Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

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Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Gundamn! @ MAHQ Ep. 034 - "Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!"
- Unplugged Version: 64 kbps - 90 min., 27 sec. (1:30:27) - 41.4 MB
- Remastered Version: Coming Soon!

Segment Breakdown for this Episode:

01. Intro: "Neo News!/S.T.E on Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn"
Runtime: 0:00:00 - 0:18:35

02. Preview: Next Time on Level Nine! - "Resident Evil Quality Control"
Runtime: 0:18:35 - 0:19:56

03. 1st Segment: "Mecha Anime Spotlight: King of Braves GaoGaiGar"
Runtime: 0:19:56 - 0:51:32

04. Florida Oriental Trading (Commercial)
Runtime: 0:51:32 - 0:53:10

05. 2nd Segment "Tropes & Cliches in Mecha Anime"
Runtime: 0:53:10 - 1:23:31

06. Epic Sugar Works (Commercial)
Runtime: 1:23:31 - 1:24:06

07. Preview: Next Time on Flip the Script! - "SBR's AMV YouTube Channel Critique"
Runtime: 1:24:06 - 1:26:14

08. Outro: "Closing/Peep the Websites!"
Runtime: 1:26:14 - 1:30:30

In a lean, mean, new episode, we return to our Mecha Anime Spotlights in grand fashion, discussing the legendary Super Robot series, "GaoGaiGar"! Then we move on to talk about our favorite and highly despised Tropes & Cliches!

This episode drops right on time for Mother's Day and the birthday of the one and only Chris Guanche!

Word to everyone's mothers & Happy Birthday Chris!

Thanks for listening and for the feedback!
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

GaoGaiGar Spot Light?!

I've been looking forward to this one.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Pefect timing again. I love going to bed listening to Gundamn
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

I had no idea that Guy was voiced by Dean Venture. Now I can't stop imagining Guy getting testicular torsion.

I'd say my least favorite tropes are that the big brother types have to die, and the scientist that foresees an alien/demon/whatever invasion and builds a super robot to fight it off.

Whenever you guys have good music on, like the GaoGaiGar theme, I always wind up getting distracted by the music!
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Thanks for the straight talk express in the news there! Building something up before you are able to watch it is a good way to bring about disappointment. You think we'd learn that from other fandoms, or just other streams in pop culture in general.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Another piece of podcast perfection.

I'm rather surprised that you guys didn't bring up the one trope that was practically invented by the original MSG:
The masked, possibly blond, badass arch-rival ace.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

This was a very funny episode. I laughed especially hard at Chris' resolution in the news section. I'll just have to avoid saying what about or I'll be banned.

I've always wanted to try GGG, but I'm left a little confused about its release in the states. I've seen the 1st boxset pretty often, but it's only the first half. I've heard that the second half never made it. And what about FINAL?

Soul Bro: you have to find some way to make use of this audio. The quirky vocals are jarring at first, but the song grows catchy eventually. And asides from all that, the video is actually pretty entertaining. =p Alternatively, this video has the full version (so you can get the whole song) but the visuals aren't as good in my opinion. I know it's not "politically correct" to laugh at the music of other countries, but how serious are we supposed to be taking ourselves?

(If anyone's wondering why I'm up at 4am, it's because I'm trying to finish a project. It's a bit of an independent research experiment regarding electromagnets as an antigravity device. Tough, I know. I'm totally off task right now, haha.)
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Seraphic wrote: I've always wanted to try GGG, but I'm left a little confused about its release in the states. I've seen the 1st boxset pretty often, but it's only the first half. I've heard that the second half never made it. And what about FINAL?
The second half has indeed made it in the US (albeit subbed only). Final, not as yet, unfortunately.

Anyway, really enjoyed this episode. Good to finally be done with 00 (at least until the movie) and hear about something else.

