Line #7 Manga/GundamSousei


1	[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_img_1.jpg]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:''"Who the hell do you think I am? I'm the director of Gundam!"'']]
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4	->''"A franchise has to be established for at least as long as ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' has been for anybody to even consider fictionalizing the story of its own creation. In the case of ''Gundam Sousei'', it is to the story of Gundam's production what ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' is to the [[UsefulNotes/SengokuJidai Warring States period]]."''
5	-->-- '''[[http://subatomicbrainfreeze.typead.com David Cabrera]]''', [[http://subatomicbrainfreeze.typepad.com/subatomic_brainfreeze/2009/06/gundam-sousei-well-just-have-to-make-ten-years-go-by-with-our-own-hands.html Blog entry on Gundam Sousei]]
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7	Every franchise has its humble beginnings, and the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise is no exception. ''Gundam Sousei''[[note]]Gundam Genesis[[/note]] is a manga first launched in March of 2009 retelling of ''Gundam''[='=]s rise from obscurity into the legendary franchise it has become today. Sounds pretty simple and boring, right? '''WRONG'''.
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9	Written and illustrated by Hideki Owada, the author of the AffectionateParody gag series ''[[Manga/KidouSenshiGundamSan Gundam-san]]'', ''Gundam Sousei'' takes the creative staff (and a few of the voice actors) of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' and [[{{Dramatization}} cranks up their quirks and personalities]] to insane levels. Director Creator/YoshiyukiTomino is a chain-smoking, [[CoolShades shades-sporting]] badass, Creator/{{Sunrise}}'s program director is NewMeat {{Moe}}, the character designer is a {{Bishounen}}, the mechanical designer is a grease monkey who draws on the side, the list goes on. If the person was involved in the creation of ''Gundam'', they will be exaggerated. And HilarityEnsues. While most of the story focuses on how outrageous Tomino is, the manga does take time out to show off some of the weird and peculiar facts surrounding the early years of ''Gundam'' that may have fallen to the sands of time.
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11	The manga completed on New Years Day 2011 with 2 volumes and 25 chapters. An English localization was announced at Anime NYC in 2019, under the title ''The Men Who Created Gundam''.
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13	It should also be noted that this whole manga is [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed a work of fiction,]] [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial with no connection to the real people.]]
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15	----
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17	!!''Gundam Sousei'' contains examples of:
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19	* AnimationAgeGhetto: In-Universe, Anime as a whole is treated as a series of 25-minute commercials for children's toys and the success of ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' is viewed as an exception rather than the rule. Which makes sense, given that the story's set largely in the late '70s to early '80s.
20	* BlatantLies: How Tomino pitches ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon''.
21	-->'''Tomino:''' A merry robot action anime about protecting the peace of the world and your neighborhood.
22	* BreakoutCharacter: Invoked; while the Gundam design was editorially modified, Tomino and Okawara were entirely free to design the enemy mechs. And thus the [[MascotMook MS-06 Zaku II]] was born...
23	-->Afterwards, Zaku would appear numerous times and not just as a "[[MonsterOfTheWeek grunt of the week]]" in one story. It was there when the new enemy mobile suit "Gouf" appeared in the second season... And it was even in the final episode... It's still there, thirty years after the original airing...
24	* CaptainErsatz / [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed No Characters Were Harmed]]:
25	** The role of Yoshiyuki Tomino will be played by [[ComicBook/{{Transmetropolitan}} Spider Jerusalem]] (or perhaps Creator/GrantMorrison and/or their self-insert character King Mob, who Spider Jerusalem also resembles.)
26	** The role of Ichiro Itano will be played by [[Anime/CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel]].
27	** The voice actors resemble their characters e.g. [[Creator/ToruFuruya Tōru Furuya]] resembles Amuro Ray while Rumiko Ukai, who plays Fraw Bow, resembles Fraw.
28	** One of ''Gundam''[='=]s earliest fans in the early chapters is Music/FreddieMercury, just as he entered his mustache phase.
29	* CharacterExaggeration: ''Rampant''. Creator/ShuichiIkeda is a total drunk most of the time [[spoiler:(but sobers up upon seeing the role of Char)]] , Tomino is a total badass, and Momoe Kusakari (the aformentioned program director) is highly naive. Given that Owada is the creator of ''Manga/TheLegendOfKoizumi'', this should not come as a surprise.
