Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast

Show Notes This week on MSB: Thom discloses his bias, Nina says several brilliant things, and a new(ish) guest joins us to discuss anime, animation, and animators in 0080!  We're thrilled to welcome "old" anime fan and historian Matteo to MSB. You can find Matteo on twitter at https://twitter.com/MatteoWatz, and you can find his writing on his blog https://animetudes.com/ or on https://f...

Show Notes It's parallels all the way down as our coverage of War in the Pocket continues! This week we're talking about episode 3: And at the end of the rainbow...? Al shows his potential, Bernie shows how he really feels, the commandos show us a new mobile suit, and Chris shows off her batting average. They're all one big happy(?) family(??) on this week's episode of MSB! Plus for research Thom...

Show Notes They're back! MSB came back! Hurray! This week we're talking about War in the Pocket episode 2: Reflections in a Brown Eye. The research covers Al's home electronics and what they say about him and the story, plus... Chris's pile of dropped books from episode 1? Really? Well, OK. Plus we have a mini celebration for Gundam's 10th anniversary! Frank Kelly Freas - The Art of Science Fictio...

Show Notes We finally get started on Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, and it makes quite the impression! Was it the good or bad kind of impression? There's only one way to find out! This week, we review and analyze episode 1, "How many miles to the battlefield?" (戦場までは何マイル?), and research and discuss the history of Playboy Magazine in Japan, how the creative team's nostalgia and...

Show Notes It's time to start our coverage of the much-anticipated Gundam side story 0080: War in the Pocket! Kind of! Actually, it's time for us to cover Gundam's real first OVA - SD Gundam Mk I Part 3: SD Olympics as we get ready for the first episode on War in the Pocket next week. We research and discuss the history and characteristics of the OVA format, some of what happened in Japan and the...

Show Notes The saga that started on a whim with the Titans News Network back in Season 2 finally reaches its thoroughly avoidable conclusion in this action packed radio drama-style satire! What has become of Thom Thomson and Nina Ninasdottir after the end of Radio Free Shangri-La? Did any of the cyber newstype corps survive? What about those NZC interns?  All that and more awaits you in Content Cr...

Show Notes On the podcast this week: our final episode of Season 4, Iraj returns to talk about asteroids, nuclear explosions, and capes, Thom names names, and Nina looks at alternative narrative frameworks. Plus we clean up a few ambiguities, answer some questions, and come clean about our favorite mobile suits. Will Thom's controversial takes enrage the MSB fandom?! Names, Names, Names: The Geara...

Show Notes This week, Nina and Thom are joined by new guest Tatiana - a filmmaker, professional editor, and sometime animator to discuss technical aspects of filmmaking in Char's Counterattack, how the movie holds up today, what the movie tells us about it's intended audience (and how audiences unfamiliar with Gundam might react to it) and what Tomino and company might have done differently. Plus...

Show Notes Holidays or not, we're back with another episode! This time we're joined by long time friend of the show, and neuropsychology consultant, Dr. Shar! She returns to the program to discuss the psychologies of the many deeply broken people at the heart of Char's Counterattack. This episode also features a collaboration between MSB and Matteo Watz of anime research and analysis blog Animétud...

Show Notes This week we're joined by two returning guests, costume designer Sarah McCostumes and theatrical mask consultant Sean DMR to talk about costuming, mobile suits, and what the aesthetics of Char's Counterattack can tell us about the characters, the world, and the story. Plus in the research Thom looks at Char's iconography and tries to trace its origins. Char's Iconography Background on P...

Show Notes With last week's general discussion of the plot of Char's Counterattack out of the way, it's time to start diving deep on specific aspects of the film. This week: environmental justice advocate Colin joins us to discuss the environment, and environmentalism, in Char's Counterattack. Plus in the research Thom explores what it might mean that the Federation is headquartered in Lhasa while...

Show Notes This week, we recap and discuss Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack (機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア), while trying to avoid spoiling the discussions coming up in future episodes. Before we dig in to the movie itself, Thom presents research on how and why Char's Counterattack got made - background information on the production, tie-in novels, and other versions of the story. We also d...

Show Notes This special bonus episode is a companion for Season 4 of Mobile Suit Breakdown. It's a brief recap of the history of the Universal Century up to the start of CCA, for the benefit of anyone who wants a refresher on how we got here.  Normally this would be included in one of our regular numbered episodes. We had scheduled it for episode 4.2, but since that episode wound up being more tha...

Show Notes This week begins our coverage of Char's Counterattack with... a bunch of things that happened before Char's Counterattack. We recap and discuss the first two SD shorts, - both of which were shown in theaters before the Char's Counterattack movie: “Fierce Fighting - Will Gundam Stand Up!?” (激闘編 - ガンダム大地に立てるか!?) and “Holiday - The Menace of the Zeon Hotel? Destruction orders...

Show Notes This week we revisit the final episode of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ in light of the first draft of the episode 47 script recently shared by Gundam expert Mark Simmons . This script was written solely by Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ writer Endo Akinori, before being significantly re-written by head director Tomino Yoshiyuki. It stands out as a rare window into the work process behind the scenes...

Show Notes Warning: Due to an error, an uncensored version of this episode was briefly available for download. The error has been corrected, and we apologize for the oversight that allowed it to slip through. We encourage anyone who downloaded the episode between 12:00 AM and 6:00 AM on August 7th to re-download the corrected version. This week, we look back on Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガン...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 47 - “Warrior, Once More” (戦士, 再び......), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. Books and articles Thom referenced: 平家物語 (The Tale of the Heike), trans. Royall Tyler. Penguin (2012). Totman, Conrad...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 46 - “Vibration” ( バイブレーション ), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. - Books and articles Thom referenced: 平家物語 (The Tale of the Heike), trans. Royall Tyler. Penguin (2012). Totman, Conrad D. A...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 45 - “The Battle of Axis” (アクシズの戦闘), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. - Books and articles Thom referenced: 平家物語 (The Tale of the Heike), trans. Royall Tyler. Penguin (2012). - About Sir Ac...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 44 - “Emary's Glory” (エマリー散華), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the Japanese ballad form enka , and Thom's continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. This episode includes Epilogue (Instrumental Version) by Josh Woodward , li...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 43 - “The Girl from Core 3, Part 2” (コア３の少女 (後)), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on a possible inspiration for the name of Chara's new mobile suit, and Thom's continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. - Wikipedia page for &a...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 42 - “The Girl from Core 3, Part 1” (コア３の少女 (前)), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the uniforms worn by the miners at Cicero asteroid, and Thom's continuing research on the Tale of the Heike and it's influence on Double Zeta. - Books and papers consulted for th...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 41 - “Rasara's Life” (ラサラの命), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the the Tale of the Heike, and how this classic of Japanese literature may have influenced Zeta and Double Zeta. - For the Tale of the Heike itself and background on the role of the Fujiwara clan in g...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 40 - “Tigerbaum Dream” (タイガーバウムの夢), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the Haw Par Corporation and Tiger Balm Gardens in Singapore and Hong Kong. - US website for the Tiger Balm line of products . - Japanese Wikipedia page for Tiger Balm . - Website for Tiger B...

Show Notes This week, we review and analyze Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ) episode 39 - “The Second Coming of Sarasa” (サラサ再臨), discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on the story of the Trojan Horse. - An outline of the Epic Cycle poems with English translations of their surviving fragments , by Hugh Evelyn-White. - An annotated version of the Evelyn-Wh...