MS Gundam Vol. 1: Awakening

"zeontestpilot" (zeontestpilot) 11/17/2014 at 09:00 • Filed to: Gundam, mecha, tayclassic

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I just finished reading Vol. 1: Awakening (out of 3 volumes),of the MS [Mobile Suit] Gundam novel. It's pretty good so far, IMO. It is a bit different from the anime, so let's go over a brief synopsis. Warning, this is quite long, and I tried to be a coherent as possible. **Spoilers Ahead**

** Synposis **

For starters, Amuro is already enlisted in the Federation. In the beginning of the volume he is practicing piloting the Core Fighter of Pegasus (the name of the ship, which is a White Base style ship, the reverse is true in the anime). The Pegasus is on it's way to pick up 6 new MS at Side 7.

When they arrive, it transpires near exactly like the anime. Zeon comes in, finds the Feddies MS (sorry, it's my inner Zeon talking), and the two soldiers try to destroy the MS despite the mission being a scouting one. From what I can tell, the 6 MS are 3 gundams and 3 guncannons. Yes that is correct, the guntank doesn't really exist in this series.Which makes a lot of sense because they never go to Earth.

Volume 1 takes place entirely in space. Which makes it interesting because some events never happen, while others are changed to fit in the context of being in space.

After escaping Side 7, the Pegasus heads to Luna II. Char (the awesome guy that he is), forces the Pegasus off it's intended path, straight to the California Space satellite where Garma resides. Garma takes 3 Gaws, and 18 amount of Dopp fighters and attacks the Pegasus ship.

Now the Gaw and Dopp fighters were seen primarily on Earth during the show, never in space. Personally, that irks me inside, because to use these planes (within these limitations), the Pegasus would either have to be so close to Earth that these aircraft a can still function (but the gravitational pull of the Earth should occur but is never mentioned), or the Dopp Fighters and the Gaws have been modified for space use and....why not just use a couple of Musai's and a herd of Gattle? We know for a fact those work in outer space.....but I digress...

Anyways, Garma dies (not Chars plan, btw), and the Pegasus finally arrives at Luna II. We meet General Revil, who brings up the topic that the entire crew may possibly be newtypes. Also, Fraw Bow, Letz, Kikka, and Katz (the three kids) are left behind because why not, this is suppose to be geared towards a mature audience, no light hearted comedy is allowed here!

What happens next is Garma's funeral, and they discuss politics about how either Zeon or the Federation is the bad guy (hint, the answer is yes to both) and Gihren gives his infamous speech, which turns into a propaganda speech (way to remember your younger brother!). Char remeets Lalah, where we find out he saved her (before the novel began) after the destruction of Side 5. She also pretty much falls for Char.

The Pegasus joins the 13th Anonymous Corps, and heads out with 3 other ships manning GMs in Operation Star One, which is the annihilation of Zeon's most powerful moon base, Granada. The 3 ships being a Magellan-class battleship Hal, and two Salamis-class cruisers Cisco and Saphron. The 13th Autonomous Corps role in all of this is to draw out Granda's fleet, so the main force can attack Granada. So essentially a decoy mission.

Char and Lalah go to the Texas Zone so Lalah can practice piloting the Elmeth. The 13th Anonymous Corp head out towards the Texas Zone, where they come across a patrol headed by M'quve (what? You don't remember him? Did he not leave any kind of impression on you? FYI, he piloted the Gyan, but only in the tv show, not in the book, which is really sad...)

After the first battle, M'quve's forces retreat and Ryu never returns. It does not explain how he met his demise, he just doesn't return to the Pegasus (side note, I prefer his sacrifice in the tv show so much more).

Amuro, is then sent on a scouting mission ahead, because let's be honest, he's a dang good pilot. He enters the Texas colony and meets Lalah. Amuro's NewType powers start stirring with this meeting. Lalah figures out Amuro is who she's been waiting for, not Char, but she still loves Char, so awkward love triangle. Meanwhile, outside the colony, the ship Hal is destroyed.

Amuro and Char (in his Zaku II) start to duke it out inside the Texas colony. The Pegasus fights a Zanzibar in the colony as well and.....both ships are crippled. The Pegasus is then abandoned. Amuro and Char repeatedly duke it out, until Char is forced to escape because his Zaku is missing a leg, a shield, and it's main camera. Lalah and Amuro have a strong newtype moment, and because of that distraction, Amuro crashes into the Elmeth, at full force, accidentally forcing the beam saber into the Elmeth's cockpit, killing Lalah....dang, that's a bit... depressing...

The force of the impact launches the gundam outside the colony, but so much damage has been done to it, the computer automatically ejects the core fighter inside.

To recap, at the beginning of the volume; there was a gundam, 2 guncannons, char's Zaku, and the Pegasus. At the end of the volume, the only thing left is Kai's guncannon. Wow, that's a lot of destruction.

** Characters **

Amuro in the novel, is way less of a pain than he is in the show. In the show he comes off as a self-entitled brat. Here, he only gets 'punished' once, in the first chapter. He is more mature, and I really like that. It allows him to handle situations with a more leveled, cooled head.

Char seems to be a very different character at times. In the show he was seen as cynical, wanting the Zabi family to fall no matter what the cost. In the show, he tells Garma "blame this on the misfortune of your birth" (dang that's cold). In the novel, he seemed to be quite humanized. He felt bad that Garma died, but he seemed to be telling himself that it's 'one less in the Zabi in the world', to make himself feel better. I can understand making Char seem more human, but his desire to do what he thought was 'right' (in his mind) is what made him into a fantastic character.

