Gundam Guy just broke this story, apparently the new Gundam anime series will be called Gundam Age and it appears to be aimed at a younger audience. If this is a necessary step to introduce a younger generation to Gundam, I'm all for it. Images below, also thanks to Gundam Guy.
UPDATE: Gundam Age Gunpla pictures, HG, MG, and Mega Size all confirmed. New AG size revealed. Similar to First Grade. Clearly designed for the younger generation. This pictures we've seen before in the reveal photo, and they may have been judged as HGs before. They are not.
Gundam AGE 1
AG Gundam Age-1T Titus
AG Gundam Age-1S Sparrow
AG Genoace
AG Garfan
HG Gundam Age
Mega Size Gundam AGE
Mega Size Gundam AGE
HG Gundam AGE
UPDATE: Official Pictures from the official announcement of Gundam Age. Trailer added above!
UPDATE: Translation of Coro-Coro Scans by Zeonic Scanlations:
"PLOT
Piloting a Gundam to fight to defend the Earth! Suffering an attack from the sudden appearance of the enemy “UE”, Frite completes the “Gundam” together with technological developers of the Federation Forces. With the power to become strong while fighting, the unknown enemy “UE” is beaten back one by one. In order to protect mankind, the Gundam sallies forth!
CHARACTERS
Frite (or Gullit) Asuno – Main character who developed the Mobile Suit Gundam AGE-1 equipped with the AGE SYSTEM.
Asem Asuno - The second main character and son of Frite. Inherits the Gundam and fights.
Kio Asuno - The third main character and grandchild of Frite. Inherits the Gundam passed down from generation to generation.
Emily - Friend of Frite since the age of seven.
Groudeck – Earth Federation Forces Commander. Captain of the battleship Diva.
Millais – Earth Federation Forces Lieutenant Junior Grade. Comm chief of the battleship Diva.
Gafuran – A mysterious enemy like an alien who strikes at mankind.
Asem Asuno - The second main character and son of Frite. Inherits the Gundam and fights.
Kio Asuno - The third main character and grandchild of Frite. Inherits the Gundam passed down from generation to generation.
Emily - Friend of Frite since the age of seven.
Groudeck – Earth Federation Forces Commander. Captain of the battleship Diva.
Millais – Earth Federation Forces Lieutenant Junior Grade. Comm chief of the battleship Diva.
Gafuran – A mysterious enemy like an alien who strikes at mankind.
MECHANICS
The Gundam AGE-1 is the main characters unit. Although it’s a machine, surprisingly, the Gundam grows with the “AGE SYSTEM”. It’s form seems to change with growth from experience in battle!
GUNDAM AGE-1 NORMALGUNDAM AGE-1 SPARROW (Speed Type) – A cool blue unit is the highlight. The enemy is torn to shreds with the cutting edge of the sharp Sigl Blade.
GUNDAM AVE-1 TITUS (Power Type) - Though it doesn’t appear to carry weapons, with it’s unbelievable destructive power it crushes the enemy.
** Please not that the romanized names for the characters presented here are my take on them and may differ from other variations. They will suffice until official English names are available."
New Info from Anime News Network:
"The July issue of Shogakukan's Corocoro Comic magazine is announcing next Wednesday that the game developer Level 5 (Inazuma Eleven, Danbōru Senki) is working on all aspects of the new Gundam AGE anime for release this fall. In particular Level 5's Akihiro Hino is in charge of the story. There will also be a Gundam AGE manga running in the magazine.
The new series will have three generations of "father, child, and descendant" as the lead characters. The main characters pilot the Gundam unit to fight against an unknown attacking enemy (UE) and save Earth in a "One Hundred Year War" — an apparent reference to the One Year War of the first Gundam series.
The first main character is Furitto Asuno, who developed the Gundam AGE-1 mobile suit (humanoid mobile weapon) equipped with the AGE System (a self-adapting computer). The second main character is Asemu Asuno, Furitto's child. The third main character is Kio Asuno, Furitto's descendant who inherits the Gundam. The Gundam AGE-1 can be augmented as the Gundam AGE-1 Taitasu for more power, or as the Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow for more speed.
Other characters include Emily, Furitto's friend since he was 7. Guruudekku is a Commander in the Earth Federation Forces and the captain of the battleship Diva. Mireesu is a Lieutenant (junior grade) in the Federation Forces aboard the Diva.
Tied into the anime will be "four ultimate projects" in the works: manga, hobby (model kits), games, and cards."
UPDATE:
So it looks like an interesting concept, I kind of like the Zoids-like add-on parts for the AGE Gundam, with this new information my analysis below changes very little, I'm definitely still willing to give this a chance.
Zeta Newtype's Analysis: I've given this potential series some thought and I've come to this conclusion. To expect a new U.C. Gundam series is a little out of the ballpark because the current one, Gundam Unicorn isn't even finished yet, also this an alternate series, and the last couple tried to beat you over the head with how serious they are. If this can build off the concept of Gunpla Builders, it could work. I think I am willing to watch a slap-happy Gundam series as long as there's some meat on the bones. I believe some of you will disagree with me, but let's not be too quick to judge eh? It may be worth a good laugh in the long run. I will end by saying it again, I believe this new series has potential if it gives us a new spin on Gundam and avoids becoming another random super robot show, but there is potential for that so we here at Gundam Australia Blog will keep following this story as it develops.
Sonar's Analysis: Well I guess I should have seen it coming given the investment in Gunpla Beginner's Building G in terms of Gunpla releases. Hindsight is 20/20 though, right?
While this may not be thrilling news for the mature Gundam fan, we already got our fix with Unicorn, right? Which so far, in my opinion, has been incredible in terms of story, mechanical design, production, animation, is set in everyone and his dog's favourite canon, and is a dual language BD release. We could not have asked for more really..?
So with this in mind it is not unfair nor unreasonable in my opinion for Bandai to invest something in bringing new fans to the franchise. In fact I think it is a damn fine idea. What we do at Gundam Australia primarily is focussed on sharing and promoting our hobby, and I have come to learn that a very important aspect of doing so is introducing it to younger generations. SEED capitalized on the tween infatuation with Bishounen of the time, and GPBBG I think (cleverly) focussed on more of a Pokemon/Yu-Gi Oh! way of conveying the appeal of Gundam to a market which was younger still.
In terms of the future development of Gunpla this could potentially be looked at as a positive. Not only for interesting new designs for the new series (which will almost certainly be HG focussed given the target demographic), but also because there will eventually come a time where UC just isn't as popular anymore and it will be through the development of new series and gunpla releases that Bandai will still be able to cater for the jaded, bitter old UC die hards. *cough WHEEZE... like me! xD
I am both interested and excited by this news and I look forward to watching it... With my kids of course... ;)
So, the silhouette we saw must have been the Gundam Age-1 Taitasu judging by the below pictures then?
Well played Bandai, you certainly are adept at creating viral hype. I think your cunning ability to do so is very much underestimated or unnoticed by the greater western gunpla populace. ~Sonar
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