The History of Gundam Part 4

Previously:

Fangirls and Jpop took Gundam to a whole other level.  While not as busy as its first couple of decades, the 2000’s saw the rise of two of Gundam’s most popular entries: Gundam Seed and Gundam 00.  Both had huge fan bases, both spawned sequels (Gundam Seed Destiny and the 00 Movie), both we basically all Gundam was known for in the 2000’s aside from Zeta Gundam’ brief attempt at an HD anniversary film trilogy.  Which brings us to the current era of Gundam, all over the place but busier than ever.

Part 4-Gundam Still Stands (2010-2019)

Gundam kicked off 2010 in grand fashion with the release of the new OVA Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.  Unicorn returned fans to the Universal Century for a new adventure which followed two star crossed youths caught up in a struggle that dates back far before the One Year War itself.  Possibly the biggest aspect of Unicorns production was that it was the first Gundam project with both Japan and the US in mind.  Each episode was released simultaneously, both in Japanese and in English on both continents, a successful strategy that would be applied to other Gundam projects across the decade.

2011 saw the release of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE.  In a bold move, the decision was made to tell the story of three generations of pilots, each with the own Gundam and all from the same family, across a 49 episode series.  As curious a strategy as this was, AGE didn’t fare very well and was the last Gundam series with this high, continuous episode count for a long time.  A couple of years later, a new but familiar Gundam came into the spotlight…Gunpla.  Following the success of Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G in 2010, Gundam Build Fighters arrived in 2013.  The series focused on kids and adults who were fans of building Gunpla and using them for Yu Gi Oh style fighting tournaments.  This love letter to the series was littered with easter eggs across the entire Gundam franchise, from character cameo to every Gundam and Mobile Suit you could imagine popping up.  The series, sutiable for both adults and children, was a success, leading to a direct sequel, Gundam Build Fighters Try in 2014, and a spiritual successor in 2018’s Gundam Build Divers, which saw the Gunpla Battle concept taken to an MMORPG not unlike Sword Art Online.

Franchise Godfather, Yoshiyuki Tomino, returned in 2014 with one of Gundam’s most polarizing titles (both in story and general title), Mobile Suit Gundam: Reconguista in G (I don’t get it either nor have I seen it sooooo…).  Though apparently set after the Universal Century, Reconguista in G sported a storyline that no one could understand or keep up with, leading to backlash against the series, so bad Tomino himself apologized for such a misstep.  Fairing better was 2015’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans.  Like 00, the series was split into two even seasons of 25 episodes and focused on a Mars based group of youthful mercenaries who, after leading a bloody rebellion against their former masters, were tasked with protecting a beautiful Mars diplomat who is seeking independence for the residents of the Red Planet.  IBO and the TV retelling of Gundam Unicorn-Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: RE0096 would go on to become two headlining Gundam shows to grace Cartoon Network’s reborn Toonami lineup in 2016.

 

The mid 2010’s saw the rise of smaller Gundam projects in the form of ONA’s and a particular OVA.  Each of these relatively recent Gundam projects all saw returns to the Universal Century for a bevy of new side stories, continuations and even prequels.  Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, was a theatrically released OVA series that began in 2015.  Based on the Manga of the same name, The Origin focused on the road to the One Year War, with an emphasis on the rise of franchise favorite, Char Aznable.  On the ONA side of things, there was 2015’s Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt and 2016’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis.  Thunderbolt told a side story from late in the One Year War about two mentally exhausted groups of soldiers fighting in the most chaotic region of space.  Meanwhile, Twilight Axis sought to answer the question of what happened to the infamous asteroid base Axis following the events of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack.  And indeed, the fandoms time in the Universal Century is far from over with Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (a direct sequel to Gundan Unicorn) being released last November and a forthcoming movie trilogy adaptation of the popular Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash coming in 2019, helmed by returning Gundam master Yoshiyuki Tomino.

Mobile Suit Gundam has come a long way since 1979.  It’s stories, messages, characters and mecha are timeless and have inspired so much in the last four decades.  Often times rivaled but never surpassed, Gundam continues to prosper for a series that saw cancellation and rebirth numerous times.  And from the life size RX0 Unicorn in Japan to the cameo of the RX-78-2 in Steven Spielberg’s Ready Player One, Gundam will continue to do as the theme song decrees...fly.