review
THE
GUNDAM
EXPLORER
Review By: Matthew Anderson
Author: Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster
Company: DH Publishing Inc.
Length: 192 pgs
Category: Reference
Rated: G
SHORT VIEW
Do you enjoy watching Mobil Suit Gundam, but have a hard time trying to figure out what's what? Are you interested in watching Gundam Seed on Cartoon Network, but worried it isn't as good as Gundam Wing? How does G-Gundam relate to it all anyhow? Well, Cocoro Books has answers to all these questions and more.
The Gundam Explorer is your first step in understanding the wild, wonderful, and complex world of Gundam. Covering the popular series seen on the Cartoon Network (Classic Gundam, G-Gundam, Gundam Wing, and Gundam Seed), this unofficial guide will help you become a Gundam expert.
THE 2 VIEW
"The Gundam Explorer" is a crash course in "Gundamology" for both the total fan, and the novice. What it lacks in cool, color pictures and artwork is more than made up for by the amount of information it contains.
The physical design of the book is nicely done, but not very flashy. The cover is simple, with the title in big, easy to see letters. The same size as a Japanese manga, makes it easy to take with you and read on the train.
The inside is put together quite well. To get you started, the book begins with a brief introduction to the Gundam universes. The authors, Kazuhisa Fujie and Martin Foster, are good at encapsulating the four 50 episode series covered here in just a couple of pages. Followed by a Chronology they put the complex histories in to a format that is easy to read and understand. If you don't know your A.C. from your C.E., you will now.
The rest of "Gundam Explorer" is broken down into five sections: MS Gundam, Mobil Fighter G-Gundam, MS Gundam Wing, MS Gundam Seed, "and more". Really, the last chapter is called "and more". The is also a glossary and (like any good reference book) a index.
The first four sections each follow the same format: Overview, Story, Character and Mecha info, and questions. The questions are all common ones that many a Gundam fan have asked. It also helps to explain some of the finer points in case you missed that one episode that put everything in context.
The "and more" section covers the questions that are not directly related to the storylines. Like "Who is the Gundam Designer?" or "What of the stories not introduced in this book" kind of questions. The glossary is good for figuring out some of those pesky terms like "ZAFT" or "Lagrange Point". The index can help you quickly find the answer you are looking for, if you having one of those arguments.
Like other Cocoro Books, there are sidebars peppered through out. From cosplay to "The Women of Gundam Wing", they are informative, and in some cases, damn funny.
As this is not an official book, they were unable to use any artwork from the series. However, they do have lots of pictures of Gundam models, and some pics from their other books. The photos are in black and white, which is a shame. Still, if they printed it on glossy paper to allow for full color, the book would be wicked expensive and not very durable.
As the first of their "Mysteries and Secrets Revealed" series, it's a pretty good start. They do cover a lot, and provide it in easy to digest chunks. While I knew most of the answers to the questions, I did learn some stuff I didn't know. Most of it was in regards to Gundam Seed, of which I have only seen a few episodes. Even if you consider yourself the de-facto expert on Gundam, you can still get this book and learn something, or pick it apart.
I was hoping that the next volume of the "MSR" series would cover some of the other series and the movies. According to Clive France at DHP, this is the only book for Gundam. However, other books in the future will cover Inu Yashua and Yuu Yuu Hakusho. So you fans out there, keep an eye out for them!
"The Gundam Explorer" is a great resource book for anyone who is a fan of Gundam. If the rest of the "Mysteries and Secrets Revealed" books are as good as this one, I will probably get the entire series. The one that is next on my list is the one for "Evangelion".