There’s a lot I want to write about Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: The Beginning. It’s a film version of the early episodes of the upcoming anime TV series, and it carries an interesting pedigree as the first Gundam by Studio Khara of Rebuild of Evangelion fame. But I really don’t want to spoil anything, and this post is mainly to nudge people to avoid information and check it out themselves if they can.
What I will say is that GQuuuuuuX feels like it’s trying to appeal to every type of Gundam fan, and it might very well be capable of accomplishing this feat. Whether they’re old school diehards for Universal Century–style stories, newcomers who fell in love with The Witch from Mercury, or part of the crew that prefers alternate universes with quirky rules like G Gundam, there’s just a lot to chew on and enjoy. The way GQuuuuuuX incorporates these nods to the history of the franchise as a whole also stands out to me in a manner reminiscent of Anno Hideaki’s Shin movies (Shin Godzilla, Shin Kamen Rider, etc.).
So I recommend watching this, whether you’re a relative Gundam newbie or a longtime fan, and whether in movie format or the TV series coming in April (though one thing that’ll be missing from the latter is an insert song by hololive’s Hoshimachi Suisei). I hope to see you back here in a few months, where I’ll be ready to talk GQuuuuuuX again—just without holding back my thoughts.
In response to a fan hoping that Kio will release his 18+ doujinshi in print format, the man says he’s considering it because of all the credit card payment issues as of late.
Zenbu Sensei no Sei. 2, Part 1 has sold over 5,000 digital copies on FAFSA and over 2,000 on DLSite. Good numbers, but Kio can’t help but be impressed by the really big sellers.
Kio had a slight headache, but it got better after reading Shibata Yokusaru’s manga Toma Tonzaburo Wants to Become a Masked Rider. (Shibata is the author of Air Master and one of my favorite manga, 81 Diver).
He recalls a similar thing happening back in college, and he even got a CT scan that turned up nothing. But what fixed his headache then was the manga Shakariki! by Soda Masahito (author of Change!!, Firefighter Daigo, Capeta). Apparently, there’s nothing quite like a devastating loss by a main character to let out some of brain fluid, whether it’s in Shakariki (a bicycle manga) or Air Master (a fighting manga).
Kio recalls Shirow Masamune (author of Ghost in the Shell) once saying, “Amphibious assault ships sure are nice.” When shown the Albion, a real-life example from seven years ago that was near Summer Comiket, Kio responds that he thought it looked like a wooden horse. This is a reference to Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, which features a Federation ship called the Albion.
It’s amazing to see what Gridman has become. Thanks to Studio Trigger’s SSSS.Gridmanand SSSS.Dynazenon, we’ve had a franchise revival that’s a love letter to its origins as a 90s tokusatsu series (Gridman the Hyper Agent) while telling new and interesting stories. As someone who loved Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad as a kid (and always feels a little giddy at the inclusion of “SSSS” in Trigger’s anime titles), it feels great. So of course I’d want to see the latest movie, Gridman Universe, which promised from the start to bring together the characters of both SSSS series.
I had to wonder about one issue, however: While SSSS.Dynazeon is a “sequel,” it was never clear how exactly the two series connect. In fact, the finale of SSSS.Gridman makes fully reconciling it with other works seem impossible. Well, the movie does address this discrepancy, and the solution is both obvious in hindsight while still being fairly elegant, but it’s ultimately a less important factor.
Gridman Universe is a compelling work whose success has little to do with considerations for “canon” and “lore.” In fact, it almost entirely eschews those elements. Rather than focus on them, it foregrounds three aspects in particular that have become the soul of the franchise in more recent times. First, there’s the characters, whose stories of healing are bolstered by how natural they feel, to the point that they sometimes don’t sound like anime characters. Second, there’s the sense of play that comes from its tokusatsu roots: endless transformations and awesome fight scenes, but also being vehicles for imagination and wonder. Third, there’s the Gridman name itself as a concept, brand, and source of nostalgia.
The movie begins with two of the characters trying to write a play for their school festival about Gridman. Takarada Rikka and Utsumi Sho are the the only ones left who remember the events of SSSS.Gridman—namely that monsters kept attacking the city, only to be defeated by the giant hero Gridman, and that series antagonist Shinjo Akane was actually an IRL human who created their very world as a way to deal with personal trauma. Rikka wants more than anything to tell everyone about Akane, while Sho is a tokusatsu fanboy who prioritizes monster fighting and cool action. In that contrast alone, the first two aspects of Gridman are evident. The problem is that their classmates keep rejecting their scripts because they think it’s too unrealistic and far-fetched, particularly the story of Akane as the forgotten “god” of their world.
