I caught his panel at Heroes Con in Charlotte, North Carolina 2 weeks ago. It was great. Seriously, if any of you guys are anywhere near any of these exhibits, check them out. They're well worth it.
Wait wait wait, is that Jotaro behind her?
The entire ending of Zeta Gundam is an all seems lost scenario. During his final moments, the show's villain, Paptimus Scirocco, psychically attacks the main character, Camille Bidan, causing enough brain damage to make him a blathering idiot.
The oppressive Titans have been defeated, but at the cost of Camille's mind and every other pilot's life. Looming over them is the real victor of their three-way battle, Haman Karn of Neo Zeon, who leaves with her forces still in tact and the intentions of reviving Zeon to its former glory.
Giant Robo called. It said "I'll kick both their asses."
@Zack Stentz:
I recently bought up a bunch of Star Blazers VHSs at a local used book store and watched a bit on Christmas. It's been forever since I've watched anything on VHS and it felt pretty damn awesome.
@cylon_conspiracy:
"I believe that the Odaiba Gundam will serve the same purpose as the Statue of Liberty — something to instill hope and inspiration in people."
Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino thinks it's like the statue of liberty or something.
ooooh japan~
Honestly though, I know nothing of Japan outside of what I've been told by others and what I've read in their exported movies, games, cartoons, and comics. From my experience, Japanese science fiction seems to do a lot of the same things we do to their culture with German culture.
You want to make something look cool or imposing? Slap a German aesthetic on it.
That's how we've come to have those lovely Zeon from Mobile Suit Gundam and the Galactic Empire from Legend of the Galactic Heroes and to a lesser extent, nearly every prosecutor in the Phoenix Wright games. They're the de facto cool foreigners, much like how the Asian aesthetic was used to bring future cool to Bladerunner.
As for Katayama, after reading her piece on the guys who carry around body pillows, I think it kind of conflicts with what she's saying here. There are a lot of instances in that article where she mentions some of the odd looks the body pillow/2D love guys get when they go out in public but here it sounds like she's trying to say 2D love is some kind of joke or alternative lifestyle in Japan. As I said earlier, I have no real experience with Japanese culture. So, is she trying to say this sort of thing is socially acceptable there and people are being culturally insensitive, or is she trying to shatter social stigmas 2D love all over the world?
@Annalee Newitz: Most obviously, Spider-Man 1 for the Thanksgiving scene.
There's a domestic squabble, blood, and Norman Osborn brandishing knives; just like my Thanksgivings.
#observationdeck
Gundam Wing slamming? io9 has earned a lot more of my respect. The whole Relena/Heero romance is definitely one of those things that hurts to watch.
It's kind of funny, because the novelization of the original Gundam has something along the same lines (Amuro falls in love with Sayla, who's really Char's sister, who really wants to kill Amuro) and it comes off infinitely better. They're not really much between Amuro and Sayla in the original show or the movies, but I have to say, I really like the book's take on their relationship.
The first daring go-getter from science fiction that springs to my mind is Walter von Schenkopp from Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I haven't read Yoshiki Tanaka's original novels (they've never been translated into English), but the anime is supposed to be very faithful.
Having escaped from the Intergalactic Empire at a young age, he entered into the Free Planets Alliance's military academy where he then became part of the elite Rosen Ritter. The Rosen Ritter are essentially an elite group of armored shock troopers. He later assumes command of the Rosen Ritter after the death of its leader.
The man does some pretty amazing things over the course of the series, including capturing a Death Star sized base with only a handful of men. He's regularly seen thrashing through grunts with his axe and unlike most anime, he seems to be one of the few characters capable of doing this. While he's cutting down his enemies, he usually likes to taunt them and boast about how awesome he is (and occasionally ask if they have girlfriends).
He's also a sarcastic, womanizing, man's man. Personality wise, think of him as an even more bad ass Han Solo with an axe.
Moe, to me, has always been this annoying little design aesthetic used to sell something you otherwise couldn't sell.
Got a weak story you're having a hard time pitching? Throw a moe girl in there, there's an audience for that stuff I hear!
And a bonus: you don't need to write characters when you've already got a set of glorious moe archetypes to exploit! #comics
oh what the hell
#calendar
My favorite faux deaths in Sci fi are probably Shiro and Aina in Gundam the 08th MS Team.
The original ending is such a downer; Shiro and Aina rush a giant mobile weapon in a half destroyed Gundam and sacrifice themselves to finish it off.
What's so unnerving about it is that you don't actually see them die; you see the explosion from the perspective of Shiro's unit who pretty much say what you're thinking "Ahh, he's still alive." They start running up to see him, calling his name without receiving a response and the credits start rolling.
After the credits are over you see a silhouette of a one-legged Shiro limping away with the help of Aina. You know they're never going to see their friends again because Shiro would be court martialed and Aina betrayed Zeon to destroy that mobile armor, so you assume the two lovers live out the rest of their lives in South America together. #startrek
@Unmarketable_Product:
"They're just normal people unless they've got days or weeks to prepare for something. "
So witches are Batman? #horror
Everyone always forgets the Cowboy Bebop movie is a Halloween movie. #halloween
The ZERO system is an interpretation of an older Gundam concept called the "Psycoframe."
From wikipedia:
"Appearing in Char's Counterattack, the psycoframe is a technology that builds the psycommu system into nano-receptors within the structural framework of a mobile suit. This allows an extremely high concentration of psycommu perception, and a Newtype pilot would be able to control the mobile suit as if it were his/her own body (somewhat similar to how the suits in G Gundam are controlled). Traditional psycommu systems require sizeable sub-systems, and are typically mounted on larger platforms such as a mobile armor or an uncommonly large mobile suit. With the development of the psycoframe, it became possible to implement a psycommu system into a smaller mobile suit."
Lovin' the mono eye.
Also, I'll watch anything the words "Mechanical", "Violator", or "Hakaider" in the title. Having all three of these words makes this a must see.
@Darkly Dreaming svenhoek:
You've pretty much just described the plot of G Gundam. I think you're on to something.
Drop a space colony on them I say! That'll help the earth for sure.
Whats even more ironic is that Gainer, the main character of Tomino's anime Overman King Gainer, is an avid video gamer. It's a pretty big part of that show, actually.
After his parents die, he begins to play games nonstop. Eventually, his skills in gaming help him develop his Overman (mech) piloting skills and he even has a nonstop gaming session to prepare himself for his final battle.
Sooo uuuhh, yeah. Tomino's trollin' y'all.
@Theomeny:
Yeah, I'm pretty surprised they're making something like this these days to be honest.
With this and Gundam Unicorn, I should have a lot of Japanese space pew pew this year.
