Despite being a Toonami kid, my history with Gundam is more recent rather than storied. Instead of watching Gundam Wing as a kid, I was watching Iron Blooded orphans in high school. Since then, I’ve gotten more into the franchise over time, especially over the course of this pandemic. I wanna sit down and take some time to talk about the ones I’ve watched.

At the time of writing, I’ve seen

  • Iron Blooded Orphans
  • Build Fighters
  • Build Divers Re:Rise
  • 00
  • G Gundam
  • Wing
  • Mobile Suit Gundam(Compilation Movies)
  • Zeta
  • ZZ
  • Char’s Counterattack
  • Unicorn
  • Hathaway’s Flash
  • Witch From Mercury(Currently Airing at time of writing. Latest episode is the 7th)

So basically, the really important stuff in the Universal Century and the majority of the standalone titles.

IBO

Like I said, I watched IBO on Toonami during my HS days. I was really captivated by this hard ass story about these kids taking control of their lives and trying to make a space for themselves in the world. Plus, giant robots fighting in space is an easy way to hook me. I didn’t get to finish it properly during HS, but actually having internet access in college means I got to knock it out during my freshman year.

The thing I loved the most about IBO was the cast. Orga, Mikazuki, and all of Tekkadan were fun to follow, and there were other standouts like Vidar and Naze and his ship of women. I liked/admired a whole bunch of the cast, and that made the tragedies hit that much harder. And man, were there tragedies. IBO definitely has the the most bittersweet ending of any Gundam show I’ve watched so far, which is crazy for me because it was my first Gundam.

The mobile suits from this series are still my favorites as a whole, especially all the versions of Barbatos. And of course, I can’t give enough praise to this series’ music, especially the openings.

Build Fighters

Build Fighters is like Gundam but as a sports anime, and I love sports anime with a passion. The show is just two fast friends in what amounts to shonen battle tournament, and it is a wonderful ride the whole way through. I would’ve gotten more out of this show if I watched it later in my Gundam journey, as it has plenty of shout-outs to other series, but it was a fine watch on its own merit. A nice cast of characters, good humor, and really engaging fights. It especially delivered on that last part. Free from the laws of other Gundam shows because it’s literally plastic toys powered by science bullshit, they go really ham with the fights here. A gundam does a goddamn Kamehameha in the final episode. I love this shit.

Build Divers Re:Rise

Probably my favorite Gundam show at the moment. Re:Rise had my attention, but it didn’t hook me until a couple more episodes in. Like, I was interested from the jump, but I was only really feeling it around episode 6 or 7 if my memory serves me correctly. Regardless, this series is really good. The first half gets us used to our main characters and their dynamics with each other before just going ham with the story. I can’t stress how nice they do the characters here. Hiroto’s arc of dealing with his trauma, Kazami realizing it isn’t all about him, etc. There’s a lot of good payoffs here.

Like Build Fighters, the setting allows for even wilder fights than usual Gundam fare. Likewise, its suits are top class.

This show also has my favorite Gundam opening, free.

00

Gundam 00 is another series you think I would’ve seen way before, but nah. Shame, too, because it’s really good. This series has my favorite character in the whole franchise: Graham Aker AKA The Coldest White Boy To Ever Get In A Cockpit.

One of the interesting things about the story beats in 00, at least in the first season, was the concentrated effort to capture the Gundams. That effort really made the Gundams feel special in this series more than any of the others I’ve seen, especially up to this point because Build Fighters and Re:Rise had Gundams left and right.

The first season is mainly the Gundam Meisters using force to to try to stop all the wars going on while trying to avoid being captured by the government. The 2nd season is a bit wilder and makes some weirder decisions. Most of my favorite moments come from that first season of the show, but the 2nd season isn’t bad.

The movie is pretty fun.

G Gundam

G Gundam is what happens when Mobile Suit Gundam does the fusion dance with Dragon Ball Z. Outside of the Build shows, every Gundam show is a relatively serious show about war and its consequences with not that much crazy magic/energy type stuff. Enter G Gundam, where the plot is a tournament between Gundam users and main character regularly enters a super mode and calls out his finishing attack.

Is G Gundam the best Gundam show? Nah. Is it the one I had the most fun watching? Hell yes.

The East is burning red!!!

Wing

Gundam Wing…is just alright. Duo and the Deathscythe Gundam are cool as shit, and the first few episodes are hands down the most unintentionally funny episodes of anime I have ever seen in my entire life. That’s about it, though. Don’t get me wrong, I had fun with the show and wouldn’t be opposed to re-watching it at all. It just didn’t blow me away. There’s just a lot of dumb shit in this show. It’s good, but just good. The movie is great, but the series is just good.

