Mari Okada discussion

[Haak]

Originally Posted by totoum

Maybe not exactly what you were looking for but Okada once said this in 2012

Yeah but I'm pretty sure she was only reffering to her shows at PA Works (I think).

[Marcus H.]

I had no idea Imaichi had handled Storyboard duties for Black Rock Shooter. That explains why they felt so awesome

It's more likely that Imaishi handled the Otherworld storyboard while Mari Okada writes the real world side.
Mari Okada on action seems like mayonnaise on rice for me.

[Obelisk ze Tormentor]

Ok, which one of you here made a deal with the Devil, coz Mari Okada is now helming a gundam series called Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans!

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2y1mao

[Archon_Wing]

Yea t am not sure why they thought this was a good idea when her forte was with (melo)drama and sometimes comedy, and sure she's done mecha but uhhhhhh, was not too hot on any of it.

I mean Gundam is a franchise filled with lots of variety, so it's possible to carve a niche in. But despite all the flexibility, there's generally stuff that's required to make Gundam, Gundam. How can I expect her to write a cast of hot blooded manliness when she'd struggle to write one? So let's see some of the things that have resulted in success for Gundam and what I've seen from Okada and what could be filled in. Please fill me in on other stuff as I have not seen all their shows

Spoiler:

[ ] Hot Blooded Male character
[ ] Good Male Cast
[x] Hot Blooded Female Character
[x] Shitty parents
[ ] Balanced Cast
[x] Crossdressing
[ ] Saori Hayami as lead
[x] Perv
[ ] Good Perv
[x] Lols
[ ] Kouichi Uchiyama
[x] Catfights
[ ] Epic Fights
[x] People taking this list seriously
[x] War is BADDDDDDDDDDD
[x] Evil Bitches
[ ] Good discussion of grey morality
[ ] Colony Drops
[ ] Char, or variant of Char
[x] Love Triangles for stupid reasons
[x] Shipping Wars
[ ] Satisfying Endings
[ ] Princesses
[x] Bitch Slapping.... (Oh! She's mastered that already)

[Marcus H.]

I'm more afraid of Tatsuyuki Nagai than Okada this time. Fans of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun would know why.

[Triple_R]

I definitely know where Archon is coming from, because I've frequently joked about it with him and Pocari in the past, but in all seriousness, Okada can write good male characters. So it's possible she might do justice to this.

The biggest issue is specifically, yeah, hot-blooded male characters... I can't recall any Okada male character that felt like Amuro Ray to me. Or like Bright Noa. Or like Char Aznable. Gundam Wing's Heero Yuy and Treize Khushrenada also don't connect in my mind to any Okada male character that I can think of off the top of my head.

Kira Yamato... I could see Okada doing a decent Kira Yamato. So I'm going to tentatively expect something more along the lines of Gundam Seed than the original Mobile Suit Gundam here.

[darkchibi07]

But there's potential she won't create terrible or useless female characters in the Gundam show; they will be a step above all the past ones, right?

[Arya]

^ it would have been a good chance to have a female protagonist, but it doesn't seem the case.

So, after Aquarion now Gundam. Well considering how, at least by AS viewers reaction to the new Aquarion series, uninspired this new series seems to be without her, and also considering the recent Gundam shows, Okada could not be such a bad idea after all to regain some momentum. I won't probably like it, but I don't like any Okada shows but PAW, so it wouldn't be something surprising. And I don't like the character designs already
Unless as Triple_r said, she won't write some decent Kira, or I'll add, Inaho.
Sure it would be fun, and I'm not talking expressly of the show itself

[Triple_R]

Originally Posted by darkchibi07

But there's potential she won't create terrible or useless female characters in the Gundam show; they will be a step above all the past ones, right?

I probably like HSI's Ohana and True Tears' Noe more than any Gundam female character, so yeah, that's a very possible advantage with Okada here.

Honestly, I agree with...

Originally Posted by Arya

^ it would have been a good chance to have a female protagonist, but it doesn't seem the case.

Yeah, that's actually what disappoints me the most here. I've always thought it would be neat to have a Gundam or Gundam-style show with the ace pilot MC being a female character (Rinne no Lagrange came very close, but it's not quite the same as what I'm dreaming of here). Okada would have been great for that. But oh well...

