Gunota Headlines
Sunday, November 30, 2003
New G Generation Game Rumors
Unconfirmed reports on Japanese sites mention the possibility of a new PS2 game being referred to as "SD Gundam G Generation S: Gundam SEED Edition". No solid details other than that for now.
Saturday, November 29, 2003
Thanks to Gameonline for the heads-up. Someone on a Japanese board posted a 7MB Quicktime clip of the trial version of the Gamecube Gundam game in action (from the Char custom Gamecube box released on the 27th).
Friday, November 28, 2003
Just in case you feel you didn't get enough of the Red Comet with your Char custom laptop, Char custom bike helmet, Char Gamecube & GameBoy Advance, Char movie camera, and Char Nike Air Max shoes, you'll be glad to know that the Char custom portable DVD Player will be coming out on January 23. Has an 8-inch high-resolution TFT wide display, plays DVD's, audio CD's, & mp3's, and includes a monoeye screensaver. Price is 59,800 yen.
Thursday, November 27, 2003
Round 2 of Mitsuo Fukuda interview. This is not from the Kyoto University. This is from the SEED Official File book. Some of the interview is omitted due to repetitive nature.
Topic: Any inside story, settings, or episodes that were not suppose to air originally...
A: For stuff that didn't get a mention, hmm... I wanted to do more with Azrael's inside. Like his childhood. Why did he become like this? However, he would become like Raww if I approach it like that. Eventually it was settled without an obstacle. Perhaps, I should have added more details that resulted in his "wiping out Coordinators" belief. Conversely, I have sealed the past of Orga, Shani, and Crot. I already planned to write them as human weapons. They were weapons because they didn't use reason or have human goodness. They don't know their real names, they're not registered as human, and they may not even have any family register. *laughs*
For the whale stone and George Glan, I had no plans to go in depth. It was going to appear in episode 7 and end with "Why did that stone appear?" Those kind of settings are only there as the basis of the story... For an example, when you discuss the Iraqi War, you don't start talking about the origin of the Islamic religion. *laughs*
However, producer Takeda said to add in genetic engineering as a topic when we were working on the episode 14 clipshow.
Topic: SEED was more emotionally stressing than physically.
A: With the series over, were there any hardships? ....hmm, I think so and don't think so. *laughs*
The animation was a race against time so that was difficult. For the scenario, I believe it was troublesome for Morosawa. But that section wasn't troublesome for me. *laughs*
In reality, it was more emotionally tiring. The amount of work you did wasn't equal to the stress. Maybe that's why it's Gundam.
However, I didn't have any real problem with the TV network or the sponsors. Sunrise president Yoshii was in top command with Takeda-san (of Mainichi Broadcasting) being the producer. Both are influential powers so I was blessed with a very good environment. These two are responsible for the success of SEED. Sunrise was serious from top to bottom. Bandai did request to show more Haro... and Meteor. Besides that, I was able to do whatever I wanted. *laughs*
I can say this now, but I wanted to make SEED as a robot story instead of a war story. Sunrise has gone with this road ever since Nagahama-san (Proofreader's note: Probably Tadao Nagahama of Raideen, Daimos, Combattler & Voltes V fame). Kids think this method is the coolest! It has to have that.
Tuesday, November 25, 2003
Following are the comments made by Bandai CGO (Chief Gundam Officer) Kazunori Ueno in this month's Nikkei Characters! magazine:
"SEED is doing well exceeding our projection. About 8 million plamodels have been sold. This is an unusual figure for an on-time anime *laughs*"
"Due to SEED, we were able to build 3 foundations for the Gundam business. One is the First Gundam fan, mid 20's to mid 30's. Other is the younger SEED generation fans, late 10's to 20's. On top of this, we are covering the kindergarden/elementary age group with SD Gundam. These 3 series (MSG, SEED, & SD) and their respective fan group will form the core of Gundam's character business."
