Gundam NT Design History: Narrative Gundam
On April 20, 2018, Sunrise announced UC NexT 0100: an initiative to expand the previously under-utilized second century of the UC timeline. Leading the way was Gundam NT (Narrative), a new one-shot theatrical anime partially based on the Gundam UC (Unicorn) novella Phoenix Hunt by Harutoshi Fukui.
This novella was a late addition to the UC novel continuity. Released nearly 6 years after the novel series had concluded, Phoenix Hunt expanded and gave closure to the golden Unicorn Gundam Unit 3 Phenex’s sidestory while incorporating elements previously unique to the Gundam UC anime’s ending. As a sort of soft sequel to the UC anime, Gundam NT continues that novel-anime conversation by bringing previously novel/sidestory-only elements into the animated continuity, with its own set of changes. Notably, while the main action of Phoenix Hunt occurs shortly before the final battle of the UC novels, NT takes place a year after the anime’s ending.
Of course, it just wouldn’t be a new Gundam anime project without new mobile suits, and especially a new Gundam. Featured prominently alongside the Phenex is the anime-original Narrative Gundam and a new version of the Sinanju Stein prototype. While the release of NT is still some months out, this series of articles will see what can be gleaned just from examining the designs and history of these MS alongside the bits of information released so far.
Narrative Gundam
A new Gundam anime means a new Gundam mobile suit to put out in front of it, and NT is no exception. The Narrative Gundam represents one of the most obvious changes from Phoenix Hunt, since its pilot, Jona Basta, originally piloted a Stark Jegan in the book (though it’s confirmed he pilots a Dijeh in NT as well). In order to not cram the existing Universal Century anime timeline full of new, unique Gundams, Sunrise has been using a bit of a cheat lately. Instead of creating a totally new super prototype Gundam, they introduce a derivative or retooled version of one that already existed. For example, the Gundam Tristan, from the 2017 ONA Twilight Axis set between UC and NT, was heavily implied to actually be built over the refurbished frame of the Gundam Alex from Gundam 0080. The Narrative Gundam follows this general idea as well, but explicitly as a repurposed testbed machine originally used in the development of Amuro Ray’s ν Gundam from Char’s Counterattack.
As a testbed suit, the Narrative Gundam resembles a stripped down, unarmored ν Gundam-alike, and can be loaded out with multiple equipment packs. Despite apparently being used as a data-gathering machine for Newtype psycho-frame tech, the current version of the Narrative doesn’t give any indication of actually being a Newtype-use unit. While the ν Gundam notably integrated psycho-frame into its cockpit frame, the Narrative’s cockpit appears to be a partially exposed, old-fashioned core fighter instead. This is also likely a design homage to the original 1980 1/100 RX-78–2 Gundam model kit, which had an exposed core fighter in its belly as a gimmick. One of its equipment packs revealed in a recent trailer looks like a wired, quasi-psycommu system version of the prototype fin funnels that appeared on the UC-MSV suit Gundam Delta Kai. While quasi-psycommu weapons like the claws of the Hamma Hamma or Rozen Zulu have been used prominently by Newtype pilots as well, the idea of that system is primarily to extend the use of psycommu-like weapons to non-Newtypes.
While the Narrative Gundam is Gundam NT’s big original Gundam, the concept of a testbed ν Gundam has its own history:
Teaser Trailer ν Gundam
The reveal of the ν Gundam in the first Char’s Counterattack teaser trailer featured a white/red color scheme that differed from the one in the final film. A later trailer which included final footage of the film used a version of that teaser’s animation of the white/red ν Gundam in more stylized lighting. That same trailer also announced the new Gundam’s name in both English and Japanese, with the English using the capitalized “Ν Gundam” instead of the now standard lowercase.
This version was most recently included in the 2016 Mobile Suit Archive: MSN-06S Sinanju book, where it was attributed to documents sent to Londo Bell along with the ν Gundam and speculated as possibly being a color scheme used in early testing.
You can’t help but wonder if this white “N Gundam” was a jumping off point for the design of the largely monochromatic Narrative Gundam. Even the fact that the Narrative Gundam’s only fixed weaponry is a pair of head vulcans may be a nod to the trailer’s unique cut of animation, which prominently features the ν Gundam firing off its own. If that turns out to be the case, it might not even be the first time in recent memory a lead Gundam was inspired by a weird footnote in the history of Char’s Counterattack’s production: notably, the design of the Unicorn Gundam’s Destroy Mode bore a striking resemblance to a rejected early rough design of the ν Gundam itself.
August 1987 Newtype Cover ν Gundam
While similar to the Teaser Trailer ν Gundam, Yoshinori Sayama’s Newtype cover art version is explicitly meant to portray the ν Gundam under development. It shares many elements with the Narrative Gundam: a yellow v-fin, areas where the inner frame is exposed, and a monochromatic color scheme. Sayama was a mechanical designer on the original Char’s Counterattack, and is actually on the staff for Gundam NT as well for “Monitor Design.” (Thanks to Mark Simmons for pointing this one out!)
PX-00531
The otherwise unnamed PX-00531(more factory serial number than proper model number) is a testbed predecessor to the ν Gundam that appeared in Kazuhisa Kondo’s 1988 manga Mobile Suit Gundam: The Revival of Zeon, and likely the earliest explicit example of the Narrative Gundam’s concept.
Revival of Zeon depicts vignettes of remnants of Haman’s Neo-Zeon’s retreating back into space to join Char Aznable’s own nascent Neo-Zeon movement a year before the events of Char’s Counterattack. In one such vignette, the PX, still unequipped with any Newtype systems, is being transported to the Earth Federation’s Verboten Base in western Europe for land trials when the base gets caught in a Neo-Zeon surprise attack. The PX’s overzealous test pilot sorties in response, but the testbed suit overheats mid-battle and is destroyed by a similarly non-Newtype Sazabi variant, setting the ν Gundam’s own development back in the process.
YRA-90A μ Gundam
The μ (Mu) Gundam is a redesign of the PX-00531 by Gundam manga author Masafumi Matsuura that appears in the 1992 PC-9801 game Mobile Suit Gundam: Advanced Operation (which I previously wrote about here). Both Advanced Operation and its follow-up Return of Zeon were inspired by the Revival of Zeon manga and more-or-less pull their roster of MS from it.
The new name/model number for the Advanced Operation version suggests that it’s also drawing from the “RX-90 μ Gundam,” a hypothetical Gundam listed only as a “psycho-frame test unit” on an Anaheim Electronics development chart in the 1989 collected edition of the Gundam Sentinel photonovel. The “μ” designation also more explicitly marks it as a predecessor to the ν Gundam, as μ immediately precedes ν in the Greek alphabet.
The μ Gundam brings the PX-00531 much closer visually to the ν Gundam as well, rendered in more typical proportions over Kondo’s more stylized signature look. Its distinctive faceplate may also have been an attempt by Matsuura to anticipate the Gundam F91’s open face gimmick, the Gundam F91 movie having come out the year before.
In the time between the initial appearance of these testbed ν Gundam designs and Gundam NT, Gundam as a franchise refocused on alternate universe fare and the original One Year War period. With the success of Gundam UC pushing out past the wall of Char’s Counterattack and Gundam NT on the horizon, there is renewed interest in this previously neglected period of the Gundam saga. As the eponymous lead MS of a new Gundam production, the Narrative Gundam resurrects that testbed concept and will be the definitive version going forward.
Look forward to the next installment of Gundam NT Design History, where I will be discussing the Sinanju Stein Unit 2.
I hope you enjoyed part 1 of what will be 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.
