Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (Kidō Senshi Gandamu Yunikōn) is a 2010-2014 original video anime series based on the novel written by Harutoshi Fukui. It was adapted by studio Sunrise, director Kazuhiro Furuhashi, and writer Yasuyuki Muto. The OVA series was released episode by episode over the years starting from March 2010 to June 2014.
Background:
“Universal Century 0096.
Three years after the last conflict between Neo Zeon and the Earth Federation Forces – as seen in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack – the tentative peace of the Earth Sphere is about to be shattered again. Cardeas Vist, the head of the powerful Vist Foundation, has decided to hand over “Laplace’s Box”, the secret of the Foundation’s prosperity, to the supposed enemy, Neo Zeon.
Banagher Links, a student at the space colony Industrial 7, rescues a mysterious girl who calls herself Audrey Burne. Audrey is seeking to prevent a war, but it seems she has come too late. As Banagher’s home colony is devastated by the attacks of the enemy mobile suit Kshatriya, he finds his strange destiny and is forced to fight in the formidable weapon system known as the Unicorn Gundam.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, September 2020.
The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise over the past couple of decades had received many instalments, some were for the main Universal Century timeline while others had decided to be set in their own world. Sometimes every now and then, Sunrise will offer more anime content for the Universal Century timeline and in 2010 they did that with Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is an interesting one because it was presented as an OVA series with almost an hour long runtime for each episode, and it is set after the events of Char’s Counterattack and before the events of F-91. The timeline for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is U.C. 0096, which is roughly three years after the Amuro vs Char storyline wrapped up in U.C. 0093 in Char’s Counterattack.
Much like Gundam Origin, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is also based on an existing source material. The original novel was released in 2007 with a total of around 10-11 volumes and while I don’t know how faithful the adaptation was, it’s still a neat way to integrate the name and story into the anime’s timeline.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn was also released in the west before by Bandai Visual and Sunrise. It was released with each episode on its own, totalling about seven Blu-ray sets and the Japanese release had also included both English subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub. One of the OVAs did get promoted via Beez Entertainment, but it was more of an import to my knowledge so this Blu-ray release from Anime Limited is its first for the UK.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn keeps the UK Gundam collection going with its traditional collector’s edition rigid box, housing an Amaray case for the discs as well as a few physical items – a booklet and a poster. The SRP was £59.99 and received the usual 1000 units in total.
The packaging for the collector’s edition is roughly the same size as Gundam 0083, Char’s Counterattack, Origin V-VI and the Thunderbolt films. Like most of the Gundam sets, the reversible artwork removes the white border if you prefer a clean look at the front artwork.
I received my copy early as part of pre-ordering the set during Anime Limited’s Early Bird offer on their official website, which was £34.99. As I have a Premium membership with Screen Anime (online film festival service), the price lowered to £31.50.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with amaray case packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specs and sticker on wrapping for BBFC logo
- 20-page Booklet
- Fold-out Poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 7th September 2020
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn presents all seven OVA episodes across four Blu-ray discs, with the authoring done by the folks at Nozomi Entertainment (Anime Limited’s logo will be at the beginning but the rest is the same as the North American release). The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub.
The yellow subtitles are unlockable during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English Linear PCM 5.1 English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 5.1 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 16:9 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | 4 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Disc 1:
- Episode 1 PV 01 (Long)
- Episode 1 PV 01 (Short)
- Episode 1 PV 02
- Episode 1 PV 03
- Episode 1 PV 04 (Navigation File)
- Episode 1 TV CM
- Episode 1 Recap
- Episode 2 PV 01 (Long)
- Episode 2 PV 01 (Short)
- Episode 2 PV 02
- Episode 2 Trailer
- Episode 2 TV CM
- MS & Character Highlights
Disc 2:
- Episode 2 Recap
- Episode 3 PV (Short)
- Episode 3 PV (Long)
- Episode 3 TV CM
- Episode 3 Textless Ending
- Episode 3 Trailer
- Episode 3 Recap
- Episode 4 TV CM
- Episode 4 Trailer
- Episode 4 PV
- MS & Character Highlights
Disc 3:
- Episode 4 Recap
- Episode 5 PV 01
- Episode 5 PV 02
- Episode 5 TV CM
- Episode 5 Ending with Lyrics
- Episode 5 Recap
- MS & Character Highlights
Disc 4:
- “Story So Far”
- Episode EX “One Hundred Years of Solitude”
- Episode 6 PV 01
- Episode 6 PV 02
- Episode 6 TV CM
- MS & Character Highlights
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition set on Amazon UK.
(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)
The Normanic Vault 
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