A theatrical release of the first several episodes will premiere in Japan on January 17th, 2025. There is no premiere date announced for the regular run of episodes. The new PV is here. Check out the ANN article for additional information. Synopsis from AniList:
Amate Yuzuriha is a high-school student living peacefully in a space colony floating in outer space.
When she meets a war refugee named Nyaan, Amate is drawn into the illegal mobile suit dueling sport known as Clan Battle.
Under the entry name “Machu,” she throws herself into fierce battle day after day, piloting the GQuuuuuuX. Then an unidentified Gundam mobile suit pursued by both the space force and the police appears before her, along with its pilot, a boy named Shuji.
Now their world is about to enter a new era.
Late to the party here, but I’m really glad that Kazuya Tsurumaki is finally directing another show with his own agency. He was stuck working on the Evangelion movies for a decade and a half, so it’s nice to see him finally get another full show-runner production.
His work on Diebuster and FLCL are phenomenal, and the TV Special for Dragon’s Dentist was entertaining if a bit weirdly structured. I have high hopes for this one.
A Gundam anime featuring a female protagonist? Sign me up.
Apparently GQuuuuuuX is pronounced g-quacks. Also apparently, Hideaki Anno is cowriting the series.
As far as I can tell, this seems to be a more or less standalone Gundam property rather than fitting into some timeline of one of the Gundam-verses.
Anno co-writing Gundam? I don’t know what to think of this.
He came up with Evangelion because he was bored with anime at the time being to homogeneous, Gundam specifically. I wonder why he took this job, being the perfectionist he is, knowing he would not have total control like he did on Eva?
EDIT: A boy pilot named Shuji - This is satire, right?
He came up with Evangelion because he was bored with anime at the time being to homogeneous, Gundam specifically.
Gundam has come a long way in the past ~30 years. There’s plenty of room in the franchise for experimentation. I’m intrigued.
I figured it was the Gundam brand they sold on Amazon. I was very satisfied with my GQUUUUUUX brand Space Battleship Bismarck. 30% cheaper than better known space battleships.
Hideaki Anno is cowriting the series.
Okay, that got my attention!
Apparently GQuuuuuuX is pronounced g-quacks.
And here I thought a cat stepped on the keyboard. Nope, duck.
Also apparently, Hideaki Anno is cowriting the series.
This could be delicious.
As far as I can tell, this seems to be a more or less standalone Gundam property rather than fitting into some timeline of one of the Gundam-verses.
The mobile suit aesthetics definitely support that conclusion. I haven’t watched the PV yet to confirm, but that’s definitely the way things have been leaning.
Edit: definitely its own universe. Interesting that they’re going with the dueling angle again. Not sold on the character designs at the moment but I’m sure I’ll get over it. Curious to see where this goes.
Not sold on the character designs at the moment
Interesting piece here is that the character designs are being done by Take. It seems pretty much in line with her other works including Pokemon (2019) and Katanagatari.
The mobile suit aesthetics
Mechanical design is being led by Ikuto Yamashita who has done quite a bit of mech work. Most notably, given Anno’s involvement, is that he did the mechanical design for Evangelion and its subsequent movies.
Interesting piece here is that the character designs are being done by Take. It seems pretty much in line with her other works including Pokemon (2019)
It really shows! One of my first thoughts when I saw the trailer was that the characters looked like they could’ve stepped out of some modern Pokemon thing.
Mechanical design is being led by Ikuto Yamashita who has done quite a bit of mech work. Most notably, given Anno’s involvement, is that he did the mechanical design for Evangelion and its subsequent movies.
Now that you’ve pointed it out, I can’t unsee the torso resemblance. Good catch.
The six 'u’s are essential in the plot, I assure you.
You may be joking, but I think you are onto something. 6 clones, maybe? (or 5 clones + 1 original, since there are 6 of you / “u”)
Am I the only one to get Gurren Lagann vibes from that design? I think it’s the head fins.
Cool design, but the weird feet are gonna make the MG model a bitch to balance without a stand.
That’s a problem for Future Bandai to solve. The newest full series to get a MG I believe is IBO, and it took years to get that Barbatos.
I dunno, looks like the ankles should have good range of motion. If it’s enough to be able to plant both feet flat on the surface, I think it’ll be at least acceptable at standing poses.
The design is dope, but the HG kit is gonna be absolute sticker hell. Or they might just abandon the idea of color accuracy without paints entirely. Those dabs of yellow all over the place, the trim on the torso, pretty much all of the head that isn’t red or white.
They made a 30 second video on the HG kit. It’s looking pretty impressive, though of course we won’t know 'til it’s in our hands.
Bandai has been knocking it out of the park with HGs, especially the last generation or two. To the point where I was building Lfrith and got mildly irritated that there were any stickers at all. “You needed two more parts to eliminate those stickers. Two! And they’re tiny!” I’ve been spoiled lol.
Coming up with a new name by slamming the forehead on the keyboard,apparently.
