What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

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Vent Noir
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What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

So, Gundam 00's over, and personally, it didn't really do it for me. But instead of bitching about it, I thought it would be more constructive to talk about what I'd like to see in the next Gundam series. I'd be interested in what others would like to see as well. Here goes...

- First and most important... female characters in more active roles. I've complained before about how the female characters in 00 were handled, and I wasn't impressed by Destiny in that regard either. If the staff manage to include this, I'll probably be satisfied regardless of any other elements.

- I wouldn't mind a bit of a more lighthearted series. Not total comedy, and not disregarding The Horrors Of War [TM], but less of the "all serious, all the time" aspect. And hey, Code Geass managed to have comedic moments while still being a fairly dark story overall.

- Maybe open up the territory a bit, and have the show set on or around Mars and the asteroid belt.

- I'd also like less all-powerful Gundams, but apparently Bandai feels that's what sells.
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Kuruni
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

- First and most important... sweet loli characters in more active roles. I never complain about sweet loli is lacking in Gundam, but if the staff manage to include this, I'll surely be satisfied regardless of other elements. :mrgreen:

- An appealing grunts that isn't Zaku-like MS (I love Zaku, but it's better if they can pull something else). I think Flag fit this, but nothing in Season 2 come close.
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Izayuukan
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

A female in the main role. If the series just offered that then I would be content.

Although I would actually be happy if they also left out the mandatory and yet almost always horribly-done romance. SEED and Wing were not to bad in this regard, but SEED Destiny and most of UC were just painful. The former was a crappy harem show, at least in terms of Shinn and Athrun, while with respect to the latter, I've never seen a Newtype romance that wasn't utterly stupid, far-fetched and mental (pun most certainly intended).
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blind_dead_mcjones
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

first and foremost

- a female lead, a non angsty, non psychic/newtype/innovator/esper/etc, mentally stable, confident adult female lead who has some mobile suit piloting experience beforehand
- more adults and no teenagers/kids
- the gundam being a flawed design and not some OP montrosity
- if a romance subplot HAS to be included, make it believable, and actually resolve it rather than leaving it hanging or having shiptease that leads nowhere, and no love triangles
- a message beyond the basic good/bad moral platitudes and 'war is bad'
- no falling into the cockpit or the gundam being made by someones disapeered dad, and no gundam jacking
- a new MS design that can't grouped into either the 'GM line' or 'Zaku line' (much like the flag and enact)
- no massive bodycounts towards the end to show how 'mature' or 'darker and edgier' the show is.
- no mid-season upgrade, just stick with the one gundam for the entire show
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Vent Noir
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Izayuukan wrote:A female in the main role. If the series just offered that then I would be content.
Yeah, that would be ideal for me, too, but I don't think Bandai will do it. I've tried to restrict my list to things I believe Bandai might actually do. So maybe we should divide this up into...

A: What would you like to see in your ideal Gundam series?

B: What would you like to see that you actually believe Bandai might do?
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Most of the Gundam series portray MSs to be the the next best platform for warfare within their respective universes. How about a series that reverses that trend? MAs are the next best platform and MSs are eventually getting obsolete. Our dear Gundam protagonist must use ingenuity to get out of a sticky situation. Of course this series won't have that much GUNPLA for Bandai to sell though.

Second, if it's a more mature series I do agree with no kids in the series and more adults. I do want to add more politics and sex into the series. As long humans convene and form organizations, there will always be politics.

Third, I would like to see our protagonist to eventually become the antagonist in the series' sequel but yet you cannot totally blame him/her.

Lastly if they are portraying a fictional military organization based on a real-life one or with subtle reference to:
1. Nobody wears a MASK. Either they show their scars or get plastic surgery.
2. Get rid of underage kids as pilots. None of them will pass a psychiatric examination or be fit for flight or full duty.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

1. Have better bad guy mobile suits. Save for Anfs and Flags I can't remember the name of a single non-Gundam mobile suit from 00. They seemed too unfamiliar.

