Zeta Gundam - Children Caught Up in Adults' Wars | Falcon Talks
On the "elderly" and the "young"
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Hi everyone,
Today, we’re going to talk about something a bit heavier, but through the lens of the Gundam franchise - specifically, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
The Gundam franchise is something that I’ve loved since I was young.
If you didn’t know - Gundam is a Japanese mecha franchise that pioneered the Real Robot genre of mecha anime. Most of its entries feature more realistic, if futuristic, pilotable giant robots (hence, “Real Robot”), and most of them will also feature a war between those who rule the Earth and those who rule the surrounding space colonies.1
One consistent theme in original creator Tomino Yoshiyuki's Gundam works is that kids (from actual children to young adults) keep getting dragged into the grown-ups' wars.2
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam is the second entry in the series, and a sequel to the original Mobile Suit Gundam - and this entry continues those themes explored by the first entry.
When I had first watched the series, I was fairly young and still in university. And while I enjoyed it immensely, I do realize now that a few things probably went over my head - both because of my inexperience with the world, and also just from being super busy with my studies at the time.
So, more recently, I had a chance to rewatch a few episodes (I hope to give the entire series a rewatch one day, when I have the time), and I picked a few from the tail end of the series to watch.
And that’s when a bit of dialogue really struck me.
Now, this is, of course, where the spoiler warning comes in. However, I do hope that you’ll stay, since these are actually very minor spoilers, and I feel that the message that Tomino tries to impart here is quite important - and very much still resonant.
However, if you are leaving, then I’ll sum up the message here, and explain it after the spoiler break:
It's not the elderly who'll build the new era - it's the young, and they shouldn't be sacrificed for us.
Of course, that's not very nuanced, and it certainly won't apply to every situation. But, if you're leaving before the spoilers, then that's all that I can really say at the moment.
(Again, I do hope that you’ll stay, regardless of spoilers.)
So, with that said…
Alright, now we can get into it.
So, near the end of the series, after some rather… intense discussions, the main character, Kamille Bidan, is escaping two rather powerful mobile suit3 pilots with his mentor, Lieutenant Quattro Bajeena, and his fellow pilot and love interest, Fa Yuiry.
Both Kamille and Fa are in their late teens, not even really adults yet, while Quattro is a man in his late twenties. And through the various events in the series, Quattro is seen as the icon of their rebellion - the one who will save the world from the corrupt and power-hungry military factions looking to take over the Earth and its space colonies.
As the three try to escape, Kamille is intent on holding back the two formidable enemy pilots by himself so that the Lieutenant and Fa can escape unscathed.
Luckily, Quattro and Fa manage to help Kamille chase away their two opponents for a brief window of time, and Quattro says that the three of them should take this chance and escape together.
However, Kamille is intent on staying, and he says to his mentor:
Essentially, he’s saying that he’ll sacrifice his life for Quattro, because he believes that Quattro will save the world.
Quattro, however, counters his young comrade with this:
And so, the three of them manage to escape, but so do the other two enemy combatants.4
“Do you think the world will be saved with youngsters like you losing their lives?!”
“It’s not the elderly who will build the new era!”
- Quattro Bajeena, from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (Episode 50)
It’s a powerful sentiment that I’ve thought about on and off over the last two or so years since I’ve rewatched that episode, especially as I become one of the “elderly”.
And by “elderly”, I'm not just talking about people over some arbitrary age - remember, Quattro was only 27 when he said those lines. (And I am only in my mid-thirties myself.)
What I believe Tomino (and Quattro) is trying to say applies to anyone who’s found themselves in an “elder” position - and this is especially resonant coming from a place such as Japan where anyone “senior” is often regarded as being correct over anyone “junior” to them.5
Even to those of us who grew up and/or live in a culture where the hierarchy of ages isn’t so strictly enforced, what Quattro is saying is still very much applicable.
However, before we continue - there is probably a myriad of different ways to interpret what Quattro is saying, as with most art. So, to clarify and to expand on what I had said at the beginning, here’s what I took from that scene:
It's not the elderly who'll build the new era - it's the young, and they shouldn't be sacrificed for us.
It’s important for those of us who are older to listen to the young. It’s important to remember that we’ll eventually leave the world in their hands. We should be a guiding hand, and not an oppressive grip. The young shouldn’t be sacrificed for us.
We should listen to and guide those younger than us, and the same should be expected from those older than us.
Sounds simple and obvious, doesn’t it?
But, in practice, not so much.
Think about how many times you’ve heard the young getting dismissed because they “don’t know anything”. Think about how many times you’ve heard someone scolding the young for daring to speak out about injustices. Think about how many times you’ve heard the young get blamed merely for things changing.
Or, for those of us in Generation Y6, think about the sentiments that led to the birth of that damn avocado toast meme.
Now, to be fair, the messages that I took from that scene has probably always been important and relevant (especially considering that this episode aired in 1986).
But, a large part of why I’m talking about it now, is because I've been feeling its resonance more and more lately as I grow older and see more of the world.
I've watched those older than me preach about the "good old days" as if everything is terrible now; and I've seen those in power bully their way through, dismissing the voices of the younger generation.
I've watched as those around my age grow older and forget what it's like to be young and unheard, and quite a few of them now chide those younger than us for the world changing or for asking for change as those our age once did.
And I've watched the young's voices get dismissed, as though they are only coloured by inexperience and naiveté, rather than also with the optimism and hope that their youth brings.
That’s not even mentioning how often children get dragged into adults' wars - both the metaphorical ones and the literal ones.
Just in recent memory, we’ve seen marginalized and LGBTQ+ youth then and now being used as scapegoats, and we’ve seen young protestors and journalists being jailed and worse.
We’ve seen young soldiers being sent to kill and to die, and we’ve seen civilians being killed and displaced.
The “youngsters” are getting sacrificed for the “elderly” - both literally and metaphorically.
Of course, I'm not saying that the old are always wrong and that the young are always right (and who knows what to say about the middle) - that is... obviously not true.
What I'm saying is that we shouldn't be so dismissive of the young, just because they're young; that the old should guide rather than control; and that we should remember that we're not here to stay, so we should try to pass on a better world to those after us.
And for pity’s sake - please stop sacrificing the young for the old.
The logistics of which faction rules what varies and jumps around depending on the entry, but since it’s not actually relevant to the topic, I’ve simplified it.
In my opinion, this is shown the strongest in his original tetralogy consisting of the original Gundam, Zeta, ZZ, and Char's Counterattack; though aspects of it do show up in his later Gundam works as well.
Mobile suits are what they call the pilotable giant robots in this series.
To those in the know - yes, I know what happens after Quattro says this (including the events of ZZ and CCA), which makes the whole thing even more tragic!
See “Why You Shouldn’t Move to Japan (And Conditions for Those Who Should)” by Let’s ask Shogo; of course, this is just one observation from a native resident of Japan, but I’ve heard the same sentiment expressed elsewhere from different anecdotal sources as well - so take that as you will.
I refuse to call us “Millennials” - we’re in between Generation X and Generation Z, so we’re Generation Y!
We're watching through Zeta now and really enjoying it. War in the Pocket also comes to mind as another great exploration of what happens when youth collides with war.
I love 1980s Japanese anime shows like this. I've never watched Zeta Gundam so I'll have to check it out sometime. I've always been obsessed with retro anime similar to this like Akira and Dragon Ball Z.