Opening From Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander, Mazinger Z, Getter Robot, Gundam Wing, Evangelion, Raideen.

Love the whole opening!

See the original post: Super Robot Wars Scramble Commander

Thanks to the recent opening of Gundam statute in Shizuoka, thousands of hobbyists fans were gathered in heart of the city to experience the great galore of plastic model kits and toys.   Said to be (unofficial) new home of world’s largest hobby confab in Japan.  The unveiling of the statute along with its giant production plant that makes these plastic toys gave the staff of Shizuoka Hobby Museum to praise about.  So says this source.

The Shizuoka Hobby Museum was set up as part of the hobby fair to showcase the half-century history of plastic model kit production in Japan.

Its exhibits are presented in 23 segments, covering various production periods. Each one shows the plastic models that best represent the period.

Among the rarer items are a replica of a 1958 model of the U.S. submarine Nautilus, the first injection-molded plastic kit produced in Japan, and a model of the I-series submarine, used by the Imperial Japanese Navy during World War II.

The exhibit showcases a number of other items coveted by plastic model enthusiasts, such as the Tetsujin 28-go robot, considered a trailblazer for the numerous character models that followed, and a 1:12 scale Honda Formula One racing car, which was highly praised for its detailed perfection.

Other booths are dedicated to proud originals offered by local manufacturers.

Tamiya Inc., headquartered in Shizuoka, has put on display the Gun Blaster, which is 32 times larger than its popular Mini4WD radio-controlled car kits.

Aoshima Bunka Kyozai Co., also based in Shizuoka, is featuring its Lamborghini Countach model. The Italian sports car once fueled a wave of supercar popularity.

Hasegawa Corp., based in Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, brought out the big guns with its 1:350 scale model of the Japanese battleship Nagato.

Other exhibits include the Honda Super Cub and the Subaru 360, produced by die-cast model car maker MMP Co. (EBBRO), headquartered in Shizuoka, and a replica of the five-story pagoda of the Horyuji temple produced by Woody JOE Co., a wood model maker based in Shizuoka.

Here again, the most eye-catching attractions are related to Gundam.

Using a model of a Core Fighter plane, Bandai Co., the maker of Gunpla plastic models, has reproduced the scene in the final episode of the popular “Mobile Suit Gundam” anime series where Amuro Ray, the central character, makes his escape from the falling space fortress A Baoa Qu.

The Core Fighter, as well as the giant Gundam statue that stands guard in front of Higashi-Shizuoka Station, has become a must-see for Gundam fans.

The statue, which now holds a “beam saber” in its right hand, is the full 18 meters in height as written in the series. It was built to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Bandai’s Gunpla plastic model series.

Over six weeks last summer, the behemoth attracted 4.15 million visitors to its display in Tokyo’s Odaiba district, and it wasn’t even holding the beam saber.

Moving the statue to Shizuoka, where Bandai’s factory for the Gunpla series is located, was considered a “homecoming” for Gundam.

Source: Asahi.com

The Shizuaka hobby fair will run till March next year.  Admission is free, but not for the museum.  It’s 600 yen for junior high school student and 200 for elementary school student.

All images are owned and copyrighted by the individual.

With the recent opening of the Gundam statue in Shizuoka, back in July, I’m catching up on this to see how things went with this display.

Looking at the amazing video footage of its opening over the summer, it appears everything looks so awe-inspiring and enriching to watch.

You can see several people in the streets come and go, taking long and short glimpses of the statue, leaving them in complete awe.  Boy I would do anything to have this experience to see how 1/1 scale Gundam figure really stands out in large crowd of several thousands.  That would certainly make my mecha fun day! ^^

Source: CNNGO, All images are owned and copyrighted by the original owner

Japan's samurai mascot for 30 years

How’s this for an amazing fact?  Bandai released their total figures of Gundam plastic toy models in its 30-year franchise business.

Around 400,000,000 Gundams were sold!  That’s like…. A LOT ZEROS to count!!!

Talk about insane numbers that give local Japanese accountants to stay up all nights and days to reach this final figure!^^

Most of the sales come from 1/144 scale model range, and the first one (in 1980) sold was for US $3.20  or 300¥.

Now.  That same model selling in today’s price is US $28.20.

Nine times the original price.

If Bandai were to sell that many toys at today’s price, they would be about $12 billion richer worth of its merchandise!! Guess there was a lot of public reason why Bandai really took the trouble to make their Gundam statue over in Odaiba last year! Just to commemorate this major special occassion.

When I was browsing the links of the news source, I found a couple of great Gundam plastic model (1/44) pictures on display, such as these ones.

