Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most important anime series of all time, introducing audiences worldwide to the “real robot” mecha genre and kicking off the sprawling Gundam franchise that remains popular today. While the 1979 anime series and its truncated movie trilogy adaptation are still excellent watches, one of the best ways to experience the story is the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Manga series, which was written and drawn by the anime’s character artist and animation director, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, and ran from 2001-2011. The manga is getting a new six-volume Deluxe Edition re-release later this year, starting with Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe 1 on August 12, and preorders are available now at Amazon.
$55 | Book 1 releases August 12
Each Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Edition book collects two of the standard edition volumes into a larger format hardcover release with new cover art. The Deluxe Editions also retain the select color pages from the original volumes, as well as the essays from Yasuhiko–though the additional guest essays that were included in the originals have been cut for these new Deluxe versions.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe 1 collects Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Vol. 1: Activation and Vol. 2: Garma into an 880-page tome. It launches on August 12 for $55, followed by Deluxe 2 on October 7 and Deluxe 3 on December 9. All three are available to preorder at Amazon. Volumes 4-6 will launch later in 2026.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Preorders
Mobile Suit Gundam is set in the far future after humanity has colonized the solar system beyond Earth. A large portion of humans now live in giant space colonies around Earth, but diplomatic tensions between the Earth Federation government and the space colonies leads to the rise of the fascistic Principality of Zeon, who seize control of several space colonies and declare war on the Earth, launching deadly attacks using giant humanoid mechs known as mobile suits.
When a Zeon mobile suit squad attacks the Earth Federation-aligned space colony Side 7, a young student, Amuro Ray, unwittingly jumps into the Federation’s new prototype mobile suit–the iconic RX-78 Gundam–to defend the colony. He’s then recruited by the Earth Federation and learns he is a Newtype–humans with heightened reactions and the ability to sense other Newtypes. While this gives him an edge in battle, Newtypes also experience a deeper sense of empathy, which makes Amuro deeply conflicted about his role in the war. Throughout the series, Amuro also develops a lifelong rivalry with Zeon’s ace mobile suit pilot, Char Aznable, which is one of the central conflicts of the core Gundam franchise, even extending beyond the original series.
While the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Deluxe Edition looks to be the most premium way to experience what is arguably the best version of the Mobile Suit Gundam story, the standard edition volumes aren’t bad, either. In fact, the 12-volume run is already available in excellent hardcover editions that are a step above your average manga release. These are smaller than the Deluxe Editions, but that makes for a more portable book, and these versions include several guest essays from contributors like Neon Genesis Evangelion’s creator Hideaki Anno that are not included in the Deluxe Editions. Best of all, all 12 volumes are available now and discounted at Amazon.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Manga – Standard Edition Hardcovers
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 1 – Activation — $24.25 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 2 – Garma — $19.79 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 3 – Ramba Ral — $23.21 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 4 – Jaburo — $22.13 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 5 – Char & Sayla — $24 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 6 – To War — $19.18 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 7 – Battle of Loum — $23.30 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 8 – Operation Odessa — $24.25 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 9 – Lalah — $23.31 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 10 – Solomon — $20.39 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 11 – A Cosmic Glow — $23 (
$30) - Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin, Vol. 12 – Encounters — $20.32 (
$30)
If you’re interested in checking out the source material the manga is adapted from, the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime series is currently available to stream at Crunchyroll, while the film trilogy (which re-cuts the anime episodes into three feature-length movies) is available at Netflix. However, there’s plenty more Gundam than that, as the original Mobile Suit Gundam anime was followed up by numerous sequels and spin-offs–and not just anime and manga, but movies, novels, and more.
Sticking with the original series, you can grab the recent Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan’s Island movie on Blu-ray for $25.12 (was $40) at Amazon. Released in September 2024 and directed by Yasuhiko, the animated movie recreates one of the most infamous episodes of the original anime, which is often maligned due to low-quality animation and other production issues. The new version features all-new animation, a fleshed-out storyline, and new English voice cast–though fans of the original anime’s Japanese voice cast will be excited to know Touru Furuya reprises his role as Amuro Ray.
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin manga also got its own OVA adaptation that turns the flashback events of Volumes 9-12 into a seven-episode mini-series. The series follows the show’s main antagonist, Char Aznable, in the years leading up to the One Year War. Episodes 1-4 were collected into the Mobile Suit Gundam the Origin: Chronicle of Char and Sayla Blu-ray release, which you can grab for $53 at Amazon (was $65). Episodes 5-7 were later released in the Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin: Chronicle Of The Loum Battlefield Blu-ray, but it’s currently sold out.
The Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin Anime Blu-rays
While there are numerous sequels and parallel series that take place in the same fictional universe as the original Mobile Suit Gundam (to say nothing of the numerous alternate universe Gundam series), the most important of these is Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack. The 1988 theatrical movie brings back Amuro and Char as the main characters and provides closure on their long-running rivalry that started in the original anime. The Blu-ray version is available for $35 at Amazon.
Char’s Counterattack is a film adaptation of Mobile Suit Gundam creator Tomino’s novel, Mobile Suit Gundam: High-Streamer. Tomino also wrote a second version of the novel, called Beltorchika’s Children, which is based on a rejected version of the film’s script and recently got a seven-volume manga adaptation. While both Char’s Counterattack and Beltorchika’s Children cover the same general plot points and events, Beltorchika’s Children offers a more faithful and fleshed-out representation of Tomino’s original vision for this chapter of the story compared to Char’s Counterattack–including appearances of two of the coolest mobile suit designs, the Zeon Nightengale Mobile Armor and Amuro’s Hi-Nu Gundam, that were sadly never seen in the movie version.
The first three volumes of the Beltorchika’s Children manga were translated into English in 2024, with the rest of the series slated to release over the coming months. The paperback edition of Volume 1 is available at Crunchyroll. Volume 2 and Volume 3 are also available at Amazon. Volume 4 is available to preorder ahead of its May 27 release date.
