#Gundam SEED Anime Film Sequel Kicks Off Production

The life-size Freedom Gundam statue opened in Shanghai today, giving The Bandai Namco Group the perfect venue for some big announcements. Chief among them are plans to celebrate next year’s 20th anniversary of the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED anime with the a multi-faceted initiative called Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Project ignited.  

One of the major aspects of the project is confirmation that the new original Gundam SEED anime film—which will followup the TV anime as a direct sequel—is now in production. Director Mitsuo Fukuda is leading the staff once again, with more details to be revealed along with the release date in the future. 

There’s also a new Gundam SEED game in the works, as well as a new Gundam SEED Eclipse side-story manga that’s set to launch in Japan in Kadokawa’s Gundam Ace magazine and elsewhere this July. 

With a story credited to SOW, art by Atsushi Soga, characters designed by Kogado Studio, and mecha designed by Junichi Akutsu, the manga follows 17-year-old Mobile Suit pilot Tatsumi Hori, as well as 19-year-old commander Miyabi Oto Kio and 18-year-old Coordinator pilot Ken Noland Suse, all pictured below. 

If you want to see the Freedom Gundam statue’s opening ceremony, the official Gundam Channel YouTube will stream it on May 30 at 8:00pm Pacific Time. 

And if this has you wanting to catch up on Gundam SEED or rewatch the whole series, you can stream the 2002-2003 original and the 2004-2005 followup, Gundam SEED Destiny, on Crunchyroll. 

Sources: Gundam.info, Anime News Network 

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Joseph Luster is the Games and Web editor at Otaku USA Magazine. You can read his comics at subhumanzoids. Follow him on Twitter @Moldilox.