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Help me get into Gundam
Psychotic One
The Lord of No PantsParts UnknownRegistered User regular
The Lord of No PantsParts UnknownRegistered User regular
Been wanting to get into Gundam for a while but there have been so many series and such that I don't know where to begin. If anyone can help I'd like to know where to begin and what DVD sets to purchase. Got some amazon bucks to spend from my birthday and wouldn't mind a new series to start. If there is like a "definitive" list or what ever to use it would be greatly appreciated.
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If you can stomach some older animations - you can watch the original series with Amuro but expect era style animations similar to something like Speed racer.
Particular favorites of mine are Gundam 08th MS Team (watch this above all else), 0080 War in the Pocket (favorite mobile suit in this one; the ms-18e Kampfer) , Stardust Memory, Char's Counter Attack, Zeta ... basically anything before the Wing (08th being the exception) series and onward. I never bothered watching 00 simple because I lost faith after Seed and Seed Destiny (both which I refuse to accept their existence), but the OVA for Unicorn was good from the 2 episodes I watched.
08th MS team is what I always suggest to anyone trying to get into Gundam. It takes away a lot of the whimsical nonsense that was introduced in series like Wing, wherein 1 machine could fight off an entire army - a lot of overpowered crap. No, MS Team was much more basic in that it really focused on the front lines of combat, and threw you behind a team of pilots that were skilled but by no means invincible. Its a lot of the struggle, comradery and the question of right and wrong that made the show spectacular.
One thing you'll notice quickly though is recurring themes throughout the franchise - hence why I tell you to avoid Seed/Seed Destiny as they are pretty much ripoff Zeta plot wise; just different era, and more teeny boppery romance.
The wiki actually does a good job chronologically ordering it;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam#Animated_series_and_films
It'll show you the star date on the side. U.C is the main era that started the entire franchise, and by far the best. If you want to follow something, I'd go from there. If you're keen on subsequent orders, go with Gundam and then Zeta, as that's how it actually is. Then, something like 08th MS Team, 0083 Stardust Memory, 0080 War in the pocket just fit in between that timeline. Think of them as... alternative stories that were happening elsewhere, but also had some significance to the era overall.
In terms of self contained, you'd probably be looking at the last 3 I mentioned; they are OVA's and thus much shorter series in length (you're looking anywhere from 3-12ish episodes iirc); they have their own set of characters, and merely reference everything else. But if you've never watched Gundam before, those would not be good places to start off if you're keen on getting a lot of the info down. But they are by far, some of the best pieces in the gundam franchise in my opinion. Zeta is good, and I've never finished Gundam actually out of time restraints (uni), but it was fun from what I could recall. Plus, Char Aznable and Amuro Ray are probably one of anime's most classic rivals.
^ and that. Char's Counterattack will put the wrap on the Amuro and Char storyline.
Is Wing worth persuing and is it self contained enough to enjoy seperately or does it build off the earlier series?
You can watch it; in fairness, it's something I watched a long time ago and was what started me off in the Gundam franchise, let alone anime. However, my opinion of it changed shortly after discovering the older stuff.
It doesn't build off the old series - Gundam is weird in the it builds different eras - U.C., A.C, C.E - and they are all non related. That is to say; if you've never watched gundam before, and you watching something from the Cosmic Era like Seed, you would not be missing anything as it builds a story line of it's own. In fact, they are not even in the same time line, they are parallel universes that just tell different stories.
So to sum; Wing might be worth pursuing after finishing the older stuff, and you want more robots. It's self contained, you don't need to watch anything else to be able to follow it - however, be warned that the plot is somewhat duller, and much of the cast of characters are beyond annoying (such as the Main, Heero, who is essentially an emo kid with a giant toy robot).
00's not bad, by the way.
edit: I need to refresh quicker.
For what it's worth, Wing was easy to jump directly into with no prior knowledge of the universe.
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1) Gundam 0079 movie trilogy
2) Zeta Gundam TV series -- Largely considered to be the best of the TV series
3) Gundam ZZ TV series -- You can skip this if you can't stomach it
4) Char's Counter Attack
Everything else is a side-story, and stuff like 08th or Pocket War will be better if you understand them in the context of the bigger picture. I personally feel that a lot of the parallel universe shit like Wing and G were way more enjoyable in Super Robot Wars and can't stand the actual TV shows.
Save Turn-A Gundam for last. In terms of story, design and music I think it was simply brilliant and managed to give the entire franchise a fitting end. Even
I saw the same four or five episodes over and over again on Toonami in the days of yore, and basically it will never live up to those magical expectations no matter how much i watch it.
08th, though, I never saw enough of to be forever tainted. It is therefore an excellent series.
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Well, Seed is alright in my book, but avoid Destiny and everything after it like the plague.
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There's been a lot of similarities tied between the original Gundam and Seed, as well as Zeta and Seed Destiny. Though not precisely the same, the similarities are quite shocking, though they may tend to vary with the slight twist. And what a lot of people don't actually realize is that C.E. actually borrows the Newtype concept from U.C. And that's not to say, the coordinators are new types. The coordinators are genetically modified whereas newtypes are inherently "different". Though there is no mention of newtypes in either Seed or Seed Destiny, characters like La Flaga showed off strikingly similar abilities to new types and there's an interview with the creator who actually admits that La Flaga is indeed a New Type.
It's the fact that you've got stuff like that in Seed and Seed Destiny that it kind of leaves you feeling that a lot of those two shows were just rehashes/recycles of the older series.
Note: the first episode of Seed is pretty well put together. I really really liked it.
Second Note: Unicorn is awesome!! Only one ep to go!
Don't watch Endless Waltz without having seen Gundam Wing, it'll be kind of nonsensical without the backstory provided by the show.
I cannot recommend Destiny for any reason, it is garbage. The outright misogamy perpetrated on the lead Female character, the ridiculous and over telegraphed plot, the incredible amount shot re-use(possibly worse or at least more noticeable then any modern Anime I've watched), and their inability to hide that the shows are just a way to sell toys. I mean that's always been the case but at least they didn't flash it in your damn face all the time.
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At least I would say that you shouldn't watch it without seeing the original movie trilogy first. Seed is full of throwbacks to it.
Was 00 disliked? I admittedly only watched about half of it before getting distracted, but I had liked what I had seen.
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08th MS Team is pretty cool - It's short and doesn't drag on like most of the other Gundam shows. Much more mature and realistic out of the lot.
Gundam Seeds story isn't too bad, but the amount of love interaction between characters becomes overly sickening and unbelievable. Probably worth skipping this show if you're not into that.
Gundam Wing has super freaking awesome mobile suits. The story is pretty good too. Kinda cliche, but definately fun. But warning - The english voice acting for all secondary and background characters is pretty awful. Best watch the Japanese version.
The original and Zeta movies, like everyone said is probably your best bet.
You think that's bad? I'm pretty sure I'm the only person in the world who liked Gundam X.
The worst part about it is that I can see why... but I still love it.