The Hind End of Space

gundamcockpit-mk2:

Illustrations by Kunio Owakara.

(Official Art)

Tomino ask Okawara to continue to work with him on a new robot-oriented television project that he had tentatively named “Gunboy.” In a then unheard-of move, Tomino instructed Okawara to design more “realistic,” practically-designed title mecha for the series, closer to lines of the “powered armor” described in the Robert A. Heinlein novel “Starship Troopers,” rather than the fanciful iron giants depicted since the airing of Mazinger Z. The result would be Mobile Suit Gundam: a show which would cause a model kit boom in Japan and spark a new interest in mecha design, as well as originate the entire Real Robot genre prevalent among televised anime in the 1980s.

(Source: ilikeelderberryicecream)