Developers - Mobile Suit Gundam Before One Year War

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I would not recommend this series to anyone not familiar with the One Year War from the UC timeline of Gundam series. Maybe watch the trilogy or Gundam Origin to get some background, but those coming into the franchise fresh will not enjoy this.

Developers tells the story of the factory who got the military contract to manufacture the first military use mobile suit for mass production....the Zaku. It features a cast of hard nosed factory workers who are barely scraping by and it's kinda funny in a sad way how this project is the target of their passions when you know the Gundam is going ... to go through them in an instant.

That said, any Gundam series that doesn't focus on Newtypes is a welcome addition in my book and Developers is a fresh look at the painful amount of engineering, budgetary, and internal job political obstacles that were needed to be overcome in order to get the mobile suits up and running. Since there aren't any physical combat the antagonist in this series is often times the character's own limitations. The weight of the frame of the Zaku, or how to properly make a radiation free work environment while also being able to communicate through radio, or how to mass produce a certain part without going over budget are the mustache twirling bad guys and for some that might be a turn off.

However I felt just as depressed as the characters for every setback and just as overjoyed when they are able to move past them. The stakes of having the job of manufacturing the mobile suit is small but much more tense as a result. All of this lending to a much more intimate story and a cast that you become more attached to. This shares kind of the same novelty as those sports movies on the road to a championship event as I'm rooting from the sidelines for the factory every step on their way to their demonstration in front of the corporate bigwigs and the military brass.

The character designs aren't anything too special but it's fine since many of the factor workers just have simple straightforward and earnest personalities anyways. I found the simplicity complimented that. Conversely the mechanical illustrations of the tools for manufacturing the mobile suits as well as the blueprint designs and the individual parts were given the majority of the detail. This makes the actual look of the finished mobile suit even more impact than just looking cool since you actually saw how much work was put into making that mobile suit look as cool as it does.

For 11 chapters there isn't a lot of room for the story to breathe, and many side characters are pushed aside to the role of comedic relief as a result. This results in a very tightly written story and although it doesn't leave much room for the imagination in terms of world building it kept me engaged from beginning to end.

If you wanted more of a technical Gundam story that is self contained but manages to make itself interesting I'd give this a read.