Mobile Suit Gundam

[blkmage]

I'm positive everyone's heard about it, but you might not have actually watched it. If you haven't experienced one of anime's most venerable stories, now's the time to do it.

[SIZE="6"]Mobile Suit Gundam (軌道戦士ガンダム)[/SIZE]

In light of the upcoming and highly anticipated (because everything Gundam is highly anticipated) international release of the Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn OVA, several video sites have arranged to stream several Gundam series for free for the next few months. Here's what we're looking at:

A very large chart of when each series will be available.

One of the most common barriers of entry for newbies into the Gundam metaseries is all of the different series, timelines, and universes. And so I'll be here to tell you about the series that are being streamed.

The Universal Century is where the real story of Gundam takes place. This is the stuff you'll need to watch if you want to watch Unicorn.

[SIZE="4"]Mobile Suit Gundam (機動戦士ガンダム)[/SIZE]

Mobile Suit Gundam is the one that started it all. It takes place in UC0079 and covers what's known in Gundam lore as the One Year War, between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon. The titular mobile suit, the RX-78-2, is known as the Gundam. It's here where the White Devil, Amuro Ray, and the Red Comet, Char Aznable, are first introduced.

[SIZE="4"]Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (機動戦士Ｚガンダム)[/SIZE]

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam takes place in UC0087, seven years after the conclusion of the One Year War. With the Earth Federation coming out victorious, the Titans are formed as an elite arm of the military tasked with extinguishing the last remnants of Zeon and oppressing those who live in space. The Anti-Earth Union Group is formed to fight the oppressive Titans.

These are the two series that are being streamed. If you have any more interest in the UC timeline, there's ZZ Gundam, which takes place after Zeta Gundam and Char's Counterattack, which is set after ZZ Gundam. Char's Counterattack is meant to close the UC timeline until Unicorn. There are also a few notable OVAs: 0080, 0083, and 08th MS Team.

With UC done, let's turn our eye to the AU Gundams. These series have absolutely nothing to do with the Universal Century timeline and exist in their own continuity.

[SIZE="3"]Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (新機動戦記ガンダムＷ)[/SIZE]

Arguably the most popular Gundam series in North America, Wing is set in the After Colony timeline in AC195. The space colonies are oppressed by the United Earth Sphere Alliance, so they send five teens in five advanced mobile suits (Gundams) to attack the Earth's military, OZ.

[SIZE="3"]Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (機動戦士ガンダムＳＥＥＤ)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (機動戦士ガンダムＳＥＥＤ　ＤＥＳＴＩＮＹ)[/SIZE]

SEED takes place in the Cosmic Era timeline in CE71. Mankind is divided over genetic engineering. The Coordinators live in space while the Naturals live on Earth. Tensions are rising between the two and break out into the Bloody Valentine War. The Earth Alliance is secretly developing Gundams on a neutral colony and a team of ZAFT operatives break into the colony to steal them. SEED Destiny takes place two years later in CE73. This series is fairly popular in Japan and is meant to be a callback to the original, with many plot events mirroring those in the original.

[SIZE="3"]Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (機動戦士ガンダム００)[/SIZE]

Gundam 00 is the first Gundam series to take place in "the real world" and is set in AD 2307. Fossil fuels have been depleted and replaced with massive collection of solar energy, under the control of three superpowers. The world essentially polarizes between these three and are in constant conflict with each other. A paramilitary organization called Celestial Being is formed and uses Gundams to intervene in and eradicate all armed conflict. This is also the first Gundam to be animated in HD.

So now you have more Gundam than you could possibly watch in the given amount of time. Make your decisions wisely. I'm going through Zeta Gundam myself. I'll be interested in seeing what you all have to say, whether you're new, familiar only with the newer stuff, or familiar only with the older UC stuff.

[Roy Mustang]

All I care for is the ones that they are not streaming of the UC storyline.
[font="Arial Narrow"]
[color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[ShiroiHikari]

Moeagare, Gundamu~

I actually haven't seen the TV series of Gundam. I did however see the movie trilogy and it's pretty fantastic, one of my all-time favorites. Amuro starts out as kind of a whiny little so-and-so, but by the end of it he's pretty rad. Definitely one of my favorite characters.

I was disappointed in Zeta Gundam. Sure, there are some good things about it, but many of the characters-- even the protagonists --go around being jerks all the time, and the overall tone of it is just...not to my taste, I guess. Also the ending was infuriating. I'll just come out and say it-- I love to hate Zeta Gundam. (I most certainly love to hate Camille Vidan. If you thought Amuro was whiny...) There are some cool Mobile Suits in it though, like the Hyaku Shiki, the Hambrabi, and of course Zeta itself. Also Quattro is the man.