"Like Bandai President Takeo Takasu mentioned in the March earnings report, we are planning something for the 'First' generation fans targeted for the year 2005 or beyond. Details will come later. As a link to that, we are currently focusing on 'Zeta Gundam'. There's a game already in the arcades and is coming to PS2. Some form of work (anime?) is under plan too. On the other hand, I believe more SEED World will be established with MSV being introduced. Maybe an OVA or sequel will come too. For 'SD Gundam Force', the reactions in the US, where it was aired first, were positive. Besides merchandises, we are thinking about doing events for SD."
"SEED is being prepared for overseas marketing. However, US customers don't necessary demand the same merchandise as the Japanese so we are studying to meet their demands. Please look forward to it."
Couple weeks ago, we mentioned about the website pre-opening. The Astray website officially opened today with clickable contents for Mecha and Characters with brief description.
Sunday, November 23, 2003
*UPDATED*
A while back, I did promise a Fukuda interview. Well here it is (even though it's not the same one). This was taken from Fukuda's appearance at Kyoto University on Nov 23rd. The interview report was posted on Char Custom BBS and its contents have been confirmed by people who attended this event.
Warnings (at the event):
- No autographs or handshake
- No tape-recording or video-recording
- No use of cell phones
It started off with Fukuda saying "please don't post this (interview report) on the internet" and he kept repeating this throughout the event.
Apparently Fukuda never worked for Tomino.
Q: Reasons why you became part of the anime business?
A: I love Tomino-san! Only saw the last part of G. My favorite series is Turn A. Haven't watched anime in the past 10 years. Instead, watched a lot of drama and movies. Star Wars is my favorite movie. Tomino hates Titanic. Though I like it *laughs*
Q: Difference betweeen reality and anime?
A: After all, anime's war is only a fashion. I read newspapers like Mainichi and Asahi, but anime isn't really serious. They call it "anti-war discussion", but can't comprehend it because it's hard. With my son, I only discuss war on the level that it is bad.
Q: Difference between First (MSG) and SEED?
A: First was during the Vietnam War era while SEED was created during the Iraqi War. They say war, war, but it's only a robot anime afterall. Gundam elapsed on its own through the times so I wanted to bring it back to a pure robot anime, Combattler V-type.
Q: Are Mwu and Raww Newtypes?
A: Both are the last remaining Newtypes. They were the last Newtypes in the world so I wanted to write a story where non-Newtype people try to solve the problem.
Q: Any plans for the next series?
A: I can't say it. It's top secret. Movie plan was killed. There are plenty of Gundam and Mr. Tomino is still doing it so please guess. (translator's note: talking about the Zeta compilation?)
Q: Why did Waltfeld live?
A: Originally, I didn't plan for him to live, but let him live because there weren't a lot of cool adults left. When I saw the VA's acting on screen, I said to myself, "Man, he's not going to die." When Morita-san heard that, his face had a look saying, "What are you saying when he's planning to die."
Q: About Yzak?
A: He wasn't really a hot-blooded-type character, but his personality changed due to Seki-san's (Tomokazu Seki = VA for Yzak) acting.
Q: About Dearka?
A: Dearka wasn't suppose to switch sides, but I made it happen since the sales of Buster Gundam were bad. Sasanuma, Dearka's voice, had a real sweet voice so it was hard for him to completely become a bad guy.
Q: About the 3 dudes (aka EA Gundam pilots)?
A: I'm not going to give out their profiles. Just between ourselves, they are criminals sentenced to death. They plea bargained as Gundam pilots in return for lesser punishment.
Q: About Raww, Azrael and Patrick Zara
A: They are type of people you can't talk to to solve things so their deaths were forthcoming.
Q: About Athrun?
A: Unlike Kira, Athrun was a disciplined soldier at the start. Which is why I eventually had to 'break' him, but that didn't happen until episode 36 *laughs*
Q: About Cagalli?
A: Even though she told Kira that he's a coordinator, she has no discrimination feelings. Her father told her to study, but that's not her personality which is why she piloted Rouge. Originally, Fllay was suppose to pilot it, but I made them change it halfway.
Q: About Lacus?
