World Building
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The Roman Albums published by Tokuma Shoten are a series of reference books devoted to various anime titles. The original Mobile Suit Gundam is represented by a total of four volumes, with the TV series covered by Roman Album Extra 35 and the three theatrical motion pictures by volumes 42, 44, and 50. As well as story summaries, character and mechanics profiles, and staff commentary, these books included Science Establishment features by scriptwriter Ken'ichi Matsuzaki introducing concepts that would be further developed in Gundam Century. The mechanical section in the latter volumes, meanwhile, provided some of the most detailed explanations of Universal Century history and mobile suit development prior to Gundam Century. Roman Album Extra 42: Mobile Suit Gundam the Motion Picture was published in May 1981. Its Mechanical History section, from which the following text is excerpted, was perhaps the first attempt to reconcile the background information from Yoshiyuki Tomino's novels with the animation continuity. This material was also derived in part from the fanzine Gun Sight, and an editor's note in the following volume apologized to the Gun Sight creators for this unauthorized borrowing. The following text is copyright © 1981 Tokuma Shoten. |
Translator's Note: The Mechanical History section begins with a summary of the events that led up to the start of the Mobile Suit Gundam story, drawn primarily from Yoshiyuki Tomino's novels.
Even before U.C.0079, conflict between the Earth Federation and the space colonists over matters such as the autonomy of Side 6 had been building up to the use of force. This was intensified by ideological antagonism as the space colonists began to think of themselves as a new race born of the space age. Side 3, which initially declared its independence from the Earth Federation as a republic led by the remarkable Zeon Zum Deikun, went on to adopt a monarchial system and steadily built up its armaments. With the military application of Minovsky physics and the development of the Zaku mobile suit, it finally went ahead with a declaration of war.
Just three seconds after this declaration, the Zeon forces began their attacks on Sides 1, 2, 4, and 5. It thus became known as the Three Second Declaration. The Zeon forces overcame the Federation Forces stationed at each Side, and in less than one day they completed a clean sweep of the space colonies using biological and chemical weapons. Together with the subsequent operation in which they dropped a colony itself onto Earth, this was called the One Week Battle. In reality, it was a campaign of Zeon aggression.
During the One Week Battle, the only Earth Federation force that was able to oppose the Zeon forces was the Revil fleet stationed at Side 5 (commonly known as Loum). One month later the Zeon forces, which had been unable to completely occupy Side 5 thanks to this opposition, reorganized their fleet and attacked once again. General Revil also mobilized his remaining vessels and fought back, and the largest fleet battle in history developed between Earth and the moon in the area surrounding Side 5. This was the Battle of Loum.
The Zeon forces had the upper hand throughout the battle. While the Federation had a greater number of vessels, the exploits of the Zaku more than made up for this handicap. In a situation where Minovsky particle interference meant that only visual-range combat was effective, nothing could be stronger than the Zaku, a supremely mobile humanoid weapon with nuclear armament. Its superiority was confirmed as the Federation Forces lost the majority of their main fleet to the wide-ranging attacks of the Zakus, and Revil himself was taken prisoner.
After the Battle of Loum, Supreme Commander Gihren Zabi of the Principality of Zeon urged the Earth Federation government to surrender, and Antarctica was chosen as the site of the negotiations. On the day the surrender was to be signed, General Revil made a miraculous return, and his speech "No soldiers in Zeon" hardened the Federation's resolve. The Antarctic Treaty ended by merely prohibiting the use of nuclear and chemical weapons, establishing regulations concerning various acts of war, and confirming a nonaggression pact covering the transport fleets sent to Jupiter. Thus the war fell into a stalemate which neither Zeon nor the Federation had a means to break.
U.C.0001
With the start of space colonization, the Universal Century calendar is adopted.
U.C.0040
40 percent of the total population (about 5 billion) have emigrated.
U.C.0045
Establishment of Luna II. Settlement of Sides 1 and 2 is completed.
U.C.0058
Zeon Zum Deikun establishes a republic.
U.C.0062
Death of Zeon Zum Deikun. Degwin Sodo Zabi succeeds him as leader of Side 3's independent government.
U.C.0075
Side 3 completes the development of the Zaku mobile suit.
U.C.0079
Side 3 declares war under the name of the Principality of Zeon.
