Gunota Headlines
Friday, June 30, 2006
Bandai July merchandise
Now up at the Bandai Hobby Site.
Sunrise announces that Satori Negishi's "Stargazer: Hoshi No Tobira" comes out on August 23rd. It comes with the song "Crescent Moon's Puzzle".
Thursday, June 29, 2006
From Bandai's Videogame Homepage:
SD Gundam G Generation Portable / Gundam Toi Senshi DX
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
From The Gundam Base.Side 1:
HCM-Pro Sazabi
HGUC GP02A
HCM-Pro White Base Punitive Force Set
From the special DVD that came with HG Strike Noir:
HG Black Dagger
HG DSSD Astray
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Oricon lists the second volume of MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079 as #11 on the weekly integrated DVD chart and #3 on the weekly anime DVD chart.
The Bandai Channel's free promo video page has a new video for UniversalCentury.net Gundam Online.
Monday, June 26, 2006
On its anime timetable chart, Moon Phase lists Ayakashiayashi, the latest production from Bones, as the successor to Blood+ on Saturdays at 6 pm on TBS beginning in October. The big "do roku" (土6) timeslot has been home to a string of hit anime since Mobile Suit Gundam SEED began its run there in October 2002. The source of the news seems to be an announcement made at the Sony Music Anime Fes' held in Osaka on June 11.
On the Column page on the official Evolve site, a screenshot from Gundam Evolve 9 is shown during a scoring session.
Sunrise posted information about the upcoming G Festival. 2,500 people who send in postcards from the currently on sale issue of Gundam Ace will be selected to attend. The event boasts the newest promo videos, cast member talk shows, and live performances by various artists. Victor Animation Network listed acts from their label scheduled to appear: FictionJunction Yuuka, lisa (Tokyo), Chino (Osaka), Satori Negishi, and Taja.
TV broadcast dates for DESTINY Special Edition 2 are up now.
TBS - July 30 25:50
MBS - July 27 9:55, July 28 9:55
Sunday, June 25, 2006
A couple of weeks back, Oricon posted their DVD rankings for the first half of 2006. The list covers the period from 2005/12/5 through 2006/5/29. The animated works that made the top 30:
5) Howl's Moving Castle - 445,151 copies sold
14) Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam II: Lovers - 141,684 copies sold
15) Tim Burton's Corpse Bride (Special Edition) - 138,717 copies sold
18) Madagascar (Special Edition) - 130,709 copies sold
20) Chicken Little - 120,032 copies sold
28) Madagascar (Premium Edition) - 105,067 copies sold
29) Robots (Special Edition) - 103,624 copies sold
The DVD sales of Lovers compares favorably with that of Heirs To The Stars.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Yasuhiro Imagawa at CNAX 2006
Yasuhiro Imagawa, director of Mobile Fighter G Gundam, will be appearing as guest for CNAX 2006, which takes place during Sept 1-3.
MS IGLOO's site updated with pics from the final volume and an interview with Gundam fan Hideaki Anno regarding MS IGLOO. Short, out-of-context version: he digs the WWII-style story and Zeonic point-of-view, refers to Yutaka Izubuchi in passing as "Bu-chan", felt the ships moved too fast in the 1st episode, and professes his love of the G-Armor.
New mecha:
MA-05Ad Big Rang
"A gigantic, scarlet mobile armor that appears suddenly in the battleground of A Baoa Qu. The core of the unit is the MA-05 Bigro built earlier during the One Year War by MIP. Furthermore, the 'Ad' in the model number stands for 'ammunition depot'."
Mobile Suit Gundam Official Web has more HCM-Pro pics in addition to the usual updates.
The Delta Astray official site is up, complete with character and mecha profiles.
The official U.C. Hard Graph site is also open. The main staff for the product line is given as:
Plan & production - Sunrise, Bandai Hobby Division
Written work - Sunrise
Original work - Yoshiyuki Tomino, Hajime Yatate
Creators - Yutaka Izubuchi, Kusanagi Takuhito, Kimitoshi Yamane
Director - Takashi Imanishi
Producers - Kouichi Inoue, Takashi Imanishi, Katsuhiko Sasaki, Katsumi Kawaguchi
Dunbine Web put up a jacket gallery for the new DVD box.
Friday, June 23, 2006
The official Japanese Mega Bloks site posted a news item announcing the arrival of Mobile Suit Gundam to the Lego-esque building block brand name this Fall. Other licensed properties that have appeared in the Mega Bloks line can be seen in the Mega Brands toy catalog and the Japanese line-up page.
