Gundam Producer Reveals Reason Behind Thunderbolt’s Delay

While there have been a number of franchises taking place in the Gundam universe, perhaps none have been more popular recently that Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt. Taking place during the same time frame as the original Mobile Suit Gundam series, Thunderbolt takes the celestial war and places it in the sights of two soldiers on either side of the battleground. The Federation is represented by soldier Io Fleming while Zeon is represented by Daryl Lorenz, a prolific sniper. While the franchise has received two seasons, the producer of the anime, Naohiro Ogata, has recently revealed why the series hasn’t come back for a third yet.

Ogata laid it out for the interviewers at Anime Herald, that threw a number of different questions his way with regards to the franchise of Gundam, breaking down the real reason as to why Thunderbolt has yet to return:

“I can say is that part of the reason you haven’t seen more Thunderbolt is that we’re waiting for more of the original manga story to be developed. We would like to do more Thunderbolt but we don’t want to do it without having more material. Part of the problem is the creator is experiencing tendinitis. When we have more of the manga, we hope to announce more about Thunderbolt.”

This is a problem, waiting for new manga content to be created in order to make new anime installments, that isn’t unique to Gundam. Series such as Naruto, Dragon Ball, and One Piece have all had to create “filler”, aka original stories that do not follow the groundwork of the manga. Instead of creating new original stories, it’s clear that Ogata would rather wait for manga material to fashion new installments of the anime from.

What do you think of the reasoning behind why new Thunderbolt material hasn’t been made? Do you agree with the idea of a hiatus versus creating new “filler stories”? Feel free to let us know in the comments or hit me up directly on Twitter @EVComedy to talk all things comics, anime, and Gundam!

If you have yet to experience Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, here is the official description:

“Into this maelstrom of destruction go two veteran Mobile Suit pilots: the deadly Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz, and Federation ace Io Fleming. It’s the beginning of a rivalry that can end only when one of them is destroyed. The lightning-streaked debris fields are about to become the stage for an epic duel where death is the only true winner.”

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most popular franchises in the world, and that popularity is only expected to grow as Sunrise continues to release new projects for the franchise. This includes new anime based in the original Universal Century storyline, which will next see a film trilogy based on the Hathaway’s Flash novels, a returning anime for its SD Gundam spin-offs, and even a brand new live-action movie coming to the West co-produced by Legendary, a studio who is currently in the midst of bringing a new take on Toho’s Godzilla franchise to the screen.