Courtesy wsj.com...
Like something out of a science-fiction movie, the robot stands 18 meters tall and towers above the tree line. But to the thousands of visitors who have come by Odaiba's Shiokaze Park just outside Tokyo, it is a familiar sight. It's Gundam.
The statue, a "life-size" replica of the television anime (Japanese slang for animated series) character created in 1979, was erected this month and will stand in the park through August. It was built by Bandai, the parent company of Sunrise, the animation studio that created the original series, "Mobile Suit Gundam," to celebrate the iconic cartoon's 30th anniversary and acknowledge the $528 million franchise of spin-offs, toys and books it has spawned in that time. Some fans even say the fictional robot has played a part in Japan's rise in the world of robotics engineering and technology.
Set 100 years in the future on extraterrestrial mining colonies (colonies established on other planets or moons for the purpose of extracting minerals) as well as on Earth, "Mobile Suit Gundam" imagines a radical future, where robots are commonplace. A renegade faction, the principality of Zeon (an extraterrestrial colony), has declared war on Earth Federation (a global government of the future) in a bid to become independent. The weapon of choice (created by Zeon but quickly replicated by Earth) is a "mobile suit," a robot driven by a human pilot who sits inside. The RX-78 Gundam -- named for the fictional alloy, Gundanium, from which it is made -- is used by a young pilot in defense of Earth.
Since the first series aired -- and the many other series, movies and made-for-the-Web shows that followed -- children and adults have been hooked on the melodrama featuring these giant martial robots. The mania has fueled several animated series and original Internet animations, films, manga and novels, videogames and plastic models (called pura-mo), merchandise including clothing, costumes, beach towels and even government-issued postage stamps.
