As highlighted by Japanese literary researcher Kajipon Marco Zangetsu on X yesterday, the Mobile Suit Gundam series’ original creator Yoshiyuki Tomino recently had some things to say about the state of today’s politics and the way Gundam is consumed.
As a creator who held memories of incendiary bombs being dropped nearby his own hometown during WWII, it’s no secret that Tomino conceptualized the Gundam series with a strong anti-war sentiment, with the first anime series’ One Year War specifically being modelled after the American Civil War. While Tomino has on several occasions hinted that he’s not happy with how uncritically Gundam has come to be interacted with (and produced) in recent years, he’s quite outspoken on the topic in the May 2026 issue of Animage.
“Even among Gundam fans, there are many who make statements that are a far cry from anti-war. They seem to be stuck in the mindset of mere military geeks, and in the end, perhaps nothing of substance is getting across,” he said. Kajipon links this to a 2025 comment from Tomino saying, “The words that come out of [Gundam fans’] mouths are, Mobile Suit battles are so cool. Nowadays, younger creators are making Gundam, but there’s no hint of war experience in what they make, they’re just picture stories. That is my responsibility for not having taught them.” On a similar note, Tomino told Kyodo News last year that he also considers the media responsible for the lack of awareness about the true nature of war among the general public, for failing to convey “the voices of real soldiers and the politicians who order suicide attacks.”
Tomino’s new statements seem to come from his disappointment in the state of today’s politics, particularly in Japan, as he comments, “You don’t even need to look at the example of Nazi Germany to see that dictatorships are usually established through elections. This is exactly the case in Japan today, and I think that the foolish crowd of ignorant people is truly dreadful.”
Imagine being a creator and not getting the message your their to entertain not lecture. Maybe those fans of his that didn’t get the message should not buy their works or any Gundam works. The message isn’t hard to understand but to conflate his fictional work work with modern real world politics is just narcissism.
Crators aren’t there to entertain, they’re there to create. Art is about making you feel something, but nobody ever said what it makes you feel had to be “joy”.
Imagine using all those big words to seem smart but not knowing that you should have used “you’re” instead of “your” and “there” instead of “their”.
God forbid something you watch challenges your views. I didn’t know “war is bad” was such a hot take.
Art has been and will always be political and educational. Godzilla is anti nuke, one piece is anti right wing, and gundam is anti war. If you don’t want to be educated or challenged by art then get an Xbox and watch invincible.
No you have infected invincible as well a popular character from the comics got gender washed recently due to your sides infection
Tomino Sounds like a narcissist and someone who doesn’t know when to stop watching political “news”
You sound like an uneducated euro maga larper
Are you drunk?? He wrote an anti-war novel in order to make a show about war being bad and your big brain advise is not to make it political. That would be like making water that isn’t when or pornography that is fully clothed and censored over. You are just very very low IQ, huh? I feel bad for your loved ones, being related tl you
He is correct.
Sorry bro, death of the author and all that, cry more.
To be fair Gundam wasn’t subtle when gihren literally said something to the effect of “hitler sounds like an admirable guy”
The Gundam series is vehemently anti-war and it’s very sad that is not being taken for exactly what it’s depicting. It’s very obvious to see that it’s made to show the struggle the sacrifices and what war entails for participators and civilians alike.
That’s because people aren’t looking to be preached at in their entertainment mediums. They want to get away from the mess of everyday life. He chose the wrong profession to push his opinions.
Is your brain functioning okay? If all you want is brain rot entertainment, that exists, but artists are allowed to create art for people who have deeper thoughts than “pew pew boom”. Toddler
Then you’ve chosen the wrong entertainment medium– an author should not pander to their audience. They should express their ideas as they see fit; anything less is tantamount to censorship.
Lol. Speak for yourself. Plenty of succesful entertainment has political and religious themes, both subtle and in your face. If you don’t see that, you must not read, watch, and play much.
Well if he wanted an anti-war messaging to be the core of his show, then maybe he shouldn’t of glorified the battles with gaint mechs fighting each other.
This is something many creators in and around him have talked about, myizaki (probably butchered the spelling) is quoted many times saying something along the lines of: the unfortunate truth of the matter is that any work depicting war will always be a work that glorifies it, because there is an undeniable sense of awe varied in the destruction and deviation.
