Awakening (Gundam Mobile Suit #1)

Rating:
Summary: Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) Novelizations: Vol. 1 & 2 (English
Review: After the production of the Mobile Suit Gundam (0079) television series, Yoshiyuki Tomino turned his wondrous creation we hold dear into a three-part novel series. These novels enabled Tomino to further deepen his vision. They were written with more detail and sophistication than the animation series, taking the story to new levels.

The first novel was originally published in 1979 by Asahi Sonorama, followed by a reworked version published in 1987 by Kadokawa Shoten. In 1990, Del Rey books published a translated version of the 1987 Kadokawa version of the novels into English. This is a review of the translated series.

Though poorly illustrated, one will instantly recognize the cover art as something pertaining to the GUNDAM universe. The covers were illustrated by an artist unfamiliar to the Gundam franchise. Because of this, the graphics are of inaccurate scale and detail. Perhaps this was also a copyright issue. Printed inside of the novel is a graphic of a map of space. It shows Earth in the center, surrounded by its colonies and other celestial bodies. It is an interesting graphics, since it depicts specific locations mentioned in the novel.

In a foreword by the translator Frederik Schodt, he explains how he attempted to remain faithful to the original translation. Something is always lost in translation, however having not read the original Japanese version (yet); the translated novels were read unbiased. An interesting point of the translated novels is Schodt's spelling of characters' names. An example would be Zeon's ace pilot, Char Aznable. The name is spelled as "Sha", rather than "Char". Schodt, deciding to give priority to the Japanese text, explained that he preferred to spell the names more phonetically, rather than their transliterated spellings that hardcore fans are so accustomed to.

The novels, like their original Japanese counterparts, were published in three parts. The first of the three was called "Awakening". This introduced the reader to the world of the Universal Century, circa the One Year War era. Many of the story elements remained the same. There are, however some differences. Amuro Ray is young, but he is more mature and confident. In contrast, Char Aznable is depicted as older than his animated counterpart and far more cunning and calculating. Another interesting change is rather than being called "White Base"; the ship that Amuro and company resides in is called "Pegasus". Also changed is the many different mobile suits audiences saw in the animation series. There is, of course, the Gundam, Zakus (spelled, Zak in the translated novel), Guncannons, GMs, and the mobile armor Elmeth. Rather than seeing a vast array of different Zeon mobile suits, we see very few. In the first novel, only the Zakus and Elmeth appear. The Rik Dom (Rick Dom) is passively mentioned. Perhaps this is due to the realistic nature of the novels, rather than the animation's promotion of toys and model kits.

Rating:
Summary: Awakening : A great Anime becomes a mediocre book.
Review: It is disappointing that so inventive and masterful a writer of Anime such as Yoshiyuki Tomino should have so mediocre an outing as a novelist. The character depictions are so two-dimensional that it seems as if it was written strictly for the fans, who are already familiar with the characters. In addition, the storyline drags through the novels; what works for a continuing television series does not for a novel trilogy. About the only original twist to the trilogy is the very end, one that I do not wish to spoil.

As for Frederick L. Schodt, I have not read any of his other works, but have heard good things about his work. The pacing and phrasing sound as if Mr. Schodt had his hands tied by the publisher, and was unable to change certain lines to better fit English ( or at least American ) colloquialisms. With more freedom in his choice of words, this book could have been considerably improved. As a matter of fact, had Tomino been willing, the entire story could have been rewritten by Mr. Schodt, with his final approval, of course, resulting in a much better book.

Rating:
Summary: Great Anime With Great Novel
Review: This book a MUST READ for any bigtime gundam fan.The only bad thing about it is that it dosn't exactly follow the plot of the television series or the movies. It is also somewhat annoyin when they spell and pronouce some of the character's names differently (for example: Sha instead of Char and Kishiria instead of Kisilia or Zavi instead of Zabi etc.).