Yoshiyuki Tomino
In 1979, Tomino directed and wrote "Mobile Suit Gundam", which was highly influential in transforming the Super Robot mecha genre into the Real Robot genre. Mark Simmons discusses the impact of "Gundam" in his book, "Gundam Official Guide":
In an interview published in "Animerica" magazine, Tomino discusses what he was trying to accomplish with "Mobile Suit Gundam":
Although the last quarter of the show's original script was canceled and it had to be completed in 43 episodes, its popularity grew after three compilation movies were released in 1981 and 1982. "Mobile Suit Gundam" was followed by numerous sequels, spin-offs and merchandising franchises, becoming one of the longest-running and most influential, popular anime series in history, being chosen as No. 1 on TV Asahi's "Top 100 Anime" listing in 2005.
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
The "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" television series originally aired in Japan the terrestrial channel TV Asahi from April 22, 1994 to March 31, 1995 for a total of 49 episodes. The show would not reach North American audiences until many years later. "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing", a series that succeeded "G Gundam" on Japanese television in 1995, was first localized in North America by Bandai Entertainment in early 2000. "Gundam Wing" was a moderate success in the United States while being broadcast on the popular afternoon Toonami block of Cartoon Network. In late 2001, Bandai acquired the rights to distribute an English-dubbed version of "G Gundam" with voice casting recorded by Ocean Productions in their Blue Water studio in Calgary, Alberta. The English-language version of "G Gundam" premiered as a free screening at the Sony Metreon Action Theatre in San Francisco on March 30, 2002. "G Gundam" began airing on Toonami on August 5, 2002. Due to the channel's censorship policies, some edits were made for the broadcast. This mainly involved altering the names of several mobile fighters, such as changing God Gundam and Devil Gundam to Burning Gundam and Dark Gundam respectively. The show was also aired on the channel's "Midnight Run" and as part of its Saturday programming in November 2002. Cartoon Network officially dropped "G Gundam" from its afternoon schedule the following June. The series has since been re-broadcast on the Japanese cable network Family Gekijo and the satellite channel Animax.