Mobile Suit Breakdown: the Gundam Podcast
314 episodes - English - Latest episode: 14 days ago - ★★★★★ - 146 ratingsMSB is a weekly Gundam podcast for new fans, old fans, and not yet fans. Nina (a Gundam first-timer) and Thom (a lifelong Gundam fan) analyze, review, and research all 40-years of the iconic sci-fi anime mega-franchise Mobile Suit Gundam in the order it was made. We research its influences, examine its themes, and discuss how each piece of the Gundam canon fits within the changing context in Japan and the world, from 1979 to today. Part history podcast, part discussion podcast, all Gundam podcast.
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Episodes
1.7 - Freefallin'
October 13, 2018 08:10 - 48 minutes - 44.3 MBShow Notes Noh drama! A "mother complex!" and Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 7! This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 7, "The Core Fighter's Escape," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: hostage crises and Flight 472, how fighter jets land on aircraft carriers, laser measurement, "fool" and "coward" archetypes in European and Japanese literature and theatre, and what on Earth is a "mother complex"? Wikipedia has a list of major hostage cri...
1.6 - Welcome to Earth, Gundam!
October 06, 2018 07:52 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBShow Notes Ever wonder if Char and Garma were more than just friends? There's more evidence to float that ship than you might think... On the Gundam podcast this week, we watch Mobile Suit Gundam episode 6, "Garma Strikes," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: soldier psychology, inspiration for the names of Zeon ships and tech, romance between men in Japanese history, and what exactly is an acting captain? For our discussion of soldier psychology, we con...
1.6: 1.6 - Welcome to Earth, Gundam!
October 06, 2018 07:52 - 41 minutes - 37.9 MBShow Notes Ever wonder if Char and Garma were more than just friends? There's more evidence to float that ship than you might think... On the Gundam podcast this week, we watch Mobile Suit Gundam episode 6, "Garma Strikes," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: soldier psychology, inspiration for the names of Zeon ships and tech, romance between men in Japanese history, and what exactly is an acting captain? For our discussion of soldier psychology, we con...
1.5: 1.5 The Descendants of Earth
September 29, 2018 08:19 - 52 minutes - 47.6 MBShow Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 5, "Re-Entry to Earth," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: hot towels, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the history of spaceflight, childhood trauma, Japanese migration, and physics in science fiction! with special guest, Iraj. The East Japan Oshibori Cooperative Association has a brief history of hot towels (oshibori) in Japan (site is in Japanese). Wikipedia has a thorough ove...
1.5 The Descendants of Earth
September 29, 2018 08:19 - 52 minutes - 47.6 MBShow Notes This week, we recap and review Mobile Suit Gundam episode 5, "Re-Entry to Earth," discuss our first impressions, and provide commentary and research on: hot towels, the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, the history of spaceflight, childhood trauma, Japanese migration, and physics in science fiction! with special guest, Iraj. The East Japan Oshibori Cooperative Association has a brief history of hot towels (oshibori) in Japan (site is in Japanese). Wikipedia has a thorough ove...
1.4: 1.4 - On the (Space) Road Again
September 22, 2018 06:28 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBShow Notes On this episode: space-refugees, soldiers as police, cultural changes in the Japanese post-war period, the "granddaddy" of anime, and anime history and aesthetics. To learn more about Japan's response to the Indochina Refugee Crisis, check out these articles: Havens, Thomas R.H. “Japan's Response to the Indochinese Refugee Crisis.” Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, vol. 18, no. 1, 1990, pp. 166–181. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24491760. Wain, Barry. "The Indoch...
1.4 - On the (Space) Road Again
September 22, 2018 06:28 - 48 minutes - 44.5 MBShow Notes On this episode: space-refugees, soldiers as police, cultural changes in the Japanese post-war period, the "granddaddy" of anime, and anime history and aesthetics. To learn more about Japan's response to the Indochina Refugee Crisis, check out these articles: Havens, Thomas R.H. “Japan's Response to the Indochinese Refugee Crisis.” Southeast Asian Journal of Social Science, vol. 18, no. 1, 1990, pp. 166–181. JSTOR, JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24491760. Wain, Barry. "The Indoch...
