Latest update November 27th, 2015 3:33 AM
GUNDAM’s Influence In Asia
GUNDAM (ガンダム) has been running for more than 35 years since its debut. The franchise was initially developed by Japanese animator Yoshiyuki Tomino, along with a changing group of Sunrise creators, featuring giant robots called mobile suits (機動戦士).
The original series began broadcasting in 1979 as an anime TV show called MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (機動戦士ガンダム), which is set in the Universal Century (U.C. or宇宙世紀) when overpopulation has forced part of human beings to immigrate from the Earth to space colonies. The series revolves around a teenage civilian, who has mechanical skills, Amuro Ray who pilots a new mobile suit known as the RX-78-2 Gundam in the war.
The show received wide popularity and was dubbed as the pioneer of the real robot subgenre of mecha anime (ロボットアニメ), which has inspired a bunch of Hollywood movies including monster blockbuster PACIFIC RIM. With the 1980 release of Gunpla – plastic models based on the franchise – and a trilogy of theatrical films from 1981, the franchise has grown into a social phenomenon in Japan. GUNDAM titles have appeared in the form of over 20 TV series and original video animations, movies, manga, novels, and video games.
GUNDAM’s fan base not only has gone beyond generations, but also has crossed borders. GUNDAM enjoys great popularity in China as well. With the development of Internet early in the 2000s, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM SEED (機動戦士ガンダムSEED) became the first GUNDAM series that Chinese audience has been aware of and perhaps is still the most popular one in China. GUNDAM SEED takes place in a different universe, in this case the Cosmic Era. It pulls elements from past GUNDAMs and shares some similarities.
There are more than 10 million posts about GUNDAM on Baidu BBS, the online community integrated with the leading Chinese search engine Baidu. Moreover, hundreds of thousands of transactions of GUNDAM models have been made on Taobao.com, the major online shopping website in China.
The 28th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will present a special program of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, which will be the first major screening to showcase the GUNDAM franchise as well as the first time that TIFF will present special screening of animated works especially dedicated to a single series.
To get a closer look at GUNDAM, The Chinese Film Market has interviewed Shin Sasaki, Hong Kong Office manager and general manager of International Sales Department / High End Works Division and Director at Sunrise the production company of GUNDAM.
What would you say is the appeal of GUNDAM？
It’s too hard to say the appeal of GUNDAM in just a few words. But in my opinion, the world of GUNDAM is future-oriented which allows audience to dream. Moreover, it’s a high-quality combination of mobile suit designs and humanity stories.
Do most consumers in Asia come from the U.C. generation or are they into the newer series, like the 00s and SEEDs?
It seems that U.C. series are more popular in the regions that have broadcasted the series from the 1980s, such as Hong Kong and South Korea. On the other hand, the newer series, like SEEDs, 00s and UNICORN series, tend to become more popular in the other regions among the young generation.
We have the same tendency in Japan as well. However, we would like to create an environment in Asia where the younger people and beginners who are much more familiar with the recent series, could get to know more about the classic GUNDAM, while long-time fans could pay more attention to newer GUNDAM series.
In your opinion, what has changed in the GUNDAM fandom in recent years?
Due to rapid growth of the Internet, GUNDAM fans in other countries have been able to get as much information about GUNDAM series as they want. Their taste has become very close to Japanese fans. Personally speaking, I’m very glad that beginners or new GUNDAM fans have started to pay attention to spinoff shows like GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS. They feature a more comical, contemporary setting and use Gunpla as a central plot element.
What is your marketing strategy in Asia?
Basically marketing strategy in Asia is the same as Japan. But we have made changes basing on the audience’s ages. U.C. generation series are for people in their late 20s to 40s. The newer series are for the teenagers and early 20s. And I think the average age in the region where the GUNDAM series have been aired after 2000 is quite young. So we would make adjustments according to our targeting consumers.
How has the sales of Gunpla been?
According to Bandai Co, which manufactures and sells Gunpla products since 1980, a year after the TV series began. The total number of Gunpla released in the worldwide market is 445 million pcs as of the end of March 2015, of which overseas sales account for 30 percent. Asian markets have dominated the oversea sales as a third of the total is for the market in South Korea.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM has been broadcasted on TV in many Asian regions for such a long time, which made GUNDAM much more popular compared with other foreign nations. So it’s quite reasonable that Gunpla is more welcomed in Asian countries.
Meanwhile, sales of Gunpla have been on the rise. The annual amount of Gunpla exported has doubled in the past five years and the number of users has been increasing as well.
It is expected the sales will continue to increase as GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS series has created a sensation in Asian countries and the Gunpla of MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM, which appears in various series, have become widely popular. On the other hand, Bandai, the company behind Gunpla, has made it possible for users to buy the exact same GUNDAM model as on TV shows to display or to make it customized as they want.
How does fans’ preference vary from region to region in Asia?
For these days, we don’t see many differences in people’s reactions to GUNDAM series. However, we could see some range of Gunpla sales and the popularity of mobile suits. Recently I’ve heard UNICORN was quite popular in Hong Kong, and the character, Beargguy from GUNDAM BUILD FIGHTERS was very popular in Thailand and South Korea.
How would you differentiate GUNDAM from other robots series like widely popular TRANSFORMERS?
As for GUNDAM, mobile suit is a weapon without emotions or humanities. So I think the difference from other robots series is that GUNDAM is actually operated by a boy who gets into it. And the franchise features numerous characters with unique personalities.
What’s one tip you’d give to beginners when it comes to GUNDAM?
The best idea is to watch the first episode of GUNDAM series that your favorite GUNDAM design appeared on the screen. We have devised how GUNDAM appeared in every series. So when you watch the first episode and if you are interested in it, you can keep watching it and enjoy the world of GUNDAM.
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