Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダム サンダーボルト, Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu Sandāboruto) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Superior since March 2012, with its chapters collected in twenty-four tankōbon volumes as of July 2024. The story takes place in the Universal Century timeline during and after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam. The manga is licensed in English Viz Media in North America and by Shogakukan Asia in Southeast Asia.
An original net animation (ONA) series adaptation by Sunrise was released between December 2015 and April 2016. A second part was released between March and July 2017.
Plot
The series takes place concurrently with Mobile Suit Gundam, during the One Year War but is not canonical to the original anime.[2] In U.C. 0079, the Earth Federation's Moore Brotherhood and the Principality of Zeon's Living Dead Division engage in a fierce battle in the "Thunderbolt Sector" (サンダーボルト宙域, Sandāboruto Chū-iki), a shoal zone littered with debris from destroyed space colonies, named for its frequent electrical discharges. Since the outbreak of the war, Zeon forces have secured the Thunderbolt Sector as it is a vital supply route to the Zeon-aligned A Baoa Qu asteroid fortress. The story focuses on Federation soldier Io Fleming as he battles Zeon's best sniper, Daryl Lorenz.
Characters
Moore Brotherhood
The Moore Brotherhood (ムーア同胞団, Mūa Dōhō-dan) is an Earth Federation squadron consisting of former residents of the space colonies of Side 4: Moore, with the intent of punishing the Principality of Zeon for destroying their homeland.
A Federation Ensign who enjoys pounding his drum sticks on his mobile suit cockpit console to free jazz music on his pirate radio receiver. Prior to the One Year War, Io, along with his friends Claudia Peer and Cornelius Qaqa, participated in air racing events in Side 4. His father, who was Mayor of Side 4, had committed suicide during the outbreak of the war. Io is part of a GM squadron sortied to break through the sniper lines of the Thunderbolt Sector when his GM is shot down before he manages to eject his cockpit block. He sneaks through the debris, kills Zeon pilot Hoover, and commandeers his Rick Dom before returning to the Moore Brotherhood fleet. Using the sniper data extracted from the Rick Dom, Io pilots the Federation's new Full Armor Gundam prototype to flush out the Zeon Big Gun units stationed all over the sector, boasting that the sound of jazz music marks his presence. Following a grueling battle between the Full Armor Gundam and the Psycho Zaku, Io is captured by Zeon reinforcements along with the surviving members of the Moore Brotherhood. He is beaten to a pulp by members of the Living Dead Division while in captivity aboard the Chivvay-class ship en route to A Baoa Qu. The ship crashes on A Baoa Qu's surface when the Earth Federation stages Operation Star One: an assault on the Zeon asteroid fortress on 31 December, U.C. 0079. In the midst of the chaos, Io breaks out of his cell and kills the remaining guards before reuniting with his comrades.
Seven months after the One Year War, Io is assigned as the pilot of the RX-78AL Atlas Gundam and joins the crew of the Federation warship Spartan.
Captain of the Beehive. Claudia finds her position uneasy, especially with Io as her lover. She is further disgusted when the Earth Federation sends teenage pilots to her fleet as reinforcements. The war takes a huge toll on her, as she resorts to taking depressant drugs before Io snaps her out of an overdose. During the last leg of the Moore Brotherhood's operation, her fleet is destroyed and she is shot by her XO Graham, who blames her and the Brotherhood elites for the death of his family. Eight months after the One Year War, Claudia is revealed to have survived the gunshot and is currently a commander in the South Seas Alliance.
Cornelius Kaka (コーネリアス・カカ, Kōneriasu Kaka)
Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa (Japanese); Christian La Monte (English)
An engineer aboard the Beehive and Io's best friend. As Io seemingly has an allergic reaction that causes him to sneeze in the hangar, Cornelius often lends him a pack of tissues. Following the events of the One Year War, Cornelius is reassigned to the Spartan as the ship's engineer.
A Federation XO aboard the Beehive. He is uncomfortable with serving under Claudia. After the Beehive is severely damaged by the Psycho Zaku, Graham shoots Claudia before he is consumed by the ship's final explosion.
Spartan crew
The Spartan (スパルタン, Suparutan) is a Pegasus-class warship that serves as the protagonists' base in the series' second season.
