Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Volume one cover of Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin manga
機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN (Kidō Senshi Gandamu The Origin)
Genre	Space Opera, Military science fiction, Mecha, Drama
Manga
Written by	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
English publisher	NA Viz Media (former) Vertical Inc. (current)
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Gundam Ace
Original run	June 2001 – June 2011
Volumes	23 (12 in English)
Original video animation
Directed by	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by	Osamu Taniguchi
Written by	Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by	Takayuki Hattori
Studio	Sunrise
Licensed by	NA Sunrise UK Anime Limited
Released	February 28, 2015 – November 19, 2016
Runtime	60 minutes each
Episodes	4
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan's Island
Written by	Junji Ōno
Published by	Kadokawa Shoten
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Gundam Ace
Original run	June 25, 2016 – present
Volumes	4
Original video animation
Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Loum Arc
Directed by	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by	Osamu Taniguchi
Written by	Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by	Takayuki Hattori
Studio	Sunrise
Licensed by	NA Sunrise
Released	September 2, 2017 – May 5, 2018
Episodes	2
Anime television series
Directed by	Yoshikazu Yasuhiko Takashi Imanishi
Produced by	Osamu Taniguchi
Written by	Katsuyuki Sumisawa
Music by	Takayuki Hattori
Studio	Sunrise
Original network	NHK General TV
Original run	April 29, 2019 – scheduled
Episodes	13

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN, Kidō Senshi Gandamu The Origin) is a manga written and illustrated by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It is a retelling of the story from the 1979 anime television series Mobile Suit Gundam, of which Yasuhiko was the original character designer.

An anime adaptation of the manga, focusing on the stories of Casval Rem Deikun (more famously known as Char Aznable) and his sister Artesia (aka Sayla Mass), produced by Sunrise was released between 2015 and 2018 in six parts. Yasuhiko was the chief director of the adaptation, with Sunrise veteran Takashi Imanishi as director, and Katsuyuki Sumisawa as the scriptwriter.

Plot

See also: Mobile Suit Gundam § Plot

The plot of the manga follows somewhat closely to 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 warship White Base, as they fight to ferry the experimental RX-78-02 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 sides well before the conflict begins—in fact, in the flashback sequences, both the Earth Federation Forces and Zeon 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 the RX-75 and the RX-77 were as new as the RX-78 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 York" — 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 Machu Picchu and into Brazil, where Jaburo, the headquarters of the Earth Federation, 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 as 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. 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 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. Afterwards, the manga deals with the end of the Odessa campaign and, in another departure from the series, takes M'Quve and his Gyan out of the picture before he has a chance to confront the Gundam.

Media

Manga

The series was first serialized in the magazine Gundam Ace in Japan beginning in 2002 and has since been collected in 23 tankōbon volumes. Both are published by Kadokawa Shoten under their Kadokawa Comics A imprint. Viz Comics attempted to translate the series and publish it in America in a quarterly, perfect-bound magazine-sized format, although low sales very quickly ended the American run.

Although Viz released 12 volumes of its English translation, 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 tankōbon, 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 Viz release stopped near the end of volume six in the Japanese version.

The popularity of the manga in Japan has led to the release of aizōban or Collector's Edition versions. Each collector's edition combines two tankōbon volumes (combining the beginning and end sections into one), creating large, leather bound, hardback editions with dozens of pages printed in full color, as opposed to about 5 pages per tankōbon.

At Otakon 2012, North American publisher Vertical announced that it will publish an English language adaptation of the series in hardcover format similar to the Aizoban editions. The first volume was released on the March 26, 2013 and the series was completed with the publishing of the 12th volume on December 17, 2015.

A spinoff of the manga, titled Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan's Island (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム THE ORIGIN MSD ククルス·ドアンの島, Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu THE ORIGIN MSD Kukurusu Doan no Shima), was written by Junji Ōno and serialized in Gundam Ace on June 25, 2016, 10 years after the original manga's serialization and currently collected to 4 tankobon volumes. The manga is based on episode 15 of the original TV series.