2. What BDM said:
- more adults and no teenagers/kids
3. No romance, just don't do it unless it will go somehwere. I mean think of it, how often do Gundam pilots get lucky? I can only think of three.

4. More action scenes. This one's gonna most likely happen so I don't need to worry.

5. Good music. I think that's self explanitory.

6. Either have a good Char or none at all; Graham Acker wasn't a good Char look alike, but that's just me.

And that's pretty much it.
Third, I would like to see our protagonist to eventually become the antagonist in the series' sequel but yet you cannot totally blame him/her.
That actually happened to Shin and Rey in SEED Destinty.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Something post-Victory. I'm familiar with UC tech, and I really don't feel like familiarizing myself with a new universe's pseudoscience only to later find out about unwanted side effects like glowing eyes and the nudist dimention. Besides, if you ask me, the last two AUs spiraled off into either retardation or the plot went completely bonkers about halfway through, and quite frankly, there are enough AUs at this point; they can wait a good five years or so before they try and introduce another one to us.

As for a female protagonist, I can take it or leave it. An awesome character is an awesome character; gender should have no bearing on that whatsoever. While we're on the subject, I'm fine with young protagonists too. After all, a recurring theme in Gundam is that the old generation can't fix the future, so it's up to the new generation to bring about change.

Also, consistency in the plot and atmosphere would be nice. There was also that feeling of moral ambiguity that made season 1 of 00 very interesting. We were never forced to take Celestial being as the good guys, the plot just happened to be centered around them. Also GN particles, while important, didn't really have much bearing on the plot in season 1 of 00. I talked to a friend who rather enjoyed season 1 about GN particles and their bearing on the plot of season 2, explaining that they are not only technology that drives the Gundams and their weapons, but in fact special particles that can transform someone into an innovator as well as let people understand each other in some dimention where they see each other naked. He responded, dead cold, "That's incredibly gay." I didn't disagree, and just told him to only watch the part where everybody is shooting parts of Memento Mori out of the sky and disregard the rest. This is from two people that are perfectly fine with the idea of newtypes. Mind you, I'm not trying to bitch about 00 in particular, it just so happens to be the most recent Gundam series to finish.

And I'm perfectly cool with mid season upgrades. In fact, I endorse them, given that they aren't another 00-Raiser. Shining Gundam-God Gundam, MK-II-Zeta, Wing-Wing Zero, X-Double X are all examples of mid season upgrades that transitioned really, really well.

Oh, and Kou Otani would do the soundtrack to my ideal Gundam series. Admit it, he'd do the score to your ideal Gundam series, too. :)

But realistically? Bandai will make another AU because it's easier to make up a new continuity with new technology to exploit. The plot will start off nice, but will eventually degrade into either cliche representations of past Gundam tropes, or just simply cease to make sense. Oh, and the protagonist will most likely be male, and he'll either channel Amuro Ray or Heero Yuy.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

I would want a female lead who isn't moe (Sorry Peter), if I could not have that, then just an anime based on Gundam X: Under the Moonlight.
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Amadi Akintunde
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Something along he lines of what I'm trying to do with my own right now.

Which is a more 'modern' Gundam series. I want to see Mobile Suits walking again instead of zipping through the sky like mosquitoes.

Bring conventional weapons back - lord knows we've seen enough of beam weaponry over the past few years.

Let's see how well Combined Arms would do against a mobile suit without the automatic assumption that the mobile suit would rape everything.

A new type of mobile weapon maybe?

Adults as pilots of course. With a more sexually and racially diverse cast.

Make a more convincing and down to Earth Char clone. You only conceal your identity when in enemy territory if it's necessary. You don't need to do it around your peers. Not everyone is out of their minds as to want to destroy the Earth.

If you're gonna bring kids into the fold, provide more convincing and morally unethical reasons. Don't feed us more of the 'child happens upon mobile suit, instantly intrigued, enters, immediately knows how to pilot the suit better than a TEN YEAR VET! material".

