The Bandai Namco Group’s cross-sectional “Gundam Project” team recently held their 3rd Gundam Conference, presided by chief Gundam officer Koji Fujiwara to outline its plans for the Gundam franchise.
When discussing slated Gundam projects in their “work development strategy” such as Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island, Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, the untitled Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ignited film, and the Legendary Pictures live-action Gundam movie co-production, Fujiwara announced the development of a “fan movie” to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Gundam Build series. No further information or a release window was given for the project.
The Gundam Build series began in 2013 as a departure from the sci-fi-fueled war drama and sociopolitical intrigue accustomed to the mainline Gundam series, in favor of light gunpla-centric storylines set in the “real world” akin to the 2010 OVA Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G.
Airing from October 2013 to March 2014, the twenty-five episode-Gundam Build Fighters was the first entry in this new sub-franchise, directed by Kenji Nagasaki and scripted by Mobile Suit Gundam 00’s Yōsuke Kuroda.
Story
The time is the near future. Years have passed since the 1980s, when “Gunpla” — plastic models based on the “Mobile Suit Gundam” animation — created a huge boom.
Now, a new wave is sweeping the world, in what could be called a second Gunpla boom. Its popularity is driven by “Gunpla Battle,” in which assembled Gunpla can be controlled and made to fight. With the introduction of this revolutionary Battle System, its popularity has expanded to the point that a Gunpla Battle World Tournament is held each year.
The main character of the story, Sei Iori, is a young Gunpla builder who loves Gunpla and dreams of entering the Gunpla Battle World Tournament. As the only heir to a hobby shop, he has high Gunpla building abilities, but he doesn’t know how to control them in battle and is continually defeated in the opening rounds of tournaments. When he meets Reiji, a mysterious boy with superb Gunpla control skills, they team up to take on the World Tournament.
Sei, the Gunpla builder.
Reiji, the Gunpla fighter.
Sei builds, and Reiji battles.
They’re the Build Fighters everyone is talking about! Their goal is to enter the Gunpla Battle World Tournament — and win
The success of Build Fighters spawned a bustling model kit-line of custom mobile suits, a sequel anime series in 2014 titled Gundam Build Fighters Try, Gundam Build Fighters Amazing manga series, and two ONA projects: Gundam Build Fighters: Battlogue and Gundam Build Fighters: GM’s Counterattack
Beginning in 2018 as an ONA series, Gundam Build Divers is a new iteration of the Gundam Build series, stand-alone from its predecessors. Divers shifted from conventional Gunpla Battle seen in Gundam Build Fighters to virtual reality with Gunpla Battle Nexus Online (GBN), a new network game that lets people enjoy a variety of missions, events, Gunpla-based battle and open world exploration in a cyberspace dimension.
The Sunrise Beyond-produced Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE was announced November 2018 as part of the Gundam 40th Anniversary Project, tentatively named “New Gundam Build Divers work”. The series was formally announced as Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE in June 2019, with Gundam Build series mainstay Shinya Watada returning as director and Yasuyuki Muto(Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Afro Samurai, Deadman Wonderland) joining the project for series composition. The series served as a sequel to Gundam Build Divers, and like Build Fighters Try to Build Fighters, it follows a new group of characters set within the same world.
Re:RISE distinguishes itself from the previous Build incarnations with a noticeably serious tone, life or death stakes, and more complex characters echoing mainline Gundam installments.
Announced in February 2020, a live action Gundam Build project was slated to be helmed by director Katsuyuki Motohiro(Psycho Pass, Ajin), a part of Bandai Spirits’s Gunpla 40th Anniversary celebration. Dubbed a “coming-of-age drama”, Gundam Build Real began streaming on Gundam Channel March 2021.
Source: Gundam Info
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