After years of not releasing any new major movies or TV series, theGundamfranchise came out with theMobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flashfilm in 2021. The first of a planned trilogy of Hathaway’s movies on Netflix. Needless to say, fans rejoiced at this unexpected but welcome development.
However, it seems like this legendary Mech franchise still has more treats in store for fans, because there are plans to release tons ofGundam-related properties in 2022. From a special edition ofMobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, to a new series calledMobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury,and a new movie calledMobileSuit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island. Here’s everything that you need to know about this new movie.
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The Same Director as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
The director of the movieMobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Islandis a man by the name of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. Hardcore fans of theGundamfranchise may be familiar with this name. After all, he was the chief director of what most fans consider to be one of the best UCGundamstorylines;Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
The Origintells the story of one of the most iconic characters not only in theGundamfranchise but also in the world of anime, the red comet, Char Aznable. In the process, it also laid out the history of how the main antagonist of the series, the Principality of Zeon, came to be. In a way,The Originwas a prequel tothe originalMobile Suit Gundamfrom the 1970s.
Speaking of the originalMobile Suit Gundam, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko also has a crucial role in that influential anime. He was the art director and responsible for the keyframes animation for the majority of the episodes. Other than the creator of theGundamfranchise, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko is definitely one of the most important people in the history oftheGundamfranchise.
Based on the Lost Episode of the Original Anime
The story of the upcomingMobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Islandis based on the lost episode 15 of the originalMobile Suit Gundamanime that also bears the same title, The Cucuruz Doan’s Island. The reason why it’s considered a lost episode is because this particular episode did not exist in the official broadcast and the DVD version for the North American release of theMobile Suit Gundamanime.
The director of the series,Yoshiyuki Tomino,asked Bandai Entertainment to omit this episode from the official release. So for the longest time, international fans couldn’t watch the original episode 15 of the anime. Instead, we jumped straight to episode 16 called “Sayla’s Agony”, which was then renamed to episode 15.
The reason why Tomino made that request is still unclear to this day. The theory that is widely accepted by the fans is due to the poor animation quality of this episode. Out of everyMobile Suit Gundam’s episode, this is the only one that was outsourced to a third-party studio in South Korea. Unfortunately, the animation was not up to par. There are instances when the bulky Zaku appear to be extra slim and this episode is also the source of the infamous flatGundam’shead meme. That being said, Tomino never confirmed nor denied this theory.
The Story of Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island
The story of theMobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Islandrevolves around the titular character, Cucuruz Doan. He was a former Zaku pilotfor the Principality of Zeonwho decided to desert the military and choose a simple life with the children on the island. His accidental meeting with Amuro Ray sets a troubling chain of events for him and the people of the island.
That was the story fromthe original episode 15 ofMobile Suit Gundam. This story was a quick spin-off from the main story and had no impact whatsoever on the main storyline. Fans who didn’t watch this episode didn’t miss any key information at all. This is why Tomino and Bandai had no problem with it being discarded from the official North American release.
Other than the original episode 15, there’s also a manga adaptation calledMobile Suit Gundam: The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan’s Island. It further expands the original story by providing more story that is set before and after the events in episode 15.
Whether Yoshikazu Yasuhiko will use thismaterial for the movieor not is still unclear. There’s enough material from the manga for it to become its own miniseries, but Yasuhiko might have other plans for the movie and decide to take the story in an entirely different direction. The movieMobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Islandis planned to be released on July 23, 2025. Just like any other anime movie, that is the official date for the Japanese theatrical release. The official international release date or whether it will be available on anyinternational streaming platformis still unclear at this point in time.
