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Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

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Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#101

Post by Barrin92 »

vl wrote: post #60

> A friend recently asked how to get started watching Gundam So what is good order to watch Gundam in 2025? What should be skipped? Are mangas/novels worth it or is it better just to watch anime?

if in doubt watch it in release order but here's a good overview of the in-universe timelines (https://imgur.com/a/v5FNHoq) for a bit of orientation.

The shows outside of the UC timeline are their own thing, a lot of folks outside of Japan saw Wing first, those you can watch in whatever order you like. I'd say start with the universal timeline in order, it's the backbone of the Gundam universe. The shows between Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta are side stories during the events of the original show but don't skip them (except for IGLOO) because they're straight up some of the best shows in the Gundam universe.

The "core" of Gundam is the original show, Zeta, ZZ and Char's Counterattack. Those in particular are one story and Zeta is widely considered (one of the) strongest Gundam shows.

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#102

Post by viraptor »

gabriel666smith wrote: post #36

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a robot suit to ride around and fight things with." I was visiting Jane Austen's House Museum last year and it always gives me pleasure to see how wildly popular her work remains. There always seem to be tourists there visiting from all over the world. That is really heartening. She was very innovative. Maybe…

> to see how wildly popular her work remains

There's an annual Jane Austen festival there too - it really brings people from all over the world. Very fun event even if you're just +1 to someone who's into it.

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#103

Post by altairprime »

ifh-hn wrote: post #91
gabriel666smith wrote: post #36

"It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a robot suit to ride around and fight things with." I was visiting Jane Austen's House Museum last year and it always gives me pleasure to see how wildly popular her work remains. There always seem to be tourists there visiting from all over the world. That is really heartening. She was very innovative. Maybe…

I'm not well read, and don't think I'd be able to finish any of the classics. As such I have no clue what "slipping from prose into a soft Iambic pentameter" means. I came here for the robots.

You know how in Disney movies they shift smoothly from talking to singing? It’s just like that, only instead of the bass beat to the character’s song starting to play, her ‘prose’ (think ‘non-poetry words’, aka what most people consider books to be full of) shifts smoothly into Shakespeare-like syllable emphasis patterns. Listen for the percussion notes starting about ten seconds into https://youtu.be/79DijItQXMM and imagine that instead of him bursting into musical song, he burst into chanting a limerick:

There once was a demi-god, Maui / Amazing and awesome: I’m Maui // Who stole you your fire / and made your days lighter // Yes, thank you, you’re welcome! Love: Maui

It’s a bit odd of an analogy, but limericks and “Iambic pentameter” are specific instances of an underlying language architectural thing, so it should be just enough to convey the basics of that “prose to Iambic” sentence. And: if you’ve ever watched “Much Ado About Nothing” from the mid-90s, that’s 100% Iambic.

(If you’re an English major, yes, I know, this is all wrong; it’s just a one-off popsicle-sticks context-unique mindset-conveyance analogy-bridge, not step-by-step directions to lit/ling coordinates in your field.)

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#104

Post by gabriel666smith »

constantius wrote: post #99
gabriel666smith wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Of course! This is my favourite example, from Sense and Sensibility, because it announces itself with "burst", and that's the novel where she deploys it most: "Elinor could sit it no longer. She almost ran out of the room, and as soon as the door was closed, burst into tears of joy, which at first she thought would never cease." She 'tends towards Iambic' in literary criticism terminology. So it's not a strict Iambic…

One of those comments that let you glimpse the depth behind things and the joys that lie in exploring those depths. Thanks for taking the time. I will spend tomorrow evening reading.

What a nice thing to say, thank you. A pleasure to be even a vague signpost toward work that's so rewarding. Enjoy your evening(s)!

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#106

Post by astrange »

OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #77
kibwen wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this erases some interesting nuance. The original Gundam is unabashedly a toy commercial--ostensibly marketing to children in the exact same vein as the OG Transformers--except apparently nobody told the director, so it's an extremely emotionally mature show (more so than nearly all YA fiction) where the main character, a teen soldier, is narrowly escaping death, is killing people, is watching everyone around…

It's not that nobody told the director. It's that the director knew nobody cared what was actually in the show as long as the end product moved units on the shelves. It's part of the reason the names are so wild. He was actively pushing the envelope with outrageous names during pitches to see how far he could go before producers would stop nodding along without paying attention.

