gundam

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I'm not really a fan but i saw an episode & wanted to watch some shows. what are the differences between all the gundam shows?

[Jolly Rogers]

That's a big can o' worms...

The original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series spawned off the entire franchise, including sequels, spin-offs, movies, OVAs, etc.

Basically, you have the "classic Gundam" that takes place within the Universal Century calendar. Many of them are made with original director Tomino, although lately most UC shows are OVAs/one-off CG productions/video games done without his participation that just try to stuff more useless junk into the One Year War period for the sake of whoring more merchandise out of this cow that has been milked dry, and then some. All UC Gundam shows are somewhat related, since they take place in the same universe and are only a few years or decades apart.

On the other hand, you have the "alternate universe Gundam" that includes the likes of G, Wing, X, Seed, and its spawn Seed Destiny. These are mostly made for kids and are often pale imitations of the original, although I am sure a lot of kids will disagree vehemently about this statement. These shows are stand-alone series that do not make reference to other Gundam shows (except for Seed Destiny, which is a direct sequel of Seed) so prior knowledge of other Gundam shows are not required.

Gundam 0083 is a good OVA series to get into Gundam with. So is the Mobile Suit Gundam movie trilogy, which is basically the original TV series condensed.

Edited December 23, 2004 by Jolly Rogers

[mikeszekely]

Or, in other words, you can break it down like this, and with my personal rating on a 1-10 scale

Universal Century (aka original)

Mobile Suit (MS) Gundam (TV series, movies) - 9

MS Gundam: The 08th MS Team (OVA, movie) - 4

MS Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (OVA) - 9

MS Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (OVA, movie) - 6

MS Z Gundam (TV series, soon to be movies) - 10

MS Gundam ZZ (TV series) - 8 (it starts off like a 4, but ends like a 9)

MS Gundam: Char's Counterattack (movie) - 8

MS Gundam F-91 (movie) - 7

MS V Gundam (TV series) - 7

G-Saviour (movie) - 1

Future Century (1st Alternate Universe [AU] Gundam)

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (TV series) - 6

After Colony (2nd AU)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (TV series) - 6

New Mobile Report Gundam W: Endless Waltz (OVA, movie) - 7

After War (3rd AU)

After War Gundam X (TV series) - 8

Correct Century (4th AU, or possible the glue that binds all Gundam together)

Turn A Gundam (TV series, movies) - no score, I haven't seen it

Cosmic Era (5th AU)

MS Gundam SEED (TV series) - 8

MS Gundam SEED Astray (OVA... I guess) - no score

MS Gundam SEED Destiny (TV series in progress) - no score

And before anyone says anything, yeah, I'm sure I'll get a lot of people that don't quite agree. A lot of people love the 08th MS Team, I personally thought it was the worst Gundam series I'd ever seen. Also, people tend to like V Gundam, which I thought was more like a decent AU series than a good UC series, and I also tend to like Gundam X a lot for some reason, even though most people don't seem to care for it. Go figure. On a similar note, Gundam Wing was (and unless SEED is working here, probably still is) the most popular Gundam in the States, with record ratings when it aired on Cartoon Network. For a lot of Americans, myself included, it was our first real taste of Gundam. A lot of people hold the series in high reguards because of it, but (especially when compared to UC Gundam), I find it to be a trite super-robot show full of pretty-boy pre-teen heroes. Finally, I don't care how much better the animation is, yes, I liked the original Gundam TV series much better than the movies, and yes, I do think that Z Gundam beats all, including the original.

[Skippy438]

Just a small correction, SEED Astray is a manga, not yet fully animated. I, like many others started out with Wing, but they started airing 0079 and I was hooked. Check out episode synopses and mecha listings at MAHQ They're probably the most comprehensive resource since Gundam Project went down.

[Magnus]

I've seen every Gundam series out there, and to be honest, the UC stuff interests me the least. Zeta especially....I think this series is HIGHLY overrated - personally I was bored for most of it, and found it lame. 0083 is a good OVA though.

Of them all, i'd say my favourites are Gundam X, Turn A, and now the Seed stuff. Wing I only liked for the designs. G Gundam was just silly.

[Commander McBride]

I wouldn't recommend 0083 as a starter series. While the design and action are awesome, the plot has more holes than a collander.

You can't go wrong with the original series. I'd recommend the movies, as they're available domestically with subtitles (the full series is only available dubbed), and as they're much more affordable than the whole series.

Zeta and Char's Counterattack are also great, and the 08th MS Team and 0080 are worth watching as well, especially 0080, which is widely regarded to be the best Gundam series.

[Gui]

Personnally, I love both 0080 and 0083, I found the 08th MS team as weaker but enjoyable though... V is also an interesting show, it just happens I don't like the Zanscare Empire: they look far less cool than Zeon IMO

Anyway, for the UC period, I'd recommend to begin with the original TV serie or the movies adaptation (more the movies in fact, because they're subbed and considered as 'more' canon than the TV show AFAIK)

Otherwise, Turn A is complete ownage and therefore strongly recommended aswell

[mikeszekely]

Just a small correction, SEED Astray is a manga, not yet fully animated.

"Fully" being the operative word there. There are in fact two VERY short OVAs. They were bundled with some model kits in Japan or something.

[haro genki]

The SEED Astray OVAs were promotional commercials that played mostly in model shops... about 5 minutes each.

It's a shame, since Astray is probably the high point of SEED...

[Jolly Rogers]

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