Remember this hot piece of Gundam goodness? Did you buy one? Did you feel that it was a bit lonely on your desktop and that it needed its arch-rival beside it? Did you feel that the other Zaku’s weren’t up to snuff to stand beside it?

Well, question no more for Bandai is going to release the Super HCM Pro Char’s Zaku with its own docking bay come April 2008. No significant details yet on the design but here’s a preliminary picture to get you all excited. 

Awesome stuff from Gundam.Info covering the 15th anniversary of Dengeki starting with the MG Strike E + IWSP which is basically a white Strike E with akimbo beam rifles and retaining its akimbo beam handguns. From the picture shown there, it still uses the old MG Strike frame so nothing really new. It’s basically like if you already own the Strike + IWSP and the Strike Noir. Just saves you the trouble of repainting it to those colors. 

This is the Gundam Astraea from one of the sidestories of Gundam 00. In Gundam.info’s coverage, there appears to be a 1/100 Astraea on display. More likely, this is a mod of the 1/100 Exia rather than an actual model kit but it should be interesting to see this come out as a model kit. Gundam 00 would probably be the Gundam series with the most prototypes released as model kits. Because another prototype is on display in 1/144 scale:

This is the Gundam Sadalsuud which is basically considered as a prototype of the Dynames and in the field, its main purpose is recon having more lightweight armor.

Last but not the least, and hoping that this actually gets released as a Perfect Grade model kit: a 1/60 Hazel Gundam.

Ever since I laid eyes on the Hazel Gundam, I’ve been craving for a Master Grade of Perfect Grade version of it. It just looks so awesome!

What are your Gundam Christmas wishes this year?

I remember having seen this PVC figurine before. Probably in one of Danny’s posts. I’m not sure if this was designed by Shunya Yamashita but it definitely makes Rei Ayanami hotter than she already is. See more pics at Amiami.com.

Hiroshi Osaka, co-founder of BONES, the studio which produced fan favorites like Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Wolf’s Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist, loses his fight with cancer. He was 44. (From ANN)

Posters on the 2ch message boards have noted a mixi social community site’s diary entry that reported the passing of Hiroshi ?saka, the co-founder of the BONES animation studio and animation director of several works including The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie – Conqueror of Shamballa. Animation director Kazuaki Moori (Pokémon, The Daichis – Earth Defence Family) confirmed on his official website’s diary that his colleague ?saka passed away on the morning of September 24. ?saka had been reportedly diagnosed with cancer in spring of 2007, and had been convalescing in his family home in the city of Osaka. He had just attended Anime Expo 2005 as a Guest of Honor.

?saka was an anime fan as far back as high school, when he emulated the style of the first Mobile Suit Gundam series and the works of Mitsuru Adachi (Touch, H2). ?saka began working in Japanese animation as a part-time job while he was still taking university classes in Kyoto in 1983. He started in Anime R, a subcontracting studio, under the tutelage of Moriyasu Taniguchi (character designer on Aoki Ryusei SPT Layzner, Armor Hunter Mellowlink). He gradually moved from animation of in-between cels to animation of key cels and eventually animation direction on Sei J?shi Bismarck (Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs), City Hunter 3, Yoroiden Samurai Trooper (Ronin Warriors), Macross Plus, and Golden Boy.

His fluid direction of character and mechanical animation led him to work on many Sunrise works, including Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Mobile Suit V Gundam, and Mobile Fighter G Gundam. That brought him to the attention of Sunrise producer Masahiko Minami, who brought ?saka aboard two of their most famous series: The Vision of Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop. The collaboration between ?saka, Minami, and Gundam 0083/Bebop character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto was so fruitful that the three left their respective companies to be the co-founders of the studio BONES in 1998. The three would work together of several fan favorite works of BONES, including Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Wolf’s Rain, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Hiroshi Osaka, co-founder of BONES, the studio which produced fan favorites like Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Wolf’s Rain and Fullmetal Alchemist, loses his fight with cancer. He was 44. (From ANN)

Posters on the 2ch message boards have noted a mixi social community site’s diary entry that reported the passing of Hiroshi ?saka, the co-founder of the BONES animation studio and animation director of several works including The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Movie – Conqueror of Shamballa. Animation director Kazuaki Moori (Pokémon, The Daichis – Earth Defence Family) confirmed on his official website’s diary that his colleague ?saka passed away on the morning of September 24. ?saka had been reportedly diagnosed with cancer in spring of 2007, and had been convalescing in his family home in the city of Osaka. He had just attended Anime Expo 2005 as a Guest of Honor.