Start of the Zeon attack. The One Week Battle. The Battle of Loum.
The Antarctic Treaty is concluded on January 31. The use of nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons is prohibited.
The war becomes a stalemate, and eight months pass.
Translator's Note: Although this timeline resembles the one provided in the original setting notes, many of its dates are derived from Yoshiyuki Tomino's novels. As per the novels, the start of the One Year War is placed at January of U.C.0079, and the date of the Antarctic Treaty is shifted accordingly. The timeline is vague as to exactly when the Principality of Zeon was established, an event that the novels place in U.C.0065.
While the attack on Side 7 doesn't appear on this timeline, the book elsewhere places this event on September 18, U.C.0079, which has since been accepted as the official date. The Roman Album Extra books also provide dates for the rest of the story's events, but the remainder of their chronology is implausibly condensed and has been ignored by subsequent writers.
Translator's Note: The Mechanical History section continues with a discussion of the history of the Principality of Zeon and the evolution of the Zaku mobile suit. Although its account of Zaku development history resembles this one in many respects, the later Gundam Century claims that the mobile suit was originally designed for space combat, rather than for use inside space colonies as described here.
In discussing the progress toward the birth of the mobile suit, it is first necessary to look at the world situation behind it.
Roughly half a century had passed since the construction of space colonies began in order to resolve the population explosion and energy crisis of the latter half of the previous century. With large numbers of people now seeing Earth from the outside and experiencing the vastness of space with their own bodies, discord between nations and races naturally weakened. Thus the great historical enterprise of space colonization led to the realization of a unified world government.
However, as space development continued and the space colonies—or rather, the new societies in space—became capable of supporting themselves and separating from Earth, antagonism emerged as they came to think of themselves as a separate species. For the space colonists who were opening up a new frontier with their progressive ideas, it was hard to accept that the center of government remained on Earth. The colonial autonomy, or colonism, advocated by the remarkable thinker Zeon Zum Deikun was widely disseminated into the consciousness of these space colonists and inspired them to seek independence. This was made manifest when Side 3 declared itself the independent Republic of Zeon, founded by Zeon Zum Deikun. But the Earth Federation government refused to recognize it.
Even in an era where more than half of humanity lived in space, the Federation's armaments, which it had maintained since the days when a third world war seemed imminent, far surpassed those of the Sides. While the Federation tried to resolve this political antagonism by using its armaments as a deterrent, the Republic of Zeon changed its system of government and became a principality, devoting its national power to acquiring the military strength it needed to resist the Federation. Thus it became unavoidable that the antagonism between Earth and the Sides would escalate into armed conflict.
Given this political situation, Zeon's successful application of Minovsky physics gave it new strategic concepts that rendered existing weapons systems completely obsolete and instantly reversed the balance of power. By applying the fundamental theories of Minovsky physics, spacecraft unsuitable for military use due to the limitations of their power systems were turned into space warships equipped with nuclear thermal rocket engines and mega particle cannons. In addition to their mobility, they could disperse Minovsky particles in space to completely nullify radar. This made a counterattack by the Federation Forces, who relied on nuclear missiles based in satellite orbit and linked to a radar network, effectively impossible and placed control of space within Zeon's grasp.
However, in order to make a clean sweep of the Federation forces within the colonies, a new type of weapon which could travel short distances through space under its own power and engage in combat inside a colony would be practically indispensable. The development of the Zaku mobile suit, the all-purpose weapon which would later become the terror of the Federation Forces, began at the point when this necessity was identified.
The sample machine designed in response to the original goal was based on the robots used for developing the outer asteroids, and equipped with two "magic hands" and three "legs" whose mobility exceeded that of wheels or caterpillar tracks. However, not only was wireless remote guidance impossible, but its ability to adapt to various anticipated situations was contingent on its having a human pilot. It was determined that it would be necessary to apply the concepts of worker spacesuits in order to achieve high-level capabilities such as approach, attack, and constructing and guarding facilities after occupation. Investigation thus continued in this direction. Meanwhile, it also required armor strong enough for a nuclear battlefield, whose mass proved to be so great that no existing power system could support it.
The mobile suit was the plan created to address all these indispensable but highly challenging requirements. An overview of the first combat type, known as the Zaku, will serve to convey the revolutionary nature of this weapon.
