At Anime Expo 2017, FUNimation announced that in partnership with Sunrise, that they have licensed Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans. FUNimation will release the first season in two parts by the end of 2017 and the second season in 2018. There will be a limited edition of the anime which will combine both parts into one season.
The limited edition will also include a high grade 1/144th scale Gundam Barbator + Smoothbore Gun model kit. The metallic finish version will be exclusive to the home video release and will not be available by any other means. This also is a U.S. exclusive item and cannot be obtained in Japan. The limited edition will also include a special art book and a chipboard box with space for the two-part release of the second season.
MyAnimeList.net describes the story as follows:
Over three hundred years have passed since the Calamity War, the great conflict between Earth and its outer space colonies. Now Earth is ruled over by four economic blocs, and the military organization Gjallarhorn is responsible for keeping the peace. Mars, on the other hand, depends heavily on Earth’s economy.
Horrified by the appalling living conditions that Mars’ inhabitants have to bear, Kudelia Aina Bernstein, a young aristocrat from the Chryse Autonomous Region, gets involved in the Red Planet’s independence movement. She hires the services of a local company, Chryse Guard Security (CGS), to escort her on the journey to Earth to negotiate economic conditions with the earthly bloc that controls the region. The Third Army Division—consisting of Mikazuki Augus, Orga Itsuka, and many other child soldiers—are chosen to protect her.
When Gjallarhorn attacks the CGS facilities to assassinate the young revolutionary threatening their interests, Orga and his comrades must not let the attackers accomplish their goal—in fact, Gjallarhorn’s actions might turn out to be the unintentional catalyst that leads the children to be the forgers of their own destiny.
