[COMMISSION] Shadow Ninja G (Ch.01) (Patreon)

The first of two commissions that'll be coming out (Fusion Clashes Gundam Battle-Rave being next) every other week (probably on Saturdays)!

ABOUT THIS WORK

A sidestory manga set within the Mobile Suit Gundam universe, serialized through irregular standalone chapters in Cyber Comix magazine. Its most striking distinction lies in the fact that the vast majority of mobile suit pilots who appear, the protagonist among them, are ninja. The mobile suits themselves have been reimagined accordingly, with a wealth of uniquely adapted units making their presence felt throughout. The work's singular worldview and its wholehearted embrace of ninja storytelling conventions have cultivated a deeply loyal fanbase, and whenever the collected volume falls out of print, a new edition has reliably followed.

The story begins with a desperate battle between ninja at the A Baoa Qu fortress in the closing days of the One Year War, threads its way through the tangled web of conspiracies spun in the shadows of the Gryps War and the First Neo Zeon War, and arrives at last at the sweeping operation known as the Night Parade of a Hundred Machines, executed on the eve of the Second Neo Zeon War, spanning fourteen years of conflict as seen through the eyes of the protagonist Ryouga, known also as the Shadow Ninja G.

Taken at face value, the sheer absurdity of a premise built around MS ninja lurking in the underbelly of the Universal Century might suggest a comedy, yet the savage battles waged by these MS ninja and the destinies that lie in wait for them are played entirely straight. As the author notes in the afterword, the work was "drawn with the intent that it could be taken as either comedy or drama."

This distinctive style went on to exert a strong influence on the Gundam series that followed. Director Imagawa stated in the booklet accompanying Laserdisc Volume 3 that upon reading Shadow Ninja G before producing Mobile Fighter G Gundam, he felt, "If I'm going to do Gundam, I want to do something like that." And, while many know that Mobile Suit Gundam SEED features the discovery of a fossil proving the existence of extraterrestrial life, the manga was among the first works in the Gundam franchise to explicitly depict contact with extraterrestrial beings (Jupiter Mirage being one of the first). Mobile Suit Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer later portrayed the arrival of and dialogue with the extraterrestrial ELS, but the overall arc, in which extraterrestrial beings arrive from the Jupiter Sphere, engage humanity in combat by mimicking mobile suits among other forms, and ultimately reach reconciliation through dialogue with the protagonist, bears a striking resemblance to the plot found in Night Parade of a Hundred Machines arc.