Gundam.info celebrates its 5th Anniversary with 'Five Years of Gundam.info!'

The official Gundam portal site Gundam.info opened on July 10th, 2007. Along with the 5th Anniversary campaign, we bring you a look back at five years of Gundam.info.


Gundam.info got its start five years ago, on July 10th, 2007. Mobile Suit Gundam 00 had just been announced, and with the added interest coming from a new TV series, Gundam.info was launched at the same time as the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 official site.

Looking back, 2007 also marked the launch of the iPhone in America, and the beginning of the shift to smartphones. Social media like blogs, mixi, Mobage, and GREE in Japan, and Facebook and Twitter worldwide, began their rise, and rumors spread faster than ever. With Gundam news ranging from anime to models, figures to games, and now a new TV series, Sunrise decided it was time for a single, reliable portal site to bring together all the news about Gundam: Gundam.info.


■ Our design, circa 2008

Previously, individual titles had had their own sites, backed up by Bandai's Gundam Perfect Web and the occasional product and promotion site. Gundam.info not only carries the latest Gundam news, but also guides viewers to official sites where more details can be found, acting as a hub for Gundam on the web.

Gundam.info offers timely, accurate Gundam news, with a platform supporting daily updates and dedicated editorial staff at Sunrise. Along with all the news of Gundam, it also carries a variety of original content.

Our earliest features included Yuka Minagawa's 'Door of Labyrinth', the weekly look at Gundams throughout history 'Gundam MS Movie Files', the anime critic Ryusuke Hikawa's guide to the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series 'Native Gundam [Remaster Ver.]', and the Gundam Census. Several of these have later become their own products, such as the DVD and UMD release of Gundam MS Movie Files in October 2009 or the 'Gundam Census 100' book released on November 23rd of that year. As the years have passed, more features have joined their ranks.

■ Gundam.info Original Content

	◆ From 7/10/2007 Yuka Minagawa explores the mysteries of Gundam in a twelve-part series, 'Door of Labyrinth'.
	◆ From 7/10/2007 The 'Gundam MS Movie Files' are our longest-running series, with over 260 entries and more added weekly.
	◆ From 7/10/2007 'Native Gundam [Remaster Ver.]' examines each of Mobile Suit Gundam's 43 episodes in detail, providing a guide to the canon of Gundam.
	◆ From 7/10/2007 The Gundam Census has tracked Gundam fans' tastes through over 260 votes.
	◆ From 7/19/2007 to 1/17/2008 Koji Igarashi looks at the history of Gundam children's books in the 7-part 'Bibliography In Children'.
	◆ From 7/19/2007 The 'Gundam Ranking Kingdom' ranks Gundam goods, products, events, and more,
	◆ From 8/2/2007 to 12/27/2007 Miyuki Kishimoto's 'Seishun-horoku Gunpla-do' ran for six entries.
	◆ From 12/8/2007 'Gunpla Guruguru' allows you to view completed Gunpla from any angle.
	◆ From 11/11/2008 Gundam.info's editors build Gunpla in the 'Original Review' series, which posted its 28th entry on October 7th of 2011.
	◆ From 4/2/2010 to 3/25/2011 49 episodes of Maeda Corporation Fantasy Marketing Department's look at what it would take to build a real Jaburo, 'Mobile Suit Gundam: Let's build the Federation's Jaburo', were later collected into a book and published on March 22nd of this year.
	◆ From 9/24/2010 The 'Gundam Series Guide' began, collecting info on the staff and cast, characters and mecha, and episode titles of 13 different Gundam series.
	◆ From 2/28/2012 Mitsutsugu Kobayashi's 'Weekly Gundam News' covers the latest Gundam news in comic form every Tuesday.
	◆ From 3/29/2012 The latest Gundam goods, games, and events, especially SD Gundam, are featured every Thursday in 'Ganya Morimoto's SD Gundam.info'.
	◆ From 4/18/2012 Ema Baba answers the question 'What is Gundam, anyway?' in a casual weekly column 'Kyo Kara Gundam'.

