is a Japanese military fiction

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

. Created by

Yoshiyuki Tomino is a Japanese mecha anime creator, animator, director, screenwriter, songwriter and novelist best known for creating the ''Gundam'' anime franchise. He was born in Odawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, and studied at Nihon University's College of Ar ...

and Sunrise (now

Bandai Namco Filmworks , previously and still famously known as Sunrise Inc., is a Japanese animation studio founded in September 1972 and is based in Ogikubo, Tokyo. Its former names were also Soeisha, Nippon Sunrise and Sunrise Studio. Its primary division, , is r ...

), the franchise features giant robots, or

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 ...

, with the name "Gundam". The franchise began on April 7, 1979, with ''

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 Broadcastin ...

'', a

TV series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed b ...

that defined the "

real robot Mecha anime and manga, known in Japan as and , are anime and manga that feature robots (mecha) in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; "super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where robots are ...

mecha anime Mecha anime and manga, known in Japan as and , are anime and manga that feature robots (mecha) in battle. The genre is broken down into two subcategories; "super robot", featuring super-sized, implausible robots, and "real robot", where robots are ...

genre by featuring giant robots called mobile suits (including the original titular mecha) in a militaristic setting. The popularity of the series and its merchandise spawned a franchise that includes 50

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmospher ...

and OVAs as well as

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 ...

novels A novel is a relatively long work of narrative fiction, typically written in prose and published as a book. The present English word for a long work of prose fiction derives from the for "new", "news", or "short story of something new", itself ...

and

video games Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This feedbac ...

, along with a whole industry of plastic model kits known as

Gunpla Gundam models, or , are model kits depicting the vehicles and characters of the fictional '' Gundam'' multiverse by Bandai. These kits became popular among mecha anime fans and model enthusiasts in Japan and nearby Asian countries beginning i ...

which makes up 90 percent of the Japanese character plastic-model market. Academics in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

have viewed the series as inspiration; in 2008, the virtual Gundam Academy was planned as the first academic institution based on an animated TV series. As of March 2020, the franchise is fully owned by

Bandai Namco Holdings 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 ...

through subsidiaries Sotsu and Sunrise. The ''Gundam'' franchise had grossed over in retail sales by 2000. By 2022, annual revenue of the ''Gundam'' franchise reached ¥101.7 billion per year,Bandai Namco Fiscal Year 2022 Financial Statement
/ref> ¥44.2 billion of which was retail sales of toys and hobby items.

Overview

Concept

''Mobile Suit Gundam'' was developed by animator

and a changing group of Sunrise creators with the collective pseudonym of

Hajime Yatate is a pseudonym for the collective contributions of the Sunrise animation staff. Name "Hajime Yatate" is considered to be named after a quote of Matsuo Bashō's ''Oku no Hosomichi'': Credited series This collective entity is credited as the ...

. The series was originally entitled ''Freedom Fighter Gunboy'' (or ''Gunboy'') for the robot's gun, with teen boys the primary target demographic. Early production had a number of references to

freedom Freedom is understood as either having the ability to act or change without constraint or to possess the power and resources to fulfill one's purposes unhindered. Freedom is often associated with liberty and autonomy in the sense of "giving one ...

: the White Base was originally "Freedom's Fortress", the Core Fighter was the "Freedom Wing" and the Gunperry was the "Freedom Cruiser". The Yatate team combined the English word "gun" with the last syllable of the word "freedom" to form the

portmanteau A portmanteau word, or portmanteau (, ) is a blend of wordsdam holding back water. In keeping with the concept, Gundams are depicted as prototypes or limited-production, with higher capabilities than mass-produced units. Most Gundams are large, bipedal,

humanoid A humanoid (; from English ''human'' and '' -oid'' "resembling") is a non-human entity with human form or characteristics. The earliest recorded use of the term, in 1870, referred to indigenous peoples in areas colonized by Europeans. By the 20 ...

vehicles controlled from a

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls that e ...

by a human pilot. The cockpit is located in the

torso The torso or trunk is an anatomical term for the central part, or the core, of the body of many animals (including humans), from which the head, neck, limbs, tail and other appendages extend. The tetrapod torso — including that of a hu ...

