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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

#181

Post by hodgesrm »

PapstJL4U wrote: post #157
hodgesrm wrote: post #156

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I was visiting Jane Austen's House Museum last year and it always gives me pleasure to see how wildly popular her work remains. I have believed for a long time that Austen is broadly popular because her works deal with issues of human relations and economic prosperity at the heart of modern, bourgeois existence. The draw is summed up in this excellent quote from the article: > They also both, mostly, focus on chara…

She is although simply a joy to read. Witty remarks and well written. "Elinor agreed with it all, for she did not think he deserved the compliment of rational opposition". - from S&S Who wasn't in a situtation where they felt arguing would do nothing? John Green asked: "Who doesn't want a friend as witty as Jane Austin to comment on life?

Austen's command of language and empathy for her characters is second to none. I love the hook at the end of this passage from Pride and Prejudice.

   ``And of this place,'' thought she, ``I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt. -- But no,'' -- recollecting herself, -- ``that could never be: my uncle and aunt would have been lost to me: I should not have been allowed to invite them.'' This was a lucky recollection -- it saved her from something like regret.
https://pemberley.com/janeinfo/ppv3n43.html

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

#182

Post by frmersdog »

Tanoc wrote: post #137
arjie wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the point. AFAIK Gundam is a mecha-anime for young adults - the same audience as Marvel movies or the average Oscar winner. It's not East of Eden or The Remains of The Day .

The original intended audience for Gundam was supposed to be college students if I remember correctly and not highschoolers. 1976 was the real start of when you had this massive wave of engineering finesse in Japan that overtook everything else in the world. It was the time when Japan was forming an obsession with mechanics, with model kits of everything from fully articulated 1:36 scale 50cc scooters to giant 1:20 s…

This is a good rundown of (the history of) the appeal, particularly to male viewers. I hesitate to call the melodrama "incidental", though, as the female viewers it drew in were the ones who saved the franchise (per Tomino) when it initially failed to take off. The creators recognized where their bread was being buttered, which is why so many series in the franchise (including the ones most grounded in some semblance of mechanical and military knowledge) end up centering around either love stories or a troupe of unusually handsome young men.

That was half the equation; the other half being the transition from toy-based to model-based merchandising, as you said, which drew back in the male fans.

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

#183

Post by underlipton »

zhivota wrote: post #115

Now someone tell me the equivalent of P.G. Wodehouse and I'll check it out. Wodehouse feels like the lighthearted successor of Austen, focused more on the comedy and farcical plots, than serious romance. Funny enough, I started reading his stuff on the recommendation of Paul Graham.

I can't speak to Wodehouse's style, but as far as mecha series that weave comedy into plots that are fairly serious but also genre-aware (and ready and willing to take the piss out of them), in a well-constructed setting, I would look at Martian Successor Nadesico for old-school, Majestic Prince for a newer series.

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

#184

Post by throw4847285 »

skybrian wrote: post #175
throw4847285 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You learn a lot about post-War Japan and the New Left. Just because a writer dresses their story up in futuristic or fantastical trappings does not mean that they aren't writing about their own cultural milieu. Tomino is explicit about this in the interviews compiled for the supplementary material in the Gundam Origin manga. They are a fantastic read (and the manga is a masterpiece).

Interesting. Do you know any good articles online that talk about this history?

I can't find the specific interview online. It's included in one of the volumes of Gundam Origin, which I took out of the library. However, this interview touches on similar themes, and may in fact be the same one I read. I have a poor memory.

https://zeonic-republic.net/?page_id=12512

If you're looking to learn more about the political movement in general, read up on the Zenkyoto. I am far from an expert, so I don't have any specific books to recommend. But if you do a little digging, even just on Wikipedia, it will become clear how much Japanese culture owes to that political moment.

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

#185

Post by throw4847285 »

ericmcer wrote: post #177
throw4847285 wrote: post #163

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You learn a lot about post-War Japan and the New Left. Just because a writer dresses their story up in futuristic or fantastical trappings does not mean that they aren't writing about their own cultural milieu. Tomino is explicit about this in the interviews compiled for the supplementary material in the Gundam Origin manga. They are a fantastic read (and the manga is a masterpiece).

Interesting. It is a shame that you can't really experience art correctly unless you have the context of living in that time & place. I will never experience Anime, Russian literature, early English literature, etc. fully because my lens is always gonna be an American in the 2000s. I am curious how people 100 years from now will perceive art from the last 20 years, much of it feels like a thinly veiled commentary on…

But that's exactly why you should read literature. Obviously the goal isn't to shake your own worldview entirely, which is impossible. But you can open it up enough to experience art from another culture on its own terms.

Plus, many classic novels feature introduction to help ground the reader in the historical moment. Though those intros also often feature spoilers, which is annoying.

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

#186

Post by baruz »

ifh-hn wrote: post #135
baruz wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not with that attitude you won’t! But dip your toe in, _Pride and prejudice_ is pretty light and breezy while having some depth to it.

I don't know. All I remember from school is absolutely hating being forced to read, and understand/interpret, thing like shakespeare and Jane Austin. But then again I now like a lot of the vegetables I used to hate as a kid... My daughter loves the classics, me, science fiction and fantasy.

_Pride and prejudice_ hits for me similar notes as those for fantasy and historical fiction, though of course it is commenting on contemporary issues with no magic (except the magic of love), alas. It’s like entering a foreign society where you may have to infer why people are acting the way they do. Now that you’re not in school, no one is forcing you to write essays on what you read, or even to understand or interpret what is going on in the narrative! Cool, huh?

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

#187

Post by eszed »

jpfromlondon wrote: post #149
eszed wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English major here, and your post is great . It's not complete, of course, but you've hit everything a beginner needs to know to get over the first hump of understanding, in a way that "expert" knowledge sometimes gets in the way of communicating. I doubt the reply I was writing in my head would have been better, and probably would have been worse, so thank you for jumping in. But (because I have to go there - and I…

>prosy prosaic.

Negative, ghost rider:

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/us/dictionary/english/prosy

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

#188

Post by skybrian »

throw4847285 wrote: post #184
skybrian wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Interesting. Do you know any good articles online that talk about this history?

I can't find the specific interview online. It's included in one of the volumes of Gundam Origin, which I took out of the library. However, this interview touches on similar themes, and may in fact be the same one I read. I have a poor memory. https://zeonic-republic.net/?page_id=12512 If you're looking to learn more about the political movement in general, read up on the Zenkyoto. I am far from an expert, so I don't…

Apparently there is office politics too?

> Throughout Z, my attitude toward everyone involved was, “You’re fools for only wanting Gundam. You’ve recklessly asked me to do this; I’ll make the protagonist go insane.” Despite this warning, they pressed ahead anyway, those adults felt no responsibility toward the work. So, I decided to do exactly what I wanted.

> Yasuhiko: Including the bit where you lifted the hero’s name from Camille Claudel?

> Tomino: All of it was intentional. And even after I made Z that way, the same stupid adults came back saying, “Let’s do another one next year.” Honestly, I was aghast. All right then, let’s make ZZ. But I’ll show you: this is the kind of foolish thing you’ll get. Only then did they finally catch on, “Oh, Tomino’s calling us idiots.” It took them two full years to get that. Two years of time and money. There are a lot of adults like that.

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

#189

Post by OneDeuxTriSeiGo »

frmersdog wrote: post #179
OneDeuxTriSeiGo wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

lmao i was waiting for someone to bring it up. Also don't forget Jamitov Hymen.

Jamaican Daninghan. Not to be confused with Cuban Pete. And please do not forget that 'Kamille' is a man's name.

Lmao everyone hating on my boy Kamille.

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

#190

Post by vl »

yomismoaqui wrote: post #114
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?

I started with some series from the alternate universes and I fully recommend them: - Gundam 00: Gundam as a terrorist - Iron Blooded Orphans: Gundam as a (child) mercenary After this I you want to watch the original universe (Universal Century) you can start with the 3 movies that summarize the OG series. They are legally on YouTube (search for gundaminfo)

Does it make sense to start with the movies?
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