Gundam is one of the most entertaining space fantasy sci-fi out there, but can be difficult to dive into for newcomers. This video is a quick explanation for anyone who wants to get into it how they can, and why they should.
tell that to the various side stories untranslated in this predominantly in japan and never having a major foot hold in other countries for decades series
Not gundam related, but if you like the anti-war story go watch Yamato. If you can stand the old stuff its good. If not the new films Yamato 2099, and Yamato 2202 are both great
BOOFIRE191 I liked how there seemed to more direct consequences shown as the byproduct of war by the end of the series. Most of the better story arcs show tragety, but not all of them really dwell on it or give a real conclusion to it. Escalation being a common theme throughout, with always something more on the horizon.
Shawn M Or war in the pocket? No one mentions the secondly badass gundam pilot (imo); Christina Mckenzie. 😢😢😢😢 Jokes aside, I like that not only because of NT-1 ALEX but it shows how the war is viewed from outside.
Gundam...to me by far the best science fiction franchise not enough people heard of. I found your channel through the star wars failures and stayed because you actually loved a franchise I've followed since 1990
Actually I think most anime fans know about it but it doesn't get talked about a lot because of 1.) Sheer number or series/episodes/books. This video tries to outline the best way to approach the series but I tend to disagree with most of what he says. You really just need to get stuck in and see if you like it. 2.) Mecha is already a pretty niche segment. Still Bandai/Gunpla being a huge thing pretty much insures it will always be around and kicking. For being a 40 year old mecha franchise, that is pretty impressive. Howevert I would say here are several lesser know anime scifi stories that exceed anything in Gundam imo (and no, I don't mean NGE lol).
I grew up with Toonami, so I saw a few Gundam series. That being said, I barely scratched the surface of them. After a solid decade away from it all, I've been thinking about revisiting the franchise. This breakdown is on point; reminded me what makes me wanna check out MSG again.
This! I just have vague memories of robot action; to see this show has political elements and true depth I think is grabbing me so much more toward seriously revisiting
Helel III more like he kicks the shit out of a guy and starts a 50 episode long rivalry i fucking love how violent and unreasonable Kamille is, especially when his hipocrisy kicks in.
spread the word and sign the petition to have MS Gundam remade. The director of Gundam Origin has been on record saying he would like to do it if people want it.
Gundam has had two cameos in recent Hollywood movies and is getting a Hollywood movie of its own. Gunpla sales are higher in the US now than they've ever been thanks to Build Fighters and more western availability. IBO was a huge success love it or hate it. Loads of new stuff is on the horizon including a sequel to Unicorn. Gundam is already having a resurgence.
So glad to see a new wave that got hooked since IBO, i fell in love while looking for another anime and ended up watching 0080: War in the Pocket. The great character development and history writing from both sides of the war really got me.
Agreed, mainly because they're also considered canon (meaning they're probably the definitive version in the creator's eyes), introduce newtypes much earlier in the story, and have a better handle on their tone.
“Could you make one, cohesive timeline?” Well, Turn-A is stated to be the absolute endpoint of all Gundam continuities, so I guess there must be an explanation for how UC, Wing, and even G-Gundam all share an endpoint.
but it's dated. i'm watching the show side by side to it's remake and... it's hard to say which is better. the original has better character and is more realistic (but cheap animations, and information dumping) but the remake is more modern and easier to understand (but with questionable realism, and rushed characters)
In a political and tactical stand point, Legend of the Galactic Heroes is better than most Gundam shows. Actually, they should strap the Star Wars "writers" into chairs and make them watch the battles on that show until they understand tactics.
Sieg Mein Kaiser! I'm already at episode 73 and I have to admit its brilliant, my favorite character so far is Yang slightly beating Reinhard by a tiny bit in my scale.
Ambrósio Giovanni The only thing the star wars writers will actually learn from legend of the galactic heroes will be the following qoute "We'll make a forceful penetration"
Gundam Wing will always be my favorite series, after rewatching it they definitely could of re-written some of the dialogue as it doesn’t flow right but it’s still really good nonetheless and I happen to like the mecha-designs for both Wing and the Gundam Seed series.
F91 was the first Gundam I ever watch, it got me into the franchise. I also think that 0080, 0083 and 08th MS Team are good for getting people into the UC timeline. Though I think Origin is the best way to start, at the beginning.
