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18-m Tetsujin 28/Gigantor Statue's Construction Video Streamed

Not-So-Daily Link of the Day: A construction video of the "life-size," 18-meter-tall statue of Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (IronMan 28 or Gigantor) robot has been posted on the YouTube website on Tuesday. The parts of the 59-foot-tall statue will be transported to the final site at Kobe's Wakamatsu Park for assembly at the end of July. It was scheduled to be constructed in August, but its completion is now planned for the end of September with a ceremony on October 4. (The initial plans called for a spring 2008 opening.)

The KOBE Tetsujin Project's statue is intended as a symbol of the city's revival after the 1995 Kobe Earthquake. It is being build in Nagata Ward, the city's hardest hit neighborhood which has since been rebuilt and revitalized. The statue also celebrates the life of one of Kobe's most well-known native sons, as Yokoyama not only created the Tetsujin 28 manga and anime, but also Giant Robo and Sally the Witch.

The project costs 135 million yen (about US$1.40 million), although the city has pitched in 45 million yen (US$470,000). The sales of "Tetsujin Curry" contributed to the cause. Under the project's revised plans, the statue will weigh 50 tons. (Because the statue is not "standing" straight up, it actually rises 15 meters or 49 feet from the ground.) Mamoru Oshii (Ghost in the Shell, Mobile Police Patlabor, The Sky Crawlers) wrote and directed a stage play adaptation of the manga with a six-meter-tall (20-foot-tall) robot replica earlier this year, while Hong Kong's IMAGI studio (TMNT, Astro Boy) began streaming its computer-animated teaser video last month.

Bandai is constructing a Gundam statue of similar size on Tokyo's artificial Odaiba Island. Unlike the Gundam statue, the Tetsujin 28-go statue will be a permanent installation with no moving parts.

Source: The Kobe Shimbun

Image © Hikari Productions/KOBE Tetsujin Project 2008