Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
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is a 2011 Japanese
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anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...
television series and the twelfth installment in Sunrise's long-running ''
Gundam is a Japanese military fiction media franchise. Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), the franchise features giant robots, or mecha, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''Mobile ...
'' franchise. The series was first announced in the July issue of
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
's ''
CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan, established on May 15, 1977. Its main target is elementary school-aged boys, younger than the readers of shōnen manga. Several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the '' Poké ...
'', and has gaming company Level-5's President
Akihiro Hino (born July 20, 1968) is a Japanese video game designer and businessman. Starting his career as a programmer in the 1990s, he later took on roles in writing, design, directing and producing. He founded Level-5 (company), Level-5 in 1998, where he ...
in charge of the story. This installment of the Gundam meta-series is set on a futuristic Earth plagued by an interplanetary war that spans a whole century. Its story revolves around three protagonists from the same family, each piloting his own version of the eponymous
mecha In science fiction, or mechs are giant robots or machines controlled by people, typically depicted as humanoid walking vehicles. The term was first used in Japanese (language), Japanese after shortening the English loanword or , but the mean ...
, fighting to defend Earth and its space colonies from an enemy race far more advanced in terms of technology. The series was officially unveiled by Bandai on June 13, 2011, during a special event at the 2011 Tokyo Toy Show. ''Gundam AGE'' premiered on the
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and TBS broadcasting stations in Japan on October 9, 2011 and 49 episodes were broadcast, with the final episode on September 23, 2012. A compilation
OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...
titled ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Memory of Eden'' was released on July 26, 2013, focusing on the second protagonist of the series, Asemu Asuno.


Plot

The story of ''Gundam AGE'' is separated into four arcs, with the first three focusing on a different protagonist, and the last, the "Three Generations" arc, focusing on all three previous protagonists.


Flit Asuno (A.G 115)

In A.G. 101 (the 101st year of the Advanced Generation calendar) a mysterious entity known at the time only as ''"UE"'', or "''U''nknown ''E''nemy", attacks and destroys the space colony Angel. This brutal attack becomes infamous as "The Day the Angel Fell", and marks the beginning of the "One Hundred Years War". The series begins in A.G. 108 when the UE attack the space colony Ovan, where Flit Asuno lives with his mother after they escaped colony Angel before its destruction. Flit's mother is mortally wounded by the UE, but before dying she gives her son the ''"AGE Device"'', containing the blueprints for a powerful weapon from the past—the ancient messiah named ''"Gundam."'' Flit spends the next several years studying engineering at an Earth Federation base on the Nora space colony while designing the ''Gundam AGE-1'' from the AGE Device's blueprints. Seven years later, in A.G. 115, Flit completes the Gundam AGE-1 Normal, just as the UE attacks Nora, and makes use of it to aid the crew of Federation's battleship ''"Diva"'' in evacuating the colony's citizens before it is destroyed. Determined to bring the battle to the U.E. for destroying his home twice, Flit agrees to serve at Diva's mobile suit squad piloting the Gundam. After gathering enough intel and military power to establish a course of action, the crew of Diva and their allies launch a successful attack to destroy the U.E.'s secret fortress in the Ambat asteroid. In the occasion, they learn that the U.E. are actually the descendants of a failed human mission sent to colonize Mars, left for dead by the Earth Federation, who formed their own nation on the red planet called ''"Vagan"''.


Asemu Asuno (A.G 140-142)

25 years after the battle at Ambat, the Federation's war against Vagan keeps escalating with no end at sight as their enemies rejected all offers for a peace treaty. Flit, now married and father of two is a commander of the Earth forces determined to destroy the Vagans and chooses his son Asemu to succeed him as the Gundam's pilot, entrusting him with the AGE Device on his 17th birthday. After successfully defending his colony from Vagan attacks with the Gundam AGE-1, Asemu enlists into the military and just like his father before him, he joins Diva's mobile suit squad piloting AGE-1's successor unit, the ''Gundam AGE-2''. Under Flit's command, the federation forces, spearheaded by Asemu and the crew of Diva successfully stops several Vagan attempts to progress with their invasion of Earth. Flit also manages to expose a large scale conspiracy involving several corrupt authorities in cahoots with the Vagans, leading to a massive shift of power in the Earth Sphere. Ten years later, just after the birth of his son Kio, Asemu leaves for a final mission that ends with his disappearance, although his AGE Device was retrieved and entrusted to Kio.