I started watching Gundam Origin on Hulu not realizing what it was. When I figured out it was the story behind how the One Year War started as well as how Char became who he is I was hooked. I remember trying to watch Mobile Suit Gundam when I was younger but having a hard time getting past the dated animation, but Origin helped motivate me to finish MSG and start the journey through the UC timeline. I'm up to War in the Pocket now and watching how events play out has been satisfying.
@@Alex-2-5-1 Yes. Watched that a few months ago. I thought it had some really good animation and it was cool seeing what things were like a couple of years after the One Year War. Sadly I haven't watched much since Stardust Memory. I've had to skip a couple of series due to them not being dubbed (I'm not reading subtitles for 50 episodes).Also some of the series are kinda pricey. I just got done rewatching 08th MS Team. And have also seen the newer series like MSG Unicorn and Hathaway. My only issue is that they keep going back to the One Year War instead of progressing the story further.
2 days ago (I think) I watched this video .. started watching MSG:IBO god damn! thank you very much for this video! never been a fan of the Gundam series (but managed to finish Seed, Wing and Destiny just cause it's always on regular tv) but by far IBO made me look at the series in a different light. wish there was more of IBO or something like it in the series tho.
I started with Gundam Wing and have to say you made an excellent point of it as a space opera. It really is a tremendous series with a sophisticated sense of futurism and the ideals progress confronts through love and war. Great review!
Joel Taveras but seriously, i was a die hard star wars fan, but since i got into gundam especially UC it’s a lot more complicated and interesting. Most of the best star wars theory/lore were made by fans and they’re not even canon
My Recommendations: - Char's Counterattack (The rivalry between Char and Amuro reaches its peak) - 0083: Stardust Memory (for fans of the '90s and/or if you like Top Gun and Metal Gear Solid) - Gundam Wing & Endless Waltz (also for '90s fans) - Mobile Fighter G Gundam (If you like martial arts and/or shows like Dragon Ball Z) - Gundam SEED & DESTINY (Gundam Star Wars in a nutshell) - Unicorn/RE:0096 (mostly for a HUGE variety of mobile suits) In my experience, the anime shows themselves didn't bring me into the Gundam universe. That honor goes to video games. Battle Assault 2, Crossfire, and Dynasty Warriors Gundam.
I got into gundam from the Gunpla sets because my dad built them as a kid and he introduced it to me. Then I watched Iron Blooded orphans and allowed it to become one of my favorite shows of all times.
Sadly Gundam Seed got me into the Gundam series as a whole. I watched Seed on Cartoon Network in 2006 I believe? Not best entry in the series, but still nostalgic to me. I am currently wrist deep into watching through shows in the Universal Century. I am going through Double Zeta, which is story wise absolute trash so far. I am about 30 episodes into Double Zeta. Double Zeta's does have better animation than Zeta.
Marvin Perez That reminds me; back in the late 2000s, there was a Japan-only Xbox 360 game called Operation Troy or something, which was literally Battlefield in the One Year War. It’s a shame it never came to the states and wasn’t really popular, because that game looked cool as shit.
I've been watching Gundam since the 90's and sarted with Wing. Most favorite of them all was a 6 episode special where Pricipality of Zeon low ranking soldiers and an innocent kid were the protagonist, it's called 0080 War in A Pocket. Very heart melting MSG series especially the ending. I bet you will be rooting for the Zaku here to win more than the Gundam as this series that gives a mere foot soldier's damaged Zaku a chance to finally beat a high tier RX-78 NT-1 "Alex" Gundam (back to basics street fight, none of those laser bs), but most importantly, the relationship that 3 characters built throughout the series. You should watch it, highly recommended for U.C timeline beginners as in this series; it is a year after Amuro Ray's becomes the pilot of RX-78-2.
I’m so glad thunderbolt was given this much attention to it and I agree 1000000%. Arguably in my opinion, thunderbolt is my favorite UC show in the entire UC timeline, it might change but it’s so absurdly good that it’s honestly incredible, season 2 wasn’t bad but season 1 was pretty much watching pure mecha gold.
