Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
2001 Japanese DVD cover
機動戦士ガンダム：逆襲のシャア
(Kidō Senshi Gandamu: Gyakushū no Shā)
Genre Military science fiction
Novel
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack - High Streamer
Written by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Illustrated by Hoshino Nobuyuki
Published by Tokuma Shoten
Published 1987
Novel
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack - Beltorchika's Children
Written by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Illustrated by Haruhiko Mikimoto
Published by Kadokawa Shoten Sneaker Bunko
Published 1988
Anime film
Directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Produced by Kenji Uchida
Written by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Music by Shigeaki Saegusa
Studio Sunrise
Licensed by
Released March 12, 1988
Runtime 125 minutes
Manga
Written by Yoshiyuki Tomino
Illustrated by Kōichi Tokita
Published by Kodansha
Magazine Comic Bom Bom
Original run September 1998 – January 1999
Volumes 1

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア, Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu: Gyakushū no Shā) is a 1988 anime film set in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam franchise.

Making its theatrical debut on March 12, 1988, Char's Counterattack is the culmination of the original saga begun in Mobile Suit Gundam and continued through Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, marking the final conflict of the fourteen-year rivalry between the characters Amuro Ray and Char Aznable. It was adapted from Mobile Suit Gundam: High Streamer, a trilogy of novels written by Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino.

In addition to being the first original Gundam theatrical release, Char's Counterattack was also the first Gundam production to make use of computer graphics during a five-second shot of the Sweetwater colony rotating in space, being made at Toyo Links. Char's Counterattack was released in America on DVD on August 20, 2002 and was shown on January 4, 2003 on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

Plot summary

Set in March UC 0093, the film features the return of main antagonist Char Aznable, who has emerged after five years in hiding to lead the Neo-Zeon once more in the fight for supremacy over the Earth Federation. Still determined to make humankind fully colonize in space, he mobilizes the Neo-Zeon to drop the asteroid 5th Luna on the Federation headquarters in Lhasa, Tibet. Under the guise of surrendering all Neo-Zeon military forces, he plans to drop the Axis asteroid base on Earth as well.

However, the Earth Federation forces assigned their own special forces unit known as Londo Bell, to take him down. Among the Londo Bell's members are One Year War veterans Bright Noa and Amuro Ray, whom Char wants to kill in revenge for the death of Lalah Sune. A major battle around Axis breaks out as the Londo Bell struggle to stop Char before the asteroid enters Earth's atmosphere. A Londo Bell demolitions team blows up Axis from the inside but one half is still on course to strike Earth, In the midst of the battle, Amuro catches Char and tries to push Axis from reentry, with Federation and Neo Zeon mobile suits coming to help. As the group tries to carry out the impossible, Amuro's RX-93 Nu Gundam resonates and creates a psyco-wave around the asteroid, pushing it away from Earth while shoving all the other mobile suits from the area. Both Federation and Neo-Zeon forces look on as Axis veers off from reentry. Both Amuro and Char are presumed dead by their respective factions.

Production and development

Yoshiyuki Tomino adapted Char's Counterattack from the novel Hi-Streamer, and later wrote Beltorchika's Children as an alternate version. Tomino had planned previously to feature Char's return in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, however when he got the green light to do Char's Counterattack, he dropped the planned appearance. Tomino does not recall his plans to bring back Char in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. The novels' differences from the movie include Amuro and Char piloting advanced versions of the ν-Gundam and the Sazabi: the Hi-ν-Gundam and the MSN-04-II Nightingale, Z Gundam character Beltorchika Irma being pregnant with Amuro's child, Hathaway accidentally killing Quess instead of Chan, and the confirmed deaths of Amuro and Char.

Staff

Cast

CharacterJapaneseEnglish
(Bandai Entertainment, 2002)
Amuro RayTōru FuruyaBrad Swaile
Char AznableShūichi IkedaMichael Kopsa
Bright NoaHirotaka SuzuokiChris Kalhoon
Quess ParayaMaria KawamuraJocelyne Loewen
Hathaway NoaNozomu SasakiBill Switzer
Gyunei GussKōichi YamaderaKirby Morrow
Nanai MiguelYoshiko SakakibaraJenn Forgie
Chan AgiMitsuki YayoiNicole Leroux
Mirai YashimaFuyumi ShiraishiCathy Weseluck
Cheimin NoaMayumi ShōAlaina Burnett
Cameron BloomAkira MurayamaDavid Mackay
Lalah SuneKeiko HanWillow Johnson

Theme music

Ending:

  • "Beyond the Time ~Möbius no Sora wo Koete~" (BEYOND THE TIME ～メビウスの宇宙を越えて～, BEYOND THE TIME Mebiusu no Sora wo Koete, Beyond the Time ~Beyond the Möbius Universe~)

Release

The film made its American debut on August 20, 2002 on DVD and was later re-released during Sunrise's release of its One Year War properties (specifically Mobile Suit Gundam, 08th MS Team, 0080, and 0083).