30	* CompositeCharacter: Presumably, Creator/HajimeYatate (The guy in the cowboy hat, appearing as the Director of Sunrise Japan).
31	* CowboyBebopAtHisComputer: In-universe, a news report on the Gundam movie in Chapter 15 wrote Amuro's name as "Amuron" and attached a picture of Sayla. [[https://twitter.com/sow_libra11/status/1337972444376702976?lang=fa This was real, by the way]].
32	* DawnOfAnEra: In addition to covering the origins of ''Gundam'', the manga also captures the beginning of anime's transition into a cultural institution in general.
33	* DayInTheLimelight:
34	** Chapter 17 is devoted to another Tomino project, ''Anime/SpaceRunawayIdeon''.
35	** Chapter 19 details the humble beginnings of Ichiro Itano, the man who would become famous for the "[[MacrossMissileMassacre Itano Circus]]".
36	* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Downplayed, but the manga also touches on the cultural backdrop of Japan around TheSeventies (and later TheEighties), from the perception of anime as nothing more than glorified children's toy ads, to women having less career prospects at the time.
37	* DistantFinale: [[spoiler:The last chapter jumps ahead 30 years to the unveiling of the life-size Gundam statue at Odaiba, where Tomino, Yaz, Okawara, Kusakari and her daughter are all present.]]
38	* {{Dramatization}}: The manga in a nutshell.
39	* EasterEgg: One of the animators is seen sneaking a cameo of Anime/Daitarn3 into the show.
40	* EnforcedMethodActing: InUniverse. Amuro's [[Creator/ToruFuruya voice actor]] couldn't make the "my own father didn't hit me" line convincing, so Tomino ''punches him until he got it right''. Our EstablishingCharacterMoment for Tomino.
41	* ExecutiveMeddling: Shichiro Kuroba, head of Clover (the toymaker that sponsored ''Gundam''), is a subversion of this. He initially comes off as a {{Jerkass}} for wanting the mecha to be more {{Toyetic}} than realistic (specifically, the case for the RX-78-2's [[PrimaryColorChampion "parade" color scheme]]). However, his reason for doing so is the fact that in order to be able to fund the series, they ''must'' be able to sell toys, which means he can't give Tomino and his team the freedom he would like to. [[invoked]]
42	* ForgetsToEat: Itano, when he's working especially hard; the narration tells us this over a picture of him napping in a sleeping bag next to his desk.
43	* {{Gonk}}: Hajime Yatate carries signs of this.
44	* HeroicBSOD: Tomino gets hit with one hard in chapter 8 [[spoiler:due to Gundam's cancellation and losing a drunken street fight]]. By the end of the chapter, [[spoiler:he's back to his old self]].
45	* HotBlooded: Tomino pretty much embodies this. More than a few times he seems to be channeling the soul of [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Kamina]], 40 years earlier. Pretty much any other named character gets at least one HB moment, to boot (even Momoe, who throws Tomino down a flight of stairs at one point), but Tomino outnumbers and outshines them all.
46	* HotbloodedSideburns: Kunio Okawara sports a mean pair.
47	* HypocriticalHumor: A relatively subtle example is how Tomino is irritated they needed to add [[PrimaryColorChampion bright primary colors]] to the Gundam's original all-white design, but then later he complains when the 300 yen models on sale aren't even colored.
48	** Tomino's main complaint however, is that the factory being hypocritical themselves, selling an 'incomplete' product as a cost-cutting measure for mass production. FridgeBrilliance?
49	* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Gundam's sponsor Kuroba has to make tough demands for changes to Tomino's work because he has to sell [[MerchandiseDriven toy models]] to kids to even fund the show. He wants to let Tomino do whatever he wants, but he can't.
50	* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Averted. During the big festival for the first movie, PR director Tadahiko Nobe shows Tomino a 10-meter-tall poster of the Gundam and says that he wanted to make it life-size, but city hall wouldn't approve anything larger. He remarks "One day, we'll raise an 18-meter Gundam", and Tomino is all for the idea. [[spoiler:The comic ends by jumping ahead to the unveiling of the life-size "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guN_Sfeuo1o&ab_channel=MONSTROSITIES%3ATokusatsuVlog Odaiba Gundam]]".]]