A: People say they don't really understand Lacus and even the staff don't. Only I and Morozawa know her. Her personality never changed from the start.
Q: About Fllay?
A: A worried woman who was looking for a place to stay.
Q: About Fllay's Lalah-esque meaning?
A: The title of that scene was "What Fllay wanted to tell him." (a way to let the audience know what Fllay wanted to say). However a dead person can't express their feelings so Kira never heard those words. Which means Kira never got to know Fllay's feelings and he has to carry the burden of her death.
Q: The finale you had in mind?
A: Fllay was suppose to be a human bomb. She returned as a human bomb to Archangel. She was going to blowup outside of the ship along with Ssigh. Then Kira was going to die with Athrun losing an arm...
Q: The meaning of the neutral country Orb?
A: That's just an ideal. Japan that is. However, they weren't occupied. Think about it, in order to be ruled you need massive military power and that's troublesome.
Q: Any thoughts on any episodes?
A: Hmm, names... I'm not good at naming. Idea of SEED came up while I was on the phone. It started with a discussion of naming it with 'S' and I thought of Sin Gundam. However, you can't use that in America. God Gundam was no good in America so... *makes a joke about God Gundam's name* so I named it Freedom. When I thought of this name and announced it to everyone, everyone sorta froze and said, "What?!" This is when I believed, "This is it." About Justice, you have Ultraman (Justice). Usually you avoid having the same names, but "Hey, this is the almighty Gundam! Move out of the way!" Kira derived from "killer". Yamato is very Japanese. Amuro was "Zerosen" (aka the Japanese WW2 Zero fighter). Kai Shiden was from Shidenkai (another Japanese warplane), but Yamato is very easy. BTW, Athrun was derived from yo-ake (dawn), Cagalli from kagaribi (bonfire), Lacus from mizu-umi (lake).
Q: Meaning of SEED?
A: At first, there wasn't a meaning. Those came afterwards *laughs*
Q: Problem between Natural and Coordinator?
A: Since DNA-related subject is a complicated matter in reality too, there were a lot of gray area in the anime as well.
Q: How come the corpses were very graphic?
A: It was necessary. The TV producer stressed, "Show what you have to show" so Fllay's sex was included. About the death of Fllay's father in episode 11 and death of Elle-tan (the girl on the shuttle) in episode 13, the producer passionately said "it has to be more cruel!"
Q: About Fllay?
A: I thought of 2 ways to keep Kira attached to Fllay. One was to give Fllay a big scar on her face and other was sex. I wonder if I should have given her the scar *laughs*
Q: About the VA?
A: Auditions, but I already decided who was going to do whom. I fell in love with Kuwashima-san (VA for Fllay and Natarle) from her works in movie dubs. Same with Ishida-san (Athrun's VA). Fell in love with his dub as Luke Skywalker. I was definitely going to use Mitsuishi-san and Seki Tomokazu-kun.
Q: Meaning of each coul? (one coul equals a 13 episode segment of the show)
A:
1 & 2 - Kira's war intervention
2 - Kira destroying himself due to woman relationships
3 - Recovering Kira
4 - didn't comment
Q: Models of each character?
A: Kira's model was Tatsuya Fujiwara (played Shuya Nanahara in Battle Royale). During that time, Battle Royale was on. Lacus was Audrey Hepburn.
Q: Merchandise aspect?
A: Anime has to be successful in the merchandise department. Turn A was sorry in terms of merchandise. *laughs* The plamodel staff froze after looking at the moustache. I was shooting for something in between First and Wing.
Q: About the difference between the planned story and the final product?
A: Aile/Sword related Strike series plamodel sold over 900,000. I wanted it to hit the one million mark so Rouge appeared. <-- this may have been a joke) The name 'Rouge' was already decided.
Q: Any influence/ideas from other Gundam?
A: Before I started, I watched CCA and F91. I watched the first ep of X and returned the video. *laughs*
Q: Who does Kira like?
A: He doesn't really like either of them (Fllay and Lacus).
Q: What is your message of this anime?