The third element comes into the spotlight through the character Hibiki Yuta, the very guy who merges with the entity known as Gridman to fight. Despite being the “hero,” he has no memories of what transpired, and only knows because Rikka and Sho have told him. This movie is actually the first time we really see Yuta’s true personality, because the ending of SSSS.Gridman reveals that Gridman had actually taken over Yuta’s body during that time. His own story involves not only trying to confess his feelings for Akane that were delayed due to that amnesia, but trying to see if his importance was reduced to just being a vessel for Gridman.
When the monsters start attacking again, Gridman returns, followed by Dynazenon characters and more as worlds collide. These events all contribute to the push-and-pull that exists between the characters’ goals for their play and in Gridman Universe as a whole. Not only does having everyone together mean more opportunities to see cool crossover moments, but paths open up to address unresolved emotions of all kinds, see how the cast of one show responds to the character dynamics in the other, and even bring in unexpected figures and reveals whose presences take the film even further into the territory of meta-commentary about what’s important to the thing we call Gridman.
There’s a moment in the film that I think speaks to the core of Studio Trigger’s Gridman works, where a villain talks about knowing everything that the heroes are capable of, and can thus predict everything they do with ease. The heroes respond by basically just devising random new ideas on the spot, trying out every different combination sequence they can think of, as if they’re the toys of kids who are playing pretend and just making stuff up as they go along. While this scene most obviously connects to the tokusatsu side, it also carries the drama and the brand by being the culmination of Rikka’s hopes and Yuta’s self-reflection.
I actually had a chance to watch Gridman Universe a few years ago, but I wasn’t able to. While I wish the wait hadn’t been quite so long, I’m glad that it’s available to watch now. Gridman Universe is a brilliant movie that merges many seemingly disparate parts into a harmonious whole that really encourages viewers to think about how they engage with their favorite works, all while celebrating the simple fun and creativity that comes from the franchise itself, the creators who help bring it to life, and the fans who elevate it.
Kio read Volume 10 of Koukaku no Sukima (Scheme in the Crimson Shell), a series about the world of Pandora in the Crimson Shell by the original author, Koshi Rikudo (of Excel Saga fame). Kio likes the “Shiromasa World” (which I assume has to do with Shirow Masamune?), and the fact that one particular story gets a continuation.
Kio is overjoyed that he could relate to the main character of From Bureaucrat to Villainess: Dad’s Been Reincarnated!, an anime adaptation of a manga about a 52-year-old salaryman who is reincarnated as a villainess.
An online preview is available for the sequel to Kio’s 18+ doujinshi, Zenbu, Sensei no Sei. (It’s All Your Fault, Sensei.) on the adult site FANZA. Note that the site is region-locked. The full 82-page version is out now.
Otani Ikue (voice of Pikachu) was trending on Twitter. Kio jokingly claims that she’s known primarily for her role as Kamishakujii Renge in Kujibiki Unbalance.
A fan mentions being surprised when Kujibiki Unbalance became its own standalone title. Kio concurs, though mentions that all the voice actors had to change from the OVAs that were packaged with the first Genshiken anime.
Kio also watched the movie Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In. He enjoyed the portrayal of the people living in Kowloon Walled City and the free-flowing action.
WIth the doujinshi out on FANZA, Kio talks abouts how he originally intended it to be a single 134-page work, but found that doing so meant cutting out too much of what he wanted. Now, it’s been split into two roughly 80-page parts.
I’ve been looking at the Kakumei Shinka Mazinger line from Soul of Chogokin, and the first thing that stood out to me was the legs. They’re slimmer than what immediately comes to mind when I think of Mazinger, and so I decided to just look at other images: anime screenshots, manga images, other toys, etc.
There are two things I’ve noticed. First, the Kakumei Shinka line more closely follows the original manga designs in terms of silhouette. Second, the lower halves of Mazinger’s limbs really run the gamut, from relatively svelte to Popeye-esque.
I don’t know why exactly this variation occurs, but I’d hazard that it’s about the constant push and pull between adhering to the original, appealing to nostalgia, and attempting modernization. The first Soul of Chogokin was the realization of a concept: high-end toys for the child fan who has grown up. It reflects a goal of looking more mature. The GX-07 is based on the Mazinger Z from the 90s Mazinkaiser OVAs, where it has some 90s flourishes but isn’t supposed to be the absolute unit that Mazinkaiser is. Other versions, like those based on Shin Mazinger and Mazinger Z: Infinity take their own angles as well.
I think I prefer the ones with a bit more heft, but I definitely find a certain charm in the manga/70s anime look. It gives Mazinger Z (and Great Mazinger) a more human feel that’s more superhero than weapon.
So, to any readers, I have to ask: What are your favorite Mazinger legs?
For a color illustration with a lot of skin tones, Kio tried a high-contrast style with lots of layers and some airbrushed red. He thinks he could figure out how to replicate what he did, but is holding off on that for now.
