The Official Gundam The Origin Anime Thread Mk I

[Blackbeltsam]

I'm hyped for this.

[battletech]

If it's just back story it would be cool if the last scene is Char on the ship and Amuro in his room. Maybe during the credits it shows what the supporting characters where doing just before White Base got to the Side 7.

[Turn-A Binker]

After the announcement, I thought "okay, Part I will start will start with the backstory then move up to Side 7". Unexpected, but different, and it could work because I can see it, and it would stand out moreso than 0079 and just a retelling of 0079. Now, after hearing the comments, I'm not sure about that, and I'm scared that this isn't what I wanted in the first place. Origin is a great retelling/remake of the classic anime, and I wanted that. Now, if Origin is all about the Char and Sayla pre-0079, that'd be a big slap in the face for us Origin fans who didn't want this, or well....yeah we did, but part of the OYW retell. Now, could we still get that, sure. I mean The Origin anime was marketed with the use of a animated RX-78 Origin Ver., and to me that wouldn't happen unless that was going to be seen animated-wise. But...two things: 1) this is 4 episodes, and we don't know if episodes 2-4 is Origin II, III, IV, nor do we know nor think that this will fully retell the entire manga, which is doubtful unless these episodes are movies as suggested from the announcement like UC but maybe longer so they can be 90-120 minutes than UC's 60 mins (well except for episode 7). And finally, 2) pass the announcement, we don't know anything about what the plans are for Origin, and that's a problem. This announcement is pretty vague, right to the point that regardless of the title, the first details, and even the preview clip, we don't know what this is. All of our speculations and questions are based on that problem, and I want them to fix that as soon as possible.

That's my thoughts on The Origin anime as it stands on 3/20/14.

[angelwingzero]

Have the posted anything about episode length? Four movie long episodes sounds like a good stretch of time to get the story across.

[wielder]

Admittedly, I would have been personally satisfied with a full adaptation of The Origin, but since I'm already collecting the ongoing manga released by Vertical this is also entirely acceptable.

It's not a big secret that the flashback portions of the manga apparently have most of the actually new content, as opposed to just a bunch of smaller revisions and tweaks that were made to the rest of the original Gundam story, so the decision to focus on the past of Char and Sayla (plus whatever else they have the time to cover in four entries) isn't a big deal for me.

That said, I'm definitely prepared for the release schedule to be a bit on the long side (like with Gundam Unicorn and, to a somewhat greater extent, Akito the Exiled).

[excalibur2008]

After the announcement, I thought "okay, Part I will start will start with the backstory then move up to Side 7". Unexpected, but different, and it could work because I can see it, and it would stand out moreso than 0079 and just a retelling of 0079. Now, after hearing the comments, I'm not sure about that, and I'm scared that this isn't what I wanted in the first place. Origin is a great retelling/remake of the classic anime, and I wanted that.

Yeah, its kind of annoying if they are just adapting the flashback stuff, because it would be nice to see the original with updated animation (lets be honest here it does kind of show its age and some of the designs could use a little tweeking) and trimming the plot to remove the rather annoying Zuku/whatever of the week plots, as well as maybe dropping the goofier stuff the Whitebase picks up near the middle of the show.

[Zeino]

I'm somewhat relieved that The Origin will not be a full-out remake of the original show. Although as far as supplementary stuff for the Universal Century goes, I'm still hoping that they'll do something with Operation British and the Battle of Loum.

[Kratos]

If they adapt the whole flashback arc, then yes, Operation British and Loum will both go down on screen.

Without spoiling too much, I'm particularly excited for Operation British.

[Turn-A Binker]

But if its just the flashbacks, then why adapt The Origin to begin with?

[Kratos]

Because the stuff in the flashbacks has never been covered before in animation (and the majority hasn't even really been covered in anything besides the ORIGIN manga). It's entirely new content, and there's a lot of it.

