A Live-Action Gundam Movie, Pitched to a Cat Who Loves the Movies

Source: 「ポンポさん」がガンダムエースに来たぞ～っ！杉谷庄吾の新連載「ニャリウッド！」 — natalie.mu (Comic Natalie)

Today's find is pure serotonin for anyone who loves both Gundam and the manga I Love Movies, Pono-san!

The news

Shugo Sugita — the creator behind that beloved series about Pono-san, a hyper-articulate cat who moonlights as a sharp movie producer — has launched a brand-new serial: "Nyariwood!" (a pun on "Hollywood", obviously). It debuts this week in the November 2026 issue of Monthly Gundam Ace (KADOKAWA, on sale September 26).

The premise

A live-action Gundam movie gets pitched to Pono-san's production desk. The problem? She knows film and she knows anime a lot — but she doesn't really know Gundam. So chapter one is her frantically cramming forty-seven years of robot warfare, learning why the fans cry about beam rifles, and deciding what "live-action" even means when your hero is a mech the size of a building.

Why I'm excited

It's the perfect collision. Pono-san has always been about a passionate outsider decoding a medium from the inside — now that medium is my childhood. Expect her producer-brain to dissect everything:

• The famous "lies" of the Super Robot formula (why 15-year-olds piloting 20-meter mechs works)
• The romance baked into every transformation sequence
• What a real studio does when the director says "the Gundam just... jumped higher"

Where to read it

Monthly Gundam Ace, November issue — look for it at Japanese bookstores, and it's available digitally too.

Okay, if Pono-san and I ever meet, I'm making her watch the movie with me. And yes, I'm bringing snacks. That's a producer thing, apparently.