Kio was interviewed by Yomiuri Shinbun a little while back along with fellow manga artists Toyoda Minoru and Shito Reisa. (Unfortunately, I can’t seem to access the site.)
Kio is shocked to discover that yuzu pepper sauce has no black pepper in it. Apparently, in Kyushu, they call chili peppers (karashi) “black pepper” (koshou). It might have something to do with English.
Kio never made an account on mixi (an older Japanese social networking site), so while he might be an old man himself, he can’t jump in on discussions related to it.
In the new year, Kio plans to release part of It’s All Your Fault, Sensei2, the sequel to his 18+ doujinshi. In the meantime, the first book is on sale at various sites.
I want to preface this month’s Kio Shimoku Twitter Highlights acknowledging the recent exodus of Twitter users. There’s always a chance that the site might go under, which would make a lot of these posts hard/impossible to read. While it would make sense to take screenshots, a lot of Japanese artists are not comfortable with that, so I’ve been using quotes all this time to avoid any potential issues (and also to save time).
My compromise has been that I try to make my tweet summaries useful to read even if the tweets themselves disappear. Hopefully it’s enough.
Kio really likes the new Ranma ½ anime. It’s not a total copy of the original manga, but it captures what makes the series interesting.
He recalls how Ranma came out after Takahashi Rumiko had achieved her “perfect form” from working on Urusei Yatsura and Maison Ikkoku, and that Ranma was good from the start.
Kio decided to start re-reading the manga Pandora in the Crimson Shell: Ghost Urn because the series ended. He remarks that the satisfaction he gets from reading manga is amazing.
The author of Pandora in the Crimson Shell, Rikdo Koshi (of Excel Saga fame) thanks Kio, and talks about how he was inspired by the cosplay in Kio’s work. Kio says he’s the grateful one because he got to read Rikdo’s work.
Kio’s art is included in a illustration collection to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the manga magazine Rakuen: Le Paradis. It will be on sale at Comitia 150.
Kio went to VOTOMS Model Exhibition 2024. To him, nothing beats seeing this stuff in full three dimensions, and he particularly admired the work of modeler Aihara Yoshiyuki.
Kio had to do a factory reset on his PC last month, but when he tried to re-download his saved assets for Clip Studio Paint, it didn’t work for some reason.
For the Rakuen artbook, Kio went back to using analog tools after 17 years away from them. This is why he was looking for his old supplies back in September.
The Part 2 DVD for the Vietnam special of How Do You Like Wednesday? Kio did not originally watch this as it aired, but because this was seen as the final HDYLW special at the time, watching it now brought tears to his eyes.
When he was little, Kio used to draw overhead diagrams of his own model hobby shop that included all the Gunpla he wanted but couldn’t buy. He would then pretend that his Kinnikuman and kaiju erasers were customers for his shop.
Kio elaborates on his childhood dream of owning a model hobby shop in his art book interview. He then calls the tweet an advertisement that happened naturally.
I haven’t forgotten what the world was like four years ago. I’d long been hesitant to talk about anything political on Ogiue Maniax, but the importance of the US election in the face of a pandemic that killed a previously unfathomable amount of people made me address it more directly. When the dust cleared, I thought (or perhaps hoped) that at least one of the monsters we had to deal with would be gone for good, but I was apparently too naive. So here we are again.
I hope everyone can vote if they are able to. I won’t say who to vote for (though my leanings are probably obvious), and I know that voting is a drop in the bucket in terms of effective political engagement, but I truly think this is a crucial election that will determine so much of the future. Let’s do away with the fearmongers who want to scapegoat various groups while they pick the pockets of their supporters.
In other news, I need to mention the fact that Patreon is changing the way it bills supporters due to Apple shenanigans. Whereas I used to bill everyone at the start of the month, now it depends on when you started subscribing.
So thank you to my supporters on Patreon. I still have no idea what this will look like next month!
Kio has been thinking up the plot of an eromanga (different from the one he’s currently working on), and is now up to 4 chapters. He hopes he can get around to actually drawing it eventually.
Kio watched The Queen of Villains, the Netflix series about the iconic Japanese heel pro wrestler Dump Matsumoto. He found it to be a really good and intense work. The scene where Dump “awakens” to herself was cathartic.
Kio’s PC went into factory reset mode. He thinks it might have been because there was a power outage when Windows was updating. A person in the replies helped Kio with some troubleshooting, but seemingly to no avail. Kio had stuff backed up, though, so it should be okay.
Kio is a fan of the manga Fist of the North Star: Legend of the Apocalyptic Drama Shoot, which presents Fist of the North Star as if it were a live-action television production where all the characters are actors. He likes that the production issues feel plausible for what happens in the original work.
