There Wolf

"The killer is not wolf! It is werewolf! You must hunt it down, and kill it!"

"The Beast Within: A Gabriel Knight Mystery"

Warning you now already: there will be no Werewolf-themed manga next week, despite the trend set by today's post and last week's post...

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of those franchises you'll hear about sooner or later once you start reading manga or watching anime. It is an enormous franchise, and even if you have never seen any of the many anime series, you might know the series through for example the video games, or the plastic Gundam models. The franchise originally started as an anime series created by Tomino Yoshikyuki and detailed the space war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, known as the One Year War. In the world of Gundam, long-range precision warfare is made impossible due to Minovsky particles, which disrupts communications and inferes with electronic circuitry. Military tasks are therefore conducted with mobile suits, piloted bulky robots which excel in close and semi-close combat quarters: the titular Gundam is a special type of mobile suit, featuring more advanced weaponry and technology, but usually therefore also not suitable for all pilots. While the series was not a huge succes initially, it has now grown into one of the best known Japanese franchises in the world and probably the one franchise you think of when you think of mecha anime. The franchise is huge with probably hundreds of different works, so it was actually surprising there never had been a mystery Gundam entry before, at least, not until 2023.

It is the year Universal Century 0087: the aftermath of the One Year War has resulted in a three-way conflict between the Titans, an elite unit created by the Earth Federation; the Axis of Zeon, consisting of remnants of the Principality of Zeon, and the AEUG, the Anti Earth Union Group which opposses the militaristic Titans taskforce. The Hecate is a Pegasus class carrier of the Titans with a secret mission: to test out a new experimental Gundam model. However, somehow information on their mission leaked, and they find themselves attacked by mobile suits of the AEUG. Because Gundam W.E.A.R. Wolf is still in the testing phase, it is not deployed, to the chagrin of the test pilot Rasaid Grendon. Most of the mobile suits of the Hecate are destroyed during the surprise attack, but the carrier itself manages to escape, though not unscathed: its propulsion system has been hit, and they find themselves now drifting in a lonely part of the Zebra Zone. When they find themselves attacked once more, but this time by the Axis, it seems clear they may have a intelligence problem, but this time, Rasaid can't sit still. He strongarms mechanic Makami Talbot into preparing Gundam W.E.A.R. Wolf. W.E.A.R. Wolf's immense might soon forces the enemy to retreat, much to the relief of the crew of the Hecate, who welcome W.E.A.R. Wolf back into the hangar. When Rasaid doesn't appear out of the cockpit however, they fear he might have gotten injured during the skirmish, despite the Gundam not having any external damage. The ship's doctor is standing by as the cockpit is remotely opened, but to everyone's shock, they find Rasaid shot through the heart. But as the Gundam itself is undamaged, it means Rasaid was shot while inside the cockpit after the skirmish. This would of course have been impossible: the cockpit was opened in front of everyone, and considering the small size of a cockpit, it would have been impossible for a murderer to hide in the cockpit with Rasaid during the whole raid and escape unseen. This means the Gundam's cockpit was a locked room. In any way, it seems more than likely Rasaid was killed by someone on the ship, meaning the murderer is one of their own. 

Despite the physical impossibility however, mechanic Makami is accused of the murder, as he was the last one to see Rasaid alive before he boarded W.E.A.R. Wolf and because he was being bullied by Rasaid. Because they are stranded and can't contact home base, Lycus Freyburg, captain of the Hecate, makes a desperate decision: in twelve hours, the whole crew has to take a vote on who they think the murderer is. By making it a "democratic decision", Lycus hopes the whole crew will band together again and keep their morals up, having "found the murderer of the Gundam test pilot" together. Leto Shia, a reserve mobile suit pilot, however warns Makami that at this rate, it'll be he who'll be branded the murderer. Leto herself also admits she had a motive, as she was being sexually harrassed by Rasaid. She decides to investigate the locked Gundam murder in order to find the real murderer in Itou Kei's Kidou Senshi Gundam Wearwolf  ("Mobile Suit Gundam Wearwolf", 2023-).

Kidou Senshi Gundam Wearwolf is a manga which started serialization in Gumdam Ace in 2023 and is drawn by Itou Kei, with a scenario by Shigenobu Kou. At this moment, two volumes collecting eight chapters have been released, and the series is still running (with a few uncollected chapters already having been released). I myself am not at all super familiar with Gundam to be honest: I have basically only seen the original trilogy films (based on the original series) and Gundam Wing, which story-wise are not directly related to the story of Gundam Wearwolf, but despite a few names being dropped which seemed to be coming from other series like Zeta Gundam, I could still follow it pretty good, so as long as you know what mobile suits are, you should be able to follow this. 