One series that I wish would get more exposure is Double Zeta Gundam. It picks up immediately after Zeta, and the tone is COMPLETELY different. ZZ is a fun show. It's silly. It's funny. ZZ itself is BA. Mashimer (or however you spell it) is hilarious. Judau is a likable kid (even though he keeps stealing Zeta Gundam). Haman Karn turns out to actually be cool instead of some random ice queen. It's good stuff.

SEED and SEED Destiny do not interest me in the slightest. I've already seen the original Gundam so I don't need to see a poorly done ripoff. XD

I've seen most of Gundam 00; I need to finish it. (That's the problem with watching stuff with other people; if they lose interest or your schedules don't line up, it can take a LONG TIME to finish something.)

[battletech]

Roy you are right in a way. The TV line up thread does tell you that these shows are on and where. This thread is a little bit different. He is also giving his opinon of the shows and a desciption of the shows. He is also asking for others opinons of the shows. There are other theads about other Gundam shows specifically. I do not think there are any threads that talk about multiple gundam shows.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Original Gundamu FTW. I haven't seen the movie trilogy, but I has seen the tv show. Highly recommend to anyone wanting to get into Gundam.

[Fish and Chips]

Watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam has long been on my To Do list, and now Crunchyroll has provided me with a valid excuse to catch up on it.

Also, this may be the first Anime I have ever seen where the rebellion is the bad guy.

[blkmage]

Watching the original Mobile Suit Gundam has long been on my To Do list, and now Crunchyroll has provided me with a valid excuse to catch up on it.

Also, this may be the first Anime I have ever seen where the rebellion is the bad guy.

I wouldn't exactly call Zeon a rebellion by UC0079.

[quote="ShiroiHikari (post: 1371436)"]Moeagare, Gundamu~

I actually haven't seen the TV series of Gundam. I did however see the movie trilogy and it's pretty fantastic, one of my all-time favorites. Amuro starts out as kind of a whiny little so-and-so, but by the end of it he's pretty rad. Definitely one of my favorite characters.

I was disappointed in Zeta Gundam. Sure, there are some good things about it, but many of the characters-- even the protagonists --go around being jerks all the time, and the overall tone of it is just...not to my taste, I guess. Also the ending was infuriating. I'll just come out and say it-- I love to hate Zeta Gundam. (I most certainly love to hate Camille Vidan. If you thought Amuro was whiny...) There are some cool Mobile Suits in it though, like the Hyaku Shiki, the Hambrabi, and of course Zeta itself. Also Quattro is the man.

One series that I wish would get more exposure is Double Zeta Gundam. It picks up immediately after Zeta, and the tone is COMPLETELY different. ZZ is a fun show. It's silly. It's funny. ZZ itself is BA. Mashimer (or however you spell it) is hilarious. Judau is a likable kid (even though he keeps stealing Zeta Gundam). Haman Karn turns out to actually be cool instead of some random ice queen. It's good stuff.

SEED and SEED Destiny do not interest me in the slightest. I've already seen the original Gundam so I don't need to see a poorly done ripoff. XD

I've seen most of Gundam 00]
I think you're the first person I've seen prefer ZZ to Zeta. I was considering skipping over ZZ since everyone seems to hate it so much.

SEED's not amazing, but it has its moments. I think it's interesting as a 2000s take on the classic story and it's a good choice for people whose only experience with Gundam is W. But the sheer amount of parallels in SEED with the original is pretty ridiculous once you see them. Now, SEED Destiny is fairly indefensible and is a load of crap that almost retroactively ruined SEED for me.

And while SEED is a modern look at the original Gundam, 00 is more like Gundam combined with modern ideas and views of conflict and war. It's the first serious one to really break the space vs. earth polarization and focuses on the nature of conflict itself. You could say that SEED is the FFIX of the series and that 00 is FFX.

[ShiroiHikari]

Yeah, I'm well aware of being one of the five people on the internet that actually likes ZZ. I'm cool like that.

From what I've seen of Gundam 00 (I'm like 3/4 of the way through it) it's a lot better than people give it credit for. It's sort of like a UC Gundam series disguised as a Gundam W ripoff, which could be part of the reason people don't like it. I like that it pays homage to a lot of Gundam things without outright stealing them, and I like the way it looks at things that are currently happening in the world today (or have happened in the past). Also it's very very pretty to look at, which doesn't hurt.

