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.”
