Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
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Mobile Suit Gundam: THE ORIGIN (機動戦士ガンダム：THE ORIGIN in Japanese) is a manga adaptation of the television anime series Mobile Suit Gundam written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the original series' character designer. This is the third direct manga adaptation of the TV series.
The series was first serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace in Japan beginning in 2002 and has since been collected in (as of now) 16 tankoubon volumes. Both are published by Kadokawa Publishing under their Kadokawa Comics A imprint. Viz Comics, in America, attempted to translate the series and publish it in America (interestingly in a quarterly, perfect-bound magazine-sized format), although low sales very quickly ended the American run.
It should be noted that although there were 12 volumes of the English translation released, they do not correspond with the Japanese volumes. The English volumes, with an average length between 100-130 pages were about half of that of the equivalent Japanese tankoubon which ran anywhere between 200-270. The length varied as some contained just four chapters, some contained an additional "special" shorter side story, and others contained a full five chapters. The reason for this could be that the Japanese serialization focused on keeping distinct chapters. As a result, the English serialization ended up having a higher price point than its Japanese equivalent with only roughly half of the content. The English translation stops near the end of volume six in the Japanese version.
The popularity of the manga in Japan has led to the release of Aizoban or Collector's Edition versions. Each collector's edition combines two tankoubon volumes (combining the beginning and end sections into one), creating large, leather bound, hardback editions with over 100 pages printed in full color (as opposed to about 5 pages per takoubon).
[edit] Volumes (Japanese Release)
Takoubon
1. 始動編 ACTIVATION - Release Date: [2002年 05月 29日] 588円
2. 激闘編 FIERCE FIGHTING - Release Date: [2002年 07月 23日] 588円
3. ガルマ編・前 GARMA (Beginning) - Release Date: [2002年 11月 22日] 588円
4. ガルマ編・後 GARMA (End) - Release Date: [2003年 03月 20日] 588円
5. ランバ・ラル編・前 RAMBA RAL (Beginning) - Release Date: [2003年 07月 25日] 588円
6. ランバ・ラル編・後 RAMBA RAL (End) - Release Date: [2004年 03月 24日] 588円
7. ジャブロー編・前 JABURO (Beginning) - Release Date: [2004年 07月 23日] 588円
8. ジャブロー編・後 JABURO (End) - Release Date: [2004年 11月 22日] 588円
9. シャア・セイラ編・前 CHAR & SAYLA (Beginning) - Release Date: [2005年 04月 22日] 609円
10. シャア・セイラ編・後 CHAR & SAYLA (End) - Release Date: [2005年 08月 26日] 588円
11. 開戦編・前 STARTING A WAR (Beginning) - Release Date: [2005年 12月 26日] 588円
12. 開戦編・後 STARTING A WAR (End) - Release Date: [2006年 04月 26日] 588円
13. ルウム編・前 LOUM (Beginning) - Release Date: [2006年 07月 26日] 588円
14. ルウム編・後 LOUM (End) - Release Date: [2006年 12月 26日] 588円
15. オデッサ編・前 ODESSA (Beginning) - Release Date: [2007年 05月 26日] 588円
16. オデッサ編・後 ODESSA (End) - Release Date: [2007年 11月 26日] 588円
17. ララァ編・前 LALAH (Beginning) - Release Date: [2008年 06月 26日] 588円
公式ガイドブック GUIDE BOOK - Release Date: [2004年 08月 23日] 777円
Aizouban
I. 始動編 ACTIVATION - Release Date: [2005年 05月 23日] 2625円
II. ガルマ編 GARMA - Release Date: [2006年 06月 21日] 2625円
III. ランバ・ラル編 RAMBA RAL - Release Date: [2007年 05月 26日] 2835円
IV. ジャブロー編 JABURO - Release Date: [2008年 06月 23日] 2835円
[edit] Volumes (US Release)
Viz Comics
Issue #01-02: Activation
Issue #03-04: Combat
Issue #05-08: Garma
Issue #09-12: Ramba Ral
- Current as of April 2008
[edit] Story
The plot of the manga follows somewhat closely the plot of the original series. It is the year Universal Century 0079, and the eighth month of a vicious war between the Earth Federation and a breakaway nation of space colonists, the Principality of Zeon. The story follows the crew of the ship White Base, as they fight to ferry the experimental RX-78 Gundam mobile suit to the Federation base at Jaburo.
Although for the most part faithful to the original series' plot (all of the major events unfold in mostly the same manner as the TV series, though often in different locales), Yasuhiko has taken the liberty of changing certain elements in the series universe, giving a different character to the series and the struggle that unfolds. Primary among these is the presence of mobile suits in both militaries well before the conflict begins -- in fact, in the flashback sequences, both the Federation and Zeon militaries use Guntanks in 0068, and they and the Guncannon mobile suit are described as "obsolete" and fit for target practice in the first volume (in the TV series proper, both units were as new as the Gundam itself, designed to serve as long and mid-range fire support units).
Other differences concern the breadth of the Gundam's journey to Jaburo. Where it's implied that the White Base's journey to Jaburo in the series was pretty much a circumnavigation of the globe unconnected to many real-world locations, Yasuhiko's journey places the White Base's landfall near Los Angeles, the headquarters of Garma Zabi (in the series, Garma was based out of a generic "New Yark" -- Origin in fact states the Zeon occupation HQ as Los Angeles City Hall, with Garma residing in Hollywood/Beverly Hills) and moves the craft steadily to the southeast, and down the South American coast -- past Caracas, Venezuela and through Macchu Picchu and into Brazil, where Jaburo is located. This retelling cuts out some of the more trivial encounters seen in the original series, while keeping and expanding on important characters like Garma, Ramba Ral, and the Black Tri-Stars. As a direct result the events of Operation Odessa which takes place around the Ukrainian city of the same name, occur after the events of Jaburo, as opposed to the anime where they occur before.
Yasuhiko further finally tells the entire back story of the Gundam universe in the manga. After the successful defense of Jaburo, the story diverts into a very in-depth flashback, told primarily from the viewpoints of Sayla and Char (with a secondary thread being told from Amuro's POV) recounting the downfall of Zeon Zum Deikun, the rise of the Zabi family, the construction of Side 7 and the research into Mobile Suits, and leading up through a decade until the launching of the One Year War. It also goes into detail answering many previously unanswered questions such the appearance of heretofore unseen Zeon mobile suits prior to the MS-05 Zaku I, how Dozle Zabi received his trademark scars and even the origin of Casval Deikun/Edward Mass' "Char Aznable" identity. The canon status of these revelations is still a matter of debate. Volume fourteen, deals with the Battle of Loum at the beginning of the One Year War, and is the last piece of the in-depth flashback.
The story has since shifted back on track to the original anime's storyline, featuring the White Base's involvement in the Federation's Operation Odessa. As well as including Kai Shiden's encounter with Miharu. The most recent tankoubon serialization deals with the end of the Odessa campaign and (in another departure from the series) takes Ma Quve and his Gyan out of the picture before he has a chance to confront the Gundam.
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