Trivia / Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack

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• Creator Backlash: While Tomino still likes the film and appreciates what he did with it overall, he thinks it shows the scars of his inexperience with filmmaking. He notes that at a certain point, he realized the film didn't have the space to fit all the story he wanted, resulting in the final project feeling quite rushed and abrupt in places.
• Hey, It's That Sound!: This film lifts multiple sound effects from the original Star Wars films; beam sabers activating sound just like lightsabers, several mobile suit thrusters sound like the engines on X-Wings and other Rebel fighters, and there are occasions where a ship firing its beam cannons sounds almost exactly like Imperial turbolasers.
• Hostility on the Set: Kōichi Yamadera recounts one time that Shūichi Ikeda shouted at him during break when Yamadera noted that Char was a bad guy while Amuro was the good guy and Yamadera was still new to the voice acting business, let alone Gundam. They made up afterwards however.
• The Other Darrin: Mayumi Sho voices Cheimin Noah instead of Yuko Mizutani, her actress from Zeta Gundam.
• What Could Have Been: Tomino's original draft (later published as Char's Counterattack: Beltorchika's Children, which later received a manga adaptation) had quite a few differences from the finished product - among other things, Beltorchika would have taken Chan's role, although unlike Chan, she would've survived, and would've been pregnant with Amuro's child; the Nu Gundam had a completely different design (said design is officially known as the Hi Nu Gundam); Char had an entirely different mech replacing the Sazabi (the Nightengale); and unlike in the movie, where Quess is killed intentionally by Chan, Hathaway would've killed Quess by accident (this would serve as a Sequel Hook leading into Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash). Also, unlike the movie, Beltorchika's Children officially states that Amuro and Char are both Killed in Action.
  • As noted on the main page, Sayla Mass was supposed to appear, hence her appearance in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ. However, her voice actress was yet again unavailable.
  • Considering that Chan acts very similar to Beltorchika, it's possible that the final product would've included Beltorchika in Chan's place had Tomino been allowed to use the character. It wouldn't be until Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn that Beltorchika would appear in another Gundam work, although we never learn how her relationship with Amuro ended.
  • One of the more drastic differences between the original draft and the final product is Kamille's presence - not only was Kamille in the movie in the original draft, but he would've sided with Char.
  • This movie's existence is this trope. Originally, Tomino was going to conclude the rivalry between Char and Amuro in ZZ, but was given the go-ahead to make this film, resulting in the plot being drastically rewritten. It's very safe to assume that had he not been given said go ahead, this movie wouldn't exist (although how different their resolution would've been in ZZ compared to what we actually got is unknown, since not only was Counterattack likely greenlit very early into the run of ZZ, as evident by both Amuro and Char showing up in that show's intro, but Tomino's original idea hasn't been released, nor does he remember how Char would've returned).
• You Sound Familiar:
  • Quess Paraya is voiced by Maria Kawamura, who previously played Beltorchika Irma in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
  • Mayumi Sho, who voiced Haro and Qum in Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, voices Cheimin Noah in Char's Counterattack.
  • Hathaway Noah's voice actor Nozomu Sasaki previously played Lunan in Gundam ZZ.
  • Nanai Miguel is voiced by Yoshiko Sakakibara, who previously voiced Haman Karn and Mouar Pharaoh in Mobile Suit Gundam.
  • Tooth's voice actor Kōji Totani previously voiced minor roles in the original Gundam, as well as Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ.
  • Horst Harness' actor Masaru Ikeda had a major role as General Revil in Mobile Suit Gundam and would later go on to play minor roles in Zeta Gundam and Gundam ZZ.
  • Shigeru Ushiyama (October Saran) previously played Madchar Mucha in Gundam ZZ.

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