Bianca Carlyle (ビアンカ・カーライル, Bianka Kārairu)
Voiced by: Yurina Furukawa
A Federation Ensign who initially pilots an RGM-79 GM during Operation Star One. After the One Year War, she is assigned the Guncannon Aqua aboard the Spartan. Like Io, Bianca is a jazz enthusiast. She sports several tattoos on her body that represent her numerous battles during and after the One Year War.
A Federation Captain aboard the Spartan. During Operation Star One, she led a special forces team to capture the Flanagan Institute labs and acquire Zeon's psycommu technology.
The Living Dead Division (リビング・デッド師団, Ribingu Deddo Shidan) is a Principality of Zeon squadron made of amputee pilots fitted with metal prosthetic limbs. The division is assigned to defend the Thunderbolt Sector from the Federation.
A Zeon Chief Petty Officer and ace sniper. He carries with him a retro-style radio he has owned since childhood that plays pop oldies. As an infantryman, Daryl lost his legs from mortar fire during a landing raid on an enemy colony in the first half of the One Year War. While fighting against Io during a skirmish in the Thunderbolt Sector, he loses his left hand after the Full Armor Gundam pierces through his Zaku I with its beam saber. After much deliberation by the Living Dead Division to hasten the Reuse P. Device project, Daryl has his right hand amputated so his body can have full control of the experimental Psycho Zaku. Following a grueling battle with the Full Armor Gundam, Daryl is rescued by Zeon reinforcements and he sets his critically damaged Psycho Zaku to self-destruct. During the final battle between the Federation and Zeon at A Baoa Qu, Daryl is issued a Gelgoog unit, but has difficulty using the manual controls with his prosthetic arms.
Following the end of the One Year War, Daryl joins a Zeon Remnant army stationed in the South Pacific.
A Zeon scientist who is part of the "Reuse P.(shortened of "Psycho") Device" (RPD) (リユース・Ｐ（サイコ）・デバイス, Riyūsu Pī(saiko) Debaisu) project. Her father was a historian who was sent to prison after being marked by Zeon as a dissident, and she is serving the Zeon military in hopes of her father's release. Karla supplies the Living Dead Division's pilots with their prosthetics and cares heavily about them. After Hoover is shot dead by Io, Karla asks Daryl to avenge him and kill Io. She is sent into a catatonic state after witnessing her comrades vaporized by a GM Cannon's beam saber while attempting to self-destruct the Dried Fish. She wakes up after the One Year War, but the mental trauma causes her mind to regress to an adolescent state.
A Zeon scientist in charge of the RPD project. He treats the Living Dead Division pilots as lab rats. During the evacuation of the Dried Fish, Sexton sneaks through a pile of injured soldiers and jumps into an escape pod. He was later seen as a member of the South Seas Alliance.
Burroughs (バロウズ, Barousu)
Voiced by: Mutsumi Sasaki (Japanese); Scott Williams (English)
Captain of the Dried Fish, the Living Dead Division's flagship. Like the division's pilots, Burroughs is an amputee, sporting a prosthetic right arm. He and his main crew are killed after the Full Armor Gundam fires at the Dried Fish's bridge.
Sean Mitadera (ショーン・ミタデラ, Shōn Mitadera)
Voiced by: Shinya Hamazoe (Japanese); Ivan Nemer (English)
A Zaku pilot with prosthetic arms. He is seemingly killed by Io when the latter uses his Zaku as a shield against Daryl, but in fact survives and relocates to Earth after the war concludes, working as a member of an independent salvage company.
Hoover (フーバー, Fūbā)
Voiced by: Kent Itō (Japanese); Jamison Boaz (English)
A Rick Dom pilot with a prosthetic left arm, he is described by Daryl as a "playboy-wannabe". Hoover is shot in the head by Io, who then hijacks his Rick Dom to leak the Living Dead Division's sniper positions to the Moore Brotherhood.
Fisher Ness (フィッシャー・ネス, Fisshā Nesu)
Voiced by: Ryōsuke Morita (Japanese); Chris Jai Alex (English)
A Rick Dom pilot with prosthetic legs. During the final battle between the Moore Brotherhood and the Living Dead Division, he retreats to rendezvous with Zeon reinforcements to rescue his comrades. Fisher and Daryl become part of a Zeon Remnant army in the South Pacific after the One Year War.
