KYODO NEWS - Aug 19, 2017 - 11:05 | Arts, All

Toy maker Bandai Co. opened a new flagship store Saturday in Tokyo specializing in plastic model kits based on the popular sci-fi television animation series "Mobile Suit Gundam."

The Gundam Base Tokyo, located at the DiverCity Tokyo Plaza complex in the Odaiba commercial district, is the first official plastic model outlet in Japan for the series, featuring giant combat robots wearing mobile suits, and 13th overall, joining the list of shops operating in South Korea and Taiwan.

Bandai says the new store has a total floor space of about 2,000 square meters, the largest of all official outlets, and has the biggest product selection among them, comprising some 2,000 types of kit.

Included in the items on sale are characters that appeared when Gundam plastic models made their debuts in 1980, as well as kits available only at the new store in the Tokyo Bay area.

Bandai chose the waterfront location, one of the famous tourist spots in central Tokyo, partly in a bid to lure anime fans from among foreign visitors in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics and Paralympics to be hosted by the city.

"We also hope people who have never even touched any of these kits will have fun," a senior Bandai official said when the shop was opened to the media on Thursday. The company expects the store to draw more than 500,000 people by the end of next March.

Open from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m., the Gundam Base Tokyo also exhibits all varieties of plastic models sold thus far and provides visitors with opportunities to view part of the molding and manufacturing processes. Visitors also can experience assembling and painting with support from staffers, who include English- and Chinese-speaking employees.

The Gundam series became a huge hit after its first title was aired in 1979, spawning such productions as sequels, movies, comics and video games, and its popularity has expanded abroad, particularly in East and Southeast Asia.

A total of 473 million sets of plastic model kits were sold by the end of March this year, with the ratio of overseas sales having surpassed 30 percent, according to Bandai.