Gundam and Manga?

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Mafty
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Gundam and Manga?

So continuing off from a post in the Zeta Gundam thread, how much information is out there about the process behind making the Gundam Manga's? Kaiba seemed to say there are different groups in Sunrise responsible for this, but how long has this been the case?

Because looking at the Gundam manga shows a number of the more obscure titles have premises that seem like they'd be hard to merchandize , or too short to make merchandizing worthwhile. For example we have For The Barrel, which is an incredibly odd "Abstract Retelling" of the original series; that character and mecha design wise is completely different from anything else in the Franchise, It honestly looks like something that belongs in the Five Star Stories.

Then there’s the odd Cyber Newtype Duology, wherein some Moe Gothic Lolita’s enter Cold Sleep for centuries, and pilot some very odd looking mecha in a colonized solar system. It’s apparently the first story to focus on the far future of the main UC Era(this was the early 90s).

There’s also the Top Gun parody “Top Gundam”, The 90s trilogy of Outer Gundam, Moon Crisis and REON focusing on late 90s UC and battles on the Moon concerning a new AEUG and Neo-Zeon remnants. The Non Canon CCA “Prequel” THE REVIVAL OF ZEON, and so on…

So were all of these stories meant to gain more popularity? Were they all made with Merchandizing in mind? Or was there more freedom in how a Manga could be published in the 80s and 90s?
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Seto Kaiba
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Re: Gundam and Manga?

Mafty wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:14 pm So continuing off from a post in the Zeta Gundam thread, how much information is out there about the process behind making the Gundam Manga's?
Not a hell of a lot. It's relatively rare to have any real discussion of the development process of a licensed manga, light novel, etc. outside of the occasional major title like Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, or Gundam Sentinel.


Mafty wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:14 pm Kaiba seemed to say there are different groups in Sunrise responsible for this, but how long has this been the case?
Likely from a very early point in the franchise's history. Revenue from licensed merchandise is extremely important to the bottom line of the studios that produce anime. Broadcast rights don't bring in nearly enough money to fund production of new shows and keep the lights on at a studio. It's almost invariably the revenue from licensed merchandise that is the deciding factor separating success and profit from failure and net negative figures on the studio's balance sheet. Sunrise would've been especially conscious of this WRT Gundam considering the role merchandising played in saving the original series from an ignoble fate.

In a 2004 interview, Sunrise Planning and Development Group chief Koichi Inoue explained that the Planning and Development Group was responsible for supervising development of, and issuing publication permission for, all manga, novels, mooks, books, and games that deal with the Gundam setting. Presumably that group is also responsible for situations where other studios (e.g. Studio Ophee, which worked on Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray) are engaged to coordinate the development of Gundam licensed works in multiple publications and media formats.

Based on remarks from various individuals including Outer Gundam author Masafumi Matsura and Gundam Officials author Yuka Minagawa, it seems that Sunrise began taking a more systematic approach towards licensing sometime in the late 1990s (after their acquisition by Bandai). That was apparently the point where the franchise developed its animation-first position on continuity and where licensees saw stricter enforcement of the official setting in their works. Masafumi Matsura noted in the afterword of the reissue of Outer Gundam that they expected they'd be asked to rework the manga prior to its reissue to bring its story into alignment with the official UC setting, and were surprised that Sunrise declined to insist upon it. Matsuura noted that Outer Gundam is a very rare instance of a writer working on Gundam having a largely free hand to do what they wanted with the story instead of having oversight from Sunrise dictating what could and could not be done. It would appear that the Planning and Development Group has had a firm hand on licensee work since at least the mid-80's, and probably a while before that.


Mafty wrote: Sun Feb 05, 2023 7:14 pm Because looking at the Gundam manga shows a number of the more obscure titles have premises that seem like they'd be hard to merchandize , or too short to make merchandizing worthwhile. For example we have For The Barrel, which is an incredibly odd "Abstract Retelling" of the original series; that character and mecha design wise is completely different from anything else in the Franchise, It honestly looks like something that belongs in the Five Star Stories.

Then there’s the odd Cyber Newtype Duology, wherein some Moe Gothic Lolita’s enter Cold Sleep for centuries, and pilot some very odd looking mecha in a colonized solar system. It’s apparently the first story to focus on the far future of the main UC Era(this was the early 90s).

There’s also the Top Gun parody “Top Gundam”, The 90s trilogy of Outer Gundam, Moon Crisis and REON focusing on late 90s UC and battles on the Moon concerning a new AEUG and Neo-Zeon remnants. The Non Canon CCA “Prequel” THE REVIVAL OF ZEON, and so on…

So were all of these stories meant to gain more popularity? Were they all made with Merchandizing in mind? Or was there more freedom in how a Manga could be published in the 80s and 90s?
There's more ways to make money than just flogging toys... having a Gundam manga, light novel, or media featurette in your magazine or whatever is probably a decent way to raise readership and Gundam as a brand depends a lot on the hobby press because its main revenue stream is gunpla. Not all of it had to be serious work. Anime creators do have a sense of humor about what they do. in the 80's it was even trendy to do comedic mini-comics and sketches as filler for art books, so it's not surprising they'd also green light parody comics and such for partner publications like Newtype, Hobby Japan, Character Model, or Dengeki Hobby.

The one thing we can say is commentary from creators and franchise officials is that apparently things got a lot stricter after Sunrise was acquired by Bandai, with more effort made to enforce the official setting and consistency with animated works.
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