Gaia Gear, Manhunter and Gundam

The place to discuss anything relating to anime or manga.
Post Reply
Mafty
Posts: 1132
Joined: Sun Apr 19, 2020 10:43 am

Gaia Gear, Manhunter and Gundam

So Gaia Gear has long since been rendered non canon (both by Tomino's own work and later Sunrise entries), but was it supposed to be tied to Gundam at the outset?

The story itself heavily ties toward the Gundam lore (the legacy of Char Aznable) but there are so many different settings from the regular UC. For a start the Federation and Zeon are nowhere to be seen (the main organization Manhunter seems to operate on its own, though its been a while since I read it) the terminology of Gundam and Mobile Suits aren't heard either (the units are called Man Machines and the lead is Gaia Gear Alpha), and the designs are completely different from other mobile suits seen in prior or latter works.

So why is Gaia Gear so different? Was it an independent story that was later modified(like how Dunbine didn't start off with mecha)? (this seems unlikely given how the story completely centers around Char the Memory Clone), Was Tomino unable to use some of the characteristics of Gundam in a story like this? or was it simply Tomino attempting to do something different and a far future sequel would allow more leeway(like in Turn A or Reconguista in G)? Indeed other Tomino novels have more unique setting and mechs (Hi-Streams mechs looked totally different, Hathways Flash didn't use Jegans or otherwise recognizable weaponry, etc).

Also though it isn't canon ,is the Manhunter group supposed to be a reference to Gaia Gear? They weren't called that in the original novel...
Post Reply