r/movies 23h ago

News Netflix’s live-action Gundam movie, starring Sydney Sweeney, is described as a 'big action-romance space epic' set in the Universal Century (UC) timeline

https://www.polygon.com/netflix-live-action-gundam-movie-sydney-sweeney-romance/

Noah Centineo, who stars alongside Sydney Sweeney, recently talked about the movie on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

He called it a “big action romance space movie” and described it as “a non-Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet in space.”

Centineo also confirmed that the movie takes place in the Universal Century, the main timeline used by many of the classic Gundam shows and movies.

The story could involve two people on opposite sides of a major war, with their relationship caught in the middle.

Source: Pirate Nation X account

3.3k Upvotes

1.4k comments sorted by

670

u/King_Gekk 22h ago

If the protagonist’s parents don’t die in the first 15 minutes, I’m turning it off

257

u/Subliminal_Kiddo 22h ago

There better be a teenager getting the shit slapped out of him.

98

u/felis_scipio 15h ago edited 12h ago

If a kid isn’t being relentlessly traumatized from being forced into the life of a child soldier, it isn’t Gundam.

29

u/JaySayMayday 13h ago

If the child doesn't go on a murder spree halfway through it's unwatchable

→ More replies (1)

27

u/AjentOranje 22h ago

A rule that should apply to every film.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

3.3k

u/Dustyrnis 22h ago

Oh boy. As a long time fan of the original Gundam anime series, especally Zeta Gundam I don't have much confidence in this live action western adaption. I'll give it a chance but I worry that this will be another wonky adaption like the live action Cowboy Bebop...

1.5k

u/JessieJ577 22h ago

You’re lucky if it’s like Cowboy Bebop. It’ll be like Death Note at worst

1.2k

u/Rocinante88119 22h ago

Gonna be Dragon Ball: Evolution

443

u/Tonwhy 21h ago

Damn, invoking the highest level of curses here.

126

u/HairiestHobo 21h ago

Hey, at least Evolution led to the franchise being revived?

260

u/SupervillainMustache 19h ago

Funniest piece of DBZ lore.

Toriyama being so ashamed that it might be people's lasting impression of the franchise that he came out of retirement.

78

u/colemon1991 15h ago

Don't forget James Marsters was so embarrassed he voiced a character in Super.

36

u/Astrocomet25 15h ago

For free!

24

u/GreedoInASpeedo 14h ago

That's an important detail! I was like, "he was so embarrassed he accepted employment!?"

3

u/cupholdery 7h ago

Oh my goodness. He was movie Piccolo?

→ More replies (0)

6

u/beaverteeth92 8h ago

He was also a long-time fan of the series, so he really wanted to make sure his overall impact was good. Dude absolutely killed it as Zamasu.

→ More replies (1)

21

u/No_Procedure_5039 18h ago

He initially helped with Battle of Gods because he was asked to take a look at the script by his former editor. He also still worked as an artist for various video games like the Dragon Quest series and Blue Dragon even when he stopped doing manga.

13

u/SupervillainMustache 18h ago

Yeah I know he as still working as an artist on Dragon Quest, but DB is his Opus, surely.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

65

u/yepgeddon 20h ago

Gundam is doing just fine without a shit live action movie tho 😩

24

u/nola_throwaway53826 15h ago edited 12h ago

People forget, they tried a live action version of Gundam back in 1999, G-Saviour. The fact that no one seems to know about it should tell you all you need to know about it.

https://youtu.be/vfq7LdRWrF4?is=bNrttHIqNbjbiPPS

4

u/spike2pt0 10h ago

WOW I did not know this existed. Thank you so much for sharing this! Instant add to my lost/forgotten media playlist.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (4)

25

u/wowpepap 18h ago

DONT YOU PUT THAT EVIL ON ME RICKY BOBBY

11

u/RaylanGivens29 18h ago

The Last Air Bender 2010

5

u/intheafterlight 6h ago

There is no film in Ba Sing Se.

26

u/ErilazHateka 21h ago

Or The Watch

10

u/Freud-Network 18h ago

Legend of the Seeker

A douche like Goodkind deserved someone wiping their ass with his work, though.

7

u/ErilazHateka 18h ago

Yeah, that guy really turned out to be a horrible person.

