Gundam: Examined

 

Gundam is one of those anime series that required a deep dive into its lore to really understand it. It has so many iterations that it is daunting for the uninitiated, but across all the different Gundam universes are common themes and stories, chief among them is that the Federation Government of Earth that rules space colonies from earth ends up at war with Neon Zeon, refugees and spacenoids who live in space and on the colonies. Emerging on both sides are Newtypes and Cybernewtypes that can possess untold psychic powers (a la The Force, Star Wars) in their mobile suite giant robot armored fight machines that can travel in space and are armed with massive guns, lightsabers, and missiles. Most important in reoccurring characters is Char Aznable, who leads Neon Zeon, and believes Earth must be purified of the parasites known as humans, so that our planet can heal after being harvested to the hilt. Char’s foil is Amuro Ray, who believes humanity can change and transcend its destructive nature. Char is pure logic, save the planet by eliminating the threat of humans, while Amuro is pure hope, he believes people are precious and can be saved. Technically these two are ever in a yin and yang standoff in each iteration of Gundam, albeit with different names and characters [sometimes the names are reused by new characters like The Second Coming of Char]. The theme of mankind having exhausted most of earth’s resources and causing mankind to flee to space is timely, with the whole globe warming and climate change debate. The philosophies of Amuro and Char appeal to different sides of our nature, Amuro is forgiveness and giving mankind a second chance, while Char is wrath and seeking to create a race of perfection (Newtypes) that will transcend their flaws in new birth. One could argue Amuro is a Christ type, advocating for the pardon of humanity and believing humans can change, and that love will triumph over all, while Char represents kabal of Old Testament Levitical perfectionism and Satanic logic that its best to wipe the sleight clean and start anew with a superior race. Although Char does champion the Spacenoids and refugees as being oppressed, and in need of liberation from the corruption of the Federation, which makes him more of Moses type seeking to get the Fed to “let his people go,” while creating a perfect world like Moses and the Israelites thought the Land of Milk and Honey would be. So Christ vs Moses, which interestingly comes up in the gospel of John, “For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17). 

To be clear this interpretation is solely my own and is not advocated by the Gundam series. Rather in contrast a very strange Psych and mystical religion is plugged in the series. Apparently newtypes, and cybernewtypes are the next stage of Darwinian human evolution. In space people discover they can use more than 10% of their brains, accessing precognition and psychic abilities. This usually plays out in two persons who have Gundams, which transform when the pilots access the psych waves and harness their psych powers. This mystical transformation and abilities is often accompanied by light, emerald hues of light, and rainbow light that is capable of saving a planet from an Asteriod. I suspect The Light of Zeon, which us the de facto religion of Neo Zeon, is this psych light, that in Gundam Unicorn can even cross the chasm into the underworld and allow the dead to visit or the pilot visit the dead. Now that I brought up Unicorn Gundam, I can expose further the Light of Zeon phenomenon that pervades all Gundam sagas. In a scene in a chapel with a cross on the altar (see pics below), a character named Marida Cruz  tells Banagher Links that people use to worship God and looking at the cross says but no longer:

“Marida Cruz: ...No war is ever truly justified. However, to save human lives, we can't always be righteous.

This was built back when Palau was still in the asteroid belt. When you look back at the earliest space pioneers, they were mostly beggars and political criminals. They sought to settle in space because there was nowhere else for them to live. They say when the Universal Century began, the Prime Minister stated that we were "bringing an end to the Era of God". For the people who lived in the asteroid belt the sun was indistinguishable from any other distant star. They needed a light to guide them.

Banagher Links: A light...

Marida Cruz: Nothing can live without light. But the people abandoned in space eventually found a new light to replace God, and the new light that they found to guide them was Zeon. It gave them hope where there was despair. So they could overcome the impossible and keep living in this cruel world. It held out the shining promise that we could all become better. You might find it foolish to put your faith in something so intangible. There were those who would say that ideas like this are not essential to life. I think that those people must be either very lucky or very deluded.

Banagher Links: Humanity alone possesses a God. Somebody once said that to me. He told me about, ‘ The power to transcend the now, the inner God called "possibility".'

Marida Cruz: He must have been a romantic. A person cannot believe that without a strong faith in humanity and the world. Sounds like a nice person.”

(Tvtropes quotes,— A conversation on the origins of Spacenoid ideology, Chapel, Episode 2, The Second Coming of Char). The fact that a Christian symbol of the cross is visible and focused on as this dialogue takes place is telling, and gives a clear antichrist impression. The abandoning of God for the Light of Zeon makes me think of how the antichrist will get rid of all gods (2 Thessalonians 2:1-11). Interestingly Marida Cruz who gives this Spacenoid philosophy has the name Cruz in her name which is Cross, and her mobile suite robot is NZ-666 Kshatriya (NZ-666 クシャトリヤ) and the mark of the antichrist is 666, “This calls for wisdom: let the one who has understanding calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man, and his number is 666.” (Revelation 13:18). Thus Unicorn Gundam dares to take the light of Zeon to levels of rejecting Christ, and replacing all gods as the antichrist will attempt to do when he rises. Another thought to ponder is its called the Light of Zeon, and Satan is often wrapped in light, “But I am not surprised! Even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14, NLT). 

My exposure to Gundam has been broad. I was introduced to the Gundam galaxy via Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994). I then avidly  watched Gundam Seed (2002) when it first aired, and I have recently watched all of Gundam Unicorn (2010, 2014), Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988), and the new Netflix exclusive Gundam Hathaway (2021). The consensus of my viewings is that at the heart of these anime shows is the atypical self empowerment, love triangle (loss of all or one in triangle), compassion vs purity; love vs wrath trope personified in usually male protagonist and male antagonist. Sprinkled on top is Japanese mysticism, Shintoism (particularly Lalah Sune, and Marida Cruz returning from the dead in a spirit form, Lalah appears as a large white bird), New Age crystal mysticism (part of the Gundam uses crystals to connect to psych powers of the newtype), and psychic powers. Only Gundam Unicorn went further to speak against Christianity and all gods in favor of the Light of Zeon. The point is that Gundam might as well be called Gundamn, for it shall be condemned and damned by Christ for its plugging false religions and mysticisms, while putting down Christianity as it did in Unicorn. For this reason I cannot recommend the Gundam anime shows and movies, they are fusion of mystical and psychic poison that will do harm spiritually. No matter its riveting storytelling, battles, and themes about our planet’s sustainability, the heart of Gundam is psychic power and the Lord God says having nothing to do with psychic and their kind, “There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, dabbles in occult, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or one who conjures spells or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the Lord. And because of these abominations the Lord your God is driving them out before you.” (Deuteronomy 18:10-12 ). Amen.