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NEWS: Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Manga Gets Deluxe Edition




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BodaciousSpacePirate
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Joined: 17 Apr 2015
Posts: 3027
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 1:46 pm Reply with quote
Based on how much I paid for the previous release - relative to how much I remember paying for the average manga volume at the time - it certainly felt like I already HAD the “deluxe edition”. Laughing
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15767
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 1:52 pm Reply with quote
Not sure it's helpful to Kodansha's bottom line or the U.S. manga market in general, when they still have Joe to offload, and JoJo's Steel Ball Run is out next month. Oh, and of course, the other Kamui is pricey and niche. I think, with these and Kingdom, they're pretending this is Japan's market again.
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Deacon Blues



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 413
Location: Albuquerque, NM
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 4:09 pm Reply with quote
GATSU wrote:
Not sure it's helpful to Kodansha's bottom line or the U.S. manga market in general, when they still have Joe to offload, and JoJo's Steel Ball Run is out next month. Oh, and of course, the other Kamui is pricey and niche. I think, with these and Kingdom, they're pretending this is Japan's market again.


Considering the Ed had mentioned Vertical barely broke even when they released the original versions of this, this is one hell of a gamble for Kodansha now. This cover is absolute trash, to be honest. It's such a disservice to the beautiful artwork that Yas drew for the series. Not only that, they're not including any of the extras (not even sure if we'll get color pages), plus this thing clocks in at 880 pages, so that means that depending on the paper quality, it'll be over two inches thick and not something that makes for an easy read. It's worse than most college textbooks! The original versions were pretty crummy quality-wise as it was (terribly glue, cracking of binding, pages falling out over time), so I can't see this being much better. I preordered just to see (for review purposes), so I'm hoped to be proven wrong.
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1283
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 8:21 pm Reply with quote
Deacon Blues wrote:
Considering the Ed had mentioned Vertical barely broke even when they released the original versions of this, this is one hell of a gamble for Kodansha now.

Is it not possible that may have changed and it made good profit later? I still see volumes of this on sale at like every bookstore manga section. I don't know if that's a bad thing or a good thing (like Akira perpetually being everywhere).
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GNPixie



Joined: 25 Jul 2018
Posts: 335
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 9:35 pm Reply with quote
Deacon Blues wrote:
Not only that, they're not including any of the extras (not even sure if we'll get color pages)


Colour pages are included.
Quote:
The storied Gundam franchise’s “First Season” that set new standards of verisimilitude for televised sci-fi animation returns in comics form at the hand of one of the initial creators! The definitive account expands on the classic narrative with the same sense of purpose that lit up the screen more than four decades ago.

This new edition collects the original bestselling twelve-installment English release into six oversized volumes. All of the many color pages—unusually numerous for Japanese comics—have been retained…only at a larger size. The master’s artwork has never looked so grand!
(Does not include essays and illustrations from the original release that are not the author’s own)


From the Chapters/Indigo Canada blurb about these editions.
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 15648
PostPosted: Mon Apr 07, 2025 11:34 pm Reply with quote
GNPixie wrote:
Deacon Blues wrote:
Not only that, they're not including any of the extras (not even sure if we'll get color pages)


Colour pages are included.
Quote:
The storied Gundam franchise’s “First Season” that set new standards of verisimilitude for televised sci-fi animation returns in comics form at the hand of one of the initial creators! The definitive account expands on the classic narrative with the same sense of purpose that lit up the screen more than four decades ago.

This new edition collects the original bestselling twelve-installment English release into six oversized volumes. All of the many color pages—unusually numerous for Japanese comics—have been retained…only at a larger size. The master’s artwork has never looked so grand!
(Does not include essays and illustrations from the original release that are not the author’s own)


From the Chapters/Indigo Canada blurb about these editions.

