Mobile Suit Gundam

Bluefin Details Anime NYC 2019 Events and Show Exclusive Products

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Bluefin, a Bandai Namco group company and the leading North American distributor of toys, collectibles, and hobby merchandise from Japan and Asia, has detailed a host of show exclusive products and special activities set to take place at Anime NYC 2019. Attendees are invited to commemorate the 40th anniversary of Mobile Suit Gundam with specially branded products and appearances by Gundam creator and director, Yoshiyuki Tomino.

Anime NYC 2019 will take place November 15–17, 2019 at the Javits Convention Center in New York, New York. Full details are available at: http://animenyc.com/.

Bluefin will be located in Booth #720.

Exclusive Bluefin Products Available at Anime NYC 2019

Stop by the Bluefin Booth #720 for a wide array of exclusive products from Bandai Spirits Hobby and Tamashii Nations.

Apparel:

  • Gundam 40th Anniversary Hoodie (Sizes M to 2XL) – $60
  • Gundam 40th Anniversary T-Shirt (Sizes M to 3XL) – $30
  • Gundam 40th Anniversary Hat – $30
  • Gundam 40th Anniversary Towel – $15

Bandai Spirits Hobby:

  • Haro Basic Green (Clear Color Variant) – $8
  • Momoharo (Clear Color Variant) – $8
  • SDCS Zaku (Clear Color Variant) – $10
  • SDCS Zeta Gundam (Clear Color Variant) – $13
  • HD 00 Sky (Dive Into Dimension Clear Variant) – $18
  • HG Destiny Gundam (Clear Color Variant) – $25
  • HG Freedom Gundam vs. Force Impulse Gundam Battle of Destiny Set – $48
  • RG Sazabi (Clear Color Variant) – $50
  • MG ZZ Gundam (Clear Color Variant) – $70
  • MG Tallgeese II (Special Coating Variant) – $80
  • MG Zaku II High Mobility Type “Psycho Zaku” (Half Mechanical Clear) – $100

Tamashii Nations:

Catch a variety of exclusives from the Dragon Ball World Adventure available for purchase. The booth also will showcase and offer for purchase a wide variety of other Tamashii Nations’ items from Gundam, Star Wars, Marvel and more.

  • Metal Build – Strike Freedom Gundam Soul Blue Version · MSRP: $270

Dragon Ball World Adventure Exclusives:

  • S.H.Figuarts GOKU BLACK SUPER SAIYAN ROSE Event Exclusive Color Edition – $75
  • S.H.Figuarts GOLDEN FRIEZA Event Exclusive Color Edition – $65
  • S.H.Figuarts ULTIMATE SON GOHAN Event Exclusive Color Edition – $55
  • S.H.Figuarts SON GOKU KID Event Exclusive Color Edition – $55

Anime NYC 2019 Bluefin / Bandai Show Activities

2019 GunPla Builder’s World Cup
Anime NYC 2019 will host the Northeast U.S. Regional Qualifier for Bandai’s 2019 GunPla Builder’s World Cup. The contest is a yearly event held amongst modelers to show off their completed Gundam models. Top modelers from the U.S. as well as Japan, China, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Australia, Italy, France, Vietnam, and Canada battle it out for the title of GunPla World Cup Champion. Contest categories include Best Universal Century Model, Best Alternate Universe, Best Super Deformed (SD), and Best Factory Finish. Models are judged on painting, craftsmanship, and overall concept. The winning U.S. representative will go on to compete against winning modelers from other countries in the Final Round to held in Japan on December 9, 2019.

Gundam Creator Yoshiyuki Tomino
Mobile Suit Gundam creator and director, Yoshiyuki Tomino, will attend Anime NYC as an Official Guest to mark the 40th anniversary of his landmark property. He will participate in several panels and autograph sessions. Please visit http://animenyc.com/autographs2019/ for information on the signing sessions. Yoshiyuki Tomino will only autograph official Gundam products for series he personally worked on, including the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series and the new Gundam Reconquista in G (G-Reco) movie that will premiere at Anime NYC.

U.S. Premiere of Gundam Reconquista in G Anime Film
Attendees are invited to attend the U.S. Premiere of Gundam Reconquista in G. The screening will be held on Saturday, November 16, 2019 at 6:30 p.m. in Room 1E13, immediately following the GunPla Builders World Cup official panel.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack Anime Film to Screen in the United States on December 5, 2019

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Fathom Events and Sunrise have announced that the Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack anime film will screen in the United States on December 5, 2019 at 7:00 p.m. local time. The English-subtitled screening will celebrate the Gundam franchise’s 40th anniversary. The screening will feature an exclusive interview with franchise creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, as well as content from this year’s Anime NYC.