A: If it's boring, please turn off the channel. Isn't it funny when people still watch it even after they call it boring. *laughs*
Q: Morozawa is the scriptwriter because she is related? (ie they are married)
A: No. I fell in love with her abilities. Cyber Formula went well too.
Q: Any SEED production stories?
A: The plan was set in August. The plan went to Mr. Tomino in December. When I was working on SEED, the president told me, "Mr. Tomino won't be involved." The president told me to go greet him anyway so I visited him during the New Year's holiday. Tomino was enraged, "I made Turn A to unify Gundam!" He later said, "Don't trust Bandai" and recommended the book "Cure of Turn A".
Q: About Gundam?
A: Out of all of the previous series, only Tomino-san's Gundam lasted a year (Translator's note: Not quite sure what Fukuda means here). Gundam is serious. Production cost of other anime is about 10-12 million yen, but SEED was 25 million yen (Further note: Presumably, Fukuda means on a per-episode basis rather than the entire series cost as a whole). This is a business where money comes by adding "Gundam." Gundam is awesome. For normal anime, they have to get it within 9 million yen. However, there are times you go over the budget which means you cover the excess cost with merchandise goods. For Gundam, no one argues if you use 15 million yen because it is guranteed that you can recover the cost with merchandise goods.
Q: Where did you spend the most in?
A: About 10 million yen went to 3DCG. (*many who attended said this really didn't answer the question)
Q: About Mwu stopping Dominion's beam. Is that a miracle?
A: It was an anti-beam shield so it can stop it, right?
Someone refutes Fukuda by "Isn't Lohengrin an anti-fortress beam..." and Fukuda replies, "I didn't know that *laughs*"
Other random comments by Fukuda:
- Currently working on next Cyber.
- Director pay for Gundam is good *laughs*
Comments by RGZ
- This is about how most of Fukuda's recent interviews are.
- Based on people who attended this, some were saying Fukuda didn't seem to fully understand the meaning of the questions (which might explain some of the answers being weird) and kept saying "off the record".
- In case you didn't catch it, SEED movie seems dead while Zeta compilation is still ongoing.
- Last, I would like to thank Neo-Era for proofreading this :)
Natsume Maya's site states that the 4th Tetsujin 28 anime series will begin airing in Japan in the Spring and the manga, "Emperor's Crest", will be serialized beginning in Magazine Z's February issue.
The relevance of this to Gundam fans is that "Emperor's Crest" will be done by Yuuichi Hasegawa (Crossbone Gundam, V Gundam Gaiden) and the (rumored?) director of the new Tetsujin anime is listed by Moon Phase as none other than Yasuhiro Imagawa (director of G Gundam and Giant Robo).
According to Toru Furuya's personal website (VA of Amuro), March is the tenative release month and priced at 6800yen.
Friday, November 21, 2003
The official site updates its movies page with 3 short battle scenes.
Thursday, November 20, 2003
This month's Hobby Japan confirms the HGUC Rick Dom II for January. Additionally, no MG will be released that month.
Zeta Gundam & Gundam SEED news from Toyfare
On alt.anime.gundam, newsgroup poster GI Trekker posted the contents of an interesting response to a letter regarding the Zeta toyline in Toyfare magazine (not to mention his own thoughts on the subject). The response includes comments from Bandai representative Sandra Leo. The post can be read here.
Someone uploaded the TV cm of AEUG vs Titans. Click here to view the 14 second long cm, which includes an awesome move by the Hyaku Shiki.
The official site for the PS2 version updates their Game System section with information on the Mission and Vs. Modes. Various missions include capturing the Gundam Mk II, atmospheric re-entry, Sudry's pursuit of the Audhumla, gathering data on enemy forces, and guarding Titans gassing units. The Hyaku Shiki's Mega Bazooka Launcher shows up in the Mission mode as well as the Super Gundam (which can be used in Arcade & Vs. Modes and is useable in its G-Flyer configuration). There's also a 1 vs. 3 option in the Vs. Mode for people who might want to simulate fighting Yazan's Hambrabi team.
