50 Fun Facts About Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans

Which real Canadian city, capital of the Arbrau bloc, hosts the climactic battle of Iron-Blooded Orphans season one?

Edmonton was used as real location reference, so its landmarks are recognizable in the backgrounds of the final episodes. In the story it is where Arbrau's parliament sits.

Which weapon, with a pile bunker hidden in its tip, is the Gundam Barbatos's trademark in Iron-Blooded Orphans?

A mace is the first weapon Barbatos is seen using, as it pummels an enemy commander's mobile suit during the attack on the CGS base. Its final form carries a larger version.

What does Tekkadan, the name Orga Itsuka gives his band of orphaned mercenaries, mean in Japanese?

Iron Flower was Orga's image for the boys: like a flower made of iron, they cannot be destroyed however hard people try to crush them. They take the name after ousting the adults who ran CGS.

What nickname does Mikazuki Augus give McGillis Fareed after the officer hands sweets to two young girls?

Chocolate Man is Mikazuki's name for him because McGillis handed over chocolates as an apology for nearly running the girls over. Gaelio Bauduin gets 'Gali-Gali', much to his outrage.

Which Japanese studio behind the long-running Gundam franchise produced Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Sunrise counts Iron-Blooded Orphans as the fourteenth mainline Gundam series. It was the first to air in a Sunday late-afternoon slot since Gundam AGE.

Before Mikazuki Augus first pilots it, what job is the Gundam Barbatos doing at the CGS base on Mars?

Supplying electricity was all the relic did for years: the CGS president who found it ran the base off its still-working engines. It had no cockpit until one was fitted in a hurry.

Which former Power Rangers actor voices Tekkadan's leader Orga Itsuka in the English dub of Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Johnny Yong Bosch played Adam Park, the second Black Ranger, before turning to voice work. His anime leads include Ichigo in Bleach and Lelouch in Code Geass.

Gjallarhorn, the military power in Iron-Blooded Orphans, is named after a Norse horn that heralds which event?

Ragnarok begins, in Norse myth, when the god Heimdallr blows the horn so loudly that it is heard in all worlds. The anime's version was founded to end a war that nearly wiped out humanity.

Which plum-like fruit, usually sweet but now and then horribly bitter, does Mikazuki Augus snack on constantly?

Mars palms come with a gamble: most taste sweet, but a rare one is repulsively bitter. Mikazuki eats them out of habit all the same.

Which rock band, whose members perform in wolf masks, recorded the first Iron-Blooded Orphans opening theme?

Man with a Mission opened the series with Raise Your Flag, which peaked at number two on the Billboard Japan Hot 100. The band came back for the 2022 Special Edition with a new song, Blaze.

What does the given name of Mikazuki Augus, pilot of the Gundam Barbatos, mean in Japanese?

Crescent moon is what Mikazuki means, though his friends simply call him Mika. Orga Itsuka's name, in turn, roughly translates as 'Someday, I will'.

What name is given to the interplanetary war fought some 300 years before Iron-Blooded Orphans begins?

The Calamity War nearly drove humanity to extinction, and the Gundam frames were built to end it. Peace was marked by a brand-new calendar.

Which grocery store worker joins Tekkadan as its cook and later bears the son of Mikazuki Augus?

Atra Mixta quits her shop job to cook for the crew when they leave Mars. She had been a homeless runaway when Mikazuki first offered her food and found her that job.

Which Tekkadan strategist is killed on Millennium Island moments after throwing Orga Itsuka clear of an attack?

Biscuit Griffon's hat is laid on his body bag so the others can identify him, and Takaki later wears it in his memory. He had joined up to pay for his twin sisters' schooling.

Teiwaz, the mafia-like conglomerate that takes Tekkadan under its wing, operates around which planet?

Jupiter is orbited by Saisei, the giant cruiser that serves as Teiwaz's headquarters and holds a small town. The group takes its name from a Germanic rune.

On which Adult Swim programming block did the English dub of Iron-Blooded Orphans premiere on American television?

Toonami made it the first Gundam series on American television since Syfy aired Gundam 00 in 2008 and 2009. The dub was produced by Bang Zoom! Entertainment.

What is the final form of Barbatos called, rebuilt with parts of a defeated mobile armor in Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Lupus Rex means King of the Wolves. The rebuild gave Barbatos huge clawed forearms and its beaten foe's bladed tail, all tuned for Mikazuki's fierce close-range style.

