[JAPAN] Inagi City Unveiled RX-78-2 Gundam and Zaku II Statues to Honor Mecha Designer Kunio Okawara

Kunio Okawara hails from Inagi City, and the city is quite fond of the renowned mechanical designer, so much that the city itself has revealed two 1/5 scale statues inspired by Mobile Suit Gundam’s RX-78-2 Gundam and Char’s Zaku II. The unveiling ceremony, which was done to honour the works of Okawara. The event was not only attended by city officials and Okawara himself, but also Tohru Furuya (who voices Amuro Ray), and Shuuichi Ikeda (who voices Char Aznable).

The statues stand at 3.6 meters, and though not as big as the 1:1 scale version in Odaiba, they are still quite impressive. These statues are quite accurate themselves, as Okawara himself supervised their construction. Tohru Furuya was even quite impressed with them, and said that the RX-78-2’s pose holding the shield and beam rifle is quite rare, as opposed to the 18 meter one in Odaiba, which is featured to be weaponless.

On the other hand, Ikeda was impressed with his character’s custom mobile suit, as he said that this is the first time he sees a Zaku II as a monument. He then mentioned that out of all of Char’s mobile suits, it was the Zaku II which left the biggest impression for him, which is a testament to Okawara’s legendary mechanical design vision.

As for Inagi, Okawara also designed the city’s official mascot, Inagi Nashinosuke, who appeared alongside Haro, who were also guests for the unveiling. The city aims to appeal to mecha fans and also become a destination for anime pilgrims because of Inagi’s favorite son.