Wednesday, November 19, 2003
Bandai has announced another custom Nike shoe. This one labeled the "Char Aznable Model" with Char's emblem from CCA. The picture is available at the Bandai Museum site. The product is priced at 19800 yen and available on Dec 23rd.
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Many of you are aware of the recent purchase of Bandai stock by Nintendo as reported by Gamespot. Further developments on this situation from Gamespot have been reported via Anime News Network.
Monday, November 17, 2003
Nami Tamaki's 3rd single, "Prayer", was released in Japan on the 12th. Clips of the song and video are on Sony Music Online Japan.
Sunday, November 16, 2003
Again, popping up on various Japanese message boards are rumor of HGUC Rick Dom II for January. Here's the scan of the possibile lineart (not sure how long it will be up). According to the rumors, the kit is priced at 1500 yen.
Saturday, November 15, 2003
From today's chat with Bandai's Jerry Chu in his #askjerry channel on mIRC-X, SD Gundam Force Vol. 1 & 2 will be released on February 2nd. Still no word on Zeta other than "soon".
A post in the Char Custom Portal BBS mentions SD Gundam Force manga will appear starting in next month's Monthly Comic BomBom issue. The authors are Kei Aoki and Maru Mika.
Friday, November 14, 2003
The official site for the Gameboy Advance game updated their Game System, Character, and Download sections. Other sources report that original MS and new designs like the "Gromlinfozuile" will be included.
Amazon.co.jp revealed the cover of the Anaheim Journal book.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Gameonline put up 25 new screenshots of the game today. Also, the official site updated with a character section the other day.
Bandai's Tamashii Web updates with entries for Dozul's and Garma's Zaku II MSiA as well as a Special column devoted to the Elmeth MSiA. But you'll have to go to Noda Ya to see pics and concept art of the new GFF Super Gundam/Full Armor Gundam Mark II and Zeonography Dom variants among other interesting items.
Monday, November 10, 2003
Pam's Homepage has a list of seiyuu for the Japanese version of SD Gundam Force:
Shute - Romi Paku (Loran Cehack from Turn A Gundam)
Captain Gundam - Hiroshi Kamiya
Zero The Winged Knight - Mitsuki Saiga
Bakunetsumaru - Susumu Chiba
Zapper Zaku - Eiji Yanagisawa
Grappler Gouf - Mantarou Iwao
Destroyer Dom - Hiroshi Matsumoto
Commander Sazabi - Shuuichi Ikeda (Char Aznable himself)
Sayla & Nana - Akiko Nakagawa
In case you want to further analyze the ratings:
1) Currently, the Top 8 anime ratings are dominated by Sazae-san, Detective Conan, Chibi Maruko-chan, Kochi Kame, Doraemon, Atashinchi (My Home), Inu Yasha, and One Piece. Ratings vary from 10-18 and all but two shows (Sazae-san & Chibi Maruko-chan) start at 7 or 7:30pm.
2) In terms of television viewers, Fuji TV has the largest coverage followed by Nihon TV, TBS, Asahi, and TV Tokyo.
3) All but 2 Gundam series (Turn A on Fuji and SEED on TBS) aired on Asahi TV.
4) Timeslots of the sample series:
MSG/Z/ZZ: Asahi 5:30-6:00pm on Saturdays
V Gundam: Asahi 5:00-5:30pm on Fridays
G Gundam: Asahi 5:00-5:30pm on Fridays
Wing: Asahi 5:00-5:30pm on Fridays
Turn A: Fuji 4:55-5:25pm on Fridays
SEED: TBS 6:00-6:30pm on Saturdays
DBZ: Fuji 7:00-7:30pm on Wed
Macross 7: TBS 11:00-11:30am on Sundays
Eva: TV Tokyo 6:30-7:00pm on Wed
Sazae-san: Fuji 6:30-7:00pm on Sundays
Detective Conan: Nihon TV 7:30pm-8:00pm on Mondays
Chibi Maruko-chan: Fuji 6:00-6:30pm on Sundays
Kochi Kame: Fuji 7:00-7:30pm on Sundays
Doraemon: Asahi 7:00-7:30pm on Fridays
Atashinchi: Asahi 7:30-8:00pm on Fridays
Inu Yasha: Nihon TV 7:00-7:30pm on Mondays
One Piece: Fuji 7:30-8:00pm on Sundays
Hopefully, this will give you a better understanding.