The Zaku had an overall height of 17.5 meters and a dry weight of 50 tons, and was equipped with a thermonuclear reactor that had only just been put into practical use. It had proportionate pairs of "hands" and "legs" and closely resembled a human form, due to the application of ergonomic principles to address the problems of manned operation and make it capable of higher-level work. This was because the human form was better suited for many tasks.
Its control system allowed it to be operated by a single pilot in concert with a computer, and a cockpit was installed in the torso near its center of mass. The cockpit was windowless, relying on TV screens for all visibility. A single eye containing a large high-performance TV camera, as well as laser and infra-red detection systems, was installed in the mobile suit's head. This could turn 180 degrees to the left and right thanks to its rotating turret.
The machine was equipped with two chemical rocket engines for space flight, and 14 high-performance verniers were installed throughout its body. These verniers produced momentary high thrust through the combustion of solid fuel in what amounted to a kind of directed explosion, and at full throttle they made the Zaku capable of greater acceleration than a warship. In the early type this acceleration capacity was thought of as auxiliary thrust, used mainly for disengaging from colony land surfaces under gravity and for jumping movement on the ground. But later, at the point when the Zaku was introduced into space combat, its mobility in space was dramatically increased by using them as attitude control thrusters. On the other hand, the fuel consumption rate of these high-performance verniers was extremely high, and because their fuel supply would be exhausted in just a few seconds their use required a high level of skill.
The main weapons used by the Zaku were a bazooka and a 120mm rifle made by scaling up human weapons essentially unchanged, with the mobile suit's form in mind. The Zaku was even able to perform tasks like loading ammunition or dismantling and assembling the weapons for maintenance using its own hands. After the conclusion of the Antarctic Treaty which prohibited the use of nuclear weapons, the 120mm rifle, whose small explosive shells could be used for both sniper attacks and strafing by switching between single shots and rapid fire, became the standard equipment. In order to make the most of the advantages of its hands, the Zaku had no internal weapons. Indeed, its working abilities were amply demonstrated in the Earth landing operations that followed the colony fall, when Zakus constructed a series of military facilities even as they wiped out the Federation's ground forces. This made it possible for Zeon to carry out the largest terrestrial conquest in history in an extremely short time.
Three years passed between the completion of the prototype and the combat deployment of mass-produced mobile suits. It could be said that the existence of the Zaku pushed the Principality of Zeon, in which real power had passed from Sovereign Degwin to his eldest son Gihren, into all-out war. It can't be denied that its change of objective, from the independence and liberation of all space colonists to the control of Earth by the most elite of the space colonists, was made possible by reliance on the kind of military strength represented by the Zaku. Now the Principality of Zeon had obtained the means to turn this ambition into a reality. Production of the Zaku type continued until November of U.C.0079, and between the early and improved types more than 2,000 units were manufactured. It's said that more than a dozen variant types were also created through various modifications.
Finally, we'll discuss the differences between the early type and improved type. This was a model change accompanying the enhancement of the thermonuclear reactor, as a technological revolution reduced its size and weight and increased its power. Its armor was reinforced accordingly, and the heat hawk, a close combat weapon powered by the output of the thermonuclear reactor, was added to its equipment. Due to the higher performance of its cooling system, the pipes that contained its ducts were exposed on its waist and leg sections.
We'll leave the details of variation types, such as the Gouf used exclusively on Earth, until next time.
Translator's Note: The Mechanical History section concludes with discussions of the Principality of Zeon's air, space, and ground forces, as well as extensive coverage of various types of electric car. According to the editor's note in the following volume, the section's remaining text was created entirely by the Roman Album Extra staff without reference to the fanzine Gun Sight, and in any event I don't feel it particularly requires translation.
By Noboru Adachi (production supervisor)
Mr. Masami Iwasaki of Nippon Sunrise asked me to serve as on-site producer for the theatrical adaptation of the Mobile Suit Gundam TV series. Since I hadn't seen all of Gundam, I didn't know what kind of a work it was, so I spent three days watching the Gundam TV series on video. Then I felt like I had at least some idea of chief director Yoshiyuki Tomino's creative intentions.
