Since its creation in 1979, Gundam has been one of the most dominating franchises to ever hit Japan and the United States. Prior to 1994, the Gundam franchise only focused on the Universal Century as the war began between the Earth Federation and Zeon and evolved over the course of 20 years. The success of these storylines, along with Tomino, the man who is responsible for Gundam, stepping down a new idea for Gundam was introduced. This was Mobile Fighter G Gundam, which was set in an alternative world where every four years Gundams, representing different nations, fought one another to determine who would rule the universe. With this show coming into the Gundam franchise it has expanded what can and has been done in Gundam.
The Summary:
Mobile Fighter G Gundam begins in Future Century year 60 at the start of the 13th Gundam Fight. For over 60 years humanity has abandoned the Earth to form colonies in space. Rather than fighting over territory in space these colonies, all representing different nations, have established an alternative to war. This is the Gundam fight, with each nation being represented, taking place every four years, and the last Gundam standing with their nation, is declared the ruler of space until the next tournament. Prior to the start of the 13th Gundam fight, Domon Kasshu from Neo Japan was training for several years under Master Asia. At the end of his training, Master Asia has found Domon to be worthy of being the bearer of the “King of Hearts” crest and the new leader of the Shuffle Alliance. While Domon is training, his father, Dr. Raizo Kasshu, has developed a Gundam to help restore the Earth. Before it can be used Ullube Ishikawa attacked Dr. Kasshu’s facility, which in turn forces Kyoji, Domon’s brother, to take the Gundam down to Earth. The Gundam crashes on Earth, begins to malfunction as it wants to destroy all life and not help to heal it. As a result, the Gundam is renamed the Devil Gundam. Due to this, Domon’s mother is killed and his father is placed in a cryogenic state as a punishment for the crime he has committed. In order for Domon to free his father he must become a Gundam pilot, find and defeat his brother Kyoji, and win the 13th Gundam fight. Domon becomes Neo Japan’s Gundam fighter accompanied by his childhood friend and mechanic Rain Mikamura as they travel from country to country challenging different Gundams to determine where the Devil Gundam is. Early in his journey, Domon faces Neo America’s Chibodee Crocket, Neo France’s George DeSand, Neo China’s Sai Saici, and Neo Russia’s Argo Gulski, which all end in draws. This instills mutual respect among the men, and acts as a motivator for each of them to face each other in the finals of the Gundam fight. After fighting these matches, Domon continues to travel from country to country, challenging various Gundam fighters, while searching for the Devil Gundam. This leads him, along with Rain, to discover DG (Devil Gundam) cells which grants the user an immense amount of power by turning them violent. Domon eventually travels to Neo Tokyo due to reports siting that the Devil Gundam is there. When he arrives, he discovers Master Asia helping to defend the city from the Devil Gundam. The two men then form a plan to distract and destroy the Devil Gundam’s mobile weapons. After several missions Domon is attacked by a mysterious Gundam. Following this attack Domon and Master Asia race to a tower in Tokyo, where Domon is attacked by Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo. When Domon is about to be defeated, the remaining four members of the Shuffle Alliance intervene in the fight, forcing Master Asia’s new group to retreat. It is then revealed that the Shuffle Alliance is here to punish Master Asia for his crimes of attempting to resurrect the Devil Gundam. This leads to Domon and the Shuffle Alliance to face Master Asia and Domon’s former rivals. In this fight Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo become infected with DG cells and the Shuffle Alliance realizes that their opponents are reincarnations of themselves. The four Shuffle Alliance members sacrifice their lives in order to save Domon’s rivals and pass on their crests. Meanwhile, Domon is facing Master Asia’s Master Gundam, but over powers him, forcing him to retreat. After this battle, the new Shuffle Alliance agree to defeat the Devil Gundam when the time is right. Domon, after this battle against Master Asia, realizes that he needs to become stronger in order to defeat the Devil Gundam, so he heads to the Guiana Highlands to train. Once there he meets Neo Germany’s masked warrior Schwarz Bruder who, guides Domon’s training. This is further developed as he spars with his fellow Shuffle Alliance members and sees how they are training for the Gundam finals. After several days of training the Shuffle Alliance and Schwarz Bruder are attacked by the Devil Gundam, but create an escape as they make their way to the finals. Rather than joining them, Domon chooses to stay behind to face the Devil Gundam and his brother Kyoji. Domon defeats the Devil Gundam but incapacitates his Shining Gundam, which forces Neo Japan to send down the Burning Gundam. Once he gets into the God Gundam and activates it, he easily defeats Master Asia and heads towards Neo Hong Kong where the Gundam finals will begin.
