Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2013)
War... war never changes. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2013) is a science fiction series that takes places during an unspecified future of our world where humans have made civilization in Earth's orbit to deal with problems of overpopulation that greatly affect the world's resources and its climate. I say unspecified because once humanity made civilization in the space pods known as "colonies" they switch to a new calendar that is referenced as the Universal Century, but they still make several references to our world's past. As with much of human history, difference are seen between the people born from Earth and people born in the colonies (later referred to as "spacenoids"). These differences cause a great amount of tension that eventually erupts into a war of grand proportions in which slightly over two months of fighting results in half of the human population to be eradicated.
This manga series is a loose adaptation of the original television series from 1979 and I say loose because of the changed order of certain events and how the adaptation treats certain scenes. For fans of the original series, they will notice one of the larger changes is that the battle at Jaburo and Operation Odessa are flipped. Which on its own is not that large of a deal, and personally I actually enjoyed the change. The other changes include very minor changes, such as certain location names changing to mirror their real world counterparts. However, the largest change by far is a group of volumes and chapters that will later be adapted into the 2015 anime of the same name. These chapters explore the back story of some of the central characters to the story that did not receive this type of screen time to explain in the original series. Also, explaining the tension being built that eventually led to the war. Ultimately, this section of the manga made me actually enjoy the experience even more. Not only did it provide extra context to the conflict that we have been observing throughout the series, but also made me, as a reader, enjoy the fact that there was large stakes on both sides of the conflict that was very much needed to make both the heroes and villains of the story more compelling characters.
Gundam was always a story that made its viewer take a serious look at the world around them, but also take a deep look within themselves. Yoshikazu Yashuhiko (one of the character designers and creators of the original story) makes sure that these themes are still in tact, including finding out what someone fights for, what makes that worth it, how every conflict has good people on both sides, and much more. As stated before, the origin chapters allow the reader to realize what a lot of the characters are fighting for much earlier in the series than the original TV series shows its viewers. This allows the readers to maybe find some similarities with themselves and certain characters and even possibly sympathize with them. It made every chapter and battle after that feel even heavier and more impactful. As a fan of the original TV series myself, who still felt that those moments are impactful there is something to be said that Yashuhiko returned to the series and somehow outdid that first time of telling the story, and somehow making the journey even more enjoyable.
The next strength is the overall quality of the book and story. The english releases of these books are considered special edition books, and thus are hardcover copies of the book that also include bonuses at the back of every volume. The art throughout the books is absolutely amazing. Whether it is the traditional manga art in black and white or a splash page that is colored to look like a water color painting, the art throughout the book looks like something that can be hung up in your house as a eye-catching art piece and yet it weaves the story as you feel the motion through every panel. The other quality strength is found with the writing and pacing of the books. The story manages to slowly reveal the grand mystery bit by bit while still managing to interweave smaller mysteries and questions throughout that are absolutely wrapped in the character's goals and the ambitions of powers greater than them. While we are talking about the writing, this story is the pinnacle of making you examine certain characters and question whether or not they are actually the good guy or the bad guy. Why would they do this at this moment? Yasuhiko does a masterful job at trying to unveil to you enough evidence to draw your own conclusions while still keeping it ambiguous enough to spark up debates among fans to this day. A prime example of this is with Char Aznable. Without giving away any crucial details, these books add enough to the character to make fans, both old and new, find something to love about the character or at the very least draw them into deep thought. Another positive is the dialogue. As a fan of the original series, I have to acknowledge that some of the dialogue is rather cheesy by today's standards. This manga not only refines some of the dialogue but fleshes out certain scenes beyond what the original series had to offer for us causing either more context to be added and make the scene more enjoyable, or just drawing out a sequence to make it more dramatic.
Now the first downside is the length of the series. The series is rather long for someone with no experience with Gundam or manga, being 12 volumes that are roughly 400-500 pages each, and this could be seen as rather intimidating to some trying to enter the fandom through this series, but I promise you that it is absolutely worth it. As stated earlier, the pacing in this series makes each book feel like a quick read and should be as one of the pinnacles of good pacing in a story such as this one. I found myself reading a whole book right before bed unable to put it down. Every single time that I thought found a good stopping point for the night, the end of the chapters urged me to continue and reeled me back in to read 50 more pages and so on.
The real biggest downside of this series is something I usually try not to mention too much in reviews but it’s the price tag. As stated earlier, there is 12 volumes of this manga and the only official paper English translation is a hardcover special edition that will be about $30 for each volume. However, each volume is a special edition, having concept art, memoirs and other goodies for fans of the series to enjoy and show off to all their friends, fans of the series or not. Overall, I felt that $30 was reasonable to any die hard fan of the original Gundam series or someone who is wanting a quality manga for their collection. The quality of the hardcover volumes and the gloss pages and the extra parts in the back of every volume is where we find this value, but I understand where this could turn some people away. My recommendation would be to do what I did personally which is wait until they go on sale. I found the series when they were all on sale for $15-$20 and would recommend that you wait as well if this will be your introduction to the series.
