Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム, Kidō Senshi Gandamu), also known as Gundam ’79, is a 1979 original television anime series by studio Sunrise, and director/writer Yoshiyuki Tomino. The series aired in April 1979 as part of the Spring anime season line-up.
Brief Unboxing Redux Note:
I first received Mobile Suit Gundam Part 1 in December 2015 as a Christmas present and I eventually acquired Part 2 in March 2016. Both of these were unboxed over on my Normanic Vault blog via Blogger. This post is a remaster of that unboxing with better photos, updated information and any added extras. Enjoy!
Background:
“It is the year Universal Century 0079 and the space colonies have declared war on from the Earth Federation under the guidance of the Principality of Zeon. In one of these colonies, the Earth Federation is storing and testing a new piloted robot for use in the battle against the Principality of Zeon.
The experimental RX-78 Gundam mobile suit is forced into combat with a civilian pilot and an untested crew before it can be transported to the Federation’s HQ on Earth. With few resources available against the Zeon’s brightest and best, will they be able to escape, let alone deliver the RX-78 to Earth?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, November 2015.
Many years ago, Gundam used to be distributed through Beez Entertainment and Bandai Entertainment for the UK, Ireland, US & Canada territories. They released a number of titles such as Gundam Wing, SEED, G, even the original Gundam Movie Trilogy. However, the original Mobile Suit Gundam series was never released in the UK & Ireland.
That is, until Anime Limited in 2015 announced they had formed a partnership with Sunrise to bring the Gundam franchise to the UK & Ireland, not long after Nozomi Entertainment announced the same for the US & Canada territories. While the first title from Nozomi was Turn-A Gundam, the first for Anime Limited was the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.
Mobile Suit Gundam is the start of all things Gundam. In Japan, it actually technically flopped but the sales of the toys apparently saved the franchise and eventually we got more and more Gundam anime, toys, games etc. Bandai Entertainment dubbed the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and I like it a lot.
Thankfully Mobile Suit Gundam‘s first arrival to the UK has done very well, as we eventually got more titles over the years.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited loves providing collector’s edition releases for their catalogue and Gundam was no exception. While Nozomi only focused on releasing the titles one by one as a standard regular package, Anime Limited offered some additional content.
Part 1 of the series comes with a rigid box that has unique artwork and free of any information or BBFC content. The box itself will house both parts of the series, while for the films or smaller titles it will house the single Amaray case.
Part 2 of the series comes with a booklet of artwork like character designs, drawings, mecha and the setting. Its well-done and fits nicely into the box with the two Amaray cases.
Like the other Anime Limited sets, these collector’s edition releases each have 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99. The regular editions will also maintain that SRP due to the episode count.
Physical Contents:
- Part 1 CE: Rigid Box with amaray case packaging and clean artwork
- Part 2 CE: 48-page booklet
- Info sheet for specs and sticker on wrapping for BBFC logo
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 30th November 2015 (Part 1), 8th February 2016 (Part 2)
The collector’s edition releases for Mobile Suit Gundam were released across two parts. The first part contains episodes 1 to “21” across two Blu-ray discs and the second part contains episodes “22” to “42” across another two Blu-ray discs, both parts used the Nozomi Entertainment author. The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles and the Ocean Productions/Bandai Entertainment English dub.
Part 1 of the set actually covers episodes 1 to 14 and 16 to 22 of the original series (and Part 2 therefore has episodes 23 to 43). You may be wondering why Episode 15 (Kukurus Doan’s Island) is not included, well that’s because the creator Yoshiyuki Tomino didn’t like the quality of the episode and decided it should not be shown in North America (or any English release) whatsoever, whether it’s for broadcast or even for the home release. It’s technically a filler episode so it should not affect the progression of the story otherwise.
As this is a Nozomi authored title, we have yellow subtitles which are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 4:3 (anamorphic 16:9) aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | Part 1: 2 BD-50s Part 2: 2 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Clean Opening “Fly! Gundam” (Tobe! Gundam)
- Clean Closing “Forever Amuro” (Eien ni Amuro)
- Blu-ray & DVD Commercials
Disc 3:
- 30th Anniversary Interview with Staff
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mobile Suit Gundam is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition sets sold out very early on, but you can still acquire the standard editions on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 
Leave a comment