SD Gundam
SD Gundam is a media franchise that spawned from the Gundam franchise. SD Gundam takes the mecha from Gundam and expresses them in a super deformed and anthropomorphic style.
Overview
SD Gundam began when a student designer, Koji Yokoi, submitted super-deformed Gundam illustrations to Bandai’s in-house hobby magazine Mokei Jōhō. The magazine’s editor-in-chief, Satoshi Katō, invited Yokoi to serialize SD 4-panel comics, and through the editor’s introduction Yokoi met Bandai’s capsule-toy staff, an encounter that catalyzed the “super deformed” product concept and early SD character designs.The super-deformed format proved ideal for capsule toys: in 1985 Bandai launched the PVC capsule-figure line Gashapon Senshi Series: SD Gundam World. Contemporary official guides describe the line’s one-color PVC figures, of which consumers can obtain typically one or two per ¥100 capsule, an ideal price point for the school-age target, and the pencil-mounting leg holes that made them easy to play with. These features helped drive a late-’80s boom sometimes said to rival the “mainline” Gundam brand in popularity. The SD banner then expanded rapidly across model kits, manga, Carddass trading cards, anime, and video games.
By the early 1990s SD had also spun off distinct sub-series with their own settings: SD Sengokuden with a Sengoku motif, SD Gundam Gaiden in a fantasy milieu, and SD Command Chronicles with modern-military styling.
Animated works
Animated works based on SD Gundam are generally adapted from existing toy lines or manga and are animated by Sunrise.- Mobile Suit SD Gundam
- Doozy Bots
- SD Gundam Mushaparaku ~Shin Musha Tanjō~
- Superior Defender Gundam Force
- Gundam Evolve
- SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors
- SD Gundam World Sangoku Soketsuden
- '
Manga works
Musha Gundam series
Musha Gundam are Gundam units modelled after samurai, ninja, or other forms of feudal Japanese warriors. Musha Gundam first appeared in "Plamo-Kyoshiro"<プラモ狂四郎>. In the story, the SD Gundam is an original Gundam created by Kyoshiro for a showdown with Shigeru. The original design of the SD form Musha Gundam is credited to Koichi Yamato, and Yasui Hisashi. The story of Musha Gundam, SD Sengokuden, originated from the manga "Seven Gundams" of the "Comic World" series by MARSHI. The Musha Gundam series is the longest running SD Gundam series, since the series is set in the Warring States period the use of katakana is avoided, and kanji is used heavily.| English name | Japanese name | Author | Volumes | Reference |
| Chou Musha Gundam Bushin Kirahagane | 超SD戦国伝 武神輝羅鋼 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| Chou Musha Gundam Touba Daishougun | Masahiro Kanda | |||
| Musha Banchō Fūunroku | SDガンダム武者番長風雲録 | Masato Ichishiki | ||
| SD Gundam Force Emaki Musharetsuden Bukabuka Hen | SDガンダムフォース絵巻 武者烈伝 武化舞可編 | Masato Ichishiki | ||
| SD Gundam Force Emaki Musharetsuden Zero | Susumu Imaishi | |||
| SD Gundam Musha Generation | SDガンダム ムシャジェネレーション | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| SD Gundam Mushamaruden | SD頑駄無 武者○伝 | Masato Ichishiki | ||
| SD Gundam Mushamaruden 2 | SD頑駄無 武者○伝 | Masato Ichishiki | ||
| SD Gundam Mushamaruden 3 | SD頑駄無 武者○伝 | Masato Ichishiki | ||
| SD Gundam Sangokuden Eiyuu Gekitotsu Hen | BB戦士 三国伝 | Kentarō Yano | ||
| SD Gundam Sangokuden Fuuun Gouketsu Hen | BB戦士 三国伝 | Tokita Koichi | ||
| SD Musha Gundam Fuunroku | Masahiro Kanda | |||
| SD Sengokuden Fuurinkazan Hen | SD戦国伝 風林火山編 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| SD Sengokuden Musha Shichinin Shuu Hen | SD戦国伝 武者七人衆編 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| SD Sengokuden Tenka Touitsu Hen | SD戦国伝 天下統一編 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| Shin Musha Gundam Chou Kidou Daishougun | 新SD戦国伝 超機動大将軍 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| Shin Musha Gundam Musha Senki Hakari no Hengen Hen | ムシャ戦記 光の変幻編 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| Shin Musha Gundam Shichinin no Choushougun | Masahiro Kanda | |||