Ah, so maybe I will actually get this.
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 1148
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 2:08 am Reply with quote
BodaciousSpacePirate wrote:
Based on how much I paid for the previous release - relative to how much I remember paying for the average manga volume at the time - it certainly felt like I already HAD the “deluxe edition”. Laughing


Forget how much you paid (per-volume the MSRP was about the same as most mass-market Manga); the original release (in English) was two-volume hardcover editions with lots of color pages, printed on oversized, thick, glossy paper. It very much *was* "deluxe" relative to other releases.

Definitely gonna keep my eye out on this to see just how much better of a release it ends up being... but from that little blurb, it doesn't really sound all that different than what we already have.
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Utsuro no Hako



Joined: 18 May 2012
Posts: 1063
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:05 am Reply with quote
Deacon Blues wrote:
Considering the Ed had mentioned Vertical barely broke even when they released the original versions of this, this is one hell of a gamble for Kodansha now.


That was like a decade ago. I remember when nobody wanted to license sports manga because Americans didn't read them. And then Haikyuu and YowaPedal happened.

It's possible that sales for Thunderbolt and Cucruz Doan's Island have been good enough that Kodansha thinks this is a smart move now.
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GATSU



Joined: 03 Jan 2002
Posts: 15767
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:25 am Reply with quote
Utsuro: Um, Yowamushi Pedal is niche over here, and the fake fangirls just tanked that last Haikyuu movie.
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lalahsghost



Joined: 03 Sep 2024
Posts: 4
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 7:36 pm Reply with quote
Super respect to Vertical for Publishing the hardcovers. I own them all and love them. Not sure I want to afford a new copy.
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 1148
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 8:25 pm Reply with quote
Amazon's got a listing already: https://www.amazon.com/dp/1647294851?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

The big eye-popping detail (other than the $55 USD price) is the page count. At 880 pages, well... I'm less optimistic in this being a worthwhile edition now than I was before, if only because the physical dimensions are still on the small side, and books that thick tend to have serious useability and usage issues. The Nausicaa special edition this is not.

In terms of value, at that price-per-page (or PPP), we can compare both Origin editions to a standard mass-market manga release, like so:

Origin Deluxe Edition PPP: $0.062
Origin Original Edition PPP: $0.066
Standard manga release PPP: $0.058

(Comparing the MSRPs with the page counts of the first volumes of both Origin volumes, using the mass-market release/pricing of the first Glory of Losers volume as the mass-market model.)

So in terms of value-per-page, the new edition is very, very slightly better than the original release. They're just selling twice the amount of manga at approximately twice the price (so 4:1 for the Deluxe, 2:1 for the original, and 1:1 for mm manga).

May also be worth examining the specific differences in dimensions between the original and deluxe versions.

Origin Original Edition: 6.35 x 1.3 x 8.3in, 2.15lbs
Origin Deluxe Editions: 7.50 x ??.? x 10in, 1.25lbs

Which is... interesting. Assuming the weight listed for it on Amazon is correct, the Deluxe Edition is almost half the weight of the original release despite its (slightly) larger size and nearly doubled page count.

Which would maybe be possible if the paper used is of much lower quality? Or maybe the number's just flat-out incorrect.

Regardless, this is definitely seeming to me more like a "new edition" much more than a "better edition."
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fuuma_monou



Joined: 26 Dec 2005
Posts: 1893
Location: Quezon City, Philippines
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 8:48 pm Reply with quote
Already sold my set of the Vertical edition a few years ago. Main problem for me is getting more shelf space for the deluxe edition.
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Fluwm



Joined: 28 Jul 2009
Posts: 1148
PostPosted: Tue Apr 08, 2025 9:23 pm Reply with quote
fuuma_monou wrote:
Already sold my set of the Vertical edition a few years ago. Main problem for me is getting more shelf space for the deluxe edition.


Truly a monster that can never be slain.
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Jay_Stone



Joined: 15 Oct 2016
Posts: 152
PostPosted: Thu Apr 10, 2025 10:45 am Reply with quote
The other version felt already like a deluxe edition. Seeing the cover isn't as colorful as the normal version, I'll have to see how big it is and the quality of the pages before I'm going to buy this.
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