For those starting gundam Here is my advice: Staring gundam shows: [these give you a good idea what gundam is about while being easy to watch) 1. Gundam Iron Blood 2. Gundam 00 3. Code Geass (
While I think the 08th MS team is one of the best Gundam series ever, its not something you can just jump into without the back story. Its much better if you have context for the conflict in 8th MS. Its also depressing as hell. Same with 0080 and 0079. IBO is great but its not Universal Century. Thunderbolt would be a good way to HOOK someone new to Gundam because it looks and sounds FANTASTIC. Its a bit dark and heavy though. I honestly think starting with The Origin is probably the best way to go for someone that is wanting to start the Universal Century since it introduces everyone gradually. And gundam has about as many characters as Game of Thrones. You get to understand WHY Zeon is the way they are and WHY Char is doing the things he does and that the war is NOT just good guys vs. bad guys. The ending also gets you SUPER hyped to watch the '78 MS Gundam series, which is pretty hard to do considering it looks like a 40 year old animated tv show.
SEED isn't infamous for being bad except for the cheap and often recycled animation and some Mary Sue characters. SEED Destiny is infamous for being bad.
Liuetenant D4 that's what I did (typo) It made 0079 easier to watch but the origin set my expectations too high. Thus I was really disappointed when certain character encounters happened. Especially with char and his sister. Lucky the manage makes up for it
recently ploughing my way through 08th MS Team, damn it was surely a fresh breath of air even for a Gundam show though SEED and Destiny was pretty fun for what it was, at least once you spoofing over Ed, Edd, n Eddy memes (considering the two protagonists of the show was played by Ed and Double D in the original dub)
As a long time gundam fan I'm happy to see new people getting into the series and even happier to see others trying to show others the show aswell, I hope you and any others who see this and start to watch enjoy and love the show as much as I and many of its other fans.
I’ve been waiting for this vid since I asked ya in twitter. Glad you’re finally getting into gundam! I also got back( back into) Gundam with IBO and went from there. Finished Zeta, Char’s Counter Attack, SEED, 00, Thunderbolt, 0078, The Origin, and Stardust Memory
I remember when I was first getting anime at college and didn't know where to start, but I'd heard of the name Gundam and mentioned it to a friend. He told me to watch it and I said 'Which one?' 'All of them' he told me. It was good advice.
Was a macross person but that was ages ago. Kind of grew out of it. It came from patlabor and watching early mech manga films that used to be on late night tv. If your completely new to it I would recommend all mech Anime/Manga. Especially if you done or feed up with Star Wars.
I started with patlabor movies. Shortly after that was robotech. Then macross ( macross plus to be exact). Then gundam wing in the late 90s. Patlabor and macross were so impactful for me. To this day I watch them from time to time
The manga of GTO is alternative UC timeline indeed but Sunrise made the anime adaption as a prequel of 0079 so the anime of GTO is canon to original UC timeline.
I saw Wing on Toonami as a kid, and Endless Waltz...then they aired a handfull of episodes of the original Gundam series. I since went back and finished the the Gundam (1979) series...finished watching it last month. Since I'm older now, I can appriciate the psychology the show puts on display in terms of how Aumoro's character morphs throughout the series, and how the conflict effects him and his White Base crewmates, psychologically and emotionally. I'm not much for mecha anime, but the Gundam franchise has to be the exception for me. I feel a lot of why I like the franchise stems from the politics in the varied stories and how throughout the series' as a collective, even the characters you grow fond of are put in ethically, and morally compromising situations and are revealed to be fairly "human" in terms of dealing with the repercussions of their actions or inactions. Throughout the conflicts, neither side is put on a pedestal...another aspect of the Gundam franchise I like.
So glad to see someone so eloquently explaining my very first and favorite(Other than Jojo and Initial D all three share the same spot) anime of all time. The struggles of Feddy v Zeek the complex relationships between support cast, combatants and more as well as the complete tom foolery of New Types. Will definitely use your video if I cannot quite explain something to one of my friends when I try to rope them in.
