Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (機動戦士ガンダムナラティブ, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Naratibu), also known as Gundam NT, is a 2018 theatrical anime film from director Toshikazu Yoshizawa, writer Harutoshi Fukui, and studio Sunrise. Sunrise published the film and was first theatrically released in Japan on November 2018 as part of the Autumn season.
Background:
“U.C. 0097… One year has passed since the contents of Laplace’s Box were revealed to the world at the end of the conflict called the “Laplace Incident”. Despite the revelation of the Universal Century Charter that acknowledges the existence and rights of Newtypes, the framework of the world has not been greatly altered.
Meanwhile, the Neo Zeon remnants known as the Sleeves have temporarily collapsed after the Laplace Incident, and their activities are at a standstill. And the two Unicorn Gundams, the mobile suits that played a leading role in the conflict, have been deemed dangerous and secretly sealed away because they displayed power beyond human understanding.
However, the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam 03, which disappeared two years earlier and was erased from history, has shown itself in the Earth Sphere once more. This machine called “Phenex” is the focus of many people’s renewed activity. As well as the Earth Federation Forces and the Sleeves, Luio & Co, a huge corporation with strong connections to Anaheim Electronics, is involved in the struggle for the Phenex. As Luio & Co. deploys the new mobile suit Narrative Gundam, what is its true objective…?”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, January 2021
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. A while back an OVA series called Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn came out and it was pretty well-received and I did like what the first episode offered when I first watched it many years ago.
In recent years a continuation to that series came along in the form of a theatrical film called Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative. This is apparently the opposite of being well-received, in fact apparently it’s one of the weaker Gundam titles out there which is surprising to hear.
Never the less, Gundam is Gundam so having more of that for the United Kingdom is always a benefit. As you probably had guessed, Anime Limited are releasing Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative for the UK & Ireland as part of their on-going partnership with Sunrise for the franchise. Nozomi Entertainment and Rightstuf released the film a couple months prior to the UK release so timing is not that bad compared to the other Gundam releases.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
For the Gundam Collection, Anime Limited keeps them rather consistent in terms of the spine presentation. The logo is positioned at the top and is tweaked a bit in terms of its width if the specific Gundam uses a single Amaray case, like Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative does.
The release is presented in a rigid box with an Amaray Blu-ray case to house the Blu-ray disc, a reversible cover with some cleaner artwork, and comes with a 32-page booklet and a poster.
The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £34.99. The Gundam collector’s edition sets sell pretty well so expect this release to last a couple more months before going into out of print territory. A standard Blu-ray will eventually follow suit.
Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative was pre-ordered as part of Anime Limited’s Early Bird offering at £19.99, with the Screen Anime 10% discount lowering the price to £18.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet for specification and BBFC description
- 32-page booklet
- 34x40cm fold-out poster
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 11th January 2021
The collector’s edition release for Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative is a film included on a single Blu-ray disc. The encode and authoring were done by Com’on Screen and designed to support both the UK & French market via Anime Limited’s UK & French branches (@Anime is the French distributor). The audio options available for the series include Japanese with English and French subtitles and the NYAV Post English dub.
The white subtitles are locked during playback, and the regions are locked to B for Blu-ray.
Since this set is using the UK/FR author, almost all of the bonus features included in the North American release are not included in this set. Even if the film is reportedly not great, it sucks for those that wanted more to offer.
UPDATE 16th January 2021: It has been brought to my attention that this UK/FR Blu-ray release is also using the theatrical masters rather than the home video masters that are present on the North American release. Seriously this film can’t catch a break.
Blu-ray Specs:
| Languages | English, Japanese |
| Audio | English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 |
| Video | 1080p High Definition Native format 1.78:1 aspect ratio |
| Region | B |
| Subtitles | English, French |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 1 BD-50 |
Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:
- Mobile Suit Gundam NT Trailer
- Hathaway’s Flash Japanese Teaser
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative is available to order through multiple retailers across the United Kingdom. You can order the collector’s edition Blu-ray 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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