Gundam Builds Another Life-Sized Statue
Mobile Suit Gundam has taken the world by storm since first debuting in the 1970s thanks to creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, with the anime series depicting the larger than life mechs in Japan via real life statues. Now, a new statue has been created that honors the franchise as the series continues to tell stories following the mech suits across various realities and timelines, with the action-packed series showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.
The Gundam statue currently stands in the city of Fukuoka in Japan, the sixth largest city in the East, modeled after the mech suit known as the RX-93v Gundam which first hit the scene in the feature-length film of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. The new mech is one of the most advanced suits introduced in the first anime series, with Amuro Ray piloting it in order to defeat his nemesis Char while fighting on behalf of the Earth Federation. Though the original series came to a close years ago, the universe presented in the first storyline recently made a comeback via the new film Hathaway's Flash, which is set to be a trilogy following the spiritual successor to both Amuro and Char.
In celebration of the finishing touches placed on this new statue, a video was released that shows the head being placed on the shoulders of this monolithic tribute to one of the most popular anime franchises, joining a handful of other Gundam statues that have already been created and stand tall in Japan:
While Mobile Suit Gundam received a new statue, the franchise took a hit in Japan when it was announced earlier this year that the trademark Gundam cafes would be closing their doors. With the last cafe of its kind set to close next year, anime fans are bidding a fond farewell to the establishments that would normally operate close to these statues. Luckily, the anime franchise shows no signs of stopping any time soon as new series and movies continue to tell the story of Gundam across different universes and timelines.
What is your favorite Gundam statue that has been built in Japan? 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 Gundam.