Nostalgic Anime Retrospective No.28] The Multifaceted Realism of "Mobile Suit Gundam" Produced by the "Calling" of Mechanics

The second season of "Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt" will be distributed from March 24, 2017. In the second season, it seems that more types of mobile suits will appear, but how have "mobile suits" been handled in the story?　Let us look back at the "Mobile Suit Gundam" TV series broadcast in 1979.

According to an interview I conducted with Yoshiyuki Tomino, the series director, in "Great Mechanic DX5" (published by Futabasha in 2008), the original plan was to have only Zaku mobile suits from the Principality of Zeon appear in the series. According to an interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original plan was to have only the Zaku mobile suits from the Principality of Zeon appear in each episode, but I thought that would be impossible. But I thought that would be impossible, and sure enough, it was NG. So I tried my best to come up with a theory that it was a prototype, or that it had been developed by some other company on its own, and I came up with a "beaten-up mecha" for each episode.
In other words, mobile suits and mobile armor other than Zaku were merely "mecha" that were introduced for convenience, in accordance with the conventions of robot animation in the 1970s. By defeating powerful enemy robots that appeared one after another, the strength of the lead robot, Gundam, was impressed upon the viewer, which in turn sold robot toys sold by the sponsor companies.
Despite this, mobile suits continue to be called "weapon-like," "militaristic," and "realistic" ....... The reason for this is often attributed to the design and the (later established) developmental lineage. Here, I would like to go back to the basics and verify whether the robot characters named "mobile suits" were truly weapon-like and realistic, based solely on the information available at the time of broadcast.

The characters on the Zeon side are not called "Zaku" or "Guf"?

Until the appearance of the Gouf in episode 12, "The Threat of Zeon," the Principality of Zeon had only one type of mobile suit, the Zaku. To be precise, in Episode 3 "Strike the enemy's supply ship! in episode 3, the mobile suit that Gadem rode in was different in design from the Zaku. However, it is referred to as a Zaku in the lines "Even this Zaku has been through a hundred battles with me" (Gadem) and "Your Zaku can't do it" (Shia). It is assumed to be an older type of Zaku, but Gadem's Zaku could be said to be the first "mecha" to be "beaten up.
So, how was Zaku called at the beginning of the series?　Let's review the first episode, "Gundam Rises to the Earth! Let's take a look at the first episode, "Gundam Rises to the Sky!
"They may have developed a mobile suit superior to our Zaku mobile suit" (Char).
"Is this the Zaku of Zeon?" (Amuro)
"Watch it, Zaku!" (Amuro)
If you blow up Zaku again, Side 7 will run out of air.
The word "Zaku" is used a total of four times, three of which are uttered by Amuro. While Char uses the rather descriptive phrase "Zaku mobile suit," Denim and Slender, who were actually flying Zaku, do not use the word "Zaku" even once. The name "Zaku" is heard exclusively from the mouths of civilians in the Earth Federation, which is hostile to Zeon. The refugees and Amuro also call Zaku a mobile suit.
Then, how was the Guf, which first appeared in episode 12, "The Threat of Zeon," called in the play?
Zaku?　No, it is a new type of mobile suit" (Amuro)
A new type of mobile suit of Zeon" (Bright)
What's a new type of mobile suit?
The name "Guv" is never used. In episode 16, "Seira's sortie," we finally hear Ramba Ral say, "This mobile suit is the Guf. Like "Zaku Mobile Suit," it seems somewhat explanatory.
And in the 24th episode, "Triple Dom," in which the Dom makes its appearance, the subtitle is "The Closing Attack! Triple Dom" contains the name of the mobile suit in the subtitle,
The subtitle is "Did you turn the Dom?　To the triple-dom" (Xillia)
Mash's Dom was hit" (Gaia)
The Zeon side refers to it by its name (the Federation side simply calls it a "new mobile suit" or "mobile suit"). Thereafter, Gog (episode 26), Zugok (episode 27), ......, and so on, the enemy side uses the term more and more in proportion to the frequency of appearance of the new mobile suits, and over-explanatory lines such as "It is indeed a Gog" and "The amphibious heavy mobile suit, Zugok" also stand out. The use of overly descriptive dialogue also becomes conspicuous.
Why do we have to be so insistent about the names of newly introduced mobile suits in our conversations?　Wouldn't it be sufficient to simply refer to them as "new mobile suits," "amphibious mobile suits," or "enemy mobile suits"?
One possible reason for this is that the "Gundam," the main mecha, is a "mobile suit," just like the Zaku and Guv.