Overall, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2013) is possibly one of my favorite series I’ve ever read and a very compelling and amazingly written story about war, how it affects people, and how many enter a morally gray area to complete their own goals. This is a story I would recommend to fans of sci-fi, fans of mecha stories, fans of Gundam specifically, or just people looking for a quality manga that will leave them speechless at spots in the story and also cause them to want to preach the amazing quality of this story to everyone. This story gets the first ever Rayburn Seal of Approval
Overall Rating: 10/10
This manga series is a loose adaptation of the original television series from 1979 and I say loose because of the changed order of certain events and how the adaptation treats certain scenes. For fans of the original series, they will notice one of the larger changes is that the battle at Jaburo and Operation Odessa are flipped. Which on its own is not that large of a deal, and personally I actually enjoyed the change. The other changes include very minor changes, such as certain location names changing to mirror their real world counterparts. However, the largest change by far is a group of volumes and chapters that will later be adapted into the 2015 anime of the same name. These chapters explore the back story of some of the central characters to the story that did not receive this type of screen time to explain in the original series. Also, explaining the tension being built that eventually led to the war. Ultimately, this section of the manga made me actually enjoy the experience even more. Not only did it provide extra context to the conflict that we have been observing throughout the series, but also made me, as a reader, enjoy the fact that there was large stakes on both sides of the conflict that was very much needed to make both the heroes and villains of the story more compelling characters.
Gundam was always a story that made its viewer take a serious look at the world around them, but also take a deep look within themselves. Yoshikazu Yashuhiko (one of the character designers and creators of the original story) makes sure that these themes are still in tact, including finding out what someone fights for, what makes that worth it, how every conflict has good people on both sides, and much more. As stated before, the origin chapters allow the reader to realize what a lot of the characters are fighting for much earlier in the series than the original TV series shows its viewers. This allows the readers to maybe find some similarities with themselves and certain characters and even possibly sympathize with them. It made every chapter and battle after that feel even heavier and more impactful. As a fan of the original TV series myself, who still felt that those moments are impactful there is something to be said that Yashuhiko returned to the series and somehow outdid that first time of telling the story, and somehow making the journey even more enjoyable.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2013) is a series that will string you along from each volume to tell a grand story, but still easily keeps your attention even through some of the slower volumes. That is because each volume manages to tell an individual story on its own. I would call this the greatest strength of the series. That being that though the series should obviously be read as a whole, each volume manages to have a beginning, climax and end as an individual story. Whether this be the focus on one of the many battles during this war, or by focusing on a certain character and telling the reader why they should care about this individual.
The next strength is the overall quality of the book and story. The english releases of these books are considered special edition books, and thus are hardcover copies of the book that also include bonuses at the back of every volume. The art throughout the books is absolutely amazing. Whether it is the traditional manga art in black and white or a splash page that is colored to look like a water color painting, the art throughout the book looks like something that can be hung up in your house as a eye-catching art piece and yet it weaves the story as you feel the motion through every panel. The other quality strength is found with the writing and pacing of the books. The story manages to slowly reveal the grand mystery bit by bit while still managing to interweave smaller mysteries and questions throughout that are absolutely wrapped in the character's goals and the ambitions of powers greater than them. While we are talking about the writing, this story is the pinnacle of making you examine certain characters and question whether or not they are actually the good guy or the bad guy. Why would they do this at this moment? Yasuhiko does a masterful job at trying to unveil to you enough evidence to draw your own conclusions while still keeping it ambiguous enough to spark up debates among fans to this day. A prime example of this is with Char Aznable. Without giving away any crucial details, these books add enough to the character to make fans, both old and new, find something to love about the character or at the very least draw them into deep thought. Another positive is the dialogue. As a fan of the original series, I have to acknowledge that some of the dialogue is rather cheesy by today's standards. This manga not only refines some of the dialogue but fleshes out certain scenes beyond what the original series had to offer for us causing either more context to be added and make the scene more enjoyable, or just drawing out a sequence to make it more dramatic.
Now the first downside is the length of the series. The series is rather long for someone with no experience with Gundam or manga, being 12 volumes that are roughly 400-500 pages each, and this could be seen as rather intimidating to some trying to enter the fandom through this series, but I promise you that it is absolutely worth it. As stated earlier, the pacing in this series makes each book feel like a quick read and should be as one of the pinnacles of good pacing in a story such as this one. I found myself reading a whole book right before bed unable to put it down. Every single time that I thought found a good stopping point for the night, the end of the chapters urged me to continue and reeled me back in to read 50 more pages and so on.
The real biggest downside of this series is something I usually try not to mention too much in reviews but it’s the price tag. As stated earlier, there is 12 volumes of this manga and the only official paper English translation is a hardcover special edition that will be about $30 for each volume. However, each volume is a special edition, having concept art, memoirs and other goodies for fans of the series to enjoy and show off to all their friends, fans of the series or not. Overall, I felt that $30 was reasonable to any die hard fan of the original Gundam series or someone who is wanting a quality manga for their collection. The quality of the hardcover volumes and the gloss pages and the extra parts in the back of every volume is where we find this value, but I understand where this could turn some people away. My recommendation would be to do what I did personally which is wait until they go on sale. I found the series when they were all on sale for $15-$20 and would recommend that you wait as well if this will be your introduction to the series.
Overall, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2013) is possibly one of my favorite series I’ve ever read and a very compelling and amazingly written story about war, how it affects people, and how many enter a morally gray area to complete their own goals. This is a story I would recommend to fans of sci-fi, fans of mecha stories, fans of Gundam specifically, or just people looking for a quality manga that will leave them speechless at spots in the story and also cause them to want to preach the amazing quality of this story to everyone. This story gets the first ever Rayburn Seal of Approval
Overall Rating: 10/10
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