Gundam has been in the business of trying to inspire humanity lately with a message of hope delivered via the shock and awe of engineering.
The franchise known for being the father of mecha anime with more than 40 years' worth of anime series and one of the largest lines of toy-models known as Gunpla appears dedicated to trying to help us through the pandemic. The company sent out a YouTube video expressing its faith in humanity’s ability to come together when times are tough. This message comes on the heels of news that a giant 60-foot Gundam was built in Yokohama and recently took its first steps. Another similar Gundam is also being built in Shanghai, China.
When all three bits of news are taken together, it paints the picture of a franchise trying to inject a bit of positivity during these rough times caused by the pandemic. The video calls upon some of the iconic heroes of its anime television shows to spread its message of hope. It's like the Gundam version of “Hands Across America” with a who's who of series protagonists making an appearance. It starts with Amuro Ray and his rival Char Aznable from the original 1979 series Mobile Suit Gundam. Then it continues with other series greats making an appearance including: Banagher Links (Mobile Suit Gundam UC,) Mikazuki Augus (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans,) Setsuna F. Seiei (Mobile Suit Gundam 00,) Heero Yuy (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Kamille Bidan (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam) and Hathaway Noa (Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway.)
The disparate factions that make up humanity in space coming together under a common cause has always been a theme that runs through all of these Gundam shows, but the franchise taps into something different when it comes to Gunpla. Gunpla is the name for the model kits of the mecha from the anime that are painstakingly put together with glue and sometimes hand painted. These toy models are enough of a cultural institution in Japan that there is a museum dedicated to them in Odaiba. It’s that hobbiest spirit that fueled the construction of the giant 60-foot Gundam that took its first steps in Yokohama.
The Gundam in Yokohama is an original design and an interpretation of the classic design from the Mobile Suit Gundam series. Gundam Factory Yokohama spent six months constructing the 60-foot tall robot at the Port of Yokohama where it will stay for the entire year. It weighs about 25 tons and its range of motion is about 24 degrees, which gives it the ability to walk. This model is known as the “Freedom Gundam” from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and was designed by well-known mecha designer Kunio Okawara who has worked on Gundam and other toys.
With the pandemic impacting everyone's lives, anime isn’t the first thing people think about when it comes to being inspired to hope for better things, but the mecha in Gundam series always seem to be a force that unites the galaxy or brings hope to a universe in conflict. 2020 needs all the help it can get.
Source: Gundam Factory Yokohama, Forbes