NKDS

Wing Zero, Kunio Okawara version

AFA has just successfully concluded, and I trust that it had been an enjoyable and memorable event for all who attended. After all, this is the first time a large scale anime event has been held in Singapore, and the management can only get better with experience. Let us hope for an even better event next year, one that will be spectacular enough to lure more fellow anime and mecha fans from our neighbouring countries into attending.

This will be among the first in a series of AFA-related articles that NKDS will be working on, as we try to work our fried brains into some semblance of competence while recalling details about the event. Aniki and May’n were responsible for this, they were the ones who made us shell-shocked with their awesome performances. Though I never knew the process of being shell-shocked felt so good.

While AFA 2008 as a whole was excellent, several observations made by NKDS personnel who attended Kunio Okawara’s autograph session caused some of the more mecha-inclined among us to become rather incensed, and with that in mind, we elected to dedicate a post to the phenomenon in question. This article has nothing to do with the organizers of AFA, instead it has everything to do about the fans, or more specifically, the Gundam fans who attended the event.

Wing Zero, Hajime Katoki version. Same Gundam, 2 designers.

Okawara-sensei recently received a boost in local fame thanks to his attendence at AFA, and he is widely and rightfully recognized by fans of the mecha genre as the foremost and leading Gundam mechanical designer. However, as some readers are no doubt aware, other mechanical designers have contributed their own Gundam designs before. A good example would be Hajime Katoki with his Gundam Wing Endless Waltz designs, and Kanetake Ebikawa, who designed the Gundam Exia and 00 Gundam from the currently airing Gundam 00.

Therein lies the problem. During Okawara-sensei’s autograph session, we spotted several fans carrying kits such as the MG Wing Zero Custom and 1/100 Gundam Exia, intended for Okawara-sensei to sign on. While this may be done in good faith and with no malice meant, Okawara-sensei himself had absolutely no involvement with those designs, and certainly has the right to refuse the autography request. Of course, the kind designer did nothing of the sort and signed on the model kits without complaint, but his sheer generosity only made what the fans unwittingly did to him sting even more than it should.

Personnel from Bonkurasu and Nakadashi witnessed for themselves what happened, and we truly felt for Okawara-sensei. It was such a sorry scene…an autograph session held in his honour, and he had Gundam fans bringing mobile suits not designed by him for him to sign on. Yet he easily took it in his stride and continued the session as if nothing unusual had happened. Our respect for him rose another few notches that afternoon.

So, that leads me to our message for Gundam or mecha fans in general, wherever you may hail from. Mechanical designers often treat their designs as their child, the product of a painful process of continuous refinement and improvement. We, as fans, in turn respect and celebrate the designers’ achievements by purchasing the merchandise of designs that we like, be it the humblest 1/144 model kit or a top-of-the-line Soul of Chogokin figure.

Therefore, please accord basic respect to designers and their works by at least doing some research and identifying who designed what, before diving into an autography session.

For a small investment of your time, you could save yourself a great deal of embarassment, and at the same time truly honour the designer by requesting for his signature on a merchandise of the design that he was personally involved in. The designer will be happier, his smile to you may be more personal and friendlier, especially if the design happened to be a personal favourite. You in turn will feel good about supporting the designer and having your merchandise autographed. Really, it is all benefits with zero drawbacks.

As I was telling Dodgethis, thank the Gundam gods that no one turned up with a VF-25 model kit for that session. That would have been an atrocity that any self-respecting mecha fan would have found hard to stomach, regardless of Okawara-sensei’s personal reaction. Not that Kawamori-sensei’s work is in any way inferior to Okawara-sensei’s, but having Okawara-sensei putting his name on a Valkyrie is just plain wrong.

This is Julius Firefocht, signing off.