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Gundam Hathaway to Rise at Sapporo Snow Festival

The staff behind the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway anime announced on Wednesday that a sculpture will appear at the 2026 Sapporo Snow Festival between February 4 and 11. A medium-sized snow sculpture of the Xi Gundam mobile suit will be erected at the Odori Site 7-chome HBC Plaza. The announcement's key art features the anime's characters Hathaway Noa, Gigi Andalucia, and Kenneth Sieg “enjoying the snow sculpture in their winter attire.”

A “Special Booth” featuring the recycling initiative Gundam R (Recycle) Operation, a photo spot, and a gift shop will also be set up at the festival's Tsudome Site.

This is the third consecutive year the Gundam franchise has appeared at the festival. In 2025, busts of the RX-78-2 (first Mobile Suit Gundam anime) and GQuuuuuux (Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX) appeared at the event. Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM's Rising Freedom Gundam debuted in 2024.

Kadokawa has also announced several anime properties for the event: Oshi no Ko, Re:ZERO -Starting Life in Another World-, Medalist, Pan Dorobō, Odekake Kozame & Nights with a Cat, and The Saga of Tanya the Evil.

The sculptures will be open to viewing 24 hours a day and the sculptures will be illuminated until 10:00 p.m. The Gundam special booth will be open between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m.

Sources: Mobile Suit Gundam Hataway's website, Mobile Suit Gundam Hataway's X/Twitter account