Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 42/41 “Space Fortress A Baoa Qu” (宇宙要塞ア·バオア·クー) and 43/42 “Escape” (脱出), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: some Japanese vocab, what the heck is an A Bao A Qu?, the Kyūjō Incident, and how Kai made Thom think of the Illiad. - - Myou/みょう/妙 definition from Jisho. - Me/...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 42/41 “Space Fortress A Baoa Qu” (宇宙要塞ア·バオア·クー) and 43/42 “Escape” (脱出), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: some Japanese vocab, what the heck is an A Bao A Qu?, the Kyūjō Incident, and how Kai made Thom think of the Illiad. - - Myou/みょう/妙 definition from Jisho. - Me/...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 40/39 "Lalah's Dilemma" (エルメスのララ) and 41/40 "A Cosmic Glow" (光る宇宙), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Hermes - why might Lalah’s mobile armor be named for the Greek god, and why did the translators decide to call the エルメス Elmeth instead, J-type missiles, and some of th...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 40/39 "Lalah's Dilemma" (エルメスのララ) and 41/40 "A Cosmic Glow" (光る宇宙), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Hermes - why might Lalah’s mobile armor be named for the Greek god, and why did the translators decide to call the エルメス Elmeth instead, J-type missiles, and some of th...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 39/38 "The Newtype: Challia Bull" (ニュータイプ、シャリア·ブル), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Jupiter - why would we go there, and how would be do it?, helium and its uses, and government experiments in psychic phenomena. - - A few articles explaining the role of Helium-3 in pla...

Show Notes We've decided to take the podcast in a new direction. Henceforth this is now Mobile Suit Breaddown, THE definitive bread and bread-related podcast. Yup, it's going to be all bread all the time around here. Please support the official release of bread. Happy April 1st! We hope you enjoy this episode, and we're excited to get back to Gundam with episode 1.32 in a few days! You can subscri...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 38/37 "Char and Sayla" (再会、シャアとセイラ), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the Gelgoog’s decidedly low-tech sword, the word “kanchou,” and gold in WWII. - - The warrior monks who favored the naginata and nagamaki were closely affiliated with the mythical warrior demons called Te...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 37/36 "Duel in Texas" (テキサスの攻防), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the early Classical Greek armor that may have inspired the design of the Gyan, Westerns in Japan, and... dueling in Texas. Special Guests this week: Sean Michael Chin and Wen Wang. - - Reddit /r/AskHistorians th...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 35/34 "The Glory of Solomon" (ソロモン攻略戦) and 36/35 "Big Zam's Last Stand" (恐怖!機動ビグ·ザム), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the Solomon Islands campaigns and related battles in the Pacific during WWII, Archimedes' heat ray, and weaponized asteroids. - - Source for the quote...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 34 (33 in the US), "A Fateful Encounter" ("宿命の出会い"), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on O'Neill cylinders, a review of Lagrange points, neutral countries in WWII, the Battle of the River Plate and the hunt for the Graf Spee, and the term "red tape." - - About Gerard O'Neill , and...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 33 (32 in the US), "Farewell in Side 6" ("コンスコン強襲"), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on Attachment Theory and Amuro's relationships with his parents, blast exposure, the polytrauma system, diagnostic criteria for PTSD, teen brain development, and what tinnitus has to do with dep...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 31 and 32 (30 and 31 in the US), "A Decoy in Space" ("ザンジバル,追撃!") and "Breakthrough" ("強行突破作戦"), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Itano Ichiro, possible inspirations for the Zakrello mobile armor (including psychological warfare, Japan's involvement in the Korean War, a...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 29 and 30 (28 and 29 in the US), "Tragedy in Jaburo" and "A Wish for War Orphans," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: orphans, orphanages, and childcare in Japan, the history of robots in Western cinema, Operation Gunnerside, visual inspiration and references, and the St. Nazaire raid...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 27 and 28 (26 and 27 in the US), "A Spy on Board" and "Across the Atlantic Ocean," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: possible inspiration for the G-Sky EZ, the Cape Verde Islands, famous pro-wrestling tag-teams that may have inspired the Gogg mobile suits, language and culture notes,...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 26 (25 in the US), "Char Returns," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: war balloons, top secret information, the battle of Sekigahara, naval mines, and possible aesthetic influences for mobile suit design. - Overview of the history of military ballooning , and of incendiary balloons sp...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episodes 24 and 25 (23 and 24 in the US), "The Black Tri-Stars" and "Odessa Day," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: kendo armor and footwork, Japanese spies, rollerblades, plane formations and maneuvers, droop snoots, Japanese body-language and gestures, hydrogen bombs, a...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episodes 22 and 23 (21 and 22 in the US), "The Trap of M'Quve" and "Matilda's Rescue," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Japanese sentō (public bathhouses), all-plastic wristwatches, bauxite mining, gallium, the bombing of Darwin, a famous POW-camp escape-attempt, plastic explosives, Lt. Mat...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 20 and 21 (19 and 20 in the US), "Hand-to-Hand Combat" and "Sorrow and Hatred," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: conflict management and resolution in Japanese culture, ship-boarding actions during WWII, and what a Buddhist wisdom-king has to do with Ryu. - Core cultural concepts th...

Show Notes This week, we recap, review, and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam episode 19 (18 in the US), "Ramba Ral's Attack," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the city of Sodom, mythical weapons, and Kendo and other Japanese sword-fighting traditions. - The city of Sodom shows up in a number of texts - Wikipedia and Encyclopedia Britannica have nice overviews of the...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 18 (17 in the US), "Zeon's Secret Mine," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the science behind Zeon's new anti-Gundam tech - the Adzam Leader, forced labor of POWs, Japan's post-war economy, ninja outfits, and cognac. - A discussion of inductive coupling , one of the technologies that our resid...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 17 (16 in the US), "Amuro Deserts," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: flight simulations, bazookas, the Antarctic Treaty, Zeon's resource strategy, and two-rank promotions, all with a special guest. - While Wikipedia has a nice overview , various technology publications , flight schools , and...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 16 (15 in the US), "Sayla's Agony," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: Song Dynasty ceramics, art looting in wartime, armies and salt, siblings on opposite sides of WWII, and Lop Nur, the probable inspiration for "Lop Lake" in this episode. - Overview of Song ceramics , specifically aimed at co...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 15, "Cucuruz Doan's Island," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the different Japanese terms for martial arts (and why Cucuruz uses kakutogi ), who is Suzumura Kazuyuki?, the skinny Zaku, desertion in WWII, Anime Friend and the episode production team, and the nuances of the Japanese word nioi...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 14, "Time, Be Still," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the Neo-Confucian concept of gekokujō and it's importance in prewar and wartime Japan, Audie Murphy, the "Memphis Belle" B-17 bomber, Japanese fighter aces, anti-tank explosives, and the Piasecki "AirGeep" hover-bike. - An explanation of...

Show Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 13, "Coming Home," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: the original Pinocchio and some of the Japanese media it inspired, military quartering and billeting, and the martial art judo. - Overview of The Adventures of Pinocchio , Pinocchio as a character , and some of the darker themes of the origi...