Are Gundam Supplementary Materials a Good Thing?

[MindlessFire]

One of the things that's been bugging are the Gundam supplementary materials, which are things like Side Story Manga, Drama CDs, etc. most notably from Gundam Seed and even Gundam 00. A lot of fans have been complaining about this so called lack of "Character Development" of certain characters in either series and unanswered questions and plot holes. Gundam 00 has 00P, 00F and 00V fill in various details left unexplained in the series, such as Feldt's parents, how various mobile suit lines were developed, what happened in the gap between seasons 1 and 2, etc. etc.

Some of the character backgrounds can be only found in these Supplementary Materials. Like for example, one of the 00 Drama CDs is about Graham accidentally killing his superior officer which Joshua briefly mentions S1 when he first meets Howard and Daryl. This was never again brought up in the main series.

Also, the supplementary materials also cover plot holes in the series, most notably in GS Astray where they explain how the heck Kira ended up in PLANT. If you didn't read Astray, you'd probably would never know.

I guess this can best be explained through this:
http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/M ... nTheManual

[Red Comet90]

I agree with you completely. This supplementary material is just a way to make more money off of the franchise by making the audience want to know what happens. Like you mentioned for Gundam Seed, Kira's fate made no sense unless you had read Astray. The worst part about this phenomenon is that the plot suffers because of this gap. I could care less if I have to pay extra money just to read a manga or learn japanese, but if the story itself loses value because they want to have this supplemental material I feel the show loses something.

[Duraham]

some plots are too lengthy to be included in the actual series itself, eg. more of the backstories of the 00 characters, like the incident about the flag testing that you've mentioned. had this been included in the actual anime, it would most likely be some 5min flashback quickly explained away and forgotten, but if you did that for every character, eventually it will eat into the time constrains. Just look at S2 and see how much storylines they have managed to squeeze into 25 episodes!

another usefulness is to cover up plotholes, such as those found in gundam SEED (careful, do watch your foot)

[JEFFPIATT]

the side stories also better flesh out the universe msv gives us additional units and configurations that should be there if not for animation constraints. it also gives us back story and additional content so the universe presented feels more realistic.

[Sleepneeded127]

they are good in expanding the world of the series adding extra details that are not essential the series but help fill in spots they could not be covered in the main story.
things like how various mobile suit lines were developed are not needed to advance the story so they dont need not be mentioned in the main series. same as Felts Parents you dont need to know what happens with them only that something has happened even Felt did not know that it was so the viewer does not need to know.

the sub materials add to the bigger world of the story covering stuff that even if it is nice to know but is not needed. It is good to have these to expand on the minor events or fill in gaps in time that do not need to covered to tell the main story

[HellCat]

I think the biggest problems are tone and volume. With the 00 sidestories, my loudest criticism has been the fact I feel they don't fit with the main show. Alot of the ideas introduced in them (especially the more whimsical ones) don't seem to compliment the established tone of the original work. Whilst sidestories are supposed to offer new perspectives, it is important that they compliment the existing primary story or they shoot themselves in the foot. Thankfully there's next to nothing in the 00 TV show that validates these personally unwanted elements, so I can choose on a personal note to just ignore them.

As for volume, that goes back to the already mentioned comments about stuff you won't get answers for unless you keep your finger on the pulse of all these reference sources. To use 00 again, it was definetly a case that alot of important things weren't answered unless you read the books and such. Great example- the observers. They're introduced briefly in season one as an effective leadership for CB but after the organization's defeat and resurrection we never see them on screen again. What happened? Unless you read the reference books, you'll never know that Ribbons had them all killed off. An element introduced in the main narrative not being resolved in it = Problem. The big cause of that is that the decision to do this is primarily due to the fact the domestic fanbase will have access to these eventual references. The rest of us across the globe are sadly adrift, kept informed only by those generous individuals who track such info down, translate it and share it.

[Kuruni]

Dudes, supplements doesn't cause plot hole. It's there already, supplemets just fill it.

Of cause, I like it more when MSV and side stories focus on expanding or freshing out setting (MSV, AoZ, 00V). But it isn't their fault when animate series relied on them to fix the gap hole, blame the main series instead.

[azrael]

If the plot of the show relies on supplementary material, then yes, it's can be a bad thing. Beyond the money making aspect of it, I think it depends on how it's used. In the case of 00, it's nice to have but it's not necessary for the plot. Everything that needed to be covered was covered in-show. Was it necessary to know how the 3rd-generation Gundams came about? No. Is it necessary to know that Graham accidentally killed someone? No. But then we come to Kyrios and what happened to it between S1 and S2. It helps to know that Kyrios' GN Drive was removed prior to it being captured. This would have been nice to know. But how much of an impact does it make in the end? Not much. Do we need to know why Grievous appears in Revenge of the Sith? No, because they tell us he's the leader of the Separatists army and that's really the extent of what we need to know.