[balofo]

Ok, if this is only the flashback stuff then we're getting mech/gunpla wise:
-MS-02
-MS-03
-MS-04 with Ramba Ral Custom color and original orange paint
-MS-05 in grunt, Tristars and Char colors
-MS-06
-MS-06S Char Custom(funny that it had the R-1 backpack when he went to Texas but then it went back to normal during Loum)
-HM MS-06 Tristars Custom
-RX-75 Guntank
-RX-77-01 Guncannon Prototype

Now the long wait...

[excalibur2008]

the stuff in the flashbacks has never been covered before in animation (and the majority hasn't even really been covered in anything besides the ORIGIN manga).

I think that might have to do with the likely possibility that watching the Zeon mass murder everyone and crush the only force that dares oppose them might not be that interesting since its so one sided.

[Kratos]

Actually, that stuff - early OYW Zeon curb stomping - has been in plenty of manga and games. ORIGIN is one of those, but only the last two of those 6 flashback volumes really deal with war time Zeon. The rest is largely character drama and politics, with MS development thrown in to give it some (though not much) action.

So I think the absence of the bulk of ORIGIN's flashback content in animation is more due to what balofo's issue is - there's not much potential for mech fights. Obviously Banrise is more confident that character-focused content will sell these days.

[excalibur2008]

I'm starting to wonder if they might be planing to combine volumes 5-7 into the first film and then just do 2 volumes each per film for the other 3 films of the series.

[HellCat]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugwngyeTeVA The wording here suggests that yes it'll be 4 films covering the Char and Sayla stuff.

[BrentD15]

Honestly, I had basically zero interest in Origin before when it looked like it was just going to be "Mobile Suit Gundam: Remastered". But the fact that they're doing something new with it is refreshing. One thing Gundam's been suffering a lot of lately is staleness, since a lot of the writers and directors seem to feel contractually obligated to keep doing the same plot points over and over (like the Lalah-style tragedy). What the franchise really needs are new ideas, and Build Fighters is a prime example.

Doing a flashback covering the life of probably the most popular character in the entire franchise is a pretty good idea, since it's just about guaranteed to print money. However, I do hope it doesn't fall into the same trap as the Star Wars prequels and end up pissing off fans by showing them that Char's youth wasn't everything they assumed it would be.

My sentiments exactly.

Spoiler

Rehashing plot points was what SEED and AGE did, and look what happened to them.

[monster]

Rehashing plot points was what SEED and AGE did, and look what happened to them.

One was successful and one was not as successful, i.e., trying to generalize/make a point out of only one factor isn't such a good idea.

[excalibur2008]

Actually, that stuff - early OYW Zeon curb stomping - has been in plenty of manga and games.

All of which is usually bought by a fraction of the total fanbase.

Hence why it's not considered part of the continuity.

[Kratos]

Whelp, it will be now!

Actually, that's one interesting by-product of this: a lot of things that only had numerous, contradictory depictions before will now be officially set in stone. Hello, definitive MS development history!

[Zeonista]

Actually, that stuff - early OYW Zeon curb stomping - has been in plenty of manga and games.

All of which is usually bought by a fraction of the total fanbase.

Hence why it's not considered part of the continuity.

Actually, those manga & games have been bought by much of Gundam's total fanbase. You know, the Japanese one. English-language Gundam fans are the red-headed stepchildren who get the leavings from the feasting table. The Japanese Gundam fans have seen the early OYW stories done in game animation snippets, but it would not be the same thing as an Origin episode doing Operation British from start to finish, or the chaotic brawl that is most of Loum. That sort of spectacle is worth the price of admission. As per your earlier post, I would say from the manga that the "monster of the week" segments were re-written to make them seem more like part of the overall war story than as random threats. The oddball mobile armors come across as odd because they are incomplete prototypes tossed into the action instead of being robeasts.

I am decidedly looking forward to the Char & Sayla "prequel" story, since it is the official explanation (bar anything forthcoming) for the events that change the idealistic & defensive-oriented Republic of Zeon into the idealistic & offense-oriented Principality of Zeon. It's Tomino's fulcrum point for the Universal Century, Gundam the Origin indeed! I want to see it played out in full; four OADs ought to accomplish that.