Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Episode 1. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Episode 1 English Subbed at gogoanime. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN Ⅵ Rise of the Red Comet Trailers.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Volume one cover of Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin manga
機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN (Kidō Senshi Gandamu Ji Orijin)
Genre
Space Opera, Military science fiction, Mecha, Drama
Manga
Written by
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Published by
Kadokawa Shoten
English publisher
Viz Media (former) Vertical Inc. (current)
Demographic
Shōnen
Magazine
Gundam Ace
Original run
June 2001 – June 2011
Volumes
23 (12 in English) (List of volumes)
Original video animation
Directed by
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by
Osamu Taniguchi
Written by
Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by
Takayuki Hattori
Studio
Sunrise
Licensed by
Released
February 28, 2015 – November 19, 2016
Runtime
60 minutes each
Episodes
4 (List of episodes)
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan's Island
Written by
Junji Ōno
Published by
Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic
Shōnen
Magazine
Gundam Ace
Original run
June 25, 2016 – present
Volumes
4
Original video animation
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Loum Arc
Directed by
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by
Osamu Taniguchi
Written by
Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by
Takayuki Hattori
Studio
Sunrise
Licensed by
Released
September 2, 2017 – May 5, 2018
Runtime
60 minutes each
Episodes
2 (List of episodes)
Anime television series
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet
Directed by
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by
Osamu Taniguchi
Written by
Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by
Takayuki Hattori
Studio
Sunrise
Original network
NHK General TV
English network
Adult Swim (Toonami)
Original run
April 29, 2019 – present
Episodes
13 (List of episodes)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGINHepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu Ji Orijin) is a manga written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It is a retelling of the story from the 1979 anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam, of which Yasuhiko was the original character designer.
An anime adaptation of the manga, focusing on the stories of Casval Rem Deikun (more famously known as Char Aznable) and his sister Artesia (aka Sayla Mass), produced by Sunrise was released between 2015 and 2018 in six parts. Yasuhiko was the chief director of the adaptation, with Sunrise veteran Takashi Imanishi as director, and Katsuyuki Sumisawa as the scriptwriter.[1]
2Media
2.1Manga
Plot[edit]
The plot of the manga follows somewhat closely to the plot of the original series. It is the year Universal Century 0079, and the eighth month of a vicious war between the Earth Federation and a breakaway nation of space colonists, the Principality of Zeon. The story follows the crew of the warship White Base, as they fight to ferry the experimental RX-78-02 Gundam mobile suit to the Federation base at Jaburo.
Although for the most part faithful to the original series' plot (all of the major events unfold in mostly the same manner as the TV series, though often in different locales), Yasuhiko has taken the liberty of changing certain elements in the series universe, giving a different character to the series and the struggle that unfolds. Primary among these is the presence of mobile suits in both sides well before the conflict begins—in fact, in the flashback sequences, both the Earth Federation Forces and Zeon use Guntanks in 0068, and they and the Guncannon mobile suit are described as 'obsolete' and fit for target practice in the first volume (in the TV series proper, both the RX-75 and the RX-77 were as new as the RX-78 Gundam itself, designed to serve as long- and mid-range fire support units).
Other differences concern the breadth of the Gundam's journey to Jaburo. Where it's implied that the White Base's journey to Jaburo in the series was pretty much a circumnavigation of the globe unconnected to many real-world locations, Yasuhiko's journey places the White Base's landfall near Los Angeles, the headquarters of Garma Zabi (in the series, Garma was based out of a generic 'New York' — Origin in fact states the Zeon occupation HQ as Los Angeles City Hall, with Garma residing in Hollywood/Beverly Hills) and moves the craft steadily to the southeast, and down the South American coast—past Caracas, Venezuela and through Machu Picchu and into Brazil, where Jaburo, the headquarters of the Earth Federation, is located. This retelling cuts out some of the more trivial encounters seen in the original series, while keeping and expanding on important characters like Garma, Ramba Ral, and the Black Tri-Stars. As a direct result the events of Operation Odessa which takes place around the Ukrainian city of the same name, occur after the events of Jaburo, as opposed to the anime where they occur before.