[Solid Ronin]

Yeah, I'm well aware of being one of the five people on the internet that actually likes ZZ. I'm cool like that.

From what I've seen of Gundam 00 (I'm like 3/4 of the way through it) it's a lot better than people give it credit for. It's sort of like a UC Gundam series disguised as a Gundam W ripoff, which could be part of the reason people don't like it. I like that it pays homage to a lot of Gundam things without outright stealing them, and I like the way it looks at things that are currently happening in the world today (or have happened in the past). Also it's very very pretty to look at, which doesn't hurt.

...Daggmitt Shiroi, Are you gonna make me buy that series now.

[Fish and Chips]

I wouldn't exactly call Zeon a rebellion by UC0079.

They started a war of independence against a pre-existing order.

Rebellion rebellion rebellion.

[CrimsonRyu17]

Also, this may be the first Anime I have ever seen where the rebellion is the bad guy.

HAIL ZEON.

[MasterDias]

SEED's not amazing, but it has its moments. I think it's interesting as a 2000s take on the classic story and it's a good choice for people whose only experience with Gundam is W. But the sheer amount of parallels in SEED with the original is pretty ridiculous once you see them. Now, SEED Destiny is fairly indefensible and is a load of crap that almost retroactively ruined SEED for me.

I've always thought the complaints about comparisons between the two were a bit overblown actually. SEED pretty much does it's own thing after awhile. I can see story parallels up to the desert arc or so, but then in the final half they...
[spoiler]...have the good guys on both sides defect to a third nation to fight the bad guys on both sides. This doesn't happen in the original MS Gundam. The Athrun vs. Kira plot isn't the same as Char vs. Amuro was either, and Coordinators are not really the same as UC's Newtypes.[/spoiler]
I enjoyed SEED for the most part, but what I thought really brought it down was the slow pacing that plagued much of it and the overuse of stock footage. The endgame was pretty gripping though.

Anyway, I've watched a few episodes of Zeta via ANN. I've wanted to see it for awhile. Might also actually check out Wing later. I never saw it back when it was on Toonami.

[ShiroiHikari]

...Daggmitt Shiroi, Are you gonna make me buy that series now.

Are you talking about ZZ or 00? Because they'll be streaming 00 for free so you won't have to buy anything. XD (And ZZ isn't licensed in the US anyway *whistles innocently*)

As for Zeon and all that, well, it's complicated. They did some bad stuff in the name of independence. Gihren Zabi is basically the Adolf Hitler of anime.

[rocklobster]

I'm currently watching the original and will definitely add Gundam Wing and Seed Destiny to my queue. I dig Giant Robots!

[blkmage]

So I'm halfway through Zeta and since there are so many people going through a Gandamu right now, I thought I'd kick off some more Gundam talk.

I've enjoyed all of the UC series I've gone through so far, but there's always been something that's bugged me while I watched all of these shows. Zeta is actually my first UC TV series, since I watched the original 0079 series as the movie version and the only other series I've watched are the 0080 and 0083 OVAs. I've found that things in Zeta happen really jarringly. It could just be the way TV series were written back then, but I've been finding there isn't really a nice flow from event to event.

Out of the ones I've seen, I'd say that 0083 had the best flow, but that's from the early 90s. What really made me realize was when the AEUG just carted out the Zeta Gundam for Kamille to use all of a sudden. It's not like more modern Gundam series where the upgrade happens out of necessity; the Gundam Mk.II was fine. There was no foreshadowing that it was coming either.

The other major observation I had was the propensity for people to punch each other in anger.

[ShiroiHikari]

I think Zeta Gundam is my least favorite UC series, which is completely the opposite of how most people feel about it.

[battletech]

[quote="blkmage (post: 1380627)"]
What really made me realize was when the AEUG just carted out the Zeta Gundam for Kamille to use all of a sudden. It's not like more modern Gundam series where the upgrade happens out of necessity]


There is like one or two episodes were there is a slight mention of the Zeta.

[rocklobster]

Why are only 42 of the 43 Mobile Suit GUndam Eps. available?

[Roy Mustang]

Why are only 42 of the 43 Mobile Suit GUndam Eps. available?

If you watch the ep "Escape" that is ep 43.

Ep 15 "Cucuruz Doan's Island" -When a distress signal is detected on a small island in the Pacific, Amuro is dispatched with the Core Fighter to investigate the source.

This episode has never been seen in America as Tomino felt it wasn't up to the standard of the rest of the series and had it cut. Since this is a standalone, its deletion does not affect the main story of the series.

