Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (Kidō Senshi Gandamu Daburu Zēta), also known as Gundam Double Zeta, is a 1986 original television anime series by studio Sunrise, and director/writer Yoshiyuki Tomino. The series aired in March 1986 as part of the Spring anime season line-up.
Brief Unboxing Redux Note:
I first acquired Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ Part 1 in October 2017 followed by Part 2 in January 2018. 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 0088 of the Universal Century. The badly damaged assault cruiser Argama docks at the run-down space colony of ShangriLa for much-needed repairs. While the Argama is in drydock, a young junk dealer named Judau Ashta sneaks aboard in an attempt to steal the Zeta Gundam. He wants to sell it in order to help his sister, but instead he finds himself coerced into joining the Argama’s crew. Unfortunately for Judau, the Argama is being pursued by a dedicated Neo Zeon officer named Mashymre Cello.
In order to protect both his sister and himself, Judau must master the Argama’s newest mobile suit, the ZZ Gundam.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, October 2017.
The adventures of Gundam continues with Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ which acts as a sequel to both the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam shows. Taking place in the Universal Century timeline at U.C. 0088, Gundam ZZ ties more into Zeta and also shares a mostly new cast of characters.
Like Zeta, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ was never released in the UK by Beez Entertainment. In fact, it wasn’t released by Bandai Entertainment either. The first time it saw an English home video release was through Nozomi Entertainment in 2016. Anime Limited brought the series over to the UK for the first time on Blu-ray.
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is one of the Gundam titles that gets a lot of mixed reception due to its tone shift and oddness compared to the seriousness of the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam. That being said, the series only had 47 episodes. Like Zeta, Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ was one of the titles that Anime Limited was handling for both the UK and France at the same time.
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.
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ‘s UK collector’s editions continues the same format as the previous Gundam series. Part 1 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.
Part 2 comes with a booklet of artwork mostly towards mecha designs which is a contrast to the previous sets. Its still 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: 16th October 2017 (Part 1), 8th January 2018 (Part 2)
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ was released across two parts for the UK & US. The first part contains episodes 1 to 25 across three Blu-ray discs and the second part contains episodes 26 to 47 across another three Blu-ray discs, both parts used the French Anime Limited author. The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English and French subtitles.
Unlike the Gundam 79 Movie Trilogy, Zeta, and Reconguista in G, ZZ actually used the same menu template as the Nozomi release. However, while Nozomi’s release utilises yellow and unlockable subtitles, the French Anime Limited authored discs have white subtitles that are locked during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 4:3 (anamorphic 16:9) aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, French |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | Part 1: 3 Part 2: 3 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Part 1 – Disc 3:
- Clean Opening “It’s Not an Anime” (Anime Ja Nai)
- Clean Closing “The Era is Crying” (Jidai ga Naiteiru)
- TV Spot 1
- TV Spot 2
Part 2 – Disc 3:
- Clean Opening “Silent Voice”
- Clean Closing “Ten Million Years Galaxy” (Issenman-Nen Ginga)
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. The collector’s edition sets are still available but are almost out of print. You can still acquire both the collector’s and the standard editions on Amazon UK.
The Normanic Vault 