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 Suit Gundam SEED
Bandai Entertainment licensed the animation of "Gundam SEED" on February 15, 2004, and it began airing in the United States and Canada in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The English adaptation was produced in association with The Ocean Group and the English-language dub was recorded at Ocean Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The series was released on ten DVDs in bilingual format between August 10, 2004, and May 10, 2005. The epilogue was not released on the North American DVD release because it was not licensed to Bandai Entertainment by Sunrise; however, it was released on the final European DVD release. Beez Entertainment also published the series in ten DVDs from June 13, 2005 to March 6, 2006. A two part box set called the "Anime Legends Edition" was released on January 8, 2008, and March 4, 2008, with each set containing five DVDs.