The venerable Gundam mech franchise will turn 50 in 2029, and to commemorate the upcoming milestone, it has launched the Gundam 50th Anniversary Project, which includes the “A boy with GUNDAM | Mobile Suit Gundam 50th Anniversary – Road to 50 – Prologue Movie” animated short.
The nearly six-minute animation follows a grandfather who, while looking at a Gundam statue with his family, thinks back about his journey with Gundam since he was a boy. Gundams and Gundam pilots from across the franchise, as well as antagonists like Paptimus Scirocco and Haman Karn, make appearances throughout, while the song “Kinjito” from PEOPLE 1 accompanies the proceedings.
Its production credits include:
• Director, storyboard artist, and CG director: Tsukuro Hayakawa (Dawn of the Eclipse Episode Zero director and key animator)
• Unit director: Shinya Watada (Rock Is A Lady’s Modesty director)
• Original character designer: Bandai Namco Studios Inc.’s Yasuto Morioka
• Animation character designer: Juri Toida (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury co-character designer, Gundam Build Divers Battlogue)
The Gundam franchise began with the 1979 TV anime Mobile Suit Gundam, where a boy becomes part of a war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. There many sequels and spin-offs set in the original show’s Universal Century timeline, while a great amount exist in their own settings. A remaster of Mobile Suit Gundam was announced with a 2029 release date as one of the 50th anniversary commemoration initiatives.
Outside of anime and print media, there are video games and the popular plastic models known as Gunpla. A live-action movie and a tabletop miniatures game called Gundam Assemble are on the way, with the latter set for a 2026 release date.
Source: GUNDAM CHANNEL INTL