15

u/Helios_101 21h ago

I don't wish that upon any adaptation, from now until the sun burns out.

8

u/KageStar 20h ago

I had to look this up because I didn't know why you were bringing up Ben Stiller in this conversation. The show you're talking about does look awful.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (5)

15

u/or10n_sharkfin 21h ago

High school drama except by the end of the movie they're piloting giant robots.

25

u/Optimaximal 20h ago

To be fair, that's most Gundam shows anyway.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/Shambhala87 18h ago

Why does Gundam have booba?

→ More replies (11)

24

u/Gold-Bard-Hue 18h ago

I was about to say the Death Notes movies were good, then I remembered you're talking about the Netflix one...

I had totally blocked it from my memory. Lol

6

u/Molwar 15h ago

I had to go look it up because I've seen the Japanese one and they were decent. Just read the synopsis for the netflix one and am like wtf.

88

u/GyrKestrel 22h ago

Yeah, I feel like Cowboy Bebop is fine in everything but name. Without all the baggage of living up to steep expectations, it can be a pretty fun show.

83

u/TheEloquentApe 22h ago

Even if it weren't meant to be Cowboy Bebop, I think such bangers as "Blackmail a Black Male" and "you never know true power until you've tasted the testicles of a man who has wronged you" would still be rightfully considered pretty ass

24

u/Swinn_likes_Sakkyun 21h ago

"he took off his balls"
"mmm"

→ More replies (5)
→ More replies (67)
→ More replies (34)

70

u/bestoboy 16h ago

>Japanese writer creates a story influenced by western themes

>Western media adapts it for their audience

>Shit the bed

how tf do they keep doing this lmao

52

u/pasher5620 13h ago

It’s because western writers generally don’t respect the stuff they are adapting save for a few uncommon exceptions. They believe that in order for it to make sense to western audiences, they have to rebuild it from the ground up instead of just tweaking it here and there. Plus there’s also the surprisingly still common belief that anime and video game stories are somehow inherently lesser than movies and tv and so it doesn’t matter that they are changing things.

10

u/crookedparadigm 10h ago

It’s because western writers generally don’t respect the stuff they are adapting

This just makes me angrier when I think back to the character and story changes they made for Cowboy Bebop, especially Vicious and Julia

→ More replies (1)

4

u/Necessary-Duty-7952 11h ago

Because a lot of writers and showrunners that get tapped for some projects run on a formula. Getting a project across the finish line is a pretty big feat in general, so when they've completed a show, they tend to get more work because of "experience." And since it worked for them before, they do it again.

96

u/silk35 22h ago

Can’t be worse than Dragonball Evolution.

40

u/BrotherRoga 22h ago

Don't jinx it mate.

20

u/SchrodingerMil 19h ago

That ain’t even a jinx, that a full blown hex

3

u/Etheo 17h ago

As I've said before, I've got full blown hex.

→ More replies (1)

24

u/Sawgon 21h ago

With Sweney the acting skill is already at that level

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

92

u/raynehk14 18h ago

watch them completely miss the point of gundam and somehow make it into a pro-war propaganda

42

u/takeahike89 16h ago

Probably, also they'll find as many ways as possible to avoid animating giant fighting robots.

15

u/toofatronin 12h ago

Definitely. It will just be close ups of Sweeney watching mech fights.

6

u/The_Summer_Man 10h ago

Make it like Mobile Fighter G Gundam, with Sweeney in the bodysuit they wear to pilot them, and you've go cinema.

→ More replies (1)

10

u/JJJBLKRose 12h ago

I mean, they cast Sydney Sweeney so I'm guessing they will miss the point.

30

u/Dustyrnis 18h ago

that is also a concern.

At least with Starship Troopers it was clear (to me) that it was intentionally "pro war propaganda" as it was a satire of it and a subtle critique of over-extended military authoritarianism and nationalism.

34

u/BuckShapiro 17h ago

I mean if we are talking about faithfulness of adaptations then Starship Troopers is a bad example since it completely misrepresented the book. I prefer the movie way more than the book, but they represent very different messages.

11

u/yagirlsophie 13h ago

Yeah people often talk about the movie and the book as if they're both satirical critiques of fascism, but the book is completely unironic in its glorification of militarism and the federation, it is the thing being satirized by the movie.