With Gundam specifically, the anti war sentiments are so far in your face they would make early COVID tests blush. The archduke literally calls his son Hitler and someone suicide bombs in the first like 5 episodes
With all due respect, if you see a Zaku II tear apart civil infrastructure in a populated city, or a GM accidentally strafe an apartment block with it’s head vulcans mid-combat, and your only take away from it is “Wow! So cool!!!” you’re not intelligent enough to comment on what is and isn’t glorification of violence.
It’s like watching the Omaha Beach landing in Saving Private Ryan and walking away from it thinking “war looks fun :)”
Witch From Mercury had this problem (among other things). It didn’t feel like Gundam at all, but some fantasy that played Gundam like an actor playing an actor on a stage. There was no war, no statement about war. It had just weird skirmishes like you’d get in an average fighting anime. Only it was with these machines that for the longest time, were metaphors for nuclear weapons.
It wasn’t the first one to do this, G Gundam made it into a tournament arc. But it does feel like you have these series that just don’t get what Gundam is supposed to be and instead try to make it fun. Like as if saying war is supposed to be fun.
So I can understand the original creator’s comments on how fans and the newer producers seem to just not get it these days.
War is a big part of Gundam series but that doesn’t mean all of them need a message about war. Witch of Mercury has its own message about negatives of society. The reason Gundam still exists, especially in the AU space is that you can have creators that take a different spin of it. If Tomino still handled Gundam, it would have died a long time ago.
These spins will not land with everyone but that’s the point. He is also cherry picking, Gundam 00 and Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, deal with the subject of war quite harshly with depictions of child soldiers that match closer to reality than his works did.
What Tomino doesn’t understand is that war isn’t the end all be all of the ills in society, things have changed a lot since the 70s. By no means have war stopped being a problem (we recent geopolitical event shows) but conflicts in society is more than just war nowdays.
He also doesn’t understand that less pacifism =/= war mongering. Polymatter made a great video on this in regards to Japan a few years back.
Yeah. While Tomino is mostly correct, some of it felt a little bit ‘old man Tomino yells at cloud’. People have been missing the point of the original Mobile Suit Gundam long before any of the new blood got to take a crack at it.
If Tomino wants his Gundam to be all about anti-war themes, good for him, I fully support that. On the other hand, it’s out of his hands now, and other creatives have the right to tackle whatever themes they like using the Gundam franchise.
He is absolutely right. I watch Gundam because I like to see giant robots fighting each other. Period. The obligatory patronizing messages are something I happily ignore unless they are so loud that they ruin the story in which case I drop that series and hope the next Gundam is better.
I always thought Mobile Suit Gundam was an allegory to World War 2 and how an innocent child becomes a soldier.
um the one year war by far more resembles world war II.
Zeon Zum Deikun was a fascist who preached spacenoid supremacy
OK but at least Deikun would have opposed using nuclear weapons or (checks notes) colony drops or pretty much anything that killed lots of civilians (if there’s a reason why Ramba Ral refused to go along with Operation British, that’s it). Between Deikun & the Zabis (who clearly fit the bill of a fascist megalomaniacal party), I would’ve obviously picked Deikun as the better choice.
zeon zum deikun never preached spacenoid supremacy, he (correctly) theorized that humanity would evolve after moving into space and preached independence from the earth federation, who were borderline fascists themselves (though that’s a different conversation entirely). when he died or was assassinated (depending on who you ask) the zabis used the popular sentiment of spacenoid independence to push their own brand of spacenoid fascism that was almost entirely unrelated to Zeon Deikun’s actual ideals and bastardized his name.
War is horrible and uncensored footage should be broadcast to every house worldwide.
It should be a last resort and sanctions are a better way to change your enemies mind.
You know the saying, money talks.
More people would be against (or for it in certain circumstances) if more people saw how horrible it really is.
Thanks to modern social media, it’s getting the exposure that it should.
Also I don’t think it’s “military geeks”, more like giant robots are cool ASF.
Dude, get over yourself. People can enjoy Gundam battles and still “get the message” which is not really hard to get at all
Hey man, as a military geek not all of us romanticize and desire real war. It’s mostly the ignorant military larper’s who romanticize it and think it’s actually cool, and not actual hell on earth. I would say military geeks understand even more the horrors of actual war than those who don’t.