Yasuhiko further finally tells the entire back story of the Gundam universe in the manga. After the successful defense of Jaburo, the story diverts into a very in-depth flashback, told primarily from the viewpoints of Sayla and Char (with a secondary thread being told from Amuro's POV) recounting the downfall of Zeon Zum Deikun, the rise of the Zabi family, the construction of Side 7 and the research into mobile suits, and leading up through a decade until the launching of the One Year War. It also goes into detail answering many previously unanswered questions such as the appearance of heretofore unseen Zeon mobile suits prior to the MS-05 Zaku I, how Dozle Zabi received his trademark scars and even the origin of Casval Deikun/Edward Mass' 'Char Aznable' identity. Volume fourteen, deals with the Battle of Loum at the beginning of the One Year War, and is the last piece of the in-depth flashback.
The story shifted back on track to the original anime's storyline, featuring the White Base's involvement in the Federation's Operation Odessa, as well as including Kai Shiden's encounter with Miharu. Afterwards, the manga deals with the end of the Odessa campaign and, in another departure from the series, takes M'Quve and his Gyan out of the picture before he has a chance to confront the Gundam.
Media[edit]
Manga[edit]
The series was first serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace in Japan beginning in 2002 and has since been collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. Both are published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Comics A imprint. Viz Comics attempted to translate the series and publish it in America in a quarterly, perfect-bound magazine-sized format, although low sales very quickly ended the American run.
Although Viz released 12 volumes of its English translation, they do not correspond with the Japanese volumes. The English volumes, with an average length between 100-130 pages were about half of that of the equivalent Japanese tankōbon, which ran anywhere between 200-270. The length varied as some contained just four chapters, some contained an additional 'special' shorter side story, and others contained a full five chapters. The reason for this could be that the Japanese serialization focused on keeping distinct chapters. As a result, the English serialization ended up having a higher price point than its Japanese equivalent with only roughly half of the content. The Viz release stopped near the end of volume six in the Japanese version.
The popularity of the manga in Japan has led to the release of aizōban or Collector's Edition versions. Each collector's edition combines two tankōbon volumes (combining the beginning and end sections into one), creating large, leather bound, hardback editions with dozens of pages printed in full color, as opposed to about 5 pages per tankōbon.
At Otakon 2012, North American publisher Vertical announced[2] that it will publish an English language adaptation of the series in hardcover format similar to the Aizoban editions. The first volume was released on the March 26, 2013 and the series was completed with the publishing of the 12th volume on December 17, 2015.
A spinoff of the manga, titled Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan's Island (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN MSD ククルス·ドアンの島Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu THE ORIGIN MSD Kukurusu Doan no Shima), was written by Junji Ōno and serialized in Gundam Ace on June 25, 2016, 10 years after the original manga's serialization and currently collected to 4 tankobon volumes. The manga is based on episode 15 of the original TV series.[3]
English manga volume list[edit]
No.
Title
English release date
English ISBN
1
Activation
March 26, 2013[4]
ISBN978-1-93-565487-2
2
Garma
June 25, 2013[5]
ISBN978-1-93-565488-9
3
Ramba Ral
December 17, 2013[6]
ISBN978-1-93-565497-1
4
Jaburo
December 17, 2013[7]
ISBN978-1-93-565498-8
5
Char & Sayla
March 25, 2014[8]
ISBN978-1-93-913019-8
6
To War
June 17, 2014[9]
ISBN978-1-93-913020-4
7
Battle Of Loum
September 30, 2014[10]
ISBN978-1-93-913067-9
8
Operation Odessa
December 16, 2014[11]
ISBN978-1-93-913068-6
9
Lalah
April 28, 2015[12]
ISBN978-1-94-122015-3
10
Solomon
June 23, 2015[13]
ISBN978-1-94-122016-0
11
A Cosmic Glow
September 17, 2015[14]
ISBN978-1-94-122046-7
12
Encounters
December 17, 2015[15]
ISBN978-1-94-122047-4
Anime[edit]
Sunrise announced in June 2011 that an anime adaptation of Gundam The Origin was in production.[16] In March 2014, it was announced it will be a four-episode OVA series with event screenings at Japanese theaters, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Gundam, and centering on the stories of Casval Deikun and his sister Artesia. The first episode, titled The Blue-Eyed Casval (青い瞳のキャスバルAoi Hitomi no Kyasubaru), premiered in limited Japanese theaters on February 28, 2015.[17][18] Sunrise produced an English dub recorded at NYAV Post for the first time since Bandai retired their Gundam license.[19] Another two-episode OVA series, Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Loum Arc, was released in 2017 and 2018.[20]
