New Netflix Gundam Anime Reframes The World's Most Iconic Mechs With One Change, Make Them Terrifying

Netflix confirms their new Gundam series, Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance, will debut on October 17, 2024. In a new trailer, the streaming giant reveals plot details, sets the premiere date, and teases the mysteries to unfold. The series features fully CGI animation, and shifts the perspective from the Gundam pilot, to the panicked soldiers dealing with destruction on the ground, promising a fresh twist on the series’ usual trappings.

Gundam is a multimedia franchise about two warring factions of humanity, the Earth Federation, and a space colony known as the Principality of Zeon, engaging in battle using bipedal humanoid robots. Spanning over 50 anime series, films, manga, video games, and model kits, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s iconic mecha opera is a worldwide phenomenon that continues to adapt and reinvent itself. Netflix continues to acquire the rights to Gundam properties, rolling out the hit film, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, on September 1st, 2024, six weeks before Requiem for Vengeance.

Ground-Level Battles Evoke Recent Hits Like Kaiju No. 8 & Godzilla Minus One

Requiem for Vengeance is one of the rare Earth-bound Gundam series

Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance is set on Earth during the final months of the One-Year War, trading the outer space dogfights Gundam is known for, for more grounded guerrilla warfare. A Principality of Zeon pilot, Iria Sorari, and her Red Wolves battalion, are charged with defending the European front against the Earth Federation’s attempts to reclaim it. From the action scenes featured in the trailer, it’s clear that Vengeance wants to place the audience in the thick of the chaos and destruction, framing Mobile Suit attacks like the sudden appearance of a kaiju.

Requiem for Vengeance provides a different perspective on the same conflict featured in the 1979 original Mobile Suit Gundam, with Zeon now presented as the protagonist, and Earth Federation’s Gundam dubbed the “White Devil”. The series focuses on the traditional Gundam themes of love and war playing out in dramatic fashion between the Mobile Suit pilots. As the trailer shows, this drama is set against a terrifying backdrop of explosions and chaos caused by the invading giant robots, in true Gundam fashion.

Cutting-edge Animation and Added Horror Elements Keep the Gundam Franchise Fresh

Requiem for Vengance Reframes Gundam from White Knight to White Devil

Produced in partnership by Bandai Namco and SUNRISE studios with Unreal Engine 5 3D technology, the series’ attempt at photo-realistic animation adds a heightened sense of reality to the horrors of war. The visuals are crisp and polished, even though the human characters still lack the fluid motion necessary to capture life-like qualities. However, the Mobile Suits look better than ever, especially the titular Gundam, which is cast in shadow in order to exude a menacing aura whenever it appears.

Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance premieres October 17, 2024, exclusively on Netflix. The series is directed by Erasmus Brosdau, and stars Celia Massingham as Iria Sorari. Each of the six episodes averages 30 minutes in length, and will be released weekly until the series’ conclusion.

Source: Gundam.info

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

Set in the future, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing follows five young pilots sent to Earth to fight against the oppressive Romefeller Foundation. Utilizing advanced mechas called Gundams, they aim to awaken humanity’s rebellious spirit.

Cast

Hikaru Midorikawa , Toshihiko Seki , Ryûzô Ishino , Akio Otsuka , David Kaye

Release Date

March 6, 2000

Seasons

1