Tomino himself is a huge military geek and that’s how he writes Gundam so good and thoughtfully. I’m not sure how anyone can pull up any of the many horrible pictures or read any of the horrible accounts and comes away from it desiring more war. It’s from an ignorance to the people side, either intentional or not.
You can respect the soldiers who fight it, who make the bravest, final sacrifice on either side, without approving either sides horrible people in power throwing those lives into the meat grinder.
Tomino being a total narcicist as usual. RL is already sad enough nobody got time to stroke his ego and he will probably move the goal post anyway
Why does it feel like every time i hear this guy giving an interview, it’s always about how gundam fans totally suck, actually. This time it’s even more ridiculous; i thought he was going to complain about people ironically yelling “seig zeon” on message boards. Esp when he started out like he’s going to talk about certain fans still being pro-war, but it’s not even that. he’s complaining that fans missed the entire point of the franchise because *we think giant robots fighting looks cool*. Maybe then try to make the fighting look horrifying and terrible and traumatic to all survivors instead of looking sick as hell. I love gundam, but this dudes head is so far up his ass, side 2 passed it a loooong time before it hit sydney
LMAO old senile man shouting at the wall, ever since his his unrequited love to Maria Kawamura, losing her to happily married Mamoru Nagano, this senile old man been grumpy salty at the world. Constant got a thorn at his butt, dude need to get over himself.
Sir. I’m here to watch giant robots fight with all the gritty horror of war. Not think about the underlying message or how stupid giant robots are.
wow!!! cool robot!
These comments are crazy to me, how many people only want superficial entertainment.
A lot of these people are media illiterate l, anything with a message is preaching to them.
It’s really sad how people view a story having strong themes as a story being “Preachy” or “Lecturing”. I think a ton of people have just been trained to be so uncritical thinking that the thought of having to engage any deeper then a cool light show is insulting to them.
The idea that art is just for entertainment is so unbelievably shallow it makes me feel profound pity for these people, but then I remember the kinds of things these same people tend to vote for and the pity drys up pretty quickly
Yeah, they’re pretty bad. I love turn-your-brain-off content as much as the next guy, but there’s room for that plus things that’ll make you think a bit. Everyone here apparently only want shallow, vapid entertainment. Reality shows would suit them well.
Everyone who isn’t terminally miserable.
‘War is bad’ isn’t a missed point of a message. My problem with Gundam is that the love stories are always so terrible and trite, devoid of any real substance to the point where the show would be better if it didn’t have them.
I would love if Gundam was a mech show about war, it’s true cost and the way if affects soldiers. Instead it’s a mech show with action in it, stapled to a generic and low quality love story.
It was the worst part about 8th MS (a fantastic show otherwise) and it’s never gotten any better.
Humans are the ultimate monster on this planet. We all dream of better ways to crush our enemies. Some are better behaved than others but monsters nonetheless.
I hope he gives away all his royalties, since he’s so butthurt about the success of his franchise…
Absolutely wild to hear the country responsible for pearl harbor crying about getting bombed over it. I totally understand now why I’ve always hated Gundam.
So many ungrateful narcissists in the comments. I truly understand what hes talking about especially because I live in America which is currently being run into the dirt by a dumb fat misogynistic narcissist dictator. Its people like that who wont be allowed in my Fandom when I make my own manga series. I don’t want filthy misogynistic money especially if they’re gonna glorify the villains of the story.
Your TDS is showing.
But people argue about the politics and messaging in Gundam all the time? If bothered to visit any wretched hive of scum and commenters, I’m sure he’d find exactly what he’s looking for lol
War is a complex thing. It can have moments of horror, acts of stunning bravery, heart breaking sadness, surreal humor and unsettling quiet. Gundam had all of that. You can get the anti-war sentiment and think giant mecha beating the snot out of each other is cool.
You can create art with intention but you cannot control what the observer takes away from it.
People saying they dont want to be preached to while being entertained seem capable of enjoying a comic book for just the pictures while being incapable of caring about the story. The message is part of the story. What kind of Cat-chasing-a laser pointer of a human being are you when you only want the style and none of the substance a show has to offer? How hard are you trying not too think critically, and why does it make you so uncomfortable to do so?
