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Giant Gundams occupy Yokohama as part of Gundam Port Yokohama art project【Photos】

Casey Baseel Mar 11, 2022
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Full-scale reproduction of anime’s Last Shooting finale and more draws fans to the bayside city.

The bayside city of Yokohama, about 25 minutes south from downtown Tokyo, is currently home to the world’s only moving full-scale Gundam statue. But you know what’s even better than having a Gundam in your town?

Having multiple Gundams in your town.

That’s the enviable status Yokohama can boast right now, thanks to the Gundam Port Yokohama event taking place in the city’s Minato Mirai harbor district. As a Yokohama resident, I figured it was my civic duty to welcome these mobile suit visitors to our fair city, and so I set out to do just that.

▼ Hey, Big G! Thanks for stopping by!

First on the venue visit list is Bashamichi Station on the Minato Mirai Line, where a 1:1-scale head unit for the RX-78 Gundam, a.k.a. the original Gundam, is on display in the atrium, just inside the ticket gates.

There are also photo spots where you can pose with Iron-Blooded Orphans stars Mikazuki and Orga, plus a trick art piece where you can perch on the outstretched hand of a Zaku from the upcoming Cucuruz Doan’s Island anime movie.

But wait, if the RX-78 Gundam’s head is in Bashamichi Station, where’s its body? It’s a stop further up the line at the Landmark Plaza shopping/restaurant complex, a short walk from Minato Mirai Station. If “Landmark Plaza” sounds familiar to you, it might be because a while back the place got invaded by a gigantic Attack on Titan Titan.

▼ Never a dull moment in Yokohama!

The Titan has since been driven out of the city, and that space is now occupied by…

…a full-size reproduction of the “Last Shooting,” the deciding moment of the climactic final battle between protagonist Amuro and his rival Char in the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.

Like the Titan, these are inflatable statues, but the massive scale gives a feeling for just how dynamic a fight between such giant robots would be, with the headless battle-damaged Gundam firing upwards at the now-just-a-head Zeong.

There’s also a video presentation that plays famous scenes from the Gundam anime every half hour or so, complete with famous bits of character dialogue, though long-time fans can be seen voicing the lines themselves in synch with the audio.

But though the Last Shooting RX-78 may have lost its head, Landmark Plaza does still have a Gundam head of its own, found elsewhere on the first floor.

The unusual coloring and texturing are because this full-scale head, the latest project from creative art team Naked, is made from roughly 3,000 runners, the plastic frames that surround the pieces for Gunpla Gundam plastic model kits.

Just a little more than a block away from Landmark Plaza is another entertainment complex, called Mark Is, and its got its own contingent of Gundams during the Gundam Port Yokohama event.

Keeping watch over the building’s central atrium is a Freedom Gundam inflatable statue. While it might not be 1:1-scale, it’s still big enough to make a sizable mid-air impact.

The Freedom Gundam’s position lets fans view it from multiple angles as they go up and down the building’s escalators.

Down on the ground, there’s an impressive array of Gundam model kits on display, including a version of the Nu Gundam in the color scheme it’s sporting at the newest full-size Gundam statue that’s having its finishing touches put on it in Fukuoka.

At the lowest basement level of Mark Is, Gundam Port Yokohama shifts gears and focuses on the mobile base of operations for the mobile suits, the White Base mecha carrier.

The bridge of the spaceship has been recreated, and while fans aren’t asked to come aboard, they can take photos of the official cosplayer who’s on duty, dressed in the uniform of operations Mirai Yashima.

▼ Mirai means “future” in Japanese, which is why it’s a fitting name both for the character and the recently developed Minato Mirai district.

Behind the bridge, there’s a large model of the White Base itself…

…and last, in the passageway that connects the Mark Is basement to Minato Mirai Station, there’s a light-up statue of the RX-0 Unicorn Gundam.

As is the nature of mobile suits, these Gundams will be leaving the city for parts unknown after the Gundam Port Yokohama event wraps up on March 13, but thankfully Yokohama’s full-size moving Gundam statue recently had its planned stay extended into next year.

Related: Gundam Port Yokohama official website
Photos ©SoraNews24
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