[Deacon Blues]

I think the biggest problems are tone and volume. With the 00 sidestories, my loudest criticism has been the fact I feel they don't fit with the main show. Alot of the ideas introduced in them (especially the more whimsical ones) don't seem to compliment the established tone of the original work. Whilst sidestories are supposed to offer new perspectives, it is important that they compliment the existing primary story or they shoot themselves in the foot. Thankfully there's next to nothing in the 00 TV show that validates these personally unwanted elements, so I can choose on a personal note to just ignore them.

Your loudest criticism also has to do with the fact that you, like most fans, haven't read the stories and are basing assumptions off of pictures and crudely interpreted fan "summaries" or scattered thoughts from a Japanese blog that people herald as the messiah of information to the side stories. The side stories are supervised by both Kuroda and Mizushima, therefore whatever happens in them they basically approve. Side stories are not forced into complimenting the main series because that's what they are, a story that takes place on the side. Since you have beef with 00, Astray never had any real bearing on anything either. A couple glaring examples to showcase this are the lack of the Ame-no-Mihashira appearing in any animated form or Rondo's big worldwide speech to everyone never being mentioned. I could continue (Death Star base, etc, etc), but I'll save it for now.

As for volume, that goes back to the already mentioned comments about stuff you won't get answers for unless you keep your finger on the pulse of all these reference sources. To use 00 again, it was definetly a case that alot of important things weren't answered unless you read the books and such. Great example- the observers. They're introduced briefly in season one as an effective leadership for CB but after the organization's defeat and resurrection we never see them on screen again. What happened? Unless you read the reference books, you'll never know that Ribbons had them all killed off. An element introduced in the main narrative not being resolved in it = Problem. The big cause of that is that the decision to do this is primarily due to the fact the domestic fanbase will have access to these eventual references. The rest of us across the globe are sadly adrift, kept informed only by those generous individuals who track such info down, translate it and share it.

And yes, you actually hit the nail right on the head: domestic fans. This is created for them, not us, so material will be readily available to them. The same can also be applied here. You can use the Marvel Comics universe as an example if you will... that can be just as complex and as interwoven as their weaving of information as some of the Gundam material.

[wm4]

To the original question, I cannot regard the side stories (novels / mangas / MSV / OVA)
as real supplementary materials. In fact, the side stories themselves are standing
on their own (though in the same world) and can use some supplementary materials
themselves.

The side stories are the author's own creation based on the official settings, and their
owned interpretation of the shows. The result can be, for some characters and events,
subjective, inconsistent, insistent, or simply not right. Bandai is the show's owner and
they looks at the money; they simply approve everything as far as they see the
money. The directors (mostly alternative universes) are always being seemed
co-operative with Bandai, thus their automatic approvals after Bandai's do not mean
they like the ideas.

For examples, (it is example only!) I really like the Trinity brothers and Kinue Crossroad
(Saji's sister), so I rewrote my Gundam 00 to keep them alive past episode 50,
and have Ribbon do SOMETHING (to avoid the spoiler, and if you had watched S1,
you know what it is) in place of Nena. As long as I can cover up what I had done
and make the money, I am pretty sure that Sunrise / Bandai will not get serious with
me - but I do not know if the director like me to do that or not.

Before saying that is impossible, we have had real live examples already : there are 6
officially approval manga adaptions of Code Geass: Leloch, one of which makes Nunally
a ass-kicking Knightmare, one has Suzaku as the lead with a different story, two yaoi /
yuri based, one does not come with any Knightmares at all, and one occurs in 1853!
Although one can still see additional information for a better understanding of the
Geass world, they are not really supplemental to the original CG:LOTR TV series.

Although the Gundam writers may never go be as extreme as above, they
will never think exactly the same as the TV directors do, and expect assumptions,
mis-understanding and make-ups for individual convenience. They are very
unreliable as supplements.

In the past we have some really cool things available for us to understand the 0079
Gundam (like the Gundam Record Collection) and they are done by Tomino & Co!
Although there are also official guides to newer Gundams, they are (in my observation)
compiled by a third party collecting official materials, instead of Sunrise staffs.
We will possibly never see an origin Gundam 00 manga scripted by Mitsushima himself,
nor a story guide about Chiaki Morusawa's original GSD scripts (they will make some
perfect supplements like Tomino's.) We probably have nothing but secondhand
information with modern Gundam, thus we are end up with relying on our owned
interpretations.

PS. BTW, I think I did read the original outline of GSD somewhere in this forum before
(or it is my illusion?) Just that when searching, I cannot think of an appropriate search
term not to get hundreds of results.... It is sometimes a tough job searching....

[Izayuukan]

I have no problem with supplementary materials filling out the universe, beyond the fact that I don't really have easy access to them. But when they are used as a crutch to allow the TV show to ignore huge problems, then I take issue with that. The TV shows should be able to stand up on their own, without needing to rely on the supplementary materials to fill in what would otherwise be plot holes. Apart from that, the side stories can be rather interesting and enjoyable, though I would never consider them with the same level of canon as the actual show. If there's any conflict between what the show states and what the side stories state, then I'll side with the show every time.

So to answer to your question, they are a good thing, so long as they aren't abused by lazy directors and writers for the actual shows.