A Gattle pilot and Daryl's close friend. After firing a direct hit on the Beehive with a Big Gun, he is killed by the Moore Brotherhood fleet's countering fire.
Keith Meyers (キース・マイヤーズ, Kīsu Maiyāzu)
Voiced by: Hiroshi Murata (Japanese); Wayne Grayson (English)
Denver Roche (デンバー・ローチ, Denbā Rōchi)
Voiced by: Keisuke Kōmoto (Japanese); Daniel J. Edwards (English)
A Zeon soldier who wears a black face mask and has a prosthetic leg. During the Moore Brotherhood's takeover of the Dried Fish, Denver detonates a suicide bomb in the vessel's armory.
A Grublo mobile armor pilot and baseball enthusiast who collects bobbleheads of baseball players. During the Antarctica skirmish, Bull faces the Atlas Gundam underwater. Despite heavily damaging his opponent, he is defeated by the Gundam's agility, and his mobile armor is crushed by the pressure of the deep sea.
South Seas Alliance
The South Seas Alliance (南洋同盟, Nan'yō Dōmei) is a Buddhist radical cult faction aligned with the Earth Federation until U.C. 0080, when it calls for independence. Its military consists primarily of mobile suits cobbled together from Federation and Zeon units from the One Year War. Intelligence reports reveal that the South Sea Alliance possesses the remains of Daryl's Psycho Zaku and plans to mass-produce its Reuse P. Device technology.
Levan Fuu (レヴァン・フウ, Revuan Fū)
Voiced by:
The Reverend and leader of the South Seas Alliance. He was once a test child for the Principality of Zeon to develop the perfect Newtype until the experiments damaged his brain. Following the One Year War, he converted to Buddhism and used his Newtype abilities to create his cult.
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt is written and illustrated by Yasuo Ohtagaki. In November 2011, Ohtagaki announced that he would put his other manga series, Moonlight Mile, on hiatus to start a new project,[5] which was later revealed to be a (originally planned) Gundam mini-series.[6]Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt started in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Big Comic Superior magazine on 23 March 2012.[7][8] In February 2022, it was announced that the manga had entered its final stage;[9] however, in October of the same year, Ohtagaki stated that he had planned to continue the manga "for another five to six years".[10] Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on 30 October 2012.[11] As of 30 July 2024 twenty-four volumes have been released.[12]
North American publisher Viz Media announced their license to the series during their panel at Anime Expo on 1 July 2016.[13]
A 4-episode original net animation adaptation, produced by Sunrise, was confirmed on 28 October 2015.[62][63] It was directed and written by Kō Matsuo, with character designs from Hirotoshi Takaya and mechanical designs from Morifumi Naka, Seiichi Nakatani and Hajime Katoki. It premiered on 25 December 2015 with the last episode officially aired on 8 April 2016 via pay to watch service in Japan, with early access from the Gundam Fan Club app service on 11 December 2015.[64][65][66][67] The first episode was streamed outside Japan for a limited time from 25 December 2015 to 7 January 2016. A 4-episode second season was announced by Bandai Visual on 18 November 2016[68] and premiered on 24 March 2017.[69] Sunrise announced in the 2017 Anime Expo that the second season will receive an English dub.[70]
Episodes
No.
Release date
1
25 December 2015 (2015-12-25)
The Moore Brotherhood's Beehive flagship launches a squadron of GMs across the Thunderbolt Sector to break through the Principality of Zeon's defenses, only to be shot down by the Living Dead Division and their Big Gun units. Io Fleming, who manages to eject from his GM, guns down a Rick Dom pilot before commandeering the mobile suit and returning to the Beehive with the sniper location data. He is then assigned to pilot the new Full Armor Gundam prototype, which he uses to flush out three Big Gun units. Living Dead Division ace sniper Daryl Lorenz vows to avenge his fallen comrades and kill Io.
2
12 February 2016 (2016-02-12)
During the Full Armor Gundam's second sortie in the Thunderbolt Sector, Io once again confronts Daryl. Daryl narrowly escapes after throwing a Cracker grenade at the Gundam, but he loses his left hand in the process. As the Living Dead Division is desperate to hasten the Reuse P. Device project to combat the Gundam, Daryl has his right hand amputated so that his body will have full control of the experimental Psycho Zaku.
