“Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space”, Original Japanese First Release Movie Poster 1982, “Last Shooting” Artwork, B2 Size (51 × 73 cm) S95

This is an original Japanese B2 theatrical poster printed in 1982 for the first release of Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編), the climactic third chapter of the original Mobile Suit Gundam theatrical trilogy.

Released in Japan in 1982, the film brings the original One Year War storyline to its dramatic conclusion and represents one of the defining moments in the history of Japanese science-fiction animation.

For Gundam collectors, this poster is particularly important because it features the legendary “Last Shooting” composition, one of the most iconic and instantly recognisable images in the entire franchise.

Film background

The original Mobile Suit Gundam television series debuted in 1979 and fundamentally changed Japanese robot animation.

Rather than treating giant robots simply as invincible superheroes, creator Yoshiyuki Tomino presented mobile suits as military machines operating within a complex war involving politics, ideology, civilian casualties and young soldiers forced into circumstances far beyond their control.

The subsequent theatrical trilogy condensed and reworked the television story for cinemas, helping transform Gundam from a television series with initially modest ratings into a major cultural phenomenon.

Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space adapts the final stages of the One Year War, including the battles at Solomon and A Baoa Qu, the continuing rivalry between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, and the ultimate confrontation between the Earth Federation and Zeon.

It is the emotional and thematic culmination of the original Gundam saga.

Poster design

This Japanese B2 is dominated by the extraordinary “Last Shooting” image, an artwork that has become almost inseparable from the legacy of the original RX-78-2 Gundam.

The RX-78-2 Gundam stands at the centre in a dramatic low-angle composition, already catastrophically damaged from its final battle.

Its head has been destroyed. One arm is gone. Yet the Gundam remains upright.

With its surviving arm, it raises a beam rifle vertically towards the heavens and fires one final shot.

The weapon erupts into an enormous column of brilliant white and golden light, cutting straight through the top of the composition.

Behind the Gundam, the entire battlefield appears to explode in blazing crimson, orange, yellow and black, while fragments of machinery and destroyed mobile suits fill the surrounding space.

Beneath and behind the RX-78-2 lie the shattered remains of the Zeong, reinforcing the image as the visual embodiment of the final, mutually devastating battle between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable.

The low viewpoint exaggerates the scale of the Gundam and gives the ruined machine a monumental, almost statuesque presence.

This is not simply an action image. It captures one of the central themes that made Gundam revolutionary: victory inseparable from destruction, heroism inseparable from sacrifice, and war stripped of any uncomplicated triumph.

“Last Shooting!”

At upper left appears the simple English phrase:

“Last Shooting!”

The expression became the widely recognised name for this climactic image and has subsequently been reproduced throughout Gundam culture in figures, model kits, artwork, merchandise and anniversary material.

Few images from Japanese animation have achieved comparable symbolic status.

At upper right appears the poetic Japanese campaign line:

「震えるか宇宙 めぐりあえよ生命」

Approximately:

“Does the universe tremble? Let lives encounter one another.”

The language reflects the film’s increasingly philosophical treatment of the Newtype concept and the possibility of human understanding emerging from the catastrophe of war.

At lower right, the title reads:

「機動戦士ガンダムIII」

「めぐりあい宇宙」

The title Meguriai Sora is generally rendered internationally as “Encounters in Space.”

Yoshikazu Yasuhiko and the Gundam visual legacy

The poster is closely associated with the visual world established by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, the legendary character designer and animation director whose work was fundamental to the look and emotional tone of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.

Alongside Yoshiyuki Tomino and mechanical designer Kunio Okawara, Yasuhiko helped establish the visual vocabulary of Gundam at its birth.

The “Last Shooting” composition has become one of the franchise’s defining pieces of imagery precisely because it combines the mechanical grandeur of the RX-78-2 with the emotional weight of the story’s conclusion.

More than four decades later, the image remains immediately recognisable to Gundam fans around the world.

Cultural significance

The original Gundam theatrical trilogy occupies a foundational position in modern anime.

Its success helped establish the enormous Gundam franchise and played a central role in popularising the “real robot” genre, influencing decades of Japanese animation, model-kit culture, video games, manga and science-fiction design.

The RX-78-2 itself has become one of the most recognisable mechanical designs in Japanese popular culture.

Within that history, the “Last Shooting” is among the single most important images associated with the original series.

An original 1982 Japanese theatrical B2 therefore represents far more than a vintage anime poster—it is an original artefact from one of the pivotal moments in the development of modern Japanese animation.

Condition

Excellent.

The poster retains exceptionally strong colour, deep blacks, brilliant fiery reds and oranges, and superb overall display impact.

The central RX-78-2 Gundam remains sharply rendered and the intense vertical beam-rifle flare retains excellent luminosity.

Only light evidence of age and period handling is visible, entirely consistent with an authentic Japanese theatrical poster now more than four decades old.

Please review the photograph carefully—it shows the exact poster for sale.

This poster is an original Japanese theatrical B2 from the 1982 first-release campaign.
It is not a reproduction or a modern reprint.

It is approximately 44 years old.

Certificate of Authenticity included.