The idea being pushed by the strange bulk of comments here and elsewhere that people are always coming to entertainment to escape reality instead of to find more tools and angles with which to tackle how they view and treat the real world through entertainment is the major nightmare-enabling moral failing of our time.
Silly comment to make considering most manga from back then was explicitly political. Do you think Osamu Tezuka was being silly when he depicted the subjugation of Japan’s indigenous people in Phoenix? Go read manga, you might like it.
Amazing article from the best journalist. You should start your own youtube channel! That being said… NNNNooooo it’s not his fault! Thats sad… him and Miyazaki-san are amazing for how consistnent their anti-war views have always been. Its the whole reason I even build gundams.
based tomino
I agree with the above article and what it means as a Gundam fan who understands the horrors of war is and the message its conveying.
Uhhhhh, Huh-huh-huh-huh-huh, can he like chill out?
There’s an irony that this is a good thing. A whole generation that only knows peace. They don’t have to look at elders or communities and see the pain of war.
But that leads into that war isn’t bad in itself. War can be the release valve of social unrest. If someone is bullying you, violence can be the only solution left to end it. Zeon felt oppressed by the Earth Federation and sought independence that they were denied. That erupted into a war. Which is also a theme you’ll see throughout Gundam series. People standing up for something worth fighting for.
Fictional giant mecha war is fun and cool. I don’t think the creator understands.
Art has been and will always be political and educational. Godzilla is anti nuke, one piece is anti right wing, and gundam is anti war. If you don’t want to be educated or challenged by art then get an Xbox and watch invincible.
Yes. Dig Dug and Mario Bros. arcade were very anti-war pieces of art indeed…
I got the message but that message is in so much media: Gundam, Starship Troopers, Pearl Harbor, etc.
We know “war is bad” but when you suddenly put mechs into it, it becomes a sci fi fantasy we think is cool to watch.
Real war sucks, we know that. Duh
If you want to make an antiwar message there are way better ways of doing so than making giant robots fight with big laser guns! Like seriously! I could have told him this would be the outcome with something like Gundam.
Japan has always avoided anything to do with WW2, but a series that is themed with a realistic representation of the war would be far more effective as an antiwar message than giant robots!
A WW2 anime would be a great watch. A series like band of brothers but anime! I would watch that in a heartbeat.
zeon zum deikun never preached spacenoid supremacy, he (correctly) theorized that humanity would evolve after moving into space and preached independence from the earth federation, who were borderline fascists themselves (though that’s a different conversation entirely). when he died or was assassinated (depending on who you ask) the zabis used the popular sentiment of spacenoid independence to push their own brand of spacenoid fascism that was almost entirely unrelated to Zeon Deikun’s actual ideals and bastardized his name.
I can get his sentiment… really it’s due to how current day anime culture is.
G Gundam if you actually paid attention actually shows the effects and heaviness of war… thats why the gundam fight is established in the first place and Master Asia literally suffers from PTSD leading to his actions.
Current Gundam suffers along with its current anime brethren of being “pop! Boom ahh! Big moment” slop like Solo Leveling where as it should be trying to have something more timeless to say Frieren.
Blame the whole “follow the money” mentality. 2020 did the shifting gear vibes of anime and anime fans no favors.
It’s hard for Gundam in a culture of boys of “I want muh hype aura!!” and Women who are into Love in deep space and booktok cow/monster-men.
Quality Mecha fans… we are truly dessert starved.
Tomino is generally right about people missing the thematic elements of Gundam for the superficial robot fighting aspects. But I do think he’s a little hypocritical and off-base here.
For one, Tomino is a turbo military nerd. This is a documented fact. This man loves logistics and specs and shit. That’s part of why the original Gundam series are the way they are. I don’t think it’s a stretch for someone to be able to recognize “military robot fight is cool” and “war is bad” as both being true statements.
Also, Gundam doesn’t just have to be about war. Tomino’s Gundams might be about war, and that’s great, but Gundam has grown beyond him. New creatives have gotten their hands on it and used it to tell their own stories with their own themes, breathing new life into the franchise. Tomino can have opinions about that, but the fact remains that Gundam is not just his baby anymore. (And, in my own opinion, I think that’s a good thing.)