THE HIDDEN TRUTH BEHIND A ¥100 BILLION EMPIRE:
THE REAL STORY OF THE GUNDAM BUSINESS MACHINE

Model kits, DVDs, games, books, merchandise… Just how many Gundam products are out there? Let’s dive deep into the machinery behind this massive entertainment phenomenon.

“Amuro, here we go!”

Toru Furuya’s iconic voice guidance echoes through the elevator of the gleaming new corporate headquarters. In fiscal 2003, Bandai Group’s Gundam-related merchandise raked in ¥54.2 billion. Naturally, it’s the group’s crown jewel in terms of content. What’s more remarkable is its 20% year-over-year growth – a staggering 2.6 times higher than 1999, when Gundam’s 20th anniversary events were in full swing.

In this economic climate, it’s showing unparalleled growth.

According to Nikkei BP Mook’s Adult’s Guide to Gundam, the market size is approximately ¥100 billion. That’s ¥100 billion, folks. To put it in perspective, that’s ten times the fortune of the protagonist in Yasuyuki Kunitomo’s The 10 Billion Man manga series in Spirits magazine – and even that comparison doesn’t do it justice. We’re beyond talking about mere money at this scale. To unravel some basic questions about Japan’s most powerful content business, I sat down with Writer Y, an otaku-culture specialist who’s been covering Sunrise and Bandai for a decade.

From “canceled due to poor toy sales” to a miracle comeback after 25 years, what exactly is the Gundam business machine?

WHEN WILL THE ORIGINAL TV SERIES FINALLY COME OUT ON DVD?

“It won’t. At least not anytime in the foreseeable future.”

Wow, that was quick! Couldn’t you at least pretend to think about it? Recently, we’ve seen a wave of Gundam series getting DVD releases. This year, they even released Victory Gundam, which we thought would never see the light of day, and next year we’re getting Gundam X, even these “dark history” Heisei-era Gundams are getting box sets. Yet the original TV series is only available on LD-BOX and VHS, with the latter being rental-only. Now that Dragon Ball has been released, I’d think this would be the last big anime title left for DVD…

“That’s exactly why they won’t release it. The original TV series only gets released when a media format is dying, or when Sunrise or Bandai Visual is about to go under.”

Come to think of it, the LD-BOX was released five years ago, when LaserDisc sales were already declining significantly. Meanwhile, VHS, though gradually being replaced by DVD, is still a staple in average households. Maybe that’s why they went rental-only with the video release.

“Here’s something funny… apparently until very recently, right before SEED became a hit, either Sunrise or Bandai Visual had the First Gundam DVD-BOX in their annual business plans. That probably means one of them was in serious financial trouble during those years. Plus, they already released the theatrical versions with renewed audio, which was probably a mistake.”

Indeed, when the theatrical trilogy DVDs came out in 2000, fan reactions were intense. Some complained, “Why isn’t Soldiers of Sorrow playing in the Jaburo scene?” Others demanded, “Give me back MY M’Quve!” and “What’s with that beam rifle sound?”

But wasn’t the audio renewal done at Director Tomino’s request?

“And you saw how the fans reacted to that. Plus, considering his perfectionist approach to the recent Zeta Gundam theatrical edit, if we tried to release the TV series on DVD now, who knows how many revisions he’d want to make. Also, let’s be honest – the original series looks pretty rough by today’s standards. That’s why some people are suggesting the ridiculous idea of just animating Yasuhiko’s The Origin manga instead.”

So I guess SEED’s DVD sales crossing the million-unit mark was a blessing?

“Absolutely. Without that financial cushion, Victory and X might never have seen a commercial release. People think anything with the Gundam name sells, but really, the only guaranteed sellers in the entire franchise are the original series and now SEED. In fact, the Zeta Gundam theatrical version wasn’t even initially planned as a money-maker, they started making it as a promotional tool for selling the TV series overseas. The staff was actually shocked when advance tickets for the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival screening sold out in 30 minutes.”

So it wasn’t expected to do well initially?

“It’s not that they didn’t expect success, they just had no way to gauge interest. These days, there aren’t any rerun slots to measure TV ratings, and Gunpla is the only current Zeta merchandise. Looking at monthly Gunpla sales is different from measuring TV viewership. So for Zeta, they really had no way to know how many fans were out there.”

Even with a massive franchise like Gundam?

“Well, the huge failure of Turn A was still fresh in their minds. Actually, the recent boom is mainly thanks to two things: The Origin and SEED.”

THE PUBLISHING POWER SHIFT: FROM KODANSHA TO KADOKAWA IN GUNDAM LITERATURE

Speaking of The Origin, let’s discuss the publishing side of things: the books and related materials.

“Which publisher first comes to mind when you think of Gundam books?”

Hmm, definitely Kadokawa Shoten, right? They even publish a dedicated magazine called Gundam Ace.

“True, but Kadokawa’s advantageous position in Gundam publishing came quite late. They had almost no connection to the franchise until their anime magazine Newtype launched just before Zeta. Even recently, they initially lost Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s The Origin to Kodansha.”

Ah right, Kodansha has had close ties with Gundam since the original series through magazines like BomBom with Plamo-Kyoshiro and TV Magazine.

“They also published Yuka Minakawa’s Officials. When Sunrise started shopping around for a publisher after completing rough drafts up to around the Char story arc, they approached Kodansha first. But apparently, the editor just didn’t get it.”

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko doing Gundam, what’s there to think about?

