Sure, America occasionally has a “The White House is photoshopping the president’s head onto Superman posters” problem, but it turns out plenty of other countries also have a bit of an issue with politicians leveraging pop culture cosplaying for political gain. It’s just that those other countries will have studios telling them to quit it.
Earlier this week, Japanese politician Taro Yamamoto, the founder of the left-populist political party Reiwa Shinsengumi, went viral on social media for recording a political campaign video outside of the life-sized Unicorn Gundam statue in Odaiba, Tokyo. Dressed as Quattro Bajeena from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Yamamoto campaigned for the then-upcoming elections for the House of Councillors, the upper chamber of the National Diet, before introducing fellow Reiwa Shinsengumi candidate Maya Okamoto—an actress best known to Gundam fans as the voice of Zeta supporting character Emma Sheen.
れいわ新選組代表、山本太郎です。
れいわ新選組は今回の参議院選挙で、
声優の岡本麻弥を擁立しています。皆さんご存知の通り、声優の岡本麻弥は、
日本を代表する数々のアニメ作品に、
出演した者です。そんな立場でありながら、
なぜ、参院選に出馬を？岡本麻弥：… pic.twitter.com/kO8kRoRaJr
— れいわ 山本太郎 消費税廃止！住まいは権利！ (@yamamototaro0) July 18, 2025
The seemingly innocent skit drew a variety of criticisms from rival political figures and Japanese netizens alike for leveraging Gundam and Okamoto’s connection to the series for political gain, and even a little mockery considering Char Aznable’s own political trajectory across early Gundam, culminating in his attempts to forcefully migrate the remnants of humanity into space by dropping an asteroid on Earth.
It should be noted, of course, that Yamamoto was dressed as Quattro Bajeena, who is certainly not Char Aznable, a man who loves taking on other identities and guises—and has definitely never betrayed anyone in his life. But key distinction or otherwise, regardless of what flavor of Char Yamamoto was cosplaying, it turns out it wasn’t just Japanese social media users who were miffed: Gundam owners Sunrise were, too.
“In the 2025 House of Councillors election, some candidates were campaigning using cosplay-style costumes and videos and SNS posts in situations that strongly evoked the image or image of characters from the Gundam series,” an official statement posted to Sunrise’s company website yesterday read in part. “However, this was not approved by Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise Studios), and our company does not support any particular candidate.”
Yes, we certainly wouldn’t want anyone making any connections between political messaging and the themes of Gundam now, would we?
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