Gundam Creator Sticks Up for Female Fanbase Amidst Gatekeeping Debate

The creator of Mobile Suit Gundam, Yoshiyuki Tomino, is responsible for bringing the most legendary mech anime series to the world, and recently, in an interview, he had the opportunity to highlight why the female fanbase of the long-running franchise was instrumental in the overall success of Gundam! First hitting the scene in 1979, Mobile Suit Gundam arrived with an anime series that followed the battle between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, leading the way for a number of different storylines that continue to land for anime fans to this day!

One of the biggest parts of the Gundam series outside of the anime is definitely the Gundam plastic models, or Gunplas, that have been released over the years that allow fans to craft their own tiny mechs from the hundreds of mech suits that have been introduced over the decades. Gundam Plastic Models have sold over five hundred millions units to date, proving that fans want to own mech suits of their very own to add to their collections.

Twitter User Tayuta0079 shared this interview with Yoshiyuki Tomino, wherein the creator of the anime franchise went into detail about how the female fans of the series were the first to be drawn to Gundam Plastic Models, giving the series a big spring in its step before it hit the levels of popularity it is now known for:

Tomino had this to say as he broke down the early success of Gunplas and the mech franchise as a whole:

“The very first fans of the original Gundam were young women. Definitely not the PlaModel enthusiasts. With both Gundam and Raideen, of the first fans to be active, 90 percent were girls. Among a gathering of 1000 fans, about 100 were boys. Around with the first cour (of the anime) ended, young women began to gather to the after recording studio. It took until much later for male fans to make an uproar, around the time the series got canceled. I thought: ‘You’re late to the party”!”

What do you think of this interesting Gundam factoid? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and the world of the popular mech franchise!