Bandai Namco Entertainment unveiled a new promotional video for Gundam Build Metaverse, its 10th anniversary anime for the Gundam Build franchise, during the Gundam Conference Autumn 2023 live stream on Friday. The video (blocked within Japan) reveals the two main cast members, the musical composer, the theme song artists, and the October 6 premiere for the anime.
The cast includes:
Chika Anzai as Rio Hōjō
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Rio Tsuchiya as Seria Urutsuki
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Yuki Hayashi is composing the anime’s music. BACK-ON performs the anime’s opening theme song “Hikari to Kaze” (Light and Wind), while LINKL PLANET performs the ending theme song “Days of Birth.”
The 3-episode series will stream on the Gundam franchise‘s official YouTube channel and on Gundam.info‘s YouTube channel on October 6.
The Gundam Conference stream also revealed more details about Bandai Namco Entertainment‘s planned “Gundam Metaverse” project. The previously announced “Gunpla Colony” beta test for the project will launch for two weeks in the United States and Japan on October 6 to 17, with a full launch slated for spring 2024. The conference revealed the new A.I. character Mellow, who will guide users within the virtual space.
The new story of the Gundam Build Metaverse anime is set in an online metaverse space where users can use avatars to move around and interact with other users, including conducting Gunpla (Gundam plastic model) battles with them. The story centers on Rio Hōjō, a boy who lives in Hawaii, and who learns how to build Gunpla from a local hobbyist named Seria Urutsuki. In the metaverse, a figure known as Mask Lady teaches him the art of Gunpla battling, and he strives to get better at it every day. With his custom Lah Gundam, he seeks out ever stronger opponents. (Rio customizes an Entry Grade RX-78-2 Gundam model in the image of the “spirit of Japan,” with Lah being the native Hawaiian word for “sun.”)
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Acclaimed animator Masami Obari is directing the anime at Sunrise Beyond. Obari has worked at different times as a storyboarder, animation director, action director, or key animator for numerous episodes or opening sequences for the Gundam Build franchise, and also directed the Gundam Build Fighters: Battlogue and Gundam Breaker Battlogue anime. Noboru Kimura returns from Gundam Build Divers to supervise the series scripts. Hirona Okada, Yoriko Gotō, and Ippei Gyōbu are designing the characters. Humikane Shimada is credited for “Fumina Design Collaboration.” Kenichi Ōnuki is overseeing the character designs. Bandai Spirits and Bandai Namco Entertainment are credited for planning assistance.
The mechanical designers are Kunio Okawara, Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase, Shinya Terashima, Naohiro Washio, and Kōtarō Andō. Yū Yoshima is the chief mecha animator.
The series will be one of three parts of the “Gundam Next Future -Road to 2025-” project commemorating the Gundam franchise‘s 45th anniversary. The “Dream Battle Project” series is based on an image of a dream competition that could only happen in the Metaverse (pictured below).
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In October, the “Gundam Next Future 2023 East/West/Digital” events will take place in Tokyo, Osaka, and online. The first XR Live event for the Gundam Metaverse will also be held. The Gundam Navi news application will receive functionality for Gundam Metaverse. A “Gunpla Scan” feature will allow users to scan their Gundam models and have them appear in the space of the Gundam Metaverse.
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The Gundam Build spinoff of the Gundam franchise began with the Gundam Build Fighters anime in 2013. The anime takes place in a world where people can build Gundam model kits and send them into battle against each other in a virtual battlefield. The franchise received a sequel with Gundam Build Fighters Try in 2015, and Gundam Build Divers in 2018. Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE premiere in October 2019. Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE Season 2 premiered in April 2020. Crunchyroll streamed both seasons as they aired.
Gundam Build Divers Battlogue, the latest anime in the Gundam Build franchise, premiered in November 2020. Gundam Build Fighters, an entry in the franchise, similarly had the Gundam Build Fighters: Battlogue anime in 2017. Like the new work, the Gundam Build Fighters: Battlogue features “dream battles” with various situations and Gunpla.
The live-action video project for the Gundam Build franchise, Gundam Build Real, debuted in March 2021 on YouTube. The project featured actual real-life Gunpla model kits, and it had six episodes.
Sources: Gundam Conference, Gundam.info YouTube channel
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