The 4th "G-SAVIOUR" - A black history that anticipates the reality of the food crisis and the nostalgia movement, while at the same time inheriting a strong Tomino-ism. The 4th "G-SAVIOUR"──Ahead of the food crisis, the nostalgia movement, and other realities, while at the same time inheriting a strong Tomino-ism, this black history (?) film is the first live-action Gundam film! The first live-action Gundam movie!

Japan is experiencing an unprecedented anime boom in 2025. In the world of live-action films, the presence of anime- and manga-based films is increasing more than ever.

On the other hand, many people may have the unfortunate impression that live-action films based on anime or manga are "ah, so it's live-action. ......

However! Are live-action movies based on anime and manga really all disappointing? Are we not being influenced by the opinions of those around us and making up stories based solely on images without having seen the full-length films?

So, we would like to re-evaluate some controversial anime and live-action films based on manga.

The 4th G-SAVIOUR

The theme of this issue is "G-SAVIOUR. This is a rather rare live-action film in the Gundam series, which began with the robot animation "Mobile Suit Gundam," and was co-produced in Japan and Canada in 2000. So why is it that the Gundam series, which has a history of over 40 years, has so few live-action adaptations?

The Gundam series features humanoid weapons and mobile suits engaged in fierce battles. The series is highly popular and has had a significant impact on society. The term "black history," which refers to the past that one wants to seal away, was originally used in the Gundam series, and the famous lines from the series are commonplace among the generation of a certain age. The number of standing mobile suit statues increased throughout Japan, and in 2021, a Freedom Gundam standing statue appeared in Shanghai, creating a buzz.

Moves toward live-action Gundam series have existed in the past, with rumors repeatedly appearing and disappearing. Recently, there was an announcement that a live-action version of the Gundam series, to be produced by Sunrise, the publisher of the Gundam series, and Legendary Pictures, known for works such as "The Dark Knight" and "Detective Pikachu," will be distributed on Netflix, creating a buzz.

While some fans who have been following the series said, "I can't believe it until I actually see it with my own eyes! Some of the fans who have been following the series said, "I can't believe it until I actually see it with my own eyes! The reason for this is that rumors of a Hollywood movie version of the series were first heard about 40 years ago, and then somehow disappeared. At that time, Syd Mead, the master of futuristic mecha, drew an image board called "Zak's Attack Gundam World. Many people may have been excited to see the green mobile suit Zak attacking a space colony. Mr. Mead later broke the hearts of Gundam fans by designing a Gundam with a mustache for 1999's "Holy Gundam," showing that not everything can be ruined by a single setback.

Nevertheless, it is clear that there is a sentiment among fans that the combination of Gundam and live-action is forbidden. This is a common occurrence in live-action adaptations of popular content, but in the case of Gundam, there is an actual example: the 1996 PlayStation game "Gundam 0079 The War for Earth," in which "Mobile Suit Gundam" was depicted using foreign actors and computer graphics.

The actual footage shows how difficult it was to naturally combine live-action actors and CG sci-fi scenes, such as the scene where the soldiers appear in the spaceship. And Shia, the dashing, masked nobleman in the original work, became a plump, double-chinned, blessed figure in the live-action version. From this, we can see the difficulty of reproducing the good qualities of anime and manga design in the real world. In this sense, it can be said that Gundam, a work of science fiction and animation, is doubly difficult to make into a live-action film.

Thus, among Gundam fans, the idea that the combination of Gundam and live-action is taboo, or, to borrow a term developed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original creator of the Gundam series, in "Tribe Gundam," "black history," has developed.

Nevertheless, the desire for a live-action Gundam series did not disappear. This desire was expressed in a different direction in the form of the full-scale standing Gundam statues that have appeared here and there in recent years.

There are many restrictions in moving the Gundam from anime, where it can be moved freely, to other media. Even so, the need for a Gundam outside of anime means "I want to see a Gundam that looks cool, but in a form and size as close as possible to the original work. If it moves, that would be great. In other words, there has always been a desire among fans to "give more information to the Gundam," and this has been expressed not only in a live-action version, but also in a life-size Gundam standing statue.

