In the campaign for Japan’s recent upper house elections, Taro Yamamoto, the leader of the Reiwa Shinsengumi party released a sketch-like video in which he cosplayed as Mobile Suit Gundam character Quattro Bajeena. However, this move attracted backlash from many Japanese commenters on social media, and prompted the anime franchise’s production studio to release an official statement denying their involvement (as previously reported by Automaton).
It’s not unusual for less prominent political parties with a smaller support base to come up with eye-catching ways to attract voters (UK readers need look no further than former LibDem leader Ed Davey’s stunt campaigns). Japan’s Reiwa Shinsengumi is a smaller center-left party, led by actor-turned-politician Taro Yamamoto. With anime voice actress Maya Okamoto on the ballot slip in the June 20 upper house election, they decided to produce a sketch-like video introducing her as their candidate.
In the video, filmed in front of the giant Gundam statue at DiverCity Tokyo, Yamamoto cosplays as Quattro Bajeena, complete with bright red outfit, a blond wig and sunglasses. Quattro Bajeena appears in the 1985 series Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, which was re-worked into a film trilogy in the early 2000s. In this part of the Gundam franchise, Maya Okamoto voices Emma Sheen. The video is quirky, with Yamamoto quipping to Okamoto that he is dressed normally, and introduces Okamoto’s campaign “to protect Japanese pop culture” by standing against Japan’s Qualified Invoicing System. Implemented in 2023, the invoice system has proven especially unpopular with animators, filmmakers and other freelance creatives, as it has increased the amount of tax they have to pay by around 10% (source: Japan Times).
Posted on Reiwa Shinsengumi’s official YouTube on July 18, the video got many positive responses from supporters who appreciated both its comical tone and Okamoto’s stance on protecting Japan’s pop culture. However, the video received much more backlash on the party’s official X account. Although some of the negativity appeared to be from accounts holding opposing political views, many of the critical comments disapproved of the use of Gundam for political purposes in general. And some questioned whether the party had got permission to use the characters in the first place.
This attention prompted Mobile Suit Gundam’s production company, Sunrise Studios, to make an official statement on July 22. The company, which is now part of Bandai Namco Filmworks, specified that it did not give permission for the usage and does not endorse any particular candidate.
Even neutral or approving users on X questioned Yamamoto’s choice of character to cosplay. Quattro Bajeena is the alter-ego that antihero Char Aznable takes on when he is fighting the corrupt Earth Federation alongside Gundam’s main characters. However, Char is a complicated antagonist for most of the Gundam arcs in which he appears.
Spoilers for Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack — at his most villianous, he even tries to drop an asteroid on Earth to create a nuclear winter. As commenters suggested, this is perhaps not the most suitable character for a politician to associate themselves with. “If he had to (cosplay as a Gundam character), it would have been better to go with Bright or Amuro,” added one commenter.
This is not the first time that Sunrise Studios have had to issue a statement about cosplaying politicians. As Japanese news site Kai-You noted, in the 2020 elections for Tokyo governor, one candidate dressed up like Lelouch from Code Geass, even appearing on election posters in cosplay. Sunrise’s statement at the time denied any involvement in or endorsement of the campaign.
Verity Townsend is a Japan-based freelance writer who previously served as editor, contributor and translator for the game news site Automaton West. She has also written about Japanese culture and movies for various publications.
