Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
Logo of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE
機動戦士ガンダムAGE (Kidō Senshi Gandamu AGE)
Genre	Action, Drama, Mecha
TV anime
Directed by	Susumu Yamaguchi
Written by	Akihiro Hino
Music by	Kei Yoshikawa
Studio	Sunrise
Network	MBS, TBS
Original run	October 9, 2011 – ongoing
Episodes	50 (List of episodes)
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Story of the Beginning
Written by	Hiroshi Nakanishi
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shonen Sunday
Original run	October 2011 – ongoing
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: First Evolution
Written by	Hiyon Katsuragi
Published by	Kadokawa
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Gundam Ace
Original run	December 2011 – ongoing
Manga
Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Treasure Star
Written by	Masanori Yoshida
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	CoroCoro Comic
Original run	October 2011 – ongoing
Anime and Manga Portal

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (機動戦士ガンダムAGE, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Eiji^?) is a 2011 Japanese science fiction anime television series and the twelfth incarnation of Sunrise's long-running Gundam franchise. The series is first announced in the July issue of Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic, and has gaming company Level-5's President Akihiro Hino in charge of the story.^[1]

This installment of the Gundam meta-series is set on a futuristic Earth plagued by an interplanetary war that spans a whole century. Its story revolves arround three protagonists from the same family, each piloting his own version of the eponymous mecha, fighting to defend Earth and its space colonies from an enemy race far more advanced in terms of technology.

The series was officially unveiled by Bandai on June 13, 2011, during a special event at the 2011 Tokyo Toy Show. Gundam AGE premiered on the MBS and TBS broadcasting stations in Japan on October 9, 2011.^[2]

Plot

The story of Gundam AGE is separated into three arcs, each revolving arround a different protagonist.

Flit Asuno (A.G 115)

In A.G. 101 (the 101st year of the Advanced Generation calendar) a mysterious entity known at the time only as "UE", or "Unknown Enemy", attacks and destroys the space colony Angel. This brutal attack becomes infamous as the "The Day the Angel Fell", and marks the beginning of the "One Hundred Years War". The series begins in A.G. 108 when the UE attack the space colony Ovan, where Flit Asuno now lives after he escaped colony Angel before its destruction. Flit's mother shortly before she is killed by the UE, she gives her son an object called "AGE Device". Within it he discovers the blueprints for a powerful weapon from the past—the ancient messiah named "Gundam."

From these blueprints, Flit spends the next several years studying engineering at an Earth Federation base on the Nora space colony and designing the Gundam AGE-1. Seven years later, in A.G. 115, Flit completes the Gundam AGE-1 Normal, just as the UE attack Nora, and make use of it to aid the crew of Federation's battleship "Diva" in evacuating the colony's citizens before it is destroyed. Determined to bring the battle to the U.E. for destroying his home twice, Flit agrees to serve at Diva's mobile suit squad piloting the Gundam.

After obtaining enough intel and military power to establish a course of action, the crew of Diva and their allies launch a successful attack that destroyed the U.E.'s secret fortress in the Ambat asteroid. There they learn that the U.E. are actually the descendants of a supposedly failed human mission sent to colonize Mars, left for dead by the Earth Federation, who formed their own nation on the red planet called "Vagan".

Asemu Asuno (A.G 140-151)

25 years after the battle at Ambat, the war between the Federation and the Vagans keeps escalating with no end at sight as they rejected all offers for a peace treaty. Flit, now married and father of two is a commander of the Earth forces determined to destroy the Vagans and decides that the time has come for his son Asemu to succeed him as the Gundam's pilot, entrusting him with the AGE Device on his 17th birthday. After successfully defending his colony from Vagan attacks with the Gundam AGE-1, Asemu enlists into the military and just like his father before him, he joins Diva's mobile suit squad piloting AGE-1's successor unit, the Gundam AGE-2.

Under Flit's command, the federation forces, spearheaded by Asemu and the crew of Diva successfully stops several Vagan attempts to advance in their invasion of Earth. Flit also manages to expose a large scale conspiracy involving several corrupt authorities in cahoots with the Vagans, leading to a massive shift of power in the Earth Sphere. Ten years later, just after the birth of his son Kio, Asemu leaves for a final mission that ends with his disappearance, although his AGE Device was retrieved and entrusted to Kio.

Kio Asuno (A.G 164)

After sending several sleeper agents into Earth, the Vagans launch a surprise attack that puts the Federation Forces in disarray. To counter the invasion, Flit activates his latest creation, the Gundam AGE-3 and entrusts it to Kio. Just like his father and grandfather before him, Kio enlists into the Diva as part of its mobile suit squad to confront the Vagans.

