Publisher Kadokawa Shoten recently posted a new promotional video to commemorate the release of Arasa OL Haman-sama’s third volume. The PV features seiyuu Nobuo Tobita reprising his role as Kamille Bidan(from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) to narrate the video.
Known for his comedy-ecchi works, in October 2020 mangaka Masakazu Iwasaki announced he was penning a new manga series for Gundam Ace, the official Kadokawa-published monthly Gundam manga magazine, titled Arasa OL Haman-sama(or Around Thirty Office Worker Haman-sama). As the title suggests, the manga re-imagines the popular Universal Century Gundam antagonist Haman Karn as a thirty year old officer worker, along with many of the characters that appear in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and its sequel Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ.
OL Haman-sama is a slice of life, workplace comedy following Haman Karn as a high-level executive of the “Neo Zeon” apparel company, and the misadventures of Haman in a Gundam-inspired office setting. Earlier in the year in March, Kadokawa released another PV featuring Yoshiko Sakakibara reprising her role as Haman Karn herself. Volume 3 of Haman-sama is now on sale, priced at 704 yen.
While parodying the events of Zeta Gundam, Kamille Bidan was introduced in the manga’s 2nd volume as a young upstart from the rival “Argama” company, led by Bright Noa, and immediately sparks an aggressive rivalry between him and Haman. As the story progresses however, their rivalry simmers into a tsundere, frenemy-like kinship.
Nobuo Tobita famously portrayed Kamille Bidan, the hot-blooded and impulsive protagonist of the 1985 Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam series. Tobita reprises his role as Kamille in the sequel series Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ the following year, albeit in a greatly reduced role, making way for new protagonist Judau Ashta.
Zeta Gundam is set in UC 0087 taking place eight years after the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. The Zeta TV series saw the return of Yoshiyuki Tomino as director, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko as character designer, and Kunio Okawara as mechanical designer, joined by new designers Mamoru Nagano and Kazumi Fujita. The series soundtrack is composed by Shigeaki Saegusa, who would go on compose for the two succeeding Gundam installments, ZZ and Char’s Counterattack.
For Zeta‘s twentieth anniversary, Tomino returned to direct the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation, a compilation film trilogy revising the story with a more optimistic alternate ending and blended new and old animation, releasing from 2005 to 2006. Tobita and much of the original cast reprise their roles.
Story
The Earth Federation stands victorious, but are they still on the right side?
In Zeta Gundam, we see the future world of the Universal Century through a dark mirror. Having defeated the Zeon menace, the Earth Federation has itself become cruel and oppressive. A new generation of Gundam mobile suits is created not to fight for peace, but to punish the enemies of the state, and yesterday’s villains must become today’s heroes in order to balance the scales of justice. When a young civilian named Kamille Bidan is caught up in the rebellion, he little suspects the price he will pay in the fight for freedom.
Source: Gundam Info
Why is this not released in English!?