Gundam is usually known for robot battles during large scale conflicts. But similar to other Gundam works such as Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, or the Gundam Build series, GQuuuuuuX features “Clan Battles” where the mobile suit battles are combat sport matches with rules and spectators. What do you think is the appeal and potential of featuring robot battles this way?
So when you try to imagine war, there are usually elements such as states or nationalities at play in the backdrop of the conflict. However, for the current generation and especially for the younger generation in Japan, I wondered just how much will they be able to understand these backgrounds to war. For younger people, I thought it was better to depict battles based around personal motivation.
I can’t say why the different types of robot battles were chosen for the other works, however at least for GQuuuuuuX, I thought it would be better to highlight the personal stakes. So it’s different from fighting in a war. You can get prize money by winning, and it has a game-like feel. Compared to the One Year War section, it’s not an outright life or death situation, so the question of whether it would be thrilling enough or not did come up.
However, if you take a look at other titles such as Initial D, that title doesn’t depict war, but when you have an accident, you can still lose your life regardless. There’s still a very serious “battle” taking place. So when our staff came to me saying that “we can’t depict these types of battles in a thrilling way”, I pointed them to Initial D as an example. It’s still possible for us to depict it this way for GQuuuuuuX.
If you take a look at other titles such as Initial D, that title doesn’t depict war, but when you have an accident, you can still lose your life regardless. There’s still a very serious “battle” taking place.
Kazuya Tsurumaki
Scriptwriter Yoji Enokido mentioned in a previous interview that Machu is “a girl without prejudice”. What do you think makes her a compelling protagonist for this work?
She’s a bold girl, and when she thinks about something, she instantly takes off to action. She’s a nice girl in the way that she’s good-natured and without prejudice, who looks at the world in a very even way without preconceptions.
Usually wherever there’s war or conflict between nations, there’s many societal elements at play. I wanted to depict her as the type of girl who is free from all of these kinds of things.
Challia Bull has become a popular character among fans, especially with his relationship to Char Aznable. How do you & the staff feel about the impact this has on people’s interest in the character?
Personally, I’ve always thought that Challia Bull was a very interesting character in the original series. In “First Gundam” he only appeared in a single episode, however I thought it was a shame that he had to exit so soon. I’m sure there were many others who also thought this way. The recent fan response was unexpected, but I’m also happy about it.
Next page: On GQuuuuuuX’s production, and the future of mecha anime.