◎ The theatrical version of Mobile Suit Gundam began with Mr. Tomino creating a structure based on the TV series which would turn it into two or three movies. Mr. Tomino's structure was supposed to be ready by the end of August, but since he was also working on Ideon, we agreed that he'd turn in the final script by September 7.
◎ Who should we get to direct it? Since he had experience with the TV series, and Mr. Tomino really wanted him, I formally asked Mr. Ryoji Fujiwara and he readily agreed.
I contacted Mr. Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer and animation director, to discuss the actual working process. We decided on a system where Mr. Yasuhiko would do the first key animation, then turn it over to the second key animators. (1) Naturally, once the unit director had okayed the second key animation, the cut would be passed on to the in-betweeners. (2)
◎ I nominated Mr. Masuo Ueda, who was on the Ideon crew, as production assistant. He also had experience as a production assistant on the Gundam TV series, so I considered him an essential staff member. I discussed it with Mr. Hasegawa, the producer on Ideon, and although it didn't go smoothly I was able to force him onto the Gundam crew.
◎ Mr. Iwasaki also assigned Ms. Tomoko Matayoshi, from Okinawa, to the Gundam crew for production support. He explained that she had two years' experience as an animator. It seems she wants to be a director rather than an animator, but personally, I was secretly relieved that we could ask her to make simple minor corrections to the animation.
As planned, Mr. Tomino finished his final script on September 8. We quickly made copies and distributed them to the company president, the chief of the planning office, Mr. Iwasaki, Mr. Yasuhiko, managing director Ito, and the editor Mr. Tsurubuchi. Mr. Tsurubuchi immediately began splicing together the rush film we'd received from Tokyo Laboratory at the end of August as per the cut numbers in the script.
On September 16 (Monday), we previewed a crude rush film for Mr. Tomino and Mr. Yasuhiko, the TV series scriptwriters Mr. Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Mr. Yoshihisa Araki, Mr. Yuu Yamamoto, and Mr. Kenichi Matsuzaki, the mechanical designer Mr. Kunio Okawara, the art director Mr. Mitsuki Nakamura, the background artist Mr. Toshihisa Tojo, Mr. Michie of the finisher Deen, the planning office chief, and so forth. The preview was two hours and 40 minutes long, and it was really exhausting watching it with no sound. We all decided that for Part II, we'd start by making a print with partial sound included. (3)
The reactions of all the staff were generally consistent, which was reassuring. But everyone had their personal favorite episodes, and they all began approaching Mr. Tomino one by one, asking him to include their own favorites. At that point, it was still possible to make changes. Mr. Tomino listened to everyone's opinions and promised to address them while keeping the time constraints in mind. Once we had agreement among the staff, the preview screening disbanded.
On September 20 (Friday), Mr. Tomino and Mr. Tsurubuchi began inserting the estimated number of seconds of blank space for new material. It was supposed to be two hours and 20 minutes, but once they did that, it was more than three hours. They'd have to cut about 40 minutes' worth of story. In roughly four days, they got it down to two hours and 15 minutes, but as for how the chief director felt about it... I could understand his pain at having to remove things he didn't want to because of time constraints.
In parallel with the editing, we were organizing the cuts from the series, but we were worried about the retake work since we no longer had all the original cuts. The director Mr. Fujiwara began ordering retakes based on the rolls that had been edited.
◎ We were using newly created cuts, cuts where the characters required correction, and battle scenes from various episodes. Since these all had different backgrounds, we needed to make them consistent. At this point, Mr. Fujiwara began drawing retake storyboards.
Based on the storyboards Mr. Fujiwara made, Mr. Tomino sent final retake storyboards over to production, divided into A, B, and C ranks. Depending on the schedule, the A and B rank would definitely be done, and Mr. Tomino would approve the C rank ones if time permitted.
On October 2 (Thursday), an article appeared in Nikkan Sports saying that Shochiku would be releasing Mobile Suit Gundam. We immediately consulted with Shochiku, concluding that it would be better to hold a press conference as soon as possible, and we made the announcement on October 9. After the press conference, Mr. Yasuhiko and the director Mr. Fujiwara went back to the office and met to discuss the first key animation for the new scenes and retake cuts. They decided to hold the initial second key animation meeting on October 15 (Wednesday).
