New Gundam Anime Announced at Anime Expo
Mobile Suit Gundam is preparing to finish the second season of The Witch From Mercury this month. As fans wait to hear whether Suletta Mercury will return for a third season, the mech franchise has confirmed at this year's Anime Expo that a new anime is in the works. What makes this announcement all the more surprising isn't just that a new series is on the way, but the specific style of animation that will be employed for this new chapter of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.
Gundam: Requiem For Vengeance is the official title for the next film and will be directed by Erasmus Brosdau, with writer Gavin Hignight working on the anime who might be best known for Star Wars: Resistance, Transformers: Cyberverse, and Tekken: Bloodline to name a few. The upcoming series didn't reveal too much information when it comes to its story, but the material shown at the Banda Namco Filmworks panel confirmed that it will be taking place in the Universal Century universe that started it all.
The upcoming series will be animated using Unreal Engine 5, which was developed by Epic Games, making for quite a departure for the franchise, and perhaps anime in general. A trailer was also featured at the event, though it has yet to make its way online. The story itself was also confirmed to be taking place from the Zeon Principality's point of view, with the trailer confirming that it took place "eleven months after the revolutionary war". The upcoming anime series was confirmed to be using the likes of Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt and Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team as influences.
A big part of the Gundam franchise's longevity has been its ability to tell stories that aren't constrained by one universe. Even if the series revisits the original story that started it all, the mech franchise will often find new ways to inject fresh takes and characters into the setting. With Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash revisiting the original universe as well, it will be interesting to see if the properties connect in any way. A release date has yet to be revealed for the new Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem For Vengeance.
Are you hyped for the new Gundam series? Do you think it might topple The Witch From Mercury? 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.