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No, it's not the next C.E. series or the...long awaited SEED Destiny Supernova. Here is a link to the official site, along with a short teaser here. The title is Kidou Senshi Gundam 00(pronounced double O), very little information is known, but according to the preview, those who can pilot Gundams are known as Meisters. They are part of an organization called the Celestial Beings, a group that is paid to stop wars. Nothing too clear about this, but it sounds like they work for whoever pays the most. This will be the first series to take place in the A.D. calendar, taking place in 2370. And the most persistently rumored staff members, directing, FMA's Seiji Mizushima, writing, from s.CRY.ed and Trigun, Yosuke Kuroda, character designers, Yun Kouga from Loveless.

First thing I'm happy about? No more Hisashi Hirai! I really like the character designs, it's great to actually get some diversity back into the franchise again, looks like a mix of Yun Kouga and CLAMP's work. Of course I doubt CLAMP would be involved, but it would be interesting to see them in a Gundam series. The Gundams themselves look a lot more basic than the SEED Gundams looked off the bat, I hope that means we won't have uber owning of enemies every other episode.

And for people surprised that the next series wasn't a C.E., it's been known for a while. Sunrise's Yasuo Miyakawa stated last year that they want to set up three main fan "pillars" for the Gundam world, U.C., C.E. and a new world to attract new viewers. This doesn't meant we'll never get series outside of those three worlds, but apparently these are going to be the main focus of the franchise from now on. The series will air at 6:00 PM on Saturday, something considered a prime time slot in Japan. The last few shows to have that slot were Gundam SEED, Full Metal Alchemist, Gundam SEED Destiny, and Blood+.

New info:


Setsuna F (Fanron) Seiei:

A Gundam Meister for the Celestial Being. He grew up in the war torn middle east and was discovered by Celestial Being at the age of 14 to have the special potential as a pilot. He doesn't speak much and comes off as a cool young man. He is now 16 years old.

Celestial Being:

The mysterious organization that strives to end all wars and change the world with only 4 Mobile Suits. Aside from the aim to put an end to all warfare, they have no ties to any government, is strictly non-profit and subscribes to no particular ideology..

There was also a bit of stuff the director said about the show. They want it set in AD to have the show's political views reflect that of the current world. There are three major factions in the series, The Union, a group made of the US, Japan, Canada, and Australia. Then there's People's Reform Federation, made of China, Russia, and India. Finally, the Celestial Being, a group made up of refugees and deserters who strive for a world free of war, despite having only four mobile suits, they are a formidable force.

Now, for background information on a few the confirmed staff, first, the director.

Seiji Mizushima (director)

His most noteable work is Full Metal Alchemist, but he has also worked on Gao Gai Gar, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Dai-Guard and Generator Gawl.

Yun Kouga (character designer)
She was the mangaka for Loveless and has done work on some minor OVAs, Gundam 00 is her first major project.

Takayuki Yanase (head mechanic designer)

He has worked on a number of projects in the past, his first was Gundam X. He's also done Zegapain, Darker Than Black, Eureka 7, and he is the current head of the show that 00 is replacing, Towards the Terra.

Pictures from Newtype: Gundam Excia, 01, 02.

Whoo hoo! New Mobile Suit Gundam 00 goodies!

Starting from the top...

• We now have a name for the blue Gundam shown in the teaser: the Gundam Excia.
  
  
• Its "Meister" is the dark-haired boy at the end of the trailer, whose name is Setsuna Fanron Seiei. He grew up in the "wor-torn" Middle East and was discovered by "Celestial Being" when he was 14 to have great potential as a pilot. He's rather quiet and comes off as cold. He's currently 16 years of age.
  
  
• "Celestial Being" is a "mysterious" non-profit, politically-unaffiliated, non-ideological organization that is attempting to single-handedly stop armed conflict with only the four GUNDAMs that it created.
  
  
• The GUNDAM Mobile Suits were created independently by "Celestial Being," and far surpass anything the two warring superpoweres have to offer. Each is designed to decimate entire armies individually.
  
  
• Our new power-generator of choice is called a "Solar Generator," which is really just a common name for a generator known as the "GN Drive." I'm not actually sure how it works yet, but apparently it somehow uses the power of the Sun to destroy matter (emitting positrons and photons) to create electrical energy. It also doesn't give off any excess heat as a by-product. Compact versions of these Generators are what power the GUNDAMs.
  
  
• This series' Minovsky particle-wannabe is the GN particle, which seems to be an abnormal neutrion that was stumbled upon by the scientific community accidentally. They're the origin of the research that led to the GN Drive, and when a GN Drive is activated, these particles are automatically created. And yes, they do mess with radio waves.
  
  
• The two warring superpowers seem to be the Union (America, Japan, Canada, and Australia), and the People's Reform Alliance (China, Russia, India).
  
  
• There appear to be (gasp! Gundam first!) no space colonies. At least, none have been mentioned so far.

Continue discussing!