Really enjoyed the trope discussion, too. I think I may have mentioned this before, but a personal pet peeve mecha trope of mine is the "brainwashed and crazy female enemy pilot/love interest". I'm just starting to get so tired of it now... (I was about to go on another rant about the Soma/Marie thing here, but I figure you can do without it)
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

ThaDDeusBonzu wrote:Another piece of podcast perfection.

I'm rather surprised that you guys didn't bring up the one trope that was practically invented by the original MSG:
The masked, possibly blond, badass arch-rival ace.
That's an obvious one, and we wanted to highlight some less commonly discussed tropes, since we knew someone would mention these in the thread.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Furious Rodimus wrote:Thanks for the straight talk express in the news there! Building something up before you are able to watch it is a good way to bring about disappointment. You think we'd learn that from other fandoms, or just other streams in pop culture in general.
It was a long overdue visit of the Straight Talk Express and probably not the last in the news.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Good Stuff there Gundamn, 34 really flew by, it was over before I knew it.
Kudos to SBR for slipping in that Star Trek dialogue at the end. There's a chair in the theater with my name on it for Saturday.

I need to watch the King of Braves, but I've heard a lot about it (mind you, who hasn't?).

I dislike the "every pilot is a teen in the army" and "big-brother type older veteran pilot dies".
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

As a listener from episode 1, I really need to say that this is the most that I have laughed at a Gundamn episode period. I was trying to study for a final and just could not do it. Great work guys and keep it up.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Aw, I wish I knew that you guys were doing GGG a lot sooner. I wanted to be a guest host for that segment. (I think I have the hardware to do it now too.)

You can thank Kunio Okawara for all the detail put into things like Final Fusion and such as he was the mechanical designer for the show. He still is quite good when designing stuff that doesn't revolve around titular Gundams of a show. Unlike many other super robots, you can see just where each part comes from and goes when they transform/combine too and we don't have parts magically changing size or vanishing and coming out of hammerspace when the mech assumes its final form.

Great episode all around and I have one bit of my own to add to the list of things we often see in mecha anime, Gundam in particular, and that is the mid-battle verbal sparring that often goes on between the hero and his rival. No one seems to have heard of secure communications in the future and opposing pilots can easily fight each other with words just as easily as they can with beam sabers. Even in cases when they should not be able to at all such as fighting in a dense Minovsky particle environment.

The only instance of this being subverted was in 0083 after Gato nuked the naval review and Kou was telling him over an open channel to turn to a specific frequency so he could answer back.

Edit (5/8): Happy Birthday, Chris. :)
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

You guys have a officially sold me on GaoGaiGar, I'll have to track down the DVDs.
A couple of my favourite tropes from in mecha anime is the "Ace Custom" like all it takes to make a piece of junk grunt suit awesome is some aftermarket parts and a new paint job, and speaking of paint jobs The rule of chromatic superiority where you can tell just how bad you're about to get messed up based on the colour of your opponent's suit going from the parade colours on top down to greens and gunmetal grays at the bottom of the scale.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Wingnut wrote: Great episode all around and I have one bit of my own to add to the list of things we often see in mecha anime, Gundam in particular, and that is the mid-battle verbal sparring that often goes on between the hero and his rival. No one seems to have heard of secure communications in the future and opposing pilots can easily fight each other with words just as easily as they can with beam sabers. Even in cases when they should not be able to at all such as fighting in a dense Minovsky particle environment.
Every time I see this, I laugh. It's like in horror movies where the killer has to tell you how and why they did it, only to be killed because they wouldn't shut up. I think it's done so you can see if the rival is really bad like Rau, or is a good person but thinks differently like Char.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Chris wrote:
ThaDDeusBonzu wrote:Another piece of podcast perfection.