1.3: 1.3 - Mistakes Were Made
September 15, 2018 14:00 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBShow Notes In this episode: Astrography of the Gundamverse in UC79, what keeps the sides in-place?, collective decision-making, introducing the Minovsky particle, and developments in physics of the 1970s prove Clarke's Third Law, that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." A map of Lagrange Points and a map of the UC79 Gundamverse, showing the sides and Luna II. (Ignore the maps that refer to future series)" The Zaku I, which seems inspired by Roman gladia...
1.3 - Mistakes Were Made
September 15, 2018 14:00 - 45 minutes - 41.8 MBShow Notes In this episode: Astrography of the Gundamverse in UC79, what keeps the sides in-place?, collective decision-making, introducing the Minovsky particle, and developments in physics of the 1970s prove Clarke's Third Law, that "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." A map of Lagrange Points and a map of the UC79 Gundamverse, showing the sides and Luna II. (Ignore the maps that refer to future series)" The Zaku I, which seems inspired by Roman gladia...
1.2: 1.2 - No, She's Too Strong!
September 08, 2018 14:00 - 42 minutes - 39 MBShow Notes In this episode: Space-Okinawa, society has a short memory, was childhood ever sacred?, nuclear allegory, fancy uniforms, and mutually assured Gundams. You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa in these pages. While estimates of the number of Tekketsu Kinnotai boys (middle-school aged conscripts) vary, we are going with the 1,780 local Okinawan estimate given by their Peace Museum. Wikipedia has a good overview of the use of child soldiers in WWII generally, including the f...
1.2 - No, She's Too Strong!
September 08, 2018 14:00 - 42 minutes - 39 MBShow Notes In this episode: Space-Okinawa, society has a short memory, was childhood ever sacred?, nuclear allegory, fancy uniforms, and mutually assured Gundams. You can read more about the Battle of Okinawa in these pages. While estimates of the number of Tekketsu Kinnotai boys (middle-school aged conscripts) vary, we are going with the 1,780 local Okinawan estimate given by their Peace Museum. Wikipedia has a good overview of the use of child soldiers in WWII generally, including the f...
1.1: 1.1 - To Live and Die in Space
August 30, 2018 23:55 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBEpisode Notes In this episode: the 70s in our universe and in the Universal Century, in belum medium, aesthetics musical and visual, and... what's my age again? (what's my age again?) High-level overviews of events of the 1970s, in the world and in Japan. Here is the book cover (center) that Thom mentioned, with an example of Tomino's preferred color-scheme for the White Base. You can find more great information from the translator at his website The Zeon "Zaku II" mobile suit, and a pho...
1.1 - To Live and Die in Space
August 30, 2018 23:55 - 43 minutes - 39.7 MBEpisode Notes In this episode: the 70s in our universe and in the Universal Century, in belum medium, aesthetics musical and visual, and... what's my age again? (what's my age again?) High-level overviews of events of the 1970s, in the world and in Japan. Here is the book cover (center) that Thom mentioned, with an example of Tomino's preferred color-scheme for the White Base. You can find more great information from the translator at his website The Zeon "Zaku II" mobile suit, and a pho...
0.0 - Gundam Podcast Rises
August 30, 2018 23:55 - 20 minutes - 14.2 MBEpisode Notes In this episode, we discuss who we are, what this is, and why we're doing it. Read this and future show notes for visual aids like photos, charts, and videos, bibliography and research references, and miscellaneous ephemera related to each episode. Speaking of which... Here is an example of the early Clover models, chunkier and less detailed than the models many of us are familiar with, and a TV commercial from 1982, for the various Bandai model kits created for first Gund...