Show Notes

This week begins our coverage of Char's Counterattack with... a bunch of things that happened before Char's Counterattack. We recap and discuss the first two SD shorts, - both of which were shown in theaters before the Char's Counterattack movie: “Fierce Fighting - Will Gundam Stand Up!?” (激闘編 - ガンダム大地に立てるか!?) and “Holiday - The Menace of the Zeon Hotel? Destruction orders for the Gundam Pension!” (休日編 - ジオン・ホテルの脅威？ガンダム・ペンション破壊命令!!). In addition to our first thoughts and impressions, we try to identify and explain references, puns, and other gags that might be missed by an audience that doesn't speak Japanese. Thom researches the origins of the SD or "Super Deformed" aesthetic in anime and anime merchandise, and I give a whirlwind review of world events from the end of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ to the premier of Char's Counterattack - February 22nd, 1986 until March 12th, 1988.

Contemporary Events

• Wikipedia timelines for 1986 and 1987.
• More detailed information about the Khian Sea waste-disposal incident, and the Goiânia accident.
• About "Our Common Future" (aka the Brundtland Report), and estimated world-population milestones.
• The (financial markets) Big Bang, a timeline of Japan's asset price bubble, Black Monday 1987, and the Economist's "Big Mac Index."
• A March 2020 article about the use of the "circuit breaker" during the financial shocks caused by Covid-19 lockdowns and related uncertainty.
• The Kurdish genocide (aka the Anfal campaign), the 1987 "Mecca incident," the Sumgait pogrom, and the first Intifada.
• Explanation of the Leiyu massacre.
• More detailed timeline and explanation of the June Struggle.
• All about the Iran-Contra scandal.
• Wikipedia pages about Klaus Barbie (the "Butcher of Lyon") and the warcrimes allegations against Kurt Waldheim.
• In Cold War notes, the history and content of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty, the drafting and belated fame of Reagan