Everyone loves Anime. Thanks to Goku and Optimus Prime, Anime has really “hit the big time.” For the uninitated, approaching this complex, uniquely Japanese art form can be daunting, and many people end up never enjoying and exploring its depth and richness. Fortunately, I’m here to help with a series of guides to popular Animes that I may or may not have seen. For my inaugural guide, I present to you a guide to the most popular giant robot Anime of all time that is not Transformers: GUNDAM.
The GUNDAM universe is the most storied and complex Anime Reality (or AniRe) of them all, and the sheer scale of it can make it difficult for the uninitiated to follow. Unlike most AniRes, the various GUNDAM series take place in different universes, but they all share a few defining characteristics:
- It is made by the Japanese manga-ka Tomino-chan.
- There is a robot named “GUNDAM,” which is an acronym for “Gundam Universe Newtype Device Advanced Machine”
- The main character is Ray Amano (the inspiration for the character Ray Romano from the hit show Everybody Loves Raymond) although sometimes he goes by different names and disguises himself.
- There is outer space.
- The villian is Zechs Marquise, who usually wears a mask, because of a horrible disfigurement.
- There is a Stars War.
- There is a cute robot named Haro, which is primarily used to take upskirt photos of female characters that are then packaged as collectibles with GUNDAM model kits.
So where to begin? Well fortunately, I’ve written up some information about the most important series and characters so you can find out for yourself!
THE SERIES
GUNDAM: The Robot From the Stars! (1979)
The original series that launched it all, GUNDAM: The Robot From the Stars! follows a young Ray Amano’s actions through a one-year war known simply as “The First Great Stars War.” Ray discovers a friendly robot from space named GUNDAM, and immediately kills and disembowls him, only to discover he is powered by a deadly nuclear reactor. This is not just commentary on World War II, but also a general commentary on Japanese isolationism and imperialism. Also, GUNDAM’s name is a reference to Japan’s most hated public figure, Chinese Pacifist and Human Rights Activist Gong Dam, making the brutally graphic evisceration of the robot something of a cathartic moment for the Japanese public, though this reference flies over most western viewer’s heads.
One Ray has hollowed out GUNDAM, he lives inside the robot and uses it to fight the mysterious villain known only as Zechs. Zechs wears a mask to hide his real identity: Zechs Marquise, pilot of the Anti-GUNDAM. Zechs and Ray end up on opposite sides of the First Great Stars War, with Zechs fighting for the fascist space nation of Zeon, and Ray fighting for the space nation of Earth. Their conflict finally comes to a head when the girl they both love, Lalah, turns out to be 17, which is far too old for her to be a sexual object. In light of this, the two wander off into the distance, wandering from town to town and righting wrongs.
Though this series could not fulfill creator Tomino-chan’s grand vision due to technical limitations (Animes would not figure out how to make the pictures move for another two years!) it was embraced by the Japanese public for its numerous overt calls for the death of Gong Dam.
GUNDAM 2: Z-GUNDAM (1985) and GUNDAM 2: Z-GUNDAM 2 (1986)
In these sequel series, the Earth is once again endangered by the space Empire of Zeon, and only the military force known as the Titans can stop them! In this series, Ray takes the name Camel Biden to hide his identity as he works in secret with his former ally, Zechs Marquise, who, though disguised as Char the Aznable, is referred to throughout the series as “Quattro Bajeena,” a Spanish term meaning “Four Vaginas.” The reference here is obvious to any student of Asian culture.
While working together to stop the evil space invaders of Zeon in the Second Great Stars War, Ray and Zechs end up learning the true meaning of love from a young girl named Elpeo Puru, and defeat the evil Paptimus Scirocco in a climactic battle on the asteroid Zeonia.
This series comes from Tomino-chan’s dark period, a time shortly after Gong Dam was acquitted of the charges of crimes against humanity levied by a Japanese nation tired of Gong Dam’s constant fiction that there was such a thing as a place called “Nanking,” or that there was even such a crime as “Rape.” Like most of the Japanese public, Tomino-chan was depressed by this miscarriage of justice, resulting in the darkest ending of any GUNDAM series. A nation was shocked when, at the conclusion of the series, Elpeo Puru not only refused to have sex with Ray and Zechs, but that the two protagonists did not have sex with her anyway. Also, every single character was diagnosed with cancer in the last scene, even those who had died earlier in the series.