A 13-episode anime television recompilation of the OVA series premiered in April 29, 2019 under the title Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet (機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN 前夜 赤い彗星Kidō Senshi Gundam The Origin Zenya Akai Suisei).[21]Sugizo is producing the theme songs. His band Luna Sea will perform the three opening themes, the first being 'Sora no Uta ~Higher and Higher~' (宇宙の詩 ～Higher and Higher～) and the second 'Hisōbi' (悲壮美). For the ending themes he decided to collaborate with female singers. The first ending theme is a cover of Daisuke Inoue's 'Meguriai' (めぐりあい), the theme song of 1982's Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space, by Sugizo feat. Glim Spanky. The second ending theme is a cover of Hiroko Moriguchi's 'Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete' (水の星へ愛をこめて), the second opening theme song of 1985's Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, by Sugizo feat. KOM_I (Wednesday Campanella). The other two ending themes will feature Aina The End from BiSH, and miwa.[22] On May 25, 2019, it was announced that the English dub of The Origin would make its television broadcast premiere on Adult Swim's Toonami block on July 6, 2019.[23]
References[edit]
^'Main Staff'. Sunrise Inc.Archived from the original on 2017-05-17. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
^'Vertical Adds Gundam: The Origin, Wolfsmund Manga'. Anime News Network. 2012-07-29. Archived from the original on 2012-08-01. Retrieved 2012-07-29.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (1)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (3)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (4)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (5)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (6)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (7)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (8)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (9)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (10)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (11)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (12)'. Vertical. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
^'Gundam The Origin Manga to Launch Anime Project'. Anime News Network. 2011-06-22. Archived from the original on 2011-09-01. Retrieved 2011-09-23.
^'Gundam the Origin Anime and Tomino Latest Slated for 2014-2015'. Anime News Network. Archived from the original on 6 July 2013. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
^'より第1話「青い瞳のキャスバル」最新90秒予告映像が公式サイトで公開！'. Gundamofficial. Archived from the original on 2014-11-11.
^'Sunrise Partners With Right Stuf to Release Gundam Franchise Stateside'. Anime News Network. 2014-10-11. Archived from the original on 2014-10-12.
^Komatsu, Mikikazu (May 23, 2016). ''Gundam: The Origin' Anime Continues to 'Battle Of Loum' Arc'. Crunchyroll. Archived from the original on October 9, 2016. Retrieved October 9, 2016.
^Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 22, 2019). 'Gundam the Origin TV Recompilation Anime's Title, Songs, April 29 Premiere Revealedl'. Anime News Network. Retrieved February 22, 2019.
^'SUGIZO、GLIM SPANKY＆miwa＆コムアイ＆BiSHアイナと共に『ガンダム』を彩る'. Billboard Japan (in Japanese). 2019-04-18. Retrieved 2019-04-20.
^'Adult Swim's Toonami to Run Gundam: The Origin Starting on July 6'. Anime News Network. Retrieved May 25, 2019.
Gundam The Origin Manga
External links[edit]
Wikiquote has quotations related to: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin
Official Gundam The Origin website‹See Tfd›(in Japanese)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
Gundam The Origin Anime
Preceded by Gundam Build Fighters Try
Gundam metaseries (production order) 2015-2016
Succeeded by Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
Preceded by Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis
Gundam metaseries (production order) 2017-2018
Succeeded by Gundam Build Fighters: GM's Counterattack
Preceded by none
Gundam Universal Century timeline U.C. 0068 – 0079
Succeeded by Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin
Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Mobile_Suit_Gundam:_The_Origin&oldid=899913215'
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Synopsis
What was the tragedy that decided the fates of Char Aznable, the man later nicknamed the 'Red Comet' as an ace pilot of the Zeon forces, and his sister Sayla Mass? The two siblings' journeys, brought on by the sudden death of their father Zeon Zum Deikun who was a leader of the Spacenoids, are depicted in the four episodes of 'Chronicle of Char and Sayla.' The Zabi family who seize control of Side 3 and lead the Principality of Zeon, the early days of many renowned Zeon ace pilots who later fight in the One Year War, the secrets of mobile suit development, conflicts with the Earth Federation Forces, and the road leading to the outbreak of war—all will be revealed. (Source: Official website)
Background
No background information has been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding background information here.