Home media

Bandai released a limited-edition DVD of the movie in 2001. The product was a maroon slipcase edition embossed with the gold Neo Zeon logo. The DVD was later reissued as part of the Anime Legends line in 2006. Due to the closure of Bandai Entertainment, the movie has been out of print for sometime. On October 11, 2014 at their 2014 New York Comic-Con panel, Sunrise announced they will be releasing all of the Gundam franchise, including Gundam SEED: Special Edition in North America though distribution from Right Stuf Inc., beginning in Spring 2015.[1]

Game

Bandai produced a Char's Counterattack 3D fighting game for the PlayStation in 1998 as part of the Big Bang Project for Gundam's 20th anniversary. The game featured scenes from the film that were remade with updated animation and CGI. The game also has stages featuring Amuro and Char's classic encounters in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Toys/Models

A line of Gunpla models based on the movie's mobile suits was released, along with a Hobby Japan special. The model line had 1/144 kits of the Jegan, the Geara Doga, the Sazabi,[2] Gyunei Guss and Quess Paraya's Jagd Dogas, and the ν-Gundam (with or without Fin Funnel), a 1/550 α-Azieru, and a 1/100 ν-Gundam. Bandai would re-release them plus the Hi-ν-Gundam and a heavy weapons version of the ν-Gundam, years later as part of the HGUC and Master Grade lines, the latter being featured in Bandai's Gundam Weapons line of mooks (modelling books). Many of them are also available as part of the B-Club resin line. In 2011, a model kit manufacturer in China, MCModel, produced 1/144 scale kits of the ν-Gundam and Hi-ν-Gundam called "Gundooms" that are reportedly much more detailed than the same kits from Bandai based on their origins as retooled versions of resin conversion kits. Another company, Regulation Center, later followed suit with a 1/100 Nightingale kit. Bandai's special museum contained a 1/100 prototype of the Nightingale; the company went public at the 2014 Shizuoka Hobby Show with the announcement of a new RE/100 category of scale models, with the Nightingale as the first release in September 2014.[3]

Veteran mechanical designer Hajime Katoki redesigned the MG version of the Sazabi, resulting in a slightly blockier appearance more suitable for modeling.[4] Due to the substantial size and heft, it is one of the most expensive 1/100th-scale Master Grade kits yet manufactured, trumped only by the enormous Perfect Zeong kit, released in 2004.[5] The ν-Gundam, Hi-ν-Gundam, and Sazabi would be released as part of Katoki's VerKA line of redesigned Gunpla model kits, their most noticeable design cues being splitting panels designed to show off the psycoframe in the Nu Gundam, and the internal frame structure in the Sazabi.

The ν-Gundam and Sazabi[6] were the first offerings in Bandai's "Formania" line of extensively detailed machine busts in September 2010.

Some of the movie's units were also released as action figures, with the RX-93 and the Sazabi produced in various forms, the latest of which being under the Robot Spirits line. Bandai, in particular, produced an online-exclusive RX-93 equipment set featuring a second set of Fin-Funnels[7] and a Fin-Funnel equipment set that includes effect parts to recreate the ν-Gundam's beam pyramid.[8] A version of the ν-Gundam produced for the Taiwanese market has a special psycho-frame effect where parts of the body are molded in crystal green. Bandai released the Hi-ν in early 2014 and is slated to release the unit as part of the Metal Robot Spirits line, a version of regular Robot Spirits figures with diecast metal parts.

References

  1. ↑ "Sunrise Partners with Right Stuf to Release Gundam Franchise Stateside". Anime News Network. 2014-10-11. Retrieved 2014-10-12.
  2. ↑ "1/144th Sazabi (1988)". HobbyLink Japan. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  3. ↑ http://www.gaijin-gunpla.com/2014/05/shizuoka-hobby-show-2014/
  4. ↑ MSN-04 Sazabi 1/100 Scale Master Grade Kit Manual, Bandai, 2000
  5. ↑ "1/100th Master Grade Perfect Zeong". HobbyLink Japan. Retrieved February 22, 2007.
  6. ↑ http://tamashii.jp/item/item.php?eid=01320&pref=370
  7. ↑ http://tamashii.jp/item/10061/
  8. ↑ http://tamashii.jp/item/10059/
Preceded by
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ		 Gundam metaseries (production order)
1988		 Succeeded by
Mobile Suit SD Gundam
Preceded by
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ		 Gundam Universal Century timeline
U.C. 0093		 Succeeded by
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn,
Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash (novels)
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