Ask John: Why is the Popularity of Gundam Declining in America?

Question:
It’s been a long time since Toonami stopped showing Gundam Series like Mobile Suit Gundam, Gundam Wing, and Gundam Seed. Cartoon Network also banned the whole series of and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny before they ever came on the air. Bandai Toys have stop producing Mobile Suit Gundam toys and model kits and stopped sending Gundam merchandise to stores everywhere. I am a huge fan of the gundam series. So tell me. Why all Gundam anime series are not popular in North America anymore?

Answer:
After some discussion with a Gundam fan friend, I’ve settled upon an explanation that consists of several parts. I think this explanation is plausible, but I can’t promise that it’s absolutely encompassing. The first reason for the disparity in the success of the Gundam franchise between Japan and America, I think, has to do with the social culture of Japan compared to America. Metropolitan Japanese society has developed in conjunction with, and enclosed by technology for the past fifty years. Japanese children have grown up surrounded by urban development and technological advancement. The idea of teenage soldiers encased in humanoid tanks may not seem completely far-fetched to Japanese children because they’re constantly surrounded by evidence of machination. The giant robot is a deeply ingrained part of contemporary Japanese social history. If the giant monster, Godzilla in particular, is the embodiment of nuclear destruction, the giant robot depicts Japanese domination over that destructive power; a harnessing of that threat.

American culture is completely different. American society is not fascinated with technology to the same extent that Japanese society is. If Japanese children can unconsciously relate to the idea of controlling a giant robot, and unconsciously comprehend the destructive power of a massive weapon, Americans cannot relate to that theme with the same immediacy. Unlike Japanese children who have grown up with Astro Boy, Mazinger, Tetsujin 28, Ultraman, Godzilla, and countless other examples of strong, technological, giant forces, American children have grown up with talking animals and cartoon violence. Gundam appeals to the Japanese psyche, but doesn’t resonate with subconscious fears and fantasies within Americans, which accounts for why the Gundam franchise will never be as widely embraced in America as it is in Japan.

My first explanation for why interest in the Gundam franchise has steadily decreased in America since its introduction lay in Bandai’s strategy of trying to instantly hook American viewers on the Gundam franchise. The popularity of the Gundam franchise has steadily developed and grown in Japan for over 25 years. Even in Japan the first Gundam television series was canceled prematurely. Gundam premiered in America with the self-contained Gundam Wing. The next successful Gundam series in America was the self-contained G-Gundam series. In Japan, the Gundam franchise progressively developed a linear narrative, only branching off into alternate continuities and self-contained series many years after the Gundam franchise had already established a devoted fan base. The American release strategy lacked continuity. It engendered fan followings for particular series and conflict between groups of Gundam fans. American fans of the traditional UC continuity opposed fans of Gundam Wing. Fans of Gundam Wing clashed with the fans of G-Gundam. The American release was fractured and prone to factions instead of nurturing a developing, expanding fan base.

Some discussion with a friend that loves the Gundam franchise introduced a different perspective. The Gundam franchise may have premiered in America with the original theatrical movie trilogy and UC continuity OAV series, but the franchise first came to mainstream American attention with Gundam Wing, a series specifically designed to appeal to both male and female fans. After the broad based success of Gundam Wing in America, there was no place left for the franchise to go. All of the remaining Gundam anime that existed at the time didn’t have the potential to reach the same broad audience that Gundam Wing appealed to. Following Gundam Wing, Bandai sought to establish the foundation of Gundam in America by releasing the original 1979 series, but even with digitally updated animation, the twenty year old show didn’t appeal to Americans used to slick, contemporary anime. The absence of an original Japanese language version of the original Gundam series biased hardcore fans against the series.

It’s probably inevitable that the popularity of the Gundam series would eventually diminish in America. Gundam Wing was the ideal introduction to the series for Americans, and it generated a massive amount of novelty interest. But most of the Gundam anime franchise dates from the 1980s and 90s, which is, honestly, too old to appeal to contemporary American mainstream viewers interested in contemporary anime. Gundam started off big in America, but couldn’t possibly sustain its initial success with the amount and variety of Gundam anime available. Furthermore, Gundam simply doesn’t appeal to Americans with the same resonance that it has for Japanese viewers. For Japanese viewers, Gundam is a tradition. For mainstream Americans, it’s just another robot anime – an older one. Now that the Gundam franchise has rooted in America, I’m sure that it will remain in America. But it seems as though the franchise in America will never approach the tremendous success it enjoys in Japan.