When this manga was first announced last year, I knew I wanted to read this, because the premise just sounded so much fun: the story was going to be inspired by the social deduction game Werewolf/Mafia, but also feature a locked room murder. And let's admit: a locked room murder in the cockpit of a Gundam is an awesome premise. To be honest, the werewolf theme in turn is a bit underused: while the Gundam itself is called W.E.A.R. Wolf and allies and enemies all liken the powerful mobile suit to the monstrous werewolf as it rages in battle, the social game is not really used in the manga itself, at least, not in the first two volumes. For the story focuses very much on Leto and Makami as they investigate clues in order to find the real murderer of Rasaid, while there's not that much of seeing the other members of the crew discussing the case or really coming up with theories why X or Y could be the murderer or pointing at each other. Up to this moment, the Werewolf theme is only used effectively as a time limit to have a voting round, though this could change in coming volumes.

So while the manga is still running, the how behind the locked room murder of Rasaid has already been solved in these first two cases, which is why I decided to already discuss this manga, especially as this series runs in a monthly, so it's not moving really fast. I have to start with admitting the start was a bit rough for me: the art is alright in normal scenes, but Itou Kei's action scenes are really difficult to follow: it's very hard to make out how mobile suits are moving about or how they are even attacking each other and while it's not very important for the mystery, the chaotic action scene with which the series opens, and the ones which we occasionally see later in the series too, are rather disappointing. It makes you really appreciate again how brilliantly the fights in Dragon Ball are drawn by Toriyama, simple but so incredibly effective in showing how characters were moving in relation to each other and the environment.

But let's focus on the main mystery of these first two volumes: the locked cockpit murder. The premise is sublime, as we have seen pilots going in and out of their mobile suits since forever in this franchise, and of course many pilots have been murdered while in a mobile suit.... but usually not under impossible circumstances (i.e. being shot down or having a beam sword pierce the cockpit is not an impossible crime...). The W.E.A.R. Wolf cockpit however was a locked space: there are logs of when the cockpit is opened and closed and Rasaid was confirmed to be alive when he entered the Gundam, as he actively fought in a skirmish and commnicated with others before his return to the Hecate, but when they open the cockpit for him in the hangar, they find he has been shot with a pistol through his heart. The situation is brilliant, and I wonder why it took so long for such a mystery to be created. The Gundam franchise has a lot of sci-fi gadgets of course that would allow for interesting murder situations and tricks (like the above mentioned Minovsky particles), so while a murder mystery in the world of Gundam can feel a bit "artificial", it is also true that Gundam has such strongly established world-building, a lot of tricks, even if relying on "sci-fi gadgets" would feel very fair, because they are constantly featured in so many series.

In that regard, I found the locked room of Gundam Wearwolf a bit disappointing. The trick itself for shooting Rasaid is one I feel very indifferent about. I think the psychology why the trick would have worked in general reasonable, but it feels a bit unfair to the reader because they can't know whether Rasaid would have realized what was going on in time or not (Rasaid is the one person likely to have been able to predict it). The actual trick is one that I feel could have been used in so many situations besides an actual Gundam cockpit, which is what makes it feel a bit like a let-down: I would have loved to have seen a trick that seemed more uniquely Gundam: it comes close now, but not quite, and ultimately, it is a variation of a trick you could also imagine seeing in a modern, or even classic setting and if you had seen it there, you would probably have found it a very trite trick. A lot of the investigation scenes with Leto and Makami also ultimately don't really focus on figuring out how the murder was committed (Leto basically figures it out in a dream), with most of their poking around resulting in information about the why, which would have been more interesting if the story had focused more on the social aspect of Werewolves.That said, Gundam Wearwolf is still running, and even though the first locked room murder has been solved, there's more mystery awaiting the crew of the Hecate it seems, so perhaps the series will manage to develop itself.

At this moment, the merits of Gundam Wearwolf as a detective manga lie more in its cool premise, of combining Gundam with a murder mystery set-up, than its actual execution. In the first two volumes, we are treated to a very cool and unique premise, but its solution is nowhere as original and creative as that. The theme of Werewolves is also underutilized, though that may change if the series continues on longer: I was actually expecting this to be a relatively short series, but with the way the second volume ends (and I believe there's already enough material serialized for a third volume), this aspect of the series might be used in a more memorable way. Anyway, it's likely I will continue reading this eventually, so perhaps my feelings on this series will change in time!

Original Japanese title(s): 伊藤亰 (漫画), 重信康（シナリオ）、小太刀右京（アドバイザー） 、矢立肇・富野由悠季（原案） 『機動戦士ガンダム ウェアヴォルフ』第1, 2巻