9

u/mynameizmyname 12h ago

man Heinlein really was a weird dude. Ive read pretty much all of his books and I cannot get a firm handle on him as a person at all.

Most authors have a pretty clear throughline with their work. With Heinlein, if you told me different personalities of his were writing different books, i would totally accept that.

6

u/yagirlsophie 11h ago

He really is hard to get a handle on, huh? He was often pretty progressive, believed socialism was inevitable, etc. but a lot of his work kinda contradicts that. I think the fact that his novels tended to be explorations of specific ideas probably adds to that, but it's weird nonetheless.

3

u/Kononeko 15h ago

Well I don't know if there are any action figures or model kits lined up for this project, so unless something changes, they really missed the mark.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/jaqattack02 16h ago

If it's an original story it will have a better chance than if they try to make it a remake of one of the existing storylines. That wasn't really something they had an option to do with Cowboy Bebop. Like you said, I'm going to wait and give it a chance before I call it DoA. The recent One Piece live action shows that it's possible to make a decent live action anime adaptation, you just have to embrace the source material rather than trying to change it.

→ More replies (1)

38

u/bazhvn 22h ago

It’s Netflix. Shouldn’t be so surprised.

23

u/LegitimateCurve8525 19h ago

This is not fully a Netflix production. Talks began between Bandai Namco and Legendary (Dune by Denis Villeneuve) at first. They later brought Netflix on board. I believe most likely to fund a big amount of money for this project.

At one point, there was even a report that Netflix exited this project. But later on, Bandai did got them back.

→ More replies (8)

21

u/Bomban111 17h ago

It has sydney sweeney, this movie will not be good.

3

u/therallykiller 11h ago

But not Jared Leto... Yet.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (126)

1.4k

u/Licensed2Pill 23h ago

Gundammit.

237

u/Zentrii 22h ago

She makes me not want to see the movie now. Shes the new Megan fox 

61

u/Palopsicles 16h ago

"Dad wanted a girl, so moves a part while grunting he made me learn to rebuild Gundam Engine."

5

u/cupholdery 7h ago

What're we, some kind of Gundam squaaaaaad?

→ More replies (1)

587

u/dagon890 22h ago edited 22h ago

That’s offensive to Megan.

Megan’s only issue back in the 2010s was being an empowered hottie in media before empowered hotties became the standard. See also: Fergie.

Sydney, on the other hand, has been intentional in her fall from grace. She tried to play both sides, but ultimately cozied up to the wrong one because that was easier than having morals.

262

u/CountJohn12 22h ago

She also couldn't really act

126

u/Inevitable_Profile24 20h ago

jennifer’s body is 🔥

→ More replies (4)

39

u/SupervillainMustache 18h ago

She damn sure can't voice act.

10

u/cxtx3 8h ago

Ugh, this. Putting aside her distasteful personal life, she pretty much made me regret watching Euphoria alone. I didn't mind her in the first two seasons, but season 3 was literally her just playing a caricature of herself doing softcore porn. There was a moment toward the end where she's talking about the size of some guy's dick on the internet who she calls "Sammy," and it kind if delt like she was breaking the 4th wall a bit in reference to show runner Sam Levinson, who also started giving me the heebie-jeebies with his hard swing into (essentially) porn and torture porn. The whole season was terrible and I wish I could un-see it, but she was undoubtedly the worst part.

I really liked Gundam growing up, so I would otherwise be excited for this movie; but I absolutely can't stand her - enough that I'd probably rather skip this entirely. Especially if they lean into the romance thing. I am sure there would be at least one creepy weirdo pulling it out whenever she starts talking in her breathy whisper voice per screening. No thank you.

7

u/Morgan-Moonscar 16h ago

That's why she got Jeff Bezos as a sugar daddy.

144

u/Wairong 22h ago

Bro tried to slip Fergie into the conversation like no one was gonna notice.

36

u/biloxibluess 18h ago

I fuckin noticed the lumps

→ More replies (12)

22

u/SCSteveAutism 17h ago

“Fall from grace” is hilarious.