Sunrise's official site for Gundam SEED Astray was put up today. It will open on November 25th.
Since it is a Sunrise-affiliated site, does that mean it's for an upcoming anime version of Astray? Not necessarily. See also Sunrise's official site for the manga
Musha Maruden.
The following are tv ratings for every Mobile Suit Gundam SEED episode as reported by Newtype magazine and various 2 Channel BBS. The ratings info for the last 11 episodes are straight from Japanese BBS and may be subject to corrections (though they've mostly been accurate based on past experience):
1st episode rating (10/ 5): 6.6%
2nd episode rating (10/12): 6.7%
3rd episode rating (10/19): 5.9%
4th episode rating (10/26): 6.9%
5th episode rating (11/ 2): 5.6%
6th episode rating (11/ 9): 7.2%
7th episode rating (11/16): 6.1%
8th episode rating (11/23): 6.4%
9th episode rating (11/30): 6.5%
10th episode rating (12/ 7): 6.2%
11th episode rating (12/14): 5.6%
12th episode rating (12/21): 5.6%
13th episode rating (12/28): 6.4%
14th episode rating (1 / 4): 4.9%
15th episode rating (1 /11): 6.2%
16th episode rating (1 /18): 6.5%
17th episode rating (1 /25): 6.8%
18th episode rating (2 / 1): 6.3%
19th episode rating (2 / 8): 6.6%
20th episode rating (2 /15): 5.7%
21st episode rating (2 /22): 6.1%
22nd episode rating (3 / 1): 6.6%
23rd episode rating (3 / 8): 6.2%
24th episode rating (3 /15): 5.8%
25th episode rating (3 /22): 5.9%
26th episode rating (3 /29): 5.3%
27th episode rating (4 /12): 5.4%
28th episode rating (4 /19): 6.0%
29th episode rating (4 /26): 5.1%
30th episode rating (5 / 3): 4.6%
31st episode rating (5 /10): 5.7%
32nd episode rating (5 /17): 6.0%
33rd episode rating (5 /24): 6.3%
34th episode rating (5 /31): 7.6%
35th episode rating (6 / 7): 6.2%
36th episode rating (6 /14): 6.5%
37th episode rating (6 /21): 4.8%
38th episode rating (6 /28): 5.8%
39th episode rating (7 /5 ): 7.0%
40th episode rating (7 /12): 5.9%
41th episode rating (7 /19): 5.5%
42nd episode rating (7 /26): 6.1%
43rd episode rating (8 / 2): 6.6%
44th episode rating (8 / 9): 6.9%
45th episode rating (8 /16): 6.0%
46th episode rating (8 /30): 6.1%
47th episode rating (9 / 6): 5.6%
48th episode rating (9 /13): 6.0%
49th episode rating (9 /20): 8.0%
50th episode rating (9 /27): 5.9%
Highest rating: 8.0%
Lowest rating: 4.6%
Average rating: 6.1%
Japanese tv ratings data for Gundam tv series of the 90's:
Mobile Suit V Gundam
Highest rating: 5.3%
Lowest rating: 2.4%
Average rating: 3.9%
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Highest rating: 7.3%
Lowest rating: 1.7%
Average rating: 4.1%
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing
Highest rating: 6.8%
Lowest rating: 1.8%
Average rating: 4.3%
After War Gundam X (Note: Gundam X episodes 1 - 26 aired Fridays at 5 pm while the remainder of the series aired on Saturdays at 6 am)
Highest rating: (all eps) 6.2% (eps 1 - 26) 6.2% (eps 27 - 39) 1.7%
Lowest rating: (all eps) 0.6% (eps 1 - 26) 1.8% (eps 27 - 39) 0.6%
Average rating: (all eps) 2.8% (eps 1 - 26) 3.5% (eps 27 - 39) 1.2%
Turn A Gundam
Highest rating: 4.1%
Lowest rating: 1.7%
Average rating: 3.0%
TV ratings info for earlier Gundam series are so far unavailable from TV Anime Data Hall but, for comparison purposes, here are ratings data for other prominent anime:
