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The is a mobile suit from the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' of the Universal Century metaverse. It is redesigned by Kunio Okawara based upon the earlier draft by the series director Yoshiyuki Tomino, in which only the name was kept. Due to its role as the most common antagonist mobile suit in ''Mobile Suit Gundam'', the Zaku II is one of the most recognizable "mecha" designs in anime. The Zaku II has seen various redesigns and variants for hundreds of pieces of merchandise, and the Japanese post office has two stamps with Zaku IIs on them.〔(The 20th Century Stamp Series 15 )〕〔(Animation Hero and Heroine Series II "Gundam" )〕 The Zaku's aesthetic can be seen in more symbolic homages in the Gundam mythos, such as the GINN and ZAKU Warrior from ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'', the Busshi from ''Mobile Fighter G Gundam'', and the Jenice from ''After War Gundam X''. After the original show's run, Okawara and other designers created a number of variants of the Zaku. Many of these modified configurations never appeared in animation, but they are official Mobile Suit variations, appearing instead in plastic model form and in various Gundam video games. The MS-06 Zaku II is still a major force in Gundam, with almost every new side story in the Universal Century adding a new variant to the basic frame. ==Concept and Development== The original concept of the Zaku was simply a disposable underling, with its name derived from the sound of a huge man (or many soldiers) walking and the Japanese term ''雑魚 (zako)'', meaning "inferior fish" (the term also signifying expendable grunts).〔アニメック(Animec) 16th issue special volume, 機動戦士ガンダム大事典 (Mobile suit Gundam Encyclopedia), 1 March 1981, Yoshiyuki Tomino Interview, そうですね、ザクなんかでも………大きい人が歩いてくると地面がザクッザクッと音をだしますね、それからとったんですよ。(笑), ''Yes, Zaku whatever... is when a huge man walking the ground will make Zaku, Zaku sound, and it took that (for its name) (laughter)''〕〔ガンダム･エイジ (Gundam Age), 洋泉社, 敵のモビルスーツのザクは、もともとは、雑兵っていうか、雑魚(ザコ)なのね。でも、ザコじゃあんまりだ。やつら軍隊だから、軍団でザクザクやってくるでしょ。だからザクにしようって, Enemy's Mobile suit Zaku is originally (designed as) a common soldier, disposable underling (Zako). However, saying it is an underling is too extreme, they are a military force and flanks of army make the Zaku Zaku sound, thus it was named Zaku.〕 The Zaku later became better known as a common military machine, symbolizing the realism of the ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' series. While in previous manga and anime giant robots tended to be the tools of protagonists or villains (often in a monster of the week format), the Zaku was portrayed as nothing more than another weapon such as a tank or fighter plane that was assigned to pilots. The Zaku is the first mobile suit to feature its parts (a damaged head) and is shown in 3 of the 4 box arts in the 1/35 U.C. Hard Graph line of plastic models made by Bandai, which heavily resembles real battle fields.〔(U.C. Hard Graph products )〕 This militaristic development did not start just recently, but actually started on the first release of Gundam series models in 1980, where military modellers at that time were amazed by the 1/144 scale Zaku model being so natural when placed in World War I and World War II 1/144 models, and modellers started to build them like AFVs.〔Dengeki Hobby Nov 2006 issue, Gundam Military〕 The popularity of the first batch of the models spawned the ''Mobile Suit Variations'' where the mecha designer Kunio Okawara started designing variant mobile suits that could perform different tasks or adapt to different combat zones (for example a Zaku specialized for underwater operations). The MS-06 Zaku II unit then became the unit with most variants〔Dengeki Hobby June 2007, MG Zaku Ver. 2.0 Interview of the 12 year anniversary of MG Zaku〕 (22 alone in the first MSV all having its own model compared to titular machine RX-78-2 Gundam's 3 variants). It could be said that the Zaku is the origin of MSV.〔MSV's origin = Zaku, Dengeki Hobby July 2007〕 The Zaku also had redesigns and variants created by other mecha designers, like the famous Katoki Hajime, who designed the MS-06F2 Zaku II Type F2 for ''Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory'' and redesigned the Zaku II Ground Type and Char's Commander type Zaku for the MG (Master Grade) number 97 and 98 Zaku Ver. 2.0, Yutaka Izubuchi, who is famous for his designs in ''Patlabor'' designed the MS-06FZ Zaku II Kai for ''Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket''. The design of the Zaku II influenced the later designs of the RMS-106 Hi-Zack in ''Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam'' and AMX-011 Zaku III in ''Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ''. The RMS-116H Hobby Hizack, not a military-use but a personal entertainment suit, which appeared in ''Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack'' is also a descendant of the Zaku. Its descendants continue to appear, even in Manga stories like the OMS-06RF RF Zaku in ''Mobile Suit Gundam F90''.〔機動戦士ガンダム MS-06解体新書 (MS-06 Anatomy), ティーツー出版, ISBN：4-88749-055-0〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「MS-06 Zaku II」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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