Kio Asuno/Three Generations (A.G 164)

After deploying several sleeper agents around the globe, the Vagans launch a surprise attack that finally brings the war to the Earth. To counter the invasion, Flit activates the recently completed ''Gundam AGE-3'' and entrusts it to Kio. Just like his father and grandfather before him, Kio enlists into the Diva as part of its mobile suit squad to confront the Vagans. Just after reaching space, Flit and Kio has an encounter with the Bisidian space pirates, and discover, much to their surprise, that Asemu is still alive and working with them, piloting a heavily modified version of his Gundam AGE-2, named the ''Gundam AGE-2 Dark Hound''. The Diva's crew learn from Asemu about the existence of EXA-DB, an ancient military database containing strategic data that can provide an overwhelming advantage to whoever side secures it. However, their plans to retrieve it are halted when Kio is captured along with his Gundam by the Vagans and put under custody of their leader Fezarl Ezelcant. Soon after Kio is rescued by Asemu and his pirate comrades, but his Gundam AGE-3 is almost totally destroyed. After returning to Earth, Kio rejoins the crew of Diva piloting the AGE System's ultimate mobile suit, the ''Gundam AGE-FX''. Fighting together for the first time, Flit, Asemu and Kio lead the federal forces and the Bisidian in a successful attempt to recapture the Federation's main base on the moon from the Vagans. After Asemu locates and destroys the EXA-DB to ensure that neither side claims it, the Earth Federation and the Vagans focus all their efforts in one final battle at Earth's orbit. The battle ends when the Vagan main colony "Second Moon" is about to be destroyed, and Kio convinces Flit to abandon his grief and rally both the Federation and Vagan soldiers to work together and save the colony. After the conflict, the Federation and the Vagans make use of their military research to finally render the planet Mars habitable and Flit becomes remembered as a savior who united all mankind for a brighter future.


Production


Development

Development of ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE'' began when
Akihiro Hino (born July 20, 1968) is a Japanese video game designer and businessman. Starting his career as a programmer in the 1990s, he later took on roles in writing, design, directing and producing. He founded Level-5 (company), Level-5 in 1998, where he ...
and Level-5 were first hired by Sunrise to develop a Gundam video game. Interested with working for the Gundam franchise, Hino wrote a plot summary for an anime which Bandai eventually saw and decided to create an anime based on it. The script was eventually green-lit and was first announced in the July issue of
Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...
's ''
CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan, established on May 15, 1977. Its main target is elementary school-aged boys, younger than the readers of shōnen manga. Several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the '' Poké ...
''. Many of the staff behind ''Gundam AGE'' is also the same staff members who created the previous series ''
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 is a Japanese anime television series, the eleventh installment in Sunrise studio's long-running ''Gundam'' franchise comprising two seasons. The series is set on a futuristic Earth and is centered on the exploits of the fictional paramilita ...
''. Susumu Yamaguchi, who previously worked as a director in the '' Sgt Frog'' franchise, was in charge of the direction of the series. Michinori Chiba and Takuzō Nagano were both in charge of the character designs of the series while
Kanetake Ebikawa is an anime mechanical designer from Japan. Anime * Blue Submarine No. 6 (1998, mechanical design, monitor graphics) *Melty Lancer (1999, mechanical design) * Gate Keepers (2000, monitor graphics) *Vandread (2000, mechanical design) * Vandread ...
, Junya Ishigaki, and Kenji Teraoka were all contributing to the mechanical designs. The series was originally planned to be a year-and-a-half long in length; however, sometime during broadcast, it was determined that the show be cut short to the final length of 49 episodes. ''Gundam AGE'' thus followed ''
Mobile Suit Gundam , also known as ''First Gundam'', ''Gundam 0079'' or simply ''Gundam '79'', is an anime television series, produced and animated by Nippon Sunrise. Created and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino, it premiered in Japan on Nagoya Broadcasting ...
'' and ''
After War Gundam X , is a 1996 Japanese anime television series and the seventh installment in the long running ''Gundam'' franchise that started in 1979, but takes place in an alternate timeline called . The series has 39 episodes, aired in Japan from April ...
'' as ''Gundam'' series that were cut short. A new OVA project titled ''Gundam AGE: Memories of Eden'' recompiling the second arc of the anime series which focused on protagonist Asemu Asuno and his major antagonist, Zeheart Gallete, was made. The OVA features new footage totaling one hour.


