Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy (劇場版 機動戦士ガンダム, Gekijouban Kidō Senshi Gandamu) is a 1981-1982 original theatrical anime film series directed & written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, and produced by studio Sunrise. Staff credits also include director Ryōji Fujiwara, writers Hiroyuki Hoshiyama, Kenichi Matsuzaki, Yoshihisa Araki & Yū Yamamoto, screenplay writer Kenichi Matsuzaki, character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and music composed by Joe Hisaishi, Takeo Watanabe & Yuji Matsuyama.
This trilogy of films is a compilation of the 1979 anime series Mobile Suit Gundam also produced and worked on by the same studio and team.
The films featured are Mobile Suit Gundam I (機動戦士ガンダム I, Kidō Senshi Gandamu I), released theatrically in Japan on March 1981, Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow (機動戦士ガンダムⅡ 哀・戦士編, Kidō Senshi Gandamu II: Ai Senshi-hen), released theatrically in Japan on July 1981, and Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (機動戦士ガンダムⅢ めぐりあい宇宙編, Kidō Senshi Gandamu III: Meguriai Sora-hen), released theatrically in Japan on March 1982.
Background:
“Universal Century 0079. Amuro Ray finds himself caught up in the war between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. He unwillingly becomes the pilot of a prototype Mobile Suit called the Gundam. Now he and the crew of the White Base will haver to fight for their very lives as the enemy attempts to destroy this new weapon at all costs.
Combatants will face triumph and turmoil as they battle their way through space to get to their final destination on Earth. The outcome of the war lies in the hands of the Newtype in the anime series that started it all.”
Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, July 2024.
I’ve already talked about how influential Mobile Suit Gundam has been to many creators and fans around the world and over the past fifty years so I’ll get straight to the point. Mobile Suit Gundam Movie Trilogy is essentially a reboot that helped put the franchise back on the table. It’s a retelling of the television series with some tweaks to make it more accessible and does a really good job at it, one of the rare cases where a compilation film does make it worthwhile compared to other anime. If you want to get into the franchise you can pick any Gundam title but for the Universal Century storyline this trilogy is the best starting point.
Meanwhile, it’s been almost 10 years since Anime Limited have worked with Sunrise to bring a number of Mobile Suit Gundam anime to the United Kingdom and Ireland on Blu-ray and home video, but now we have our very first localised Mobile Suit Gundam title on the 4K Ultra HD format in English speaking territories.
I’ve covered the previous collector’s edition Blu-ray release on my original blog and my redux post on this site in the past, but now we have a new release dedicated to the 4K format. As of the time of this post, there’s no word of a North American 4K release, especially after Crunchyroll purchased Rightstuf. I have no clue if the Nozomi & Sunrise partnership has carried over to Crunchyroll and I don’t know what’s happening next over there on the future of the franchise outside of the few that Crunchyroll licensed themselves separately (like how Anime Limited licensed Gundam: Reconguista in G separately from their own deal). In the meantime, 4K is all-region so this release is an option.
Like before, the infamous English dub is not included with this release but you do get what is essentially the definitive experience on everything else.
Collector’s Edition Contents:
Anime Limited’s collector’s offering for the Gundam franchise has its own branding called the ‘Gundam Collection’. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy follows the same suit but this time we have a black background cover for the box compared to its previous Blu-ray release.
Much like the Blu-ray release, this package contains a rigid box to house three 4K Amaray cases with each case covering each film and their respective disc. Also included is a 68-page Booklet called “Beyond the Universal Century” which is pretty much covering the same content (or at least most) of what was included in the Japanese 4K UHD Disc Box release back in 2020. The booklet includes film information, character details, storyboards, interviews from the director and staff, and an extensive guide on the film’s Universal Century lore pretty much. There are spoilers here and there so it’s recommended you watch the films first before reading them.
The artwork is free of any information on all sides of the box and the info sheet covers the BBFC content, information and specification. The 4K Amaray cases will still mention the info about the series but the BBFC logo won’t be there. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD release is limited to 1000 units for SRP £119.99. Standard editions for each film on 4K Ultra HD will also be available not long after the release at SRP £34.99 each.
The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD was made available to order directly through Anime Limited’s online store as an early bird during the month of May, on offer for £99.99 (with the Anime Unlimited membership lowering the cost down to £89.99). This is where I received my copy of the set.
Physical Contents:
- Rigid Box with 4K Amaray packaging and clean artwork
- Info sheet with info, specification and BBFC description
- 68-page “Beyond the Universal Century” Booklet
On-Disc Contents:
Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 1st July 2024
The collector’s edition release for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy contains all three films on a 4K Ultra HD disc each (three in total).
When Anime Limited released the trilogy on Blu-ray, they used French authoring company Com ‘On Screen because they were also distributing the release in France. The result wasn’t ideal but doing that we did get access to the Japanese mono track that wasn’t included on the North American release. Since this is in 4K, UK authoring company VDMS worked on the encode and authoring, who have previous experience with other Anime Limited releases including the 4K versions for both BELLE and One Piece Film: Red.
When you start the disc, you’ll be greeted by the option to choose between English and French. Either option you choose you can go back to the menu to switch to the other without having to reset the player. On the main menu for each language you can select either Japanese Dolby Atmos or Japanese Dual Mono. English subtitles will be available for the English menu and French subtitles for the other. The subtitles are presented in white text.
4K Ultra HD Specs:
| Languages | Japanese |
| Audio | Japanese Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1) Japanese DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 (Dual Mono) |
| Video | 2160p Ultra High Definition format 1:33.1 aspect ratio HDR |
| Region | All Region |
| Subtitles | English, French |
| Locked Subtitles | Yes |
| Discs | 3 BD-100s |
4K Ultra HD On-Disc Extra Features:
No extras across all discs
Unboxing Photos:
Final Notes:
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy is available to purchase on 4K Ultra HD and also on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland. The collector’s edition 4K Ultra HD release can be bought through the AllTheAnime Store.
For the standard edition individual film releases, each will be available across different retailers including Amazon UK (Film 1, Film 2, Film 3), AllTheAnime Store, and Anime-on-Line (Film 1, Film 2, Film 3).
(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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