

Seto Kaiba wrote: Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:41 am Glorified commercial
You may want to check out the latest manga.
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/product/4041092078

The two who love HG.


No, it has nothing to do with H-Games, and nothing NSFW.
Yes, it is exactly what it says in the title, two Girls (albeit one being 30) who love High Grade(Gunpla).

Luckily for the copyright owner, it is a self reflection of the mangaka, who is an OL, around 30, loved gunpla, and just figured out those brats who were born when she watched Gundam SEED premiere are already 16.

Luckily for us, it is a self reflection of the mangaka, who is an OL, around 30, loved gunpla, and just figured out those brats who were born when she watched Gundam SEED premiere are already 16.(This is a line from the manga, BTW)

So it is kinda a blatant commercial while it is not without a soul.
User avatar
Kuruni
Posts: 2925
Joined: Mon Mar 06, 2006 12:43 am
Location: sitting next to a yandere loli
Contact:

Re: What is the future of Gundam??

AceWhatever wrote: Wed Apr 01, 2020 10:14 am The whole point of the main character's father starting a PLAWRES company was to help his friend research technologies that eventually lead to making artificial limbs for humans.
Thank you, it was very long time since I watched the show.
My girlfriend was a loli.
Post Reply