New Gundam Series Announced

[symbv]

^ youtube video: 95 dislikes vs 67 likes

Come to think of it, actually this is perhaps what Gundam could have started and it might even rule the kids' world instead of letting Pokemon take over everything

At the end, all the fans who hate it are missing the whole point: that the anime is not targeting them, but a whole new demography group (primary school kids, most likely males) that have yet to see Gundam or know much about it.

The whole production is absolutely thoroughly kids anime: In the trailer, I heard the protagonist declare, just before he started up Gundam, "I will become the messiah who saves everybody!!" How anachronistically out of place in today's anime -- not to say the angst-filled Gundam universe.

[InstrumentalityOne]

Well, that went better than expected.
The character designs, CG and start-up sequence are a bit weird, but it doesn´t look to bad IMO.

[tehprognoob]

296 dislikesso far...I don't blame them. Gundam is right up there with NGE and Macross. It's a shame to see it go down so far, but that's okay; anyhing to dislodge pokemon and yughioh

[Shogo-Kun]

^Hey! Don't be dissin' my Pokémon! I like that franchise too!

[Xard]

At the end, all the fans who hate it are missing the whole point: that the anime is not targeting them, but a whole new demography group (primary school kids, most likely males) that have yet to see Gundam or know much about it.

people may see this as something that betrays the very nature of Gundam.

[symbv]

people may see this as something that betrays the very nature of Gundam.

Understandable, but I wonder what would be best way to bring Gundam to the primary school kids demography.....

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

The series is looking very neat so far.

[Holy Diver]

Breaking News! On June 25th, Bandai will be announcing yet another Gundam project.

http://www.jefusion.com/2011/06/another-gundam-project-to-be-announced.html

Rumor has it that it might be another series or OVA, possibly a take on the Gundam Origin manga. I'm not really sure how they would be able to juggle yet another project alongside Gundam AGE and the rest of Unicorn.

[cyharding]

^ I think it's much more likely that it's a video game or a manga (probably a manga version of Gundam AGE, but you would think that's a given already). Best case scenario is that it's confirmation of that Unicorn movie that you mentioned before.

My take on the PV is that it does show that it is meant for a younger audience. The character designs don't appeal to me and the Gundam design is a bit on the bland side (though I did find the design of the enemy mechs somehwhat interesting). Though as I stated earlier we can't make a judgement until we see a few episodes, but from what I saw of that video, my feelings at this point are right in between "meh" and "it might not be that bad." I just hope that they don't do something stupid make the enemy aliens or something like that.

people may see this as something that betrays the very nature of Gundam.

I think you have to remember that the orginial Gundam series was aimed at older children/young teens and had certain elements of the super robot genre (though symbv might have to correct me on these points since I think he said once that he remembered when the show originally aired). Eventually it's popularity was so great that more mature Gundam stories such as Zeta and Char's Counterattack were made for the audience who watched the original series when they were younger. And pretty soon, reboots were being made from Wing all the way through OO and while they were attracting new viewers, it seemed to me that they were also making these stories for the viewers who remembered the earlier UC shows if not all the way back to the first series. Gundam AGE just might be the first reboot that's made specially for the target demographic of the original series.

[symbv]

I think you have to remember that the orginial Gundam series was aimed at older children/young teens and had certain elements of the super robot genre (though symbv might have to correct me on these points since I think he said once that he remembered when the show originally aired). Eventually it's popularity was so great that more mature Gundam stories such as Zeta and Char's Counterattack were made for the audience who watched the original series when they were younger. And pretty soon, reboots were being made from Wing all the way through OO and while they were attracting new viewers, it seemed to me that they were also making these stories for the viewers who remembered the earlier UC shows if not all the way back to the first series. Gundam AGE just might be the first reboot that's made specially for the target demographic of the original series.

The original Gundam series aimed at the demography that read Shonen Jump, that is male teenagers in junior high or high school. But because the anime broadcast was less polarized like now -- untested shonen anime was broadcast in the evening (just like Evangelion did later). I just happened to watch it when it was shown in the evenings when I was still in primary school. I would not say the main target of the original Gundam to be primary school kids, but perhaps as secondary target.