So, after Aquarion now Gundam. Well considering how, at least by AS viewers reaction to the new Aquarion series, uninspired this new series seems to be without her, and also considering the recent Gundam shows, Okada could not be such a bad idea after all to regain some momentum.

Okada-wrote shows are almost always fun at least. If nothing else, you can count on her to not bore you. Okada-wrote shows tend to be memorable experiences, and honestly, maybe that's what the Gundam franchise needs more than anything else right now.

[IceHism]

After G-reco and gundam Age, im pretty sure that Okada's twist on gundam would be a welcome at this point. The former two are just laughably bad shows. Even Gundam build fighters try wasn't that good.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Even as someone who likes Okada non-ironically, I think this is a horrible idea. I could see her doing Macross -- she and Kawamori are compatibly crazy, and AKB0048 shows she can do idol-action-sci-fi-mecha stories.

But Gundam? That should go to Urobuchi (provided they get him to stick around for the entire series, unlike Aldnoah and Gargantia).

[Haak]

The issue is that Okada has never done an outright political drama show to my recollection (Unless you count Fractale). She's always produced anime original shows with plenty of socio-political undertones to it so I've always felt she's had a real interest in it:
Hanasaku Iroha - Post recession undertones
AKB0048 - Orwellian
Nagi no Asukara - Racism and cultural barriers
Fujiko Mine - Cuban War
M3 Sono Kuroki Hagane - Governments secret war against mutant.

But all of those still remained primarily character dramas. This could be the first time Okada ventures into political drama and I'm interested in seeing what she can make.

Besides, it can't possibly be worse than Reconguista.

As for whether or not Okada can produce a true Gundam story, for what it's worth the synopsis definitely sounds like a classic Gundam story.

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

Spoiler:

[ ] Hot Blooded Male character
[ ] Good Male Cast
[x] Hot Blooded Female Character
[x] Shitty parents
[ ] Balanced Cast
[x] Crossdressing
[ ] Saori Hayami as lead
[x] Perv
[ ] Good Perv
[x] Lols
[ ] Kouichi Uchiyama
[x] Catfights
[ ] Epic Fights
[x] People taking this list seriously
[x] War is BADDDDDDDDDDD
[x] Evil Bitches
[ ] Good discussion of grey morality
[ ] Colony Drops
[ ] Char, or variant of Char
[x] Love Triangles for stupid reasons
[x] Shipping Wars
[ ] Satisfying Endings
[ ] Princesses
[x] Bitch Slapping.... (Oh! She's mastered that already)

You can cross off Saori Hayami as a lead, she's been a major character in two Gundam shows already .

Originally Posted by darkchibi07

But there's potential she won't create terrible or useless female characters in the Gundam show; they will be a step above all the past ones, right?

You've evidentially never watched Build Fighters which I'd say already pretty much accomplished that fairly successfully .

[TinyRedLeaf]

Originally Posted by Archon_Wing

I mean Gundam is a franchise filled with lots of variety, so it's possible to carve a niche in. But despite all the flexibility, there's generally stuff that's required to make Gundam, Gundam. How can I expect her to write a cast of hot blooded manliness when she'd struggle to write one? So let's see some of the things that have resulted in success for Gundam and what I've seen from Okada and what could be filled in. Please fill me in on other stuff as I have not seen all their shows

Spoiler:

[ ] Hot Blooded Male character
[ ] Good Male Cast
[x] Hot Blooded Female Character
[x] Shitty parents
[ ] Balanced Cast
[x] Crossdressing
[ ] Saori Hayami as lead
[x] Perv
[ ] Good Perv
[x] Lols
[ ] Kouichi Uchiyama
[x] Catfights
[ ] Epic Fights
[x] People taking this list seriously
[x] War is BADDDDDDDDDDD
[x] Evil Bitches
[ ] Good discussion of grey morality
[ ] Colony Drops
[ ] Char, or variant of Char
[x] Love Triangles for stupid reasons
[x] Shipping Wars
[ ] Satisfying Endings
[ ] Princesses
[x] Bitch Slapping.... (Oh! She's mastered that already)

Cross-dressing. You've left out manly, cross-dressing males. Because Okada.

