West Japan gets its first 1:1-scale mobile suit with the last mecha of the anime’s original hero.

Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport Fukuoka is scheduled to open in Fukuoka City’s Hakata Ward next year, and concept renderings so far have shown spaces for shops, restaurants, and sunny outdoor plazas. It looks like a perfectly fine Japanese entertainment complex, the sort of place local residents might make a day out of visiting.

All of a sudden, though, it’s shooting to the top of desired travel destinations for a lot of people not just across Japan, but abroad as well, as it’s been announced that the center will be the home of Japan’s newest life-size Gundam anime robot statue.

Standing tall outside the facility’s entrance will be a full 1:1-scale RX-93 ν Gundam. Don’t be fooled by the name’s rendering into thinking the robot hails from the V Gundam TV series, though, because that ν isn’t the English “V” at all, but the Greek letter “Nu,” and the RX-93 ν Gundam, or Nu Gundam, is actually the hero mecha from 1988’s Char’s Counterattack, the very first original theatrical anime in the franchise and the conclusion to the rivalry between protagonist Amuro and his rival Char.

Designed by Yutaka Izubuchi (who also created Patlabor’s AV-98 Ingram), the RX-93 is a high-tech, no-nonsense evolution of the original Mobile Suit Gundam’s RX-78-2, pairing well with the pathos-packed narrative of Char’s Counterattack and its timeframe of 14 years having passed since Amuro first found himself in a mobile suit cockpit. The Nu Gundam statue, in addition to being the newest 1:1-scale Gundam, will also be the tallest, as the official announcement lists the statue’s height as “approximately 20 meters (65.6 feet),” which is taller than Tokyo’s full-size RX-0 Unicorn Gundam (19.7 meters), Yokohama’s RX-78-2 Gundam (18 meters), and Shanghai’s ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam (18.03 meters). Fukuoka’s Nu Gundam statue will also be equipped with a long-range Fin Funnel, which can be seen behind the mecha itself in the preview image.

The life-size Nu Gundam is scheduled to be completed in time for the spring 2022 grand opening of Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport Fukuoka, which will also be home to a Gundam Park mini-museum/specialty shop.

Source: PR Times
Top imag: Mitsui Shopping Park Lalaport Fukuoka
Insert image: PR Times
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