Anime Adaptation of 'Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt' Announced

[Koby]

The wraparound jacket of the sixth volume of the Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt manga, which will go on sale on October 30, has announced that the series will receive an anime adaptation. Animation studio Sunrise will adapt the work as with previous Gundam titles.

The series is drawn by Yasuo Ohtagaki and has been serialized in Big Comic Superior since March 2012. Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is a side story set in UC 0079 during the war between the Principality of Zeon and the Earth Federation.

In an interview with Comic Soon in 2014, Ohtagaki pointed out that Big Comic Superior is targeted at 30 to 40 year-old salary men, so he has drawn Thunderbolt with these readers in mind, not specifically Gundam fans. He wanted to use the techniques and style of manga to convey the story, rather than simply adapting the Gundam anime, so as to not drive new readers away.

Synopsis: Federation troops and Zeon forces carry out a fierce battle in the Thunderbolt Sector in what was once Side 4 "Mua". The Thunderbolt Sector is a shoal zone composed of the debris of destroyed space colonies, named for the electrical discharges from the metal debris. MS pilot Io Flemming is among the Federation soldiers who are dispatched to the area, where Zeon sniper Daryl Lorenz awaits them on the battlefield.