Forum - View topicTurn A Gundam, why was it never licensed?
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Nerv1
 Posts: 601 |
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After browsing the encyclopedia, I came upon this one Gundam series called Turn A Gundam
:anime#917 I just find it kind of weird that it wasn't licensed here in the US it being: -it was released during 1999, a few years after and before Wing and Seed -it had very good ratings, higher than most of the other Gundam series. Does anyone know why it wasn't released outside of Japan? |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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It did have incidental nudity - quite a lot if I remember. The weird Gundam designs might have put people off (moustaches look weird on a 18-meter tall robot). And the plot was derived from the Universal Century shows, and so the stigma that taints the UC might have adversely harmed Turn A's chances.
I know those are not the real reasons, but it was a fine series, and I too am at a loss. English Wikipedia gives no explanation, either. |
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Kruszer
 Posts: 7994 Location: Minnesota, USA |
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Well, ZZ Gundam, Victory Gundam, and Gundam X have yet to be picked up too so it's not like it's alone either.
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Jih2
 Posts: 403 Location: East coast |
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I'm almost completely certain there was only one shot of nudity in the first episode. Regarding why it hasn't been licensed: considering that America doesn't really like Gundam very much, for the most part, I think the most one could ever hope for would be a limited release (like Zeta Gundam's box release) which could happen but it seems to take Bandai forever to churn out Gundam series these days. I would like to see this licensed though. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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My memory is very hazy, but I do remember reading the episode reviews over at Mecha HQ. The reviewer often mentioned how much nudity there was - not every episode, but for a Gundam series there was more than there is usually. After all, the Cosmic Era shows didn't have any full nudity. I guess Gundam isn't that popular outside of Japan, at least not the shows. The Gunpla on the other hand...... |
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BladeDragoonZETA
 Posts: 586 |
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nudity wasn't an issue (I've seen far more nudity in licensed shows)
I think if all gundam series were to get licensed/released Turn A would be the last Turn A was a rather odd series with unusual mecha design and a very different setting I think Gundam should do much better than it does in the US |
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ikillchicken
 Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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I would guess there could be a number of factors.
There was more serious nudity here and there than your average Gundam series. I don't know if it got better later on but initially I recall at least a couple shots of exposed breasts and also a lot of shots of the main character naked. Mostly though, it was just the most unorthodox of all gundams. It would likely have the least marketability. Gundam has struggled in North America as it is so it would be an unlikely choice. By the time Turn A came out, several Gundam series had already tried and to at least some extent failed. It's not that big of a surprise that they wouldn't take a risk on something that had historically not done that well especially if it was an even less marketable version. |
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zaphdash
 Posts: 620 Location: Brooklyn |
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There is nudity peppered throughout the show, but nudity is nothing. Tenchi Muyo got played on Cartoon Network over and over again -- nudity just gets the digital paintbrush if the show is going to be put on TV, and it's not an issue at all for a DVD-only release. The real issue, as some have touched on, is basically marketability. It's the least Gundam-like of all Gundam shows. Though some of the mobile suit designs (Zaku, Zssa, Kapool) are lifted straight up from old shows and others (Muttowooo, Cannon Illefuto) seem inspired to some degree or another by older designs, many of them are unlike any previous Gundam designs (including the Turn A itself, the Turn X, the WaD, and the War of the Worlds-inspired WaDom, to name a few), and Akira Yasuda's character designs are pretty unusual for a Gundam show as well. Aesthetically it's a huge departure from previous Gundam.
