10 Years After Airing—Looking Back at Mobile Suit Gundam AGE's "Challenges" ③ | Febri

10 Years Since Airing - Looking Back on the "Challenges" of "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" ③

To commemorate the 10th anniversary of the TV broadcast, a Blu-ray Box will be released. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" (hereafter, AGE). The final installment of the special feature series, which examines the AGE project, which is full of various "challenges," using the words of the people involved, focuses on the story depicted as a 100-year historical drama for three generations of the Asuno family. Explore what kind of influence it had on the Gundam series.

Interview / Text / Itsuki Mori

* The words of the parties are quoted from the interview recorded in the "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE" Blu-ray BOX.

"As a story, rather than a war story, I wanted to base it on a drama between parents and children. Like a three-generation drama about Ieyasu Tokugawa and his children. With a great father. , the children who inherit it have their own troubles, and they have family quarrels involving history." - Mr. Akihiro Hino, the original story writer, is composed as "a 100-year story of three generations". This is how he talks about the Taiga drama story of "AGE". Although the general framework of the battle is between the Earth Federation Forces and the Vagans (descendants of humans who migrated to the Martian sphere), the camera closely follows the movements of the Asuno family. Starting with Frit Asuno, who developed the Gundam and chose to fight out of revenge for his mother, Marina, who died in the Vagan invasion, we will explore how his son, Asem Asuno, and grandson, Kio Asuno, approach the battle. It is drawn carefully.

A total of 49 episodes of "AGE" consist of four parts: Flit, Asemu, Kio, and the final battle "Three Generations" where all three generations head to the battlefield. The Flits that appear in the first episode are Flit (age 14) who develops the Gundam AGE-1 and participates in battle, Asem (ages 39-41) who is active on the front lines as a high-ranking officer of the Earth Federation Forces, and more. As Kio's guardian, Kio burns to annihilate Vagan, Kio's third generation (63 years old), his life is fragmented, and his changes in his state of mind and way of thinking are told. The incident in which Flit's first love, Yulin Rucher, was killed by Vagan's schemes (Flit's edition) cast a big shadow over his life. After that, he is caught in the annihilation of Vagan and goes on a rampage. Although he is the hero who developed the Gundam AGE-1, he is not portrayed as a saint, and his rampage influences the actions of his children and grandchildren, and has a great impact on the battlefield.

Flit was a genius engineer, and as a pilot he had a special ability called "X-rounder". However, his son, Asemu, is less suitable as an "X-rounder" like Flit, and is depicted suffering from a difference in ability with his great father. On the other hand, compared to his father, Flit, who is obsessed with Vagan, such as deepening exchanges with enemy spy Zeheart Garrett, Asemu recognizes Vagan as a human being and begins to show empathy.

Kio, the grandson, was given special education from a young age by his grandfather Flit, and was initially considered a trump card against the Vagans. However, when he was temporarily detained by the Vagans and brought to their home base, he learned of his fierce lifestyle and took a position that did not want any further expansion of the battle. As Mr. Hino described it as a "family quarrel involving history," towards the end of the story, Flit, Asemu, and Kio are at odds over how to fight Vagan. It can be said that the composition of the conflict between the Earth Federation Forces and the Vagans on the vertical axis, and the conflict between the Asuno family on the horizontal axis, is in line with the original concept, but director Susumu Yamaguchi said that it was difficult to bring it all together. reminisce. Since it is a Gundam series, war is a major premise. On the other hand, I would like to establish it as an entertainment work that can be enjoyed by parents and children. "'AGE' is a work that focuses on the family, the relationship between parents and children, so it has a very strong element of entertainment. However, I realized how difficult it is to deal with people's lives and deaths." - and it seems that it was a work while worrying about how to show both.

"AGE" depicts the history of three generations: Flit, Asemu, and Kio, and MS (mobile suits) and characters are drawn in each era. In other words, it was a task to create settings for 3 works in 4 courses. Mechanical designer Junya Ishigaki also said, "Sometime during the Flit arc, we started designing Asemu and Kio arcs, and we were working on several at the same time." First of all, it can be said that it was a sufficiently challenging work just to create a huge number of mecha and character settings (and on a tight production schedule of 4 courses in a row).

In addition, Director Yamaguchi said, "If you try to do something new in the Gundam series, it's something you do normally in other children's works. The more you aim for a new Gundam, the more you can It would end up being a mundane setting." Hino also said, "In AGE, it was difficult to strike a balance between what the fans (of the Gundam series) wanted and what they wanted to change." look back. It makes me feel how difficult it is to establish a new Gundam image.

"AGE" was a unique and ambitious work with features not seen in the conventional Gundam series, including stuffing, story structure, mecha and character design. As a result, "AGE" served as a catalyst for expanding the range of subsequent "Gundam" works. Mr. Shinya Watada, who participated in "AGE" as a director and directed the OVA "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE MEMORY OF EDEN" that reconstructed "AGE" from Asemu's point of view, later went on to create "Gundam Build series, "Try", "Divers" and "Re:RISE". "I think it's a job that I was able to do after going through 'AGE.' AGE's mecha production, which becomes more and more flashy in the second half, was put to good use in ``Try. We've applied it to the taste of Divers as a whole," he says, explaining that the experience he gained with AGE and the techniques he learned there have been passed down to subsequent titles. Character designer Chiba Michinori said, "I was able to respond smoothly to Yu Ito's character draft for 'Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans' because of my 'AGE' experience. That's why," explains the magnitude of its value.

As we have seen so far, the “challenge” of “AGE” was important for the Gundam series animation, games, and Gunpla. And for the staff who participated in the production, it became an indispensable place of practice in creating the next generation of "Gundam". Mr. Hino participated in last year's animated sci-fi robot work "Megaton-class Musashi" (2021-) as the general director and series composition, and Mr. Yamaguchi, the director, will be in charge of the movie " Doraemon: Nobita's Small War in Space 2021” (Mr. Ishigaki also participated in the mechanical design). Mr. Chiba and mechanical designer Mr. Kanetake Ebikawa have participated in multiple Gundam series since then. Each one puts in the experience value in "AGE" in their own form. With that in mind, there should be new discoveries when looking back at AGE.

February 25, 2022

BCXA-1702

44,000 yen (tax included)

・In addition to all 49 episodes of the TV series, the OVA "Mobile Suit Gundam AGE MEMORY OF EDEN" is also included!・Benefits include an archive drama CD that summarizes the drama CDs of past BD deluxe edition benefits and a special booklet!・"Mobile Suit Gundam AGE Universe Accel/Cosmic Drive" opening movie is included for the first time!・A storage box drawn by mechanical designer Kanetake Ebikawa!・Inner jacket drawn by mechanical designer Junya Ishigaki and character designer Michinori Chiba!