DJ Watches: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Episodes I – IV)
Gundam: The Origin is, at the time of this writing, actually one of the newest entries into the Gundam franchise. Based on the manga of the same name that re-tells the original series, The Origin was notable for fleshing out quite a lot of the characters and events from that series without altering them greatly, improving some of the relationships between characters and the actual plot as well. In all honesty, if someone wanted to get into Gundam and insisted on starting from the beginning, I’d recommend reading the volumes localized by Vertical over watching either the TV series or movie trilogy if one were only going to do one. They’re that good and are beautiful hardcover books at that. Anyway, the OVA series focuses entirely on the flashbacks from the flashback portion of the manga, about the early lives of Char and Sayla back when they were still Casval and Artesia Daiken, and how they eventually became the characters we meet in the series itself. While all six OVA’s have been released, this will cover the first four episodes, covering the story of Char and Sayla’s upbringing, and the former’s rise in the ranks of Zeon. Eventually I’ll get back and do the final two episodes about the beginnings of the One Year War.
The most striking thing I noticed from the released episodes is just how much of a stone cold, jerk ass killer Char really is. People like to portray him as this completely sympathetic person thrust into a terrible situation where he was forced into vengeance against the Zabi family and he really isn’t a bad guy, but no, it makes it pretty clear that he’s sort of just a dick with parental issues. His fully justified beef against the Zabi family is legitimate, and he has depth a nuance even in just this OVA, but ultimately, they seem to just be an excuse to let him be a terrible person. He’s certainly a badass at the end of the day, but man, he’s maybe not the idol people like to think he is, even out of universe. Honestly, people might be thinking of Zechs Marquise from Wing (still the best Char clone) when they say Char was a well-intentioned extremist. Just the way he deals with people who might impede his plans are cold and crazy, from just beating the crap out of and almost killing the bully on Texas Colony, to stealing the identity of the real Char Aznable and letting the poor kid – and an entire shuttle full of civilians – die so he could sneak into the Zeon Academy. At that point, you’d think he couldn’t be anymore devious, but then he deals with his roommate figuring out his secret identity by intentionally letting him get killed by his own squad mates during the uprising and just shrugging it off as a necessary step. Char is a bad, bad man, and it’s nice to show that he grew up being said bad man from the start, even if it was the Zabis who started him down that path.
Still, the saying is that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree, and the portrayal of Zeon Zum Daiken makes a lot of sense given Char’s attitude. He always came across as an idealistic, peace preaching man who was assassinated by Degwin Zabi in a power play to rule Side 3, but even in his briefest of screen time, the dude’s a heck of a lot closer to being just a madman, ranting and raving about spacenoid independence. He’s not a straight up space Nazi like the Zabi family, he still on that path of spacenoid superiority at the end of the day. Heck, you could even argue that, despite the colony eventually declaring war on the Federation anyway, the Zabis were weirdly more restrained then Daiken, who was just chomping at the bit to antagonize the Feddies.
Speaking of the Zabis, it’s impressive how they manage to seem even more evil and devious here than in the series proper. The completely unapologetic and not-even-remotely hidden attempt to murder and purge any and all of Deiken’s followers and allies while honoring the man in the same breath is pretty status quo for the family. I suppose Kycilia just came across slightly too reasonable on the show since they gave her a major villain boost to make her her father and brother’s peer in the moustache twirling evil department, being responsible for the plot to destroy the civilian shuttle that the real Char ends up stuck on.
Also, nude scene, ‘cause anime.
They did a decent job of keeping Dozle probably the only (seemingly) decent human being in that entire family, being the one who genuinely adores his little brother Garma and really only sticking to the family creed due to a sense of obligation and loyalty, though I’m sure he will inevitably be as much a monster as the rest. Plus, he survived an explosion point blank that absolutely murdered his older brother in the exact same car he was in and only has some scars on his face to show for it, dude’s a beast. The reveal that his future wife Zennia was just a student at the Zeon Academy was a little weird and uncomfortable though, especially since it was Zennia’s job to hold him at gunpoint during the uprising. I like how young Ranba Ral was shown to truly be loyal and a confidant to the Daiken family as stated in the show and portraying how he and Hamon started in that little piano bar was a nice touch as well. His Dad, Jinba, on the other hand, was just as much of a loon as Zeon, letting his stark raving desire for revenge be a negative influence on “Edouard Mass” once he and “Sayla” get to Earth, destroying any chance of Casval not turning into a monster. He also gets himself killed due to his impatient sloppiness at trying to get said revenge cause a hit squad to find them and try to take everyone out. Char and Sayla only survive because for some deranged reason (that reason being: anime) the assassin hired to specifically take out the trio decides to do it dressed in a full suit of armor and with a broadsword, rather than the machine guns that the rest of the hit squad are packing, and Char manages to duel him to the death and gets in a lucky shot straight through the visor.