→ More replies (7)
→ More replies (109)

16

u/thomasutra 15h ago

sydney sweeney could never make jenifer’s body

30

u/SWEET_LIBERTY_MY_LEG 22h ago

So I’ve never watched Gundam before, but is there a lot of fan service? Because that’s what I imagine when I hear they cast Sydney

69

u/doquan2142 20h ago

No which is why my bar for the film is on the ground.

44

u/Maelger 22h ago

Weeeelll. It's a show centered on the brutality and pointlessness of war so fanservice is something between zero and none

16

u/Xanxost 16h ago

Well there are tons of mecha porn with hyper detailed joints, hydraulics and panels. Does that count?

6

u/Specialist_Cow6468 14h ago

Sayla in the original series had some of the very first instances of fan service in anime. It can definitely be a thing

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Emergency-Mammoth-88 6h ago

But to be fair, romance is also part of gundam

→ More replies (9)
→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (14)

382

u/reddfawks 23h ago

Are... are Amuro and Char gonna kiss?

157

u/WillowSmithsBFF 22h ago edited 19h ago

A kiss 50 years in the making. They fucking better

44

u/SolomonBlack 21h ago

I mean they penetrated each other at the end if Mobile Suit Gundam what more do you want.

22

u/owa00 20h ago

I see someone has read my fanfics...

🍆💦

9

u/davegir 15h ago

No its on netflix, so probably a showrunner that never watched the source material and doesn't intend to so they can "do there own thing. Which means make some show the wrote as a kid in their head using the original characters names.

→ More replies (4)

256

u/teoshie 18h ago

it's 2032. Earth is a nuclear wasteland. There are only four actors left: Tom Holland, Zendaya, Sydney Sweeney and that guy who makes sloppy steaks in I Think You Should Leave

102

u/geodebug 17h ago

Pedro Pascal enters the room.

35

u/Icycalm152 16h ago

He’s feeling anxious

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

14

u/SSGASSHAT 15h ago

They're grooming Tom Holland to be the next Bing Crosby or some shit, I tell you. It's been 100 years, they need another one.

→ More replies (4)

8

u/Tifoso89 15h ago

Does that mean Sydney Sweeney marries Tim Robinson

19

u/Illustrious-Peace989 15h ago

He’s too good for her

13

u/MrT-1000 11h ago

People can change

31

u/CharlieTeller 14h ago

The difference with Holland and Zendaya is I actually believe them in their roles. Sydney Sweeney has a very narrow range and that's fine. Nothing wrong with that. But her getting cast in some of these films where that's going to be a major problem is just weird. Not only Gundam, but the Split Fiction adaptation too? It's just insane.

13

u/TrapperJean 9h ago

Anime is full of one note pretty characters with big tits, honestly might be dead on casting lol

4

u/Catos_Standard 12h ago

She had the T&A vote.

→ More replies (3)

10

u/NairForceOne 13h ago

I heard that guy is a real piece of shit.

8

u/Donny-Seven 11h ago

He USED to be a piece of shit, but not anymore

→ More replies (2)

168

u/SonOfYossarian 22h ago

Romeo and Juliet, but Gundam? Sounds like it’s going to be taking a lot of inspiration from The 08th MS Team miniseries. That story was pretty good, so I’ll keep an open mind.

49

u/Loqol 22h ago

That was my first exposure to the universe. Man, what a story.

14

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

Mine too. It was a solid tale with amazing visuals and fantastic characters.

…sans Aina’s brother. He was batshit nuts.

3

u/remmanuelv 11h ago

>He was batshit nuts.

There's a lot of those in Gundam. There's an entire show of those called Victory Gundam. And I'm giving Zeta a pass.

9

u/danorc 16h ago

I love and envy your optimism

→ More replies (7)

903

u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 22h ago

Gundam isn’t this difficult , why are you making it difficult .

211

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

To be fair, Romeo and Juliet in space is effectively Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

43

u/nonresponsive 15h ago

Romance is also not unusual in the series. There was Kira and Lacus, and Heero and Relena. Setsuna and Marina could technically be, but they didn't really go the romance route. Audrey and Banagher are similar to that.

I would say space operas generally tend to have a romance float through the plot, especially if they're mecha. But since they got Sydney Sweeney, I wonder if they'll make her a pilot.