Production

Development

Development of Mobile Suit Gundam AGE began when Akihiro Hino and Level-5 were first hired by Sunrise to develop a Gundam video game. Interested with working for the Gundam franchise, Hino wrote a plot summary for an anime which Bandai eventually saw and decided to create an anime based on it.^[3] The script was eventually green-lit and was first announced in the July issue of Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic.

The staff behind Gundam AGE is also the same staff members who created the previous series Mobile Suit Gundam 00 excluding Seiji Mizushima. Susumu Yamaguchi, the director of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory and Sgt Frog is in charge of the direction of the series. Michinori Chiba and Takuzō Nagano were both in charge of the character designs of the series while Kanetake Ebikawa, Junya Ishigaki, and Kenji Teraoka are all contributing to the mechanical designs.^[4]

Release

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE premiered at October 9, 2011 on the terrestrial MBS and TBS networks at 5:00 p.m on Sundays.

Music

The music in the series is composed by Kei Yoshikawa, most famous for composing musical scores for the anime Basquash!.

The first opening song, Asu e (明日へ, To Tomorrow^?) by Galileo Galilei and the ending, Kimi no Naka no Eiyū (君の中の英雄, The Hero Within You^?) by Minami Kuribayashi were used from episodes 1 to 15. From episodes 16 to 28, sharp# by NEGOTO and My World by SPYAIR were be used as the opening and ending themes, respectively. From episode 29 onwards, the opening theme is REAL by ViViD, and the ending theme is White Justice by Faylan

Media

Manga

Two manga adaptations of the series have been announced. Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Story of the Beginning (機動戦士ガンダムAGE 〜始まりの物語〜, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Eiji: Hajimari no Monogatari^?) by Hiroshi Nakanishi was published in Shogakukan's Weekly Shonen Sunday. This two-chapter adaptation of the beginning of the anime features a different AGE System from the show. Instead of using the AGE Builder, Gundam AGE-1 is able to analyze its surroundings and incorporate machinery that are appropriate for the combat situation it is in. The other adaptation is published in Kadokawa's Gundam Ace, titled Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: First Evolution, is being drawn by Hiyon Katsuragi and serialized in the December 2011 issue.

Two sidestory mangas have also been announced. The first is entitled Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Treasure Star. Written and drawn by Masanori Yoshida and serialized in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic, it features a group of adventurers exploring space in the ship "Treasure Star". The second sidestory manga titled Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Memories of Sid is currently being serialized in Shōnen Sunday Super. Drawn by Hiroshi Nakanishi, the story is set before the third generation, explaining Asemu's sudden disappearance on his final mission: he fakes his death and joins the Space Pirate Group Visidian.

Models and toys

During the announcement event, Bandai had the first several Gundam AGE models and toys on display at the Tokyo Toy Show 2011. Some of them were a 1/48 scale mega-size model of the AGE-1 Gundam AGE-1 Normal^[5] and several HG 1/144 scale models of the main mobile suits from the series. The HG Gundam AGE-1 Normal is first released on September 2011 while the Genoace, Genoace Custom, Baqto, Zedas, Garfan, Gundam AGE-1 Titus and Gundam AGE-1 Sparrow will be released in a later date. Aside for the HG models, Bandai also planned to release GB (Gage-ing Builder) grade models of the AGE-1 Gundam, AGE-1 Titus, AGE-1 Sparrow, Genoace and Garfan will be released between September and December 2011. The 1/100 scale GB toys of the same types will be released around the same time also. Bandai is also planning a Master Grade release of the Gundam AGE-1 Normal, with the release date to be announced. The series' appearance in the Robot Spirits line is also confirmed with the confirmed release of the Gundam AGE-1 Normal on December 2011. Both the Genoace Custom and the Gundam AGE-1 Normal were confirmed to be released as part of the FW Gundam Converge line on November 2011.

Games

Mobile Suit Gundam: Tri Age is a Data Carddass card game as well as an Arcade Game developed by both Level-5 and Bandai-Namco Games. The game utilizes cards as well as the sensors in the Gage-ing Builder model kits. Some of the characters and units from the series were also included in SD Gundam G Generation 3D.

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE is a forthcoming role-playing video game by Level-5 for the PlayStation Portable. It will be released in Summer 2012.

References

External links

• Official Site (Japanese)
• Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia