The Fall 2024 Manga Guide

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN MSD Cucuruz Doan's Island

What's It About? 

Based on the legendary "lost" episode from the First Gundam TV series, this is the story of Cucuruz Doan like you've never seen it before.

Created as a spinoff of original character designer and animation director Yoshikawa Yasuhiko's own manga retelling of First Gundam in Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, this 5-volume series explores the ramifications of Cucuruz Doan's actions from the perspective of the Zeon soldiers under his command. Gundam veteran Junji Ohno brings us brand-new characters and a new view of the development of the original mobile suits, all with the imprimatur of Yasuhiko himself.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE ORIGIN MSD Cucuruz Doan's Island has a story and art by Junji Ohno, with English translation by C. T. Cockrell and editing by Daniel Joseph. Published by Vertical Comics (October 1, 2024).

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Is It Worth Reading?

Jean-Karlo Lemus
Rating:

I can't begin to tell you how excited I was to see this Gundam manga actually use the “One shot!” line. Cucuruz's Island is a great read. Telling the story of a team of test pilots breaking in a handful of experimental Zaku mobile suits and their terrifying encounters with the Federation's experimental Gundam, Cucuruz's Island does a great job of selling the cast of cannon fodder pilots and their dialogue. Dangling over them is the titular Cucuruz Doan, the Zeon pilot who taught these recruits how to be tools for Zeon's R&D... and the man who abandoned his post after the war wore him down. His teachings still resound in the minds and hearts of these pilots. Some beat themselves up for lacking Doan's leadership skills. Some find themselves inspired to be better.

Like many other stories in the Universal Century, this is a manga about a ragtag team of red shirts (expanding from an episode from the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime). Who knows if all of these pilots, if any, will get to go home, and who will be reduced to a pile of hamburgers? But Cucuruz's Island makes you care about these guys. You can tell when someone is tripping a death flag; the true strength of this manga is that it hurts all the same when their time comes.

Even if you've got no exposure to Gundam outside of marveling at the cool robots, this is an effective read about soldiers whose lives are on the line. It might get you interested in the rest of the franchise, or maybe you'll just appreciate a nice wartime story. Regardless, this story is recommended.

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Lauren Orsini
Rating:

Before I launch into my review, I need to disclose my connection to its creator. I have never met Junji Ohno personally, but I have been friends with his wife, Yomi, for years. One thing led to another and I now have an autographed copy of the Japanese version of this manga. (Is this an editorial note or a flex? Can't it be both?) I don't read Japanese well at all, so I've been long awaiting the English translation of Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island. I already knew the illustrations were top notch, but now I'm able to understand the volume's plot—but only thanks to years of reading and watching Gundam. This story of a conflicted Zeon commander and his crew builds off of years of Gundam lore and is by no means an entryway to the series.

A little background on Gundam: The Origin: it's a retelling of the events before, during and directly after the One Year War that the first Gundam series centers on. This miniseries, focusing on Cucuruz Doan, is even more niche. Doan is an enemy combatant who appears in only one Gundam episode—episode 15, also known as the “lost episode.” Doan has since become the stuff of legend, but after the 2022 Cucuruz Doan's Island movie, he's enjoying a resurgence of fan interest. Still, even if you've seen the movie, don't expect to have any familiarity with the content of this manga: this is a prequel weaving together never-before-seen characters and off screen details. For example, the Dark Colony, which is implied in the original Gundam anime but never mentioned overtly by name, is a key setting in this story. It also features experimental mobile suit designs that I'm not even certain are canon. In order to enjoy this story, you'll want to at least be familiar with the events of 1979's Mobile Suit Gundam—or beware spoilers from the very first page!

Kinetic full-body images of mobile suits express this story's reverence for the mecha it depicts. Detailed art makes their might palpable. Gundam fans will be familiar with Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's character design archetypes, which are rendered faithfully here even in this manga's original characters. We don't get to spend a lot of time with these characters amidst the horrors of war, but as par for the course for Gundam, this is a story that humanizes the soldiers caught up in a war they mostly do not want to fight. Still, I hate to recommend a manga that requires a homework assignment as large as “Watch the first Gundam” too highly: this is a powerfully drawn story that will appeal to Gundam fans and probably nobody else.

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