Otakuism

If it hasn’t become obvious yet, I’ve been on a mecha fix lately. Current shows this season are pretty good, but they lack a certain passion to them. Even Gurren-Lagann hasn’t inspired me that much, since it’s basically a rehash of every other super robot show with some things done good and some things done badly. So I’ve been watching some old series to make up for it, and now I’m starting to watch my oldest: Space Runaway Ideon circa 1980. Ideon is the first show Yoshiyuki Tomino directed after Mobile Suit Gundam, and is also one of his more infamous ones, which I exactly why I want to watch it.

Cosmo Yuki: greatest afro wearin’ mecha pilot, or GREATEST afro wearin’ mecha pilot?

The story of Ideon is set in 2300 on the planet Sola in the Andromeda galaxy. Human colonists there have just unearthed three vehicles that appear to be too modern for their age. In the space around Solo is a search group of the Buff Clan, an alien species that looks just like humans, and are looking for a mysterious power known as Ide. Finding life on the planet, the rebellious Karala heads down to the planet herself to investigate. This would be fine, if Karala wasn’t the daughter of the Supreme Commander of the Buff Clan, making her safety paramount to everything else; so a group of soldiers is sent to retrieve her. On the surface both the military and scientists are investigating the unearthed vehicles, with conflicts already rising between the two groups over whether the vehicles are weapons or not. Among them is Cosmo Yuki (thank you Tomino names), our afro wearin’ main hero and the son of one of the scientists. Yes, he seriously has a huge afro. I have no idea how he fits it under the space helmet he wears in battle.

Karala: the stupid girl that starts it all.

The aliens in search of Karala can’t find her, and of course think the humans have already killed her, so they attack the excavation site in revenge. Mass Tomino-style death ensues. Cosmo, his female friend Kasha, and Bes, a military officer, all manage to get into the vehicles and move them. Out of nowhere the vehicles react to each other and getter change- I mean, combine to form Ideon. Ideon then precedes to swat the alien ships out of the sky like flies. For the next few episodes Ideon follows a pattern of Buff Clan attacks, Ideon repels, massive number of casulties. After the colony is attacked the survivors find a spaceship buried underground, similar to Ideon, and begin using it as a base. Karala herself has survived and is hiding with the refugees. Gije, her guardian, is furious and continues attacking the colonists to find her, until he himself is captured, along with Karala, by the colonists. At the end of episode 5, Karala has signaled a ceasefire to the Buff Clan, leading to a momentary peace. But things don’t look so good, especially when the next episode it titled “White Flag of Betrayal.”

Obviously, she’s Sheryl.

Ideon may be an old series, but its storytelling is very tight. One noticeable thing to me already is all the little conflicts introduced so far. First is the conflict between the leading scientist Sheryl and the military officer Bes. The two have a continous sparring match going on over who is responsible for what, with Sheryl continually mocking the violent nature of the military. It’s a microism of the usual conflicts between the rational yet cold planners and irrational soldiers. Then there’s the larger struggle between the colonists and the Buff Clan. The Buff Clan has been characterized very well so far as a complete society beyond being just evil aliens. They are a people with legitimate fears, who when first finding out the colonists have technology as advanced as theirs immediately fear that they’re the ones who are going to be attacked instead.

Bes being badass.

The threat of the “other” is a continuing theme in the battle so far, as both sides are driven by fear, greed, and hate. A good example of this is Karala’s assistant Mayaya, who constantly screws up Karala’s efforts for peace by adopting a “shoot first, ask questions later” kind of policy, which is more the norm than the exception for most of the characters. Another good example is when Karala, Mayaya, and Gije are captured by the colonists, who immediately form a kind of lynch mob lusting for blood. Karala tries to reason with them, but all they can think of is the thousands already dead. Even Cosmo isn’t opposed to killing them, his father dying in an earlier attack. When it comes to light that the only reason the Buff Clan is hunting for the Ide, and in effect killing the colonists, is because they believe in some ancient myth of their society; it acts to only further the rift between the two groups, with the Buff Clan seeming even more alien now. I wish more shows these days could have this kind of complex characterization and multi-faceted conflicts.

I also liked the way the Ideon itself is used right now, skirting the lines between a super robot and a real robot. He’s super because he’s nigh indestructible, no attack even scratching him so far. But the only way the Ideon can fight is by equipping him with missiles and manned guns, so right now Ideon acts more like a moving battle ship than any kind of robot. A very interesting take on the idea. But, of course, this is Tomino who is known for breaking tradition. Obviously the animation in Ideon is very different, but I wouldn’t call it bad per say. There’s been little reused animation so far, and I like the way they animated explosions back then. Feels a little more visceral to me. On the music front, I absolutely love Ideon’s OP song, Fukkatsu no Ideon. It starts out with just a simple guitar, but then speeds up into this kind of disco rock song, with epic lyrics about the birth of the giant god that will destroy everything. Awesome. So awesome that I feel the need to show it:

And here’s the live version sung by Isao Taira, a man who has impeccable hair and who’s voice sounds like sex to me:

So far I’m loving Ideon. Probably the most complex series I’m watching right now, even moreso than Darker than Black. I’m very interested to see what surprises and intrigues it has in store for me.