Also if you haven't seen 08MS Team I highly suggest it. It's part of the UC timeline and has a squad of well written characters in a Vietnam type setting
Gundam SEED was my first Gundam series and while I’ve known that it has some MAJOR problems, I will always view it as my favorite series with Jesus Yamato as one of my favorite Protagonist in Gundam, also the OG freedom is by far the best looking Gundam ever. Gundam Seed Gundam CCA Gundam Unicorn Gundam Seed Destiny Gundam Origins And the Jegan and Strike Dagger are tied for best MP MSs
Also, to answer your question as to who the good guy is; I personally lean towards Zeon, but Gihren and Kacyllia are terrible leaders and war criminals. That being said, the federal forces have their fair share of atrocities under their belt. It's no secret that the higher ups on both sides wanted to prolong the war so they could end it with a superior position. There's an argument that the federation are the good guys, but they put Zeon in a position where war was the only answer. I guess when it comes down to it, there are good guys on both sides. Amuro and the White Base crew are good, upstanding soldiers (conscripts); not to mention Shiro Amada and the 08th MS team on the Feddie. Ranba Ral and his troops were good Zeon Soldiers and decent people as well. In war, politicians are the villians and the soldiers on the frontline are the both the heroes and the victims of their machinations.
I’ve got to say Thank you soo much! I had only watched gundam seed growing up and had always been out of by how dated the start of universal century looked, but after watching this video I immediately proceeded to binge all 6 episodes of the origin ! NOW GUNDAM BEGINS !!
Loved the video and I just want to say thank you for making my life easier to live. I'm currently going through my last year of high school and currently dealing with a lot of depression and suicidal thoughts, the only things that are keeping my mental health ok is watching your video essay related vids and creating my video essay content like you. Once again thanks dude, hit me up if you want to collab or something.
I started with 00, then got halfway through Wing, switched to Seed and Seed Destiny. Then I went through the main UC timeline (including MS08, WITP, and Stardust Memory). My starting point is one of the most unusual but I highly recommend the Gundam series to any newcomers!
I still get a smile every time I remember that episode when the biggest threat to White Base was that they where going to run out of salt. Think what gets me is how all through out the episode the cook doesn't stop nagging Bright about the salt.
Between Gundam and Macross, which one is better when you see from characters, story and plot ? Of course better if if we compare all those with other since both has many title of it series.
I like macross. I like Gundam. I don't have opinion. Don't matter. I need fun and smart at same time... Did I just revealed my opinion.?? Never mind then.
Not really comparable since they are very different stories. Macross is much closer to Yamato in story arc being that they are fighting for the survival of humanity against aliens. Its a simpler good vs. evil story than Gundam and gives you easy protagonists to root for. Also the remake of Yamato 2199 has AMAZING production quality and you should look it up. The UC Gundam timeline is based around a Civil War that kills half of all humanity. Both sides are basically "badguys" and its only the soldiers that you root for. It is much more nuanced, and thoughtful than Macross. Some of the bad guys are honorable and/or have good motives. Sometimes the good guys are corrupt assholes. The most over the top insane Zeon Admiral sacrifices his life to protect his wife and baby daughter. The Federation command basically intend to sacrifice all the protagonists to buy time to launch their fleet. I personally think Gundam is the more rewarding series to dig into. The characters are fully fleshed out and have interesting motives. Macross is a fun watch but has a much more simple surface story.
Macross has wierd themes focused around idols singing songs, PLUS it's somewhat hard to find in the English speaking world due to copyright shenanigans from a company called Harmony Gold who basically took it and turned it into a show called Robotech. That plus just how much more material Gundam has basically makes the answer Gundam. Other (reasonably real-robot style) mecha series I would recommend checking out: * Patlabor, basically a lot of what is good about Gundam is also good in Patlabor, with the caveat that it's even more grounded in realism. May be a bit hard to track down copies to watch though * Fafnir: Humans vs Aliens, with a lot of thematic play around what humanity actually is * Code Geass: basically what happens when you smoosh Death Note, Gundam, and classic screwball anime comedy together. Is a bit light on the whole giant robots themes compared to other series though. * Armored Trooper Votoms: basically one of the guys from the original Gundam series made a follow up that was even more 'real-robot' than Gundam. Probably VERY hard to find though, if you do tell me LOL. * Escaflowne: Real-robot if it was set in an Isekai world * Schwares Marken: alt-history mechas in the glorious reich * Broken Blade: similar vein to Escaflowne, but with more military focused plots ala Gundam or Macross. Basically a string of mini-movies * Venus Wars: probably very hard to find, and noticeably giant-robots are absent, but strong similarities otherwise given it's a wartime sci-fi narrative with a strong focus on the technology being employed. * Gunbuster: strays a bit into super-robot territory, but still has the wartime/implications of technology themes. The sequel, Daibuster is... OK, but Gunbuster is a freaking modern masterpiece. As a general rule, if you like real-robot style shows you'll probably also like the various & sundry cyberpunk franchises from the 80s/90s/00s, like Bubblegum Crisis, Cypercity Oedo, and Psycho Pass. They tend to play with similar themes, sans the giant robots. I would specifically recommend you NOT bother with Aldnoah Zero, basically it's a failed attempt to make an off-brand Gundam, chiefly failing because the protagonist is basically very hard to emphasize with while being overly laden in extremely obvious plot armor, paired with a crappy harem setup.
