is a series of animated shorts released in theaters and as

original video animation , 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 ...

between 1988 and 1993 by

Sunrise Sunrise (or sunup) is the moment when the upper rim of the Sun appears on the horizon in the morning. The term can also refer to the entire process of the solar disk crossing the horizon and its accompanying atmospheric effects. Terminology A ...

. Part of the '' SD Gundam'' media franchise, the anime was based on the popular ''

Gashapon , also called , is a trademark of Bandai. Among the variety of vending machine-dispensed capsule toys that originated in the 1960s, it became popular in Japan and elsewhere. "Gashapon" is onomatopoeic from the two sounds "gasha" (or "gacha") fo ...

'' capsule toys and model kits being released by

Bandai is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational toy manufacturer and distributor headquartered in Taitō, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Toys & Collectables America and Bandai UK, are respectively headquartered in Irvine ...

at the time. The shorts initially parody stories and characters from the ''

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 with super deformed forms of Gundam characters and

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 after shortening the English loanword or , but the meaning in Japanese is ...

. Starting with 1989's ''Mobile Suit SD Gundam's Counterattack'', the series began featuring a regularly appearing set of SD Gundam characters based on existing SD Gundam toys, Carddass trading cards and

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 ...

series, notably from the '' Command Gundam'', ''

Knight Gundam is a media franchise that spawned from the ''Gundam'' franchise. SD Gundam takes the mecha (and characters) from Gundam and expresses them in super deformed and anthropomorphic style. Overview SD Gundam originated from a contributed illustr ...

'', and ''

Musha Gundam is a media franchise that spawned from the ''Gundam'' franchise. SD Gundam takes the mecha (and characters) from Gundam and expresses them in super deformed and anthropomorphic style. Overview SD Gundam originated from a contributed illustr ...

'' sub-franchises.

Works

''Mobile Suit SD Gundam'' was released as a series of shorts accompanying feature films by Sunrise, or in OVA form. Eventually a feature film and a TV series were also made. The complete list of works are as follows: * (theatrical shorts, March 1988) :Released with '' Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack''. Contains the following shorts: :* :* :The video release includes the two shorts from the theatrical release above, in addition to a new episode: :* * (OVA, June 1989) :Includes the following shorts: :* :* (

omake ''Omake'' (, usually written ) means ''extra'' in Japanese. Its primary meaning is general and widespread. It is used as an anime and manga term to mean "extra or bonus." In the United States, the term is most often used in a narrow sense by a ...

) :* * (theatrical shorts, July 1989) :Released with '' Patlabor: The Movie''. First animated appearance of the '' SD Sengokuden'' sub-series, which is based on the

toy line. Includes the following shorts: :* :* * (OVA, March 1990) :Includes the following shorts: :* :* :* :* :* :* * (OVA, September 1990) :Includes the following shorts: :*. Based on the American cartoon, ''

Wacky Races Eccentricity (also called quirkiness) is an unusual or odd behavior on the part of an individual. This behavior would typically be perceived as unusual or unnecessary, without being demonstrably maladaptive. Eccentricity is contrasted with no ...

''. Due to copyright issues, this short was never released on DVD. :* :**''Appendix Part One: The One Year War Mobile Suit Catalog'' * (OVA, October 1990) :Includes the following shorts: :* :* :* * (OVA, March 1990 to March 1991) :A series of four OVAs adapted from the manga series, '' SD Gundam Gaiden Sieg Zion Hen'', featuring

: :* :* :* :* * (theatrical short, March 1991) :Released with ''

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 is a 1991 anime film. It was '' Gundam'' creator Yoshiyuki Tomino's attempt to launch a new ''Gundam'' saga, set 30 years after ''Char's Counterattack''. He re-teamed with character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and mecha designer Kunio Okawara for ...

''. Features the first ever team-up of Command Gundam,

, who work together with a young girl named Riplin to fight evil. Video release contains ''SD Gundam Scramble'' along with two new segments: :* :* (live-action

introducing the different members of the ''SD Command Chronicles'' team, G-ARMS) * (movie, March 1993) :A

feature-length A feature film or feature-length film is a narrative film (motion picture or "movie") with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole presentation in a commercial entertainment program. The term ''feature film'' originall ...

movie divided into multiple parts as follows: :*. A teamup between various teams from SD Command Chronicles: SD Command Chronicles II's "Crushers" and SD Command Chronicles III's "Super G-Arms" and the Super Knight Final Formula. :* & . Adaptation of the Knight Gundam

Cardass is a name given to Bandai's card vending machines and, thus, a generic term given to the cards sold by these machines. The name was inspired by AMeDAS (''A''utomated ''Me''teorological ''D''ata ''A''cquisition ''S''ystem), a system in Japan use ...

and manga story, ''Seikihei Monogatari''. :*

Releases

An 8-episode TV series, , was aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

from February to March 1993, compiling the various ''Mobile Suit SD Gundam'' shorts as well as some

variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

segments. The show achieved a TV rating of 8.06% in the

Kanto region Kantō (Japanese) Kanto is a simplified spelling of , a Japanese word, only omitting the diacritics. In Japan Kantō may refer to: *Kantō Plain *Kantō region *Kantō-kai, organized crime group *Kanto (Pokémon), a geographical region in the ' ...

. All of the animated shorts, with the exception of ''SD Gundam SD Wacky Races'', were later re-released in a DVD-BOX in Japan on July 22, 2007.

References

External links

Official sites

Mobile Suit SD Gundam Web
(Japanese)
Gundam
{{Sunrise OVAs SD Gundam Sunrise (company) 1990 anime OVAs