The current generation of anime fans won’t know this, but before the cult-like following began for anime and manga series like Naruto and One Piece, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Gundam gathered one of the biggest fan followings. This was also the reason why the series got so many spin-offs and sequels.
The franchise began with the release of Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 and is still going on, with new narratives being featured in movies and TV series from the franchise. However, Gundam gathered most of its fans with the first two series, Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985).
Tomino once revealed that he had plans for making Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam one of the biggest TV series within the franchise by gathering characters from the previous show and giving the series an ‘Avengers Assemble’ vibe. While this would have certainly made a huge impact on Gundam, the anime director ultimately failed to execute his plans.
Gundam’s Budget Was Too Low For Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Plans
In an exclusive interview for Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam that was shared by the Zeonic Republic, Tomino was asked about his intentions of bringing the old characters from the first series back into Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. The anime director revealed that he initially planned for it, but the budget of the second series didn’t allow him to go through with it.
Tomino stated:
The only reason for that was the budget. If there weren’t a budget limit, I would have had them get together as much as I wanted. A great deal of thought goes into constructing a plot. Unfortunately, it was inevitable that it ended up being that way.
If the sequel had featured the collaboration between the characters from both series, it would have created an exciting moment for Gundam fans. However, Tomino could not properly construct the plot for their collaboration as the budget of the series was limited at the time.
Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Regret With Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was probably one of the first series that carried dark and mature themes, which resulted in its success. Thus, the scenes between the characters from the previous series and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam would have taken it to the next step. This is why Yoshiyuki Tomino regretted his decision of not going forward with it.
Tomino revealed:
No, that’s actually not the case. If you were to take Zeta as an example, if there weren’t certain limitations, and I was allowed to do anything I wanted, it actually could have resulted in something considerably worse. So it was good just the way it turned out. The only problem is likely the fact that you can still get a sense of those kinds of regrets.
Tomino was happy with how Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam turned out to be, as he believed that there was a chance that if he had gone with his original idea, the series would not have garnered so much attention. Still, his regrets for not bringing the characters together were understandable.
However, he did manage to execute his idea of developing intriguing scenes between the characters from both series in the later part of the story, which was majorly featured in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation – Heirs to the Stars.
Mobile Suit Gundam is available to watch on Crunchyroll.