The "RX-93ff ν Gundam" in Fukuoka, with its newly configured armament and 24.8-meter giant body in motion, has attracted a lot of attention as a tourist attraction. The aforementioned sense of black history is nothing to be concerned about. Fans continue to seek out more informative Gundams.

To begin with, "Mobile Suit Gundam" itself was a work that gained popularity by adding more information to the robot anime. The battlefield extends beyond what is depicted in the anime, and countless people fight on it. Forces on both sides had political and ideological backgrounds that compelled them to enter the war. Mobile suits also have a development history, and there are people who are passionate about them.

The amount of information about the fictional history of the "Space Century," the history of mobile suit development, the pilots who boarded them, and the secret stories hidden in the shadows of history continues to increase as a result of post-production settings, and the story has taken on the aspect of a historical romance. Those who have been following the series in real time will have a hard time learning the history of the series now.

Takuya Okamoto, producer of "Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch of Mercury," the latest in the series currently airing, said he heard from a teenager that "Gundam is not for our generation. This is a frank, if not a little shocking, assessment of an entertainment work that continues to be updated. The amount of information that has been accumulated over the past 43 years has no doubt had no small influence on this sense of avoidance.

However, "Mobile Suit Gundam: Witches of Mercury," while bearing the title "Gundam," has been well received by the aforementioned teenagers. One of the reasons for this may be that while breaking away from the cosmic century, the film has created a new world from which to grow in information, sprinkled with modern essences such as prosthetic limbs and start-up companies. While taking over the basic structure from "Mobile Suit Gundam," in which boys and girls seek their own paths in situations created by adults, this aspect is expressed in a more modern way.

And I am sure that readers are wondering why I have gone so far without talking about "G-SAVIOUR," which is the most important part of the story. The very fact that we have to keep talking about it, that we can keep talking about it, and that we have to keep talking about it, is the very structure that makes people who don't know about Gundam feel aversion toward it.

The many science fiction settings ahead of their time that need to be reevaluated now.

As described above, the combination of Gundam and live-action has been taboo in many respects, but in fact, in 2000, "G-SAVIOUR," a film with foreign actors and computer graphics, was released. Although the original work is sometimes referred to as "black history," it is in fact an official depiction of a period well beyond the Space Century that began with "Mobile Suit Gundam," and it also has a strong Tomino-esque and Gundam-esque essence.

This work is set in the year 223 of the Space Century. It is 144 years after the first "Mobile Suit Gundam," but the high-pressure elites on Earth and the space immigrants oppressed by them are still in conflict. While the space immigrants live in space colonies (in this work, the former term "colony" was changed to "settlement" because it was considered discriminatory, but in this article, the term "colony" is used for the sake of simplicity as a generic noun), the Earth is suffering from a food crisis, and the space immigrants are oppressed by the Earth's elite. In order to overcome this situation, research is being conducted on agriculture in the deep sea.

The main character, Mark, is involved in such research. He used to be an ace pilot in the Earth's military (the Parliamentary Army). Although he abhors fighting now, his name is known even to ordinary soldiers. He is such a big man in the military that even Governor Garneau, the great evil of the film, begs him to come back.

Then a group of space immigrants sneak into the research facility where Mark works. The group is captured by the military, but no one has any idea of their purpose. At the direct request of Governor Garneau, Mark interrogates Cynthia, the leader of the group, and learns a startling revelation: the military has developed a bio-luminescent solution to the food crisis. The military is trying to monopolize the technology of bioluminescence, which could solve the food crisis. Cynthia has come to retrieve the key to bioluminescence.

Mark cooperates with Cynthia from a humanitarian point of view, but that means going against the military. He has been framed as a violent criminal by the military for making up all sorts of falsehoods. Mark decides to betray the military and cooperate with Cynthia's group, and sets off into space to escape his pursuers.

In the period following "Mobile Suit Gundam," the themes of "destruction of the Earth's environment" and "space immigration to regenerate the environment" are prevalent, but the issue in this film is the food crisis. The problem in this film is the food crisis, which is becoming more serious because there is nothing to eat today.