The Gundam finals are one on one preliminary matches to determine who will reach the battle royale, which will occur on Lantau Island. Unknown to Domon or the Shuffle Alliance Wong Yunfat, the Prime Minister of Neo Hong Kong, has his own plans of reviving the Devil Gundam as a means to rule space. Part of his plan is to force Domon to face the toughest Gundam fighters as a means to eliminate him from the tournament. Wong tests Domon through every fight, including going up against his own allies in the Shuffle Alliance, Domon emerges undefeated. With only one opponent left in the preliminary matches against Schwarz Bruder, Domon brings his all and defeats him right as the ring explodes around them. The explosion reveals that Schwarz has the same face and attitude that Kyoji had, which prompts Domon to wonder about the truth regarding his brother. While Domon and his Shuffle Alliance allies enter the battle royale, Rain learns the truth about the Devil Gundam. In particular, she learns through her father that the Devil Gundam, originally called the Ultimate Gundam, was created to rejuvenate the earth. Due to jealousy he, along with Ullube, wanted to confiscate Dr. Kasshu’s work and make it their own. This in turn forced Kyoji to take the Devil Gundam to Earth where it crashed and began to malfunction by destroying the Earth. Ullube then had Dr. Kasshu arrested, framed Kyoji as a criminal, all to manipulate Domon and Rain into acting as a team during the fight to recover the Gundam. Meanwhile, Domon in the battle royale is attempting to make his way towards Master Asia and the Devil Gundam, but is stopped by Michelo Chariot in his new Gundam Heaven’s Sword. Luckily, Sai Saici and Argo Gulski allowed Domon to move on as they killed Michelo by destroying the Heaven Sword Gundam. Domon was stopped once again by Chapman who transforms into the Grand Gundam. Domon is lucky as George and Chibodee deal with him. Schwarz, who is followed by Rain, in the Rising Gundam, realizes they need to get inside to help Domon. To do this they create a small force field that allows Maria Louise, from Neo France, to crawl through and to blow up the barrier that is preventing any help from coming in. With the barrier being successfully destroyed Rain goes to help Domon but begins to fight Allenby Beardsley who has been infected by DG cells. As the two fight, Rain defeats Allenby and saves her from further damage from DG cells or influence by the Devil Gundam. Meanwhile, Schwarz reveals that he is an android created out of DG cells from the last parts of Kyoji before he was corrupted by the Devil Gundam. As a result, Schwarz/Kyoji make a sacrifice as he attacks and incapacitates the Kyoji piloting the Devil Gundam. With tears, Domon attacks and kills Kyoji and Schwarz thus effectively destroying the Devil Gundam. This only leaves Master Asia in Domon’s way of winning the 13th Gundam Fight. As these two men fight it becomes clear that Master Asia has sided with the Devil Gundam in restoring the Earth, but did not truly believe in the mission. His true feeling included that humanity belongs on the Earth and should not be destroyed and with this knowledge Domon defeats Master Asia. Upon his defeat, Master Asia passes away and officially leaves Domon as the new master of the school of the Undefeated of the East and to carries on his teachings. While Domon is celebrating and being praised for his winning Ullube begins the operation to retrieve the Devil Gundam and bring it back to the colony. Rain and her father have joined him, in which he kidnaps her and forces her to become the new core of the Devil Gundam. This allows the Devil Gundam to begin resurrecting itself. In turn Domon, alongside the Shuffle Alliance and several of the world’s Gundam unite to stop the Devil Gundam from destroying the Earth. Ultimately Domon, thanks to the Shuffle Alliance, defeat Ullube and shut down the Devil Gundam. Unfortunately, the Devil Gundam has evolved and reboots itself forcing Domon to go to its core to retrieve Rain. Once inside the core he awakens Rain and saves her as the two defeat, for the final time, the Devil Gundam.
Significance:
Prior to 1994, Gundam had followed the same plot for their series, which took place within the Universal Century timeline. These stories followed a pilot getting wrapped up in a war that they did not want to be involved in. Throughout the war, the pilots are supported by military ships and other mobile suits with the common objective of winning the war. Mobile Fighter G Gundam changed all of this as it is set in an alternative timeline: Future Century. Every four years a Gundam Tournament occurs as an alternative to war to see who will rule over space. This is the first Gundam series to suggest an alternative to war and break away from the traditional take on war. By doing this it introduces a freshness to the stale components that had developed due to the repetitiveness of prior Gundam series retelling the same stories over and over again. Furthermore, G Gundam was the first series to introduced five main characters who piloted Gundams. These five Gundam pilots are all unique as they have their own reasons for entering the Gundam Tournament. When they come into contact with one another they soon begin to realize how important their own goals are while developing respect for each other. In particular, we see how their personal goals come into conflict with their obligation to defeat the Devil Gundam and how that affects their choices as pilots. This begins the shift in the Gundam franchise as it goes from focusing on one main character to focusing on multiple characters operating as a team to achieve a goal. Finally, G Gundam introduces a new piloting system where the pilot is using their body to control their Gundam. As a result, pilots have to rely on their martial arts and physical ability to obtain a victory. This is very different than what Gundam and other mecha themed shows have done, prior to 1994, as it adds a physical component to the fight. While this system has not been fully adopted into other Gundam series, there have been a number of devices that have been introduced as accessories to assist Gundam pilots in battle. G Gundam has offered an alternative to war, an ensemble of a cast, and a new piloting system, which has changed many Gundam series as they have adopted some of the changes G Gundam has introduced to the franchise.
