Gundam Gets 18 Meter Statue, No 2009 TV Anime

Good news and bad news, alike, for Gundam fans this week. Starting off with the bad one (or, rather, bad ones), you know that new Gundam anime we wrote about last month - the one supposed to be released in 2009 in an unknown format? Well, sadly for all those hoping it would be a new TV anime series, or an OVA, or at the very least a feature-length animated movie, turns out it will be neither of those.



Instead, this Mobile Suit Gundam 30th anniversary anime will only be a short movie animated for the Gundam Big Expo convention that will take place in Tokyo during August 2009. And what's even worse, according to Bandai president and CEO, Kazunori Ueno (via ANN), "there are no plans to broadcast [another Gundam] television series in 2009".

This anime short is part of a larger project, consisting of three phases. Which finally brings me to that gargantuan statue in the title. The project's first phase - the "Real G" phase - will see the erection of an 18-meter-tall statue of the original RX-78-2 Gundam robot, pictured above (also check the sunset and night-time versions). The statue will be built this July on Tokyo's artificial island Odaiba, in Shiokaze Park, but it will only be left standing for two short months.

The other two phases of Bandai's Mobile Suit Gundam 30th Anniversary Project will be the "Feel G" phase (the Gundam Big Expo to be held between August 21-23 at the Tokyo Big Sight convention center on the same Odaiba island), and the "Soul G" phase (a live concert later in 2009).

So until the next Gundam anime, enjoy the ongoing Gundam 00 2nd Season while you can... if you can actually enjoy any Gundam stuff. Episode 25 will end it this March 29.