GUNDAM Wing (1995)
GUNDAM Wing (in Japan, Winged Suit GUNDAM, Fly For Justice!) was Tomino-chan’s first series after his suicide attempt during a live broadcast of a Anime Otaku Friendship Hour, Japan’s most popular talk show. It is a remake of the original GUNDAM and widely regarded as the definitive GUNDAM series.
Due to legal issues with Warner Brothers over the rights to the name “Ray Amano” during the scripting process, the character was simply referred to as “Hero” throughout the script. When it came time to record the voices for the show, a name had still not been decided on, so the actors recorded all of their lines as written, with the intent to digitally replace the name with “Ray” when the legal issues were worked out, but the project ran out of money before that could happen.
Aside from this name change, the main differences between GUNDAM Wing and the original GUNDAM are:
- Zechs Marquise disguises himself as Treize Kushrinada and hires the pilot Milliardo Peacecraft to pretend to be him.
- The character of Lalah is advanced to the age of 22, renamed Relena, and has no romantic involvement with any character.
- GUNDAM is not initially a friendly robot, although it is revealed in a flashback sequence that Hero’s dad, Ray Amano, Sr., killed the robot and hid its corpse for his child to find.
- There are four other protagonists who help Hero: Duo, Trowa, Quattro Bajeena, and Batman. Batman was a late addition to the cast gained from the Warner Brothers settlement, which is why all of his scenes are recorded as live-action stunts and carefully edited into existing footage.
So what is it that has made GUNDAM Wing the one true GUNDAM series in fans’ hearts? Quite simply, it’s the fact that all of the GUNDAM robots in it are actually naked children who are piloted through groping. Western “gaijin” audiences only saw a heavily-edited version that used digital trickery and footage from an unreleased GUNDAM series to make it seem like the groping was actually the act of piloting a mobile suit.
Evangelion (1995)
Evangelion was Tomino-chan’s boldest and most controversial work. The GUNDAM robots in it are referred to only as “ANGELS,” an acronym for “Advanced Newtype Gundam Extraterrestrial Launch System” invented by the special organization “NERVE.” This is a prequel to the GUNDAM series that covers Ray Amano’s youth as an anti-GUNDAM pilot fighting off a GUNDAM assault on Earth. The show has a running gag wherein characters constantly refer to him as “Shinji” and then cut him off before he can protest that it is not his name.
This series is known for its bold symbolism and many references to Christianity. The obvious connection between “ANGELS” and the giant robots in the Gospel of Mark allow Tomino-chan to comment on man’s relationship to God. The episode in which Ray is crucified by an ANGEL while singing “Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is considered by many critics to be the boldest visual statement of Tomino-chan’s career. Ray’s death at the end of the prequel series is also a fascinating post-modern look at the relationship between related stories, although it is explained in the sequel movie, End of Evangelion, that Ray’s death was actually a dream Zechs had during the events of GUNDAM Wing.
Despite critical acclaim, Evangelion remains the least popular of all the GUNDAM series, largely due to the fact that the most popular character, Zechs, does not appear in it.
Mobile Fighter G-GUNDAM (1994)
Mobile Fighter G-GUNDAM is not the first GUNDAM series to take place outside the established GUNDAM Universe, but it is the first one to
The Villain of G-Gundam: The Spirit of Dutchland
be released outside of Japan. This was an intentional decision, as the plot of the series revolves entirely around an elaborately slanderous allegory wherein the Dutch are wiped from the face of the Earth for their many crimes. Because this series takes place outside of the regular GUNDAM-verse, the protagonist in this series is not Ray Amano, though it is strongly hinted that Ray Amano is his father. His name is Domon Casshern, and he is an amateur GUNDAM fighter who uses his skills to kill every man woman and child who has ever worn wooden shoes. In the final conflict between himself and The Spirit of Dutchland (pictured), Domon takes the entire world’s focused hatred of the Dutch and becomes the Heart King, ending the menace once and for all.