The food problem is a theme that has not been discussed much in previous Gundam films. When this work was first released in 2000, some radical Gundam fundamentalists were sure to say, "Gundam is a socially-conscious anime that also deals with the issue of environmental destruction, so why change the subject to the food crisis, which is easy to understand?

But then, in 2014, Gundam caught up with this work with "Gundam G no Reconguista. G Reconguista" is set in the post-universe century. The story is set in a time when the human race was on the verge of extinction due to food shortages, and people even went so far as to eat other people. Of course, this setting was conceived by Gundam creator Tomino.

G-SAVIOUR" predicted that there would be a food crisis at the end of the space century 14 years before that, so in a sense, it is a book of prophecy. In a sense, it is a book of prophecy. Since I came to the same conclusion as Mr. Tomino after thinking about the space century, it is not that the research is not up to par, but that he was absolutely right. I am really sorry for being so cheeky at the time.

And, as readers may have noticed, the synopsis I wrote above has a strong hint of Mr. Tomino's style. The protagonist is an influential and outstanding warrior. A woman on the enemy side informs him of a reality that is different from what he had previously believed. This leads him to betray the forces to which he belonged and throw himself into the women's side. As a result, she is pursued by overwhelming forces and escapes in a small boat.

The most similar story is probably "Saint Dunbine," an ambitious work by Mr. Tomino, who did an otherworldly reincarnation + robot story in the 1980s. All the characteristics of "G-SAVIOR" mentioned above apply to "Saint Dunbine. It is a common feature in Mr. Tomino's works that the main character changes his organization, and it is his specialty that the main character escapes by ship. It is not clear to what extent the Japanese side's ideas were reflected in the storytelling of this film, but it is clear that there is an air of Mr. Tomino about it.

Mark flees from one space colony to another in his spaceship. Side 4" (the name of a place, called "frontier" in the Gundam series. Side 4" (the name of a place, meaning "the fourth of a cluster of space colonies") was renamed "New Manhattan" in this work, and Side 8 "Gaia" was newly added to the previous seven sides.

The sides of the Gundam series are named "Zaan," "Hatte," "Munzo," and "Moore," which have nothing to do with specific cities in the present day. This shows the enthusiasm of immigrants to space and to create a new place. However, the name "New Manhattan" is more earth-like, or perhaps a sense of wanting to connect the Gundam world to the United States. It could be taken as an Americanization of the live-action world, but it is also possible to imagine that there was a large nostalgia movement at this time.

Gaia" refers to the Earth Mother Goddess, Mother Earth. It is a little strange for space immigrants, who are treated by the Earth government as if they were abandoned citizens, to use this name, but it also suggests a sense of nostalgia for the Earth. It can be said that the Earth side forced them to name it, or that the space immigrants gave up on the polluted Earth and named it in order to transfer the soul of Gaia, the Earth Mother Goddess, to space.

In the main series of the Gundam series, there was not that much difference in culture even though the space colony changed, but in this work, the culture is so different that it is almost as if it were a different country or planet. Gaia, in particular, is an exotic place, with lush vegetation throughout the colony and people dressed in robes coming and going. From these depictions, the story of this film can be seen as a "battle between the greedy Earth and the peaceful planet Gaia" rather than a "friction between the people of Earth and space immigrants.

In the Gundam series, Mr. Tomino depicted the foolishness of the conflict between people of Earth and space immigrants, who are essentially the same. In contrast, "G-SAVIOUR" has the feel of a science fiction film, with people of different cultures fighting each other in various places in space. It could be taken as a reflection of the difference in sensibilities between Japan and Canada, or a portrayal of a culture that has developed in its own unique way over time.

Promises of the Gundam World Interpreted in a Foreign Way

The uniforms of the parliamentary forces that follow the Gundam mark are a dazzling red color on a black base. To put it bluntly, it resembles the uniform of the radical earth supremacist "Titans" that appeared in "Mobile Suit Z Gundam. Even with the commonality of Earth supremacy, wearing a uniform that resembles a radical faction that lost a political battle 136 years ago is quite a situation. If we were to use a modern-day analogy, it would be like the military of a country with a bleak future adopting Nazi-like uniforms. The name of the colony, "New Manhattan," is also consistent with the nostalgic name of the colony, and perhaps the concept is to depict the atmosphere of an Earth zone that has come to a standstill and is no longer able to cope.

