*Mobile Suit Gundam* 35th Anniversary © Sotsu Co. Ltd., Sunrise Inc. This year marks the 35th anniversary of the Gundam series, and many projects are in the works. One project commemorating the year is the exhibit “Mobile Suit Gundam Exhibition: The Art of Gundam” to be held at the Osaka Culturarium at Tenpozan from July 12 to Aug. 31. Here, the monumental first work in the series, Mobile Suit Gundam, will be introduced on an unprecedentedly grand scale. Various festivities will also take place during the exhibit.

Roughly 1,000 original drawings and documents used in the TV series and movies produced by Sunrise will be on display, and parts of the new movie will be introduced for the first time. It will be a full-blown exhibit. Fans will be able to enjoy to their heart’s content the everlasting charm of the series and the messages it will continue transmitting into the future.

Mobile Suit Gundam is a social phenomenon with firm popularity that began in 1979 with the titular anime broadcast on Nagoya TV. It developed the next year with the arrival of the plastic “Gunpla” models on the market, and the year following, a huge hit three-part movie series was released. The work has a sci-fi setting that parallels reality and takes place in the future. It is a multilayered wartime drama that has given rise to many famous lines from characters and includes fighting scenes between stylish and pilotable aircraft-type humanoid robots called Mobile Suits. It completely changed the existing image of robot anime.

It is said that the exhibit will change in part when it tours Tokyo in 2015. It will be held in the Mori Arts Center Gallery located in Roppongi Hills from July 18 to Sept. 27. The inclusion of new original goods is also planned, so if you can, make sure to go to not just the Osaka exhibit, but the Tokyo exhibit next year as well.