Wing is overrated. It's not "bad", but it's really only as popular in the States because it was broadcast over here first. UC Gundam series especially if you watch the OVAs and accompanying series knocks it out of the park.
Gundam Wing was essentially the Shoujo version of Gundam that was meant to pull more girls into the franchise. While the series wasn't an utter failure or anything, they didn't really succeed in their aim.
I do agree with you on Wing as I felt it overrated and I remember not liking it as much because I started watching it in the middle but after subsequent viewings I found the show to be enjoyable but I still consider it overrated.
Zeta Gundam is the gold standard for the Gundam franchise. I think beginners should start with the original 1979 Gundam, not because it's the first nor the best, but to help understand the events of Zeta. You'll appreciate it much more that way. G Gundam is another great show for beginners since it marches to the beat of its own drum. It's more Super Robot than the more grounded Real Robot genre.
+Boi Convoy No, not the best. It has it's flaws, but it also has one of the most unique atmosphere's and world building. Main characters like Garrod, Jamil and Tiffa are very good, but I find the Frost brothers and the main threat in the finale a bit lack-luster. The Frost-brothers remind me a bit to much of Treize Kushrenada: the plot forces upon us that they should be considered interesting, while they are artificial and flat as fuck. Total 180 from what the GOOD Gundam antagonist do to make the franchise unique.
I say start with 0080 War in the Pocket. It's a perfect sum up of Gundam's themes and tone, and a pretty good way to figure out if you will enjoy the franchise as a whole.
I have been watching this channel from the StarWars videos, now I am watching someone just got started from IBO explaining the order of Gundam. Magnificent timing!
You don’t have to convince me to watch every Gundam series. I own every Gundam series on Blu-Ray. Except Gundam Wing, which I own on DVD but will own it on Blu-ray.
Good luck trying to convince peeps to watch this. Anytime I make the attempt and even offer them to barrow my DVDs they find an excise to not watch it. It also seems that suddenly everyone is a mech design expert when I show them Gundam but they keep their lips sealed for stuff like Gurran Legan (also a great show for different reasons)
DigitalFulcrum I try so many times to get my friends to watch the show, I literally make 4 friends sit down and watch UC, IBO and OO and they didn’t like any of them, but instead they loved build fighters. Welp I love build fighters but weird choice
JMK Productions I'll just tell them to watch Gundam Unicorn so they can see some of best Gundam has to offer, they can spend the time to watch then other stuff if they care.
This was very useful. I've known about Gundam for a good while, but I didn't know where to start. I could also see the part of why you should watch Gundam as being able to convince a few of my friends and family to watch it too... maybe... they haven't really seen much anime before.
Double Zeta wasn't all that bad a bunch of kids dragged into a war and they're just trying to make a living a bit of a garbage living but there are all kinds of characters you need to the Gundam series not all of them had to be Die Hard serious Judo ashta was one of them in some ways is more like a gung-ho amuro Ray just not as deep as amuro he becomes more serious towards the second half of the series starting to realize that he's in a war and it's not anyone's profit it's survival basically a bunch of kids being forced to grow up
And it does great at showing just how hurt the Argama's strength is after the ending of Zeta Gundam. Almost all of their pilots are gone, and this is what they have to work with. Holy hell it's a good thing Neo Zeon wasn't well off with all its internal issues.
I love Dune, Star Trek, Star Wars, Gundam, Babylon 5, and Battlestar Galactica. If you like Gundam, you should try Legend Of The Galactic Heroes, Neon Genesis Evangelion and Code Geass.
