Gundam AGE General Discussion Thread

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Inazuma's ratings don't seem that flash hot to me but than again I'm probably comparing it to back in the day when stuff like Sunrise's Kekkaishi got canned because it was only pulling 7-10% ratings....

I'm talking about its kids rating - the latest episode got 17.1%. Naturally that show doesn't attract other demographics so the overall rating gets dragged down. But if Gundam AGE had manage to duplicate that and retain some of the teenage and adult male ratings that a typical Gundam show gets then it would be VERY well off.

Originally Posted by kaito-kid

The older Gundm fans are not a big problem.. I think the problem lies with the fact that they don't seem to understand their audience. From what i have seen so far I don't understand what's so "kiddy" about this show.. In fact if I was a kid, I probably wouldn't watch this show because there is too much talking, and not enough action and explosions.. inazuma eleven would be 100x better in my eyes.

That's exactly my point. They use ONLY the character designs to attract kids and not much else. As a result, they turn off some of the people that typically watch Gundam, but don't do enough to attract the kids that they want to attract. They pandered to too many people and they ended up with none.

Talking about Level 5.. What is it about this show that made Bandai think, we can't make this without Level 5..? What exactly makes them so important to this project? Why dose Sunrise a studio with so much talent and so many prolific shows under their belt need Level 5 to write the show?

See above. Level 5 has proven to be very successful with KIDS, so they probably wanted them to bring big name to attract kids with. The problem is that they don't want to lose the traditional Gundam crowd (not to mention Hino being a Gundam fan and wanting to make the show UC-like), and apparently that's not a good formula for kids.

Interesting that he put Wing in the category as Seed and Zata.. I always thought Seed and Zeta were well above the rest of the Gundam shows when it came to financial success. I know that Wing was successful in the west, but I thought it tanked in Japan and was one of the reasons why Seed was so radically different..

Well, the director of Wing was the one doing the comparison, so I guess there's some bias in there. But it definitely didn't tank in Japan. On the contrary, its model lines sold well, its TV ratings were the best of the 90's, and it was the only show in the 90's to get a sequel.

Originally Posted by Westlo

I thought Wing did well in Japan; just that it got completely overshadowed by Evangelion which is nothing to be ashamed of... since well any other anime would've.... Buy yeah it's definitely not in the Zeta and SEED class AFAIK... I mean is Wing even better than 00 strictly in Japan? Model kits sold off the chart? Or do they look back @ Wing fondly because it broke them out of funk?

I think that's probably it. Wing was significant for being more successful on all fronts (TV ratings, model sales, video sales, etc.) than the rest of the 90's shows, as well as for being the show that put Gundam on the map internationally. Number-wise it was actually worse than 00 and only slightly better than ZZ in terms of video sales (its TV ratings were worse than both). But unlike Wing, both 00 and ZZ were considered disappointments because they follow the more successful Seed/Destiny and Zeta.

[casval cehack]

If the UC story approach with AGE is not working, would Level-5 insert into AGE factors that made the other Level-5 productions so successful, in order to boost ratings? The other choice is returning to the Wing/SEED/00 style with gundams teams and bishonen casts. It would hard to sustain the AGE style of UC for 50 plus episodes with SEED being re-aired next year and the old gundam fans already had an opinion on AGE.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by Westlo

Yes Kaioshin, that's nice and all but Inazuma like a light novel or manga adaption is purely a trojan horse to get kids to buy something. In this case instead of a light novel or a manga it's a video game series for the Nintendo DS. We're speaking strictly on business terms in this thread now, notice the difference and stop trying to overlay different elements. It's like you go into a thread on Neogaf which is trying to analyze why something didn't sell and you continually post "Who cares if it didn't sell, it's a good game!" which is missing the point entirely.

I really don't think Bandai cared if AGE didn't sell as good as 00 let alone SEED, all you have to do is look @ other children shows like Naruto, Bleach, Yugioh etc and see that they sell like crap on BD/DVD. The problem here is as Brightman said, the kids aren't watching it. Considering it's a pretty typical Level 5 show with a Gundam theme I wonder why... if anything it should be doing as good...

And since you want to take a shot at me (for the second time, better aimed than your first one though!) as being someone only interested in sales (Yet how can Baccano! be my hands down fav anime of the last 9 years if so!)

Alright well if you strongly insist that we talk business and sales I guess I can offer this article up as a contribution.

You gave a damn enough to make fun of Nichijou on ANN and MAL when it flopped.... what's that word again.. starts with H....

Alas I tried to look this up since for whatever reason I didn't expect something I posted about another series on a completely different forum months ago to come up here, but I simply cannot find it to save my life. Not that it matters since it's pretty off-topic anyway.

[ReddyRedWolf]

Yurin is a time traveler. Working at the present in a restaurant called Waganaria.

[SonicSP]

Wow, I never saw the numbers before, I did not know Gundam earns that much money in one fiscal year. Staggering amount.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by brightman

See above. Level 5 has proven to be very successful with KIDS, so they probably wanted them to bring big name to attract kids with. The problem is that they don't want to lose the traditional Gundam crowd (not to mention Hino being a Gundam fan and wanting to make the show UC-like), and apparently that's not a good formula for kids.

How about airing it earlier, like most kids show on the weekends. 17:00 is fine, if it was a school day, but weekend? If I was the producer it I would air it on two slots, if I wanted to capture a younger and mature audience, alternatively 17:00, but on a week day.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Sides

How about airing it earlier, like most kids show on the weekends. 17:00 is fine, if it was a school day, but weekend? If I was the producer it I would air it on two slots, if I wanted to capture a younger and mature audience, alternatively 17:00, but on a week day.

Maybe that's their plan, air the reruns at an earlier time to attract the kiddies. But again, weekend afternoons can still attract kids, as Gundam Seed did.

