Yesterday, I went to Osaka to see the Art of Gundam exhibition that's running until the end of this month. For the advertising and the pamphlet that a friend picked up for me a few weeks back, it's mostly centered around the original Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム) series that sparked a massive franchise. Also, it seems to serve the purpose of celebrating 35 years of Gundam.
Admittedly, while I do know what happens in the series, I haven't watched much of that particular series (though I have watched others in the Universal Century timeline that MSG is a part of). Nevertheless, I found it very interesting. Before you go checking out all the various artwork, you start off going in to an introduction session that funnily enough resembles the bridge of the White Base, with Mirai Yashima steering the ship, Sayla Mass at communications, and Bright Noa right behind you in the Captain's chair issuing orders. All is normal, until you start hearing warning alarms, and red lights flashing that the White Base is under attack by the Red Comet himself, Char Aznable, and a small force of Zeon Mobile Suits. Then you hear Amuro over the comm, and see the RX-78-2 Gundam launch trying to fend of the Zakus, while also trying to stop Char from taking a shot at the White Base's bridge. Eventually, Bright Noa issues the command to descend in to Earth's atmosphere, but Amuro and the Gundam can't reach the hangar in time, and decide to ride it out and manage to break through the atmosphere. You would think they were in the clear, until you hear that a number of Zeon ships have been spotted ahead. Amuro, in the Gundam, pulls out his beam saber, and rushes head on to face the enemy ships, ending on a cliffhanger with the Gundam theme song playing, and showing the 35 year anniversary logo. Then you move along to the art gallery sections.
It was actually very interesting to see the various concept designs of the characters, and the mecha themselves. I really couldn't imagine how things would have turned out if some of the older designs were used instead of the ones that all Gundam fans are so familiar with today. There were also scenery concepts, and I must admit that the scenery designs were amazing, despite being done years ago. Furthermore, there were some promotional artwork designs, and Gundam dioramas that depicted key moments in the MS Gundam series. Finally, at the end of the tour, they were showing a movie that summed up 35 years worth of Gundam, along with a teaser trailer of the new Gundam series starting later this year Gundam Renconguista in G (Ｇのレコンギスタ）。In that same area, they were also showing off some of the designs of the setting of the series (taking place after the UC timeline called the Regild Century), including scenery, character designs and mecha designs, including the main Gundam, called the G-Self, and even showed some HG models of the G-Self, and what seems to be a grunt mobile suit. The design of the G-Self was very intriguing, in that it's very rounded in its features overall - however, it looks like it's taken elements from not only the RX-78-2 Gundam, but also the Strike/Impulse Gundams from Gundam Seed (especially when the G-Self is equipped with its flight pack), the head design reminds me of the Exia from Gundam 00, and for some reason it reminds me of the AGE-1 Gundam from Gundam Age, though a little more detailed in design. It certainly is a very unique design. However, the grunt suits that I've seen really did not seem interesting compared to other grunt suits of the UC timeline. In fact, they kind of remind of the plain designs of the federation grunt suits from Gundam AGE. However, it's too early to say how the series will turn out, so I'll save my judgement until the series begins to air.
Anyway, after seeing the artwork, I look around the souvenir shop. I was planning to buy the MG transparent versions of either the RX-78-2 or Char's custom Zaku but, sadly, they were sold out. There wasn't really anything that I wanted that wasn't overpriced, so I settled on some post cards, including one that had Bright Noa delivering his famous slap to Amuro Ray. There was also the Gundam Cafe nearby, but I didn't go for two reasons: 1) it was crowded in there, and 2)I've heard a lot of bad things about the Gundam cafe, including that it was overpriced, and not all that good. I did some other things afterwards, but that's not what this post is about.
If you're in Japan, a Gundam fan, and have some time to spare, I recommend checking out The Art of Gundam Museum in Osaka, as it's running until the 31/8. Details can be found their website (here)