| Shin SD Sengokuden Densetsu no Daishougun Hen | 新SD戦国伝 伝説の大将軍編 | Masahiro Kanda | ||
| Shin SD Sengokuden Tensei Shichinin Shuu | Masahiro Kanda | |||
| SD Gundam World Sangoku Sōketsuden: Enkotan | Takuya Yamanaka | |||
| SD Gundam World Sangoku Sōketsuden: Sōshōki | Takuya Yamanaka |
Knight Gundam series
Knight Gundam is part of the SD Gundam franchise, a sub-franchise of the popular Gundam anime. In Knight Gundam, Gundam mecha and characters are reimagined as knights, sorcerers and other fantasy and medieval European character types. Knight Gundam is a series that took elements from Japanese role playing games, such as the Dragon Quest series, into SD Gundam. The knight style SD Gundam designs are devised by Koji Yokoi and soon Knight Gundam became an independent series like Musha Gundam.The series first started on Carddas trading cards with the story set in the "Saddarc World". Soon after it expanded to Gashapons, plastic models, manga and games. The Gundams in the Knight Gundam series are portrayed as living beings just like in the Musha Gundam series. But later on in the series giant robots known as "Kihei" were introduced thus creating a weird picture of a Gundam piloting a Gundam. Also different from Musha Gundam, Knight Gundam has important human characters like Knight Amuro and Princess Frau throughout the whole series.
| English name | Japanese name | Author | Volumes | Reference |
| SD Gundam Gaiden Knight Gundam Monogatari | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| SD Gundam Gaiden Knight Gundam Monogatari Special | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| Knight Gundam Kikoushin Densetsu | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| Knight Gundam Maryuu Zero no Kishiden | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| Knight Gundam Gold Saga | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| Knight Gundam Gaitoushin Senki | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| Knight Gundam Seiden | Ryuuichi Hoshino | |||
| SD Gundam Eiyuden | Kōichi Tokita |
Others
- SD Gundam Daibokan G Vehicle
- SD Gundam Fullcolor Gekijou by Azuma Yuki <あずま 勇輝>
Game works
Below is a rough list of game works, a more accurate and complete list is available at the Japanese wiki entry.
- SD Gundam Gachapon Senshi series
- SD Sengokuden series
- SD Gundam Side Story series
- SD Gundam Eiyūden series
- SD Gundam Arcade series
- SD Gundam G Generation series
- SD Gundam Force
- SD Gundam Force: Showdown!
- SD Gundam Dimension War - a turn-based strategy game for the Virtual Boy. It is one of the console's rarest games. Along with Virtual Bowling this game was the last video game officially released for the Virtual Boy in Japan. Dimension War is notable for the video game debut of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.
The SD Gundam designs were also used throughout the earlier Super Robot Wars games, as can be seen by the pupils present in the eyes of the various Mobile Suits that appeared. From SRW Alpha and beyond, however, the eyes of Mobile Suits remain blank, though the robots themselves are still super-deformed. The only exceptions are in Shin Super Robot Wars and the Scramble Commander series, where all series featured in these games used real-sized designs instead of the traditional SD-sized ones.
A real-sized Musha Gundam has been placed as a hidden, unlockable unit in Dynasty Warriors: Gundam series. Particular SD Gundams that has been converted to normal sizes are confirmed to participate in the Gundam War trading card game.