?saka was an anime fan as far back as high school, when he emulated the style of the first Mobile Suit Gundam series and the works of Mitsuru Adachi (Touch, H2). ?saka began working in Japanese animation as a part-time job while he was still taking university classes in Kyoto in 1983. He started in Anime R, a subcontracting studio, under the tutelage of Moriyasu Taniguchi (character designer on Aoki Ryusei SPT Layzner, Armor Hunter Mellowlink). He gradually moved from animation of in-between cels to animation of key cels and eventually animation direction on Sei J?shi Bismarck (Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs), City Hunter 3, Yoroiden Samurai Trooper (Ronin Warriors), Macross Plus, and Golden Boy.

His fluid direction of character and mechanical animation led him to work on many Sunrise works, including Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Mobile Suit V Gundam, and Mobile Fighter G Gundam. That brought him to the attention of Sunrise producer Masahiko Minami, who brought ?saka aboard two of their most famous series: The Vision of Escaflowne and Cowboy Bebop. The collaboration between ?saka, Minami, and Gundam 0083/Bebop character designer Toshihiro Kawamoto was so fruitful that the three left their respective companies to be the co-founders of the studio BONES in 1998. The three would work together of several fan favorite works of BONES, including Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Wolf’s Rain, and Fullmetal Alchemist.

Saw this bit of news in Gunota Headlines…from Famitsu.com.

GN-001 Gundam Exia

Head height: 18.3m
Base weight: 57.2 tons
Screen details: “Because of the GN particles eminating from the GN Drive within the unit, it has astounding mobility and near infinite energy. Compared to currently-in-use MS, it introduces a great deal of high technology.”
Addition info from Dengeki’s write-up: “A close-combat, high-mobility MS equipped with 7 blades.” “The GN particles eminated into the air cause radio wave interference and disrupt ordinary radar and communications.”

Setsuna F. Seiei
16-years-old
Screen details: “Fated boy soldier born & raised in the war-torn Middle East’s Kurdis Republic. A cool kid who hates getting close to others and keeps his feelings inside.”

GN-002 Gundam Dynames

Head height: 18.2m
Base weight: 59.1 tons
Screen details: “Same as the other Gundams, equipped with a GN Drive. It’s emphasis is gun warfare. Has many guns suitable for missions and a GN Sniper Rifle as standard equipment.”
Addition info from Dengeki’s write-up: “When it carries out precision shooting, the head transforms into Sniper Mode with a concealed camera eye appearing. During that time, a rifle-style controller is used.”

Lockon Stratos
24-years-old
Screen details: “Decided to join Celestial Being after losing his parents because of terrorism. The eldest pilot and team leader.”

GN-003 Gundam Kyrios

Head height: 18.9m
Base weight: 54.8 tons
Screen details: “Variable unit that can transform into a flight form. In its flight form, it has a rear arms container and can deal with every mission with versatility.”
Addition info from Dengeki’s write-up: “While it excels at hit-and-run attacks in its flight form, even in its MS form it has offensive capabilities to match other Gundams.”

Allelujah Paptism
19-years-old
Screen details: “Spent his childhood as an orphan in the People’s Reform League. Usually gentle and quiet.”

GN-004 Gundam Virtue

Head height: 18.4m
Base weight: 66.7 tons
Screen details: “Heavily armed type and has powerful weapons such as the GN Bazooka and GN Cannon. It expands the GN Field, covering itself with a barrier and has considerably high defense.”

Tieria Erde
?-years-old
Screen details: “A boy with a rare kind of beauty, his history, nationality, and origins all a mystery. Within his gentle tone, he can give a sense of cold intentions.”

On a side note, I noticed that all the display models were built using a perfect grade frame. If you look closely at the hands, they’re the same as the PG Strike’s hands. Maybe it’s just me but the design have a lot of Code Geass mecha design influence. Probably because there are a couple of members in the staff who worked on the Code Geass project. For them to actually produce four models just for show means they’re really investing a lot on this series.

