Kazuya Tsurumaki, director of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise’s latest anime series Gundam GQuuuuuuX, recently talked to Yahoo Japan about how he views the future of robot-themed franchises like Gundam and Evangelion. A member of Studio Khara, Tsurumaki served as assistant director on the iconic Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series and later became the director of the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy, acting as Hideaki Anno’s right-hand man. He is also known as the creator of the surreal sci-fi anime FLCL from 2000.
Like many of his peers, Tsurumaki has been captivated by the idea of adolescent characters piloting huge machines ever since the start of Japan’s robot anime boom in the 70s. “When I was a kid, motorcycles and cars were the objects of admiration. I think that the idea of piloting a robot came as an extension of that admiration, as a way to not only leap right into adulthood, but also wield a tool that allows you to surpass adults.”
On the other hand, Tsurumaki thinks that this fantasy is not necessarily shared by today’s younger generations. “In today’s manga and anime, protagonists wield magic or psychic powers – abilities that let them surpass adults in a more intuitive way.” Additionally, Tsurumaki suggests that the rise of video games, where you can control characters just by using a controller, has come to satisfy this desire for empowerment among newer generations of kids, replacing the role robot anime played for his generation.
“I don’t think those kids understand what it means to pilot a robot. For now, the generations that grew up admiring bikes and cars are still active, but in another ten years, even the Gundam series might not survive. I had already felt this while working on Evangelion, but there is a need to update the meaning of robots.”
Somewhat ironically, Tsurumaki’s own Gundam GQuuuuuuX has done a remarkable job at both invigorating old Gundam fans and attracting newcomers to the franchise, according to Bandai Namco. The director made a risky call to play around with the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979, and although his work has garnered some degree of mixed reactions (more so in the West), he has contributed to 2025 becoming a record-breaking year for the Gundam IP. Perhaps Tsurumaki’s acute awareness of what different layers of the audience seek to empathize with played a part in GQuuuuuuX success.