** Mobile Suits **

The MS are mainly the same as in the tv series. The only biggest difference is that the Zaku has some form of gun/weapon in its hand. Char used his Zaku's hand weapon one to mess up the Gundam badly.

Char's red Zaku seems pretty outrageous, just like in the show. But because of Amuro's newtype abilities (and possibly the onboard computer which learns, but that hasn't been mentioned so far in the book so who knows...and technically forgotten in the tv show so again, who knows), in a short amount of time Amuro seems to be better, or at least on par, with Char. In the book it is noted that Amuro practiced on a simulation, so there's that. Also, just before entering the Texas colony, Amuro confronts a commander Zaku, and by the way they talk about it, it seems almost as good as Char. I only note this because it seems to stress that Char isn't the only ace pilot.

** NewTypes **

Where this book really shines is about all the talk on newtypes. In the book, it was said that Zeon Zum Deikun claimed "that in order to feel truly at home in the solar system, mankind would have to start thinking differently...man shouldn't cling to his home planet" (p.129). And it was said that Deikun prophetized "that someday mankind would undergo a transformation. Should that come to pass, mankind may give birth to a new race of men who by themselves will rule the universe....called a 'new type' of human" (p. 93). Not sure about you, but that is a very broad statement.

The Republic of Zeon was founded because they wanted independence from the Earth Federation, who ruled them from the home planet. Like how a country rules a colony on the other side if the world. So far, the hints and pieces given to the reader about Deikun's ideals heavily hint to an idea of a uniformed humanity, not a super human called a NewType (at least, that's how I'm interrupting it with only the information from Volume 1). I mean, the Republic of Zeon never seemed to give the Federation any issues, the Principality of Zeon seems to be the bad guy here, or at least the Zabi family. Deikun apparently seems to be a pacifist to some degree. So perhaps Deikun's idea of a new type of human means a global, uniformed understanding of humanity? At least, that what it seems to be so far in the book. Remember, I'm only using book related info here, and what I have come across so far, nothing more.

What makes this all interesting is that if indeed Deikun was referring to newtypes as a uniformed humanity, where do these super humans that we all commonly refer to as 'newtypes' fit in?

I'm gonna review what the book has said about newtypes so far. The book generically defines a NewType as someone with 'higher cognitive function'. Dr. Flanagan said that "...true newtypes generally has remarkably refined insights, which they often referred to themselves as 'hunches'" (p.109). Though Dr.Flanagan said himself he wasn't even sure if newtypes exist, that it's "easier to just label their abilities as paranormal", which I thought was curious.

But newtypes exist, and on a interesting note, all newtypes have lived in space (Amuro was born on earth, but lived in space). So somehow, living in space 'developed' or 'evolved' something in certain, selected humans.

In the book, the only solid evidence to prove the existence of newtypes, was to connect them to a psycommu device, which "is used to conduct brain waves" (p.110). Only newtypes can use the device, because since they had developed a higher cognitive function, the psycommu device 'catches ' the higher cognitive brainwaves and converts it into something a machine could understand/do (I couldn't find the source for this in the book, sorry). Such as, in the book, catching (not killing) a fly with a robotic hand. This also explains why oldtypes can't use a psycommu device. So clearly living in space is doing something to mankind.

Another thing about being a NewType is the ability to communicate without words, aka mentally. Not like a telepath, but as a sixth sense, just by thinking it. What makes that interesting is that it aligns with Deikun's ideas of what a new type of human seems to be. In a uniformed humanity, as a way for humanity to think together, it's just that the NewType angle happens to be without the use of words.

Whether Deikun himself was a NewType, I do not know. It seems the citizens of Zeon have put Deikun of a pedestal, thinking of him as the second coming of Christ or Buddha (the books words, not mine). So when Ramba Ral tells Sayla that her father (Deikun) is a NewType, he could just be exaggerating, or even referring to Deikun as a 'new type' of human (different from everyone else). It's too early and with too little information to decide on that yet. This is, after all, all information from Volume 1.

** Conclusion **

In conclusion, if you're a gundam fan, you should give it a read. You constantly get into the two main characters (Char and Amuro) thoughts and see it from their point of view. On top of that, the book takes a realistic approach, more so then the tv series. They added in some 'super robot' themed stuff (like the g-fighter) in the tv series, and changed some stuff to appeal to a broader audience, while also making a lot of money off of the merchandise. The book can be seen as a uncorrupted vision of the MS Gundam series from the creator.

The battles are pretty decent, but the talk about newtypes is pretty fascinating. Plus they sometimes go in-depth information about the technology, making the MS more that just walking mecha. I mean, the gundam's computer dodged a blow from the enemy before Amuro could react.

If you can and are willing, I recommend reading it.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > zeontestpilot 11/18/2014 at 11:01

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I know the ending and you're not gonna like it.

zeontestpilot > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/18/2014 at 12:16

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Oh I have read it before, years ago. I'm just brushing up. And I know exactly what you mean. *His* death was seemingly random, which is appropriate for the theme of the book, 'war is hell'.

If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent > zeontestpilot 11/18/2014 at 12:20

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It's still stupid and it breaks continuity with Zeta, because he was present in the novelization of that.

zeontestpilot > If only EssExTee could be so grossly incandescent 11/18/2014 at 12:48

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Yeah, I won't argue with that fact. But the novel was finished before the tv series ended. And even with the tv series, it wasn't until reruns were played and the movies came out did the gundam-craze actual get started. So there was no way of predicting it's popularity.

It does still stinks that it doesn't mesh with Zeta gundam. Though the novel does have Tomino's 'kill them all' attitude. Which is sort of more appropriate ( not to mention his trademark). I figure it's ok, there's at least 5 or 6 different versions of the original series.