Published in the west by Tokyopop
Price - $12.99 (US) - Find it on www.amazon.com or www.amazon.co.uk

Technical Manuals Overview

These are small pocket sized books released in the west by Tokyopop. They are translated versions of books from the Data Collections series in Japan, which were rehashings of the superior Entertainment Bibles. Each technical manual comes in standard English format, left to right and front to back, with roughly half of it devoted to a colour section for lineart and half in black & white, mainly text with illustrations and extra lineart. Several of the books have a few mislabelled illustrations in the black and white section and some mistranslated text (usually quite obvious if you know the subject matter).

What's in the book

The final technical manual of the series (those released at any rate) is from the very first Alternate Universe tale - G Gundam. As I opened this book at the colour section I was overcome with deja vu. Yes that's right, the Wing manual print quality has returned to haunt us. It's not quite as bad but it's not improved enough to warrant crediting it. It's as if the best printed parts of the three UC manuals have been cast aside and the assumption made that bitty and indistinct colour pictures are the preferred norm. By contrast the monochrome lineart in the colour section is very clear and crisp, so it's not a total regression. The print quality of the colour pictures is also variable, with some of a more acceptable standard, though not enough to save it. They also insisted on using brown boxes to contain the technical specs and you consequently can barely make out the information you can already find for free on the net. The entire section is of less use than the equivalent UC mechanics pages as there are precious few extra mobile suits from outside the show. The only one of the few available worthy of mention is Urube's mobile fighter from the 12th Gundam Fight. The extra angles and occasional detail pictures make a pleasant addition but they're of less interest here than in the other books.

The black and white section is surprisingly still split into the usual halves - MS (Mobile Fighter here) Development and History & Background. There are three whole pages of MF Development. They do actually provide a vaguely interesting background to the the mobile fighters but it's far too short to be really worthwhile. The history half is slightly larger at four pages of new information and one page retelling the show, which is somewhat inevitable by this point. The background to the development of the whole Gundam fight is vague yet still rather a good read. The text covers the situation that led to its creation and then the development of the fight over the years, with the death of Dahal Muhammad and the three year winning streak of Gentle Chapman mentioned. The seven rules are also listed, along with two clarifications. Whilst the limited new information in both these sections is interesting, it's not enough to stop you wondering quite where the pages went as you finish. The last few pages are filled with a lot of black and white lineart for the characters. In a step up from previous manuals they actually provide small profiles in addition to the usual small amounts of text present in this section. It's the single improvement in the entire book.

Opinion

Reading through the other two paragraphs should have revealed to you my disappointment with this book. I did not purchase it with any great hopes as G Gundam is a series guided firmly towards fun, story and character depth, without a thought to deep background or technical information. Still there was a part of me that hoped for a something better. To be completely honest they should have never brought this book out and instead translated the Data Collections book for Mobile Suit Gundam. I cannot really think of much positive to say. The print quality of the colour section lowers the use of it as a quick reference for the mecha and the scarcity of the text section is greater even than Wing. If you're a die-hard G Gundam fan then maybe you should pick it up, but I'm a pretty strong fan and I wouldn't have even considered buying it unless I wanted to complete my set of books. Perhaps something to give to that younger sibling who has enjoyed G Gundam on a purely fun and action based level, otherwise avoid this book at all costs.

Written to The Beatles - I Am The Walrus