The next Mobile Suit Gundam anime, announced at San Diego Comic-Con, is Mobile Suit Gundam RG: XARX-ZERO, a post-apocalyptic title that shares the same setting as the upcoming Gundam: Rogue Orbit action game, but is set almost 100 years earlier. Kenji Kamiyama (Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Eden of the East, Ghost in the Shell: SAC_2045 co-director) is directing the 2027 show at SOLA ANIMATION with sci-fi author EnJoe Toh (Godzilla Singular Point, The Ghost in the Shell) as the sci-fi setting supervisor.
Both the anime and game are part of the multimedia RG project and take place in the After Apocalypse (A.A.) timeline — Mobile Suit Gundam RG: XARX-ZERO is set in A.A..45, while the game jumps ahead to A.A. 135. In this setting, mankind originally achieved great prosperity after receiving three “revelations” from beyond the Solar System. However, less then a decade after that, the “Object” that delivered these “revelations” runs “rampant, spawning an aggressive, self-proliferating ecosystem” that is referred to as the “Apocalypse.” Humanity is eventually forced off Earth, with the Moon and space colonies becoming its new homes.
Mobile Suit Gundam RG: XARX-ZERO‘s protagonist is Ray Azumi (Takeo Otsuka), a war orphan who pilots the “state-of-the-art” Gundam Zero against the silicon-based Apocalypse. His encounter with the mobile suit “changes the destiny of human beings,” though with someone in the teaser trailer (see below) warning Ray that he will “tear the universe apart,” it might not necessarily be for the better.
Aside from Kamiyama (who is also the series composer) and Toh, the production credits include:
• Gundam designer: Eiichi Shimizu (Ultraman manga author, Super Robot Wars V VangRay mechanical designer)
• Original character designer: STATO
• Character design and supervising animation director: Miyako Takasu (Phantasy Star Online 2 The Animation)
• Music composer: Go Shiina (Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba co-composer)
• Planning: Sunrise
• Production (the business type): Bandai Namco Filmworks
The previously announced Gundam: Rogue Orbit is also due in 2027. It’ll be available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam and features melee-focused combat.
Sources: GUNDAM CHANNEL INTL YouTube channel, @GundamInfoNA, San Diego Comic Con