Those names include "A Baoa Qu", "Gelgoog", and a variety of insane character names that sometimes sound cultureless yet futuristic like Bannagher Links and sometimes are just "M'Quve" or "Full Frontal".

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#107

Post by gabriel666smith »

altairprime wrote: post #103
ifh-hn wrote: post #91

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not well read, and don't think I'd be able to finish any of the classics. As such I have no clue what "slipping from prose into a soft Iambic pentameter" means. I came here for the robots.

You know how in Disney movies they shift smoothly from talking to singing? It’s just like that, only instead of the bass beat to the character’s song starting to play, her ‘prose’ (think ‘non-poetry words’, aka what most people consider books to be full of) shifts smoothly into Shakespeare-like syllable emphasis patterns. Listen for the percussion notes starting about ten seconds into https://youtu.be/79DijItQXMM and…

This is a great example, and not odd as an analogy at all. It surfaces something subtle.

Language architecture is really interesting, I think, for programmers who have bought into the LLM hype in any meaningful way. It's an important field to have a sense of.

Tokenizers, for example, generally have multi-syllabic tokens as their base-level, indivisible unit.

You rarely see this mentioned when LLM capability against non-coding tasks is discussed, despite it being deeply important for prose construction.

Not to mention, putting language models aside, that the vast majority of code is written in language with a logical grammar. The disciplines are highly linked.

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#108

Post by [deleted] »

OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #77
kibwen wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think this erases some interesting nuance. The original Gundam is unabashedly a toy commercial--ostensibly marketing to children in the exact same vein as the OG Transformers--except apparently nobody told the director, so it's an extremely emotionally mature show (more so than nearly all YA fiction) where the main character, a teen soldier, is narrowly escaping death, is killing people, is watching everyone around…

It's not that nobody told the director. It's that the director knew nobody cared what was actually in the show as long as the end product moved units on the shelves. It's part of the reason the names are so wild. He was actively pushing the envelope with outrageous names during pitches to see how far he could go before producers would stop nodding along without paying attention.

[deleted]

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#109

Post by mft_ »

neaden wrote: post #53
macleginn wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Neveress all Austen's happy endings are due to the magical alignment of respect and love with security and social alliance. Jane's heroines are playing a (relatively, see below) high risk/high reward game of not wanting to sacrifice _anything_, which leads to their triumphs in the novels but most often led to loneliness and economic insecurity in the real world. Similarly, all people have choices, but these choices a…

Agreed but I think "The best marriage is one where the spouses respect each other and the man is able to provide a comfortable and secure economic life for the woman." wasn't like, a counter-cultural ideal, while the author of the post has Jane set up in opposition to her societies ideal of what a marriage should be. She was willing to reject the certainty of Bingley for a chance at something better, but I also think…

I think it’s strongly implied that Lizzy would have married someone poor that she loved and respected.

Re: Gundam is just the same as Jane Austen but happens to include giant mech suits

#110

Post by omoikane »

Starlevel004 wrote: post #33

> A friend recently asked how to get started watching Gundam, and as I tripped all over myself, equal parts excitement and not wanting to sound like a lunatic, I fumbled around for a good answer. But there is a good answer. It's Gundam 79. That's not hard. There are few forces in the world as strong as somebody seeing a long-running Japanese series and twisting and turning themselves into how to avoid release order.

> But there is a good answer. It's Gundam 79. That's not hard.

The hard part is that the older series relatively slow paced. I enjoyed most of them when I first saw them, but I am not sure I would have the patience to catch up from the beginning now if I had not watched them before.

Newer series are much faster paced, but they build on the foundations of the older series. Like GQuuuuuuX is great but you might have to watch Zeta Gundam first to fully appreciate it (50 episodes, maybe a few movies). It can be a lot of time commitment depending on where you enter the Gundam universe.

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