The single most popular days on Gundam.info were around July of 2009, with the Gundam 30th Anniversary event. A 1/1 Gundam rose in Odaiba on July 12th, followed by the 'Gundam Big Expo' from August 21st to 23rd and the 'Soul G' concert collecting Gundam musicians from across the decades on October 24th. With over four million total visitors that summer, the 1/1 Gundam went on to make an appearance at Higashi-Shizuoka Station in 2012 for the 30th Anniversary of Gunpla before returning to Odaiba as the symbol of Gundam Front Tokyo in 2012.

October 5th of 2011 marked a major site upgrade, with unified product pages, easy navigation to the most popular pages, quick looks at important info, and support for easy sharing. Beginning on May 19th of this year, readers can also have the latest updates delivered directly to them in the weekly 'Gundam.info Digest' e-mail newsletter.

In addition, overseas versions of Gundam.info were introduced on March 11th of 2011 in English, Chinese, Taiwan Chinese, and Hong Kong Chinese. Korean was later added for a total of six different language editions.


■ Gundam.info in Hong Kong Chinese


Mobile access will only increase as smartphones make the internet more accessible than ever. Attendees at events and concerts need the latest info fast, and fans worldwide checking in on the Gunpla Builders World Cup and other contests will need news in their language. Gundam.info will continue to support the newest technologies and services to bring you fast, reliable Gundam news as well as enjoyable original content, so check out our newsletter and Twitter so you don't miss a thing!

■ Gundam.info Timeline

――2007――
○ 7/21 - Gundam Crisis opens at Fuji-Q Highland

○ 10/6 - Mobile Suit Gundam 00 premieres

○ December / The 'Char Custom Cellphone' goes on sale

――2008――
○ 3/23 - A bronze Gundam statue rises at Seibu-Shinjuki Kami-Igusa Station

○ 8/16-8/17 - 'Gundam 00' × 'Code Geass' Go! Go! 5 Fes in Budokan
○ 10/24 - Volume 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam MS igLoo 2: The Gravity Front

――2009――
○ 7/12 - Unveiling of the 1/1 Gundam

○ 7/24 - 30th Birthday in Nagoya: Gundam the First ~Mirai Sozo no Seiki e~
○ 8/21 - Gundam Big Expo
○ 8/24 - 'Ring of Gundam' film premiere

○ 10/26 - 'Soul G' ~Subete no Senshi-tachi ni Sasageru Ongaku-sai~

○ 11/6 - Suginami Animation Museum 'Gundam 20th Anniversary: Mobile Suit Gundam' exhibit
○ 12/31 - 'Gundam 00 Festival 2009-2010 'a trailer for the trailblazer''

――2010――
○ 2/20 - 'Mobile Suit Gundam UC' premiere

○ 4/24 - 'Gundam Café' opens

○ 7/24 - The 'Life-Size Gundam' visits Shizuoka, the City of Models

○ 7/13-7/15 - 'Aka no Shozo'
○ 7/29 - 'Gundam 00 Supporter's Gathering 2010 -a trailer for the trailblazer II-'
○ 7/15 - Sunrise Festival Summer 2010 'Gundam Week'
○ 8/25-8/26 'Gundam Live Entertainment Soul G+'

――2011――
○ 3/11 - Gundam.info goes international (EN / ZH / HK / TW)
○ 6/13 - 'Mobile Suit Gundam AGE' announced
○ 7/15 - Gundam.info KR opens
○ 8/13 - 'Odaiba Gundam Project'

○ 8/30 - Chara-Hobby 2011 hosts 'Gundam.info Shuccho-ban in Makuhari'
○ 10/9 - 'Mobile Suit Gundam AGE' premieres

――2012年――
○ 4/19日 - Gundam Front Tokyo opens