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INTEREST: Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Producer: Modern Teens Think Gundam Is for Old People


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Minos_Kurumada



Joined: 04 Nov 2015
Posts: 1023
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:22 pm Reply with quote
This interview is interesting... everything he says can be applied to Build Divers, I wonder if they don't consider Divers a proper "Gundam" series which I can frankly don't blame them for it.

I love the damn thing but at the end of the day it's a glorified sports series, not a Gundam series, you can replace the Gundam for generic robots and it would work just as well.

But, this part is weird: "the staff felt that it was important not to make the beginning of the story too heavy."

Dude, the prologue it's quite heavy for a child.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 6262
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:37 pm Reply with quote
Although this is a interesting interview. I'm not sure if Gundam franchise's audiences are made of people in their 20's and older, and made of sci-fi nerds/geeks that are widespread regardless of age.

I mean you can have a teen that has a strong taste for sci-fi that can watch Gundam series (assuming there's enough interesting aspects that keep that teen hooked on the series & franchise). I mean watching a Gundam series in my opinion is a bit of an acquired taste.

I watched Gundam because it's the foundation of real robots anime genre today (my first real robot anime series I watched was Robotech/Macross when it was shown on CN back in 1998, and I credit that series along with Sailor Moon, Akira, Gatchaman when it was under the name G-Force: Guardian of Space for making me the anime fan that I'm today). Also I really liked sci-fi, and I've watched animation way before I became an active anime fan. So it's easy for me to watch any Gundam series (the only exception is G-Gundam).

So if you have a teenager that have a strong affinity for sci-fi, and they liked/loved animation. Yeah, it's possible to have 500 teenagers with strong affinity for mecha, sci-fi, and animation to be a fan of Gundam.
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sirdano1



Joined: 06 Jul 2011
Posts: 295
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:45 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
"If I see Gundam [in the title] I won't watch it."

Same, but that's because most of the Gundam shows made in the past ten years have sucked.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1180
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:46 pm Reply with quote
This is, honestly, nothing new for Gundam: they're always flipping the table every few years to attract new people, along with other projects to please existing fans.

I suppose it does make me wonder if there's really anything different this time - the mention of child soldiers not being relatable obviously makes one think about Iron Blooded Orphans, the last major Gundam TV show, which focused very heavily on that. There's been so much arguing about whether or not that was a success in Japan, often based on nothing, that I don't know what to think. Of course, IBO is actually pretty old by now anyway (the last episode was 2017).

In any case, G-Witch has been off to a good start, so I hope it works out.
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GoldCrusader



Joined: 25 Apr 2017
Posts: 1022
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 2:49 pm Reply with quote
sirdano1 wrote:
Quote:
"If I see Gundam [in the title] I won't watch it."

Same, but that's because most of the Gundam shows made in the past ten years have sucked.


Didn't we get Thunderbolt, Origin and Ironblooded orphans in the past 10 years?

I thought these were all very well received with old and new fans.
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Hoppy800



Joined: 09 Aug 2013
Posts: 3331
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 3:56 pm Reply with quote
No wonder there may be no war in this, WFM will be a disaster anime-wise because of the creators want to appeal to Gen Z over core fans who buy the games and model kits, I doubt they will lose much money, because while I doubt I'll buy a disc of this anime, I'll surely buy another Gundam game, after how much I enjoyed Battle Alliance.
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jdnation



Joined: 15 May 2007
Posts: 2004
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:13 pm Reply with quote
Explains the school setting and the whole "Adults are controlling my life, ugh, Daaaad!" plot they got going on.

I can dig it, but, no war? Or is it corporate warfare now? Because this old man doesn't watch Gundam for the high school drama...
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SciasSlash



Joined: 09 Jun 2015
Posts: 118
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:35 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
No wonder there may be no war in this, WFM will be a disaster anime-wise because of the creators want to appeal to Gen Z over core fans who buy the games and model kits, I doubt they will lose much money, because while I doubt I'll buy a disc of this anime, I'll surely buy another Gundam game, after how much I enjoyed Battle Alliance.

The model kits are literally selling out.
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Kruszer



Joined: 19 Nov 2004
Posts: 7985
Location: Minnesota, USA
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:41 pm Reply with quote
Quote:
"Gundam isn't aimed at us."


Who even says this? Why would something like this stop people in the first place? That's just weird, My teenage years were constantly spent reading and watching stuff above my demographic like complex science fiction or R rated movies and playing violent videogames. Or maybe I was the weird kid for being too mature for my age? Confused
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me just saying



Joined: 29 Apr 2017
Posts: 11
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 4:59 pm Reply with quote
I am one of those "old people" but never cared for most of the Gundam series. I did like Build Divers. I did try this new one because of the Witch from Mercury part of the title and so far it has intrigued me but the jury is out as to whether or not I will continue to watch it to the last episode.
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TheKillerAngel



Joined: 02 Mar 2018
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:00 pm Reply with quote
Hoppy800 wrote:
No wonder there may be no war in this, WFM will be a disaster anime-wise because of the creators want to appeal to Gen Z over core fans who buy the games and model kits, I doubt they will lose much money, because while I doubt I'll buy a disc of this anime, I'll surely buy another Gundam game, after how much I enjoyed Battle Alliance.


I actually see a lot of potential for merchandizing this title. I can see bishoujo figures from this Gundam being a lot more popular than ones from other Gundam titles. The amount of take G Witch has generated on social media is notable, so I think the producer's business instincts have been on point so far.
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 1844
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:07 pm Reply with quote
This sure is nostalgic. I remember a staff member saying that SEED became popular within older people due to the focus of drama while 00 was intentionally developed towards a young audience as a result of its action.
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Rahxephon91



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1859
Location: Park Forest IL.
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 5:21 pm Reply with quote
I guess I don’t quite understand and this is a pretty good example of why I’ve fallen out of anime.

When I was a teenager I guess I didn’t lack imagination of todays teens and needed high school stuff. I hate high school anime. I hate how anime has to be hs crap. I’m not into slice of life crap.

I was a teen when Seed came out and loved it because the drama. Seed is teen angst anime and it’s eventful. It feels like a drama and that’s what I want.

Witch has called flat so far. The whole high school setting is lame. High school setting where the students are using advanced military weapons for fun duels is complete anime nonsense. The show has been crap so far.
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Hellsoldier



Joined: 21 Jun 2013
Posts: 756
Location: Porto,Portugal,Europe,Earth,Sol
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:00 pm Reply with quote
I have no complaints of any Gundam I've watched thus far, but hey, whatever motivates people not to do the same thing over and over. I loved Iron-Blooded Orphans precisely for how dark it could get.

But Mecha Utena sounds like a fun idea. Wink
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garfield15



Joined: 06 Apr 2009
Posts: 1517
PostPosted: Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:00 pm Reply with quote
Kicksville wrote:
This is, honestly, nothing new for Gundam: they're always flipping the table every few years to attract new people, along with other projects to please existing fans.


Heck this article mentions Gundam SEED being 20 years old, and that's exactly what SEED was trying to do at the time to get a new audience.
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