Which Japanese toy company sells the Gunpla model kits of Barbatos and other Iron-Blooded Orphans mobile suits?

Bandai showed High Grade and 1/100 scale kits of Barbatos at the 2015 press conference that announced the series, months before the first episode aired.

What does the illiterate child soldier Mikazuki Augus hope to become once he has learned to read?

A farmer is his goal, modeled on a comrade's grandmother, and he later tries planting crops on her land. Every seedling withers, but he keeps experimenting.

Which green mobile suit, armed with a rifle and axe, fills Gjallarhorn's ranks in Iron-Blooded Orphans?

The Graze was inspired by a rare older frame from the era of the Gundams, simplified so it could be built in numbers. Tekkadan salvages one from its first battle and puts its own pilot in it.

Iron-Blooded Orphans opens in year 323 of which calendar era, begun when a ruinous interplanetary war ended?

Post Disaster years are written P.D., so the story begins in P.D. 323. The count starts from the peace imposed by a newly formed Gjallarhorn.

Which Martian city, governed from Earth by Arbrau, does Kudelia Aina Bernstein hope to make independent?

Chryse is autonomous only on paper: it depends on Earth economically, and many of its people live in poverty. Kudelia's own father is its prime minister.

The 72 Gundam frames in Iron-Blooded Orphans are named after demons from which book of the Lesser Key of Solomon?

Ars Goetia lists 72 demons, and Barbatos is the eighth, matching the Gundam's model number ASW-G-08. Only 26 of the frames are confirmed to survive in working order.

Which drink do Orga Itsuka and Naze Turbine share in the oath ceremony that makes them sworn brothers?

Sake shared between two leaders binds their groups as family, a Japanese custom kept by the otherwise Italian-flavored Teiwaz. From then on Orga calls Naze his big brother.

What term describes the trafficked boys enslaved as disposable laborers and soldiers in Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Human Debris in Tekkadan are freed after the mutiny, yet stay on out of gratitude and because regular jobs would be almost impossible to get. A pact to end the practice is signed in the epilogue.

Which implant interface lets Mikazuki Augus control the Gundam Barbatos as if it were his own body?

The Alaya-Vijnana System feeds combat data straight into the brain through spinal implants the boys call Whiskers. Mikazuki survived three of the risky surgeries.

What name is given to the power plants that drive mobile suits in Iron-Blooded Orphans, two to each Gundam frame?

Ahab Reactor pairs are hard to keep running in sync, which is why Gundam frames are so rare. Gjallarhorn guards a monopoly on building the units.

Which bird-like mobile armor, run by an artificial intelligence, is dug up on Mars in Iron-Blooded Orphans season two?

Hashmal was programmed to kill as many people as possible. Beating it leaves Mikazuki paralyzed down his right side whenever he is unplugged from Barbatos.

Which thick-plated green Gundam does Tekkadan capture from space pirates and rebuild for one of its own pilots?

Gusion was so heavily plated that it burned through fuel and could not fight for long. Stripped down and given lighter plating, it returns as a nimbler machine able to fight under gravity.

Under which alias does a masked McGillis Fareed secretly supply Tekkadan on its journey to Earth?

Montag fronts a trading company whose resources he puts at Tekkadan's disposal. Only Mikazuki, Orga and one other comrade are let in on who is behind the mask.

Which lance-wielding Gundam, a Bauduin family heirloom, does Gaelio Bauduin pilot against Tekkadan in season one?

Kimaris was first flown by Gaelio's ancestor, a legendary pilot whose heroism raised the Bauduins into Gjallarhorn's ruling circle. It then spent centuries as a ceremonial showpiece.

Which Gundam, the very first frame ever built, does McGillis Fareed awaken to rally support for his coup?

Bael is rumored to hold the soul of Gjallarhorn's founder and stands as a symbol of the whole organization. McGillis had implant surgery so that he could fly it.

Under which name does a masked Gaelio Bauduin return in season two, serving the Arianrhod Fleet?

Vidar is also a Norse god associated with vengeance, apt for a man left for dead by his closest friend. Gaelio's death record was falsified so that he could hunt McGillis unseen.

Which cheerful Tekkadan pilot paints his machines pink and names each of them Ryusei-Go?

