Gundam NT Design History: MSN-06S-2 Sinanju Stein Unit 2
One of the most prominent changes from the original Gundam UC: Phoenix Hunt novella to Gundam NT is the expanded role of Zeon. While the Neo-Zeon remnant group “The Sleeves” play a role in the climax of Phoenix Hunt, there are no named or perspective characters present. Gundam NT, on the other hand, introduces Lt. Zoltan Akkanen of the Republic of Zeon’s armed forces, a Cyber Newtype that was another attempt to create a “second coming of Char” like Full Frontal of The Sleeves. Zoltan pilots a version of one of the most prominent UC-MSV: the Sinanju Stein.
Zoltan Akkanen
Zoltan and his Sinanju Stein fit into Sunrise’s strategy of not overstuffing the anime UC continuity similar to how the Narrative Gundam does (as discussed in the previous installment). To reiterate, instead of creating a new super prototype mobile suit (such as a Gundam), one is introduced that is effectively a derivative or retooled version of one that already existed. This extends to characters as well; Full Frontal, “the second coming of Char,” for example, introduced an almost literal version of the “Char clone” trope used in most prominent derivative Gundam works.
Once again, the more recent Gundam: Twilight Axis is illustrative of this not just in regards to MS but also characters. While the terse ONA adaptation offered very little in the way of background information or exposition about its own plot, the original novel readily offered them up. Danton Hyleg, one of the main characters and a longtime (though previously unknown) ally of Char Aznable, was handpicked by Char to test his own personal mobile suits due to his nearly identical piloting style. When the Gundam Tristan attacks during the investigation of the ruins of Axis, he discovers and pilots a red Zaku III Custom originally intended for Char Aznable by Haman Karn. In this way, Danton functions as a Char stand-in due to his closeness with the original Char over his career, his piloting ability, and his mobile suit choice.
Zoltan appears to be continuing this trend. Full Frontal’s origin was never explained in the Gundam UC anime like it was in the novels, so the inclusion of Zoltan as another attempt to recreate Char may be an avenue to explain that in the first place. Zoltan is conceptually a watered down version of Full Frontal that pilots an incomplete version of his signature mobile suit, though in exactly what way he was made as another second coming of Char outside of ability remains to be seen.
MSN-06S Sinanju Stein & Unit 2
The inclusion of the Sinanju Stein in Gundam NT effectively “canonizes” the mobile suit in the anime continuity, though in an indirect way as it’s supposed to be the second such unit to exist (even appending a -2 to its model number). It was established in both the Gundam UC novels and its anime adaptation that Full Frontal’s Sinanju had originally been stolen by The Sleeves in 0094 while being transferred for testing.
The story of this heist (revealed to actually be a backroom deal) was eventually told via the release of the 2012 PlayStation 3 Gundam UC video game. The game’s Collector’s Edition included a new novella from Harutoshi Fukui titled The War After the War, and a DLC mission “Episode 0” based on it was available at launch in the PlayStation Store. The novella was the first new Gundam UC prose since the novel series ended with volume 10 in 2009, itself ultimately being collected with the later Phoenix Hunt and released as Gundam UC volume 11 in 2016. In that sense, Gundam NT can also be seen as an adaptation (in spirit at least) of the collected volume 11.
The War After the War introduced the monochromatic Sinanju Stein prototype, looking decidedly more Gundam-like and lacking the mono-eye and ostentatious Sleeves ornamentation of the more familiar red Sinanju. It also incorporates some design elements from the ν Gundam HWS, with a similar-looking beam rifle and leg thrusters. The name “Sinanju Stein” at first blush seems odd; why would the original version of the Sinanju have an appended name? Characters very rarely actually refer to this unit as the Sinanju Stein in-universe, instead simply calling it the “Sinanju” or by its development code “Stein 01.” “Stein” in this case refers to the unrefined nature of the Sinanju’s prototype: it is the unpolished “stone” (stein = stone in German) to the final Sinanju’s gem.
