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World Expo's Gundam Pavilion to Show New Next Universal Century CG Video

Bandai Namco Filmworks revealed on Friday a new Gundam CG video titled Gundam: Next Universal Century that will play in "Gundam Next Future Pavilion," the Gundam-themed area at the 2025 World Expo in Osaka.

The video will be part of a story that users will be immersed into when visiting the Gundam Next Future Pavilion area. The story puts visitors in Maishima in the year 2150. Guided by Haro units, the visitors board a space elevator and begin a 36,000 kilometer journey into the giant space station Star Jaburo, which maintains a geostationary orbit above Earth. There, they observe mobile suits at work to prepare for even deeper expeditions into space, as well as conduct cleanup of space debris.

The cast includes (Note: Character name romanizations are not official):

• Gaku Hamada as Iks
• Tao Tsuchiya as Poe
• Yūki Totsuka as Glow
• Shō Kaneta as Ryzen
• Shinji Takeda as ???
• Takumi Saitō as Announcer

Takanori Tsujimoto (Resident Evil: Vendetta, Hypnosis Mic -Division Rap Battle- film, The Next Generation -Patlabor- episodes 2, 4, 8) is directing the new video at Bandai Namco Filmworks. Shigeru Morita (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed episode scriptwriter; Turn A Gundam conceptual research, setting investigation) is penning the script, and is also credited for setting investigation and special setting. Evan Call (Violet Evergarden, My Happy Marriage, Frieren: Beyond Journey's End) is composing the music, and is also composing the ending theme song "Dream Beyond Forever" by Mongolian singer Úyanga Bold.

The mechanical designers include Kunio Ōkawara, Mika Akitaka, and Takashi Miyamoto. Hajime Katoki is credited for marking design. Tomoaki Okada is credited for art setting. Nagisa Abe is credited for color setting. Yūsuke Kumano is the CG director. Keito Morita is the CG modeling director.

The company aims to use the Gundam Pavilion to demonstrate the brand's future aspirations, encourage collaborative creations, and create a link with the virtual world. It will hold a "grand demonstration experiment" in order to "solve the problems of the future society based on Mobile Suit Gundam."

The 2025 World Expo is scheduled to take place from April 13 to October 13, 2025 on the man-made Yumeshima island in Osaka Bay. This will be the second time Osaka has hosted a World Expo after Expo '70, 55 years earlier (a remnant of that expo includes the famous Tower of the Sun that appeared in 20th Century Boys).

Sources: Gundam Next Future -Final- in Tokyo Opening Ceremony stream, Comic Natalie