Character voices Yao Kazuki (GUNDAM ZZ's Judo) and Watanabe Kumiko (V GUNDAM's Shakti) then took their places onstage as emcees. As part of "The History of Gundam," they introduced the credit-less openings for all GUNDAM animated works after the first one. Fortunately, the emcees broke up the lengthy video replay with cheerful and ofttimes humorous banter. Assisting them were Tobita Nobuo (ZETA GUNDAM's Camille), Shimazu Saeko (ZETA GUNDAM's Four), and Akimoto Yousuke (MOBILE FIGHTER G GUNDAM's Master Asia), who came on stage when their respective series were introduced. Tobita and Shimazu also seized the opportunity to reprise a fateful encounter between Camille and Four, to the audience's enthusiastic approval.

Shots from G-SAVIOUR.

Seki Tomokazu, G GUNDAM's Domon and an popular favorite of female fans, even made a surprise appearance ("Shining Finger!") for the first Big Bang session—despite the emcees making the obligatory reference to G GUNDAM as "Suto Gundam," or "Street Fighter Gundam." (Due to unavoidable reasons, Seki did not appear in the second session, and Tobita filled in for him. As Tobita noted, he also appeared in G GUNDAM as Urube.) Noteworthy in their absence were character voices from the first GUNDAM and NEW MOBILE WAR CHRONICLE GUNDAM W. The GUNDAM W character voices did make appearances at two selected Tokyo theaters the following day to promote the GUNDAM W ENDLESS WALTZ half of the 1998 GUNDAM THE MOVIE release.
The History of Gundam remembrance was also interspersed with "video letter" testimonials from three creators who found inspiration in GUNDAM, albeit in decidedly different ways. Mikimoto Haruhiko reminisced on how GUNDAM influenced his career start and drew a picture of GUNDAM 0080's Chris. Yuki Masami talked about how GUNDAM played a crucial role in MOBILE POLICE PATLABOR's genesis and even jokingly captioned the illustration he drew of the AV-98 Ingram: "The Indoors Gundam <laugh>." Otomo drily noted GUNDAM's impact and drew his strikingly revamped "Mission to the Rise" design of Zaku. (More on "Mission to the Rise" below.) The History of Gundam ended with a mini-concert by THE 08TH MS TEAM's theme song singer Yonekura Chihiro.
Sunrise producer Inoue then came onstage to preview G-SAVIOUR, the 1999 television special which will feature live-action and computer graphics. He first apologized for showing only still frames instead of video clips at the event. (Three different film clips of the pilot film were shown elsewhere in Bandai Entertainment's Anime Expo 98 panels and theatrical trailer preceding GUNDAM THE MOVIE.) Inoue did identify members of the Polestar Group, the Los Angeles area company responsible for the computer graphics, and showed on-location shots in America that were used in for background material.
Far more satisfying than G-SAVIOUR's preliminary footage was "Mission to the Rise," a richly nuanced computer-animated short created exclusively for the event. (Some GUNDAM fans may remember the famous "All That Gundam" cel-animated short was similarly created for GUNDAM's 10th anniversary.) Otomo himself wore the titles of director, storyboarder, and mecha designer, while Buildup Entertainment brought his vision into stunningly realism. Technically speaking, the work was much more believably animated with more realistic texture mapping and lighting than G-Saviour's pilot work. The battle sequences between the Otomo-designed Gundam and Zakus were topped only by the breathtaking launch and unfurling of the Lotus test vehicle. The story offered an a simple but intriguing what-if scenario: what if Earth attempted to pioneer faster-than-light travel in the Universal Century era?

GUNDAM creator Tomino Yoshiyuki (top), and renowned industrial designer Syd Mead (bottom).

Finally, the moment GUNDAM fans were anticipating came: the official announcement of the new television series's main staff. The Sunrise representative said the current name of this Universal Century story is "Gundam A Project." What will be its final release name? The representative smiled and said it hasn't been decided yet (jokes to certain Jackie Chan and animated parody films aside). At this point, he introduced the director of the new project: none other than Tomino Yoshiyuki. The creator of the first GUNDAM deliberately tripped onstage in his own very iconoclastic grand entrance.
Tomino then introduced his cohorts in this new venture. Next up was Capcom's Yasuda Akira, the character designer for various STREET FIGHTER and VAMPIRE HUNTER/DARKSTALKERS incarnations. As for mecha designs, veteran Okawara Kunio of the first GUNDAM will return yet again, but this time he will be working with American conceptual designer Syd Mead. Mead noted some of the projects he worked on such as TRON and BLADE RUNNER. (He left out YAMATO 2520, but can anyone blame him?)
After announcing the winners of writing boards signed by the guests, Tomino closed the festivities with a rousing "Gundam Big Bang!" shout punctuated by fireworks on stage. When the two hours were over, the attendees were left with not as much hard information as they would have liked, but still with a caution hope that there may still be spark left in the Gundam franchise.