[font="Book Antiqua"]
[color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[blkmage]

One of my friends recently suggested that the reason why the pacing seemed odd to me was because of Tomino's direction. I only have MSG and Zeta to compare with 0080 and 0083, but it seems to hold. I'll probably be more sure about this once I finish Zeta and CCA at the very least.

[rocklobster]

My favorite Gundam titles are in descending order: Gundam 00, Gundam Seed, Gundam Wing, and Mobile Suit Gundam. I have yet to watch Gundam Seed Destiny, but will watch it when it becomes available through this.

[Winry]

Would have to say that Gundam Wing is my favorite.

[KagayakiWashi]

My favorite Gundam series is Wing, because it has that special sentimental place in my heart as one of the first anime series I got into. The storyline, although twisted and hard to follow, is really good, and it's just a great series overall (despite the scripting problems people talk about).
However, Gundam 0080 is one of my favorite anime/OAVs. I can't really put my finger on why I like it so much....I just do!

[ShiroiHikari]

My favorite is G-Saviour.

Actually no, First Gundam is my favorite.

[KagayakiWashi]

I need to see G-Saviour. It looks good, but I never have gotten arund to watching it.

[blkmage]

I need to see G-Saviour. It looks good

It turns out it isn't.

[Roy Mustang]

G-Saviour is also a live-action television movie set in the Universal Century.

What I don't get is, why did they use actors from Canada? Not knocking actors from Canada, but why use English base actors and then have Japanese actors dub over their voices?


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

[battletech]

G-Saviour is also a live-action television movie set in the Universal Century.

What I don't get is, why did they use actors from Canada? Not knocking actors from Canada, but why use English base actors and then have Japanese actors dub over their voices?


[font="Book Antiqua"][color="Red"]Col. Roy Mustang[/color][/font]

Always follow the money. It was cheaper.

[ShiroiHikari]

Bump, for great justice.

So...I've been watching Gundam SEED. Being a huge UC fan and a person who generally does not like very very bad things, this series makes me feel （　´_ゝ`） at best. The rest of the time, it makes me feel:

(ﾟ皿ﾟ)ｒ┏┳－－－＊

ヽ(ｏ`皿′ｏ)ﾉ

(屮゜Д゜)屮

(ﾉ ｀Д´)ﾉ ~┻━┻

And so on. And I'm not even finished with it yet. And there's still SEED Destiny. fjsldgsfh

First of all, I hate, loathe, and despise Kira Yamato. He's little more than a Mary Sue self-insert character. There's nothing likable about the guy. Heck, he doesn't even have a discernable personality for the first, oh, ten or so episodes. And then when he does start to show some personality, what is he like? A colossal [expletive deleted]. Also he likes to sit around crying about stuff instead of actually doing anything. I have no problem with dudes shedding tears but when this guy does it I just want to rageslam him through a wall.

Another of the many things that irritate me about this show is the fact that Kira seems to have his own personal mini-harem. First they're all like "oh Kira likes Lacus Clyne". And then it's "oh Kira is banging Flay Allster after he stole her from Sai Argyle for no apparent reason". And then Cagalli gets all blushy after comforting him like he's a little baby which was just WEIRD. I wouldn't be surprised if this happens with some other chicks I haven't seen yet. I mean, really? We also get scenes where Kira is standing around thinking about Athrun and I'm just like, okay, so he has all these chicks but he's thinking about a DUDE? wat.jpg

The pacing and plot in this show are both terrible. Nothing ever really HAPPENS. And they like to shove the things that do happen down your throat through numerous flashbacks. Not to mention that a lot of the plot is a bad ripoff of First Gundam's plot.

Most of the characters are either completely forgettable or thoroughly detestable. Do not get me started on Flay Allster; let's just say she and Kira deserve each other. The only guys I even give half a crap about at this point are Mu La Flaga and Sai Argyle, and I really only care about Sai because I feel so freaking sorry for the poor guy after Kira stole his girlfriend and humiliated him in front of her.

This series is also a prime example of why you should show and not tell. Yeah, they tell us every episode that KIRA AND ATHRUN DON'T WANNA FIGHT CUZ THEY R BEST FRENDS but we never actually got to SEE that relationship established. They just expect us to believe it because they said so. Sorry but no. They couldn't even be bothered to give Athrun a freaking personality (at this point in the series).

So yeah, I mad. And this is only the tip of my iceberg of RAGE.

[Atria35]

I admit it- i've never seen it. I think I'll check out the first series since it's an anime fan must-see.