Related Anime
Adaptation:
Kidou Senshi Gundam: The Origin
Alternative version:
Mobile Suit Gundam
Characters & Voice Actors
Aznable, Char
Main
Tanaka, Mayumi Japanese
Mass, Sayla
Han, Megumi Japanese
Ray, Amuro
Supporting
Furuya, Toru Japanese
Noa, Bright
Narita, Ken Japanese
Haro
Supporting
Arai, Satomi Japanese
Ral, Ramba
Supporting
Kiyama, Shigeo Japanese
Zabi, Mineva Lao
Shiden, Kai
Furukawa, Toshio Japanese
Zabi, Garma
Supporting
Kakihara, Tetsuya Japanese
Sune, Lalah
Hayami, Saori Japanese
Staff
Yasuhiko, Yoshikazu
Director, Character Design, Original Creator
Imanishi, Takashi
Director
Fujino, Sadayoshi
Sound Director
Itano, Ichiro
Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation
Edit Opening Theme
No opening themes have been added to this title. Help improve our database by adding an opening theme here.
Edit Ending Theme
#1: 'Hoshikuzu no Sunadokei (星屑の砂時計)' by Takatori Hattori Presents Gundam The Origin featuring yu-yu (服部隆之 Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring yu-yu) (ep 1) #2: 'Kaze yo 0074 (風よ 0074)' by Takayuki Hattori Presents Gundam The Origin featuring Takumi Ishida (服部隆之 Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring 石田匠) (ep 2) #3: 'Eien no Astraea (永遠のAstraea)' by Takayuki Hattori presents Gundam The Origin featuring Kou Shibasaki (服部隆之 Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring 柴咲コウ) (ep 3) #4: 'Uchuu no Kanata de (宇宙の彼方で)' by Takayuki Hattori presents Gundam The Origin featuring Hiroko Moriguchi (服部隆之 Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring 森口博子) (ep 4) #5: 'I CAN'T Do ANYTHING -Sora yo- (I CAN'T DO ANYTHING－宇宙(そら)よ―) by Takayuki Hattori Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring AYA (服部隆之 Presents GUNDAM THE ORIGIN featuring AYA) (ep 5) #6: 'Hasen no Namida (破線の涙)' by Masayoshi Yamazaki (ep 6)
More reviewsReviews
6 of 6 episodes seen
CodeBlazeFate(All reviews)
56 people found this review helpful
Overall
10
Story
10
Animation
9
Sound
9
Character
10
Enjoyment
10
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is an ode to excellence, an art habitually outdoing itself. It is the epitome of what Gundam is and was, and is the type of work only a master can craft. Origin is cinematic brilliance, and one of the finest in modern manga adapting and modern anime storytelling. As such, it is as charming and emotionally evocative as the franchise has ever been, continually asserting itself among the best animated series this decade has to offer. It would be unwise to herald such a title as absolute perfection; there are blemishes in this magnificent work of art. The questionable overreliance on 3D CGI can be off-putting when non-mechanical objects rendered in such a style look worse than Dozle in a car accident. Additionally, the film series stumbles choppily at first before truly hitting its monumental stride. Some of the ending themes are forgettable and the music takes a while to truly match the scale and magnificence of the series proper. Certain moments regarding character relationships can feel rushed as well. However, in the face of an 18-meter behemoth of passion and glory, these issues the size of a small dent. They exist yet mean little; mere bumps and scratches in the left calf of a machine painted, oiled, and buffed with the utmost care. The character designs by legendary Gundam veteran and original mangaka Yoshikazu Yasuhiko are absolutely perfect, perfect updates on both the iconic designs of yore and the art redesigns of the manga. The expressions are the liveliest in the entire franchise, striking the perfect balance between character detail and freedom of animation of the models. As for the mechanical designs of the pre-0079 era, they work exquisitely as the prototypes and predecessors of what would become the norm of the One-Year War. The CGI work for these mechs, in particular, is nothing short of commendable, as the clunky experimental designs of the iconic mobile workers --prototypes to the iconic mobile suits-- are capitalized on tremendously. The directing of the action sequences --courtesy of franchise veterans Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Takashi Imanishi-- is exquisite, most especially in regards to the iconic Custom Red Zaku II Char pilots. One need look no further than the spectacular opening scene in episode 1 or the battle in episode 6 to know exactly how kinetic and monumental these skirmishes are. The smoke effects work wonderfully as well, particularly in regards to the purple smoke and explosions of Federation ships and student artillery. Dare I say, if the CGI were present in the mechanical models exclusively, this would be Gundam’s visual magnum opus! It already achieves such marks from a directorial standpoint. Even more care was taken to make sure that each development of the characters, narrative, and technology, kept the integrity of the original series intact. Char’s vengefulness was built up perfectly and shown to be as innate to him as humanly possible. Seeing him in a position of power is an absolute treat, whether it be him taking down a Guntank single-handedly as a child, or beating up a spy with his fists and a spiked plank. His malicious tendencies also originated from a place that feels both human and sensible, unlike a more direct counterpart in Anakin Skywalker aka Darth Vader and how the Star Wars prequels attempted to do the same. Additionally, witnessing other major characters from the original series in their younger forms was particularly charming. The biggest standouts were Dozle --the lovable oaf-- and Ramba Ral, both of whom were particular highlights in Origin. Even witnessing a younger Amuro Ray was wonderful, especially when everyone’s favorite troublesome little mascot, Haro began acting like the lovable goof fans know and love. The characters brand new to Origin held up as well and worked wonderfully in their roles, particularly Ramba’s father and the man who would take care of Char and Sayla in the second episode. Every second spent with these characters is wonderful and full of the type of bittersweet pleasantness you never get in anime, especially when you are familiar with where they end up in 0079. The voice acting held up tremendously as well. Keith Silverstein did a marvelous job playing Char’s teenage and adult self, with just the type of calculated, semi-dominant, and slightly spiteful tinge that truly made up Char as a person up until the end of the original 0079. Kirk Thornton was splendid as a slightly younger but ultimately gravely Ramba Ral, and Doug Stone was splendid as his desperate, constantly stressed, and slightly deranged father. The most interesting casting choice was Mike Pollock -best known for his role as Eggman- whose performance as Char and Sayla’s caretaker, Don Teablo Mass. There are a plethora of other cast members who did wonderfully in their roles as well, such as Liam O’Brien, and other well-known VAs such as Lisa Ortiz and Patrick Seitz make great background character voices. Even Hamon’s singing in the penultimate installment --in both languages-- especially in the context of the original’s story, is as beautiful as it is soul-crushing. Everything melts into a wonderful English dub, lip-syncing issues aside. There’s a sense of love and passion Origin exudes, a marvelous sense of charisma that exemplifies the joys of cinema. It may not be as thematically rich as Thunderbolt, as visually mesmerizing as Char’s Counterattack, or as inviting as Turn A, but in many ways, this exemplifies the best of what Gundam has to offer. Even when displaying a sense of brutality synonymous with Gundam, this love letter to the franchise never stops bringing a sense of whimsy and evoke visceral emotion to the silver and digital screens. You may need to watch other installments to truly appreciate this one, but in doing so, this is your reward: the absolute pinnacle of Gundam!
