—by Egan Loo

That's right, it's another GUNDAM anniversary. Sure, anniversary events are often more self-congratulatory than newsworthy, but one can't fault Sotsu Agency, Sunrise, and Bandai for being proud of their most popular (and lucrative) animated franchise. The trio officially kickstarted their Gundam 20th Anniversary Big Bang Project on 1 August with a lavish multimedia event in the National Convention Hall at Pacifico Yokohama.
(Some might ask, "Why this year? Didn't MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM first air in 1979, not 1978?" Like anniversary celebrations from any company, these festivities start one year early, last three years, and end just in time to celebrate the next big anniversary.)
Due to the high interest, the Big Bang Event was held twice in the vast hall overlooking the Port of Yokohama. Even though the event featured exclusive merchandising and character voice appearances, the main draw was the news of future GUNDAM projects. Perhaps wisely, the event organizers held back the most interesting news of the day until the end of the event.
Upon entering the hall's outer lobby, attendees were greeted by 1/9-scale, two-meter-tall RX-78 Gundam and MS-06 Zaku models. (These models were later air-freighted to San Diego in time for Comic-Con International.) Once the attendees got over the sight of mobile suits the size of basketball players, they were treated with playable demos of the CHAR'S COUNTERATTACK PlayStation 3-D shooting game (coming at year's end) and display models of the Master Grade RX-178 Gundam Mk. II (set for August release). Popy even displayed a new pseudo-retro Super Alloy RX-78 Gundam metal toy for nostalgia fans, although Ricoh takes the merchandising prize for announcing three different GUNDAM digital cameras.
In the inner atrium, each attendee received an RX-78 in Space Movision card, "the world's first 36-frame" moving image card, animated by talented Sunrise animator Hirotoshi Sano (GUNDAM, ESCAFLOWNE). Movie sold the usual selection of regular and event-only paraphenilia such as jigsaw puzzles, t-shirts, telephone cards, portrait prints, and pamphlets. Still more prototypes of future merchandise were displayed, such as a full 3-D etching of Gundam carved not on, but inside a crystal block (a la the EVANGELION Ayanami Rei Crystal Art).
Finally, the attendees settled into their seats for the event itself, prefaced by the "The Impression of First Gundam" introduction. Selected scenes from the first GUNDAM were re-edited for three giant projection screens to give the widescreen feel to the original 4:3 aspect footage. They were also computer synchronized to sweeping lights and lasers to simulate space battles. More impressive than the light show was the soundtrack remix for six-channel surround sound, which the theater sound system showed off to stunning effect in the One Year War battle sequences.