Make the battles more interesting instead of the usual widespread battle - Gundam appears - struggles for two minutes - Gundam wins. Dumb the Gundams down a little. Make the grunts more competent.

Heck, show a timeline of how mobile weaponry came to be. Show their initial and permanent flaws. Show their fields of usefulness. Make them smaller. Loran Cehack apparently thought Mobile Suits would be good for farming. Another group thought they'd be good for mining, or so I've watched.

Treat Gundams - and by extension mobile suits - as you would any other piece of military weaponry you have around base. Don't single them out when you have an array of tanks, helicopters, humvees and what have you that may prove useful on the battlefield. What if you need to perform evacuations during battle? Locate VIPs or HVTs without stepping on them; conventional vehicles can do that just as well.

And blasphemous as it sounds, try and do without the heroic color schemes. Go camo; don't care how unfriendly and unbuyable they look. Try and see past the blindfold of commercialism your show's been ordered to promote. Don't make it a typical anime that only children will watch. Give it some more adult appeal as well.

Foreign writers/directors maybe? This is probably impossible, but if they got Syd Meid to design the mechs of Turn A, and have got Stan Lee doing anime and manga projects over there, then it's at least worth a shot. There are several American directors who have done highly successful war films(Black Hawk Down being a personal favorite) that may have some decent ideas.

I had more ideas but I can't recount them all.

Of course, this more of my vision. Bandai is unlikely to accept any of these because they want to sell tois

But if we're going to go the route of what Bandai would want then... Wild West Gundam?

Also, soldiers don't monologue in battle.
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Dark Duel
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Amadi Akintunde wrote:Wild West Gundam?
I just read that and I got a mental picture of Will Smith, sporting a pimping black suit with matching Stetson and piloting a skinnier, cowboy version of Maxter Gundam.
Which, goofy as it sounds(I'm still chuckling), is AWESOME.

I need to draw that now.
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zerogradius
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Izayuukan wrote:A female in the main role. If the series just offered that then I would be content.

Although I would actually be happy if they also left out the mandatory and yet almost always horribly-done romance. SEED and Wing were not to bad in this regard, but SEED Destiny and most of UC were just painful. The former was a crappy harem show, at least in terms of Shinn and Athrun, while with respect to the latter, I've never seen a Newtype romance that wasn't utterly stupid, far-fetched and mental (pun most certainly intended).
Seed and Wing are not the best examples when it comes to romances. Heero and Relena is by far the worst romance in Gundam history, even Amuro and Sayla made more sense than that. Seed was not much better, especially that switcheroo Kira and Athuran pulled towards the end. Heck, I thought Kira and Cagari were going to hook up before it was suddenly revealed that they were siblings.

As far as the next Gundam series goes:

1. I don't mind super powerful Gundams, as long as the enemy MSs are super powerful too.
2. A masked character that is not just another Char clone (if that's possible)
3. Protagonists that lose almost as much as they win
4. The use of actual strategy instead of just launching a Gundam toward the enemy for him to wipe them all out
5. A female lead, if for no other reason than because it's never been done (Cristine from 0080 doesn't really count)

Though, I doubt a female lead will ever happen. It makes the possibility of multiple romances, which Gundam is famous for, a lot more difficult. It is easier to portray a guy chasing after multiple women than having a woman chasing after multiple men. It's unfair but true.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

In addition to what's already been said in this topic, I want to see a UC show that, instead of creating more crazy retcons, actually uses old side-stories and MS Variations, and reinforces the established continuity.

