Copyright Screen Rant
For over four decades, Mobile Suit Gundam has stood as one of anime’s most influential franchises. Its universe has expanded across countless series, movies, and spin-offs, each reshaping the mecha genre for new generations. Yet despite the franchise’s ongoing success, its original creator, Yoshiyuki Tomino, admits he feels conflicted about what Gundam has become. In a recent interview via Asahi, Tomino shared that he hasn’t watched a single Gundam title produced after his own. While proud that the series has reached such monumental heights, he also expressed discomfort with how much it’s changed. To him, Gundam has evolved from a deeply personal creative project into a vast, commercialized product and something he no longer feels connected to. Gundam's Creator Walked Away From His Own Legacy Tomino revealed that he deliberately avoids watching newer Gundam installments, saying it wouldn’t be right to judge the work of other creators. He sees the franchise as something that has outgrown him, explaining that Gundam is now a “product” rather than a personal expression. His decision reflects both respect for other artists and a quiet disillusionment with what Gundam has become. This isn’t the first time Tomino has voiced frustration with modern anime. Known for his philosophical and often bleak storytelling, he has long criticized the industry for relying too heavily on formulas and merchandise. For Tomino, Gundam’s transformation into a mass-market brand symbolizes a loss of creative authenticity, which is the very opposite of what he intended when he first envisioned a grounded war story about humanity and ideology. Still, his words come from a place of humility rather than bitterness. Tomino acknowledges that Gundam’s ongoing success owes much to the generations of writers, animators, and fans who carried it forward. But as its creator, he admits that watching the series evolve without him, and being endlessly compared to newer works, stirs a complex mix of pride and frustration. The Creator of Gundam's Pride and the Pain of Letting Go Tomino’s reflections also reveal a deeper emotional truth: he never expected Gundam to last this long. When the original series aired in 1979, it was far from an instant hit, struggling with ratings before eventually gaining cult status. The franchise’s eventual explosion into a global phenomenon left Tomino both grateful and uneasy about his place within its history. He appreciates that anime is now taken seriously as a storytelling medium, no longer dismissed as children’s entertainment. Yet, he fears that his own name, and the artistic intentions behind the first Mobile Suit Gundam, will fade with time. As he put it, even if Gundam continues for another fifty years, the legacy of its original creator may eventually disappear into history.