Then there's the story, which presents a couple of issues. For starters, it moves at a much slower pace than most Gundam shows. In sharp contrast to every other Gundam show, the Gundam doesn't even appear in the first episode (compare this to Victory Gundam, where Tomino was forced to do the first four episodes in a flashback format just to get the Gundam into the first episode). It's not even identified as a Gundam until episode 9, not identified as the Turn A Gundam until episode 23, and not widely known by that name until the last few episodes of the series (for the bulk of the show, it's just known as the White Doll). I, personally, consider Turn A the best Gundam series, and the ratings in the encyclopedia would suggest that other fans regard it as a well-crafted series too. So I don't think necessarily that the slow-paced story is at all a problem. But it's not the kind of show that tends to get onto Cartoon Network. Most of the fights are fairly low key skirmishes, not the enormous, explosive brawls that you find in Gundam Wing or Gundam SEED, or the outlandish super robot battles of G Gundam. Those shows, even while trying to convey messages of peace, clearly embrace a "blow things up first, ask questions later" mentality. Turn A Gundam devotes much less time to action and spends much more time on the political intrigue, peace negotiations, and more mundane activities of day to day life -- for instance, there's an episode where Loran uses the Turn A to help a Moonrace family establish a farm, and there's another where he helps an old woman take care of her land and evacuate ahead of an approaching battle. A lot of time is spent on Fran's occupation as a photojournalist and on Keith's job running a bakery and trying to sell bread (I don't know whether the parallel was at all intentional, but when watching the show, I was struck by the similarity between Anaheim Electronics selling weapons to all sides in the old UC shows and the drama that causes, and Keith selling bread to both sides in Turn A and the drama that causes; with Anaheim representing the "Merchants of Death," would that make Keith a "Merchant of Life"?). You can see how Bandai and Cartoon Network might not expect Turn A to go over well with the demographic they targeted with G, Wing, and SEED. The other issue with Turn A's story is not quite as serious, but when it was created as part of Gundam's 20th anniversary Big Bang Project, Tomino intended for it to be the culmination of all Gundam in one. Now, whether you accept the "Turn A Bang" theory or not, the fact remains that the show contains numerous references to previous shows, UC and AU alike. It's explained clearly enough that it's not as if you're going to get confused if you haven't seen the earlier shows, but it certainly enriches the viewing experience if you can understand the various references being made. I don't know whether this has factored into Bandai's decision not to release Turn A yet or not, but it does certainly make the show a bit less accessible to new viewers. However, to correct ikillchicken on one minor point: "several" Gundam series hadn't come out and failed in America yet when Turn A was airing in Japan; the end of Turn A's run in Japan roughly coincided with the beginning of Wing's run on Cartoon Network in the spring of 2000. Unless you count the video-only releases of the Gundam movies, 0080, and 0083 as "failures," Turn A came out just ahead of the only truly successful North American Gundam release. The failures of subsequent shows certainly has not helped get it out here, but it would be inaccurate to suggest that it was doomed from the start by the failures of other shows. Years ago, Bandai's official stance was that, with Gundam, it was "not a matter of if, but when." Granted, this was before G Gundam's lukewarm reception and Gundam SEED's failure on Cartoon Network, and in all honesty I really don't keep up with anime news anymore, so I have no idea if they ever eventually decided to give up on getting all Gundam out here. But for a few years there, they were working on one Gundam TV series at a time and getting one out roughly every year or so; as Kruszer pointed out, Gundam ZZ, Victory Gundam, and Gundam X also haven't been released yet, so it could be a matter of simple timing. Starting with Wing in 2000, they've released a pretty steady stream of shows, First Gundam, G, SEED, Zeta, and Destiny, plus various movies and OVAs along the way too. I'm sure their next target will probably be the new and flashy Gundam 00, but it's entirely possible that ZZ, V, X, and even Turn A are all destined to come out here eventually -- they're just lower on the pecking order and so haven't gotten their chance yet. I do have to agree with BladeDragoonZETA, though, that Turn A will probably be the last to get released, if it's released at all. As good a show as it is, it faces an uphill marketing battle -- it carries the baggage of the "Gundam" name, which has had less than stellar success for the most part in North America, and yet it's also the least Gundam-like of all Gundam shows, so it is in the unenviable position of at first glance alienating both Gundam fans and non-Gundam fans alike. There's your answer, in a (rather large) nutshell. |
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Shadowrun20XX
 Posts: 1936 Location: Vegas |
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The series was supposedly,trying to link all the Gundam universes in some way.It was more for the fans,not really meant to stand alone.
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ikillchicken
Posts: 7272 Location: Vancouver |
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Well, I did make a point of saying "failures to some extent". None of them had really become the massive hits they were in Japan. However, I was thinking G came before Turn A but of course you are right. |
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CrazyIdiots
 Posts: 17 |
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As far as I know...
X had bad ratings compared to the other Gundam series, so they probably don't want to make the same mistake twice. There's no point showing ZZ without showing the previous Z and original Gundam Series. Victory was personally hated by Tomino. Then again another reason why they premiere shows is to also advertise their toy models, so series with odd designs like Victory and Turn A may never make the cut  .
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