6 of 6 episodes seen
Karhu(All reviews)
40 people found this review helpful
Overall
9
Story
0
Animation
0
Sound
0
Character
0
Enjoyment
0
'Gundam Origin' is the best thing that has yet happened to the Gundam franchise. The series is so different from all the other Gundams, and so successful at what it does that it appears to be more similar to 'Ghost in the Shell Stand Alone Complex' and 'Legend of the Galactic Heroes' than it is similar to other Gundams. This time around our story does NOT center around bunch of kids who fights against each others with super robots, and question their morality after falling in love with enemy kids. And when people lose their families, they do NOT get over it in mere 10 minutes like they do in the alternative version, the original Mobile Suit Gundam. No. This time our story centers around politics and military tactics, and comes off exactly as mature and realistic as is possible in the animated medium. However, from its core 'Gundam Origin' is character biography. It aims to capture the life of Casval Rem Deiku in a way most similar to Sports series such as 'Major' and 'Hajime no Ippo', but also close to Career series such as 'Glass no Kamen' (actress) and 'Uchuu Kyoudai' (astronaut). I am mentioning these 4 series because they are the only other anime I have ever seen to go as deep into character-centric story telling as 'Gundam Origin'. I am a huge fan of this concept, and never in my life did I think I would see the 5th successful series to achieve this to be This anime. I have been blown away. The details put on art and animation are insane. These six episodes took three years to make. And while this is not uncommon for OVA series at all, the team didn't exactly spend their days loitering around. This is a work of such high caliber it mainly reminds me of 'Hellsing Ultimate'. Outside of few building scenes, there are practically no scenery that hasn't been animated. Even during debates, there are no scrolling backgrounds to make it create the illusion of animation and movement. During these scenes, almost every side character is in some way reacting to the conversations, be it in forms of expressions, habits or body gestures. It's crazy. The thing that impressed me the most is the character design, more specifically their faces. Approximately 93% of the 200something characters don't even look like anime characters. For the first time ever, I have been impressed by the animated faces of middle aged men. They have unreal amount of details, separately designed side/front profiles and realistic facial features. The faces have so much depth that it doesn't even stop there. Especially during close-ups, we can see shadows cast on their faces according to their facial features and room lighting. If this doesn't impress you then I have no idea what could. Also, for the first time since 'Gankutsuou' has a goddamn piece of clothing burned in my very soul. I am talking about the onepiece dress seen in episode 2 at Club Eden. Talk about pretty. For the sake of readable length, I won't go further into details, but practically everything has been polished and there isn't much CGI outside episode 6. But even in the finale the CGI is so well done that less experienced viewers won't even realize they are looking at CGI. The series is, by no means, perfect. One of the side characters, Zabi Garman, can be seen as a plot element who only exists to lead the story in preferred direction. Our main character can be criticized of being a Gary Stu level Jesus who is perfect at everything and anything. Personally, I didn't find any of these factors to be actual 'problems' that could ruin the series for me. Rather, I thought they were done well. For example, the expectations others' and Garma himself put on him didn't match his personality, so it was easy for him to get played. Most of the time everything feels like it has been done with high level of self-awareness. The team behind Gundam Origin seems to be well aware of all its flaws and did their best on making it believable, acknowledging its imperfections and weaker sides. Since I haven't spoken anything about the sounds yet, I suggest you head to your closest youtube and copy-paste the following song title 'Crowley Hamon - Don't Say Goodbye' and enjoy. I let this piece speak for itself. When it comes to enjoyment, I can't speak on the behalf of Gundam fandom for the reason that I am not a fan of Gundam series in generally. Thus far the only ones I have really enjoyed were Vietnam, Hamburger Meat and Nice Float (08th MS Team, 0080 War in the Pocket and Unicorn - in case you are not up to date with hottest Gundam memes). I can still speak as a fan of mature anime series, as a fan of character portray, and as a fan of anime in generally. The levels of mature and realistic are -ironically- almost unrealistic, the characters are far better than anyone could expect, and the art kept constantly impressing me. I will call Gundam Origin an obligatory view for all anime fans.
6 of 6 episodes seen
Rikuson1(All reviews)
23 people found this review helpful
Overall
10
Story
10
Animation
10
Sound
10
Character
10
Enjoyment
10
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin/機動戦士ガンダムTHE ORIGIN Review Story (10/10) Masterpiece The main purpose of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin is to setup the origin story to not just the Gundam but the entire Universal Century's story and all of the characters, protagonists and antagonist that play major roles in the 1979's original Gundam anime which kickstarts the whole Gundam franchise in the first place. With that being said this 6 episode OVA I felt did a wonderful job at introducing the whole of Universal Century to the viewer. But obviously coming from myself a person who is already quite knowledgeable to the universe damn near every character that was introduced I already knew about and just getting more backstory on them is just a treat for someone and people like me. As far as it's pacing, explanation and plot I thought everything was perfectly executed considering this as an Origin Story to the lore of UC Gundam I felt nothing important was left unexplained your typical origin story. Art