[digg=http://www.digg.com/offbeat_news/Gundam_00_Staff]

Gunota Headlines has some significant updates regarding the staff who will be working on this spankin’ new Gundam series: Gundam Double Oh~.

The staff:
Director – Seiji Mizushima
Series Composition – Yousuke Kuroda
Character design – Yun Kouga
Animation character design – Michinori Chiba
Mechanic design – Kunio Okawara, Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase
Mechanic concept design – Hitoshi Fukuchi, Kenji Teraoka
Animation mechanic design – Seiichi Nakatani

source: Gunota Headlines

Seiji Mizushima was the director for the hit series Fullmetal Alchemist. That alone sounds promising for this series already. But the rest of the staff also speak volumes about the high possibility of success and diversity of this upcoming series.

Yousuke Kuroda did the series composition, script and screenplay of several noteworthy anime series like Gungrave, Trigun, Dual!, Infinite Ryvius and Onegai Teacher.

Yun Kouga did the character designs for High School Aurabuster OVA.

Michinori Chiba was the animation director for severl bigshot anime series like Fullmetal Alchemist: Conqueror of Shambala, Galaxy Angel, Saber Marionette J, Saint Seiya: Hades Chapter, and Shaman King.

Kunio Okawara was either involved or directly worked with every mecha design project for practically every Gundam but I think one of his best mecha design works was Brave King GaoGaiGar Final Grand Glorious Gathering.

Kanetake Ebikawa was involved with several mechanical design projects which you probably know of: Bakuretsu Tenshi, Full Metal Panic!, Vandread, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya (I haven’t watched this series but I didn’t realize it had mecha in it…, and Soukou no Strain.

Takayuki Yanase did design work for one Gundam series but it was for the manga: After War Gundam X. He also did design work for Eureka Seven and Zegapain.

Hitoshi Fukuchi did the mecha design for the manga Under the Gundam: Double Fake.

Kenji Teraoka and Seiichi Nakatani are no strangers in this industry since they worked together in Code Geass. Seiichi was also the animation director for the miniseries Gundam SEED Stargazer. Kenji on the other hand has the conceptual design of Dangaioh and the mechanical designs of Dual! and Ghost in the Shell under his belt.

*phew! *

So. Quite a promising staff for this series, dontchathink?!

And in GunPla news, Bandai Press Release stated that the first gunpla release of Gundam 00 will be a 1/144 Gundam Excia. (source: Gunota Headlines)

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Been blog hopping lately and I noticed that a significant amount of Gundam-related blogs have already started blogging about the upcoming Gundam series: Gundam 00 (double O). The logo looks like the James Bond logo design but I’m not here to talk about the logo design. Rather, I’m here to talk about the two/three-ish mobile suits that were featured in the teaser video. The screencap set you see on the left is from the first Gundam to appear on the teaser video (not the first to appear in the series). One thing I noticed in the Gundams here is that their design is a deviation from usual Gundam designs that you’ve seen by far and yet they don’t have weird redesigned parts that make people go O_O like the Turn A Gundam’s moustache. This one appears to be a sniper mobile suit. If you look at its head camera, it’s no longer the usual square or rectangular camera mount but rather a pentagon-shaped camera that looks like the pentagon on the Superman logo. The camera redesign seems to have drawn some inspiration from the Astray Gundam design. As the Gundam moves closer to the screen, you notice that sparks start to fly from its head. From the YouTube video, I thought, the unit was firing from its vulcans. I was wrong. The crest slides down to reveal a sniper scope camera mounted underneath the v-fin. Also, look at the arms. Been to the Gundam EVOLVE site lately? Does the arm design look familiar? We’ll get back to that later.

This is the second Gundam featured in the teaser video. This appears to be a melee Gundam. With that in mind, and with how this appears to have small melee weaponry unlike the Astray Gundam Blue Frame, we can assume that this is the faster of the two Gundams featured so far. It also sports the unconventional camera mount that’s pentagonal in shape. This one carries the traditional colors of the Gundam including the red streak under the eyes so I guess despite this being outside the CE or UC timeline, the designer still follows the tradition of having a Gundam with the RX-78-2 original colors. But the chest design is quite interesting as well as the collar of this Gundam which has yellow fins sticking out from a white collar. I’m also wondering what that conical shape on the back is. Thrusters? Or something else? Again, take a look at the arms. Looks like the leg design on this one. They seem to be going for the awesomely skinny look although the RX-78-2 Gundam featured in the latest Gundam EVOLVE episode isn’t as gorgeous as these mobile suits.

