Throughout the history of Mobile Suit Gundam, the mechs have found themselves crossing over into other unexpected anime franchises. The likes of Hello Kitty, Junji Ito, Transformers, and more have all found themselves coming face-to-face with the anime mechs. Most recently, the Gundam mechs teamed up with another Sunrise anime franchise, Sgt. Frog, to create a wild crossover for the silver screen. Not to be outdone by itself, the Mobile Suit franchise is once again going to the crossover well to create a new anime project that sees the Gundam series meeting one of the most legendary anime series of all time.
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For those who might not know, Space Battleship Yamato has been a part of the anime industry for longer than Mobile Suit Gundam, premiering as a manga in 1974, years prior to the mechs’ arrival. First hitting the screen the same year as its manga debut, the Yamato has been returning to the anime world ever since, creating more television series, films, and live-action adaptations than we can count. The crossover takes place in the latest Star Blazers series, Star Blazers 3199, in which the Battleship Yamato appears in modern-day Japan. While not exactly making its way to the Gundam universe proper, viewers can see the ship fly above the real-life Gundam Unicorn statue toward the end of the clip below.
The Yamato Returns
This crossover between Mobile Suit Gundam and Star Blazers: Space Battleship Yamato 3199 was able to take place thanks to the latter’s anime adaptation director, Harutoshi Fukui. Fukui, for those who might not know, was the creator of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn’s original novels that kicked off this wild new take on this unique mech chapter. Much like Space Battleship Yamato, the Unicorn series specifically has spawned plenty of light novels, manga, and anime television series and feature-length films, though the Gundam series has a long way to go before coming close to the sheer number of projects that Star Blazers has under its belt.
As of the writing of this article, Gundam Unicorn has yet to confirm whether it will be returning to the screen, though a new story has recently arrived in Japan. Gundam Ace is the regularly released publication that ushers in new manga stories within its pages, and the hilariously titled manga, “Gundam: Tobacco Smoke Is Not Affected by Minovsky“ has landed. The tale will act as a prequel to the recent Gundam film, Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, which was released in 2018. While far from hitting the same heights at the box office as the biggest Gundam film, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, it was a worthy addition to the side story all the same.
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