Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans is returning to Japanese TV.
The official Twitter account for the series announced a brand new "Special Edition" broadcast of the beloved anime series. The new cut of the series will condense its story down from 50 episodes to just nine; despite the reduced runtime, the new broadcast is said to feature new "animation cuts," though the announcement does not clarify if these will be entirely new scenes, or reanimated versions of previous content. The abridged version of the story will concentrate primarily on the mercenary group Tekkadan and its members. The new release will also feature a new opening sequence and theme song, "Blaze," which is performed by the Japanese rock band Man With a Mission.
全9回のダイジェスト版『機動戦士ガンダム 鉄血のオルフェンズ 特別編』のPVを公開！
— 機動戦士ガンダム 鉄血のオルフェンズ (@g_tekketsu) March 4, 2022
4月5日～MBS、TOKYO MX、BS11にて順次放送開始です。
OPテーマはMAN WITH A MISSIONの新曲「Blaze」に決定！お楽しみに！#g_tekketsu #鉄血特別編 pic.twitter.com/wxdzsTl2sS
Iron-Blooded Orphans originally premiered in 2015 and is the 14th entry in anime studio Sunrise and Bandai's genre-defining Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. The series is set in the far future, 300 years after an conflict known as the "Calamity War" brought humanity to the brink of total destruction. The series focuses on the security force known as Tekkadan, primarily its leader Orga Itsuka and the group's ace pilot, Mikazuki Augus, who raised as slaves and child-soldiers. The group rebel against their former masters and become embroiled in a new war that shakes up the status quo of society.
The series was helmed by Tatsuyuki Nagai and Mari Okada, who previously worked together on the popular Toradora! rom-com series and the critically acclaimed tear-jerker Anohana: The Flower We Saw That Day. Nagai also directed A Certain Scientific Railgun and the second season of the coming-of-age drama Honey and Clover, while Okada is also known for her work on Black Butler and Lupin the Third: The Woman Called Fujiko Mine. The show has been praised for its memorable cast of characters, its unflinchingly brutal depiction of war and its willingness to tackle modern social issues such as militarization and the effects of colonization.
The new version of Iron-Blooded Orphans won't be the only Gundam anime to premiere this year: an entirely new series, entitled Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, is also scheduled to be released sometime this year. The latest movie in the franchise, Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island, will also premiere in Japanese theaters this summer. The movie is a feature length remake of a story from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam TV series.
The original cut of Iron-Blooded Orphans is available for streaming on Netflix, Hulu and Crunchyroll. The Special Edition will be broadcast in Japan starting on April 5. An international release for the new version of the show has yet to be announced.
Source: Twitter