On the day in question, the second key animators Ms. Kazuko Maejima, Mr. Kiyoshi Nakamura, and Mr. Ichiro Itano went to work. We planned to add another second key animator in November. We'd also finished organizing the cuts from the series and begun tracking down the cuts required for the retakes, but it was hard to find the ones we needed. Of the cuts we did find, there were some that would be fine with corrections, and others it would be better to recreate from scratch. We decided to have Mr. Yasuhiko recreate many of these cuts as reference to check the timing.
We decided to station Ms. Ayumi Hattori permanently at Sunrise as an in-betweening staffer. This was a rush job for her, and I'm really grateful for her hard work and the vast number of cuts she dealt with. As for the finishing, we've entrusted all of it to Studio Deen, so that's a relief. (4) The color coordinator Mr. Michie did color coordination and checking on the series itself, so Sunrise just needed to hand the completed animation over to Deen on schedule.
But a problem arose. The background artist Mr. Tojo reported that he couldn't get to work because he didn't have all the boards, so we went to consult Mr. Iizuka at the planning office. (5) We dealt with it by borrowing backgrounds that had been set aside for use in magazines during the series. There were still parts for which there were no boards, however. Though we didn't have any newly created setting, there were some backgrounds we handled despite partially missing boards by blowing up the film and printing out stills. Since this didn't result in perfect colors, we also gave Mr. Tojo the "Gundam Complete Works" books as reference material.
The permanent Gundam crew started work with a small staff of just eight people—the chief director Mr Tomino, the director Mr. Fujiwara, the second key animators Ms. Maejima and Mr. Nakamura, the in-betweener Ms. Hattori, and myself, Mr. Ueda, and Ms. Matayoshi in production. Now all we had to do was proceed according to the schedule.
Mr. Yasuhiko's first key animation was running much later than I expected. At this pace, it seemed like it would take until the beginning of December. He hadn't worked as an animator since his illness, and he'd also had a lot of other work such as illustrations for movie posters. From a production standpoint, we had to reconsider the subsequent work process to make the most of his strengths.
We delivered the theatrical teaser to Shochiku on November 18, and officially decided on Mr. Noriyoshi Matsuura as the audio director. Now that the on-site staff was complete, and the work was considerably advanced, we decided it was time to get everyone together. We gathered 25 people at Irori in Kami-Igusa, and all the staff committed themselves to creating a compelling work in order to make the Gundam movie a success.
We also held a schedule meeting with Mr. Dezawa of Asahi Production, who was in charge of photography, and confirmed that we'd start shooting at the end of November. Mr. Ueda would push harder on the backgrounds and finishing so we could begin sending things to photography. The cuts would be sent to Mr. Doi for special effects. Very little of the finishing had been completed, so we went to Deen and asked them to increase their working efficiency.
Though we'd already started shooting, Mr. Yasuhiko still had about 70 cuts' worth of first key animation left to go. We held a final meeting on December 6, marking the end of Mr. Yasuhiko's work for the time being.
As we began the final push in mid-November, we'd also brought in Mr. Takashi Hyodo as a second key animator. The second key animation was completed on December 19, and the in-betweening was fininished on December 22. But there was little time left in the month, so the original plan of completing all the photography by the end of the year was now impossible. We were only halfway through shooting, and I was worried about the final editing scheduled for January.
Mr. Tomino came to discuss the production of the theatrical trailer, saying he wanted to see it on a multiscreen. I went with him to Tokyo Laboratory so the technicians could explain it to us, and we started work. Mr. Tomino also suggested that we choose Ms. Chieko Baisho for the role of Amuro's mother. Since she's a Shochiku actress, we had them conduct the negotiations for us.
The idea was okayed. We immediately went to the film studio in Ofuna, and asked her to record for the Gundam trailer during a lunch break in the "Tora-san" shooting. (6) Since this was a last-minute decision, it didn't match the schedule of Amuro's actor Mr. Toru Furuya, so we had to record them separately.
We delivered the trailer to Shochiku on December 22. We ended the year with about 70 cuts still in the finishing process, and 50 cuts' worth of backgrounds remaining. But the remaining cuts were all tough ones in terms of finishing, and all the remaining backgrounds were large and difficult as well. January would be terrifying.