And actually, two of the most popular anime in Japan (be it with kids or adults) air Sundays at 6pm and 6:30pm - Chibi Maruko-chan and Sazae-san. That's just 30 minutes after Gundam ends.

[justavisitor]

I would guess the biggest problem of this series is that the staff is being too greedy as they want to attract different kind of audiences and it turns out (so far) that the series fails on all fronts...

Many old gundam fans have been criticizing this show since Day 1....and I think the staff miscalculates that even kids want gundam shows to be more "gundam-like"...When I was a kid, I knew what was to be expected in a gundam series...I would go for different animes if I wanted to watch some light-hearted series, but I always expected gundam show had a certain high standards and I would go to see a gundam series if I wanted to enjoy a great and more serious anime

But so far I feel that this series is really different...in a wrong way (imo)...I feel sad for the gundam franchise because it's nothing wrong that they should try to attract different kind of audiences, but my dark side hopes that this show will continue to suffer low rating and sales so the next series will fit my taste better XD

Right now I am thinking of dropping this series in favor of Yu-gi-oh zexal.....(I am not kidding and I have been a gundam fan since the early 90s)...at the very end, I sincerely hope that i am wrong, the series will be great and meaningful, I will continue watching this show, even tho my dark side strongly disagrees

[MeisterBabylon]

I think AGE is a refreshing change for once. If only they would fix the timing of the anime's being screened. It's a little worrying; the last time I felt that a Gundam series was unique in some way, it got cancelled (Gundam X).

[Sides]

Two new fractions: Zalam and Euba.
Official Hp was updated, including the latest MS and characters. Both new fractions uses mono-eye styled MS.

Zalam MS
Euba MS

Etc character page

[Suzuku]

So after ep 3's abysmal rating, AGE has made something of a comeback. Ep 4 generated 4,1%, and ep 5 generated 4.8% and made it into the top 10 anime ratings for the week. Kids probably still aren't watching it.

[brightman]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

So after ep 3's abysmal rating, AGE has made something of a comeback. Ep 4 generated 4,1%, and ep 5 generated 4.8% and made it into the top 10 anime ratings for the week. Kids probably still aren't watching it.

Yeah, the demo breakdowns get released on Tuesdays/Wednesdays... We'll see how they turn out.

Hopefully it's a continuing trend.

Also, it seems the deluxe edition blu-ray also got a jump on Amazon, it is actually selling at ~400 place right now, which isn't as bad as before (down at the 2,000's)

Seed HD remaster seems to be dominating the charts though.

[monster]

Originally Posted by brightman

Seed HD remaster seems to be dominating the charts though.

That's not really a fair comparison to make (not that I'm accusing you of making one). I think SEED had decent ratings in Japan, so we already know there would be some interest in an HD version of it.

But if the recent increase in ratings for the these last couple of episodes for AGE is a sign of things to come, AGE's ranking might improve as well.

[brightman]

Yeah, I think Seed HD remaster just went on sale not too long ago too, so maybe that has something to do with it too.

Just seems interesting that what everyone considers to be the best AGE episode so far was such a drop-off in ratings, but when a bishounen (along with shower service) and a shota joins the show the ratings suddenly went up and so did the DVD sales.

[monster]

Originally Posted by brightman

Just seems interesting that what everyone considers to be the best AGE episode so far was such a drop-off in ratings, but when a bishounen (along with shower service) and a shota joins the show the ratings suddenly went up and so did the DVD sales.

It just goes to show you that the average Japanese audience of today may not look for the same thing in Gundam as the average online (mostly non-Japanese) fans.

[Duo Maxwell]

Originally Posted by brightman

Yeah, I think Seed HD remaster just went on sale not too long ago too, so maybe that has something to do with it too.

Just seems interesting that what everyone considers to be the best AGE episode so far was such a drop-off in ratings, but when a bishounen (along with shower service) and a shota joins the show the ratings suddenly went up and so did the DVD sales.

I remember reading somewhere that most of the one who purchased the DVD back in the SEED era are female, ain't it? That could explain what's happening with Gundam AGE, then.

[Kaioshin Sama]

Originally Posted by brightman

Yeah, I think Seed HD remaster just went on sale not too long ago too, so maybe that has something to do with it too.

Just seems interesting that what everyone considers to be the best AGE episode so far was such a drop-off in ratings, but when a bishounen (along with shower service) and a shota joins the show the ratings suddenly went up and so did the DVD sales.

lol this topic again....but yeah that's possibly the least surprising result to Woolf's introduction to the cast. This is probably a comment that's going to land me in a bit of hot water, but I've always felt that the actual fandom in Japan is pretty damn shallow in terms of what will grab their attention so....kind of similar to over here only it's completely different things that they look for compared to here. Here people on the internet demand constant high levels of grit and "realism" whereas over there a naked ass bishounen Wolfman will do just fine.

[-|(aGe-BuNsHiN-]

The more I try to view this show objectively, the more I get riled by the animation style.
I just can't find a way around it. Hope you guys enjoy the rest of the show because I'm done with it.

[SonicSP]

Originally Posted by Suzuku

So after ep 3's abysmal rating, AGE has made something of a comeback. Ep 4 generated 4,1%, and ep 5 generated 4.8% and made it into the top 10 anime ratings for the week. Kids probably still aren't watching it.

I say its hard to target kids the way the show is now, so maybe they should just try and make it sucessful as a regular Gundam series.

I wonder if Asemu's age increase has anything to do with it though?

[GN0010 Nosferatu]

I'm actually very diappointed that Asemu's age has been changed. It's gotta be from the low ratings and apocalyptic hatred for the series. It's already a sign that Level-5 and Sunrise have been discouraged. If the time travel rumor was true before, it's certainly getting changed now.