Gundam Channel Streams ‘Lost’ Cucuruz Doan’s Island Episode

A part of a new promotion for Bandai Namco Filmworks’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island film, the official Japanese Gundam YouTube channel, “Gundam Channel” is streaming the “Cucuruz Doan’s Island” episode from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam TV anime. The episode is streaming with Japanese audio without foreign-language subtitle options.

The long disregarded fifteenth episode is notorious for its poor animation quality and being omitted from various official releases of the series, including its English-language dub by The Ocean Group. “Cucuruz Doan’s Island” was effectively a side-story and due to the crunch of the main Gundam production staff, the episode was ultimately outsourced to a completely different team.

Despite its production issues, the episode tells a heartfelt story where protagonist Amuro Ray meets Principality of Zeon deserter Cucuruz Doan. Stricken with guilt over his actions in a past battle involving killing civilians, Doan has secluded himself on an island in the Pacific swearing to protect the same children orphaned by that battle.

“Cucuruz Doan’s Island” stuck with director Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the character designer and chief animation director of the Mobile Suit Gundam series, as well as chief director of the 2015-2018 Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin OVA series. The director felt “Doan’s Island” would be a good story if it was remade properly, comparing it to Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now film.

The film was officially announced during the 2nd Gundam Conference in September 2021 as a new perspective on the episode. The tagline for the new film is “Gundam, rising again—“ and is set to release June 3, 2022 to 185 theaters in Japan.

Story

After enduring the battle at Jaburo, the Earth Federation Forces plan to launch a major counteroffensive to capture Odessa, a major base of Zeon’s Earth Attack forces. The White Base, with Amuro and his fellow crew aboard, head towards Belfast to receive the last resupply before the operation. White Base is then given a mission. The mission is to mop up the remaining Zeon enemies on an uninhabited island, commonly known as the “Island of No Return”. Amuro and his team embark on a search for the remaining agents, but what they see is a group of children and a Zaku that should not be there. After losing his Gundam in a battle, Amuro meets a man who calls himself Cucuruz Doan. Will he be able to uncover the secrets of the island, and will Amuro be able to find the Gundam again and escape safely……?