Last week we saw the release of the first part to the anime adaptation of Gundam: The Origin. After the success of Gundam Unicorn, it is clear Sunrise is funding The Origin to the hilt as it looked fantastic.
The Origin is an interesting entity really. Starting out as a manga back in 2001, it retells the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Though it changes up a lot of things and fleshes out more of the backstory.
This new anime latches onto the latter aspect and focuses on some early narrative elements that weren’t covered until quite late in the manga.
The other major facet to The Origin is that Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is helming both the manga and now the anime.
He is an important figure in anime and manga circles, as well as being the animation director and character designer for the original Gundam. So to have him return to work on The Origin has understandably got the fanbase rather excited in Japan.
As the anime is intended to only be in four parts and the original manga spans twelve volumes, there’s clearly a lot of ground that needs covering.
Sensibly starting at the chronological beginning of the story, the first part sees the formation of the Zabi family empire after the death of Zeon Deikun. Much of the story’s focus then shifts to his widowed wife and children.
The children are notable as both Casval and Artesia (shown above) will grow up to become Char Aznable and Sayla Mass respectively. While we knew parts of their backstory before, it’s now shown directly and in more detail.
The nicest element to the first part of the anime is the appearance of Ranba Ral (pictured below) and his feisty love interest Crowley Hamon. These are important figures in Gundam, as they end up as antagonists to Amuro Ray in the series but here they are the heroes that are both trying to protect and save Deikun’s children.
This is where Yasuhiko has excelled, as his approach to characterization and narrative pacing is first class. Gundam was at its heart a character driven drama and Yasuhiko injects a real sense of warmth to the people he animates. It was there in the original Gundam and was arguably one of the main reasons behind its enduring success, so to have it clearly present in The Origin is much like seeing an old friend again.
Especially as the dynamic of Ranba and Hamon harks back to his shrewd playboy and feisty showgirl duo in Giant Gorg. It all fits so well, as the original series set it up decades ago and it only needed Yasuhiko to flesh it out.
Apart from this rather lovely character exposition, there was some nice foreshadowing of events that occur later in the series as well. Such as Casval getting into a Guntank and piloting it to victory, much like how Amuro would do the same in the titular Gundam many years later.
The only real aspect that grated, bar the odd use of CG in places, was that the young Casval was voiced by Mayumi Tanaka. Now she is a very talented actress but she has a very distinctive voice. One that is currently being used in One Piece to voice Luffy, so to hear the young Char Aznable with that voice was a tad odd.
As an aside, many people think that Yoshiyuki Tomino is the father of Gundam and it’s clear he did have a role in its formation and writing. Yet after reading both the manga and now seeing the anime of The Origin I am more inclined to think the heart of Gundam was and always has been Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Especially as the recent Tomino series Reconguista in G is somewhat of an erratic endeavor.
Tomino clearly revels in tangential chaos but Yasuhiko has grounded Gundam again and made it relevant for a modern era of anime.
If the first part of The Origin is anything to go by then the remaining parts should be something equally as special. In any case, classic Gundam is yet again defining the Japanese pop-cultural landscape and that is a remarkable thing to witness first-hand.
You can currently watch the first part to Gundam: The Origin on the PlayStation Network.
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