Unicorn comes close in that regard, but it still invented new stuff like the Vist Foundation and Laplace's Box. So basically I wanna see something like the 0081 game, which used existing suits, yet made the designs more modern.
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iKhaotic
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

eh, when it comes to Gundam, i'm not asking for much considering Gundam has rarely failed so bad to the point that it flat out sucks. it just rarely happens in Gundam if you've seen pretty much every series. each Gundam series has many good points to it that they outweigh the bad IMO. so i trust that whatever they can dish out next, it'll be good.

but as for some of the things i'd like to see, here's a quick rundown:

1) more prominent female roles. it doesn't have to be a female lead, just as long as a female character in the show gets a major role that equals the main character.

2) i don't mind powerful Gundams, so long as they have their fair share of weaknesses and losses.

3) less variants of grunt suits. it's just too hard to keep up with every single model if the only upgrade is something as measly like an extra piece of armor/gun or higher/lower thruster output. it's also annoying when they actually release Gunplas for every one of them lol.

4) an awesome soundtrack. although seeing the pattern with SEED/Destiny/00, i really don't think they'll have a problem with this :) because i swear, i have a soundtrack in my head that plays randomly consisting of "Ash Like Snow", "METEOR", "Daybreak's Bell", "Wana", and "Realize" lmao!

5) story wise i'm not too picky either, but i prefer it to lean more towards character development/relationships as opposed to politics. i like the Kira/Athrun one in SEED. i'd like something that would get me attached to a character and feel their emotions.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

i just want a story where the staff has their vision and their plan and their idea and they stick with it

no bowing to stupid fan demands from 2ch, no rewriting the plot halfway through to accommodate a movie, no shuffling characters around because the writer has a beef with one of the voice actors, no reviving characters or building ersatz stand-ins because they were cool or popular, just put the damn thing together, tell your story, broadcast it, and let posterity be the judge

artistic integrity, how does that work?
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

As long as it has Gundams, doesn't kill off 95% of the cast, and avoids G-style super-robot stuff, I'm happy.
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Symbolhime wrote:As long as it has Gundams, doesn't kill off 95% of the cast, and avoids G-style super-robot stuff, I'm happy.
i'm glad i'm not the only one who didn't like G Gundam's super robot stuff xD
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

I also agree with throwing in a female lead or better yet, animate Ecole du Ciel. I'd also like a UC show set in the post-Victory era (so that G-Savior isn't the sole post-Victory media anymore) or a show providing an adequate explanation to the Newtype phenomenon.

If you're looking for more humor in your Gundam show, how about one that follows the history and evolution of everyone's favorite robot ball?
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iKhaotic
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Gundam Haro??!?!?! :shock:

that may be crazy enough to work lol
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Kenji
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Re: What do you want to see in the next Gundam series?

Well, I'm afraid we're twenty years too late to see a strong female role, and I don't think we'll be going back barring some massive sea change in Japanese pop culture. This is, of course, theory from second-hand sources (i.e. I don't travel to Japan and personally observe otaku), but this whole phenomenon of moe is built expressly on empowering (psychologically) an introverted, scared, insecure male fanbase.

The flipside of this is that it necessitates female disempowerment. She may physically kick ass, but it's guaranteed that by the end of the show, she's a dependent pushover for a male self-insert character who frankly doesn't deserve her affections. Emotional dependence is every bit as insidious as physical dependence, and many moe-pushing series feature both.

Gundam follows trends, and this is what the trend demands. We won't see a strong female character, definitely not to the level of Emma Sheen. This, above all else, is why Soma went from being one of the most dangerous aces of S1 to being describable solely as a possessive ("Allelujah's Girlfriend") in S2. Hell, even her superior S1 incarnation was emotionally dependent on Sergei Smirnov.

A strong, moe female character is a blatant contradiction that isn't even worth exploring.

Other than that, I largely agree with ShadowCell. The second season of Gundam 00 was superior to Gundam SEED Destiny, but what made it sting was that it came on the coattails of the intelligent and adequately iconoclastic first season. If it hadn't been for the first season, I would've found the second more acceptable. I really hope the next series doesn't bait-and-switch us like that, because it only rubs salt in the wounds when they show such fantastic creativity, only to trash it.
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