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Gundam Build Franchise Gets Live-Action Video by Psycho-Pass Chief Director Katsuyuki Motohiro

Sunrise announced on Friday that it is producing a live-action video based on the Gundam Build spinoff franchise that will celebrate the 40th anniversary of Bandai's Gundam model kit line. Katsuyuki Motohiro is directing the tentatively titled "Shin Gundam Build Divers" (New Gundam Build Divers) video. Sunrise did not announce a release date for the video.

The Gundam Build spinoff of the Gundam franchise began with the Gundam Build Fighters anime in 2013. The anime takes place in a world where people can build Gundam model kits and send them into battle against each other in a virtual battlefield. The franchise received a sequel with Gundam Build Fighters Try in 2015, and Gundam Build Divers in 2018. Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE is the latest entry in the series, and it premiered last October. A second season will premiere this April.

Bandai debuted its first Gundam model kits (commonly referred to as "Gunpla," short for "Gundam plastic model") in 1980, initially offering not only the franchise's iconic mobile suits, but other fighting vehicles. The model kit line has since focused on mobile suits, and has flourished with new designs from newer Gundam series, and updates on older designs. The line offers different "grades" of models, with differing scales, complexity of assembly, and design fidelity.

Motohiro is perhaps best known in anime for being the chief director for the first two Psycho-Pass series and the franchise's 2015 film. He is also the chief director for Atom The Beginning, Human Lost, and the FLCL Progressive and FLCL Alternative projects. He directed the live-action film adaptations of Ajin: Demi-Human and Laughing Under the Clouds. He is also a self-professed avid fan of Gundam models.

Anime studio Production I.G and video and music conglomerate Avex launched the Cinema Lab live-action film label in March 2019. At the time of the announcement, the companies revealed that the label was producing a film or films helmed by directors Mamoru Oshii and Katsuyuki Motohiro.

Sunrise and Legendary Picture are also producing a live-action Hollywood Gundam film, with comic book author Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man, Ex Machina, Runaways) as scriptwriter and executive producer.

Sources: Gundam.info, The Mainichi Shimbun's Mantan Web