“That seems obvious now that it’s successful, but at the time, Yasuhiko’s popularity as a manga artist was waning. Plus, the 20th anniversary had led to market saturation of Gundam books, and the highly anticipated Turn A had flopped. The 20th anniversary period wasn’t actually that exciting for Gundam. After Kodansha’s rejection, they went to Kadokawa, where a former editor was now a department head. They even requested 100 pages per issue.”

That’s quite demanding.

“Nevertheless, after reading the rough drafts, Kadokawa’s department head immediately declared they would launch a new magazine. Sales initially resisted, so they printed 90,000 copies of the first issue, it sold out instantly and eventually reached 300,000. Rumor has it that Kodansha penalized the editor who rejected it with a pay cut. Convinced Gundam could sell, Kodansha then backed SEED as a sponsor, but the series appealed to the yaoi demographic, not their strong suit. Their official manga adaptation was criticized for poor artwork, their film books sold so badly they stopped mid-series, and their only successful product, the loose-leaf file books, was outperformed by Kadokawa’s similar format that better targeted female fans.”

Talk about a string of bad luck.

“Kadokawa’s advantage was having a department head who came from the otaku magazine Animedia, a true fan at heart. That natural understanding set them apart from Kodansha’s corporate approach. Still, Kodansha had some success with their encyclopedia series Historica, created by former staff from the fan magazine OUT.”

What’s your take on future publications?

“DeAgostini is launching the Gundam Fact File encyclopedia series, claiming 100 volumes, but it’ll definitely get canceled midway. Even though their official website says the volume count is tentative, they’re clearly planning their exit. Kadokawa and Kodansha have priority rights for DESTINY books, so we’ll see similar books to SEED, but film books are probably dead.”

Is there room for new publishers to enter the market?

“Virtually none. You need to submit proposals to Sunrise first, but if priority publishers have similar projects, you’re automatically rejected. Plus, all books must pay Sunrise 5% royalties on cover price times print run, making low-volume books unprofitable. Apparently, this 5% applies even to Tomino’s novels and The Origin.”

That’s incredibly thorough.

“Well, it’s a ¥100 billion business – they have to keep it tight.”

THE FLOOD OF GUNDAM MERCHANDISE: WHICH WAY IS THE INDUSTRY HEADING?

You can’t discuss Gundam’s popularity without mentioning Gunpla. I heard the 1/144 Strike model hit a million units within six months of release.

“Yes, but since Victory Gundam, Sunrise became a Bandai subsidiary, so sponsor interests now outweigh creative decisions. It’s causing all sorts of problems on the production side. Take Okawara during SEED. He had to present other designers’ work under his name. These days, anime is basically just a promotional video for Bandai products. Robot anime has always been like that, but unlike the original series era, now they’re selling everything from games to apparel, even surfboards and business bags. Originally, Sunrise partnered with toy makers because they couldn’t get manga adaptation rights. After moderate success with Zambot and Daitarn, they were told ‘make whatever you want’ – that became Gundam.”

But it didn’t sell well during its original run.

“Back then, die-cast toys were the main thing, not plastic models. They said a plain-looking robot like that would never sell, no matter how ‘realistic’ it was. But what made the original series special was how they protected the artistic vision while deflecting sponsor pressure. Maybe it was just stubbornness, but the work came first. That’s different from recent series that start with sponsor demands.”

I heard interference was particularly bad during Victory Gundam.

“True, but that’s also when Hajime Katoki first joined a TV series. Looking at today’s model kit industry, maybe that worked out for the best. The fan base stayed alive through Gunpla and figures until this recent boom over the last few years.”

But from a consumer perspective, there are too many similar products – model kits, MS in Action, Fix Figuration, HCM Pro, Kadou Senshi…

“Don’t forget R/C TECHROID and Jumbo Grade, though they’re not popular. Sure, they might seem similar, but that’s inevitable. The Bandai executive in charge of Gundam products is very aggressive. Their policy is ‘when in doubt, make both.'”

Speaking of which, last year, we saw some bizarre products like Gundam hand chairs and Char’s Custom PC…

“And helmets, and beam rifle guitars, though those weren’t from Bandai. Director Tomino is apparently very sensitive about Char-branded items now. When interviewed, he says things like ‘Products that just paint things red and call them Char’s Custom show no ambition and should disappear.’ Many products were discontinued right after release due to poor sales. There’s competition between teams and budget quotas to meet. Gundam alone makes Bandai as much money as Super Sentai, Kamen Rider, and Anpanman combined. That’s why so many people are involved. They need to maintain item volume for profitability, which leads to similar products and questionable merchandise. The executive I mentioned is actually a managing director – that shows you how significant Gundam merchandise is to Bandai.”

I wanted to ask about SD Gundam and games too, but we’re running out of space.

“Well, it’s a ¥100 billion industry. Can’t sum it up quickly. But when Gundam first broke through, fans freely modified Gunpla, fan magazines created their own lore. There was a closer relationship between users and the work. Sure, today’s Gunpla doesn’t need painting or glue, and has great proportions. The anime is higher quality with detailed background settings. But maybe that’s left less room for user creativity. SEED launched with official sidestories and MSV series, but fans used to do parodies and modifications on their own. Maybe it’s just me, but it feels suffocating, like Bandai and Sunrise are saying ‘just buy and enjoy what we give you.'”

Should we drop Axis on these mindless masses then?

“Hey, I’m older than Char now…”

With no one even at Nanai’s level, let alone Haman, you can’t pull that off. Well, thanks for your time.

Source: Monthly Ura Bubka (November 11, 2004 p055-058)