Gundam Pavilion Osaka Review (Expo 2025)
Last Updated on May 1, 2025 by Kay
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The Gundam Pavilion at the World Expo 2025 in Osaka is one of the most anticipated, but is it worth it?
In this article, I’ll share my experience visiting the Gundam Pavilion, as well as helpful information about how to get a reservation.
For information about the Osaka Expo, including how to get tickets, read this article.
Table of Contents
The Gundam Statue
You need a reservation to get inside the Gundam Pavilion and experience, but it’s completely free to take a look at the Gundam Statue! (As long as you have a ticket to get inside the Osaka Expo.)
My husband is a massive Gundam fan, so this was one of the first things we wanted to see when we arrived at the Osaka Expo.
The Gundam statue is located in the West Gate Zone, so if you want to see it as soon as possible, I recommend arriving at the West Gate rather than the East Gate.
Keep in mind, though, that there is no train station near the West Gate. You need to take a bus from Sakurajima Station to get there.
The life-sized Gundam statue, showing RX-78F00/E GUNDAM in all its glory, was absolutely fantastic. Standing at almost 17 meters tall, it is really impressive, especially since it occasionally emits steam, making it more realistic. It also lights up at night.
Notably, it was made reusing parts from the Gundam that used to be at the Gundam Factory in Yokohama, which closed last year.
Nearby the statue, you’ll see a board that lists the timeline of all the Gundam anime, which my husband and I enjoyed looking at for nostalgia’s sake.
How to Get a Reservation for the Gundam Pavilion
In order to have a chance to snag a reservation in advance for the Gundam Pavilion, you need to have first purchased a ticket for the Osaka Expo 2025.
After you purchase and register your ticket on the Osaka Expo official website, you have several chances to get a reservation for the Gundam Pavilion:
- 2 months before your visit (lottery)
- One week before your visit (lottery)
- Three days before your visit
- On the day of your visit
Although the Gundam Pavilion was our first choice when we applied for the lottery seven days in advance, we unfortunately didn’t get a spot.
When we checked the website three days before our visit, there were no spots available for the Gundam Pavilion.
However, once we were in the Expo grounds and visited the Gundam statue, we found a sign saying that the Gundam Pavilion would accept reservations on the day, and we had several chances!
We applied for the 3:00 PM (15:00) slot right on the dot through the Osaka Expo website and thankfully got a reservation for 4:00 PM!
Note that you cannot apply for the Gundam Pavilion if you applied for another pavilion earlier in the day, since you can only apply for one pavilion on the day of your visit. If you applied for a pavilion earlier in the day, you’ll need to cancel it, and if you already went to that pavilion, you’re out of luck.
So don’t apply for any other pavilions on the day of your visit if you want to go to Gundam!
You can keep your prior advance pavilion reservations, though (two-month, seven-day, three-day).
Gundam Next Future Pavilion Experience
We started lining up a few minutes before our scheduled time and were let in immediately when it turned 4:00 PM, and were handed pamphlets.
Make sure to look inside because it comes with stickers!
The Gundam Pavilion experience will take you through several rooms.
The first room consisted of screens where we would watch a video about the Gundam Open Innovation Consortium’s mission to create a sustainable society in the future by using mobile suits. This video was in Japanese but had English subtitles.
We were first in line when initially led into the first room, but soon there were two lines of people ahead of us, which wasn’t great because I’m quite vertically challenged and we were with our five-year-old kid. There were screens behind us as well as to the side, though, so I craned my neck to watch.
Note that you are allowed to take videos and pictures, but please be mindful of the people behind and next to you. Thankfully, almost everyone in our group was focused on the experience rather than taking videos.
When the video was over, we were led to the next room where another explanation via screens was given by HARO, original characters that look like cute Quidditch balls. To be honest, my husband and I were getting tired of these explanation videos because we just wanted to see the Gundams!
After this, we split into three groups and were led into “orbital elevators”.
There are screens around the room as well as on the ceiling, which first showed ZAKU.
This was followed by an animated video of the Osaka Expo grounds before we were “launched up” to the Star Jaburo Station via the Space Elevator. The room shook and the scenery changed to that of space, making you feel like you were actually being transported into space.
(This was a little scary for our five-year-old daughter.)
I especially enjoyed seeing the aurora — what a great detail to include!
Once “in space”, we were led to the next room, the Star Jaburo Station. This was much larger than the elevator and had massive screens along the walls and ceiling.
It was quite dark other than the red lights so it was a little hard for me to take a photo that wasn’t blurry.
Here, we witnessed a battle in space between Zeong and First Gundam (Mobile Suit Gundam). I don’t think there’s any other place where you can see an almost 360-degree Gundam anime, and it was absolutely fantastic. I really felt immersed in it, as if the battle was actually happening before my eyes.
However, it’s important to note that there were no subtitles in this area, so if you don’t understand Japanese, you’re out of luck.
When the battle finished, our journey ended and we were back on Earth. We were led out of the pavilion and had the opportunity to see the Gundam statue from the back!
There’s also a special area at the front of the Gundam statue where you can take photos up close.
Apparently, this pavilion also had goods for sale but we didn’t see anything except for the guidebook.
Notably, there will be a special Gundam event held at the Expo Hall (East Gate Zone) on Sunday, July 20th, including musical performances by special guests, including TM Revolution (who sang several Gundam anime opening songs). If you’re a Gundam fan, this is probably the best time to visit (although I imagine it will be more competitive to get a reservation for the Gundam Pavilion, and it’s going to be quite hot and humid outside).
Is The Gundam Pavilion Worth It?
The Gundam Next Future Pavilion is absolutely worth visiting. My husband, a die-hard Gundam fan since he was a kid, absolutely loved it, and I enjoyed it as well. Even if you don’t know anything about Gundam, it’s likely you’ll appreciate this immersive experience if you’re a fan of anime. If you don’t like anime… maybe not.
For our family, though, the Gundam Pavilion was hands down our favorite at the Osaka Expo.
FAQ
Here are some frequently asked questions about the Gundam Pavilion and my answers.
Is the Gundam Pavilion kid-friendly?
This completely depends on your child.
I think the Gundam Pavilion is a really cool experience that kids in elementary school and up would enjoy.
However, it’s important to know that it’s loud, with shaking and dark rooms as well as flashing red lights at times, so it might not be great for young children.
Our five-year-old daughter was a little scared at times but she enjoyed the pavilion overall. I also saw some people with babies in the pavilion who didn’t seem bothered.
Do they allow strollers in the Gundam Pavilion?
Yes, they do allow strollers inside.
When is the Gundam Pavilion open until?
The Gundam Pavilion is open from April 13th to October 13th, 2025.