Gaia Gear is a series of novels created and written by Yoshiyuki Tomino. Part of the Gundam metaseries, but not part of the canonical Gundam storyline, it was later adapted into a 26-episode radio drama.
The character designer is Hiroyuki Kitazume, and the mechanical designer is Mamoru Ito (Yoshinori Sayama only for the pre-renovation Zorin Soul). Kenichi Onuki, Morifumi Naka, Masanori Nishii, Hideaki Anno and Yoshiyuki Sadamoto from GAINAX participated in the frontispiece drawing of the pocket books.
Plot Setting Gaia Gear is a story set in the 0200s of the Universal Century, about 110 years after Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, and depicts the exploits of a young man named Affranchi Char who inherits the memories of Char Aznable. It is set in the future of the Universal Century timeline of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime universe, but is not treated as a canonical Gundam by Sunrise.
In this era, most people live on space colonies. In order to protect the environment and prevent pollution, the Earth is, in principle, completely uninhabitable, and the only people who are allowed to live on the planet are federal government employees who monitor the environment. In reality, however, a few privileged people and a large number of illegal residents remain on the planet. In addition, although officially denied, there are industrial production bases scattered throughout the world. In response to this, the MHA (Man Hunting Agency), a secret police, was established within the Earth Federation as a "manhunting unit" to detect illegal residents on Earth. However, the MHA, which was only an internal bureau of the Earth Federation, emerged as a private army based on a kind of elitism, and began to suppress people with anti-Earth Federation ideas.
On the other hand, the Metatron (Zee Zeon Organization), an anti-Earth Federation group in which Afflanchi participates, consist of supporters of Char Aznable. Some of them are followers of the Principality of Zeon, but the core of the group are people who are genuinely obsessed with the dream of carrying on Char's legacy. In order to shake the federal government with Char's charisma, they carried out "Char Continuation Operation" and created a "memory clone" with Char's memories, Afflanchi Char, and welcomed him as their leader.
Instead of "Mobile Suits" of the previous century, the main weapon is a humanoid mobile weapon called "Man Machines".
Story U.C.203, a young man named Afflanchi Char, who grew up on an island in an environmental reserve in the South Pacific, decides to go into space according to the will of his foster parent, Gaba Su. As a memory clone who has inherited the memories of the former hero Char, he is elevated to the leader of the anti-Earth Federation group "Metatron". He boards the Man Machine "Gaia Gear Alpha" and fights against the Federation's secret police force "MHA". However, when Afflanchi refused to act as Char Aznable and continued to act as himself, the rift between him and the Metatron's leaders gradually widened.
Copyright problem As of , Gaia Gear, both the novel and the CDs, are all out of print. The reason for this is that it is an original novel created by Yoshiyuki Tomino using the settings and world of Mobile Suit Gundam. Although Tomino later reconciled with Sunrise and was listed as the original author in the credits of the Gundam series, he sold his original author rights to Sunrise when the first Mobile Suit Gundam was produced.This was not an uncommon practice in those days. Therefore, he had no right to start a new work belonging to the Gundam series on his own authority at that time. However, in the late 1980s when Gaia Gear was written, the Gundam series itself had not grown into the big business that it is today, and Sunrise initially tolerated Gaia Gear. However, with the subsequent success of the OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and the release of sequel films such as Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack and Mobile Suit Gundam F91 directed by Tomino, they gradually tightened their control. In fact, the title of this work was announced as Mobile Suit Gaia Gear: Char's Counterattack before the start of serialization in the Newtype magazine, but when serialization began, the title was changed first to Mobile Suit Gaia Gear (episodes 1 to 5 of the series), then to Newtype Saga Gaia Gear (episode 6 onwards), and when it was published as a pocket book, it was simply listed as Gaia Gear. When the radio drama was made into a CD, the package had two credits on it: "Gaia Gear (c) Yoshiyuki Tomino, Kadokawa Shoten, Newtype" and "Mobile Suit Gundam (c) Sotsu Agency, Sunrise". When Fukkan.com negotiated with Tomino to reissue the book, he refused to give permission because of the "quality" of the work.
After that, Sotsu, which owns the Gundam trademark, was acquired by Bandai Namco Holdings through a tender offer in 2019. Sunrise became a wholly owned subsidiary of Bandai in 1994 and was consolidated into Bandai Namco Filmworks in 2022 to become one of its brands.
Characters
The leader of Metatron, who has inherited the memories of Char Aznable. An orphan with no memory of his childhood, he was raised on an environmentally protected island in the South Pacific by the island's elder, Gaba Su. At the age of 19, he decides to go to space following the will of his adoptive father, Gaba Su. As if guided by the sounds echoing in his head, he leaves the island despite the objections of his girlfriend, Everly Key. He is a young man with blond hair reminiscent of a pure-blooded Caucasian, and his appearance closely resembles that of Char Aznable. He is in fact a clone of Char Aznable, artificially created as his successor, with a cell chip containing Char's memories implanted in his brain. However, Affranchi's personality is not that of Char, even though he has memories of Char and shares the same genetic traits as him. The word "affranchi" means "freed slave" in French.