Kio watched Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance. He likes how the Zakus really comes across as weapons, whereas normally mobile suits come across as more like living beings, or like ASIMO vs Atlas.
Requiem for Vengeance is practically a monster movie.
Kio watching another DVD from How Do You Like Wednesday? This time, they’re in Vietnam.
One person in the replies talked about how at the time, it seemed like this might be their final show, but Kio didn’t get into How Do You Like Wednesday? in real time, so it was different for him.
Kio finally inked the line work for the final 80 pages of his doujinshi. He still has to add grays, blacks, text, and color for the cover, though (all of which take quite a bit of time).
Kio talked to a younger person who was aware of the fact that Patlabor came out first with Yuki Masami’s manga. As Kio looked at this month’s issue of Model Grafix, it hit him that the people who would naturally know this are probably around 50 years old.
Kakazu Yumi is a voice actor arguably best known for her role as Yuffie Kisaragi in the Final Fantasy franchise. I had the opportunity to interview her at Otakon 2024, where my questions focused primarily on her work in mecha anime.
One actor you seem to work with pretty often is Hiyama Nobuyuki, such as in Gaogaigar, Godannar, and even Initial D. Do you have any fun memories of performing alongside him?
Thank you for coming to this interview. I’ve been a fan for many years, and I want to start off by asking about one role I know you for that others might not think about: Shizuru in Godannar. Do you recall what it was like working on that series, and how you approached the character?
Kakazu: Shizuru is a very grounded, very mature character, and she was also a commanding officer. It is a characteristic that’s unlike me, so I tried to perform that part when I was voice acting.
Another staff member who was on Godannar was Kimura Takahiro, who recently passed away. He also worked on another series that you were involved with: Gaogaigar FINAL. Did you ever get to know him, and do you have any memorable stories about him?
Kakazu: Actually, Kimura-san came to visit the studio when we were recording, and we also spoke together on stage. At the event, he tried to apply his own makeup, but he had never done it before, so he asked, “Kakazu-san, can you help me with this?” So behind the stage, I was doing it for him.
I never knew that he cosplayed! Do you remember who he cosplayed as?
Kakazu: I think he had a white wing…? Or maybe it was Shishioh Guy. I forget.
On the topic of Gaogaigar, you returned to the role of Renais a few years ago in Super Robot Wars 30. What was it like playing Renais back when you first worked on FINAL, and did anything change for you playing the role over the years in SRW?
Kakazu: Not a lot changed.
Related to that, I was actually at the Final Fantasy panel earlier, and you mentioned playing Yuffie since Ehrgeiz. So, similar question: Do you think your performance has changed, or has it been pretty solid throughout?
Kakazu: I said this on stage, but when I first started voicing Yuffie, she was one character in a fighting game. The only sounds she had were “Hahh! Hahh!” type noises.. But over time she’s gotten more chances to speak and more lines, and now she stands alongside the other characters, showing how mainstream she’s become. I’m grateful that I was able to meet Yuffie all the way back in the beginning, and also even more grateful to the people who have supported her up until now.
Another anime you worked on is a series called RahXephon, and your character, Hiroko, has a very powerful and tragic death. And do you have any advice for voice actors on how to approach such a challenging scene?
Kakazu: So I remember getting the script when I was recording, and I remember being very focused on reading and trying to understand it. Also, I remember the pain I felt when I was recording. When I’m acting out these tragic scenes, I try to recall my personal experience, and also use my imagination to expand the performance. So maybe this isn’t advice, but I realize that everything I’ve experienced in my life has become a resource that fuels my acting and performance. So maybe the advice I would give another voice actor is to find meaning in everyday life.
You seem to act alongside the actor Hiyama Nobuyuki pretty often. Do you have any fun memories of performing alongside him in any of the shows you worked on together?
Kakazu: I actually have a lot of fun memories with him. When Hiyama would say the line, “GAO! GAI! GAAAAR!,” he would shout the line in a great big voice, and it would reverberate through his entire body. I remember the first day of this recording, he did the line, and the mic actually broke!
Oh, I found the cosplay that Kimura-sensei did. [Shows a picture of Guy from Gaogaigar.]
Ah!
I interviewed the director of Gundam X, Takamatsu Shinji, at Otakon nine years ago. Do you remember what it was like working on that series and playing the character of Sala?
Kakazu: Sala was actually my debut role as a voice actor. She’s actually second-in-command and has an important role, but she’s only 17 years old. So there’s a difference between how she has to behave as second-in-command versus how old she actually is. So it was really difficult to figure out the balance between her age and her having this mature, heavy responsibility as second-in-command. I remember working very hard figuring that out, and this contributed to learning more about voice acting.
OGIUE MANIAX 