Bandai Namco Group’s cross-sectional “Gundam Project” held their Gundam Conference Autumn 2022 earlier today, and announced the start of their latest franchise initiative, “Gundam NEXT FUTURE- ROAD TO 2025”. This new project is to lead up to the 45th anniversaries of Gundam and Gundam model kits in 2025.
A part of this new project, from January to March 2023, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash, Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt will broadcast as TV versions with four episodes each. The TV versions will broadcast during MBS and TBS‘s 5pm Sunday anime block “Nichigo” after Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury completes its cour 1 broadcast in December. According to Bandai Namco, this TV broadcast will help introduce the Universal Century to new fans who are experiencing the Gundam series the first time through the Witch from Mercury. Bandai Namco also confirmed the Witch from Mercury‘s 2nd cour would start April 2023.
To broaden the appeal of the Gundam series, BS11 will rebroadcast Gundam titles such as Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, and the Witch from Mercury cour 1. The Gundam series will broadcast during “BS11 Gundam Hour”, an anime block airing on Fridays and Saturdays at 19:00 to 20:00 JST, beginning October 2022. The rebroadcast of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and its sequel SEED Destiny will act as a preview for the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED movie currently in production.
Mobile Suit Gundam the Witch from Mercury is directed by Kiznaiver‘s Hiroshi Koyabashi, and penned by Code Geass scribe, Ichiro Ohkouchi. The tagline of the series is “This witch…rides a Gundam”. The series will broadcast in Japan this fall October 2, 2022 on twenty-eight of MBS and TBS TV networks on their 5pm “Nichigo” anime block, as well as international simulcasts through Gundam Info and Crunchryoll. The PROLOGUE for the series is now streaming on Gundam Info.
Story
First in a trilogy of anime films helmed by director Shukou Murase, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash or Hathaway is the official sequel to the 1988 Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack movie. The project was announced in November 2018 to celebrate the Gundam 40th anniversary, adapting the Yoshiyuki Tomino-penned novel series of the same name. The novels were originally released from 1989 to 1990, as a follow-up to Tomino’s Char’s Counterattack: Beltorchika’s Children novel.
Ergo Proxy and Genocidal Organ’s Shukou Murase is directing the film project, with scripts by Yasuyuki Mutou. Pablo Uchida, Shigeki Kuhara, and Naoyuki Onda serve as the character designers for the films. Hiroyuki Sawano returns from Mobile Suit Gundam entries Unicorn and Narrative as music composer, with rock-band [Alexandros] performing its theme song “Senkou”. The films’ mechanical design team consists of Hajime Katoki, Kimitoshi Yamane, Nobuhiko Genba, and Seiichi Nakatani.
Story
The year is U.C. 0105. Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char’s Rebellion). Even after “the Axis Shock,” which seemed to indicate the future of humanity and the Universal Century, the world is still in a chaotic situation where intermittent military conflicts continue to break out. The Earth Federation government is more corrupt than ever, and its leadership has not only accelerated Earth’s pollution, but also implemented an inhuman “Man Hunting” policy in which civilians are forcibly exiled to outer space.
The anti-Federation government organization “Mafty,” led by someone called “Mafty Navue Erin,” has taken a stand against the corruption of the Earth Sphere. Mafty carries out fierce acts of terrorism, assassinating high officials of the Federation government one after another, but it gains a certain level of support from the populace who are growing more opposed to the Federation government.
The person who calls himself “Mafty” and leads this organization is Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa, an officer of the Earth Federation Forces who once participated in the One Year War. Hathaway himself joined the forces trying to stop Char’s Rebellion. With firsthand knowledge of the ideals and ideologies of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, he has become a warrior following in their footsteps, and plans to clear a path forward through armed resistance. His destiny, however, is drastically altered as he encounters the Federation Forces officer Kenneth Sleg and a mysterious young beauty named Gigi Andalucia.
Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative released to theaters in November 2018 as the first entry in Sunrise’s UC NexT 0100 project. Loosely adapting Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn’s eleventh volume Phoenix Hunting, the film serves as a sequel to the Unicorn anime series. The film is directed by Toshikazu Yoshizawa and scripted by Harutoshi Fukui, with character designs by Sejoon Kim, and mechanical designs by Hajime Katoki and Eiji Komatsu.
Story
U.C. 0097, one year after the opening of “Laplace’s Box.” Despite the revelation of the Universal Century Charter that acknowledges the existence and rights of Newtypes, the framework of the world has not been greatly altered. The conflict later dubbed the “Laplace Incident” is thought to have ended with the downfall of the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves. In its final battle, two full psycho-frame mobile suits displayed power beyond human understanding. The white unicorn and the black lion were sealed away to remove this danger from people’s consciousness, and they should now be completely forgotten. However, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03, which disappeared two years earlier, is now about to show itself in the Earth Sphere once more. A golden phoenix… named Phenex
Penned by mangaka Yasuo Ohtagaki, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt began serialization March 2012 in the seinen manga magazine “Big Comics Superior”, published by Shogakukan. Over its ten-year serialization Thunderbolt has sold over four million copies. The manga was adapted in 2015 by Sunrise into a two season ONA(original net animation) series directed by Kou Matsuo, which was subsequently compiled into two compilation films Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky and Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower.
Story
It is Universal Century 0079, at the end of the One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. The space colonies of Side 4, or Moore, were previously destroyed by a Zeon attack, and many colonists lost their lives. Side 4 became a shoal zone filled with the wreckage of destroyed colonies and warships, lit by constant flashes of lightning due to collisions between electrified debris. It soon came to be known as the “Thunderbolt Sector.”
Source: Gundam Info
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