Quotes / Gundam

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"February 22nd, 1981 dawned a cold and cloudy morning in Tokyo, Japan, and yet, a large throng of people had begun to form around the east exit to Shinjuku station. It was not a political rally, as such public demonstrations had been banned in Shinjuku since the 1960s, and it certainly wasn't people on their commute, as it was Sunday. It was a promotional event for a film called Mobile Suit Gundam. Gundam had begun as an anime TV series, and a failed one at that, barely scraping by with unimpressive ratings when it first aired, its main sponsor, the toy company Clover, had cancelled it after believing the complex and overtly political storyline crafted by maverick director Yoshiyuki Tomino had alienated young audiences, which resulted in lower than expected toy sales. And while it did finish its overall story within 43 episodes, cut short from its original 52 order, Gundam appeared to be condemned to the forgotten annals of anime history. However, once the show entered reruns in the summer of 1980, it saw a complete rebirth. The company Bandai made money hand over fist with 30 yen^note This is an error, the actual price was 300 yen model kits based on the show's many war machines, pioneering the hobby we now know as Gunpla.''

Sunrise, the animation studio behined Gundam, knew they had to capitalise on this resurgence, so it was decided to recut the original TV series into three feature-length movies. Tomino, who would naturally be directing, was ready to usher forth this newfound fandom for his creation. In order to promote the film, premiering in three weeks at the time, a promotional event was arranged. The plan was to have an all day event. It would kick off in the morning with a preview of the movie, followed by interviews attended solely by people with tickets they could only win in a postcard lottery. This would then lead over to a public event that would commence at noon with a speech by Tomino himself. All who attended the event would be given a special promotional poster. The event was to be called "A Declaration of a New Anime Century".''

The promotional staff estimated that around 5000 people would attend, mostly children and a few hardcore young adult fans. They had prepared for this by having 10,000 posters printed. When the big day arrived, more people than expected were in attendance - men and women of all ages: elementary, high school and college level alike. The event had completely run out of posters by 10 AM. By the time the morning event had ended, an estimated 20,000 people had gathered at the station. Police warned the organisers that the crowd had grown too large to control and that they were prepared to pull the plug in the interest of safety. At that moment, Tomino took the stage early, and bellowed in the mic, "Everyone, take it easy!" He then launched into an impromptou call for order and told everyone that they had gathered all 20,000 people there to make a statement - to, in his words, make all the grown ups wonder what so many young people wanted to say, and they had to be on their best behaviour, for the entire perception of fandom was at stake.

"This is more than an event! It's a matsuri (festival). I appreciate the passion that brought you here today. But you know what will happen if someone gets hurt? They'll say "That's anime fans for you. Just a bunch of idiots running wild"... We need the grown-ups to wonder what this Gundam is all about. We need them to understand what young, modern people, teenagers, are seriously thinking about, and grasp that by seeing Gundam for themselves, even once."

At first, Tomino questioned if the masses even heard him. He second guessed the effectiveness of his microphone, and his speech had been completely off the cuff. Plus, he was pushing 40 at the time. Being one of those grown ups he was railing against could have made his words ring hollow. But then, a calm swept over the crowd. The mass of people, some of whom were dressed as their favourite characters from the Gundam anime, stood in rapt attention towards its creator. They took a step back, and began to listen. From that point onward, a parade of the series' architects followed. Animators came on stage and interacted with the crowd they held in the palm of their collective hands. Singer Takichin Yashiki sang the film's closing theme, "Cross of Sands". And more importantly, voice actors invited a select lucky few cosplayers on stage to perform some of the anime's most famous scenes. The event would close with the invitation of two other cosplayers on stage - cosplayers who would end up being future Gundam animator Mamoru Nagano and future voice actress Maria Kawamura. There, in front of a crowd of thousands, they delivered the Declaration of a New Anime Century, stating, "We, the assembled, have gathered here to declare the start of a new era. Our era, a new anime century!"

Indeed, it was. The Declaration of a New Anime Century has gone down in history as anime's Woodstock - a massive coming out party for TV anime and its surrounding culture, showing that it was not merely a tool to sell toys to children and fill up air time, but to tell stories that resonate with large audiences that went beyond the children's demographic. It had been 18 years since the premiere of Astro Boy, and TV anime had now come of age. But more importantly, it introduced the general public of Japan to a new emerging subculture - a subculture marked by obsession for things like anime, manga, Sci-Fi, fantasy, horror, guns, idol, gunpla, figures, toku, martial arts, pro wrestling, Hentai, Yuri, Yaoi, Cosplay, doujin, Computers, Stereo, Video Games, Visual Novels, and anything else in the same orbit. They would be known as Otoko-zoku, or just simply Otaku. Soon, otaku would enter the very same anime industry that defined them, shaping it from their own influence, and within 10 years after that fateful February day in 1981, one group of otaku animators would document their experience through anime."