It’s the exact model of the giant statue in the Odaiba park before they dismantled it.  . ^^

It was interesting to gather understanding how everything works behind the scenes of making these robots in the mass production lines.  They said how Gundam sales was ballooning so well towards mid 80s and suddenly it nearly died off completely thanks to the increasing but vast competition of electronic goods and video games swamping the youth market of Japan, from early 90s till now.  It was thanks to new and innovative business ideas by Bandai Namco’s business leaders and renew faith by Gundam fans from elder generation that gets their children to get active in accepting Gundam (and other mecha) toys as part of the mainstream entertainment.  Just as much as latest video gaming console from XBox, Nintendo, PS3, Wii etc.  They’re equally as popular as the rest of today’s youth enterntainment, fun and games.

Good on them for persevering to the very end^^.  And wish them for another great success for another 30 years!!

Source: ANN.com, Asahi.com, GameWatch, Images provided are owned and copyrighted by Gamewatch.

Here’s another comment from one of the anime industry watchdogs that talks about celebrating 40 years of great robot anime shows, by hosting an all-day Gundam movie marathon in Tokyo, just a few days ago.

Here’s the article.

VIZ CINEMA HOSTS A UNIQUE PRESENTATION ON THE HISTORY OF SCI-FI ROBOT ANIME AND PRESENTS GUNDAM TRIPLE FEATURE IN SPECIAL ALL-DAY MOVIE MARATHON

San Francisco, CA, April 2, 2010 – VIZ Cinema is pleased to offer a fun-packed weekend of anime as it welcomes Patrick Macias, Editor-in-Chief of OTAKU USA, on Friday April 9th for the latest in his ongoing series of TokyoScope Talks on Japanese cinema and pop media. On Saturday, April 10th, VIZ Cinema offers a special Gundam Movie Marathon. Three feature films featuring the iconic robot will be screened in the theatre, which features 35mm and digital projection and a THX®-certified sound system.

TokyoScope Talk Vol. 2: MECHA MANIA: Four Decades of Slam-Bang Sci-Fi Robot Anime comes to VIZ Cinema on Friday, April 9th at 7:00pm. Tickets are $8.00. Also co-hosting the event will be author and critic Tomohiro Machiyama, who together with Macias wrote Cruising Anime City, (published by Stone Bridge Press) a highly detailed travel guide about Tokyo otaku culture and the anime phenomenon.

“From Astro Boy and Tetsujin 28 to Gundam and Voltron to Transformers and Gurren Lagann, giant robots and other fantastic machines and technology, or mecha, are instantly recognizable mainstays of anime,” says Macias. “There’s also a lot of cultural iconography intertwined with these machines and their operators, often presented as heroic warriors in the samurai warrior tradition. I look forward to tracing the nearly 50 year history and evolution of mecha along with some often humorous stories and latest examples. And don’t miss an awesome raffle giveaway featuring some tear-jerking treasures for super mecha fans!”

VIZ Cinema’s Weeknight Anime People makes a special weekend stop with an day-long triple feature of Gundam! General ticket price: $10:00; Combo tickets are $25:00. No further discounts will apply.
Gundam Movie Marathon, Saturday, April 10th – One Day Only!
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie I, 11:00am
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie II: Soldiers of Sorrow, 1:35pm
Mobile Suit Gundam Movie III: Encounters in Space, 4:05pm
VIZ Cinema’s Weeknight Anime People makes a special weekend stop with an afternoon of Gundam! In the year 0079 of the Universal Century, the Earth Federation and its space colonies are engaged in an apocalyptic war. The rebellious Duchy of Zeon, using humanoid fighting machines called Mobile Suits, has all but vanquished the Federation. Now the Federation’s last hope is the prototype Mobile Suit, Gundam. When a twist of fate makes young civilian Amuro Ray the sole-pilot of Gundam, Amuro’s own battle begins – a struggle not only for the Federation’s survival, but for his own. General ticket price: $10:00; Combo tickets are $25:00. No further discounts will apply.

VIZ Cinema is the nation’s first movie theatre devoted exclusively to Japanese film and anime. The 143-seat subterranean theatre is located in the basement of the NEW PEOPLE building and features plush seating, digital as well as 35mm projection, and a THX®-certified sound system.

NEW PEOPLE offers the latest films, art, fashion and retail brands from Japan and is the creative vision of the J-Pop Center Project and VIZ Pictures, a distributor and producer of Japanese live action film. Located at 1746 Post Street, the 20,000 square foot structure features a striking 3-floor transparent glass façade that frames a fun and exotic new environment to engage the imagination into the 21st Century. A dedicated web site is also now available at: www.NewPeopleWorld.com.

