Kenji Kamiyama will helm the latest Mobile Suit Gundam series for SUNRISE, titled RG XARX-ZERO and set in the same world as Gundam Rogue Orbit.
Joining the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex creator is another Ghost in the Shell alumni: Toh EnJoe, who oversaw series composition for the currently airing The Ghost in the Shell by Science SARU. The latter will supervise the series' world building while the former takes up the director's seat. SOLA ANIMATION will handle animation production.
As shown in the teaser trailer above, Mobile Suit Gundam RG XARX-ZERO (pronounced “Alex Zero”) takes place on an abandoned planet Earth following the rampage of an "unknown ecosystem" made up of gravity control, FTL communication and cognitive materialization. The main character, Ray Azumi, is a Mobile Suit pilot who has grown up on the surface of the Moon.
In terms of how all of this relates to Gundam Rogue Orbit, the story in the anime is apparently set 100 years after the game and acts as the culmination of the choices that the players make within. Kamiyama also remarked that this is an entirely new Gundam story made for the modern era. Both the game and the anime are part of a wider multimedia project.
With the live action Gundam movie by Legendary on the horizon, it seems as if SUNRISE is going all in on new and accessible stories. That's certainly the opposite of the last entry in the franchise.