The introduction of a second Sinanju Stein capitalizes on a hanging thread from the description of the payload of the ship transporting the Stein. The novella mentions that the Clop-class warship Unkai is loaded with two containers, both of which are taken by The Sleeves. After reaching the Unkai, Full Frontal launches from its deck in the unloaded Sinanju Stein to join the battle, and two of his royal guard in Geara Dogas haul away a large container. While it’s probably safe to assume this was originally intended to contain spare/upgrade parts and weapons, the special booklet Report UC 0097 included with an advanced ticket purchase to Gundam NT revealed that it actually contained Unit 2. As NT takes place in the anime continuity it has no actual need to be beholden to this detail, but it’s a neat touch all the same.
Unit 2’s differences from the original Sinanju Stein seem fairly minor and mostly cosmetic. It has Sleeves-style ornamentation on the chest and wrists, the longer propellant-tanks the Sinanju uses, slightly different feet, and a bigger shield. Report UC 0097 mentions a grenade launcher that the original Stein didn’t have, so it is probably mounted in the shield like the final Sinanju. Its beam rifle seems to be the Sinanju’s beam rifle with components of the Stein’s high beam rifle attached.
A Phantom World Sinanju Stein
The Stein’s original animation debut was in Gundam UC: A Phantom World, a 2016 anime short projected on Wall-G at Diver City Tokyo Plaza, home of the Gundam Front Tokyo attraction (now The Gundam Base Tokyo). A Phantom World was screened around the broadcast of the Gundam UC TV edit RE:0096, and features a fantasy fight of all three Unicorn Gundams taking on the Sinanju Stein. Interestingly enough, the Stein featured in this short looks like a middle step between the original Stein and the Unit 2, having similar ornamentation on its chest (but not its wrists) and longer propellant tanks. The presence of both the Sinanju Stein and Phenex may have meant that A Phantom World was actually created as some kind of test footage that anticipated Gundam NT.
The 10S mark on the shield, however, seems to indicate that this is actually the Sinanju Stein Unit 1 at some mid-point in its conversion to the final Sinanju. “10S” is Full Frontal’s personal callsign, appearing in decal-form at least since the 2008 release of the MG Sinanju ver. Ka model kit. When the planetarium-like Dome-G theater opened as part of Gundam Front Tokyo in 2012, its original show featured a redesign of the Sazabi with decals that read “S-01,” suggesting that Full Frontal’s callsign is a reversal of Char Aznable’s.
Related Mobile Weapons
AMX-107R Rebawoo
Before the theft of the Sinanju Stein, the Rebawoo was slated to be Full Frontal’s personal unit. As its name suggests, the Rebawoo is an improved version of the transformable AMX-107 Bawoo that appeared in Gundam ZZ. It retains the Bawoo’s ability to split into two components: an “Attacker” formed from the top half and “Nutter” formed from the lower. Unlike the original Bawoo, which controlled the Nutter via remote computer control from the Attacker, the Rebawoo’s remote control operates via psycho-frame in the Attacker’s cockpit and Nutter’s nose. It uses the same distinct beam rifle the Sinanju would go on to use.
The Rebawoo first appeared in One of Seventy Two: a 2013 Gundam UC prequel short screened at Dome-G. This same short also introduced the attraction’s de facto mascot, the Unicorn Gundam “Phenex.” In One of Seventy Two, the Rebawoo is caught up in the Phenex’s evaluation test area (though it’s implied this was done intentionally to give the test a live target), but it escapes before the Phenex goes berserk and vanishes. This event, later called the “Échalote Incident” after the Irish-class warship the Phenex destroyed, is depicted in Phoenix Hunt as well via a recording played at a briefing. The text of Phoenix Hunt only mentions a “Neo-Zeon mobile suit” being involved, otherwise not describing or identifying it.