The film debuted in Japan in 1988 as an adaptation of Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – High Streamer novel. The film is set in the Universal Century timeline, and it was the first original feature-length theatrical release for the franchise.

Source: ANN

Crunchyroll Launches Mobile Suit Gundam Merchandise Partnership

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Crunchyroll has announced that it has launched a partnership with anime studio Sunrise and advertising agency Sotsu Co., Ltd. to manage the merchandise rights for five Mobile Suit Gundam franchise series in North America, South America, the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.

The series include Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed, Mobile Suit Gundam 00, and Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. The partnership will offer merchandise including apparel, bags, accessories, home decor, furnishings, lifestyle items, and food.

Source: ANN

Right Stuf to Release the After War Gundam X and Mobile Suit Gundam NT Anime in 2020

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Right Stuf announced at its Crunchyroll Expo panel that it will release the After War Gundam X anime on Blu-ray Disc in 2020. The company also stated it will release Mobile Suit Gundam NT on home video in 2020.

Sunrise and Right Stuf previously released After War Gundam X in two DVD sets in 2016. The 39-episode series originally aired in 1996.

Mobile Suit Gundam NT anime film opened in Japan in November 2018. Fathom Events and Sunrise screened the film in the United States with an English dub on February 19, 2019. Sunrise worked with NYAV Post to produce the English dub for the anime.

Source: ANN

FUNimation Entertainment Adds Dubbed Gundam: The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet Anime

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

FUNimation Entertainment announced on its official Twitter account that it has added Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet (Kidō Senshi Gundam: The Origin Zenya – Akai Suisei), the 13-episode television series recompilation of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin anime, to its FunimationNow streaming service. The first five episodes are streaming with English dubs.

The Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet anime premiered in Japan on NHK-General on April 29, 2019.

Crunchyroll began streaming Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin: Advent of the Red Comet with English subtitles on April 28, 2019. Adult Swim’s Toonami block began airing the anime in the United States on July 6, 2019.

Source: ANN

Crunchyroll Announces Two More Simulcasts

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Crunchyroll has announced that it will simulcast the Try Knights anime, as well as SD Gundam World Sangoku Sōketsuden. Both anime will be available worldwide except in Asia.

Try Knights will premiere in Japan on July 30, 2019, and Crunchyroll’s simulcast will begin on the same day.

Crunchyroll’s simulcast of SD Gundam World Sangoku Sōketsuden will begin on July 26, 2019.

Source: ANN

Anime DVD Review: Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Collection 2

Posted on by Lesley Aeschliman

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Collection 2 includes the remaining episodes of the series. The only audio option is the original Japanese with English subtitles.

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Collection 2
English Publisher: Sunrise Inc./Right Stuf
Format: DVD
Release Date: July 5, 2016

While the first half of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is light-hearted and goofy, there’s a sudden tonal shift that takes place right near the beginning of the shift. It’s such a sudden shift from light-hearted to serious that it feels sloppy. Some of the comedic elements from the first half remain, but for the most part, the characters act more serious and the story starts taking on serious and darker tones. But it was laughable how the writers tried to change the villains from being over-the-top and goofy to suddenly being more serious or evil. For Mashymyre, he became “too enhanced,” and for Chara, she was “brainwashed.”

But the change in characterization wasn’t limited to just the Neo Zeon members. Two of Judau’s friends, Beecha and Mondo, also had inconsistencies in their characterizations. But of the two, Beecha’s constantly changing character was more glaring. He and Mondo didn’t take things seriously and defected to Neo Zeon at one point. When they come back, Beecha seemed to start taking things seriously, but then was back to whining and acting the way he had been prior to defecting. Of the new protagonists, Beecha and Mondo were the weakest and most annoying of them.

Since Judau is the protagonist, he goes through the “hero’s journey” and sees the most growth and development as a character. Unfortunately, with the sloppy changes in tone and not really caring about the newer characters introduced in this series, it was harder for me to appreciate the growth that Judau goes through.

After I finished watching Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, I concluded that there were some interesting ideas and concepts for this series, but the execution for the series wasn’t terribly good overall. Honestly, I think I would have enjoyed this series more if it had been more serious from the start. Maybe for the first couple of episodes there could have been a more light-hearted tone, but then the story could have become serious much more quickly. As it is, this series ends up being a bit of a mess, which makes it harder to enjoy.

While I won’t say that Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is necessarily bad, I honestly believe that it’s the weakest of the three Mobile Suit Gundam anime series I have seen.

When it comes to the bonus features on this release, all that’s included is a clean version of the second opening and a clean version of the second closing. Nothing too out of the ordinary here, it’s straight forward.

Like I said at the end of my review for Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, this release is something I can only truly recommend to readers who are fans of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise that want to have every series in their home anime video library. For more casual fans of the franchise who aren’t fans of Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ, they’re not missing out on much by not owning these releases.