Back in 2000, Sunrise launched Gear Fighter Dendoh : a sci-fi mecha series about two young heroes co-piloting a massive giant robot. To mark the anime's 25th anniversary, the studio is revisiting the series through new artwork, a sequel novel project, an alloy figure and more. Mechanical designer Junichi Akutsu returns to illustrate the anniversary visual (seen above), featuring new artwork of main units Dendoh and Ogre. Akutsu has also created color concept art of Neo Data Weapons: upgraded versions of the show's animal-themed Data Weapons. These previously unused concepts will appear in future projects, including novels, toys and game collaborations. Data Weapon Upgrades Unicorn Drill Iruma Leo Circle Aura Dragon Flare Yuu RELATED: Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX Staff on Bringing Newtypes into a New Century The novel project, titled Gear Fighter Dendoh METEOR , will take place three years after the final episode of the anime. Ginga and Hokuto, the two young pilots of Dendoh, meet a mysterious girl named Kate, kicking off a new battle. Ukyo Kodachi, who penned the script for yuusha manga series Brave Universe Sworgrader , will write the novel under the supervision of series director Mitsuo Fukuda and producer Naotake Furusato. Last but not least, plans are afoot for new alloy figures of Dendoh, Ogre and the Neo Data Weapons: An official X (formerly Twitter) account has opened for the series, and will offer further updates on anniversary activities. Gear Fighter Dendoh premiered in Japan on October 4, 2000 and ran for a total of 38 episodes. The series followed Ginga and Hokuto, two young boys tasked with gathering Data Weapons and piloting the robot Dendoh. Since the anime's run, its characters and robots have appeared in multiple Super Robot Wars video game titles, as well as a PlayStation 1 game in 2001. Source: Comic Natalie