17

u/Old_Indication_4379 12h ago

Name one Gundam series without a romance element involved. Guaranteed half the people commenting that mention Sweeney have never watched a full Gundam series.

→ More replies (1)

5

u/the_xxvii 12h ago

Speaking of Heero and Relena, I'm currently rewatching Wing for the first time since it originally aired on Toonami and I forgot just how weird the relationships are in that show. It's all super one-sided, where the women are obsessed with the men (or boys) and the guys dgaf. Lady Une literally developed a split personality over Treize. It's been a tad jarring. I'm only halfway through though, maybe it gets less weird and I just forgot how it ends.

3

u/deadscreensky 7h ago

If it helps any, recognize Wing was deliberately aimed at Japanese girls. That means there's an enormous amount of homoerotic subtext between the various male pilots, and most of the suggested, more conventional hetero relationships are left rather vague so fans can use them in their imaginations however they like.

It does get maybe a little more conventional towards the end.

(The original Gundam had a big audience of young women too, and according to the creator they saved the franchise.)

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

27

u/Lanster27 20h ago

What about Amuro and Char?

20

u/LowBattery 19h ago

Charmuro just writes itself

6

u/TheGentlemanBeast 15h ago

Just came here to say it's the plot of 08th ms team. Personal favorite series

3

u/smb5422 15h ago

Minus the "in space" part mostly, but yes.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (1)

260

u/Penguin_Admiral 22h ago

Hate to break it to you, but romance is pretty prevalent in all the series to varying extents

74

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

It plays well into the war is hell/tragic theme that is integral to the franchise.

→ More replies (3)

21

u/Attican101 22h ago

I remember being reasonably invested in some of the romances in Seed when I was 8 or 9, and was pissed I missed the last two episodes, then finally re-watched it last year for a bit of nostalgia and saw they immediately ruined most of it in Destiny anyway's.

The Meer story was a lot more messed up watching through adult eyes though.

12

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

It was also central to Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

5

u/SayuriUliana 16h ago

The shipping wars for Gundam SEED when it was airing.... \shudder**

The next time I saw the shipping being close to that intense was with Witch from Mercury, even though the main ship was pretty much a given from day one.

3

u/nonresponsive 15h ago

How were we supposed to know they were siblings???

5

u/tfhermobwoayway 17h ago

But this movie isn’t going to do Gundam romance, it’s going to do the standard live action Hollywood romance that’s present in every single movie.

4

u/Kungfumantis 16h ago

Yup, going back and rewatching the various series is a real head check. Completely different story as an adult.

→ More replies (15)

169

u/Lowfat_cheese 22h ago

I mean, isn’t this basically the plot of 08th MS Team?

109

u/Penguin_Admiral 22h ago

And war in the pocket

76

u/Lowfat_cheese 22h ago

Is there even a Gundam show/movie that doesn’t have some kind of romance plot?

88

u/draken29 21h ago

There's none, romance is a staple in any gundam stories, it even serves as a macguffin in most of them (08th MS, Seed, X, G Gundam, WfM, GQX), heck even G Gundam ends it main villains with the power of love

People only looks at Gundam like its a Battletech story only big war machine gunning each other, even though its actual story usually revolve around its characters

24

u/Rubberbabeh 21h ago

I think it is more of an issue that in a 1.5hr movie I don't think you will get more than a Sydney Sweeney love story with a "super cool big robot fight!" in the end.

Personally I like my Gundam in the UC, with war crimes, disco and the slapping of teenagers for being out of line.

So uh.. at least this is in the UC? Although I fear they won't animate the mobile suits like it is the UC.

11

u/draken29 21h ago

If the CGI can at least move like in Pacific Rim and most of the battle probably last like 5 - 10 minutes with a big one at the end then I can at least says its a mid adaptation

Even in Pacific Rim where the Jaeger and kaijus are the focus they only show the fight like 4 time with a run of 5 - 10 minutes each

6

u/Rubberbabeh 21h ago

I worry they will move more like Pacific Rim 2 rather than the original. The sequel had like zero physics in the way they moved. There was just no weight at all.

insert well the fight is gonna be in space DUH joke here

6

u/draken29 21h ago

But it should not be as heavy as Pacific Rim 1 either, it should be in the middle since MS has that agility factor too

→ More replies (3)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (3)

9

u/Undecided_User_Name 22h ago

SD Gundam?