Release

''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE'' premiered at October 9, 2011 on the
terrestrial Terrestrial refers to things related to land or the planet Earth. Terrestrial may also refer to: * Terrestrial animal, an animal that lives on land opposed to living in water, or sometimes an animal that lives on or near the ground, as opposed to ...
MBS MBS may refer for: People * Mohammed bin Salman (born 1985), crown prince and prime minister of Saudi Arabia * Mohan Bikram Singh (born 1935), Nepalese politician Places * MBS International Airport (IATA code: MBS), Freeland, Michigan, US * Mari ...
and TBS networks at 5:00 p.m on Sundays, replacing ''
Blue Exorcist is a Japanese dark fantasy manga series written and illustrated by Kazue Kato. The story revolves around Rin Okumura, a teenager who discovers he and his twin brother Yukio are the sons of Satan, born from a human woman, and he is the inhe ...
''.


Music

The music in the series is composed by Kei Yoshikawa, most famous for composing musical scores for the anime ''
Basquash! is a Japanese anime television series animated by Satelight. Created by Shōji Kawamori and Thomas Romain, the series aired on MBS between April and October 2009. The anime is licensed by Maiden Japan. Plot The story takes place in ...
''. The first opening song, "
Asu e is a song by Japanese band Galileo Galilei (band), Galileo Galilei. It was used as the first opening theme song for the anime ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE'', and was released as their sixth physical single on December 7, 2011. Background and develo ...
" by
Galileo Galilei Galileo di Vincenzo Bonaiuti de' Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) was an Italian astronomer, physicist and engineer, sometimes described as a polymath. Commonly referred to as Galileo, his name was pronounced (, ). He was ...
and the ending, by
Minami Kuribayashi is a Japanese singer, songwriter, lyricist and voice actress from Shizuoka Prefecture. From 2016 to 2019, she performed under the stage name Minami. Her involvement in the game and anime ''Kimi ga Nozomu Eien'', where she voiced the role of on ...
were used from episodes 1 to 15. From episodes 16 to 28, "Sharp#" by Negoto and "My World" by
SPYAIR Spyair (stylized as SPYAIR) is a Japanese rock band from Nagoya, Japan, formed in 2005. The band currently consists of Yuji "UZ" Nakai (guitar, programming), Kenji "Momiken" Momiyama (bass guitar, leader) and Kenta Sasabe (drums). The band's nam ...
were used as the opening and ending themes, respectively. From episode 29 to 39, the opening theme was "Real" by
Vivid Vivid may refer to: Music * Vivid (band), a Japanese rock band * "Vivid" (song), by Electronic, 1999 *"ViViD", a 2016 song by Loona from '' HeeJin'' Albums * ''Vivid'' (Vivian Green album), 2015 * ''Vivid'' (Crystal Kay album), 2012 * ''Vivi ...
, and the ending theme was "White Justice" by
Faylan is a female Japanese singer affiliated with management agency S, run by veteran singer Hiromi Satō. She is known for many of her songs being in video games and anime. Her stage name was given by composer Noriyasu Agematsu. She is affectionately ...
. Episode 40 onwards has "Aurora" by
Eir Aoi is a Japanese singer from Sapporo, Hokkaido, signed to Sacra Music. After being discovered through the Japanese video sharing website Niconico, Aoi made her major debut in 2011 with the release of her first single "Memoria", whose title track ...
as the opening and "Forget-me-not (Wasurenagusa)" by Flower as the ending.