The Rebawoo’s pilot was eventually revealed in the manga Gundam UC 0094: Across the Sky as Luger Lugh, a 16 year-old girl that wears a mask similar to the one Full Frontal has. Despite her mobile suit, Luger wears a mask not to imitate Frontal but to cover her scarred, different-colored right eye. She is later revealed in the sequel manga Gundam UC 0096: Last Sun to be one of a failed series of clone Newtypes created on Axis, similar to the clones of Elpeo Ple produced near the end of the first Neo-Zeon war.
The relationship between the Rebawoo and the Phenex, as well as similarities between its pilot Luger Lugh and the new character Zoltan Akkanen, may indicate that the Sinanju Stein Unit 2 will play a similar role in Gundam NT. Universal Century Gundam anime doesn’t typically go out of its way to contradict sidestory media (more recently it frequently alludes to them), but the anime version of events takes priority. Assuming the events of One of Seventy Two are depicted in Gundam NT like they are in Phoenix Hunt, maybe it will be the Sinanju Stein Unit 2 in the Rebawoo’s place during the Échalote Incident. Zoltan is described in his bio as planning to capture the Phenex, so he may have a history with the Gundam. One thing that’s particularly striking about Zoltan is that, just like Luger Lugh, he has one red eye and one gray eye, though both are scarred.
NZ-999 Neo Zeong
In the final battle of the Gundam UC novels, the resonance of the Sinanju and Unicorn Gundams’ psycho-frames creates a reality-bending “psycho-field” phenomenon. This manifests around the Sinanju as a gigantic, malevolent aura. The anime adaptation represents this same idea in a more physical and imposing way through the Neo Zeong, a colossal mobile armor with the Sinanju as its core unit. Beyond just a reference to Char’s final mobile suit in the original Gundam, this was yet another obscure nod to Char’s Counterattack: “Neo Zeong” had been a working name for the NZ-333 α Azieru in pre-production. A year after the OVA’s final episode was released, Phoenix Hunt introduced a version of the Neo Zeong into the novel continuity.
Since Phoenix Hunt takes place shortly before UC’s final battle, it offers an explanation for the Neo Zeong’s absence. During an attempt to capture the Phenex, the Shezarr MS team discovers a single Neo-Zeon Musaka-class warship transporting the empty Neo Zeong. Jona Basta realizes that the Phenex had intentionally led them there to find it, and the Shezarr team’s Stark Jegans manage to destroy the Musaka. A surviving Jagd Doga emerges from the Musaka’s explosion and docks with the Neo Zeong, its description identifying it as the repaired version of Quess Paraya’s personal unit that appeared in the UC OVA’s final episode. While the pilot’s identity is unknown (though no Neo-Zeon characters are given perspective at all), it is revealed that the one actually controlling the Neo Zeong is Full Frontal himself, using the Jagd Doga pilot as a proxy to control it remotely. The ensuing battle between the Neo Zeong and Phenex then plays out similarly to the way it did with the Unicorn in the OVA’s climax.
For obvious reasons, the Neo Zeong likely won’t be making an appearance in Gundam NT. It’s hard to say what the climax of NT will involve, though perhaps it could be as simple as reusing the “psycho-field” Sinanju from the UC novel’s climax with the Stein Unit 2.
Like the Narrative Gundam, the introduction of Zoltan Akkanen and his Sinanju Stein in Gundam NT mark another major change from its source. By contrast, the Sinanju Stein’s inclusion has a glut of recent UC sidestory material to draw from. Whether NT chooses to incorporate these elements or go somewhere completely new, only time will tell.
Look forward to the next installment of Gundam NT Design History, where I will be discussing the Unicorn Gundam 03 “Phenex.”
I hope you enjoyed part 2 of a series of articles on the design lineage of the mobile suits of the upcoming Gundam NT. If you liked what you saw and want to see more content like this, please consider supporting me with a small tip via Ko-fi. I often end up purchasing new materials or commissioning translations to aide in research, and this series is no exception. Any contribution will help offset the cost of those kind of materials.
