Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (????????SEED [???], Kid? Senshi Gandamu SEED [Sh?do]?), often shortened to Gundam SEED, is an anime television series animated by Sunrise and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. It is a part of the Gundam franchise that started in 1979, but takes place in an alternate universe called the Cosmic Era. The series spans fifty episodes,[1] which broadcast in Japan from October 5, 2002 to September 27, 2003 at 6:00 p.m. on the JNN TV stations TBS and MBS. The series won the Animage Anime Grand Prix prize in 2002. It was adapted into a manga published by Kodansha on February 17, 2003. Gundam SEED’s story continues in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.