Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン), Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu Yunikōn) is a novel series written by Harutoshi Fukui with character and mechanical designs provided by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and Hajime Katoki, respectively.
[1] Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096 also aired in the United States on Adult Swim's Toonami programming block beginning on January 8, 2017.
[2] The 11th novel volume, Phoenix Hunting, was loosely adapted as an animated film titled Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative in 2018.
His life changes one day when he meets a girl named Audrey Burne, as it results in his becoming the pilot of a new Gundam that has connections to an item that is a potential threat to the Federation's existence called "Laplace's Box."
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - The Postwar War (機動戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン) 戦後の戦争, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Yunikōn Sengo no Sensō) contains an all-new story set two years before the events of the first episode.
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn - Phoenix Hunting (機動戦士ガンダムUC(ユニコーン) 不死鳥狩り, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Yunikōn Fushichō kari) was originally included with Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn GREAT WORKS III episode 7, a collection of storyboards, artworks and interviews released on June 23, 2015, and revolved around Operation Phoenix Hunting, a top secret mission carried out by a Federation garrison just before the last battle between the Nahel Argama and the Neo Zeon forces.
[24] Bandai Entertainment released the first four episodes of Unicorn on DVD before shutting down in 2012, thus making it the final Gundam anime licensed by the company.
[25] A television rebroadcast of the anime titled Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096 was announced by Sunrise on February 21, 2016 and began airing on April 3, 2016 in Japan on TV Asahi and other networks, replacing Brave Beats.
The company also produced all of the OVA series' mobile suits (plus the UC MS Variations and Bande Dessinee manga series) in its HGUC line of 1/144 model kits (including the Base Jabber transports); some are special glitterized or colored transparent-plastic kits marketed as online exclusives or as "Theater Limited" items (sold at select moviehouses on the day of an episode screening).
A number of the kits are also available as Master Grade and B-Club models, with the MG 1/100 Unicorn Gundam also sold in a "HD" version featuring its hangar cage.
The series' appearance in the Robot Spirits line of action figures began with the release of the normal mode Unicorn in November 2009, followed by its Destroy Mode version, the Geara Zulu, the Stark Jegan, the Sinanju (as appeared in Episode 2 and 3; a second version released in January 2014, features a rocket bazooka, brighter red color scheme, and a burnt head.
Bandai's Tamashii Shouten online-exclusive shop carries the Elite Guard Geara Zulu, which was released in February 2011, a Destroy Mode Unicorn with glittering psycoframe [32] that can be mated with a special lighting stage.
Katoki also joined forces with Bandai to create Robot Spirits versions of the Byarlant Custom, Yonem Kirks' Zaku I Sniper, and the Guncannon Detector as online exclusives under the "Ka Signature" collection.
In summer 2016, Sunrise partnered with 20th Century Fox on a Japanese cross-promotion deal involving Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn and Independence Day: Resurgence.
One Japanese theatrical poster put the Gundam Unicorn in the place of the Statue of Liberty aiming at a Harvester mothership, while another featured Banagher and Full Frontal alongside Independence Day characters such as former President Tom Whitmore (Bill Pullman) and Dylan Dubrow-Hiller (Jessie Usher).
[35][36] The collaboration earned praise from Harutoshi Fukui, who was quoted in Anime News Network as saying, "Our two works are connected like soul brothers by the theme of humanity's indomitable spirit pushing despair aside.