Gundam’s Yoshiyuki Tomino Will Become a Person of Cultural Merit

The Japanese government will hold an annual honoring ceremony for Persons of Cultural Merit at The Okura Tokyo hotel on November 4, 2021. It will give honors to people who have made significant contributions to the country’s culture. One of the new recipients listed for the 2021 ceremony will be Yoshiyuki Tomino, the anime creator best known for Mobile Suit Gundam. [Thanks, Game Watch!]

Born in 1941, Yoshiyuki Tomino has been instrumental in establishing the Japanese anime industry. Tomino started his career by writing the screenplay for Astro Boy, the first anime show to air in Japan in 1963. He also created Super Robot shows like Zambot 3 and Daitarn 3.

However, Tomino’s name eventually rose to the highest prominence after creating Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. Gundam was the anime show that popularized the Real Robot genre, where combat robots appear as realistic military armaments instead of mighty superheroes.

While Tomino would create more Gundam titles, he also made many other mecha shows, such as Ideon, Dunbine, L-Gaim, Brain Powerd, and Overman King Gainer. The latest title that Tomino personally created to date was Gundam: Reconguista in G in 2014.

Yoshiyuki Tomino will receive the Person of Cultural Merit honor on the day right before his 80th birthday, on November 5, 2021. Prior recipients for the merit included Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki in 2012 and Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto in 2019.