As for Zeta and Char's counterattack, they are more mature but I think the main target still remain roughly the same (male teenagers) but as those group grew to young adults and then adults in prime, they carried their Gundam hobby with them as well so the demography of the fans expanded a bit to cover higher age groups as well.

I would also call this Gundam Age as a reboot of the franchise, though not back to its original group (which are the teens) but to target a new group, the primary school kids.

[Xard]

"Will the fujoshi be ok?"

[Holy Diver]

"Will the fujoshi be ok?"

Nah, but the Shotacons will be.

“They don’t want to have to deal with you lot any more…”

There might be some truth in this quote. Most older Gundam fans are some of the most anal retentive beings on earth.

[Tankred]

There might be some truth in this quote. Most older Gundam fans are some of the most anal retentive beings on earth.

I really don't mind this, and I don't think they're rebooting the franchise. I think they just want to expand into different age groups, this is coming from someone who despises SEED and 00 by the way.

Though I don't see the problem with them making something more adult really, first series I watched was Wing when I was still in primary school.

[Monk Ed]

I really don't mind this, and I don't think they're rebooting the franchise. I think they just want to expand into different age groups, this is coming from someone who despises SEED and 00 by the way.

Though I don't see the problem with them making something more adult really, first series I watched was Wing when I was still in primary school.

Mine too, although I was in high school. The "adult"ness of it appealed to me. However, it didn't interest me enough to actually see every episode... although I do think I hit the highlights. Mostly I missed the early stuff.

My favorite one, however, remains and will always be ..... G Gundam. (SHINING FINGERRR! /dork) And I'll bet a lot of folks complained back then that G Gundam was not a "true" Gundam series because of its vastly different tone and apparent skew towards a younger age group than the original series. (I don't actually know if this is true, but I can imagine it.)

[symbv]

I read a bit more information from 2ch about the new Gundam series. Apparently Akihiro Hino, head of game maker Level-5, was approached by Bandai Namco (BN) to make a Gundam game. And he told BN that he did not want just a game but wanted to have some media mix to go with the game and anime could be a good idea. He even had a story to sell to BN. BN did not have anime in mind at first but apparently they were sold on Hino's idea and so Gundam Age was born.


And as I predicted, plastic model will be the main push in this anime series. The prototypes are already ready:

[Xard]

And as I predicted, plastic model will be the main push in this anime series. The prototypes are already ready

Glad to see BUY MORE GUNPLA is still the modus operandi. Gundam never changes

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Glad to see BUY MORE GUNPLA is still the modus operandi.

How so?

[Xard]

How so?

Bandai/Sunrise churns out new Gundam shows regularly mainly to sell MOAR GUNPLA.

Remember that Gundam's popularity has always been strongly tied with the plamo sales (indeed, Gundam was a flop untill the awesome toys hit the shelves so in fact the toys made MSG popular in the first place ) so it isn't surprising the most inconsequential Gundam productions are little more than toy adverts. This is reason why Bandai has whored out Gundam franchise so much - their new line of toys need a show to market them > time to create more Gundam



in comparison GAINAX has always been about new maid-bikini-goth loli Asuka/Rei figures

[symbv]

so it isn't surprising the most inconsequential Gundam productions are little more than toy adverts. This is reason why Bandai has whored out Gundam franchise so much - their new line of toys need a show to market them > time to create more Gundam

The twist is that, as I mentioned in my previous post, this time it seems that it was not Bandai Namco who asked for a new show. All they asked is a new game, but the game-maker wanted a show to go with the game, hence the new show.

[Twin Drive Sigma Aquarion]

Remember that Gundam's popularity has always been strongly tied with the plamo sales (indeed, Gundam was a flop untill the awesome toys hit the shelves so in fact the toys made MSG popular in the first place ) so it isn't surprising the most inconsequential Gundam productions are little more than toy adverts. This is reason why Bandai has whored out Gundam franchise so much - their new line of toys need a show to market them > time to create more Gundam

First time I'm hearing of this.

in comparison GAINAX has always been about new maid-bikini-goth loli Asuka/Rei figures

This is also news to me.