English manga list

No.	Title	English release date	English ISBN
1	Activation	March 26, 2013	ISBN 978-1-93-565487-2
2	Garma	June 25, 2013	ISBN 978-1-93-565488-9
3	Ramba Ral	December 17, 2013	ISBN 978-1-93-565497-1
4	Jaburo	December 17, 2013	ISBN 978-1-93-565498-8
5	Char & Sayla	March 25, 2014	ISBN 978-1-93-913019-8
6	To War	June 17, 2014	ISBN 978-1-93-913020-4
7	Battle Of Loum	September 30, 2014	ISBN 978-1-93-913067-9
8	Operation Odessa	December 16, 2014	ISBN 978-1-93-913068-6
9	Lalah	April 28, 2015	ISBN 978-1-94-122015-3
10	Solomon	June 23, 2015	ISBN 978-1-94-122016-0
11	A Cosmic Glow	September 17, 2015	ISBN 978-1-94-122046-7
12	Encounters	December 17, 2015	ISBN 978-1-94-122047-4

Anime

Sunrise announced in June 2011 that an anime adaptation of Gundam The Origin was in production. In March 2014, it was announced it will be a four-episode OVA series with event screenings at Japanese theaters, in celebration of the 35th anniversary of Gundam, and centering on the stories of Casval Deikun and his sister Artesia. The first episode, titled The Blue-Eyed Casval (青い瞳のキャスバル, Aoi Hitomi no Kyasubaru), premiered in limited Japanese theaters on February 28, 2015. Sunrise produced an English dub recorded at NYAV Post for the first time since Bandai retired their Gundam license. Another two-episode OVA series, Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Loum Arc, was released in 2017 and 2018.

A 13-episode anime television recompilation of the OVA series will start broadcasting on April 29, 2019.