Speaking of young Artesia/Sayla, man, it’s kind of a rough go seeing this wide eyed, bright, playful young girl just get broken and beaten by life until she just can’t even pretend to be optimistic anymore. After having spent the last two years counting down the days in which her mother promised to follow them down to Earth, receives the news that said Mother has died, followed by her cherished pet cat Lucifer also dying, and then finally her beloved big brother Casval/Edouard telling her he’s leaving her and does so, never to be seen for years in what seems to all be the SAME DAY. No wonder Sayla was such a cold, no-nonsense, fact-of-the-matter type character in the original series, which makes what she decides to do with her life later on in the franchise quite a bit more meaningful since she and Char both suffer from the same completely broken back stories but went about it in very different ways.
I like the progression of mobile suit technology and development they show, from the tethered test prototypes for “work” vehicles already being head and shoulders above the super rickety and basic early not-quite-Guntank from the first episode, with nice little shades of things to come with the Black Tri-Stars as test pilots along with Ral. The little snippet at the beginning for the first episode of the Battle of Loum is pointless but gorgeous to watch, being really only the second time they’ve shown that battle to my knowledge, the other coming up in a couple chapters from now.
I’m a bit curious to see if they do more with Char and Garma’s relationship though, since in the original series it was fully well implied that Char actually did like Garma and letting him die was sort of a shame but had to be done because he’s a Zabi and needed to go, in a “Hey, I really liked you, but you gotta die bro, sorry ‘bout that,” way. Here, he never really gets to that point, it being apparent to the viewer the whole time that he’s taking advantage of and manipulating Garma into befriending him, deviously working through the young Zabi’s insecurity of being from THE Zabi clan and trying to prove he deserves the preferential treatment. Maybe I just missed something or it’ll pop up in a later installment, or it happens “off-camera,” who can say for now. What can be said is that, for his part, Garma definitely cherishes Char as a friend, which’ll unfortunately lead to his downfall in the future, alas. The whole storyline at the Zeon Academy was pretty nicely done though, culminating with the uprising and takeover of the Federation base nearby where they begin to really solidify how Side 3 – now finally called Zeon – was ready to start something with the Earth Federation.
Char secretly working on the construction of the Jaburo base is a little convenient, but it does make his knowledge of the secret underwater caverns in the original series make more sense instead. I also like the establishment of his relationship with Lalah Sune, having the two of them meet this early on gives the two a bit more weight instead of her just being introduced in the last third of the series, Plus, it heightens Char’s annoyance at Lalah sensing a deeper connection with Amuro despite having known the former for much longer. The use of the Black Tri-Stars, Ral, and Char in the early Zaku suits on the moon to intercept the defecting Dr. Minovsky is a decent little action scene and shows just how far behind the Federation was in mobile suit technology.
The 4th episode spends a large amount of time with Dr. Tem Rey and his successful attempt to get funding for Project V, and as a result we get to see quite a bit more of slightly younger Amuro. The kid is a damn slob, which was implied pretty well in the original series, and his acting out by being so crappy leads into his attitude early on as well. Tem’s neglectful dad act is in full force, and the disdain for one another, while still having that thread of being father and son connecting them, is palpable in his and Amuro’s scenes together. I liked the Rey family scenes, as well as Mirai’s small cameo at the Mass household earlier, in how they’re careful not to break the established continuity too hard and fit in fine. It seems like they intend to do everything they can to juuuuuust meet and bump up to the beginning of the original series, which is a nice touch.
Overall, I like what I’ve seen so far, though I would strongly recommend not watching it as a prequel if you’ve never seen the original series. Quite a significant amount of what makes it special relies heavily on the viewer already having knowledge and an affinity for Char and Sayla’s futures, without it its impact is lessened quite a bit and just doesn’t mean as much. Even the manga itself smartly placed this arc sometime after the beginning, once the reader already learned a decent amount about both characters and the general situation and atmosphere of the world from prior chapters. If you have seen either the show or the movie trilogy, totally give it a watch, it’s very good, and the domestic release of the first four parts in one package is a great deal, compared to the original overpriced piecemeal release.
All that said, all of this is building up to SOMETHING, right? After all of this drama and action and heartbreak, it’s now the year 0079. This war for independence between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon has been roaring for months now, with atrocity after atrocity being committed by both sides, something had to give. Little did anyone know that the death and destruction that’s already occurred is nothing compared to what’s rising, on the horizon…