Bandai Namco Entertainment unveiled a new promotional video for , its 10th anniversary anime for the Build franchise, during the Conference Autumn 2023 live stream on Friday. The video (blocked within Japan) reveals the two main cast members, the musical composer, the theme song artists, and the October 6 premiere for the anime.
The cast includes:
Yuki Hayashi is composing the anime’s music. BACK-ON performs the anime’s opening theme song “Hikari to Kaze” (Light and Wind), while LINKL PLANET performs the ending theme song “Days of Birth.”
The 3-episode series will stream on the franchise‘s official YouTube channel and on Gundam.info‘s YouTube channel on October 6.
The Conference stream also revealed more details about Bandai Namco Entertainment‘s planned ” Metaverse” project. The previously announced “Gunpla Colony” beta test for the project will launch for two weeks in the United States and Japan on October 6 to 17, with a full launch slated for spring 2024. The conference revealed the new A.I. character Mellow, who will guide users within the virtual space.
The new story of the anime is set in an online metaverse space where users can use avatars to move around and interact with other users, including conducting Gunpla ( plastic model) battles with them. The story centers on Rio Hōjō, a boy who lives in Hawaii, and who learns how to build Gunpla from a local hobbyist named Seria Urutsuki. In the metaverse, a figure known as Mask Lady teaches him the art of Gunpla battling, and he strives to get better at it every day. With his custom Lah , he seeks out ever stronger opponents. (Rio customizes an Entry Grade RX-78-2 model in the image of the “spirit of Japan,” with Lah being the native Hawaiian word for “sun.”)
Acclaimed animator Masami Obari is directing the anime at Sunrise Beyond. Obari has worked at different times as a storyboarder, animation director, action director, or key animator for numerous episodes or opening sequences for the Build franchise, and also directed the and anime. Noboru Kimura returns from to supervise the series scripts. Hirona Okada, Yoriko Gotō, and Ippei Gyōbu are designing the characters. Humikane Shimada is credited for “Fumina Design Collaboration.” Kenichi Ōnuki is overseeing the character designs. Bandai Spirits and Bandai Namco Entertainment are credited for planning assistance.
The mechanical designers are Kunio Okawara, Kanetake Ebikawa, Takayuki Yanase, Shinya Terashima, Naohiro Washio, and Kōtarō Andō. Yū Yoshima is the chief mecha animator.
The series will be one of three parts of the ” Next Future -Road to 2025-” project commemorating the franchise‘s 45th anniversary. The “Dream Battle Project” series is based on an image of a dream competition that could only happen in the Metaverse (pictured below).
In October, the ” Next Future 2023 East/West/Digital” events will take place in Tokyo, Osaka, and online. The first XR Live event for the Metaverse will also be held. The Navi news application will receive functionality for Metaverse. A “Gunpla Scan” feature will allow users to scan their models and have them appear in the space of the Metaverse.
The Build spinoff of the franchise began with the anime in 2013. The anime takes place in a world where people can build model kits and send them into battle against each other in a virtual battlefield. The franchise received a sequel with in 2015, and in 2018. premiere in October 2019. premiered in April 2020. Crunchyroll streamed both seasons as they aired.
Battlogue, the latest anime in the Build franchise, premiered in November 2020. , an entry in the franchise, similarly had the anime in 2017. Like the new work, the features “dream battles” with various situations and Gunpla.
The live-action video project for the Build franchise, Build Real, debuted in March 2021 on YouTube. The project featured actual real-life Gunpla model kits, and it had six episodes.
Sources: Conference, Gundam.info YouTube channel