I'm rather surprised that you guys didn't bring up the one trope that was practically invented by the original MSG:
The masked, possibly blond, badass arch-rival ace.
That's an obvious one, and we wanted to highlight some less commonly discussed tropes, since we knew someone would mention these in the thread.
Ah, I see. Well then, to add my own less then obvious trope.
One i find annoying is that if you aren't the main character, you will never get injured. Either you never get scratched, or you die. The ship could get a point blank shot to the bridge, but if you're still alive, you're peachy.The only time i can think of this being subverted is by Andrew Waltfeld in SEED, and that was only because he was originally dead, and then was resurrected.

EDIT: Happy B-day Chris!
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Yes, happy birthday, Chris! You're old! But don't worry, you're not the oldest person I talk to :wink:

Anyways, GaoGaiGar. Yes, I picked this up because /m/ was always orgasming over it, so I decided to see what was up. This was one of my first exposures to a traditional Super Robot anime (pretty sure the very first was Demonbane). It certainly kicked off my super robot watching period (after GGG was new Gaiking, Kannazuki no Miko, Mazinkaiser, Getter Robo, and more).

Anyways, the TV series. Awesome as everyone says it is? No, not really. It is quality entertainment, no doubt. I like how a few eps had them thinking up strategies to defeat the Zonder of the week, rather than just beat it up. However, I'd still consider it medicore. There were a few times when I found myself nodding off (though this likely had something to do with the video quality and the fact it was subbed). But it has its awesome moments, and the cast, human and robot alike, were really likable (except J. I really don't like that guy. King J-Der is awesome, though).

I think a major reason that Mamoru was such a stand out character was because he was in fact the main character. I know a lot of people think Guy was the main character because he piloted the title robot, but this isn't really true. Guy was a pretty static character for the most part. GaoGaiGar is the story about Mamoru's growth and accepting his birthright.

As for Final Fusion and GGG as a mech, I agree that the sequence is pretty cool (especially Genesic), but I still say the SRX combination is more impressive. GaoFighGar was my favourite, followed by Genesic and then the original GGG.

So yeah, while the TV series was entertaining, if medicore, FINAL was something else. It had me at the chick mechs voiced by Yukari Tamura that I totally don't feel guilty about admitting I'm Ryusei for. Reinas was pretty cool too, and then when GaoFighGar showed up, it was awesome. Course this continued on to the 2nd episode, with GFG VS GGG. But then it kinda slowed after that. The middle few episodes were kinda meh. But then Genesic GaoGaiGar was formed, and it was awesome again. It continued on its destructive path and never stopped until Guy's final "HIKARI NI NAAAAAAAREEEEEEEE!!!"

My main other complaint is that I think J and Reinas are complete BS. They just met, and a few minutes later they're looking at each other all shiney eyed. On top of that, everyone I talk to are all "GREATEST COUPLE EVAR!" Bleh, no thank you. Atleast Guy and Mikoto were established as high school sweethearts early on.

Chris, the thing the Sol Masters were after was the Pas-Q machine. Pisa-Sol was the name of the Sol master that fused with the Sun and used the machine.

FINAL is the only anime I see fit to place in my highest tier. The only other show up there is Gunbuster. FINAL certainly doesn't top Gunbuster (due to the sagging middle, and also the fact you need to see a 49 episode series before hand), though.

Oh, and I have watched all 8 episodes of FINAL in one sitting. I assure you, my head is still in one piece.

For Soulbro's information, GaoGaiGar made it's debut in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2. The 2nd half of the TV series and FINAL were featured in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Ideon was also in Alpha 3. Here Is Guy wasting the final boss.

As for tropes, I don't really have any that bother me. I just kind of accept everything as is. Though something I'd like to see in animes in general is to have a male and female protagonist who are just friends. They wouldn't pair up just because they were the leads, and not have any romantic interest in each other at all. I like romance and all, but two characters should hook up because they work well together as a couple, not just because they're the stars of the show.

Oh, and the reason why ZAFT had a military full of teenagers is because in the PLANTs, you're considered an adult once you turn 13. And considering the coordinator boom was fairly recent, most of the population is that young.

