Happy Easter!
Wow, I didn’t realize the project was approaching the 5 year mark so soon! It wasn’t a long time ago that all of us on the team were chugging away at making Front Mission 5 ~Scars of the War~ less Japanese and more English. Time sure does fly fast haha! The more I look back at it, I’m surprised we actually managed to get that project done at all. What we did feels less like reality and more like some fable these days…
First off, I want to thank each and everyone of you for supporting the project since day 1. Although I don’t spend much time anymore with the Front Mission projects, it means a lot to me that what I helped start back in December 2007 is appreciated by many. Everyone on the team shares the same sentiments as I do, and they will do their damned hardest to bring out the Front Mission 2 translation to completion. The text work was actually already done back around the release of Front Mission Evolved, but we were stonewalled by the game’s advanced encryption methods as Tyler already mentioned months ago. As much as we would love to just release the scripts and be done with it, that wouldn’t enhance the gaming experience now, would it?
Anyhow, I’m writing for today to tell you about something that all of us on the team were working on for a few months now. As you may already know by now, Front Mission was never just about the video games. For as much as they are awesome and wonderful to play through, the video games only represent one piece of a greater whole. The team had this feeling that we were missing out on so much more, and having gone on an adventure to explore the rest of the brand since fall 2009, that feeling was validated in huge way. As we started to uncover the comics, the novels, and even oddities like a radio drama series, all of us were taken aback at the true scope and vision of the franchise. Front Mission was no mere series of video games. Nope, it transcended video games and was something on a whole other level…that level being transmedia. Upon this realization, we all decided that everyone outside of Japan deserved to know the true nature of Front Mission.
Thus, we set out to write a massive 50-plus page analysis of the franchise that would explore what was underneath the tip of the iceberg. With assistance from sources who truly live and breathe Front Mission, we are very proud to present to you our analysis of this transmedia entity on our project website. I strongly urge each and every one of you to read it, because what you’ll learn will truly blow your minds away.
Transmedia brothers – 24 and Front Mission
For those who read the analysis and remembered a year ago that we would do an article on the similarities of Front Mission and 24, I will just do a quick summary here. Since if you already read it, you would know that we made a few 24 comparisons in that analysis…
- Front Mission and 24 pioneered the art of transmedia storytelling in their respective mediums.
- Both brands were intentionally designed for the mature, adult audiences.
- Front Mission and 24 featured very strong Western overtones, from cast to settings.
- The stories were penned by a team of accomplished writers, all handpicked by their creators.
- Front Mission and 24 exceeded the expectations of their creators, still existing in some form today.
- Western fans want access to all of Front Mission, while Japanese fans want access to all of 24.
That’s about it for quick comparisons of the two franchises. A major comparison between the two would be how both employ transmedia storytelling creatively, in that the viewpoint of the story is told differently between the media platforms. In this sense, Front Mission video games (the original source material) focus on the world, whereas the other media focus on the individuals. In the case of 24, the television show moves at a fast pace telling the story in a 24-hour time period, whereas the other media moves at a slower pace telling the story over longer periods of time (involving the numbers 2 and 4 – 24 days, 24 weeks 2.4 months, etc.). It’s hard to describe this, but if you try watching a 24 season and then dive into say one of the novels, you’ll know what I’m talking about.
Whew, I think I’ve said enough about the topic of transmedia. That was more tiring than I thought. Well, I hope all of you learned something about all of this because as they say, don’t judge a book by its cover!
11 replies on “On this Day, Front Mission Rose Again…”
*nerdgasm*
On the topic of similarities to western TV series, I’d say Front Mission is more like Babylon 5. Both were ahead of their time in many aspects and both had similar fate. J. Michael Straczynski, creator of B5, had a five-year plan for the show, with the first season being sort of a prologue/first chapter and the five season being very much an epilogue. Both Tsuchida and Straczynski successfully realized their visions, however, their attempts to continue those sagas past final chapters (“Scars of the War”/season 5) have ultimately failed. I guess you could call this fate or something.
This is…amazing! I think this is definitely the penultimate article on Front Mission too. It confirms my suspicions that the whole thing wasn’t supposed to be exclusive to Japan alone. I was just there a few weeks ago on vacation and the few things that I learned from people who know of Front Mission validates what the analysis points out. One of them said it was a real shame the world was missing out on so much of this brilliant fictional and potentially life-changing work of art. Had we gotten the full package, maybe Front Mission could still be producing stuff other than the Dog Life & Dog Style series. Anyhow, thanks again for the awesome analysis!
*sniff sniff* Front mission 2? *drool*
Gorgeous as always. The only flaw is that you mentioned FME in that article. Come on, many fans including me are trying to forget about the abomination that is pretending to be a front mission……
@Ralph
Gorgeous as always? This is our penultimate article on Front Mission! All of us on the team spent months writing and doing our homework on this whole thing (including some trips to Japan), with the feeling that we won’t write anything better than this…or any other articles at all! 😛
In all honesty, what’s your take on the article?
@Tyler
Anyway, I like this article a lot. I am just saying that I personally don’t want to see FME, the abomination that is trying to call itself an FM…
To be honest, Ace Combat series also shared many similarities as well; conspiracy stories, epic soundtracks, how each series’ plot/backstory interconnecting each other series (except for the last two Ace Combat titles that takes place in the real world) and more importantly how both developer (Square and Namco Bandai) ruined their own masterpiece (by that one Ace Combat Assault Horizon, obviously)
Forgot to mention; I’m completing car/vehicle lists for every Front Mission titles (except for Online; 2089 and Gunhazard are planned once I finish FM4); with exception of 3 (only Alisa story is done, I’m quite certain there are some vehicles that appears only in Emma story), FM 1st (USN Freedom City CG movie tanks) and Alternative (haven’t reached the ‘true’ part yet) and 4 (still working on it)
http://igcd.net/games.php?title=front+mission
@Nightshade
There are definitely some similarities with Ace Combat and Front Mission. But really, that only pertains to the video games itself. Ace Combat’s stories do overlap somewhat, but it’s a weak overlap whereas in Front Mission that overlap is extremely strong (even if you’re only counting video games alone). At best there are some recurring story elements and maybe some cameos (not recurring characters who have story significance). Otherwise, that’s about it. When I was talking about similarities, I was referring to similar franchises which were developed as transmedia, or could be considered as such. If you read our analysis of what a transmedia is supposed to be, you’ll realize Ace Combat is…not quite the same as Front Mission. m|m’s Babylon 5 example (which likely was developed as a transmedia) and 24 (which can be considered a transmedia) both count, though. Not that I’m knocking on the Ace Combat video games because they’re decent in their own right!
@Angelo Hello Angelo, nickname’s AJ, fan since overseas FM4, if you’re there, can you reply to these questions:
1. If “Zaftra’s been sending spies to other countries for decades… Well,
I guess Zaftra’s not the only country to do that, but the quality
of their spies is top-notch. Finding spies has been my life’s work
ever since I was involved in a certain incident… ” is
overseas, then what’s the Japanese version?
2. I get that Tsuchida is a fan of 24 in all, but FM2 came out 1997, 24 debuted in 2001, why claim Cordy mentioning Belgrade as a 24 reference if FM2 predated 24?
3. Regarding episode 8 of your video series, when is it coming out?
Which reminds me…
4. How are you going to fit all the sexual content regarding what Youtube does to those videos?
5. Since the OCU disavowed the mercenaries they hired (Canyon Crows included), what happened to Willas and Natalie?