Oh, I see you meant what niche Gundam has you think she'd fulfil.

Never mind. She'll create a new niche. Because drama.

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Even as someone who likes Okada non-ironically, I think this is a horrible idea. I could see her doing Macross -- she and Kawamori are compatibly crazy, and AKB0048 shows she can do idol-action-sci-fi-mecha stories.

Please for the love of god no. The last thing I ever want is for her to destroy a reputable franchise that I personally love with her bullsh*t. Every big franchise she got her hands on has been smeared badly by her - Lupin, Rurouni Kenshin, Aqarion, Black Butler and now most likely with Gundam. Granted most of these I don't care that much, but Macross... that is one of my nostalgic favorites.

She should stick with relationship and character drama... preferably with a strong producer, director or someone higher up that can restrain her. For example, I'm looking forward to Anthem to the Heart because it's totally in her forte and we have a proved director who is a perfect yang to her ying. That, I actually think would be pretty good unlike the Gundam she will be writing for.

[KanbeKotori]

I like Mari when she does her work on romance and character interactions/development. She has a really good style of writing and so far of all the works she have done that I've seen, all of them are romance. I hope she doesn't deviate and go try something new. She has her forte in that field and I hope she'll continue to ultilise the talent and bring us many more great series.

Can't wait for Kokoro ga Sakebitagatterunda. The PV looks promising.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by IceHism

After G-reco and gundam Age, im pretty sure that Okada's twist on gundam would be a welcome at this point. The former two are just laughably bad shows. Even Gundam build fighters try wasn't that good.

Don't underestimate Okada. She has the potential do worse than those two shows combined.

Her latest mecha show, M3, was one of the worst garbage I've ever watched.

[Guardian Enzo]

The biggest red flag for me (and here, we're spoiled for choice) is Okada'a abysmal track record when "updating" established, long-running franchises. Charitably, she's a butcher.

[IceHism]

Originally Posted by Kanon

Don't underestimate Okada. She has the potential do worse than those two shows combined.

Her latest mecha show, M3, was one of the worst garbage I've ever watched.

uhh, I've seen M3 as well.
Of course M3 is terrible. Trying to make a horror show in anime will just get you laughed at. Combine it with mecha and you just end up going... what? (not to mention, the mechas were basically non-existent in that show)

Gundam has a ton of constraints as a franchise that will prevent it from being M3. Real mecha vs real mecha, political conflicts, expressive characters without too much ham(unless you somehow like the cancer that was minashi and etc in M3), no weird mysteries, etc.
The contents are vastly different and focus on different things on a fundamental level.
Not to mention, Okada has a director here that actually somewhat has a decent idea of what to do.

And please, doing worse than Gundam Age and G-reco isn't possible. I'd go rewatch gundam seed destiny twice rather than watch those two again.

Also, why is everyone saying gundam has no strong female character? Haman Karn is great

[Archon_Wing]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

The biggest red flag for me (and here, we're spoiled for choice) is Okada'a abysmal track record when "updating" established, long-running franchises. Charitably, she's a butcher.

Funny, because people were thinking Urobutcher would be onto this, but reality is stranger than fiction.

Originally Posted by TinyRedLeaf

Cross-dressing. You've left out manly, cross-dressing males. Because Okada.

Oh, I see you meant what niche Gundam has you think she'd fulfil.

Never mind. She'll create a new niche. Because drama.

Well, I suppose I did. Depends on how you view her stuff in Lupin.

Although her male characters are a common joke, I see them as more extreme than anything else, not necessarily all bad. But I'm more worried about her ability to write a good antagonist; I usually think of people like loloscar and "get some" girl. Grey is a difficult area to portray, and that's some of the more interesting in Gundam series I've watched. Sure, they also have ebillll characters but also sympathetic, nuanced antagonists that are honorable and might not have even been one if there wasn't a war.

Originally Posted by Frontier

You can cross off Saori Hayami as a lead, she's been a major character in two Gundam shows already .
.

Yea, the whole list is stuff seen in Gundam, while the Xs are things I've seen from Okada, but Hayami being there would help.