Media


Manga

Two
manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...
adaptations of the series have been announced. by Hiroshi Nakanishi was published in Shogakukan's ''
Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...
''. This two-chapter adaptation of the beginning of the anime features a different AGE System from the show. Instead of using the AGE Builder, Gundam AGE-1 is able to analyze its surroundings and incorporate machinery that are appropriate for the combat situation it is in. The other adaptation is published in Kadokawa's
Gundam Ace is a monthly Japanese shōnen manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. It largely focuses on the ''Gundam'' franchise. There was a Chinese version published by Kadokawa Media (Taiwan) Co., Ltd, discontinued in 2008. Overview Gundam Ace s ...
, titled ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: First Evolution'', was drawn by Hiyon Katsuragi and serialized from December 2011 to August 2012 issues. It is compiled into three tankōbon volumes Two sidestory manga have also been released. The first is entitled ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Treasure Star''. Written and drawn by Masanori Yoshida and serialized in Shogakukan's ''
CoroCoro Comic is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Shogakukan, established on May 15, 1977. Its main target is elementary school-aged boys, younger than the readers of shōnen manga. Several of its properties, like ''Doraemon'' and the '' Poké ...
'', it features a group of adventurers exploring space in the ship "Treasure Star". The second sidestory manga titled ''Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Memories of Sid'' is serialized in ''
Shōnen Sunday S , formerly known as ''Shōnen Sunday Super'', is a monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan. History and background Originally billed as a special edition of ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'', titled , it was renamed in 1995 ...
'' on January 25, 2012 and ended on October 25, 2012. Drawn by Hiroshi Nakanishi, the story is set before the third generation, dealing with Asemu's first encounter with the EXA-DB and SID. It also shows his decision to fake his death and join the Space Pirate Group Bisidian. The series is compiled into three tankōbon volumes.


Models and toys

During the announcement event, Bandai had the first several ''Gundam AGE'' models and toys on display at the Tokyo Toy Show 2011. Some of them were a 1/48 scale mega-size model of the AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1 Normal and several HG 1/144 scale models of the main mobile suits from the series. The HG Gundam AGE-1 Normal was first released in September 2011 while the Genoace, Genoace Custom, Baqto, Zedas, Garfan, Gundam AGE-1 Titus and Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow will be released in a later date. Aside for the HG models, Bandai also planned to release GB (Gage-ing Builder) grade models of the AGE-1 Gundam, AGE-1 Titus, AGE-1 Sparrow, Genoace and Garfan will be released between September and December 2011. The 1/100 scale GB toys of the same types will be released around the same time also. Bandai also released Master Grade lines for this series, starting with the Gundam AGE-1 Normal which is on Japanese Market in February 2012. The series' appearance in the ''Robot Spirits'' line is also confirmed with the confirmed release of the Gundam AGE-1 Normal in December 2011. Both the Genoace Custom and the Gundam AGE-1 Normal were confirmed to be released as part of the ''FW Gundam Converge'' line in November 2011.


Games

'' Mobile Suit Gundam: Try Age'' is a
Data Carddass is a series of Japanese arcade game machines created by Bandai, which largely focus around the digital use of collectible trading cards. It is an expansion of Bandai's ''Carddass'' collectible trading card series, which allows players to use s ...
card game as well as an
Arcade Game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...
developed by both Level-5 and
Bandai-Namco also known as the Bandai Namco Group and generally Bandai Namco, is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, formed from the merger of Bandai and Namco on ...
Games. The game utilizes cards as well as the sensors in the Gage-ing Builder model kits. Some of the characters and units from the series were also included in SD Gundam G Generation 3D and G Generation OVERWORLD. '' Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Universe Accel and Cosmic Drive'' is a
role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...
by Level-5 for the
PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...
. It was released on August 30, 2012. In year 2014, Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. MAXI BOOST has the AGE-1 and the AGE-2 as playable units, and later supplant by the Zeydra, the AGE-3 and the Legilis. Also, the Vagan Gear equipped with SID serve as a boss. In year 2016, Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. MAXI BOOST ON includes the AGE-FX as a playable unit, and later supplant by the AGE-2 Dark Hound and the Farsia with Zedas assist unit. In year 2018, Mobile Suit Gundam Extreme Vs. 2 includes the AGE-1 Glansa as a playable unit and later supplant by the Fawn Farsia.


References


External links


Official Site
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AGE Age or AGE may refer to: Time and its effects * Age, the amount of time someone or something has been alive or has existed ** East Asian age reckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 * Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older ...
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