Japanimation Station Season 6 - TOMINO-THON!

Welcome back to Season 6 of Japanimation Station, where we are continuing our journey into the delightfully deranged mind of Tomino Yoshiyuki with our Tomino-thon – Part 2: The Tears of Time! You can subscribe on all platforms at www.Japanimation-Station.com.As with much of what we’re covering in this half of the season, we’ve talked about Mobile Suit Gundam F91 before. But while we’ve reviewed the contents of the film itself in depth, we haven’t before dived too deep into its troubled, fascinating production, or truly understood why the film is the way it is. So for today’s episode we uncover the history of this perplexing Gundam classic, arguing that the popular understanding of it as ‘a TV series condensed into a film’ is a bit misguided, and examining the various ways it attempted to begin a bold new era for Gundam. As in the past, Jonathan’s a little more positive on the film itself than Sean, but we’re both fascinated by it, and there’s still plenty to break down where Seabook Arno and friends are concerned.Enjoy, and come back next week for the Gundam that finally broke Tomino’s spirit: Mobile Suit Victory Gundam! Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38Intro and History: 0:01:38 – 1:30:26Eyecatch Break: 1:30:26 – 1:31:11Gundam F91 Review: 1:31:11 – 2:52:23End Theme: 2:52:23 – 2:54:28Listen to our original Gundam F91 review on episode 11 of Weekly Suit Gundam from October 2019 – https://youtu.be/uwh3jdP_L6k?si=RFny8pWDgGnfg8dySubscribe to our YouTube channels!Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

If you’ve ever listened to us before, you know Char’s Counterattack is a film we cannot shut up about. It very much lives in our minds rent free, not just as one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s and Gundam’s finest hours, but an incredibly kinetic and powerful action masterpiece that asks big questions and forces the viewer to sit with and accept a lack of easy answers. So in coming back to the film today, we dive deep into the film’s production history, its various literary sources (since Tomino wrote two completely separate and contradictory novelizations in the lead-up to the film), and review it in the context of everything we’ve seen in our Tomino-Thon so far. And unsurprisingly, there’s still an awful lot to say – this is one of our favorite films of all time.Enjoy, and come back next week to hear all about the troubled production – and stellar artistry – of Mobile Suit Gundam F91!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38Char’s Counterattack Part 1: 0:01:38 – 1:38:31Eyecatch Break: 1:38:31 – 1:39:17Char’s Counterattack Part 2: 1:39:17 – 2:55:56End Theme: 2:55:56 – 2:58:02 Listen to our original Char’s Counterattack review on episode 9 of Weekly Suit Gundam from September 2019 – https://youtu.be/xg0hyAkE1hc?si=CChXGdhlpUUo4AxIRead Jonathan’s written review of Char’s Counterattack from October 2024 - https://www.jonathanlack.com/p/review-mobile-suit-gundam-chars-counterattackSubscribe to our YouTube channels!Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comFollow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/ Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

With Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam having successfully revived Gundam, Tomino Yoshiyuki and his team at Sunrise jumped straight into a sequel the following year with Gundam ZZ, a series that follows up on the Argama Crew’s battle with Haman Karn and Neo Zeon, but with a new team of heroes and a ‘brighter’ tone. We’ve always loved ZZ here, with its outstanding central cast, amazing antagonists, and stretches like the Dublin Colony Drop that are among the best bits of Gundam ever made. But since we’ve discussed the series in depth before, we focus more on the history and background of the series this time, while looking at specific standout episodes to better appreciate the series’ place in Tomino’s career.Enjoy, and come back next week as Gundam hits the big screen with the seminal classic Char’s Counterattack!  Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38Intro and History: 0:01:38 – 2:16:11Eyecatch Break: 2:16:11 – 2:16:54Gundam ZZ Discussion: 2:16:54 – 3:23:30End Theme: 3:23:30 – 3:25:35Gundam ZZ Episodes Watched for this Podcast – Episodes 2, 3, 11, 12, 17, 18, 19, 27, 28, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 45, 46, and 47Listen to our original Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ review on episode 8 of Weekly Suit Gundam from September 2019 – https://youtu.be/ciVVxnsfq7E?si=Ggz2JWrbaWBJZQpZSubscribe to our YouTube channels!Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcast Read Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.com Follow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

After reviewing the first half of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam last week, we finish up our revisitation of one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s undisputed masterpieces with a deep dive on the series’ second half. Building to one of the greatest final stretches in anime history and introducing iconic new villains Haman Karn and Paptimus Scirocco, Zeta Gundam only gets sharper and stronger as it barrels towards its legendary ending, and we still have plenty of new things to say about it all these years later. We also cover the series’ historical reception, from its controversial initial airing to its eventual re-evaluation as one of the great sequels in anime history. Enjoy, and come back next week as we move on to Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ!  Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38Zeta Gundam Review Pt. 1: 0:01:38 – 1:00:23Eyecatch Break: 1:00:23 – 1:01:07Zeta Gundam Review Pt. 2: 1:01:07 – 3:12:46End Theme: 3:12:46 – 3:14:50Listen to our original Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam review on episode 7 of Weekly Suit Gundam from August 2019 – https://youtu.be/C7CnXtCtjxc?si=RWYBYb2W9Z30a_HGSubscribe to our YouTube channels!Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.comSubscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comFollow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK“Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com

We are back for the second half of our Tomino-Thon, and we’re diving in with one of Tomino Yoshiyuki’s most legendary and defining works as a director: 1985’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, the sequel to the series that changed anime forever, and the first expansion of Gundam into a larger ongoing franchise. We reviewed Zeta Gundam years ago as an early episode of our Weekly Suit Gundam podcast, but this series is so central in Tomino’s filmography, and our podcast has evolved so much since then, that we decided to take this opportunity to re-review the series from scratch, over two exciting episodes! In this week’s show, we’re covering the history behind the creation of Zeta Gundam and discussing the first 23 episodes, while the rest of the series, including its absolutely extraordinary final stretch of episodes, is up next week. What better way to kick off the Gundam-heavy second half of our marathon Tomino season!Enjoy, and come back next week as we finish our Zeta Gundam re-review with episodes 24-50!Time Chart:Theme Song: 0:00:00 – 0:01:38Intro and History: 0:01:37 – 2:01:03Eyecatch Break: 2:01:03 – 2:01:47Zeta Gundam Part 1 Review: 2:01:47 – 3:35:47End Theme: 3:35:47 – 3:37:52Listen to our original Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam review on episode 7 of Weekly Suit Gundam from August 2019 – https://youtu.be/C7CnXtCtjxc?si=RWYBYb2W9Z30a_HGSubscribe to our YouTube channels!Japanimation Station: https://www.youtube.com/c/japanimationstation Purely Academic: https://www.youtube.com/@purelyacademicpodcastRead Jonathan Lack’s movie reviews and stay up to date with all our podcast projects at https://www.jonathanlack.com Subscribe to PURELY ACADEMIC, our monthly variety podcast about movies, video games, TV, and more: https://purelyacademic.simplecast.comFollow Japanimation Station on Instagram and Threads @JapanimationStationPodhttps://www.instagram.com/japanimationstationpod/Read Jonathan’s book 200 Reviews in Paperback or on Kindle – https://a.co/d/bLx53vK “Tominoson-G Mk. V” – Music by Thomas Lack, Lyrics by Sean Chapman, featuring Hatsune Miku & KAITO. “The World You See” – Music & Lyrics by Thomas Lack, featuring Hatsune Miku. https://www.thomaslack.com