Asakusa Diary - The Staff Blog

Like this it could sound, if you would imagine, a real, life-size RX-78-2 Gundam is walking over Rainbow Bridge to Odaiba! :D

Let's dream. ^^

Ahhh, I see, some of you don't know, what Gundam is! ^^
So let me explain.

The Gundam series (Gandamu Shirizu) is an amime series created by Sundrise Studios that features giant robots (or "mecha") called "Mobile Suits" (MS). The RX-78-2 Gundam is the iconic Gundam mecha design introduced 1979 in Yoshiyuki Tomino's and Sunrise's anime series Mobile Suit Gundam.

And what's this Odaiba?
Odaiba is a large artificial island in Tokyo Bay, across the Rainbow Bridge from central Tokyo.

So from fiction to reality, the RX-78-2 Gundam from the 1979 anime "Mobile Suit Gundam" has been brought to life in massive 1/1 scale as an 18 meter tall statue! That's life size! ^^

Look, how big that this Gundam is and how small all these people...totally fascinating for me! ^^

And this famous statue of the life-size Gundam will be returning to Odaiba!
So the construction is scheduled for completion in Spring 2012.

The statue will then be on display until 2013.

Great, right! :D

The life-size Gundam statue was originally constructed back in July 2009 in Odaiba to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Gundam franchise.
It was then taken apart and brought over to Shizuoka for exhibition until it got damaged in the earthquake.
Then the dismantled parts was recently displayed in Tokyo again.
And now back to the roots, back to Odaiba!

The estimated prize for the contstruction of the Gundam was around $724,310,000 Dollars and the statue has a weight of 35 tons!

Its head can move and it can emit lights or mist from 50 points on its body.

So until now Tokyo's giant Gundam has attracted millions of visitors who came to see the giant robot! ^^

More details on when the display will be open for public will be released at later dates by Sunrise and Bandai.

I hope, it will be soon! ^^

So if you are in Tokyo then, don't miss the chance to watch the almost real Gundam RX-78-2! ^^

Are you curious, too? ^^