New York City Celebrates Gundam Day

For the 40th anniversary of the Mobile Suit: Gundam series, we've seen a lot of bombshells dropped. With a satellite holding two special Gundam plastic models being launched into outer space as part of the Tokyo Summer Olympics next year along with a Youtube channel housing some of the biggest anime series of the franchise to date, perhaps the biggest news came recently with the celebration of "Gundam Day". That's right, in New York City, a combination of creators and officials gathered to dedicate a day to the Mobile Suit: Gundam franchise and its relevancy throughout the past forty years in existence.

Gundam Global Portal shared photos from the event that declared November 15th as "Gundam Day", with both city officials and the creator of the Mobile Suit: Gundam franchise himself, Yoshiyuki Tomino, as part of the festivities surrounding the popular convention, Anime NYC:

Created in 1979, Mobile Suit: Gundam has kept the interest of fans across the world not just with its scores of different variations of their robotic suits, but also numerous stories and characters surrounding the franchise. The stylings and tales of G Gundam vary wildly from those of Gundam Wing, likewise with those of Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans. On top of this, hundreds of millions of plastic models of the popular mech suits have been created over the decades for hungry Gundam fans.

The impact that the franchise has had on the real world cannot be overstated, as monuments to the mechs appear not just in space, but in Japanese neighborhoods that have erected large recreations of some of the most famous mechs. With a live action movie still in the works and more anime franchises being released, the Gundam franchise continues to have a bright future.

What do you think of New York City's "Gundam Day"? What other anime franchises should be celebrated with their own days? 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!

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.