The film project was first teased by Sunrise after they registered the domain name "gundam-nt.net" on April 5, 2018.[27] It was formally announced during an official live stream at Gundam Base Tokyo on April 20, 2018, which revealed the teaser trailer for the film as well as the characters. Included in the announcement were the titular mobile suit, the Narrative Gundam, alongside redesigned versions of the Sinanju Stein and the Unicorn Gundam 03 Phenex.[28] The film is the first in Sunrise's "UC NexT 0100" project, which will cover the events of the next 100 years in the Universal Century timeline.[29] Aside from the film, two additional Gundam projects were also revealed by Sunrise: a film trilogy adaptation of Yoshiyuki Tomino's Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash novels and an overseas live-action sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn. Fukui jokingly told the audience to "pretend you didn't see that".[30]
On August 15, the film's theatrical poster was revealed alongside the new cast and voice actors for the upcoming film. The initial date of release in theaters was also revealed.[31] Upon the release of the theatrical poster, netizens in Twitter created parody pictures due to the bizarre poses of the main characters in the poster,[32] based on the 16th century sculpture The Rape of the Sabine Women.[33] In a cross-promotion with Gen Urobuchi's film Godzilla: The Planet Eater, a special theatrical poster was unveiled alongside merchandise and advanced pre-orders of tickets for both films,[34][35][36] and a special trailer for the crossover was later aired.[37] Sunrise later aired the final film trailer on November 29, 2018.
Following the announcement, staff interviews outlined the project’s creative brief and how it was shaped from earlier Unicorn material. Screenwriter Harutoshi Fukui explained that Narrative grew out of the short story concept surrounding the Phenex and was expanded to serve the “UC NexT 0100” initiative; to avoid the film becoming a mere sequel cameo reel, the script was structured around three childhood friends, Jona, Michele, and Rita, so the drama would hinge on new leads rather than returning heroes. He also said the film set out to answer anew “what a Newtype is” in the post-Unicorn era and to give a more grounded, human vantage point on psycho-frame phenomena.[39][40]
Director Shunichi Yoshizawa described visual and tonal choices made to keep the film closer to the texture of Char’s Counterattack: portraying the psycho-frame’s light as something “angry” and uncanny rather than merely spectacular; framing the II Neo Zeong as a “fearful presence” instead of a triumphant final boss; and treating the Phenex itself as a “living being” whose movements and staging suggest will and mystery rather than simple speed. He also discussed balancing 2D and CG to preserve weight and readability in mobile-suit action.[41]
A joint director-writer interview further notes that supervisor Kazuhiro Furuhashi (chief director on Unicorn) helped maintain continuity of tone and world-building, while the team deliberately limited overt power inflation from psycho-frame tech to keep stakes character-centric.[42]
On the promotional side, Sunrise emphasized production commentary and design process in official features, collecting interviews with producer Naohiro Ogata and mechanical staff, and rolled out long trailers and event tie-ins ahead of the November 30, 2018 opening, including cross-promotion visuals with Toho’s Godzilla: The Planet Eater.[43][44][45]
