Popularity of Gundam

[Protoplast]

My only thought is that if Double Zeta can't kill Gundam's popularity, then nothing can.

My only thought is that if Double Zeta can't kill Gundam's popularity, then nothing can

ZZ is not that bad.. the story tends to lag in the beginning but a lot of diehard Gundam fans likes how ZZ ended..

Not to mention ZZ has a huge cast of many mobile suits like the Z, Mark2, ZZ, Psycho Gundam MK2, etc..

I actually like ZZ more than Wing.

[Final Vegeta]

Expanding the term otaku slightly. No real argument, but I'd point out that "fictional worlds" have been a staple of fantasy and science fiction going back at least to Burroughs (Pellucidar, John Carter) and Howard (Conan), while Tolkien turned it into a sort of explicit theory with his concept of "sub-creation"--all before roleplaying games and (mostly before) SF anime. Since the 60's, though, with RPGs, Trekkies, and Star Wars, yes, I think that "subcreation" and otakudom have merged.

Indeed otakus are not a Japanese only phenomenon (and even in Japan otaku doesn't refer to anime fans only anymore), although they are the most "gifted". By culture (confucianism) they are willing to sacrifice even their own life for something they care. Takeshi Kitano's "Dolls" shows one example of this.

Anti-militarism--correct, I'm not saying that Macross expresses hate or distaste for the military. Rather, a common theme or approach in Macross (and some other anime) is the refusal to show violence as the ultimate solution to the conflict, and the refusal to portray an antagonist who is thorougly demonized. That's why I wouldn't put Nadia, Laputa, or Castle of Cagliostro in the same category as Macross. They all have villains who remain stock villains throughout the story; they have to be dealt with by "beating" them.

The anime you quote are not war anime. They are mostly slapstick. This is the answer. You could say Japaneses have more than one type of enemy and the story deal with it according to what enemy it is (mind that in Gundam, and to some extent even in original Macross, villains needed to be beaten).

To give you some example, in some old anime like SR shows you could say the villains were Westerners (mainly Nazis, the former allies of Japan), so they were depicted as simply evil. Some of them though were samurai. Those shows promoted reconstruction in an after-war Japan.

Enemies in anime are, even unconsciously, a depiction of enemies of Japan. Miyazaki said in the beginning the enemy was poorness. For some time enemies have been politicians (I think it was the time of Akira). In the 90ies Aum made clear even Japaneses could be enemies of Japan. Japaneses were confused and fiction developed unknown virus-like enemies like the one shown in Evangelion.

The reasons behind evil in anime are a complex matter. I don't think Japaneses have manicheic culture (which was spread mostly by Christianism), so I don't think they have same concept of good and evil a Westerner has. "Pureness and greed" could describe it better.

"Beating the villain" sometimes just looks like a good ending. It doesn't need to have some meaning. There were some anime were the "alignment" of the villain may not have been totally "evil", but they were still beaten.

Sorry, I don't fully understand. Translated literally, I assume this would be "Lt. Commander Char" ("Capitano di Corvetta", or "Maggiore" if you go by non-Naval ranks). Are you saying that "Shosa" was chosen essentially as a random officer rank in the original, but in the Italian version his rank is different simply because it sounds better that way in Italian?

No, in Italian the translation goes accordingly the original ranks. In the original show though Char is promoted even if Kicilia (sp?) wanted to degrade him (or something like that). Yes, according to Tomino the ranks were chosen essentially because they were evocative. People really can't guess what happens behind the scenes

Good points about how the love triangles are varied across series, but I disagree about mecha vs. mecha being a plot point. I suppose it can be, but in anime I would basically say it's part of the setting. It's generally established early in the story--either taken as a given, or explained in the first episode or so. Sometimes there's a good rationale (SDF Macross); in others it's somewhat contrived (SDC Southern Cross). Either way, they usually get it over with quickly and then move on to the real story. If anything I'd say that superhero movies suffer a greater problem, since they tend to dwell on hero and villain origins, which are nearly all essentially the same

Let's face it, if you have mecha there can be only two type of stories:

• War
  
• Test piloting of prototypes
  

If not both at the same time. Well, some anime like Patlabor was original, but this usually can't be expected.

I even divided major villains (the main villains of a story) in three categories:

• Those who want to conquer Earth
  
• Those who want to destroy Earth
  
• Those who want to date the main character (and they are not female)
  

Last two are not exclusive. I don't know what's with nihilism and homosexuality, but it seems rather widespread

FV