Wednesday, Bandai Namco Holdings released their financial highlights of the fiscal year, which ended on March 31, 2025. The conglomerate reported that the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise earned 153.5 billion yen across the group’s subsidiaries, a first for the iconic mecha franchise.
This marks a 5.35% increase from the previous year, when it earned 145.7 billion yen Bandai Namco now projects that the franchise will earn 160 billion yen in the next fiscal year.
In a March interview for the company newsletter, Bandai President and Representative Director Masaru Kawaguchi stated, “Specifically, products for the mature fan base, such as Gundam series model kits and collector’s figures, saw strong performance, supported by enhanced sales and marketing initiatives, as well as a strengthened product lineup.” He also highlighted the success of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, a bold collaboration between Bandai Namco and Studio Khara, and the box office triumph of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, now the highest-grossing Gundam film in the franchise.
The tagline of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom is “The wings of freedom to seize the future”. The film is directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, featuring a script by Fukuda, Chiaki Morosawa, and Ryu Goto. Hisashi Hirai returns for character design, while the mechanical design team includes Kunio Okawara, Kimitoshi Yamane, Kazutaka Miyatake, Junichi Akutsu, Manabu Shintani, Zenseava, Takuya Io, and Hiroyuki Taiga. Satoshi Shigeta returns as mechanical animation director. Toshihiko Sahashi is the composer for the film’s music, and the theme song “FREEDOM” is performed by Takanori Nishikawa with Tetsuya Komuro.
Releasing in late January 2024, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom has been a massive success for the Gundam series, becoming the highest grossing Gundam film earning 5.38 billion yen, dethroning the 1982 Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space, which held the franchise box office record for forty-two years with 2.3 billion yen.
After its Special Edition Part 2 screening, Sunrise officially announced Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom Zero, a prequel anime to the film, following Director Fukuda’s February 2024 tease of additional Gundam SEED Freedom content.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX was announced in December during the Bandai Namco Group’s Winter Gundam 2024 Conference. Touted as the” khara x SUNRISE, a crossing of dreams,” series is the first major collaboration between Gundam studio Sunrise and Neon Genesis Evangelion studio khara.
The series is directed by FLCL and Rebuild of Evangelion director Kazuya Tsurumaki, scripted by Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno and Yoji Enokido, with character designs by take, and mechanical designs by EVA Unit designer Ikuto Yamashita.
Releasing January 2025, the preview movie Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- earned 3 billion yen, making it the second highest-grossing Gundam movie.
Amazon Prime announced in March that it had secured the rights to the GQuuuuuuX TV series, with a massive rollout streaming simultaneously with Japan across more than 240 countries and territories worldwide on Prime Video. Subtitled and dubbed versions of each episode are available on the same day as the Japanese broadcast, with new episodes released weekly.
Source: Press Release(Financial Highlights), Newsletter
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