MSG

Had a lot of fun with these movies. I can’t lie; I looked at the OG Gundam’s length and went to these movies ASAP after I confirmed they covered important material. These movies do a good job of letting me see Amuro’s journey. I understand I’ve lost out on seeing the growth of his friends a bit, but I also won’t complain about missing out on a lot of padding/MOTW episodes that the OG was bound to have(It’s 50 fucking episodes; I know all them joints ain’t important!!!).

The story isn’t anything to write home about, but it’s good, and it’s what started this whole franchise.

Zeta

I actually wasn’t feeling Zeta all that much in the beginning. Kamille’s attitude was just kinda annoying early on, but I grew out of that pretty quick. Zeta is just a really interesting series. The setting has the Earth federation as some assholes and our main character is working with motherfucking Char.

Zeta had a strong cast, cool suits, and a strong story from beginning to end, even if I wasn’t necessarily hooked from frame 1. The ending is heart breaker, though.

ZZ + CCA

ZZ sucks. Yes, it gets better around halfway through, that is correct. I still had my problems with it. This show just has too many people being illogical and annoying. For example, one of my biggest peeves with this show is that nobody gave Beecha and Mondo the boot even though them two goofy motherfuckers were trying to get them killed. Ple was pretty annoying all around. Also, some of the characters from Zeta become jokes during this story. Yazan spent the last couple episodes of Zeta being a goddamn menace, and he’s just a joke here. Fa wasn’t the best pilot during Zeta, but she’s very incompetent as one here before they give her the boot to take care of Kamille, which they do in a kind of lazy way in my eyes. You’d have to hold me at gunpoint to make me watch this on my own time again.

Char’s Counterattack was just alright. It was nice to see Char and Amuro go at it again, but a lot of this movie is a lot of people falling over this new girl and doing dumb things because of it. It was not an enjoyable plot-line at all. Gundam in general does the whole “Two newtypes suddenly meet and fall for each other’ thing very badly. Amuro and Lala, Kamille, and Four, Judau and Haman, and here. Anything not related to the new girl is alright/good;unfortunately, that’s a very small percentage of this movie.

Unicorn

Unicorn was great. Animation, music, story, characters, it was all great in my book. My favorite thing about this show was Marida, which is ironic considering my feelings towards a certain character from ZZ. She has a really good talk with Banagher during the latter half of the show that is probably my favorite moment. One nitpick i have is that i feel Riddhe fell for Mineva way too fast, but that’s about it for in-story stuff. Outside of that, the fact that this story is kinda inconsequential makes me a bit sad, but that doesn’t take away from how enjoyable it is at all.

Movies & Specials

Hathaway’s Flash

This is supposed to be a trilogy, so this movie sets the stage, mostly. This movie does a good job of making Hathaway a likeable and relatable character after his horrible showing in Char’s Counterattack. I’m really excited for the rest of this trilogy. The best praise I can give this movie is that it was worth sitting through ZZ and CCA for this(although I would not recommend anyone else do that).

Cucuruz Doan’s Island

This is just a fun little side episode about Amuro and friends encountering a AWOL Zeon soldier on an island. It’s well animated and a good watch.

Breaker Battlogue

This is a short 6 part special about a group of friends fighting to stop a salty player who’s taken over their game. It’s a lot of good fun with great animation, cool suits, and plenty of fanservice. Worth a watch, for sure.

With From Mercury

The latest Gundam show. This show has a bit of a slow start, but it’s an enjoyable one nonetheless. All the episodes have had this darker feeling looming over them because of the implications from the prologue. It’s actually been coming to a head a bit in these latest episodes.

Suletta and Miorine’s relationship is really fun to see grow. Really, the thing I’m most invested in is Suletta’s relationships with her fellow students. I love watching characters grow more confident and secure, so seeing Suletta make friends and interact with them is fun. I look forward to when she can hold a conversation with her friends without stuttering over herself.

Miorine is a tsundere, but she’s actually endearing. She cares more than she wants to admit, and that’s what makes her likable.

I’m enjoying these episodes, but I’m waiting for when everything hits the fan, because it will. It’s gonna be a wild ride, man.

Closing

I’ve become a big Gundam fan. I can safely say it’s one of my favorite franchises now. I’ve enjoyed what I’ve watched, and I look forward to watching even more.