Gundam fans can return to the original story arc in style thanks to the recently released Deluxe Editions from Vertical Comics. Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe 1 hit stores August 12 and is already on sale for a massive discount. Normally $55, the 880-page hardcover is up for grabs for only $31 at Amazon. Deluxe 1 collects the first two volumes from the 12-volume arc that originally ran from 2001-2011. This is quite the deal, because the original hardcover editions of the first two volumes, Activation and Garma, would cost you roughly $45 combined.
Deluxe 2 released October 7 and is available for $46.56 (was $55). Each Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Edition compiles two volumes, so there will be six oversized hardcovers in all. Vertical Comics is scheduled to publish one every two months, bringing the story to a close next June.
Deluxe 3-6 are available to preorder now. With Amazon’s preorder price guarantee, you won’t be charged until your book ships, and Amazon will automatically adjust your total if the books receive discounts before launch.
Get Deluxe 1 for $31 (was $55)
Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most important anime series of all time, introducing audiences worldwide to the “real robot” mecha genre and kicking off the sprawling Gundam franchise that remains popular today. While the 1979 anime series and its truncated movie trilogy adaptation are still excellent watches, one of the best ways to experience the story is the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin series, which was written and drawn by the anime’s character artist and animation director, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko.
As mentioned, each Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Edition book collects two of the standard edition volumes into a larger hardcover (7.76 x 10.3 inches) with new cover art. The Deluxe Editions also retain the select color pages from the original volumes, as well as the essays from Yasuhiko–though the additional guest essays that were included in the originals have been cut for these new Deluxe versions.
The first hardcover collects Activation (Volume 1) and Garma (Volume 2). Deluxe 2 is nearly 100 pages longer; this 976-page doorstopper includes Ramba Ral (Volume 3) and Jaburo (Volume 4). Deluxe 3 arrives just in time for the holiday gift-giving season, and preorders are discounted to $46.71 at Amazon.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Editions
Mobile Suit Gundam is set in the far future after humanity has colonized the solar system beyond Earth. A large portion of humans now live in giant space colonies around Earth, but diplomatic tensions between the Earth Federation government and the space colonies leads to the rise of the fascistic Principality of Zeon, who seize control of several space colonies and declare war on the Earth, launching deadly attacks using giant humanoid mechs known as mobile suits.
When a Zeon mobile suit squad attacks the Earth Federation-aligned space colony Side 7, a young student, Amuro Ray, unwittingly jumps into the Federation’s new prototype mobile suit–the iconic RX-78 Gundam–to defend the colony. He’s then recruited by the Earth Federation and learns he is a Newtype–humans with heightened reactions and the ability to sense other Newtypes. While this gives him an edge in battle, Newtypes also experience a deeper sense of empathy, which makes Amuro deeply conflicted about his role in the war. Throughout the series, Amuro also develops a lifelong rivalry with Zeon’s ace mobile suit pilot, Char Aznable, which is one of the central conflicts of the core Gundam franchise, even extending beyond the original series.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (Vol. 1-12)
As mentioned, the complete 12-volume run is already available in pretty stellar hardcover editions, so if you can’t wait until June to complete your set, these are solid options. Just know that these hardcovers are smaller (6.29 x 8.3 inches). These are more portable-friendly books, and they also have the added benefit of featuring those aforementioned guest essays that were cut from the Deluxe Editions, including one from Neon Genesis Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno.
- Activation — $25.25 (
$30) - Garma — $19.79 (
$30) - Ramba Ral — $23.21 (
$30) - Jaburo — $17.74 (
$30) - Char & Sayla — $24 (
$30) - To War — $19.18 (
$30) - Battle of Loum — $23.30 (
$30) - Operation Odessa — $24.25 (
$30) - Lalah — $23.31 (
$30) - Solomon — $20.39 (
$30) - A Cosmic Glow — $23 (
$30) - Encounters — $20.32 (
$30)
If you’re interested in checking out the source material the manga is adapted from, the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series is currently available to stream at Crunchyroll, while the film trilogy (which re-cuts the anime episodes into three feature-length movies) is available at Netflix. However, there’s plenty more Gundam than that, as the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime was followed up by numerous sequels and spin-offs–and not just anime and manga, but movies, novels, and more.
Sticking with the original series, you can grab the recent Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island movie on Blu-ray for $25.12 (was $40) at Amazon. Released in September 2024 and directed by Yasuhiko, the animated movie recreates one of the most infamous episodes of the original anime, which is often maligned due to low-quality animation and other production issues. The new version features all-new animation, a fleshed-out storyline, and new English voice cast–though fans of the original anime’s Japanese voice cast will be excited to know Touru Furuya reprises his role as Amuro Ray.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga also got its own OVA adaptation that turns the flashback events of Volumes 9-12 into a seven-episode mini-series. The series follows the show’s main antagonist, Char Aznable, in the years leading up to the One Year War. Episodes 1-4 were collected into the Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin: Chronicle of Char and Sayla Blu-ray release. Episodes 5-7 were later released in the Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Chronicle Of The Loum Battlefield Blu-ray. Unfortunately, those last two are sold out at the moment.
The Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Anime Blu-rays
While there are numerous sequels and parallel series that take place in the same fictional universe as the original Mobile Suit Gundam (to say nothing of the numerous alternate universe Gundam series), the most important of these is Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. The 1988 theatrical movie brings back Amuro and Char as the main characters and provides closure on their long-running rivalry that started in the original anime. The Blu-ray version is available for $33 at Amazon.
Char’s Counterattack is a film adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam creator Tomino’s novel, Mobile Suit Gundam: High-Streamer. Tomino also wrote a second version of the novel, called Beltorchika’s Children, which is based on a rejected version of the film’s script and recently got a seven-volume manga adaptation. While both Char’s Counterattack and Beltorchika’s Children cover the same general plot points and events, Beltorchika’s Children offers a more faithful and fleshed-out representation of Tomino’s original vision for this chapter of the story compared to Char’s Counterattack–including appearances of two of the coolest mobile suit designs, the Zeon Nightengale Mobile Armor and Amuro’s Hi-Nu Gundam, that were sadly never seen in the movie version.
The first three volumes of the Beltorchika’s Children manga were translated into English in 2023-2024, with the rest of the series slated to release over the coming months. The paperback edition of Volume 1 is available at Crunchyroll. Volume 2 and Volume 3 are also available at Amazon. The fourth and fifth volumes are available to preorder at Amazon and release next year.
Beltorchika’s Children Manga
If you also enjoy building Gunpla model kits, an art book about the hobby will be published in the US for the first time next March. UDON Entertainment’s Hidetaka Tenjin’s Artistry of Gundam is available to preorder for $46.49 (was $50) at Amazon.