Along with the recent confirmation for the new anime series, Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island movie has also received its release date! This comes in soon after the update on the new Gundam anime series ‘Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury’.
The Gundam franchise has expanded exponentially since its inception in the late 1970s. It has almost shaped the existing mecha genre as we know it today. The most recent release in Gundam was the Gundam Breaker Battlogue Project that was released in October 2021 that focused on a short anime series along with a series of GUNPLA releases.
For those unfamiliar, GUNPLA refers to Gundam Playable Models that are used to represent the vehicles and mecha units of the Gundam universe.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie
About Mobile Suit Gundam
For newcomers to the franchise, Gundam might be an intimidating universe to explore. The story of Gundam spans multiple animated series and movies that have been released since the 1980s and continue to dominate the mecha genre, also while being greatly responsible for developing it. The series was created by Yoshiyuki Tomino in 1979 after he had created other works with the same theme in mind.
Tomino’s work in the mecha genre became particularly notable with the release of Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979-1980. The first Gundam series was only the beginning. The series has featured several anime seasons adapting Tomino’s work as well as OVAs, ONAs and movies. Gundam even has its own video game franchise!
What is Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie About?
The original Mobile Suit Gundam followed the One Year War between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon in Universal Century 0079. The White Base leaves after the defence of Jaburo and is informed of the Federation’s plan of renewing offensives at Odessa. As the ship sets course for Belfast to restock supplies, they receive an obscure new order to go to the ‘island of no return’.
Expecting Zeon presence, Amuro lands on the island and finds a group of children instead of the Zeon. Amuro is then surprised by a man in a Zaku, who seems to be protecting the children on the island. He asks Amuro to lower his weapons and be on his way but things proceed roughly. Amuro discovers that the island is not uninhabited, but has three children, a girl named Rona and the man in the Zaku named Cucuruz Doan.
Amuro faces challenges and a surprise and soon after, returns to White Base to continue on their previous mission.
What is Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie plot?
The story is set in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and corresponds to Episode 15 of the 43 episodes. Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie will be a retelling of the story of Mobile Suit Gundam Episode 15 but as a full movie.
A very interesting fact about Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie is actually connected to the episode of the anime itself. Episode 15 of the anime was a part of the Japanese Mobile Suit Gundam release but was never aired in English outside Japan. There are many speculations for what might be the reason for Episode 15 being forgotten. Director of MSG Yoshiyuki Yomino requested the deletion of the episode and has expressed distaste for the episode.
The Lost Episode of Mobile Suit Gundam is now finally getting a chance to be retold! Fans could think of it as a Mobile Suit Gundam Remastered situation for the reputation of Cucuruz Doan’s Island meme.
When Will Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie Release?
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie has been confirmed for a 2022 release on Gundam’s official website! The movie will release on June 3, 2022, in Japan’s theatres. The international release for the anime is not yet confirmed but will be out soon.
The poster for Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie is already out and features Amuro Ray and the iconic RX-78-2 Gundam, the first Gundam that appeared in the Gundam franchise, and a Zaku from the Principality of Zeon. The key visual was shared by the chief animation director and character designer Atsushi Tamura.
What About the The Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Manga?
The manga that inspires the Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie is officially titled ‘Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin MSD: Cucuruz Doan’s Island’ The manga was created by Junji Ono as a spinoff of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin series. It was first introduced in Kadokawa’s Gundam Ace magazine in 2016 and came to an end in 2019. The series covered the life of Cururuz Doan, a Zeon soldier who abandoned his post after he refused to obey his orders.
Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie Cast
The cast of the upcoming movie has a number of characters you would remember from the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The confirmed cast for the show includes:
- Toro Furuya as Amuro Ray
- Ken Narita as Bright Noa
- Megumi Han as Sayla Mass
- Natomi Arai as Mirai Yashima
- Misato Fukuen as Frow Bow
- Toshio Furukawa as Kai Shiden
- Hideki Nakanishi as Hayato Kobayashi
- Tomofumi Ikezoe as Sleggar Law
Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the creator of Gundam, is directing the movie. Yasuhiko along with Atsushi Tamuraand Tsukasa Kotobuki are working on character designs. Ka Hee Im is the assistant director, Toshizo Nemoto is the scriptwriter, Kunio OkawaraKimitoshi Yamane and Hajime Toki are the mechanical designers and Takayuki Hattori is the music composer.
Nagisa Abe is the colour artist, Sadayoshi Fujino is the sound director, Yuji Kaneko is the art director, Ryo Iijima and Takeshi Katsurayama are credited with being composing directors of photography, Morihito Abe is the CGI director and Kazuhiro Nii is the Editor.
FAQs – Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie Edition
Q. Where can you watch the Mobile Suit Gundam Anime?
A. Netflix has added a number of Gundam series to it. Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway and Gundam Unicorn are on the platform. The 43 episodes of the Original Gundam anime series were condensed into 3 movies that are also present on the platform as Mobile Suit Gundam I, Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow and Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space. The sequel to this, Char’s Counterattack is also available!
Q. What is the Curucuz Doan’s Island meme?
A. While episode 15 of MSG was not released outside Japan, it did make it out on the internet for people to see. The episode quickly became meme material and for all the reasons the creators of the episode would dread. The episode is available with English Subs on YouTube.
The creators of the episode have noted the deterioration in animation quality for the episode, notably in the Zaku that appears and the now infamous meme, RX-78-2’s head that looks disproportionately drawn to a point it looks funny peeking from behind the rocks on the island.
Stay tuned for updates on Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island Movie and all the good stuff from your favourite titles. In the meantime, don’t forget to let us know your picks from Winter 2022 anime releases and let us know all you plan to watch in the upcoming season!