It is widely regarded as the happiest Gundam series, as no characters die who are not wretched, cretinous Dutchmen. Some condemned its strong pro-genocide message as “inappropriate, no matter how much the bastard Dutch deserve it,” but these criticisms were quite rare.
THE CHARACTERS
Ray Amano
Ray Amano is the star of all the GUNDAM series in the main timeline known as “GUNDAM Century.” Though he spends most of his time fighting Zechs in GUNDAM, there are also glimpses into his home life, where he has to deal with overbearing parents, Fred Williard, and an awful nagging shrew of a wife named Debra. The series represents him as something of an “everyman,” by making him 15 years old to appeal to the two largest markets in Japan: adolescent boys and adults who want to appeal to adolescent boys. He is voiced by legendary voice actor Brad Swaile.
Zechs Marquise
the inspiration for the term "newtype"
Zechs’ name is a bit of a pun about the original actor slated to voice his role, porn star Mr. Marcus or, as he is known in Japan, “Sexy Marcus.” When the casting fell through and they finally had to settle for the voice talents of Shuichi Ikeda, the name “Sexy Marcus” was adjusted to “Zechs Marquise.” Often, Zechs is referred to as “Char the Aznable,” another pun referring to all the azns that were charred when we dropped nuclear bombs on Asia. Zechs is an icon in Japan, comparable to Darth Vader in the United States, or the Queen in Britain. His catchphrase, “Let the purge begin!” is plastered on merchandise and billboards all across Japan.
Zechs is interesting in GUNDAM lore because he is the first “NewType,” a being who has evolved in space to be exclusively attracted to prepubescent girls. The term “NewType” is a reference to the popular western Anime Magazine.
GUNDAM
The eponymous friendly robot GUNDAM comes from a race of benevolent robot-people far beyond the stars. His friendliness and message of peace and respect makes it all the more shocking when Ray kills and eviscerates him. However, when it is revealed that he actually had a nuclear device in his chest, the audience understands that GUNDAM’s supposedly peaceful words were nothing more than a facade to hide the radioactive lies about human rights abuses that would destroy Japan. Gong Dam seems to have taken this obvious slight with good humor and grace, and will gladly sign any GUNDAM merchandise you bring to him at Anime Conventions, though he only appears at ones held in nations without an extradition treaty with Japan.
The Hated Dutch
The Japanese difficulty pronouncing L’s is, like so many atrocities (slavery, apartheid, Mark van Bommel) the fault of the Dutch. When they sold the Alphabet to the Japanese in the 1600s, instead of giving them L’s, they instead repurposed their vast supply of extra R’s. Of course, the Japanese were furious when they discovered this and went to attack the Dutch, who had cleverly renamed their country “the Netherlands” in anticipation of the retribution that would undoubtedly be sought for their crimes. Instead, due to the difficulty with L’s, the Japanese attacked Hawaii instead of Holland, starting World War II. To this day, not even God has been able to hold the Dutch accountable for their crimes, as they have built massive walls with which to hold back the tides of the wrathful flood He has set upon them for their sins.
Elpeo Puru
Elpeo Puru’s name is actually a mistranscription—she is in fact named Elpeo Ple. Unfortunately, due to Japanese difficulty pronouncing the “L” sound (see sidebar) her name was mistranslated for western audiences who never realized she was named after the popular Japanese magazine “Lemon People” or “L People,” a magazine featuring illustrations of people engaging in the traditional Japanese pasttime of fucking children. Now that you know this, have fun trying to watch GUNDAM 2: Z-GUNDAM 2.
Batman
After witnessing his parents’ murder as a child, Bruce Wayne devoted his life to ending crime in Gotham City. Through a regimen of intense training of mind, body, and spirit, he brought himself to the peak of human potential. Now he stalks the streets of Gotham City, striking fear into the hearts of criminals everywhere as…the Batman!
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I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip through the world of GUNDAM. With these basics, you have all you need to sit back and fully enjoy Tomino-chan’s genius. Good luck and, until next time, “may the GUNDAM be with you!”
