Mobile Suit Gundam Blue Destiny 1

by Yoshiyuki Tomino

Overpopulation forces droves of people to move to orbital space colonies where they're abused by the controlling power, the Earth Federation Government. Colonists form the Zeon Dukedom to resolve their disputes and wage the One Year War for independence.

Genres: Manga, Science Fiction, Graphic Novels

220 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

富野 由悠季 in Japanese, best known for creating the "Gundam" franchise.

Reviews

[Kenny Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Another below average gundam novel. But I gave this one a 3 stars because it doesn't have an anime series to it. The only way you can understand this story beside reading the novel is playing the game version of it. This is a side story of the main 0079 main series. So I probably wouldn't recommend this to anyone beside die hard gundam fan since you probably won't understand the what the novel is talking about anyway. The only way to understand is if you already have a good background knowledge of the original 0079 series and have a high interest in finding out more stuffs revolving around the "One Year War"

[Sophie Townsend · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read this back in highschool. Really great Universal Century mobile suit variation. I have no idea if there is a sequal manga but ive seen advanced versions of RX-79-BD-1 anyways. The story gets kinda weird with the paychommu system as it usually is in the Gundam universe.

[Brannigan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my favorite. They Americanized the layout so it felt weird the whole time I read it.

[Rickie · Rating 4 out of 5]

As someone who randomly came across this via a flea market, I was unsure what to expect from this outside of it being a one-shot manga. As I read it with that mindset, I realized that the art and most of the Mobile Suit fights were the best qualities of the manga. The characters did not gain much exposition with the exception of the main character. The 'antagonist' of the novel seemed rather lacking in rational for his actions. Heck, even one of the more dramatic moments when a secondary character makes a sacrifice to save the main character seemed lacking. Some people who do not like rushed endings may not enjoy Blue Destiny. Also in reference to the style of the manga, the book is reversed meaning that characters who are right handed appear to be left, and vice versa. While that factor did not ruin my experience with this manga, I understand it can for others.

The reason I gave this manga the rating I did was due to the art, overall plot, and the ease of getting newcomers into the Gundam series. With the various anime series being extensive with their episode count and other series like The Origin costing $30 new, finding a cheap entry for Gundam hopefuls can be tricky. Blue Destiny serves as an alright beginning for people due to its art style with the Mobile Suits, the overall plot of young pilots serving a basic duty for their military, and the overall feel of a Gundam story it has. This is something any die hard could enjoy for sure.

In the end, Blue Destiny serves as a basic manga that, while not anything spectacular, can be quite an eye opener for newbies.