Now I did say two/three-ish mobile suits were featured in the teaser video. This however appears to be their cheeser mobile suit with cannon that appears to be the love child of the SRX’s HTB Cannon and the Huckebein’s Black Hole Cannon. I tried zooming at this picture but I can’t seem to determine whether this is the same mobile suit as the first one that was featured in the teaser video. But with closer inspection, this does appear to be a third Gundam. The shoulder and face parts that are dark green from the first Gundam aren’t featured in this one plus this mobile suit appears to be a lot bulkier than the first two.

What I also find inviting in this new series are the character designs. None of that I-look-like-your-mom-if-change-hairstyles shite. That’s the stuff we had to deal with in SEED and GSD where the difference in a male and female character are the tits and genitalia. For Gundam 00, the main character appears to be that chap on the lower right since he was the one with the most emphasis on the teaser video. Reminds you of Ryoma, neh? What with the red scarf and white top.

Much thanks to the author of superrobotwar.wordpress.com for the screencaps.

Here are the other bloggers I know of who have blogged about Gundam 00:

• Danny Choo
• Gundamaniac
• Gunota Headlines
• Rampant Lion Sable
  

Pardon me if the entry appears to go in different directions but you do get my point right? Was switching back and forth from talking to my fiancee online who is currently in Belgium and writing this entry. She gets top priority so…you get the point!

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Fo shizzle?! Fo shizzle! This is really nice news and lots of details are shown in Gunota Headlines. Check out the fo shizzle link to see the teaser video in YouTube.

This new series appears to be outside of CE (Cosmic Era) and UC (Universal Century). I think it’s safe to say this is an AU (Alternate Universe) series. The series is set in 2037 seireki. The teaser vid shows two Gundams and four Gundam pilots. Whether it will be two pilots or Gundam meisters per mobile suit is still up in the air.

What I’m happy about this is that the character designs aren’t like SEED anymore where they all look the same except for the height, the hair and the boobs. Also, the animation and mecha designs look promising. I suppose the mobile suit designer is someone other than Kunio let-me-rest-in-peace Okawara. I loved his Genesic GaoGaiGar design but I think Bandai and Sunrise are just squeezing too much out of him for Gundam designs… Anyhoo, that’s my opinion. Personally, I’d like to see more of the Astray designer’s works. This series is set to air this October 2007.

Day 1

She’ll be making landfall in four hours’ time. Saturday was a long day for me and I could already notice the difference of not having her reply to my SMS messages. Yes, I miss her a lot. This would probably be the last public entry that I’ll make regarding Chil and her trip to Belgium. Starting Monday, any entries related to just the two of us will be password protected. Tough to mix the gloom and mush with the Gundam and hobby news.

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I think it’s safe to credit Gundam Wing as the series that started the majority of the Gundam craze here in the Philippines ever since it was first aired in GMA 7. But damn, they had such a stupid research crew and GMA 7 started their trend of corrupting or bastardizing a good amount of anime shows by not putting enough research on their background. They had the most pathetic names for the Gundams in this series.

• Wing Gundam – Gundam The Wing
• Gundam Heavyarms – Gundam The Cannon
• Shenlong Gundam – Gundam The Dragon
• Sandrock Gundam – Gundam The Desert
• Deathscythe Gundam – Gundam The Death

Good grief! How humiliating! But somehow, me and my friends managed to recover and went on to watch this series alongside other Gundam series that were already out. At least they got the names of the G Gundam units right. x_x

Anyhoo, I’m not sure of the Gundam Wing DVD was already in circulation for some time but it appears that they put up a Gundam Wing DVD official website so I’m assuming this one’s new.

I understand that Gundam Wing was once contested whether it was actually a real robot anime or a super robot anime since none of its units really sustained significant damage in every battle.

Nevertheless, the series was ok and there are still a lot of hardcore fans of Gundam Wing. I myself enjoyed watching Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz mainly for the designs of the mobile suits and the music.

News from Gunota Headlines.

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