3
18 March 2016 (2016-03-18)
The Moore Brotherhood receives reinforcements from the Earth Federation, but the new mobile suit pilots are young teenagers, much to Io's chagrin. Feeling the pressure of the war, Claudia resorts to drugs before Io snaps her out of an overdose. Io leads the young cadets to break through the Living Dead Division's final defenses, but the battle becomes a massacre due to the young pilots' inexperience.
4
22 April 2016 (2016-04-22)
With both sides suffering massive casualties, the Full Armor Gundam engages in a final showdown with the Psycho Zaku. Meanwhile, the surviving members of the Moore Brotherhood board the Dried Fish to take it over, but the remaining members of the Living Dead Division refuse to be taken prisoner and plan to self-destruct the vessel along with everyone on board. The Federation survivors manage to neutralize the Zeon crew and seize the Dried Fish, while Io and Daryl's battle results in heavy damage to both of their mobile suits. A Zeon reinforcement fleet then arrives and captures Io and the Federation survivors while rescuing any remaining Living Dead members.
5
24 March 2017 (2017-03-24)
During the Earth Federation's assault on the Zeon's A Baoa Qu fortress, Io and his comrades escape captivity while several Zeon forces retreat, taking Io's Gundam with them. Eight months after the end of the One Year War, the Federation continues to battle Zeon remnants on Earth. The Federation carrier Spartan enters Earth orbit, but a Musai-class ship launches its Komusai shuttle for a kamikaze run on it. Suddenly, a new Gundam piloted by Io is launched from below and it slices the Komusai in half to save the Spartan.
6
28 April 2017 (2017-04-28)
The South Seas Alliance, a Buddhist radical cult faction of the Federation, plots to declare itself independent. Furthermore, it is discovered that they possess the Reuse P. Device technology of Daryl's Psycho Zaku. The Spartan is assigned to track and destroy the Psycho Zaku before the South Seas Alliance can mass-produce the technology. In Antarctica, Bianca's squadron is ambushed by Zeon mobile suits. Io sorties in the Atlas Gundam and dispatches the enemy units before facing a Grublo mobile armor. The battle sends both units far too deep underwater and Io with his equipment lost slowly sinks to the bottom of the sea, but Bianca in her damaged Guncannon Aqua lifts him back to the surface.
7
31 May 2017 (2017-05-31)
Due to the emotional trauma Karla suffered during the One Year War, her mind has regressed to that of an adolescent child with the Zeon Remnants now trying to take care of her in hopes of her adult mind to recover. Daryl's Acguy squadron heads to a South Seas Alliance-controlled city in Southeast Asia to retrieve a spy, but their cover is blown and they must fend off the island's mobile Suits. Meanwhile, the Spartan is confronted by a South Seas Alliance mobile suit Squadron, with Io's former commander and lover Claudia leading them.
8
14 July 2017 (2017-07-14)
Tensions flare between the Spartan and the South Seas Alliance which results in a full on battle while Daryl's team is also having trouble in their hands finding their way out against a counterattack by the cult group. During the battle, several cultists break into the Spartan while Daryl manages to extract the Zeon spy out of the island. Meanwhile, Io and Bianca storm through the squadron of Dodai YS units to take back Claudia, but they are thwarted by Gouf pilot Chow Ming. The cultists boarding the Spartan are quickly repelled, but not before passing an item to a spy. Despite the temporary victory, Io learns that the leader of the South Seas Alliance, Levan Fuu, is a Newtype using his powers to brainwash his followers.
Films
A theatrical compilation film of the first season titled Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky (機動戦士ガンダム サンダーボルト DECEMBER SKY, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Sandāboruto Dissenbā Sukai) was released in Japanese theaters on 25 June 2016 with the Blu-ray release on 29 July 2016.[71][72] Sunrise and Anime Limited distributed the film outside Japan.[73] A theatrical compilation film of the second season titled Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower (機動戦士ガンダム サンダーボルト BANDIT FLOWER, Kidō Senshi Gandamu Sandāboruto Banditto Furawā) was released in Japanese theaters between 18 November – 1 December 2017.[74]
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