Manga launched in 2010 as part of MSV-R design project
© Ark Performance, Kunio Okawara, Yoshiyuki Tomino, Hajime Yatate, Bandai Namco Filmworks, Kadokawa
The September issue of Kadokawa‘s Gundam Ace magazine published the final chapter of Ark Performance‘s Mobile Suit Gundam MSV-R: Johnny Ridden no Kikan (The Return of Johnny Ridden) manga on Wednesday. The manga’s 26th and final compiled book volume will ship on September 26.
The story begins in U.C.0090 with a Federation investigative committee that is doing research on little known mobile suits used towards the tail end of the One-Year War, as well as their pilots. One such pilot is the Zeon ace Johnny Ridden.
The manga features and showcases mobile suit designs from the Gundam franchise‘s MSV-R (Mobile Suit Variations R) project, which is not a story, but instead a series of variations on existing U.C. mobile suit designs, or original designs by mecha designer Kunio Okawara. The designs have been compiled in a number of sourcebooks, and featured narratively in some spinoff manga, of which Johnny Ridden no Kikan is a part of.
Mobile Suit Gundam MSV-R: Johnny Ridden no Kikan launched in Gundam Ace in April 2010. Kadokawa published the manga’s 25th volume on March 25.
Ark Performance and Koujirou Nakamura produced the Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight AXIS novel in Yatate Bunko — Sunrise’s light novel imprint — in November 2016. The novel inspired six-episode series of net anime shorts. The first episode debuted with English subtitles in June 2017. The novels also inspired a manga.
Ark Performance launched the ongoing Arpeggio of Blue Steel manga in Shonengahosha‘s Young King Ours magazine in 2009. Seven Seas Entertainment is publishing the manga in print in North America, and Crunchyroll is publishing the manga online. The manga inspired a television anime, which Crunchyroll streamed as it aired in Japan in 2013, and two anime films.
Source: Gundam Ace September issue
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
Disclosure: Kadokawa World Entertainment (KWE), a wholly owned subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation, is the majority owner of Anime News Network, LLC. One or more of the companies mentioned in this article are part of the Kadokawa Group of Companies.