Norba Shino chose a name meaning meteor or shooting star and gave it to four machines, from a small pink combat vehicle up to a Gundam. His crewmates find it faintly ridiculous.

Which vengeful Gjallarhorn pilot is surgically wired into a giant mobile suit to fight Tekkadan and Barbatos on Earth?

Ein Dalton is reduced to a head and torso plugged into the machine, all to avenge Crank Zent, the officer he idolized. Mikazuki ends the rampage with a katana he had struggled to master.

Which fleet commander, a childhood friend of McGillis Fareed and Gaelio Bauduin, is killed fighting Barbatos?

Carta Issue led the largely ceremonial fleet guarding Earth orbit and loved dramatic flair. Dying, she mistakes Gaelio for McGillis and begs to hear that she is not a disgrace.

Which commander of the Arianrhod Fleet ends Iron-Blooded Orphans as leader of a reformed, more democratic Gjallarhorn?

Rustal Elion crushes McGillis's revolt, then carries out many of the reforms his enemy had wanted, ending rule by a council of noble families. He also signs a treaty with a newly independent Mars.

Which young Arianrhod pilot becomes known as the knight who slew the Devil of Tekkadan?

Julieta Julis holds back from finishing the wounded Mikazuki and asks why he still fights. Afterwards she insists Tekkadan's members were never devils, only children with nowhere else to go.

Which wealthy sponsor of Kudelia secretly plots her death and is assassinated in the Iron-Blooded Orphans epilogue?

Nobliss Gordon funded Tekkadan's escort job while planting a spy at Kudelia's side. Years later a grown Tekkadan survivor kills him to avenge Orga.

Orga Itsuka is fatally shot while shielding which young Tekkadan member from a drive-by attack?

Ride Mass lives because Orga takes the bullets, shooting two of the gunmen dead before he collapses. As an adult, Ride kills the man whose gunmen fired.

Which Tekkadan pilot, once an enslaved child soldier, takes over a captured Gundam after his brother Masahiro dies?

Akihiro Altland asked for the machine because his clearest memories of his brother were bound up with it. He later adopts the surviving boys of Masahiro's squad as his brothers.

What is the name of Mikazuki Augus's son, born after his father's death in Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Akatsuki inherits his father's looks and his mother's hair color. He is raised on Mars by his mother and Kudelia, who had promised to protect him.

Which exiled former prime minister of Arbrau asks Tekkadan to escort him to parliament for his re-election bid?

Makanai repays the favor by letting Kudelia address parliament, and later arranges new identities for Tekkadan's survivors. He had been living in exile on an island.

Which figure secretly founded Gjallarhorn to end the war fought three centuries before Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Agnika Kaieru gathered like-minded people from every nation and power bloc to save humanity from extinction. The first Gundam frame, created by him, is rumored to hold his soul.

Which composer used buckets and deck brushes as instruments when recording the Iron-Blooded Orphans soundtrack?

Masaru Yokoyama likes to improvise instruments that match the concept of each project. He was drawn to composing by Joe Hisaishi's scores for Studio Ghibli films.

Which screenwriter of Anohana and Toradora! wrote Iron-Blooded Orphans and later directed the film Maquia?

Mari Okada made her debut as a director with Maquia, which won the best animation prize at the Shanghai International Film Festival. She and this show's director had earlier made Toradora! and Anohana together.

Which director of A Certain Scientific Railgun and The Anthem of the Heart also directed Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Tatsuyuki Nagai came back to direct Urdr-Hunt, the spinoff that began as a smartphone game. His film The Anthem of the Heart was nominated for Animation of the Year at the Japan Academy Film Prize.

Which band recorded Rage of Dust, the opening theme that launches season two of Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Spyair had already supplied a Gundam ending theme, for Gundam AGE in 2012. The band is also known for its songs for Gintama and Haikyu!!.

Which Japanese singer recorded Orphans no Namida, the ballad that first closes episodes of Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Misia wrote the lyrics herself and later sang it on NHK's year-end Kohaku show, live from Nagasaki Peace Park. The title means Tears of Orphans.

Which banned railgun, able to pierce mobile suit plating, does the Arianrhod Fleet fire at Tekkadan from orbit?

Dáinsleif rounds were outlawed by Gjallarhorn as inhumane, yet its own Arianrhod Fleet turns them on its enemies. One barrage from orbit mortally wounds Mikazuki.