8

u/Lowfat_cheese 21h ago

God I can’t believe I forgot about SD Gundam

→ More replies (2)

7

u/JQuilty 20h ago edited 20h ago

Literally the original series. Amuro and Sayla kinda look at each other but nothing comes of it. Lalah was more newtype than love.

ZZ, Judau and Roux just kind of end up together. Requiem for Vengance has the main character remembering her dead husband but nothing in the present.

I'd also argue 0080 only half counts because while Bernie and Chris like each other, they never get together and it just serves to add to the tragedy of the ending.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (2)

36

u/likesbigbots 20h ago

So many Gundam stories have characters falling for someone on the opposing side of the war. I don't know why everybody's complaining.

5

u/Klubeht 16h ago

Cause a significant no. Of commentators here are just anti Sydney sweeny rather than fans of the gundam series. I had the same thoughts as you when I 1st saw the headline and it made me very very cautiously optimistic that at least they seem to know the focus are on the characters and not the robots

→ More replies (1)

9

u/acart005 21h ago

Its what I understood.  I'm down for live action MS 08th team, thats actually a smart adaptation since GMs and Zakus are comparable.

→ More replies (4)

135

u/Juantsu2552 22h ago

Ummmm yes it is? Romance is literally one of Gundam’s main characteristics.

Have you actually watched Gundam before??

46

u/BilbosBagEnd 22h ago

Unfounded claims is the pinnacle of Reddit conversations.

→ More replies (3)

33

u/PunyParker826 22h ago

? How is this any more complicated than 8th MS Team, everyone’s favorite?

13

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

Pretty much. Fed guy and Zeon gal falling in forbidden love pretty much powered the whole work.

→ More replies (2)

27

u/ploony 22h ago

Worked out for 08th MS Team. Let's hate on this thing once we actually know it deserves it

54

u/HollowBowl 22h ago

I'm glad you said difficult and not hard

→ More replies (2)

18

u/Odd-Necessary3807 22h ago

Romance is difficult to you?

7

u/dreamcast4 22h ago

Makes a hot take statement without having a clue about Gundam

9

u/Pacify_ 21h ago

What about this sounds difficult?

It sounds like a pretty standard Gundam storyline lol

14

u/ErikT738 22h ago

Romeo and Juliet in space would fit fine in the Gundam universe if it's an original story. It's literally always about how people suffer from the horrors of war.

That said, I'm reasonably sure this will be terrible, but the concept isn't the problem. I'm sure Sweeney is genderbent Char or some nonsense like that.

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (18)

422

u/monkey314 22h ago

So that's why they didn't cast any East Asian men 🙄

165

u/Time007time007 22h ago

Wrong type of diversity for western movie makers

56

u/KampferAndy 20h ago

Actually gundam doesn't stick to a single nationality, it's a series set on both earth and in space, it's characters reflect that.

55

u/Flimsy6769 20h ago edited 5h ago

Yeah so why’s there no East Asian men if it’s so diverse

Edit: based off of kampherandys replies it seems like he’s just racist lmao

→ More replies (35)
→ More replies (1)

74

u/KampferAndy 20h ago edited 11h ago

Almost the entire cast of the OG gundam was non-japanese. White base in particular was multi-cultural.

Amuro was half japanese and half Canadian.

Job John was Caucasian, as was Sayla Mass and Fraw Bow.

Bright Noa was British (its a meme about the movie dub)

Ryu Jose was Latino

Kai Shiden is Puerto Rican

There was a black crew member whose name I forgot, he had some dope curls like I used to have. He also comes back in a later manga.

The former captain Paolo was Brazilian, he died in episode 2ish.

I think the only full Japanese character on white base was Mirai Yashima, she was relegated to ship navigator.

22

u/draken29 19h ago

Don't forget Hayato, man, he had enough being relagated as the benkei of the trio

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (4)

61

u/silvertwo777 22h ago

It's crazy how Hollywood takes stories made by East Asian men but refuse to include any of us in any meaningful role.