, while the

head A head is the part of an organism which usually includes the ears, brain, forehead, cheeks, chin, eyes, nose, and mouth, each of which aid in various sensory functions such as sight, hearing, smell, and taste. Some very simple animals ...

serves as a camera to transmit images back to the cockpit. Most of the series protagonists are Newtypes, genetically advanced humans adapted for space. Newtypes have

psychic abilities This is a list of alleged psychic abilities that have been attributed to real-world people. Many of these abilities pertain to variations of extrasensory perception or the ''sixth sense''. Superhuman abilities from fiction are not included. Psy ...

that enable them to sense each other across space and to utilize special mobile suits. The series itself has been described as a

space opera Space opera is a subgenre of science fiction that emphasizes space warfare, with use of melodramatic, risk-taking space adventures, relationships, and chivalric romance. Set mainly or entirely in outer space, it features technological and soc ...

Innovation

''Mobile Suit Gundam'' reportedly pioneered the

subgenre of

. In contrast to its super robot cousins, ''Mobile Suit Gundam'' attempted realism in its robot design and weaponry by running out of energy and ammunition or malfunctioning. Its technology is derived from actual science (such as Lagrange points and the O'Neill cylinder in space, and the use of

Helium-3 Helium-3 (3He see also helion) is a light, stable isotope of helium with two protons and one neutron (the most common isotope, helium-4, having two protons and two neutrons in contrast). Other than protium (ordinary hydrogen), helium-3 is the ...

as an energy source) or feasible technology requiring only a few fictional elements to function (such as Minovsky Physics).

Timelines

Most of the ''Gundam'' animation (including the earliest series) is set in what is known as the Universal Century (UC)

calendar era A calendar era is the period of time elapsed since one '' epoch'' of a calendar and, if it exists, before the next one. For example, it is the year as per the Gregorian calendar, which numbers its years in the Western Christian era (the Coptic ...

, with later series set in alternate calendars or

timelines A timeline is a display of a list of events in chronological order. It is typically a graphic design showing a long bar labelled with dates paralleling it, and usually contemporaneous events. Timelines can use any suitable scale representi ...

. Although many new ''Gundam'' stories are told in their parallel universe with independent timelines (giving them greater creative freedom), the original UC storyline continues to be popular. It established the series, setting the standard for

hard science fiction Hard science fiction is a category of science fiction characterized by concern for scientific accuracy and logic. The term was first used in print in 1957 by P. Schuyler Miller in a review of John W. Campbell's ''Islands of Space'' in the Novemb ...

in anime; the original ''Gundam'' marked the maturing of the giant-robot genre. Nostalgia for the oldest ''Gundam'' shows (and its status as a pop-culture icon in Japan) is a factor in its continuing success.

Spinoffs

'' SD Gundam'', a spinoff of ''Gundam'' which began during the mid-1980s, features super deformed designs and emphasizes comedy and adventure. ''

Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G is an anime produced by Sunrise to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam plastic model kits. It was directed by Kou Matsuo and written by Yousuke Kuroda, and features character designs by Kaichiro Terada. The show was originally b ...

'', ''

Gundam Build Fighters is a 2013 Japanese science fiction anime television series based on Sunrise's long-running ''Gundam'' franchise. The series is directed by Kenji Nagasaki of '' No. 6'' and written by Yōsuke Kuroda of ''Mobile Suit Gundam 00''. Character ...

'', and '' Gundam Build Divers'' feature contemporary settings and use Gunpla as plot elements.

Media

TV series, films, and video

Except for ''Mobile Suit Gundam 00'', which follows the current calendar era, all ''Gundam'' series are set in a fictional era, begin after a drastic event or chain of events, and typically involve a major conflict between Earth and space colonies (and in some cases the Moon and

terraformed Terraforming or terraformation ("Earth-shaping") is the hypothetical process of deliberately modifying the atmosphere, temperature, surface topography or ecology of a planet, moon, or other body to be similar to the environment of Earth to make ...

planets). An exception are ''Gundam Build'' timelines, which are set in an alternate present time where all other ''Gundam'' installments are fictional.

Live-action film

At the 2018

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first w ...

Legendary Pictures Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC ( doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborate ...

and Sunrise announced a collaboration to develop a live-action ''Gundam'' film. Brian K. Vaughan was brought in to write and serve as an executive producer for the film. In April 2021, it was reported that the project had landed at

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

and that Jordan Vogt-Roberts had been hired to direct.

