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1/1-Scale 'Life-Size' Gundam (Finally, Really) Completed (Update 3)

After months of construction, the 1/1-scale, 18-meter-tall statue of the Gundam robot from the anime franchise of the same name has been completed and unveiled in an opening ceremony at Tokyo's artificial Odaiba island on Friday evening. Tohru Furuya, the veteran actor best known as the voice of the Gundam pilot Amuro Ray, announced the opening of the "live-size," 59-feet-tall statue with a paraphrasing of his launching cry from the anime, "Green Tokyo Gundam Project, Ikimaasu!" Gackt, a self-professed Gundam fan and the singer of the theme songs in the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam movie trilogy, narrated the ceremony.

Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator and a frequent director of the Gundam franchise, remarked on his surprise at how the statue's "toylike colors" look against the city skyline. He noted that the colors hold a very universal appeal to children and are linked connotatively with the future.

The statue marks the 30th anniversary of the first Mobile Suit Gundam science-fiction anime series. Videos and photos have been shot over the past four months as the statue rose above Shiokaze Park. The statue will remain standing as part of the free Green Tokyo Gundam Project exhibition from Saturday, July 11 to Tuesday, August 31. During the month of August, the 2016 Tokyo Olympic/Paralympic Bid Committee's logo will be affixed to the statue to promote the city's efforts to bring the games to Japan.

Source: Oricon, Sankei Sports, Yomiuri Shimbun

Update: Additional videos posted.

Update2: The Mainichi Shimbun paper posted an extensive gallery of photographs from the event.

Update 3: IDG's NetworkWorld.TV website has posted a two-minute English-language news report about the Friday unveiling. It also includes a clip from Tomino's appearance at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ) earlier this week. ANN will present a transcript of Tomino's entire FCCJ appearance starting next week.