Due to Ms. Chieko Baisho's schedule, January 7 was the only day she was available, so we had Mr. Toru Furuya and Mr. Hirotaka Suzuoki come in to record their shared scenes. The actual post-recording began on January 21.
The finishing was completed on January 10, and at that point, only three large cuts' worth of backgrounds remained. These three cuts, however, took another week. It didn't seem like the photography would be done any time soon, but the post-recording date was fast approaching. We continued shooting, prioritizing the newly created cuts where the timing had changed.
The final editing began on January 10. Though I gather it's very difficult for a director to do it while there are still blank spaces, we had no choice but to have Mr. Tomino begin the work. The final editing was completed on January 16, and the total running time was two hours, 17 minutes, and 58 seconds.
The day before the post-recording, we brought about 30 actors who weren't otherwise engaged to the Shinjuku sound studio. We played through the rushes for them so that they could begin the post-recording with a good understanding of Gundam. The total voice cast came to 47 people, the most that had ever appeared in an animation. The atmosphere in the studio was heated with excitement. (7) There were also about 20 people there from the magazine publishers, and we decided to use the lunch break to conduct joint interviews.
The post-recording took place on January 21, 22, 25, 26, and 27, a total of five days. During this time, Mr. Tomino would bring the rushes that had just been shot into the studio and personally swap out the film. But it seemed the shooting still wasn't over. In fact, new retake cuts had been added after the editing was done, and we'd asked Mr. Yasuhiko to handle the animation.
The dubbing was scheduled to begin on January 30, but Mr. Matsuura asked for a little more time to create the effects. So we pushed back the start to February 1, with the dubbing ending on February 10.
The dubbing began on February 1. 99% of the photography was done, and 99% of the images had been updated. This dubbing process would determine the quality of the final work, and all the staff were nervous as it began. One by one, the rolls they'd finished dubbing were sent as rushes to the editor Mr. Tsurubuchi, who began cutting the negatives.
The dubbing of the final roll was finished on February 10, though it actually went past midnight and ended at 3:00 AM on February 11. After that, the staff of the sound studio headed out into the pre-dawn streets of Shinjuku with Mr. Tomino and the others, saying "That's a wrap!" Then we could only wait to see the preview print.
I've been working in animation for years, but the most complex feelings are always the ones I have before I see the preview. I tell myself I've done a decent job, but on the other hand, I'm also thinking I should have done this or that at the time.
On February 17, a test screening was held for the Tokyo Laboratory staff. At this point the total running time was two hours, 19 minutes, five seconds, and 21 frames. The duration of the ending staff credits was too short, so they extended it. The two hours, 19 minutes, five seconds, and 21 frames felt very short. Applause broke out from everyone as it ended.
Animation can't be created by a single person. A work can only be made with the help of the people who plan it, direct it, draw the images, add the colors, and paint the backgrounds, the actors who lend their voices, those who create the effects, and countless others. And it's only when people actually watch it that it can finally be born into the world as a creative work. With your support, the staff will go on to devote all their energies to the production of Gundam II.
Thank you for your continued support!
(1) The distinction between first key animation (第１原画, daiichi genga) and second key animation (第２原画, daini genga) varies within the anime industry. Here, Yasuhiko drew rough drafts which were cleaned up by the second key animators, and then returned to Yasuhiko for corrections if necessary.
(2) The term dōga (動画), translated here as "in-betweeners," literally means "animation" and actually encompasses both in-betweening and cleanup of the key frames.
(3) I think Adachi may be referring to the upcoming Gundam II here. Though its production hadn't been approved yet, given the brief interval between the first and second movies, the planning of Gundam II must have begun during the production of the first installment.
(4) Finishing (仕上げ, shiage) is the final stage of animation work, in which frames are transferred to cels and painted.
(5) The English loanword "board" (ボード) is used to refer to painted backgrounds, rather than storyboards. Masao Iizuka, the planning office desk chief, also maintained Sunrise's archives of old production materials.
(6) "Tora-san" is a nickname for the live-action Otoko wa Tsurai yo ("It's Tough Being a Man") film series, in which Baisho was a regular cast member.
(7) The Japanese phrasing 「熱気でむんむんしている」 could also mean "hot and humid."
Mobile Suit Gundam is copyright © Sotsu • Sunrise. Everything else on this site, and all original text and pictures, are copyright Mark Simmons.