"And then it got worse". That's actually my one big issue with the U.C. timeline. Everything is doomed. Every minor victory, every hard-earned happy ending, every ray of sunshine...it's all brutally destroyed by the time of the next series. Nothing in any way positive is _ever_ allowed to last in that universe. It gets a bit old after a while.
To be fair, the timeskips are what makes it sense since even in the real world, nothing good lasts. Unicorn proved at least that no matter how many fuck ups the UC has, There will always be hope.
@midgetydeath Exactly, I mean look at Ideon's ending.... Hell, ZZ is probably the way it was because he didn't want to tell a depressing story after two series with such depressing endings.
to watch the anime do you have to have the model kits or do you have to have the model kits to watch the anime cause i just like big robots fighting each other
TManimations outside of how the mechs behave, this can easily be a story told anywhere outside of japan. Gundam does have campy "weeb" stories like gundam G fighter and alternate art styles ones which would be obvious to spot at a glance.
BOOFIRE191 that's good to here. I recently watched space battleship yamato and the remake 2199. Also I I'll watch gundam for the ships not the actual gundams
Awesome video man, I'm almost 30 now and I have an older brother who I've never ever been close with. We literally never spent time together or have been "buddy-buddy". But there are a very few good memories I do have, maybe 5 truly good memories I have of my brother and I. One of those memories is of my brother calling me into his room (somewhere I was absolutely forbidden to enter under penalty of massive wedgie) so I was already excited. He ALWAYS had his door shut and locked and I only ever caught glunoses of the inside when he would rarely slip in and out of the room. Anyway, he told me he wanted to show me this awesome movie he thinks I would like (I was always into robots as a kid). He put in a VHS of Endless Waltz that he had recorded. We watched it together and ever since I've been a Gundam fan. I mainly am into building the Gunpla models more than anything but anyway this video was wonderful and really well done. It really brought me back (hence this novel I'm writing here lol) so thank you and keep up the good work bro.
Given you show Judau when pointing at a "trash" Gundam show, i assume you don´t like Double-Z? Now you are not the only one, for me it´s just the other way, i liked how ZZ made fun of itself. Yes it got serious later on, but it is more of a humorous entry in the franchise, poking fun at tropes now considered essential to Gundam. "Gospel" means pretty much "happy news", that´s not exactly fitting for Gundam...
I understand what you mean, everyone has the right to their opinion. What was interesting to me was how Camille seemed to slowly heal over the course of the show. Gundam Zeta was something i didn´t like because i had the impression many characters died only because they didn´t think before acting. Which escalated in Victory Gundam, my personally most hated show. Never make a show while suffering from depression.
XD I hated NGE, while the animation quality hold up even today, the main character was a catastrophy. The author even said himself "It´s a wonder Neon Genesis Evangelion was so successful since every single character is broken"
BOOFIRE191 to be fair on zz, Tomino was practically cucked by Sunrise to make a sequel to the overwhelmingly succesful zeta, and had to drop his plans for doing a series which would have been along the lines of char’s counterattack. Halfway through zz however, he was given the greenlight for cca, and Char’s reappearance in the franchise was moved onto it instead. Personally, as someone who loves zeta very much, I really enjoyed zz after watching it all the way through. The only major ’cheapening’ zz does in my opinion is the fact that Yazan survived gryps, and appeared for a couple of times before being never mentioned again. Otherwise, I believe Judau’s journey and growth from the naive petty thief in Shangri La is a well executed one, with lots of interesting looks into various familiar characters and many civilians and militia members who’ve lived through the events of the previous entries. A series with faults, but a highly overlooked one for its first third.
+BOOFIRE191 I side with Zeon and Neo Zeon. Zakus, Goufs, Gouf Customs, and Geradoggas are awsome. I use those in the Mobile Suits Gundam Ships mod for Stellaris with other ship and weapon mods just to be bad guys or good guys. My Rebel Alliance is using Zakus with the X-Wings.
I believe it was a remake called A New Translation. Came out a few years ago and is 3 movies that kinda retells the Zeta series. I started watching it but it was hard to follow. It felt like it was jumping around a lot and that it was missing some information. I would honestly recommend watching the Zeta series first, then if you want, watch A New Translation to see what they changed.
