The official Gundam Thunderbolt website has now revealed the staff and cast for the upcoming Gundam anime based on the Universal Century timeline, Gundam Thunderbolt, which is the anime adaptation of Yasuo Ohtagaki’s popular mecha manga of the same name.

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The cast is led by Yuichi Nakamura, who is definitely no stranger to the Gundam franchise as he has voiced Graham Acker/ Mr. Bushido in Mobile Suit Gundam 00. But instead of voicing the “Char Clone,” he will be voicing the anime’s main protagonist, Io Flemming, pilot of the Full Armor Gundam. Voicing his rival, Zeon ace pilot Darryl Lorenz, will be Ryohei Nakamura. Both pilots are headed for a colission course in the area known as the Thunderbolt Sector as both pilots are “destined to kill each other.” The other cast members include:

  • Claudia Peer: Toa Yukinari
  • Karla Mitchum: Sayaka Oohara
  • Cornelius Kaka: Daisuke Hirakawa
  • Graham: Shunsuke Sakuya
  • Burroughs: Mutsumi Sasaki
  • J.J.Sexton: Hiroshi Tsuchida

The staff have also been announced, and they are led by Valvrave the Liberator director, Ko Matsuo, who will be directing the anime over at the studio which has produced every single official Gundam anime out there (plus Love Live!), Sunrise.

  • Scenario Writer/Director: Ko Matsuo
  • Anime Character Design: Hirotoshi Takaya
  • Original Mobile Suit Design: Kunio Okawara
  • Animation Mechanical Design: Morifumi Naka, Seiichi Nakatani, Hajime Katoki
  • Art Director: Hideki Nakamura
  • Color Design: Takako Suzuki
  • CG Director: Tomohiro Fujie
  • Monitor Design: Takashi Aoki
  • Director of Photography: Taro Wakiakira
  • Editor: Daisuke Imai
  • Music: Naruyoshi Kikuchi
  • Sound Director: Eriko Imai Sound
  • Effect: Mutsuhiro Nishimura

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is actually a side story which happens during the One Year War, the same conflict which the original 1979 anime is centered upon. The manga takes place in the Thunderbolt sector, an area filled with wrecks of old colonies and wrecked spaceships and was formerly known as Side 4, or Mua. It follows two ace pilots from the two opposing factions, the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation as they battle to take control of the sector.

The manga also inspired a line of HG 1/144 scale GunPla by Bandai, which are currently on sale these days. More announcements about this new Gundam anime project, such as the staff, cast, release dates, and format, will be made in the future so stay tuned to AFA Channel for more updates.