Eight Gundam Films Free on BS12 Starting August 9

BS12's Sunday Anime Theater is clearing eight weeks for Mobile Suit Gundam, starting August 9, 2026, and it's all free. The lineup includes remastered versions of the original trilogy, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation films, and two major theatrical releases that haven't aired free before.

Mobile Suit Gundam: Cucuruz Doan's Island lands on August 30 for its first free broadcast. That's the 2022 film that brought a deep-cut side story from the original series back to life—a relatively recent addition to the Gundam canon getting immediate rotation. Four weeks later, on September 27, Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack takes its turn, the 1988 film that closed out the original continuity and remains the franchise's most definitive statement on Amuro and Char's final confrontation.

The remastered trilogy and Zeta films round out the eight-week block. It's a clean, chronological sweep through the foundational Gundam era—the kind of programming that signals either a major anniversary push or a deliberate effort to funnel viewers into the franchise's deep end. Either way, it's the sort of access that typically requires a subscription or a disc purchase, now handed over for nothing but a TV tuner.

For casual viewers, this is a rare gateway. For the already-committed, it's a chance to revisit the remastered cuts without friction. The timing matters: free, consecutive, prime-time slots across eight weeks is the kind of real estate broadcasters don't usually surrender to a single franchise unless there's serious institutional backing behind it. Sunrise and BS12 are betting that Gundam's pull hasn't dimmed.

Source: Anime Anime