and Animation (10/10) Outstanding The artstyle approach taken in Mobile Suit Gundam Origin is one that is quite reminiscent to the old school artstyle of yesteryear. It definitely showcases that this art style definitely (at least to me) still has it's own charm to it in the modern day of today's frequent and quite similar art style we see across many popular anime series. The animation smooth and crisp across every scene and at first and definitely around episode 3 or 4 we get to see a decent amount of CG that is used on Mobile Suits, Space crafts and other machinery. At first I was not too fond to it but by the end of episode 6, I'm not going to lie this is some of the best CG I've seen to be put forth on a series that includes it on mechs especially basically every scene that has the Red Zaku in it, if CG is done it should be done like this. Sound (10/10) Superb The sound effects, background music and (english dubb) voice acting you and can definitely tell (especially if you are a fan of Gundam and English Dub voice acting) was treated with the utmost care. Keith Silverstein (who also voiced Full Frontal) can do the most ambitious, passionate and most charismatic Char Azanable voice you will hear amongst the many different english voice actors that have done him in the past, by far my favorite thus far and I hope he voices him from hear on out. Characters (10/10) Outstanding The amount of characterization and backstory care we are given to many key characters of the original Gundam series is outstanding especially Casval Rem Deikun. Characters I cared not for because to be honest they get introduced and killed in the original series so quick that you don't really have a chance to know who these people are, are given great backstories that should make a newcomer care a bit for them before they most likely bit the dust in the original series. Many of those characters you get to understand their ambitions and motives through these 6 episodes than you ever did in the original and I fairly enjoyed it and thought it was handled perfectly. Enjoyment (10/10) Superb As a Gundam fan I had a fucking blast with The Origin. As a newcomer I can see if one might think that this could be a bit too much of an info dump to the Universe since it may feel like this Origin story wants you to remember all of these many key characters that will definitely appear in the original Gundam series. That might be where a newcomer might be overwhelmed and turned off especially since there is no actual presence of the Gundam in this Origin story even though that is the name of the OVA. One could also say they were better off calling it Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin of Universal Century as that can be read as a more accurate representation to what is present in this OVA, this could easily hinder a newcomer's enjoyment and I completely understand if it did. Some might even say it might be better to watch the original series and then go back and watch this, but I feel if you are someone who can get ahold of majority of what this origin story brings to the table it will serve as a great introduction into a great space war story. Overall (10/10) Masterpiece Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin I feel accomplishes what I think it was trying to do and that is setting up the Universal Century's lore perfectly. I honestly hope they decide to make a remake of 0079 Gundam using this OVA's animation, artsytle and voice actors. But I'm not too sure seeing as though they seem to be working on another Unicorn Gundam Anime and then a Hathaway's Flash anime which are both welcomed but were not asked for as much as a 0079 remake (or hell Crossbone!). If you are a returning fan of Gundam you should be most pleased If you are a newcomer you better pay attention because their a lot this OVA demands you.
6 of 6 episodes seen
gravediggernalk(All reviews)
15 people found this review helpful
Overall
6
Story
9
Animation
5
Sound
10
Character
10
Enjoyment
6
PSA: This is a prequel; please watch AFTER you watch the original series As far as how it adapts the story, it does a very good job adapting the prequel story-pieces of the manga adaptation, 'The Origin,' and I definitely recommend it to anyone who has seen the original series, especially if they're about to re-watch it. If you consider the early-UC timeline to be 'The Story of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable,' then this sets the stage perfectly: It takes you from 'before their time,' through their childhood and adolescence, and finishes you off perfectly with all of the main players taking their places for the beginning of the first episode of the original series. It definitely focuses more on Char than it does on Amuro, but, looking at the early-UC timeline, Char IS the character whose story affects the world the most while his past is the one least explained. I'll put it bluntly: the animation flips back and forth between 'cheap horseshit' and 'a little bit more than above average,' and that definitely detracted from it. If none of the CGI had been used (or if any actual effort had been put into the CGI), then this would not have been anywhere near as big of an issue. It's embarrassing that something that was supposed to be this huge production ended up with scenes that looked as bad as this did. The sound design, on the other hand, is absolute perfection -- It's everything I could've wanted. The Japanese voice acting was what it was, to be expected, and the English dub was pretty good, though I would've liked it more if more of the original series cast had been brought back (especially for Amuro, Char, and Bright). Like I said: If you've seen the original series, watch this, especially if you're about to re-watch it. But do NOT watch this before watching the original series.
Recommendations
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Gundam is one of the largest anime franchises today, made up of more than a dozen TV shows, as well as movies, OVAs, and more. With so many stories split up into multiple timelines, it can be tough to know where to start. But don't worry. This comprehensive Gundam guide will help light your way.
