Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan" is an action movie about chivalrous chanbara! The first cut of the MS action film, which was made with the special attention of Director Yasuhiko, is now available for viewing!

From "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan," which will be shown nationwide on June 3, 2022 (Friday), an advance cut of a mecha scene has been released along with director Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's thoughts on the mecha action.

The 15th episode of "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan," the milestone of Japanese robot animation and the origin of Gundam, was broadcast in 1979. The episode, known as a masterpiece among fans, drew fans' attention with its depiction of the melancholy of war through the interaction between the main character, Amuro Ray, and Doan, a deserter from the Zeon army, who is the antagonist.

Directed by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, character designer and animation director of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" TV series and creator of the hit "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin," which has sold more than 10 million copies. Other famous staff members have also been assembled.

⇒ " Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan" will be released on June 3! Character setting drawings, comments from Toru Furuya, and newly drawn illustrations have arrived!
⇒Click here for the screening schedule of the anime film.

The advance cut of the mecha scene was released along with director Yasuhiko's thoughts on the mecha action, one of the major highlights of the film.

A work that fights on the ground with a whiff of chivalry
This time, Zaku is a different kind of Zaku!

This time, the mecha in the film are depicted in 3DCG, and there are plenty of ground battles between mobile suits. Among them, the Zaku ridden by Cruz Doan has a unique presence. Director Yasuhiko said, "I thought that the Zaku he rode was nothing special, and it was just an ordinary Zaku on TV. However, Mr. Katoki (Hajime), who was in charge of mobile suit design, seemed to be very attached to the Zaku, and he insisted that it should be different from other Zaku in some way, and have an unusual atmosphere. In his words, it is a "deformed Zaku. The Zaku of Doan that Mr. Katoki drew for the film was very tired and broken, with a long nose and a misshapen head. He must have repaired it in various ways, but it seemed strange that it would be deformed by that, but it certainly gives it a better atmosphere. It was a gift from Mr. Hajime Katoki's persistence that transcended logic. He says, "I am very happy to have received the work of Hajime Katoki. The ground battle with the exquisitely balanced deformed Zaku, which is based on the drawing background of episode 15, is a must-see.

The high-mobility Zaku that the Southern Cross team will board is an original Zaku designed for this film by Kunio Okawara, who is well known for his work on "Science Ninja Team Gatchaman" and the Gundam series. Director Yasuhiko: "Zaku is basically a character that walks nimbly on Earth. When I think of a mobile suit that moves quickly on the ground, I can't help but think of Dom. They are good at sliding around in hovercrafts and are fast. But I thought it was a little early in the season for Dom to come out. So I asked Mr. Okawara, "Could you make a Zaku that would be the generation before Dom? It has nozzles on its legs to generate buoyancy and move, but I was a bit worried about how to convey a specific image. Then I thought of the movement of a skater. I told Mr. Okawara about it, and I also asked the assistant director, Mr. Imgahi, who was in charge of storyboarding the scene in which the skater appears, to be aware of the skater's movement. I think the scene there turned out rather well." He also pointed out the particular points of the high-mobility type Zaku, which makes its first appearance in the movie version.

Fans are also anxious to see how the main character Amuro Rei's RX-78-02 Gundam will perform in the movie,
Director Yasuhiko said, "This movie is about the Gundam that we couldn't show in 'THE ORIGIN,' so I was very careful about how to make it look cool. I am from an older generation, so I wanted to have the feel of an old-time chivalry movie. I say that the gundam in this movie is more like Koji Tsuruta than Ken Takakura (laughs). (Laughs.) However, the story centers on Doan and Doan's Zaku, so the Gundam's activities are limited. Amuro is also placed in a situation with many restrictions. How can we make the Gundam look like a Gundam in the limited scenes in which it appears? Recently, there have been a lot of battles in space with flashy light objects flying around, but this time it's a low-tech work where the characters fight standing on the ground. He said that Gundam is usually fought in outer space, but in this film, he was conscious of fighting on the ground, and said that the action is different from the MS action of the past. Don't miss the MS action, which is unique to the movie version directed by Yasuhiko.

A preliminary cut of the film is now available!
This time, the mecha action is as beautiful as the battle to kill!

In the newly released advance cut, the RX-78-02 Gundam (hereafter 78 Gundam) piloted by Amuro Ray and the MS-06F Doan Zaku (hereafter Doan Zaku) piloted by Cruz Doan, as well as the highly mobile Zaku, are seen engaging in a fierce battle scene.
The film shows the moment Doan Zaku attacks, the 78 Gundam holding both beam sabers, and the high-mobility Zaku hanging from the Rugun, making the MS action that can only be seen in ground battles a real treat. We hope you will come to the theater and enjoy the film.

Watch "Mobile Suit Gundam" Episode 15 "The Island of Cruz Doan" at the same time. Campaign held!

To commemorate the release of the first cut of the mecha action, a campaign to simultaneously watch the TV anime "Mobile Suit Gundam" episode 15 "The Island of Cruculus Doan" will be held on April 15 from 8:00 p.m. on the official Gundam YouTube channel. If you participate in the campaign on the official Twitter page of "Cruz Doan's Island" and tweet with "#Doan Simultaneous Viewing", 40 people will win a miniature reproduction poster of the super teaser visual drawn by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko every 5 minutes!
We hope you will take this opportunity to watch the original episode, episode 15.

Production Information
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Island of Cruz Doan
Road show on June 3, 2022 (Friday) throughout Japan
Distributor: Shochiku ODS Business Office

＜Main Staff
Planning/Production: Sunrise
Original Story: YATATE Hajime TOMINO Yoshiyuki
Director : Yoshikazu Yasuhiko
Assistant Director : Im Ga-hee
Screenplay : Toshizo Nemoto
Character Design : Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Atsushi Tamura, Tsukasa Kotobuki
Mechanical Design : Kunio Okawara Katoki-Hajime Kimitoshi Yamane
Chief Animation Director : Atsushi Tamura
Art Director : Yuji Kaneko
Color Designer : Nagisa Abe
Director of Photography : Takeshi Kuzuyama, Ryo Iijima
CGI Director : Shuhei Morita
CGI Director : Yasuhito Abe
Editing: Kazuhiro Arai
Sound Director: Sadayoshi Fujino
Music: Takayuki Hattori

＜Cast
Amuro Ray: Toru Furuya
Cruz Doan: Shunsuke Takeuchi
Bright Noah: Ken Narita
Kai Siden: Toshio Furukawa
Seira Mas: Ban Megumi
Hayato Kobayashi: Hideki Nakanishi
Slegger Lowe: Tomofumi Ikezoe
Mirai Yashima: Satomi Arai
Frau Bow: Misato Fukuen

<Story
The Earth Federation Forces, having withstood the defensive battle at Jaburo, launched a major counterinsurgency operation to capture Odessa, the home base of the Zeon Earth Advance Force, with full momentum. Amuro and his White Base sailed to Belfast to receive the last supply of supplies before the operation. Amidst this situation, the White Base is handed a mission. It is a mission to sweep up the remaining enemies on an uninhabited island, commonly known as the "Island of No Return. Amuro and his men embark on a search for the remaining agents, but what they see there are children who should not be there and a single Zaku. Amuro, who lost his Gundam in the battle, meets a man who calls himself Cruz Doan. Can Amuro uncover the secret of the island, find the Gundam again, and escape safely...?

(C) Sotsu, Sunrise