The Gundam series has had more television shows and movies in its history than we can count, with the mechs making their way across a number of alternate universes including the likes of Gundam Wing, G Gundam, Gundam Thunderbolt and many more. With Japan erecting a number of statues to celebrate the mech franchise, it seems that the most popular amongst them, the Walking Gundam, will be taking steps until next year, allowing a bevy of new audiences to witness the mech walk across the pier.
While Gundam is set to see this life-sized model take steps until March of 2023, the franchise recently suffered some losses in the form of the Gundam Cafes in Japan closing their doors. Long operating near the Gundam statues themselves, the Gundam Cafes would normally sell food and drink that were modeled after the franchise that debuted in the 1970s and was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino. While the cafes themselves are almost all closed at this point, the series actually briefly offered fans the opportunity to purchase the curry from these establishments for a brief period of time, allowing hardcore fans to eat like the soldiers of the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon.
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The Walking Gundam attraction, which is touted as the “Gundam Factory Yokohama,” is modeled after the original mech that premiered in the first Mobile Suit: Gundam series, the RX-78-2. While the battle between Amuro and Char came to an end with the finale of the original series, the franchise recently took the opportunity to revisit the universe that started it all in the film Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash. In the first film, which is slated to be the first of a trilogy, viewers were introduced to the character of Hathaway, who is the heir apparent to both Amuro and Char.
Unfortunately for fans in North America, there has yet to be a life-sized statue set up in the West, though with anime continuing to only become more popular as the years pass, perhaps we’ll one day see a mech rise in the days to come.
Will you try to make your way to the Walking Gundam before it takes its final steps? 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.
