Forum - View topicINTEREST: Gundam: The Witch From Mercury Producer: Modern Teens Think Gundam Is for Old People
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#alfrescoCR
Posts: 172 |
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Well that's the entire anime Fandom for you. Also it's a good thing you're built different. Newbies or modern anime fans in general thought Gundam, or any series with mecha is lame and is for old demographics only and they'll refuse to watch it except if it was made by Trigger or KyoAni. Even the the Holy grail of mecha Code Geass don't have much attention right now from these "new generation" of fans. Heck even the most basic facebook anime pages where newbies lurk (I swear I seldom use FB Anymore and i'm not really active on those pages) WFM didn't really do well. Any post mention WFM don't really have much engagements. It was curbstomped by other isekai post that aired 2 seasons ago and by CSM or even bleach. On the other hand, 4chan and reddit was bombarded with wfm threads every episode, but that just mostly due to the fact that these forums was of full of full time weebs that appreciates WFM. Edit#2: But WFM will defo pull in the much needed new bloods in the gundam fandom, like what IBO did 6 or 7 years ago. Last edited by #alfrescoCR on Wed Oct 12, 2022 6:27 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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Boonabadoopadoop
Posts: 12 |
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Smart idea. Ignore the boomers, aim for the younger Cute Girls Doing Cute Things enjoyers audience.
 Been enjoying WFM so far. Not the greatest but I like the designs and school setting.
( the fact SEED is considered a boomer series now though... ouch ) |
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Fluwm
 Posts: 947 |
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Pretty much all of my favorite Gundam shows are older than I am.
If Gundam has a demographic problem, I suspect it's less Gundam doesn't appeal to many young people and more Gundam doesn't appeal to many people. |
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tintor2
 Posts: 2003 |
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So basically this is a "seinen series" alongside SEED. I remember Darker than Black and Psycho-Pass developers saying that their works were made for an adult audience with Okamura using his experience with dramas to make the dual episodes from his series.
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ryanvamp
Posts: 420 |
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I think this explains modern fandom in a nutshell. The original series aired when I wasn't even born and it's my favorite anime of all time (I watched it for the first time in 2007). It depresses me how most people in the "younger generations" aren't interested in older media just because they think it's lame or dated.
Almost 80% of the best films ever made (even popcorn blockbuster ones) are at least ten years old; can you imagine skipping the greatest pieces of cinema because of that? I could go on and on complaining about this but I know it's the old man yelling at a cloud situation. Regarding Witch from Mercury: the prologue was ok, the first episode was mindblowingly stupid and the second one an improvement. I hope they move on from the marriage shenanigans but reading this interview I won't be holding my breath for a better plot. |
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Kicksville
 Posts: 1230 |
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I don't think it's a modern phenomena at all, honestly: 20 years ago there were absolutely young fans turning their noses up at anime that hadn't just come out. If anything, I think it's at least more understandable now, since there is so much new anime all the time, and we always get access to pretty much all of it immediately. I kinda get why people would be dismissive when they're already drowning in new media, as unfortunate as it is. Still, it's not unusual for newer fans to enjoy a new, unconnected Gundam show, and then later, go back and watch the older stuff when they're more open to it. That's probably a key to how Gundam has remained so popular. |
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MadMusketeer
Posts: 11 |
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Speaking as a relatively young anime fan who hasn't watched any Gundam shows before, the series (particularly Universal Century stuff) seems intimidating mostly by dint of just how much of it there is. To watch a new UC Gundam series, I feel like I would have to go back and watch an unreasonable number of shows to properly enjoy it, and without a clear entry point to get hooked from that doesn't seem worth it looking in. Based on this, I understand why a lot of younger people - who didn't have a chance to get into Gundam when there was less of it around - might tend to avoid the series. Thus, Witch From Mercury being an alternate universe series might bring in a bunch of people who wouldn't have otherwise wanted to watch a Gundam series. Further, from the outside looking in, a lot of Gundam looks like mecha fanservice to sell existing fans Gunpla kits - I get why people might see Gundam, decide it isn't targeted at them, and dip.
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DRosencraft
Posts: 671 |
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To frame my opinion I will say this; I personally feel like I'm in a weird spot. The first Gundam series I watched start to finish was Wing, but the first Gundam I ever saw was the original. Didn't remember a lick about the original Gundam, no clue for the longest time what episode it was or anything like that. But saw Wing start to finish, then G, etc. I'm one of the seemingly rare few who watched X and thought it a decent enough entry. I, personally, hate UC Gundam - well, hate's probably too strong a word, but I am not a big fan of it. Moreover, I hate that they keep going back to milk that cow dry again and again. Also wasn't a giant fan of the Build entries. They were "okay" the first couple go rounds, but it's worn out its welcome for me. Never liked the SD series either. The only Gundam series I haven't watched end to end at this point is ZZ, whose pieces I have seen I've liked way more than Zeta, and Victory.
So I am all but certain that I am not a person that neatly fits into any demographic they're aiming for. But aiming for a demographic is a choice that they have to make. The older audiences are not going to stick around for ever. They will age out of the franchise or anime altogether. And as most of that crowd keeps wanting more UC stuff, there is an unfavorable feedback loop that is too easy to get stuck in. At the moment I have a feeling that WFM will take a ZZ turn in the second 26, by which I mean that ZZ also started off fairly low-stakes teen angst and goofy before ramping up to the major conflict. Wouldn't exactly say WFM has been that to start, but that it's not hard to see it making a similar tonal shift from Star Driver but Gundam school battle antics to more traditional meat and potatoes war antics, especially if the wheels start coming off of this first half's run. |
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MFrontier
Posts: 12890 |
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I always had the impression Gundam was pretty popular with the youth through it's various iterations, although I'm not privy to the tastes of the average Japanese teen or young adult...
Also, as far as the lack of war in TWFM, I think they're definitely building up to that and we'll probably segue into it by the end of the first cour. But I don't think it absolutely needs a war at the moment because we're still getting the patented Gundam political drama. |
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Oby
Posts: 108 |
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Maybe it's just because of the direct interaction that Okamoto had with a teen who nonchalantly said that he avoids Gundam that surprised him, but this is really nothing new.
UC Gundam already lost its luster as a TV show since Victory Gundam flopped in 1993. Bandai already came up with the solution named AU shows which has saved the Gundam franchise time & time again and it allowed the franchise to live for more than 40 years now. All that Bandai needs to do is keep making good AU shows. G, SEED, 00, IBO and the Build series turned out good and brought many profits from all the merch sales coz they have generally solid stories & relatable characters. But they need to avoid rushing sequels like in Destiny's case or doing gimmicky moves with game developer like in AGE's case. And they probably need to stop requesting Tomino to do anniversary Gundam shows. I'm grateful for the existence of Turn-A but after G-Reco, Tomino seriously need to stop writing & directing for his own show. His ideas are brilliant but they need better management than Tomino himself. Hathaway movie (from Tomino's novel) was great mostly due to its execution, which was not by Tomino. Bandai need to keep good ideas flowing, great management going & excellent execution coming. That's pretty much the key to Gundam's sucess. |
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sirdano1
Posts: 300 |
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The only good one was Thunderbolt. Origin was okay at best. The less said about IBO the better. |
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TheAnimeRevolutionizer
 Posts: 329 |
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Well, I'm going to have to let the hard truths out. Gundam, while well made and a great series, is kind of politically and socially removed in these times. You heard this right. And I'm an "oldtimer".
While I'd have to say that mecha series in general are on a plateau these days, Gundam's messages and themes are kind of lost these days. Gundam as I can see is definitely a product of its times, exploring 20th Century politics, from post World War II to the Cold War, and is carried on by the idea that the so called "unlimited growth" of Information Age economy allowing for ideas that the maintenance and funding for giant mechanical siege weapons would see this theoretically happen. These days however, the economic recession of 2008 still sees its damage hit hard, and ingrained in today's world, as well as seeing the straight up folly of the War on Terror and having more enemies at home than abroad into the 21st Century. The big dreams of 1950s space age travel has shrunken down by the internet and information technologies, people focusing greater on intrinsic and lifestyle problems brought upon by overt urbanization, corporatization, and even from greater sins of the past, and that the War Machine is not one that cares for your well being nor your nation's. This is definitely an environment that wouldn't look at giant mecha as resourceful, just decadent and evident as boastful, even jingoistic strong arming. Even then for anime series about how war is hell, we have Full Metal Alchemist, Monster, Rurouni Kenshin, even Puella Magi Madoka, and even games like Final Fantasy Type-0 and even Call of Duty has anti war themes, all on a more direct and brutal human experience. Some of these are more fantastical and abstract than others, but it ties to how violence and battle at its heart of savagery is ultimately, a bloody threatening path that will possibly not end and toils the mind on how one will ever relate to another human being after this kind of struggle. Not to bash on the robots, but it's the people in the Mobile Suits who give them life. And if you ask me, personally, I think G-Gundam is more "realistic" than a lot of the Gundam series. I wouldn't put it out of the equation that giant hulking metal men used as symbolic and figurative embodiments of power destroying cities, even their own, as their own arenas while the rich and powerful use them as one half breads and circuses and the other laizze faire Olympiad-esque political conquest would happen. That's practically war given subterfuge, and subterfuge is beloved in this age of information. |
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danpmss
 Posts: 775 |
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That's usually all I hear about IBO, and never any actual criticism. People hating on it and never specifying why, either that or writing MAL reviews on how ugly the mecha designs are (which were not a problem to me in UC, and were not a problem in IBO lol). Do tell us what suck so badly in that one, I enjoyed it alright (a tad bit too depressing and Mari Okada could do a single story without love triangle for a change, but nothing really criminal, I've seen far worse romantic plots in Gundam before). |
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AJ (LordNikon)
 Posts: 513 Location: Kyoto |
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I doubt Boomers were watching Seed. I don’t think Gen-X even watched it. Seed was a Millennial thing. |
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Tunod Denrub
 Posts: 7 |
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I say this as a Millennial who's almost old enough to be Gen-X, and as someone who's been following Gundam for nearly 20 years:
Good. A fresh approach can bring new ideas - and if they can make something as silly as G Gundam into a show which addresses the awfulness of war and the way people get swept up in it (and yes, they did), then they can definitely make something that's already as serious and politically fraught as WFM work. Having watched the first couple episodes, I'm optimistic.
This is the oldest gatekeeping argument in the book, my dude. Please don't be that person. Also, the interview mentioned the characters not feeling impacted by political events at first. So it's definitely going to become a thing as the series goes on.
I'm sorry to be the one to break this to you, but 'boomer' has long since lost its meaning of 'someone from the Baby Boomer generation'. The way it's used now, it seems to mean 'pretty much anyone over the age of 25'. |
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