You’d be hard-pressed to find an anime fan that doesn’t agree that Gundam has become the most popular mech franchise within the medium, as the Mobile Suit series’ longevity has stretched across several decades. While we’ve seen numerous Gundam statues built over the past years in Japan, the mechs are about to land in an unexpected venue as the Tokyo National Museum will have an exhibit dedicated to the franchise that first sprang from creator Yoshiyuki Tomino back in the 1970s.
In Japan, the country has been more than happy to honor the series that first sprung from the mind of creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, with the franchise first appearing in the 1970s via the initial anime adaptation. With several Gundam statues erected in different parts of Japan, with the most notable being the “Walking Gundam” which can walk under its own power as a part of the “Gundam Factory Yokohama”, the new statue, that will stand in Tokyo’s National Museum, will arrive as a part of its “Future National Treasures” Exhibit. Beginning on November 2nd later this fall, the statue that will portray the most classic Gundam mech will remain in the museum until early next year, when the exhibit will close on January 29th, 2023.
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The first image of the Gundam statue has been shared, and while it won’t be as tall as many of the other statues that have hit Japan in recent years, it will be around the same size as your average museum patron, towering over the typical Gundam plastic models that have become hot ticket items:
The exhibit will have an astonishing one hundred and fifty pieces of Gundam merchandise, to help in celebrating the anniversary of the same number for the Tokyo National Museum.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury will premiere this weekend, telling a story revolving around a new universe where Gundams were created as a by-product of man attempting to create bodies that could withstand the harsh atmosphere of outer space, but instead created weapons of war that could fly through the cosmos. If you’re unfamiliar with this next mech chapter, the official description reads as such:
“An era when a multitude of corporations have entered space and built a huge economic system. A lone girl from the remote planet Mercury transfers to the Asticassia School of Technology, run by the Beneritt Group which dominates the mobile suit industry. Her name is Suletta Mercury. With a scarlet light burning in her pure heart, this girl walks step by step through a new world.”