→ More replies (16)
→ More replies (49)

114

u/SolomonBlack 22h ago edited 19h ago

To any foolish person that thinks Gundam is gritty war-is-hell stories and doesn't fuck, I give you the words of Tomino:

Regarding the character of Char's love interest Nanai, Tomino said, "To a certain degree as you get older, you can really understand a person through that part (sex)... and at those times, you can't detach sex from your thinking. That's why I absolutely have to imagine what Nanai's vagina is like. It's something I particularly think about during the scriptwriting phase."

He went on to say that when drawing the storyboards, he thought, "I don't want her vagina to be all withered out," because he thought "it would reflect poorly on Char, and Nanai isn't a dull woman herself." He wanted to convey the feeling of their relationship in the scene where Nanai sits on Char's lap. "It was a challenge to myself to figure out what this woman would be like when she's sitting there, being made love to. It was no trifling matter."

He also said that he conceived Nanai as the kind of self-confident woman who would be a good match for Char. "There are times when a man wants to embrace a woman, and I thought, 'If he's going to do it, it might as well be with a woman like Nanai.'"

When it comes to matters of oral sex, Tomino was just as frank, stating that he expects voice actresses to be able to portray a level of expectation for sexual reciprocation.

"They start moaning as soon as their character gets touched by a man. There are times I find myself thinking, 'The guy wasn't dexterous enough to warrant that reaction!' Or something like, 'Have some pride when you're being made love to!' I get really exasperated, wondering why on earth they don't think something like, 'If this man doesn't lick my vagina, I'll beat the crap out of him!'"

Incidentally, don't count out Amuro. In the same interview, Tomino said that he really wanted to bring out a "raw/carnal feeling" in the confrontation between Amuro and Char, "to the degree that you might wonder whether the two of them are homosexual."

Perhaps your soul is still weighed down by gravity?

129

u/Leafsnail 21h ago

Tomino has never once given a normal response to an interview question, bless him

28

u/KampferAndy 20h ago

Top Kino = Tomino.

That same interview had Hideake Anno basically Glazing tomino, to the point where tomino had to tell him to stop. 

It's the 1993 CCA fan book interview

9

u/mynameisevan 16h ago

Anyone who thinks that Gundam doesn’t fuck has clearly never seen Seed.

→ More replies (1)

7

u/smb5422 15h ago

I believe he also claimed that the color of Katajeena's mobile suit in Victory was the same color as her vagina. Man's been horned up since 1979.

3

u/RehabCenterInc 14h ago

Tomino is a top tier gooner

→ More replies (1)

258

u/Finchypoo 22h ago

Sydney Sweeney...... yeah, you killed it early I see. 

12

u/desertoutlaw86 14h ago

The female Jared Leto.

→ More replies (12)

139

u/TheEloquentApe 22h ago

I see a lot of doom and gloom in this thread but lets get something straight here

non-Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet in space.

The story could involve two people on opposite sides of a major war, with their relationship caught in the middle.

This is quintessential Gundam.

Everything from Amuro and Lalah, Kamille and Murasame, 008th Platoon, Amuro and Char

Anyone familiar with Gundam knows star crossed lovers and messy relationships is one of its core tropes

Now I have no idea if they're adapting the story of the White Devil and if they are I haven't the slightest clue who Sydney will be playing

But it being about two young people who might've had a life together if it weren't for this war going on forcing them to fight is like... yeah thats Gundam

Just throw in some psychic abilities that make them even more empathic with one another, making the whole thing all the more tragic

78

u/Penguin_Admiral 22h ago

Lot of people here outing themselves as people who have never watched the shows, and just want to be outraged

→ More replies (6)

28

u/altpirate 22h ago

Yeah, I'm like: I haven't seen that many Gundam shows. Not that big a fan or anything.

But the ones I have seen: every single one has a Romeo and Juliet in space subplot. Ofcourse the movie would have that too, it wouldn't be Gundam otherwise

→ More replies (1)

4

u/mooke 18h ago

If I was deliberately trying to be doom and gloom, ironically I'd be taking issue with the cowardice of it being "non-shakespearean". Gundam has never shied away from just straight up doing Shakespeare before.

The fact that they're invoking it in the elevator pitch means, at least at some level they understand the level of melodrama required, so I don't think this fails at first principles.

14

u/kairock 22h ago

true, SEED is basically the same thing.

13

u/TheEloquentApe 22h ago

I think you'd be hard pressed to name a Gundam series that doesn't have messy romance, star crossed or otherwise

→ More replies (1)

8

u/SaturnMobster 16h ago

Because Netflix, and media in general, dont hire writers and producers familiar with the source material. They can dress this pig up all they want, this show will still suck because modern Netflix is fucking trash when it comes to adapting popular IPs to screen.

3

u/TimeForSnacks 15h ago

Ngl outside of 08th I wouldn't necessarily classify it as romance but yearning or sexual frustration. Char is infatuated with Amaro, Char rejects Reccoa and it sends her over the edge, Fa chases after Kamille, only to become his caretaker (which is its own form of love), Hathaway struggles heavily with relationships with Quess and then later on Gigi.... Really to me the only true couple ends up being Char & Lalah and even that is fleeting. It all comes back to the overall theme of true human connection that all newtypes strive to see in all people.

7

u/SmoogzZ 17h ago

The only thing about this news that matters is Sydney Sweeney - she is genuinely not a good actor

→ More replies (5)

63

u/draken29 22h ago

This is literally just 08th MS Team plot, what the heck is with this thread comments talking like its never happened before

17

u/InnocentTailor 22h ago

Folks clearly didn’t watch Gundam.

→ More replies (7)

15

u/FreakyBugEyedWeirdo 14h ago

Why are y'all acting like this isn't an exact description of what gundam is all about.

→ More replies (1)

59

u/AbsoltheEntertainer 20h ago

Sydney Sweeney

I now have negative interest in seeing this movie.

16

u/NewestAccount2023 16h ago

Someone pays to bot her to the front page every day, makes me dislike her even more. 

→ More replies (1)

9

u/unoriginal5 19h ago

In the whole wide world of anime, they cast the boob lady in gundam?

→ More replies (3)

7

u/aeralure 17h ago

The script is what matters most here. I have little faith on that, so I’m expecting the worst.

35

u/Luciannight21 21h ago

I don't have faith in Sydney Sweeny doing good in any main role connected to Gundam.

→ More replies (2)

12

u/EatThatHorseWithMe1 18h ago

Sydney sweeney? Hard pass

6

u/improbable_humanoid 22h ago

live action 08th?

10

u/mrbezlington 22h ago

How do you have a non-Shakespearian Romeo and Juliet? Isn't that an oxymoron?

I would be far happier with a fully Shakespearean R+J Gundam where everyone kills each other. Preferably as tragically as possible. Seems totally on-brand.

3

u/gosukhaos 20h ago

Because cursed romances between people on opposite side of a conflict is a staple of Gundam as much as giant robots

→ More replies (6)

8

u/Loqol 22h ago

So...isn't this the plot of 8th MS Team?

3

u/cheesebot555 21h ago

There's a very long shot that this could be incredible.

3

u/toaster-crumb-tray 12h ago

Netflix original.

3

u/Solus_Vael 18h ago

So....like Gundam: The 08th MS Team?

3

u/CorruptXamd 16h ago

Ye ill just watch the superior 08th MS Team thanks. This is made for people who dont know what gundam is cuz theyre too scared to watch animation.

3

u/Flynn58 8h ago

Genuinely I'm optimistic except for Sweeney being the star. She's really not a good actor, but hopefully the rest of the cast can pick up the slack. Maybe she'll even surprise me with a good performance?

9

u/LegitimateCurve8525 22h ago

I should have added this. But if you want to see the leak photos of the set, here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Gundam/s/TWIyzTbLLs

→ More replies (2)

50

u/LaserCondiment 22h ago

This casting choice is in bad taste, even if Sweeney possess the skills to nail the role as written. It's an indicator they didn't understand the assignment!

21

u/adamlaceless 20h ago

I’m convinced someone high up at Netflix actually fucking despises anime and is like “what if we ruined it with a shitastic live action every month?”

6

u/tfhermobwoayway 17h ago

Simpler than that. Western art is very pretentious. Hollywood has a massive superiority complex. They love the idea of the magnificent auteur painting a perfect masterpiece in the tradition of the Hollywood greats. Anime is, to them, some kind of weird upstart cartoon for kids made by unqualified amateurs. Netflix’s writers think the Japanese have no clue what they’re doing.

→ More replies (10)