Turn A Gundam (ターンエーガンダム, Tān Ē Gandamu), also known as ∀ Gundam, is a 1999 original television anime series by studio Sunrise, and director Yoshiyuki Tomino. Sunrise published the series and was first broadcast in Japan on April 1999 as part of the Spring anime season line-up.
Background:
“In Turn A Gundam a separate race of humanity has lived on the moon for 2000 years. Known as “the Moonrace,” their technology is leaps and bounds beyond those that stayed behind on the Earth’s surface. Now seeking to return to their original home, the Moonrace send three teenagers, Loran, Keith, and Fran, down to Earth on a reconnaissance mission to test the viability of its environment.
After spending a year on Earth, Loran has become good friends with Sochie and Kihel, daughters of the prestigious Heim family, and he looks forward to fully integrating into Earth society. But before Loran gets the chance to make his report, the Moonrace launch a surprise attack. Earth’s primitive airplanes are no match for the superior power of the Moonrace’s mobile suits. However, in the midst of the initial attack, Loran and Sochie uncover a long-forgotten relic: a white mobile suit. As a Moonrace, Loran is quickly able to grasp the basics of piloting it, but by doing so, he inadvertently places himself in the middle of a war.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, December 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. One particular series that came out in the 90s was another standalone series and even directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino himself. The series was called Turn A Gundam.
Turn A Gundam has an interesting following as a lot of people consider the series to be one of the best Gundam shows out there, but at the same time is still niche. One of those reasons is the lack of English dub, which was originally going to be released by Bandai Entertainment but was sent into limbo due to the distributor closing down. Years passed and eventually Sunrise made a deal with Nozomi Entertainment and Rightstuf to release the entire Gundam franchise for the United States and Canada. Turn A Gundam was the first to be released across two DVD sets in 2015.
A couple months later, across the pond, Anime Limited announced plans to release Turn A Gundam for the United Kingdom and Ireland, but there was a problem – the series at the time did not have an English Blu-ray release. Eventually Rightstuf did release the series on Blu-ray in the US, but was still subtitled only. Fast-forward to 2020 and out of nowhere Anime Limited revealed their plans to release Turn A Gundam on Blu-ray using the Rightstuf discs with their usual traditional packaging to match the other titles.
Because I pre-ordered both parts via Anime Limited’s webstore, they shipped early so officially they’re not out until later so here’s your chance to have a quick look!
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.
Turn A Gundam continues the trend with Part 1 including a rigid box using artwork from the Japanese Blu-ray Disc Box and is free of any information or BBFC content. The box itself houses both parts of the series. Part 2 comes with a 32-page booklet of artwork and can be slotted into the box with the other two Amaray Blu-ray 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: 32-page booklet
- Info sheet for specs and sticker on wrapping for BBFC logo
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 14th December 2020 (Part 1), 25th January 2021 (Part 2)
The collector’s edition releases for Turn A Gundam 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 50 across another three Blu-ray discs, both parts were authored and encoded by Rightstuf with Anime Limited’s logos included at the intro. Because the series never received an English dub, the audio options available for the series is Japanese with English subtitles.
The subtitles are yellow and unlocked, and the disc regions are locked to B for Blu-ray. Funny enough the region lock system keeps the Nozomi region locked warning screen.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese Linear PCM 2.0 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 4:3 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English |
| Locked Subtitles | No |
| Discs | Part 1: 3 BD-50s Part 2: 3 BD-50s |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
Part 1 Disc 1:
- Clean Opening 1 “Turn A Turn”
- Clean Closing 1 “Aura”
Part 2 Disc 1:
- Clean Opening 2 “Century Color”
- Clean Closing 2 “Tsuki no Mayu”
- Clean Closing 3 “Kagirinaki Tabiji”
- Syd Mead Interview Part 1
Part 2 Disc 2:
- Syd Mead Interview Part 2
Part 2 Disc 3:
- Syd Mead Interview Part 3
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Turn A Gundam is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition for Part 1 and Part 2 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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