Episode list

No.	Title	Release date
1	"I: Blue Eyed Casval" "I Aoi Hitomi no Kyasubaru" (I 青い瞳のキャスバル)	February 28, 2015 (2015-02-28)
U.C. 0068 - While giving his speech to declare the Autonomous Republic of Munzo's independence from the Earth Federation, Zeon Zum Deikun suddenly dies of a heart attack. This causes mass riots in the colony against the Federation while Degwin Sodo Zabi, Deikun's deputy, rises to power. In the midst of the chaos, Deikun's children Casval and Artesia, along with Artesia's pet cat Lucifer and Deikun's old friend Jimba Ral, stow away aboard a cargo ship headed for Earth to escape from the Zabi regime. Episode 1's theme song is Hoshikuzu no Sunadokei (星屑の砂時計, lit. "Stardust Hourglass") by Takayuki Hattori featuring Yu-yu.
2	"II: Artesia's Sorrow" "II Kanashimi no Aruteishia" (II 哀しみのアルテイシア)	October 31, 2015 (2015-10-31)
Three years have passed since Casval, Artesia and Jimba fled to Earth and sought refuge in the castle of Don Teabolo Mass, an aristocrat and trusted friend of the Deikuns, in Andalusia, Spain; Teabolo adopts the children and renames them Édouard and Sayla, respectively. After Jimba is killed in an assassination attack by mercenaries hired by Kycilia Zabi, the Yashima Group, whose president is a good friend of Teabolo, offers to relocate an injured Teabolo and the children to Texas Colony at Side 5: Loum. Upon their arrival, the children meet Char Aznable, who bears a striking resemblance to Édouard. Tragedy strikes the children when they receive word that their mother Astraia has died. After Lucifer dies, Édouard bids farewell to Sayla before heading to the Loum military academy. Meanwhile, Dozle Zabi invites Ramba Ral to participate in a top secret development project that will change the face of Zeon's military forever. Episode 2's theme song is Kaze yo 0074 (風よ 0074, lit. "Wind of 0074") by Takayuki Hattori featuring Takumi Ishida.
3	"III: Dawn of Rebellion" "III Akatsuki no Hōki" (III 暁の蜂起)	May 21, 2016 (2016-05-21)
Following a security issue at the spaceport involving an antique gun inside Char's suitcase, Édouard and Char switch their clothes and Char boards Édouard's flight, which is sabotaged by Zeon forces. Having faked his death at the cost of his friend, Édouard assumes the identity of Char and undergoes training as a Zeon cadet. During training, Char befriends a young Garma Zabi. Two years later, a Federation ship disobeys orders from Zeon's traffic control and inadvertently crashes into and destroys an agricultural block, enraging the Zeon colonists and sparking open rebellion. Seizing this chance, Char convinces Garma to lead their fellow cadets on a daring night attack against the local Federation garrison, completely overwhelming them and forcing their surrender. Meanwhile, Gihren Zabi orders the cancellation of the MS Project due to a lack of progress, but Professor Torenov Y. Minovsky convinces him to resume the project after discovering a technological breakthrough. Elsewhere, a young Amuro Ray arrives at Side 7 with his father. Episode 3's theme song is Eien no Astraea (永遠のAstraea, lit. "Eternal Astraea") by Ko Shibasaki.
4	"IV: Eve of Destiny" "IV Unmei no Zen'ya" (IV 運命の前夜)	November 19, 2016 (2016-11-19)
Following the success of the Dawn Rebellion, Degwin negotiates with Vice Admiral Revil for the complete withdrawal of Federation forces from Side 3 to prevent similar incidents from happening again. After bring reprimanded by Degwin for failing to look after Garma, Dozle sends Char - who motivated Garma into starting the rebellion - to Earth; in response, Char requests to become a mobile suit pilot when he returns. In the Earth city of Manaus, Char lands a job as a mobile worker pilot at Jaburo. During his stay, he meets a young Lalah Sune and rescues her from the men who had been trafficking her. Meanwhile, Tem Rey learns of the advancement of Zeon's MS Project and of Professor Minovsky's sudden defection to the Federation. However, on his way to Von Braun, Minovsky is killed during a battle between Ramba Ral's mobile suit squadron and the Federation's new but inefficient RCX-76 Guncannon units. Following the incident, Tem presents his RX-78 Project to Anaheim Electronics as a more effective solution to Zeon's mobile suits. On October 24, U.C. 0078, the Republic of Zeon transitions into a principality and declares its independence from the Federation while the Federation proceeds to move its main headquarters to Jaburo. At Side 7, Amuro discovers his father's project and begins to study it. On January 3, U.C. 0079, the Principality of Zeon declares war on the Federation, thus marking the start of the One Year War. Episode 4's theme song is Sora no Kanata de (宇宙の彼方で, lit. "On the Other Side of Space") by Hiroko Moriguchi.
5	"V: Clash at Loum" "V Gekitotsu Rūmu Kaisen" (V 激突 ルウム会戦)	September 2, 2017 (2017-09-02)
On January 3, U.C. 0079, the Principality of Zeon declares war on the Earth Federation and massacres the anti-Zeon government of Side 2 "Hatte". At the same time, a mobile suit assault force led by Kycila captures the moon cities of Granada and Von Braun. One week later, Zeon gasses the entire population of the Island Iffish colony and sends it on a freefall towards the Federation's capital of Jaburo. On January 16, the colony separates into three components upon atmospheric entry and destroys southeastern Australia, southwestern Canada, and most of East Asia, resulting in half of the world's population being wiped out. Days later, at the Side 5 "Loum" colony of Miranda, Sayla is informed by Zeon spy Tachi O'Hara that Casval is still alive. When the Texas colony is attacked by anti-Zeon bandits, Sayla has the surviving villagers barricade the Mass family home and stand their ground, but Teabolo dies during the siege. The ordeal ends when Zeon destroys Miranda's bay areas and Sayla sees Char's Zaku II from a distance. As both forces engage in a naval battle, Char pushes his Zaku II's limits to break through the Federation's fleet. Episode 5's theme song is I Can't Do Anything -Sora yo- (I CAN'T DO ANYTHING -宇宙よ-) by Takayuki Hattori featuring AYA.
6	"VI: Rise of the Red Comet" "VI Tanjō Akai Suisei" (VI 誕生 赤い彗星)	May 5, 2018 (2018-05-05)
On January 23, U.C. 0079, the Earth Federation and Zeon forces engage in a fierce naval battle at Loum. Dozle redirects his fleet away from the main battlefield to corner the Revil fleet. Char launches a surprise attack on the Revil fleet on his own before the Dozle fleet arrives and massacres the Federation forces. The Black Tri-Stars lay siege on the flagship Ananke before taking Admiral Revil prisoner. The next day, as the citizens of Zeon celebrate their victory, a political rift forms between Degwin and Gihren. As Zeon forces continue to sweep away pockets of resistance at Loum, Kycilia assigns Lt. Gen. M'quve to lead the Earth Invasion Force, with Garma serving under his command. Meanwhile, Dozle gives Char the task of investigating the Federation's new mobile suit project codenamed "Operation V". Revil is sprung out of the POW compound by Kycilia's spies acting as Federation officers as a means to prolong the war. In Side 7, Amuro confronts Federation officer William Kemp over the Gundam project, but is warned not to talk about it and all of his father's documents are confiscated. Meanwhile, Sayla is reassigned to Side 7 to continue her medical career. In Scott City, Antarctica, as both forces prepare to sign a cease-fire agreement, Revil broadcasts his speech announcing that Zeon has exhausted its resources and urging the Federation to continue the fight. Elsewhere, the new Pegasus-class ship White Base is en route to Side 7 to take delivery of the Gundam. Episode 6's theme song is Hasen no Namida (破線の涙, lit. "Dotted Line Tears") by Masayoshi Yamazaki.

External links

• Official Gundam The Origin website (in Japanese)
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia

Preceded by Gundam Build Fighters Try	Gundam metaseries (production order) 2015-2016	Succeeded by Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans
Preceded by Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis	Gundam metaseries (production order) 2017-2018	Succeeded by Gundam Build Fighters: GM's Counterattack
Preceded by none	Gundam Universal Century timeline U.C. 0068 – 0079	Succeeded by Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO