Mobile Suit Gundam I | Yoshiyuki Tomino | Book Review | Newtypes, Psycho-Frame, Director Tomino's ideas are just incredible
I'm Mahoro, and I want to dedicate all my free time to reading.
This time, I'd like to write my thoughts on Yoshiyuki Tomino's "Mobile Suit Gundam I," which I finished reading the other day.
The novel version is just as interesting as the visual work!
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Yoshiyuki Tomino, "Mobile Suit Gundam I (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko)," 1987
The reason I started reading the novel version of Gundam was because I watched "Hathaway's Flash: Circe's Witch."
I thought I would just read the original Hathaway novel, but I ended up deciding to read from the very beginning.
At first, I didn't really know the names of the warships or the characters, so I mostly felt confused, but around the time the first battle ended, it started to get interesting.
Like the scene where Amuro and Sayla talk in the cafeteria.
Hayato's monologue about Newtypes is also interesting.
While Amuro and Char are often the main focus, it's not like any one specific person is the protagonist. Everyone has their own motives, lives their lives, and participates in the war. That's what makes it so deep and good.
Even M'Quve, who to a Gundam novice like me seems like just a minor character, has several scenes told from his perspective. The same goes for Hayato.
I felt there were a few too few scenes from Kai Shiden's perspective, so I'm looking forward to the second volume and beyond.
In terms of the setting, the idea that the Earth's population became too large, forcing people to escape to space colonies, and that the colonies use sunlight to manage artificial weather and temperature—the sci-fi concepts are just incredible.
Furthermore, the idea that living in space has caused some humans to develop a new sense called Newtype is also so novel and amazing.
Based on such wild settings, he came up with the Psycho-Frame system, which amplifies Newtype abilities to pilot fighter planes or remotely control accompanying bombers (bits)—it's on a level that defies explanation.
Director Tomino is seriously a genius...!!
I thought what everyone else thinks, too.
The scene that left the biggest impression on me was the encounter between Lalah and Amuro (the second time, during battle). It was shocking how he could depict the sensation of being a Newtype so visually through text alone; I was just reading a book, but I could actually see the visuals...!?
Director Tomino himself must be a Newtype.
Otherwise, how could he depict it so vividly? Lalah's feelings for Char and her perception of Amuro felt so real and raw, especially for a man imagining and writing a woman's heart, that I thought it was truly incredible.
Director Tomino must be a Newtype himself, right!?
After Sayla drove a buggy at full speed through the Texas Colony to meet Char, it was fine that she managed to meet him, but it was funny how Char just took that buggy and drove off somewhere.
That's a Federation Forces buggy, you know...!!!
I found myself thinking about unromantic things like, 'Will that be deducted from Sayla's salary?' Haha.
I also bought 'Secret Meeting: Amuro and Lalah,' so while I feel like reading that soon, I think I'll just honestly proceed to volume 2 for now.
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Yoshiyuki Tomino, 'Secret Meeting: Amuro and Lalah (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko)', 2000
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Yoshiyuki Tomino, 'Mobile Suit Gundam I (Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko)', 1987
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This is the article from when I bought this book.
This is the article from when I was reading this book.