Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
The series aired in Japan on the terrestrial TV Asahi network. It ran for 49 episodes; beginning on April 7, 1995 and ending on March 29, 1996. It received multiple manga adaptations, as well as video games. Four original video animation (OVA) episodes were produced including a retelling of the series, "Operation Meteor", and a direct sequel, "". In 2010, Sumizawa started writing the novel "", another sequel to the series. While the series fared modestly well in Japan, it found greater success in the United States and popularized the "Gundam" franchise in the West.
History of anime
The shift towards space operas became more pronounced with the commercial success of "Star Wars" (1977). This allowed for the space opera "Space Battleship Yamato" (1974) to be revived as a theatrical film. "Mobile Suit Gundam" (1979) was also unsuccessful and revived as a theatrical film in 1982. The success of the theatrical versions of "Yamato" and "Gundam" is seen as the beginning of the anime boom of the 1980s, and of "Japanese Cinema's Second Golden Age".