Forum - View topicNEWS: Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Anime Reveals Staff, Story, Characters, Mecha
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Zhou-BR
Posts: 1425 |
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I'm a fan of both Kobayashi and Okouchi, so now my expectations are through the roof. This will be wild.
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SilverTalon01
Posts: 2403 |
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You're not wrong, but there hasn't been any mainline series staring a timid girl with communication issues either. I don't mean to imply that a timid protagonist automatically makes for a bad series, but they are clearly trying to attract new fans by playing up a different angle here. I'm going to remain cautiously optimistic that this stuff is nothing more than episode 1 backstory to said war plot. |
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John the Dark Lord
Posts: 236 |
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"Communication issues" specifically is indeed a first, but there has been Gundam protagonists with trouble socializing before. Including the very first one, Amuro Ray. And Kira Yamato was timid AND had trouble socializing. If anything I'd say they are making the girl too much of a normal Gundam protagonist. |
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MrTerrorist
Posts: 1348 |
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I'm getting some Otome vibes from this series since three of the main cast is a pretty boy, tan hunk and a Tsundere.
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MFrontier
Posts: 11409 |
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Okouchi can go either way but I'm interested.
I wasn't expecting a focus on school life and class/corporate issues, but someone brought up Three Houses and I can see that being a prelude to the typical armed conflict and war that is traditionally in Gundam. I wonder which of these characters is going to end up being the Char Clone.
She wouldn't be the first socially awkward Gundam protagonist. I'm guessing her social issues will contrast with how skilled she is as a pilot. |
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Helix91
 SubscriberPosts: 62 |
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I'd argue the fact that it shares a director with Kiznaiver is a good thing! That show looks really cool, the problem with that show was the writing. These announcements make me optimistic! I've enjoyed Princess Principal, Code Geass, and Sk8 the Infinity. |
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Oby
Posts: 108 |
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No, he had not. Right at the start, Kira already had close friends in Tolle & Miriallia. He was also on friendly terms with Kuzzey & Sai. He was hanging out with them with no problems aside from your typical "my crush is dating my friend"-teenage inner conflict. Kira would've done just fine if he was allowed to remain as a highschool student. Timid, yes. Trouble in socializing, no. If anyone has trouble in any kind of social interaction, that would be the Wing boys other than Duo & Quatre  .
On the flipside, this makes me worried coz the same Okouchi guy also wrote Valvrave & Kabaneri. |
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Helix91
Subscriber Posts: 62 |
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Ooph Valvrave is terrible, and I just noticed he worked on Guilty Crown too. So definitely a mixed bag! I like Kabaneri just fine though. With Gundam, you should at least have mecha action with good production values, which is sadly rare these days. |
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Hal14
 Posts: 673 Location: Heart of africa |
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Doesn't Mikazuki from IBO count as someone with poor communication skills? I would also argue that the mc of zeta had communication issues as well. In fact, many gundam mc's are portrayed as the type that are alone even when they're in a group. She's the first female mc but she's definitely not the first with social/communication problems. I haven't watched all the gundam shows but i can't recall any that had a social butterfly for a protagonist.
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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IIRC it was literally stated by Sai in introducing Kira that he was socially awkward and they were his only friends, so I think your perception of what the term means might differ from most others, including the writers behind Gundam. Actually, it's a common motiff of "golden child" type fiction stories to portray said protagonist as being socially awkward but still somehow having close friends, as opposed to being outright anti-social as is commonly how NEETs are portrayed - and even with the portrayal of NEETs that's not uniformly the case. A popular example would be Stranger Things, where the core group are all supposed to be socially awkward nerds. But they're all socially awkward nerds around each other, thus forming their own friendship. That's usually how it turns out in Gundam - the protag is a socially awkward loner type, but because they also happen to be connected to the main story in some manner, and the story can't languish for a long time working them through their issues, they will have or develop some affiliations rather quickly. As for socially awkward Gundam protags, that really isn't anything new. Heero was extremely socially awkward, but framed more so as his gruff manner being part of his cover and generally being anti-social. Setsuna was too, again partly masked under the presupposition that he was acting for the sake of his cover. Even Kamille could probably be described as socially awkward. In fact, the only Gundam protag I can think of that didn't present as socially awkward to a particularly high extent was possibly Judau. |
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Helix91
Subscriber Posts: 62 |
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Some of the UC spinoffs have more socially adept protagonists (like 08th MS Team). I'd say that before Heero in Gundam Wing, the MCs were more on the brash, impulsive, anger-issues side (Amuro, Camille, Domon). Starting with Heero, they've ranged from "quiet kid" to "socially stunted weirdo who almost never talks (Heero, Kira, Setsuna, Mikazuki). So a quiet, awkward Gundam pilot is nothing new! |
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Oby
Posts: 108 |
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I mean, if you compare Kira (episode 1) with Amuro (episode 1), Kira looked downright normal. Kira had best friends, had no problem saying hi & no problem talking & laughing with said friends. I mean, yes he might be a little awkward but his awkwardness is normal teenage highschool awkwardness (especially in front of his crush Flay). It's not to the point where a counseling or even treatment is needed  .
Judau Seabook Uso Shiro Garrod Loran Lowe Asemu Kio Bellri Putting aside the Build series, the above Gundam MCs are not socially stunted in (relatively) peaceful non-combat situations. They have no problem befriending people who are open enough (Bellri even befriended the entire crew of Megafauna who were supposed to oppose him). In case of Garrod, he was very cautious around people only because the setting is a "dog eat dog" Mad Max-esque post-apocalyptic world. Otherwise, he had no problem befriending people like Kid, Carris & Pala. Usually, those MCs are only being awkward & confrontational in front of offensive military personnels or other aggressive people. |
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Hal14
Posts: 673 Location: Heart of africa |
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Thank you, I mainlythink about the main timeline and forgot about build. Although the mc of drivers rerise was also a loner.
Anyway, i think this all shows that some opinions on Mercury (the character) are premature. The bio in the article just says "timid" and somewhat. Geul and Eteran's bios sound more like people with communication issues. |
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Zeino
Posts: 1098 |
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So much for the fleeting dream of this possibly being Magical Girl Gundam... Still the premise looks promising enough and is already walking untrodden ground here with Suletta. So regardless of the mixed track record of both the director and writer, I'll keep my expectations relevantly high and hope for the best.
I really want Gundam to have a future independent of returning to the drying well of UC again and again. |
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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We had magical girl gundam though. It was called Lyrical Nanoha... /s. But I think this is an important series for the franchise. Even if it turns out not good, my hope is that it will offer enough threads of success for them to build on for future entries in the franchise. I too have long since grown tired of the repeated trips back the UC. Perhaps if they could find new fertile narrative ground here, it could be the start of a renewed age for the franchise. |
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