51	* LargeHam: Creator/YoshiyukiTomino basically dominates any scene he's in.
52	* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Tomino's storyboards for episode 28 cause this effect on people]].
53	* MegatonPunch: Tomino has one hell of a right hook...
54	* MorphicResonance:
55	** RealLife voice actors Creator/ToruFuruya and Rumiko Ukai are drawn ''a lot like'' Amuro Ray and Fraw Bow (respectively)[[note]]In RealLife, Furuya looks a ''lot'' like Amuro, albeit this could be as a side-effect of EnforcedMethodActing he has to do along the years[[/note]]. Creator/ShuichiIkeda is much less blatant about this, but you can still see a faint resemblance to Char. For some reason, there also is a Gihren Zabi {{Expy}} as a Bandai rep rather than as Creator/BanjoGinga.
56	** In the last chapters, two more voice actors appear; one resembles Kai and thus is probably Creator/ToshioFurukawa, while the other is presumably intended to be Creator/YouInoue, despite not looking at all like Sayla.
57	** Creator/KeikoHan resembles Lalah Sune tremendously; before she takes up that role (since she also voiced Icelina), she talks to Creator/ToruFuruya and Creator/ShuichiIkeda. The whole scene is an allusion to the episode "A Fateful Meeting", and Amuro, Char, and Lalah's meeting.
58	** A surgeon in chapter 7 oddly resembles Bright.
59	* MundaneMadeAwesome: The manga can be summed up as high-intensity anime production.
60	* MrFixit: Kunio Okawara, the mechanical designer.
61	* MythologyGag: Many, such as the aforementioned [[InvertedTrope inverted]] ActorAllusion in MorphicResonance, a swan symbolizing understanding between Gundam fans (in the same way Newtypes get flashes in which they 'understand' each other, not to mention Lalah was associated with swans) and other such things.
62	* NewMeat: Kusakari is portrayed as this. She even admits during the airing of the first episode of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' that it's her first anime.
63	* PerverseSexualLust: Instory, Animec Editor-in-Chief Komaki, at least early on, is obsessed with the eponymous heroine of ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables''. And that's not getting to why Tomino knows about Sayla Mass' unmentionables.
64	* PrimaDonnaDirector: As you may have gathered by now, Creator/YoshiyukiTomino is an InUniverse example. He has a very firm idea of what kind of series he wants to make, and tries to defend said series with as much [[LargeHam ham]] as possible.
65	* RuleThirtyFour: "Seductive Artesia".
66	* TheSeventies: The series revels in the excesses of 1970s Japanese culture. Many of the scenes showing Okawara and Yaz, for instance, even look as though they just stepped out of a disco.
67	* ShoutOut: Besides references to ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'' and its financial success, several anime of the era (especially Sunrise shows) (understandably) get mentioned in passing.
68	** GeniusBonus: There are in-show references too: the memo Kusakari reads from in chapter 21 is the same as the Project V manual Amuro reads from in the very first episode of Gundam.
69	* TakeThat: Tomino likens other robot shows to UsefulNotes/ProfessionalWrestling and wants to create a sophisticated war drama. Essentially, this sums up the contrast between the SuperRobot and RealRobot genres, as Gundam was a pioneer of the latter. However, it's noted that Tomino had to compromise his vision to make the show more [[MerchandiseDriven toyetic]]. [[LargeHam This moves him to tears.]]
70	* TroubledProduction: Practically the whole point of this manga is to show just how troubled it was. [[invoked]]
71	* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The production of the original Mobile Suit Gundam [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs on copious amounts of crack]] and [[WorldOfHam ham]].
72	* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Used in-universe by Tomino to gather more interest in Gundam. This is a ShoutOut to the legendary "Tomino Memo", detailing the original 52-episode plan for ''Gundam''; many of the ideas explored in it would turn up in later spin-offs, particularly most of the mobile suits showing up in the rejected sequel pitch ''MS-X''.
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Context Manga / GundamSousei