RAPPORTO/ Gundam 35th Anniversary Exhibition

During my forth travel to Japan, I managed to visit the Gundam Front, and to my delight, I got there in time to enjoy this exhibition dedicated to the celebration of the 35th anniversary of Gundam TV series.
To be honest, even now that I'm writing this post, I'm not sure if taking pictures of the exhibition was allowed, but since the staff didn't tell me anything against it (even if they looked a bit wary XD), I let my camera wild, unless expecially mentioned. The exhibition was divided into three parts, focusing on each side of Gundam, and its development as a franchise and a symbol.

The first section of the exhibition was "BORN!", and it was completely dedicated to the original TV series of 1979:
These things drive me crazy, as I'm a big fan of vintage memorabilia, and it's always a pleasure to see gadgets or books almost dating to my birth x'D

Here are some samples that captured my attention: These are old databooks related to the TV series. They so look detailed and plausible despite being total fiction!

This one, instead, is focused on the very first plamo dedicated to the RX-78-2: Back in the days these models weren't posable, so it's a real treat to see something so old!

There were also the main MS of the Federation in a 1/10 scale:
Besides these tidbits, the room exhibited also some original artworks of both Yas (the original character designer) and Kunio Okawara (the original mecha designer), and sketches featuring the studies of the characters and the development of the mecha designs.
It was all in Japanese, so pretty much uncomprehensible, but still enjoyable.

The second part of the exhibition was called "EXPAND!", and as you can imagine it was dedicated to all the sequels, side stories, spin-offs and alternate universes of the original series. The focus was on the TV series, but also the videogames and the novels.

The anime section was composed like this:The original promotional posters, and under them a showcase with the released gunpla connected with the series.

As I'm a big fan of MS Igloo I took pictures of its section ^o^


In the end, the third and last section, "GROW!", dedicated to the last series: I wasn't allowed to take pictures here, probably because the most of it was pretty much new material... The featured series were G no Reconguista, Gundam Build Fighters Try, both of them released on October 2014, and ORIGIN, the anime version of the prequel/alternative retelling manga of Yas.

The room contained mostly characters and mecha studies that all of us have seen already everywhere on the internet, but the point of this section was explaining the "idea" behind the plans of Sunrise and the authors that collaborated with the development of these new series.

It's all about the dynamic approach to the audience, and how these series are an attempt to please the old fans, but also to charm the new ones: gunpla, prequels and sequels, they all contribute to keep the idea of Gundam alive and modern, to turn this series into an "evolving reality" rather than a mere "icon".

It's an attempt, and it's not sure if in the end they'll succeed, but sure it's an interesting challenge. --Everyone in their 35 should be still so adventurous and energic ^_^

And that's all, I hope that you found this article exhaustive! If you have other questions about it, feel free to drop me a line here, I'll reply promptly ^_^

Daeva.