I have to disagree with Neo about the Dragoons. With the introduction of the Dragoons, you could see a clear change in the tide of the war. The Giganos suffered defeat after defeat. It was a lot more aparent than in First Gundam, where you never saw the GMs do anything other than get blown up. Dragonar is also the only show I can think of where they were actually going to dismantle the original suits because they were considered obsolete.

And now to get back to my endless boobies.
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

ok, so wether IT comes out or not, do you think we'll ever see an official release of the novel?
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Congrats for another great episode and a happy birthday to Chris.

Ah, /m/....such a lovely place, such a hateful place. No further comment necessary.

As much of a skeptic as I also was initially, I'm just glad that Unicorn is indeed coming and didn't turn out to be just a misunderstood rumor, even if some of the initial details were actually quite wrong (Tomino himself didn't make the announcement, for example, and we still don't know if it's a movie or not). Still, it was probably a good call to wait for confirmation.

GaoGaiGar is certainly one of the series that truly excels at just being fun to watch. I'll admit that the first few episodes were a little predictable the first time around and really not the best, but as you guys mentioned, eventually you don't really care about that and can just go along with the flow. The later part of the series and especially FINAL more than makes up for any prior hesitations.

EDIT: Btw Neo, kudos for resisting the urge to spoil the ending. :wink:

As for mecha tropes, that was a good segment too. The thing with Xingke's mysterious illness is that we don't even know for sure whether he's dead or alive. :lol: The Shenhu is still around, as it probably should be, but there's no sign of him. In any case, I guess it's just another case of giving a character a certain trait and not really doing much with it outside of the occasional scene of him coughing up blood.
Destiny_Gundam wrote: FINAL is the only anime I see fit to place in my highest tier. The only other show up there is Gunbuster. FINAL certainly doesn't top Gunbuster (due to the sagging middle, and also the fact you need to see a 49 episode series before hand), though.
As much as I'm also a Gunbuster fanboy, I've never looked at it like that per se. Both titles are different enough that I consider them Super Robot classics that aren't necessarily competing with each other for my attention or anything. Nothing wrong with your tier though.
For Soulbro's information, GaoGaiGar made it's debut in Super Robot Wars Alpha 2. The 2nd half of the TV series and FINAL were featured in Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Ideon was also in Alpha 3. Here Is Guy wasting the final boss.
Super Robot Wars W has a pretty comprehensive GaoGaiGar representation too...in fact, you could argue that in some ways it treated the series as a whole a little bit better than the Alpha games did, the lack of voices aside (a questionable move since the DS can handle that and Banpresto could have used a larger cart).
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Re: Ep. 034 - Ga-Ga-Ga-Gundamn!!!

Great episode once again (and a Happy B-Day to Chris).

@Straight Talk: I found the discussion about this to be all too true and remiscent (and if I recall correctly, was previous discussed on another episode) about where you'd have GWing Fans saying that said series was 'liek d best gundam evar' when Wing was the only series in the Gundam franchise that they've seen. Sadly, such people are commonplace, rather than as errant phenomenons.

@GGG: To be honest, even though I've watched Super Robot genre shows in the past(e.g. Voltron, Gigantor, etc.), they didn't seem to stick (except for the usual amusing cliches and such) until Gurren Lagann came along. Though I still prefer more of the 'real' mecha genre, I think it'll nice to shift over to the (usually) hot-blooded super robot side of things. You guys got me interested in this. (Now if only the said company can send royalty checks to you all...)

@Cliche/Tropes: Deus reminded me of another one that seem to be more entrenched in Gundam.

You know, those scenes during a dramatic battle where just ONE grunt suit silps past the normally all-so-powerful main battleship/carrier's defenses and points its gun straight into the Bridge. I found those scenes generally amusing as they usually showcase the main character's "uber"-ness. (with a few exceptions such as 00 S1)

Oh, right: Mid-season upgrades. :D
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