Gundam Newbie, v.confused.

-ADREN-

Hey im looking at getting into gundam, but I did a quick search on ann there and it seems huge. Where do I begin, or what are the best ones? Wasnt there supposed to be a newish one coming out, simular to the Macross: Zero idea?

ondafly

grab Gundam Seed Destiney - AFAIK, its a kind of rewrite. Watched one or 2 eps, and enjoyed it very much.

Asuka

The gundam saga is a rather long and complex one. This explanation will probably also be unnecessarily long and complex, so for recommendations, just skip to the end

Basically, it all started with a series called Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. I wont go into the details, but it was somewhat revolutionary at the time. It was set in the future in the year UC (Universal Century) 0079. The show was supposed to run 52 episodes, but was cancelled after 39 due to poor ratings. They got 4 episodes to finish off the story, bringing the total number of episodes to 43. However, the series (somewhat bizarrely) became hugely popular in reruns, and was condensed into 3 feature length movies. The 3 movies were also a huge success, and it seemed that a sequel would be inevitable. This came in the form of Z Gundam (pronounced 'Zeta Gundam') in 1985. This was set seven years after the original series, in 0087. Zeta was a fairly dark and emotional series, and is hailed by many as the best. It was hugely popular, and held the record for highest ratings for a Gundam series for a long time. It ran 50 episodes. A follow-up was again inevitable, and the original plan was to make a direct sequel series to Zeta - a plan which was changed substantially. What appeared was a series called Gundam ZZ ('Double Zeta'), which featured a new cast and was apparently aimed at small children - it had a comic tone, and was disliked by many of the fans. However, ZZ was rewritten after 15 episodes by Tomino (the creator of Gundam) and became a much more serious show. Following ZZ, a feature length film called Char's Counterattack was released, which seemed to signal the end of the Gundam saga, as it had a certain finality to it's story.

However, a year later, this was proven not to be the case, when a 6 episode OVA series was released entitled Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. It was a new era for Gundam in a number of ways - other than being the first OVA release, it breathed the possibility of new life into the series by returning to the first series and fleshing the world out by animating a side story. In 1991, this was repeated with a 13 episode OVA called Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory. This series was not a side story as such, but deals with some of the event leading up to Zeta. Released simultaneously along side 0083 was a movie called Gundam F91. F91 was originally planned as a full length 50 episiode TV series, but was cut down to a single feature length movie - and as such, suffers somewhat in terms of character devlopment, and cramped story. However, something important to note about F91 is that it moved forward in time 30 years to UC 0123. It seemed that the Gundam saga was not as final as had been previously thought. in 1993, V Gundam ('Victory Gundam') began to air. This was a full 51 episode TV series that was set a further 30 years after F91, making it UC 0153. This series is similar in tone to Zeta, much darker than ZZ. In 1996, a 12 episode OVA entitled Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team was released, which was another side story set during the original series' 'One Year War'. This was the last entry to date on the Universal Century timeline. Before that, however, the Alternate Universes had been born to carry the flag.

After V Gundam in 1994, the next addition to the Gundam universe was something entirely different - a Gundam series not bound by the restraints of the Gundam continuity. Strictly speaking, this had already been done by SD Gundam, but that can hardly be considered a series, as it had no continuity, and was purely bizarre humour involving sentient super-deformed gundam characters. The new series was called G Gundam, and was set in a different universe from all previous Gundam series', distinguished by having a different calendar name - Future Century. G Gundam was based around the idea of a Gundam fighting tournament held on the earth, and was rather a comic series in tone. It was quickly followed up in 1995 by a series which is well know in the west, called New Mobile Report Gundam Wing. This was the second alternate universe series, taking place in an all-new calendar called After Colony. It was hugely popular, and spawned an OVA series following its 49 ep TV series called Endless Waltz. After Wing, a 3rd alternate universe series was released in 1996 called After War Gundam X, and as the title suggest, takes place in a calendar called After War. The concept behind this series was a follow up to what might have been had the original series turned out a different way, and involved a post apocalyptic earth. It focused largely on the idea behind 'newtypes' from the UC timeline. This TV series was cancelled after only 39 episodes, 10 short of its intended run, due to bad ratings. However, this is NOT to say that it is a bad show - there has to be some questioning of the rescheduled time slot which it was given after episode 26 (from Friday evening to 6AM Saturaday morning??).

After Gundam X, 3 years went by without any sign of a new Gundam series, and then the original creator, Tomino, returned with his first take on the alternate universes - entitled Turn A Gundam. Turn A was set in Correct Century, and follows a number of themes not consistent with previous Gundam series. The actual mecha design of the Turn A was completely original, and bore little resemblance to previous Gundams, sporting a large moustache (which looked butt ugly ^^;). However, the story is really quite interesting, if you can get past the bad mecha design and sub-standard animation. Turn A was loved by some and hated by most, but certainly did not have the mainstream appeal Gundam had occasionally enjoyed in its previous incarnations. In 2002, Gundam SEED appeared, which DID enjoy massive popular appeal. It ran 50 eps and was set in the Cosmic Era timeline. The production on the series was a lot cleaner, and used CG very effectively to make a top quality product. The story was part retelling, part homage to the various previous series' in many ways, although it is by no means a blind remake. A side story appeared in manga form called Gundam SEED Astray, which augments the main story. SEED was the first series to enjoy such popularity, taking Zeta's place as the Gundam show with the highest ratings. It was also the first show to spawn a full sequel series in an alternate universe. That sequel series is Gundam SEED Destiny, which is also enjoying its predecessors popularity, and is currently airing every Saturday in Japan.

Wow, that was long. Sorry if I bored you. I realised I had gone into too much detail almost immediately, but I figured I would make the best of it ^^ As to reccommendations, I would say SEED is the best place to start. The animation in the older shows is getting a bit dated by now, and Universal Century is quite a beast to tackle straight off. SEED, on the other hand, is immediately agreeable in every way, and is available on DVD. Seed Destiny has also been announced by Bandai in the states. It can be fun to tackle the other alternate universes as well; I personally dont think there is a bad series among them.

A

ondafly

nice one Asuka - thats cleared up Gundam for me, having only watched bits a pieces on toonami, and then watching Seed Destiney, its hard to string it all together. maybe the OP will post asking about Macross next