The multifaceted nature of the "Gundam" emerges from the relationships within the story.

As a side note, the subtitle of the first episode, "Gundam Rises to the Earth! was the subtitle of the first episode, "Mobile Suits. As Char called it "Zaku Mobile Suit" in a painful way, the category of "Mobile Suit" first exists in the world of the story, and within that category, the enemy side uses "Zaku" and the allied side uses "Gundam". The enemy side has "Zaku" and the allied side has "Gundam. The complexity of having to use both common and proper nouns is the basic premise of the scenario.
Therefore, in the first episode, "Gundam" is referred to in various ways.
We can put parts of the Gundam on the White Base" (a Federation soldier).
Once this ship and the Gundam are completed, it will be no problem to crush the Principality of Zeon" (a Federation soldier).
When the Gundam is mass-produced, the war will be over even if young men like you don't go into actual battle" (Tem Rey).
"The Gundam comes before the refugees" (Tem Rey).
"The pilots have been sent down to the Gundam's camps."
What about the Gundam? (Bright)
As mentioned above, the term "Gundam" is used a total of six times, all of them by the federal soldiers. On the other hand,
This is a mobile suit of the Federation Forces" (Amuro)
"Is the mobile suit more important than people?" (Amuro).
"Is this the Federation's secret weapon?"
"This thing is moving." (Amuro)
"The enemy mobile suits are moving."
"What a mobile suit!" (Gene)
"Chief Engineer, friendly mobile suits have begun to move." (Federation soldier)
"They're scared, these mobile suits." (Gene)
"Is that the power of the Federation Forces' mobile suits?
Even when limited to cases where the term "mobile suit" clearly refers to the Gundam, both civilians on the Federation side and soldiers on the Zeon side use the term "mobile suit" (including cases where the term "Gundam" is not specified, the term "mobile suit" is used even more often). ) The term "mobile suit" is used by even more soldiers on the Zeon side, including those who do not identify themselves as Gundam. ) Amuro's use of the terms "secret weapon" and "this guy" also skillfully creates a sense of distance between him and the Gundam. Near the end, Bright looks at the Gundam and says, "I'll have that one do it, too," but if we consider his later comment, "I'll have to get help from him, whether he's a regular pilot or not," then "that one" must refer to "the Gundam whose pilot is unknown. The "that" must refer to the "Gundam whose pilot does not know who the pilot is.

In fact, the militarism and reality of "Mobile Suit Gundam" is the use of "Gundam," "Federation Mobile Suit," "secret weapon," and "this guy" to refer to the transcendent super mecha, the main character robot. The "Gundam" is a transcendent super mecha, a main character robot that is called "Gundam," "Federation Forces mobile suit," "secret weapon," "this," or "that," depending on the point of view and the situation.
Since both the main mecha and the "mecha to be defeated" are given the common noun "mobile suits," the "mecha to be defeated" that appear one after another must be referred to by proper nouns in order to be treated as an entity in the same category as the main mecha (gundam). Since the common noun "mobile suits" has been given both to the main characters and to the mecha, it is impossible to treat the "beaten mecha" that appear one after another as being in the same category as the main character mecha without referring to them by their proper names (making only the Gundam appear as a prominent entity).

(Text by Keisuke Hirota)
(C) Sotsu, Sunrise