And while the story progresses with Mark on the run, the mobile suits that viewers want to see are only glimpsed. The G Saber, the star of the show, is also slow to appear, and it is not until about 70 minutes into the 90-minute film that the main character engages in a full-scale battle, which is quite rushed.

G Saber is an ultra-high-performance machine developed by the Illuminati, a super-state secret organization that watches over the future of humanity. Filippe, a member of the "Illuminati," entrusts Mark, an ace pilot, with the G-Saber as a symbol of defiance against the oppression of the earth. This is similar to the "Seisen-Shi Dunbine" in which the powers that be in the story entrust the main character Sho, a Seisen-Shi (a reincarnated person from another world with superior powers), with cutting-edge machines such as Dunbine and Bilbine to symbolize his battle, which is another example of Tomino's style. This is another example of Mr. Tomino's style.

The G-Saber's first mission is to clean debris in space. The ship in which Mark is riding has run into a debris field during its journey. Mark boards the G-Saber, and the main machine is finally activated. He cut through the debris with his beam saber and was able to save the day. One might think that they would go to the trouble of using mobile suits to clean up the debris, but as with the earlier food problem, the "Mobile Suit Gundam" side is catching up with this work. In "Tribe Gundam," which was released at the same time as this work, there is a wonderful scene in which mobile suits are used to do the laundry, and 14 years later in "Gundam G Reconguista," mobile suits from both sides stop the war for the time being to clean debris for a ship that is important to humanity as it carries energy. How technology is used depends on how people are willing to use it. Mobile suits are technology as well as weapons, and Mr. Tomino's ism is that the measure of their effectiveness is not only the results of battles. In this sense, it can be said that Mr. Tomino's ism is expressed in a somewhat radical way in this work, in which the first battle of the main character's machine is a garbage sweep.

Another key point is the use of beam sabers. If a ship's course is to be secured, it is more efficient to use the limbs of a mobile suit than to blow it up with a cannon. It is interesting to note the similarity to the debris cleaning scene in the aforementioned "Gundam G Reconguista.

Mark and his team then flee to "Gaia," Cynthia's hometown (Cynthia is actually the daughter of the representative of "Gaia. (Actually, Cynthia is the daughter of the representative of Gaia.) Governor Garneau invades "Gaia" in order to obtain Cynthia's bioluminescent technology and dominate the earth sphere in terms of food supply. This is one of the most obvious reasons for the various antagonists in the Gundam series, and it is also very convincing to viewers who are unfamiliar with the series.

Mark, who has been avoiding fighting, also makes up his mind to protect "Gaia" and wears a new costume, the texture of which looks like a "kawa no yoroi" (leather armor). Why would someone who fights in space wear something that looks like a kawa-no-yoroi? I wonder if this might be a depiction of the fact that leather products are more valuable on a space colony, which is a closed space with a limited area, than on Earth.

In the Gundam series, there is a custom in which "ace pilots and other important figures boost their morale by wearing conspicuous clothes and aircraft paint. The fact that Mark's clothes have a "kawa no yoroi"-like texture may be the result of the foreign staff's interpretation of the Gundam-like red and gold paint scheme of Char, the ace among aces.

■The indispensable bad girl of the Gundam series and the persuasive power of live action

Mark, who stands up to defend "Gaia," heads to the battlefield with his G-Saber. The two machines face off on the mirror of the colony and fight fiercely with beam sabers.

The G-Saber is in a desperate situation when its arm is caught in the debris and it is unable to move. The trump card for reversal here was the forced removal of the armor. He was able to secure his freedom by removing the armor from his arm, which was caught in the rubble, and struck back with his arm, which was now bare of the machine inside, to win the battle. It is painful to look at, and in human terms, it is like "tearing off the skin of the arm and forcibly swinging a sword with only the bone.

