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Mobile Suit Gundam is far and away the most popular anime mech franchise to date, not just thanks to its anime series and anime movies, but the various statues that have popped up around Japan in the past. Currently, Japan is the only country in the world that has its own walking Gundam that has the ability to take steps under its own power. While the Walking Gundam isn’t taking flight and firing energy weapons, the statue is a perfect recreation of the popular anime mech.
Gundam’s Creator is Preparing to Say Goodbye
One of the questions that Tomino fielded was what he would do as a director if he was an adult, noting that the Gundam originator was now over eighty years old and was preparing for his own death, “Such questions are nonsense for people who are over 80 years old. Because I have already started preparing for my death. I have no control over my body. I am thinking about what I can do to die without suffering.”
Tomino also described his thoughts on the key essence of film, “What is the basis of film?” Recently, I finally understood. It’s a love movie. In other words, it’s just a story about people. After all, the general public only sees people’s stories. For example, when I look at Agatha Christie’s well-written mysteries, I find that they are forced to depict human relationships and are made as romantic films. Don’t ever go wrong with that.”
Yoshiyuki also took the opportunity to state that a decision was made early on in the franchise to specifically not include any alien enemies, meaning that the Gundam universe would only focus on mankind, “The important thing about Gundam is that there are no alien enemies. Up until then, all the enemies of giant robots have been aliens. For some reason, from the children’s point of view, the enemies were more likely to be aliens. It’s an adult logic because it’s easy to understand. Isn’t this an insult to children? I didn’t want to make fun of children, so I made it 20 meters in Gundam. It’s the same size as a fighter jet. Make it a one-seater vehicle. Make it a one-person weapon. That’s why even though it’s humanoid, there’s still a person in the cockpit… I persuaded them. It would have been nice if it had aired and gotten good ratings, but it wasn’t that good, so it was canceled. That’s the reality.”