Manga and novels

Manga adaptations of the ''Gundam'' series have been published in English in North America by a number of companies, such as

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

Del Rey Manga Del Rey Manga was the manga-publishing imprint of Del Rey Books, a branch of Ballantine Books, which in turn is part of Random House, the publishing division of Bertelsmann. History Del Rey Manga was formed as part of a cross-publishing relation ...

and

Tokyopop Tokyopop (styled TOKYOPOP; formerly known as Mixx Entertainment) is an American distributor, licensor and publisher of anime, manga, manhwa and Western manga-style works. The German publishing division produces German translations of licensed ...

, and in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, bor ...

by Chuang Yi.

Video games

''Gundam'' has spawned over 80 video games for arcade, computer and console platforms, some with characters not found in other ''Gundam'' media. Some of the games, in turn inspired spinoff novels and manga. Most ''Gundam'' video games, except '' Dynasty Warriors: Gundam'', were released only in Japan.

Gundam models

Hundreds of Gundam models, primarily made of plastic but sometimes with resin and metal detail parts, have been released. They range in quality from children's toy kits to hobbyist and museum-grade models, and most are in 1:35, 1:48, 1:60, 1:100 or 1:144 scale. Promotional 1:6 or 1:12 scale models are supplied to retailers and are not commercially available. For ''Gundam'' 30th anniversary, a full-size RX-78-2 Gundam model was constructed and displayed at Gundam Front Tokyo, in the Odaiba district; it was taken down on March 5, 2017. A new statue of the Unicorn Gundam was erected at the same location, now renamed The Gundam Base Tokyo.

Other merchandise

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 ...

, ''Gundam'' primary licensee, produces a variety of products. Other companies produce unofficial merchandise, such as toys, models and T-shirts. Products include Mobile Suit In Action (MSiA) action figures and Gundam model kits in several scales and design complexities. Each series generally has its own set of products, MSiA and model lines such as Master Grade and High Grade Universal Century may extend across series. The most popular action-figure line has been the Gundam Fix series, which includes the mecha in the animated series, manga and novels and accessories to create an updated version. In addition to Master Grade and High Grade Gundams, Bandai released a 30th-anniversary series of Gundam models in 2010. The Real Grade (RG) Gundam series combined the Master Grade's detailed inner structure with additional colour separation, making the 1:144-scale series complex in design and compact in size. After the introduction of the RG Gundam series, Bandai released the Metal Build series in March 2011 (beginning with the 00 Gundam).

Internet

Bandai maintains several websites to promote ''Gundam'' projects; Gundam Perfect Web is the official Japanese site. Its English-language counterpart is the US-maintained Gundam Official. In 2005, the website hosted the Gundam Official User Forum. The forum was based on the existing fan forum, Gundam Watch, using many of its staff. When the project was retired, Gundam Watch was reborn and became Gundam Evolution. A number of series-specific websites have been created, often available for a limited time (usually to promote a DVD release). Common content includes character and mecha listings, lists of related merchandise and pay-for-download content. Special pages are frequent, often presenting downloadable wallpaper or a small game. The '' Superior Defender Gundam Force'' website has a game in which players take the role of villain Commander Sazabi, attempting to blast his subordinate with weapons.

Global spread

Since 1980, ''Gundam'' has also appeared in the following countries and regions:

Impact

''Gundam'' is a Japanese cultural icon; it is a ¥50-billion-annual business of Bandai Namco, reaching ¥54.5 billion annual revenue by 2006, and annual revenue by 2014. Stamps were issued, an Agriculture Ministry employee was reprimanded for contributing to the Japanese Wikipedia Gundam-related pages, and the

Japan Self-Defense Forces The Japan Self-Defense Forces ( ja, 自衛隊, Jieitai; abbreviated JSDF), also informally known as the Japanese Armed Forces, are the unified ''de facto''Since Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution outlaws the formation of armed forces, th ...

code-named its developing advance personal-combat system Gundam. The impact of Gundam in

has been compared to the impact of ''

Star Wars ''Star Wars'' is an American epic space opera multimedia franchise created by George Lucas, which began with the eponymous 1977 film and quickly became a worldwide pop-culture phenomenon. The franchise has been expanded into various film ...

'' in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

References

External links

Official ''Gundam'' website
* *

at the Mecha Anime Headquarters website'
''Gundam'' Perfect Games

Bandai Visual's Gundam minisite
{{Sunrise Mass media franchises introduced in 1979 Fiction about asteroid mining Bandai brands Bandai Namco franchises Bandai Visual Mass media franchises Military anime and manga Military fiction Military science fiction category:otaku Sunrise (company) Space opera anime and manga