However, since mobile suits are machines, there is no problem with their functions even if their armor is removed, and they are capable of normal combat. So even the main character's machine is thoroughly treated as a machine.

In "Mobile Suit Gundam," even when a Gundam's face is blown off, it continues to fight, saying, "It's only the main camera that's hit! and the battle continues. The elimination of arm armor in this work may have been intended to produce this kind of Gundam-like or Tomino-ism.

After escaping danger, the G-Saber is converted for ground use on the mother ship. It wipes out the enemy mobile suit "Bug" that has landed on "Gaia. This conversion is another Gundam-like element. The environment on the ground is different from that in space, and some mobile suits must be converted. The pursuit of Gundam-like reality, in which mobile suits are treated as machines, is the reason for the conversion of mobile suits.

There are many opportunities to talk about conversions to ground weapons, such as the "Zaku IIF type" to "Zaku IIJ type" in the post-production setting of "Mobile Suit Gundam," but it is rare for such conversions to be expressed in images (the conversions in "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" and "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" were simply conversions to change functions, such as general-purpose to bombardment use, and are therefore different). (The conversion in "Mobile Suit Gundam Seed" and "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" is a different thing.) This is a special case in which an automatic conversion system built into the mothership performs the work quickly, but Gundam fans will be happy to see a visual representation of the process they had imagined when they read the words "conversion for ground use.

And when I heard the name "Bugu," I thought, "Bugu is the predecessor of the Zaku in "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin," right? Why is he in "G-SAVIOUR" 140 years in the future? Some may ask, "Why is he in 'G-SAVIOUR' 140 years in the future? This is because after the Bugu appeared in "G-SAVIOUR" in 2000, a different machine with the same name appeared in the 2015 anime "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin" (the prototype Zaku was renamed Bugu in the anime version).

This means that there are now two different Bugu in the current Gundam series. In a meta sense, this means that somewhere along the line, name-covering became OK, and it is not hard to see the change in the position of "G-SAVIOUR" in the history of Gundam. However, considered in conjunction with the side name "New Manhattan" and the uniforms of the Congressional military, it would be well explained if there was a large scale movement of restoration. Although there is some confusion in that the name of an aircraft built by space immigrants in the past for the war for independence is used by Earth supremacists who oppress them, this may be an expression of the confused times that are being experienced.

One of the most memorable characters in the film is Mimi, Mark's girlfriend. She is a calculating woman who tries to use Mark's influence to advance her career.

Mimi flees the military with Mark, only to discover that he is attracted to Cynthia. Mimi then gives up on Mark, who betrayed her, and informs on him with Governor Garneau. She tries to win him over by giving him a key item, a bioluminescent substance.

However, when she learns of the Governor's ambition to conquer the Earth, she changes her mind and returns the bioluminescent substance to Cynthia and the others. She returns the bioluminescent body to Cynthia and the others, and herself and the Governor are shot down by Congressional troops and become dust in space. The way she bares her ego as a woman and stirs up the situation has a Gundam-like atmosphere as an ensemble drama, reminiscent of Katejina in "Mobile Suit V Gundam" and Nina in "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083".

The way she accepts that she was foolish and dies gracefully, combined with the performance of actor Katharina Conti and the amount of information provided by the live-action actors, is convincing in a way that only a live-action film can be. This is one of the results of the fusion of Gundam and live action.

The Space Century is a time of deadlock. Each force has its own righteousness, and although various characters such as Char and Amuro are struggling, no solution is in sight. Under these circumstances, a secret organization called "Illuminati" appears in this work, protecting the world order by giving Mark a G-Saber and protecting "Gaia.

It is only deep Gundam fans who can agree that the space century cannot be saved without such an organization.

With the exception of a stand-alone game adaptation, G-SAVIOUR has made few appearances in all-star works, and in recent years its name has sometimes not been mentioned in Gundam-related materials, so it could be said that the position of this work as the authentic history of the Space Century is changing.

It is often regarded as the black history of the Gundam series, but upon reviewing it, it seems to have a Tomino-like and Gundam-like feel to it.

(Text by Shinichi Yanamoto)