MS-06S ZAKU II

Design by Kunio Okawara, the MS-06S Zaku II Commander Type (also known as the Zaku II Custom in some sources) looks very similar to the normal Zaku: so much so that the Earth Federation can generally only tell the difference from color schemes most pilots apply to their units and the increased performance of this version. The S-Type Zaku II features a squad-leader "horn" that is mounted on the head on the Zaku II, which is used to distinguish squad-leaders or higher ranking pilots from other squad-members or lower ranking pilots. It also featured a more powerful fusion reactor. In turn, the S-Type Zaku II had greater thrust and acceleration. This allowed them to move at speeds 1/3 faster than a normal Zaku II (in the original TV series, it was stated to be 3 times faster, but this was retconned in the movie trilogy to the more reasonable figure). This made it incredibly dangerous in the hands of the ace pilots it was handed out to, such as the "Red Comet" Char Aznable whose mobile suit was painted in a fade tonality of red and pink.

The Zaku (ザク Zaku) is a fictional line of manned robots (mecha) from Mobile Suit Gundam, part of the Universal Century fictional universe, where they are the Principality of Zeon's most commonly fielded Mobile Suits. The most widely-known model is the MS-06 Zaku II series. It is redesigned by Kunio Okawara based upon the earlier draft by the series director Yoshiyuki Tomino, in which only the name was kept. 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 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). 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. 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 fitting in so naturally when placed next to World War I and World War II 1/144 models, and modellers started to build them like AFVs. 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 (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 impetus of MSV. 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 Hizack 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 used by the Mars Zeon faction in Mobile Suit Gundam F90.

Role in plot

The Zaku II is the most common Zeon mobile suit during the beginning of the show. Although a threat to unskilled characters, the Zaku is ultimately cannon fodder that comes in plentiful numbers for the Gundam. In the Gundam timeline, the Zaku appears as one of the first units created for battle in the series. At the start of the One Year War, Zaku II's were the mainstay of Zeon's military. Zaku II quickly becomes inferior to newer and more powerful mobile suits as the war progresses, and by the later stages of the war is considered antiquated. Because the Zaku II is the basic military unit of the Zeon forces, and because it is a mass production mobile suit, there are many units left by the end of the war. These suits survive only to be destroyed en-masse to show the power of the newer models. By the time of Gundam Unicorn, over fifteen years after the One Year War, Zaku II's are literally shown as museum pieces. Upon seeing a display model of an old Zaku II, some characters remark upon how outdated it is, while others point out its historical significance as an early example of widely mass-produced Mobile Suits.

Other Gundam Series
The Zaku II design has also been included in story lines outside of the Universal Century, in the Cosmic Era series of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny where the director Mitsuo Fukuda requested the mecha designer Kunio Okawara to add his Zaku into the story. The ZAKU (ZAFT Armed Keeper of Unity) Warrior designed became a high-end model in the plot. The ZAKU Phantom is a commander unit. The Zaku series of Mobile Suits also appears in the CC Era of Turn A Gundam as the MS-06 Borjarnon and MS-05 Borjarnon Gavane Gooney Custom, which are excavated MS-06F Zaku II's and a slightly modified MS-05B Zaku I, respectively.