A brown-skinned, mixed-race woman who grew up on a southern island with Affranchi. She is Afflanchi's childhood friend, lover, and wife. She instinctively likes attention and knows how to show herself, but she is not aware of it. That's why she is lovely, Affranchi thinks. She has a fierce temper and once accepts her fate to send Affranchi away, but she cannot give up and leaves the island after him.
A preppy-looking young man that Afflanchi and the other members of Metatron meet on the space colony Hellas. He is actually a member of MHA who approached them accidentally on purpose, a pilot of Man Machine, and a second lieutenant. He has a handsome face and makes a good impression on others, but his true nature is ferocious and cunning. He came from a poor background and worked hard to join the MHA, and finds favor in Dargol's eyes and stands out. He also agrees with Dargol's views and works as his advance guard, but gradually becomes frustrated about being forced to move at his will. He has a strong rivalry with Afflanchi, who is born with excellent abilities and a blessed origin.
A member of Metatron. She is a brown-skinned woman with a fraction of Indian blood and looks Indian, but she is a mixture of several ethnicities. She is a stark contrast to Affranchi, the iconic white purebred. Although she was not raised in a particularly Indian way or taught Hinduism, she prefers to wear saris on a regular basis and chant the names of Hindu deities when she meditates. She is from the slums of the space colony Hellas, and is ashamed of that. She believed that a radical improvement in their environment would require a world-change through Metatron's activities. However, she finds a grain of truth in MHA member Ul Urian's remark that "there is a sense of white supremacy in the fishiness of Char Continuous Operation," and she realizes that she is wrong. She realizes that Affranchi sees another woman, Everly's simulacrum in her and runs away to Ul Urian to get back at him and turns to the MHA. However, she despairs when she discovers Ul's true nature and the reality of MHA.
A member of Metatron who greeted Afflanchi and Everly as Baum Zegen's secretary in Hong Kong. She is a woman with the appearance of a successful career woman, with a mix of red hair and blonde hair, and brown eyes. Her father is a privileged official in the Earth Federation government, but her admiration for Char Aznable led her to join Metatron. After joining up with Afflanchi, she begins to work with him as his assistant and advisor. However, when Afflanchi becomes dependent on her with everything, she softly refuses.
A pilot belonging to Metatron. He is a strong, hasty, and easy to fire-up personality, but is a competent pilot. He is dogmatic and reckless, unable to see the big picture, but useful in emergencies, and is arrogant and rough, but also quick-witted. He doesn't care where he belongs as long as he can make a living handling Man Machines, and he came to Metatron simply because he dislikes bureaucrats. At first, he underestimated Affranchi as an amateur pilot, but after falling behind Affranchi's Gaia Gear α, he came to recognize his abilities.
A pilot belonging to Metatron. He is a slender young man, kind, sensitive, and serious, but also a bit dogmatic and inflexible. He realizes he is in love with Krishna after she goes missing on Earth, but encounters Krishna accompanying Ul during a reconnaissance mission.
A female Man Machine pilot belonging to Metatron and the captain of a reinforcement unit. She was worried when she received an order to kill Affranchi from Metatron executives.
A member of Metatron. Man Machine pilot, Captain of Air Force 1. He is well-liked, mainly as a leader in the field, and is an ally to Afransi. He is about 40 years old and has a mustache.
Captain of Mother Metatron (Thirty-One Square). He didn't have a favorable impression of Afflanchi, who refuses to act as Char Aznable, from the beginning, and was rarely on his side. Miranda looked relieved when he only took a cooperative attitude once.
A pilot belonging to Metatron. He was a member of the gang in Hellas, but Afflanchi assigned him to the Man Machine unit under his direct control. He was born in one of the poorest areas of Hellas. Afflanchi believes that Metatron, a group of principled people, needs a "foreign body" like him to activate the organization.
A female pilot belonging to Metatron. She was a member of the gang in Hellas, but Afflanchi assigned her to the Man Machine unit under his direct control. She had no parents and lived in desperation with gang. She loved a simple, clear world where she did not have to use her imagination, where only power proved her position. There is something decent about Messer, so she couldn't quite like him. However, when she found herself a talented pilot, learned to endure within the organization, and became familiar with Affranchi, who didn't let feel his suffering around him, she could also allow Messer to be naive.
A pilot belonging to Metatron. He was a member of the gang in Hellas, but Afflanchi assigned him to the Man Machine unit under his direct control.
A pilot belonging to Metatron. He was a member of the gang in Hellas, but Afflanchi assigned him to the Man Machine unit under his direct control.
The gang boss in Hellas. He was forced to work on Earth as a political prisoner, but escaped and joined Metatron. He was the go-between for Affranchi and Messer and his associates.
A watcher sent by Metatron. A drunken, middle-aged white man and white supremacist. When Everly came after Affranchi, he slapped her for not being worthy of him.
A middle-aged white man wearing a white top and bottom, serving as the president of a real estate company in Hong Kong. He was a member of the Zee Zeon Organization and managed the building that preserved Zorin Soul.