Dragonball Z
Highest rating: 27.5%
Lowest rating: 12.1%
Average rating: 20.5%
Macross 7
Highest rating: 5.5%
Lowest rating: 1.4%
Average rating: 3.4%
Neon Genesis Evangelion
Highest rating: 10.3%
Lowest rating: 0.9% (early morning broadcast at the beginning of the year)
Average rating: 7.1%
Vision Of Escaflowne
Highest rating: 9.2%
Lowest rating: 3.7%
Average rating: 5.2%
Gasaraki
Highest rating: 2.6%
Lowest rating: 1.2%
Average rating: 1.9%
Cowboy Bebop (13 episode TV Tokyo run only)
Highest rating: 5.6%
Lowest rating: 3.2%
Average rating: 4.6%
Trigun
Highest rating: 2.9%
Lowest rating: 0.6%
Average rating: 1.8%
Love Hina
Highest rating: 2.8%
Lowest rating: 1.2%
Average rating: 2.2%
Rahxephon (Note: Rahxephon eps 1 - 9 aired on Mondays at 4:25 pm while later episodes aired just before 2 am on Wednesdays)
Highest rating: (all eps) 3.6% (eps 1 - 9) 3.6% (eps 10 - 26) 2.2%
Lowest rating: (all eps) 0.9% (eps 1 - 9) 1.9% (eps 10 - 26) 0.9%
Average rating: (all eps) 2.0% (eps 1 - 9) 2.7% (eps 10 - 26) 1.6%
Friday, November 07, 2003
Not sure how long this magazine scan with pics of the upcoming Gamecube game will be up but here they are.
Thursday, November 06, 2003
Updated version
Based on Pam's HP and 2chan BBS, TIFF did not have the trailer of Tomino's latest work. It appears like they were unsuccessful at gaining permission to show it. They did mention to expect an official announcement in the Newtype magazine next Spring.
Yoshiyuki Tomino will be doing the final lecture for the Kanazawa Institute of Technology's Gundam Creation Study. Time & Date: November 8th (Saturday) at 1:30pm - 3pm
Just a small business article from today's edition of The Japan Times Online that mentions that Bandai Co.'s strong showings are attributed to Power Rangers, Mobile Suit Gundam, and Kamen Rider 555 products. Also mentioned is the tidbit that "the proportion of overseas sales against total revenue stood at 20.2 percent during the period" and that Bandai "hopes to raise this ratio to 50 percent in the near future" by introducing more popular characters in America and Europe during 2004.
Wednesday, November 05, 2003
Sunrise announces that all 43 episodes of First Gundam will be shown at Shin-Bungeiza. All 43 episodes will be shown in the span of 3 Saturdays. The animation will be shown on a brand new 16mm print.
Cost of Admission: 2200 yen for all, 2100 yen through magazine discount, or 1800 yen for advanced tickets. Only good for one night only.
Date of airing:
Dec 6th (Sat) 11pm start - Ep 1-14
Dec 13th (Sat) 10:30pm start - Ep 15-29
Dec 20th (Sat) 10:30pm start - Ep 30-43
Rightstuf lists an upcoming reprint of the English translated versions of Yoshiyuki Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam novels by Stone Bridge Press. The new edition will have all three novels collected in one volume and a new introduction by Mark Simmons. Release date is April 30. List price is $14.95.
We at Gunota Headlines would like to say, "Happy Birthday Tomino-sama!" Mr. Tomino is 62 years old today (Date of birth: Nov 5th, 1941).
V-Gundam.net updates with full fledged character & mecha profiles, streaming commercials for the DVD box set, and a DVD jacket gallery.