From Hobbynet and es! Toys:
Cosmic Region Akatsuki (lineart only)
EMSiA Atmospheric Re-Entry set
MSiA Providence Gundam
MSiA Baund Doc (Gates Capa custom)
HCM-Pro Sazabi
GFF Crossbone Gundam X-3
UC Arms Gallery Vol. 3
Thursday, June 22, 2006
Hobby mag info from 2ch:
The Hazel II will get a plamodel of some kind and the next Cosmic Region looks to be the Akatsuki. No other real details.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
es! Toys says the title for the third Destiny Special Edition is "The Hellfire Of Destiny".
According to Hobbynet this is coming in September.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Kodansha put up listings for more manga reprint anthologies coming on July 26:
Gundam Shorts Collection 2 - Following the first Collection, the second volume features Mitsuru Kadoya's adaption of Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Toshiya Iwamura's "Mobile Suit Gundam Silhouette Formula: The Ghost Of Formula 91".
Gundam Magazine Masterpiece Collection - Includes Toshiya Iwamura's manga adaption of Formula Wars 0122 plus four other stories from Gundam Magazine, a publication that ran for six issues in the early 90's. Based on the list of mangaka given, the others are Yuji Hosoi's "The Untold Story Of The RX-78's Creation", Kazuhisa Iwata's "Mobile Suit Z Gundam: The One Beyond The Universe", Ikuo Miyazoe's "Activate! ZZ Gundam!!", and Toshiya Iwamura's "Nu Gundam Untold Story: The Ghost Of Neo Zeon".
The website of Hachiya Kazuhiko, one of the artists involved in the touring Gundam art exhibit, has a page devoted to the Newtype Technology Lab portion (including a streaming movie). The psycho communicator system makes use of research by Taro Maeda. Thanks to the GML's James Boren for the link.
It is official as Bandai Museum's site has announced it will officially close on Aug 31. Currently located at Matsudo, Chiba Prefecture, Bandai will open a brand new cultural facility, "Toytown Bandai Museum", next year at Mibu, Tochigi Prefecture. Meanwhile, part of the Gundam Museum exhibit will relocate to Bandai Hobby Center in Shizuoka.
Monday, June 19, 2006
The website gets a complete make over to promote the upcoming arcade game Alliance vs ZAFT II.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Game Watch updated an older article about the MSG DVD Box with some notes: The DVD's use an HD premium master made by digitally scanning each frame of film at high definition. New digital technology allowed the faithful restoration of the video, removing scratches and flicker. The inner jackets will feature artwork by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko & Kunio Okawara. Also pictured is the HCM-Pro RX-78 + weapons that comes with pre-orders.
Friday, June 16, 2006
The 3 & 1/2 minute promotional video is available at the Bandai Channel.
Thursday, June 15, 2006
The upcoming Astray series has a website now. June 25 is the grand opening for the site.
The promo video page on Bandai Visual's Digital Beat site has a 15-second TV spot for the second volume of MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079.
Wednesday, June 14, 2006
Info from promotional materials and Famitsu. The number of stages for each series & movie:
MSG - 6
08th - 2
0080 - 1
0083 - 4
Z - 6
ZZ - 4
CCA - 2
F91 - 2
V - 5
G - 5
W - 5
X - 5
Turn A - 6
SEED - 8
Destiny - 9
70 movies total. 61 from previous G Gen games and 9 new ones, including the opening.
Returning original characters:
Claire Heathrow, Sheld Foley, Zenon Tiger, Ellis Claude, Ernst Jaeger, Kay Nimrod, Junas Liam, Doc Darm, Niki Taylor, Billy Blaze, Mark Gilder, La Mira Luna, Rachel Ransom, Nolan Milligan, Blood, Ranalow Shade
Returning original units:
Phoenix Gundam, Psycho Haro, Psycolo Gundam, Zanspine, Gundam Mk IV, Mass-production type Hamma Hamma, Gundam Aquarius, Tornado Gundam, Gundam Belphagor, Titania, Prototype Qubeley
A special limited Premium Disc comes with promotional videos and opening movies from past G Gen games.
The Mobile Suit Variation books, published in 1984, are one of the rarest Gundam data books today. Thanks to Kodansha, fans who could not find one or afford to pay the premium for the original copy can purchase the reprint version. All 3 books will be priced at 840 yen and will come out on July 26.
Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Variation 1 - Zaku Edition
Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Variation 2 - MS & MA of Zeon Forces Edition
Mobile Suit Gundam Mobile Suit Variation 3 - Earth Federation Forces Edition
Monday, June 12, 2006
Commemorating the upcoming DVD, Bandai Channel plans to show Love Is The Pulse Of The Stars from July 21 through August 24.
From Bandai Visual's site. The first run comes with a "mechanical case" to hold all three Apocalypse 0079 volumes.
Sunday, June 11, 2006
Kadokawa Herald Pictures' animation movie line-up page announces a second Keroro Gunsou theatrical work for Spring break time 2007.
