An Art History of Mobile Suit Gundam

A Lesson on the Art History of the Japanese Franchise Mobile Suit Gundam with Screenings, Fandom and Gunpla Kit Building.

A lesson on the art history of the Japanese television series Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-1981). The series led to a larger franchise of films, subsequent television series, and streaming series, as well as video games, fan fiction and Gunpla (Gundam plastic models and kits).

Resources include links to sections from the original Gundam films, sequences from a recent Gundam series, related scholarship, fandom and a starter model from a Gunpla kit.

This material is part of FA 288 Art of Asia and the Pacific for York College CUNY created by Emily Verla Bovino, Assistant Professor and Coordinator of the York College Art History program.

To cite this lesson workbook, please use the following bibliographical reference: Bovino, Emily Verla. 'An Art History of Mobile Suit Gundam.' Created for FA 288 Art of Asia and the Pacific, York College CUNY. New York: CUNY Manifold, 2025.

Enter the lesson workbook by clicking here.

Background Image: Drawings by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko for Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-1981) from appendix booklet with the Monthly Gundam Ace 2013 July Issue. Printed in Japan.

Cover Image: Poster for Mobile Suit Gundam I (1981) by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko for Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks). Added by Orochidayu, posted in Mobile Suit Gundam on the fandom.com page for the English dubbing of the film.

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  • publisher
    Manifold @CUNY
  • publisher place
    New York, NY
  • restrictions
    CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
  • rights
    An Art History of Mobile Suit Gundam © 2025 by Emily Verla Bovino is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International.
  • rights holder
    Emily Verla Bovino
  • rights territory
    International