Source: Activeanime.com

So if you’re just around the neighborhood over there, don’t forget to check it out!! And let me know what the experience is like after 10th April!

Source: Activeanime.com

Just thought I wanted to share you guys with this.

Recognise some of these characters?

Heihachi Mishima

Robin Mask

Mr Satan

And what do they all have in common?

Well…. One thing. They’ll voiced by this one great Japanese voice actor who’s been with the anime industry as far back one could remember much from the 80s.

Daisuke Gori is his name. He was 57 years just before he died from committing suicide and lay dead on the road. Police do not how it was end-resulted like that but they said they were some visible signs of self-harm before he took his own life.

What a great shame. He’s done so much for the anime industry for a long time especially in DragonBall and Tekken series.

It’s interesting to note that he used to work on a couple of voice casting projects on previous mecha series ie Gundam and Patlabor.

It’s good to know.

But it was tragic for his life to be ended like that…. There’s so much for him to contribute further. So much potential. A lot of anime and gaming industry fans will surely miss him…

Source: MechaMechaMedia, Mainichi Daily, Wikipedia.org

A week so ago, Sunrise made a big announcement that they’re planning to bring Gundam Unicorn into the big screen at the world premiere in Hong Kong on 6th Feb 2010 (in three days time).

Several online (and offline) comic and manga publishers throughout the Asian region are keeping a keen eye on that, especially with helping out the ticket sales. Expecting that it’s going to be massive on the day of its worldwide release.

This is so fantastic! After watching the trailer (short version) below, I feel so looking forward to book a plane ticket to HK and stay there for overnight accommodation to just watch the film.

All that effort for 2 hour+ film! (Yeah I wish)

Crazy. I know.  But at least, I won’t be only one who’s that excited to look into this!!!^^

Source: ANN.com, Youtube.com

Gundam Statue in Odaiba Park before being dismantled in early September this year

Reading a couple of anime feeds from ANN.com, I can see that several bloggers posted a lot on how Gundam won one of the best awards in Japan in the category of art and design.

For the team of Green Tokyo Gundam, they sure certainly deserve a great praise by the public.  A very honourable praise.  Good on them for their outstanding achievement!!   With so many Gundam bloggers online, it’s difficult to see how such a ‘recreational’ figure (why I call it recreational it’s because technically it was part of Odaiba parks’ recreational activities) that’s been crafted to such extraordinary lengths.

And it won’t be long before Tetsujin 28 statue will have its turn to get nabbed for award nominations, since its unveil in early September October.

Not sure about its design potential though.  Maybe more comic potential?

Source: ANN.com, Youtube.com

Just learned a new Japanese phrase over the past week.

Jitsubutsudai gandamu.

Or life-sized gundam in English.  That’s one phrase I’ll definitely want to remember if I ever travel to Japan in the future.

At least it’s a start.  Along with 59 other cool phrases to go, if you read this interesting post by a Japanese online publisher, who annually conducts a survey of best Japanese phrases used in Japan’s mass media.  There will be some judging panel that will nominate the 10 best phrases used in 2009.  Hopefully, they’re in turn will become as catchphrases for masses.

I’m pinning high hopes that jitsubutsudai gandamu will be amongst the nominations! It’s paramount for the people wanting to appreciate the true life of an otaku, should they ever learn a lot of things in Japan.  Otherwise, how would they know such a real-life 18 metre Gundam actually exists (before Gundam Projects Team decided to remove them from premises) so they set foot in Japan to travel or live?

Source: PinkTentacle.com

After reading this headline from MyAnimelist,  there will be some drastic changes going on with the way anime business is conducted in Japan with the recent announcement of Bandai’s dropped plans to broadcast Unicorn Gundam on TV.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

Instead, they  decided to do two things.  One, having its theatrical release,   Two, having its online streaming.  With these approaches, they claim that they can combat with the industry-wide issue of declining DVD sales in the current market, hoping that things will turn around for the anime industry.  One of the arguments also suggests (and supports) past outstanding performances by Kara no Kyoukai would prove to be the solid indicator on how much more other anime firms can benefit from this so-called new-found business model of online media marketing.

Yet, in the forum, people were not wholesomely enthused with Bandai’s ‘enthusiasm’ to conduct such business practices as they believed the reason Kara no Kyoukai fares so much the better just because of its one-hit wonder of success so it would be very hard for Bandai to emulate that level of success.

Read more from the forum.

Source:  MyAnimelist.net