Some info were revealed at the ghard bbs.
Mobile Suit Gundam - Path of the Soldiers (GameCube, Bandai, 2004)
- Action with emphasis on tactics.
- Play as the soldiers of the OYW. (*this part is a bit ambigous. Not sure if you play as 1 character or mulitple characters)
- Easy controls with plenty of actions
- Fight using Ability
- Tactics Part (Change Ability, plan, or route of your force). Similiar to a simulation game.
- Game is 50% completed.
At the 8th Animation Kobe event, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED won the Animation Kobe Award for Best TV Program. Other award winners this year:
Individual prize - Yosuke Kuroda
Special prize - Leiji Matsumoto
Feature Film - Millennium Actress
Package category - Sentou Yousei Yukikaze
AM Kobe Award (theme song prize) - Asu e no Brilliant Road (artist: Angela, "Uchuu No Stellvia" opening song)
Past winners of the Best TV Program award include Turn A Gundam, Revolutionary Girl Utena, Infinite Ryvius, Angelic Layer, and Cowboy Bebop.
Tuesday, November 04, 2003
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is one of the 25 artists in White Dunk, a collaboration between Nike and 25 Japanese artists. Go check out his pic of Michael Jordan vs Gundam.
Bandai announces in a press release today that, in collaboration with Sony Computer Entertainment Japan, they will be releasing the "Mobile Suit Z Gundam Hyaku Shiki Gold Pack" on December 4th. The contents will be a PS2 console in Hyaku Shiki gold colors with a matching pair of analog controllers, a "Universal Century special stand" designed by Kunio Okawara, a "Z Gundam blue" color 8MB memory card, and a copy of "Mobile Suit Z Gundam: AEUG Vs. Titans". Sony's website has a bigger pic of the package contents. The listed price for this limited edition item is 35,000 yen.
Monday, November 03, 2003
Not really a news or a rumor, but worth mentioning. Tomorrow will be the Fukuda interview if I'm able to finish it ;)
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko interview appearing in the Asahi Newspaper Evening Edition several days ago:
It has been over 20 years since First (Gundam) and the fans are more interested in the mecha. Therefore, I'm putting more effort in the human drama because "This is First!" Mr. Tomino's human relation outline was very well made. For an example, the main character Amuro called Bright, the captain, with -san (Bright-san). He had a perverse personality and yet called his superior with respect. Then sometimes called him "Captain Bright" to mock him. Bright indeed had a sad middle management personality and Mirai was a woman who skillfully managed him. I want to write in those small details and be able to bring out each individual which wasn't done due to time. In the anime, Amuro was called a "Newtype" by demonstrating a special ability. However, I didn't agree with Mr. Tomino's "Newtype", and felt uncomfortable about that being the theme. In the manga I'm writing Amuro as a type of esper, but that's the only way he can survive. To me, First is a story of a life-sized human being. Mr. Tomino took the story where fellow Newtypes can understand each other, but he rather wonderfully produced the part "People can never understand each other." The quarrel among the White Base crews or parting between Amuro and his mother all happened even though they were thinking of each other. I believe "Newtype" is a wish of the other reality of not understanding each other. In Amuro's world, there was a wish that a newtype would end the war. Where he appears and is set up. Amuro is like Jeanne d'Arc (Joan Of Arc), one of my previous works. This time, I'm going to do a scene where Amuro gets totally checked at Jaburo for the manga, which was not seen in the anime. That is how I'm going tell the process of a Newtype becoming a myth of that world. Up til now I have done manga using history as the theme, but I want to judge "Gundam" as a piece of history and apply my own ideas into this work.
Sunday, November 02, 2003
According to Japanese game news site Quiter, Bandai plans on shipping 650,000 copies of the PS2 AEUG Vs. Titans in Japan by next Spring. To date, about 560,000 copies of Encounters In Space, some 200,000+ copies of PS2's Gundam SEED, and about 37,000 copies of Sunrise World War have been sold. The article points out that PS2's Federation Vs. Zeon DX managed to sell 920,000 copies.