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Toru Furuya at Anime Expo 2006
According to his official site, Toru Furuya will be a guest at Anime Expo 2006 on July 1 and 2 (Saturday and Sunday). At this moment the Anime Expo site does not list him under their guests list.
Bandai/Sunrise updated various Gundam sites today.
Mobile Suit Gundam - Story synopsis for ep22-28, mecha (G-Armor, Acguy, Zock, Gruburo, Char's Z'gock), character (Matilda Ajan, Gaia, Ortega, Mash, M'quve, Uragang, Miharu Ratokie), DVD info (art by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, rental DVD covers)
MS IGLOO - mechanics (Zegock), characters (Erwin Cadillac), 45th Shizuoka Hobby Show report.
STARGAZER - 2nd interview with director, mechanics (additional info to Blu Duel & Verde Buster)
Hobby Shop Midori has pics of newest lineup by Bandai, Keroro Fix. And yes, these are designed by Hajime Katoki. Both items are priced at 2500 yen with a late September release.
Friday, June 09, 2006
The GUNDAM EVOLVE../Ω DVD description at ES!Toys has some info regarding Evolve 9. Evolve 9 will be an original "another" story on Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam with character designs by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. It will feature three Zeta Gundams.
Edit: Bandai Visual's Gundam Evolve ../Ω listing gives a brief description of Gundam Evolve 9. "The Chakra Laboratory of AEUG (Karaba). A top secret mission. An enormous MA of unknown affiliation in orbit. Three Zeta Gundams. Three pilots. Red Snake, Grey Wolf, and White Unicorn. The expected outcome of the operation is..." It should be noted that Toru Furuya is credited as Amuro Ray in the cast listings.
The promo is now available for viewing at Bandai Channel.
Edit: Bandai Channel announced that episode 1 will be online July 14 through August 11, episode 2 will be online August 11 through September 8, and episode 3 will be available from September 8 until October 10.
The site also put up a number of interesting videos on their free promo video page, including a DVD commercial for Zeta Gundam III (the full length movie trailer), a 1 MB version of the Stargazer promo, a commercial for the Quiz MS Gundam PSP game, a preview of Wings Of Rean episode 4, an interview with Ryousuke Takahashi, a preview featurette of Takahashi's new anime Flag (first ep beginning net distribution June 16: 13 episodes total, 30 minutes each), and the opening of the 1994 VOTOMS: Shining Heresy sequel OVA (the first episode of which is being shown for free).
Sunrise put up the official site for the newly announced mecha anime Code Geass Traitorous Lelouch, coming this Fall. The staff is given as:
Director - Goro Taniguchi
Series composition - Ichiro Okouchi
Draft character design - CLAMP
Character design - Takahiro Kimura
Draft robo design - Akira Yasuda
Robo design - Eiji Nakata, Beecraft
Mecha design - Kenji Teraoka
Animation production - Sunrise
Thursday, June 08, 2006
From Bandai Visual's site.
Sunrise news posted a notice on an event called, "Ayukawa Mami Live!!" It will take place on June 27 at Minami Aoyama Mandala. She will perform many genre of music such as popular Sunrise anime songs from L-Gaim, Zeta Gundam, Dragonar. The price of admission is 4500 yen which will include 1 drink.
Wednesday, June 07, 2006
The official site added characters and mechanics to the Zeta Gundam section.
Word is coming out that Bandai Collectible Games will cease support for the Gundam War CCG. Organized play will stop at the end of June and future sets are on hold indefinitely. When organized play finishes, rankings will be frozen and the top 10 GW players will receive special prizes. Other CCG's Bandai will put on hold are Teen Titans, Digimon, One Piece, and Navia Dratp. In the meantime, Zatch Bell CCG leagues will continue on and Naruto will get a new play system.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
The blog of music artist lisa says her new song "tears" is going to be used as the ending theme for a Gundam anime to be broadcast on TV in August. Previously, lisa performed "Time Is On My Side" for Gundam Evolve.
The official site's Column page has been making regular updates in the past month, including random screenshots and behind-the-scenes production material (such as Roux Louka's outfit from Gundam Evolve 10). The latest update shows two inventory graphics used for the long-lost Gundam Evolve 9, indicating a probable Z Gundam-related scenario.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
GFF Maniax has a gallery of photos from World Characters Convention 22. Thanks to Jeff for pointing out the link.
Friday, June 02, 2006
Tokyopop's site shows a November 7th street date for Volume 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X Astray.
Pics of virtually all the new hobby merchandise announced in the last several weeks from Hobby Shop Midori.
Includes a list of some of the units in the game.
From the official site.
From Bandai Visual's site, DVD containing all 3 episodes will come out on Nov 24 priced at 6000 yen.
