I’ve had the Gundam franchise on my mind from playing Dynasty Warriors Gundam Reborn, and it has finally prompted me to finally begin watching Gundam Seed. So, here’s all the Gundam I have seen in my lifetime with very brief thoughts:
- Mobile Suit Gundam – A true classic, and with good reason. Some fruity mech designs, but otherwise quite excellent. Its hard to believe it was actually cancelled – the ending doesn’t feel rushed.
- Zeta Gundam – Another classic. Its a dark mirror of the original series and a personal favorite. I fansubbed the first half of the series in the pre-digital days, so you know I love that shit.
- Double Zeta Gundam – Tomino developed this to kill the franchise, and it backfired spectacularly. This series is an absolute insult, and I was insulted. Once I saw Bright reduced to defending the Ahgama with oranges, I was fucking done. Only saw the first four episodes, will not ever watch more.
- Char’s Counterattack – Great movie, but it requires you to be familiar with the events of the original and Zeta to get the full impact.
- Gundam F-91 – Starts well, gets more compressed as time moves on. Could have been great as a TV or OVA series, but as a movie, not great. Intriguing, though.
- Victory Gundam – Covered elsewhere in detail on this site. TL;DR version: Don’t waste your time.
- Gundam 0080 – Another favorite. It leads you along for the first four episodes, and then shoves you off a cliff. Also features character designs by my favorite artist.
- Gundam 0083 – Decent enough plot, decent enough action. Falls completely apart on the character level. Kou is boring as shit. Gato is a tin soldier. Why Nina has an interest in these two blockheads is a mystery – she comes across pretty dopey for somebody who is supposed to be some sort of genius. Can’t quite recommend.
- The 8th MS Team – I could not get into this, because it retcons the UC universe WAY too hard to not be completely distracting. If the Federation had ONE team of Gundams, never mind EIGHT of them, the war would have been over in about a week.
- G Gundam – I went in with no expectations of liking this, and my expectations were met. Bailed after two episodes, no interest.
- Gundam Wing – Plenty of plot holes, plenty of plot armor, and Operation Meteor is like the dumbest plan ever. The series is carried by its characters, who are a fairly insane and colorful lot. Entertaining overall, but it isn’t the best Gundam series around.
- Gundam X – The best intro to any Gundam series I have seen – VERY powerful. Unfortnately, it quickly pissed all of my good will away. Garoad is an awful protagonist. Once you get past the first six episodes, what little plot there was is out the window. This series earned its cancellation. I bailed after episode 8.
- Turn-A Gundam – Beautiful soundtrack, amazing designs, unique steampunk-ish aesthetic. Unfortunately, there is, as near as I can tell after ten episodes, little in the way of plot, and the characters are all intensely stupid. People love this one, and I wanted to as well, but I do not get it.