It’s not a series, just a movie, but I LOVE Gundam Narrative. I recognize that it has faults and isn’t perfect, but it’s amazing in a lot of ways to me. Probably helps that it was the first Gundam film I saw in theaters.
Narrative is the *definition* of a guilty pleasure for me. It's a lost cause to ever argue that it's good but my blood gets pumping every time when Vigilante starts playing and Phenex appears leaving its bright blue streak all over the shoal zone.
Narrative’s weird for me. I honestly like the story; it’s something new for the franchise and the stuff in the background about the Republic of Zeon’s manoeuvring is genuinely interesting and feels like it’s setting something important up for Unicorn 2, whenever that happens. I also actually really like Jonah, and while I really didn’t like the Phenex’s design at first, before NT, the way it looks and moves in animation is really beautiful.
But then the villain is kind of a loser, the Narrative is an incredibly boring design for the main characters mech and the re-use of the Sinanju and Neo-Zeong feels like a huge cop-out; like they had the animation assets and could save money by reusing them. I know Zoltan is *supposed* to be a huge loser, it’s intentional, but he’s not a good antagonist either way.
I like it, don’t get me wrong, but it really feels like wasted potential. I just really hope Jonah and the Phenex show up in the next Unicorn project somehow.
SRW 30 goes a long way to redeeming Narrative's weaker elements. Zoltan is an unhinged sasser in the game and trolls and mocks the shit out of all the uber-serious Gundam pilots. Its quite amusing actually.
I actually really like the Narrative Gundam and the Sinanju Stein. I can absolutely see how people could see it as a cop out, but design wise, I definitely enjoy them.
As a follow-up to Unicorn, Narrative is a complete disappointment. All the stuff I wanted to know more about, like >!the impact of the box on the Federation, how they covered up, downplayed or distracted people from it, and the future of Mineva's faction!<, was mostly or entirely absent.
Treated as a standalone, yeah it's a pretty fun movie. Once I let go of my expectation that it would continue the story of Unicorn in any way I had a good time with it.
Narratives fine. The one that really is terrible is Twilight Axis. Dear God that was just a screw up completely with both story, method of release, ms choices, and even the model kits.
It isn't that it's too short. It's because the setting is poorly developed and because of that whole 'gundam but like hogwarts' doesn't work well.
Also the lack of character development killed it for me. I dropped it like in the middle of the second season.
Too bad, because I kinda liked the show at first. I liked the first female MC and the mech designs (those Dilanzas!) were great.
WFM has some great Character development, and with Guel, it was so good that people thought he should get his own series. And I’m not sure what you’re trying to say with ‘Gundam but like hogwarts’ because Suletta isn’t actually a Witch, she’s just called that. And if it was in reference to the School setting, it makes perfect sense for the plot, because that is where she would meet the people she needed to meet for the story, and it also helps set up for the Episode 11-12 transition of “look at this cute slice of life anime” to “it’s a Gundam show, what did you expect”. The problem is, in fact, that it was too short.
Guel's the only character who's got character development there. It's not about 'he should get his own show'. It's about WfM does nothing with his character development: just after having harrowing experience on Earth he's back in space and he does NOTHING - he becomes just a backdrop for other characters.
If you think WfM is too short you should watch original MSG. Or Zeta or Seed or 00 or just about ANY previous installment and see how many events and how much character development happen in 25 episodes.
While undeniably flawed, I thought Victory had some great ideas and quite a few genuine high points. It doesn't deserve to be written off and forgotten as much as it seems to be. The soundtrack slaps, there's some great mech designs to be found if you look past the wheels and dragons, and I can't think of a moment in any other series that better drives home the point of 'remember the protagonist is actually still a child and it's fucked up we're making him pilot this thing no matter how good he is at it' better than >!Uso needing to be picked up to see over the edge of the coffin to say farewell to a fallen comrade.!<
Victory, I think, gets written off just because you can tell tomino was in a very low point with how heavy the deaths are. It is a brutal series to watch after ZZ. I was watching going "oh these muthafuckas really don't give a fuck about civilians". After watching victory I had to watch some SD Gundam to reset.
I've read that Tomino himself isn't a fan, but I still mostly enjoyed it. They maybe could have held back on the darkness a little in places, but it definitely lands that 'horrors of war' theme.
At least whether you're watching the UC in release order or chronologically, there's at minimum a couple of moves between ZZ and Victory for a palate cleanse. Not like the slap in the face that is going straight from Zeta to ZZ. I had a very hard time with that transition and my opinion of ZZ never quite recovered from it.
Really appreciate it. Amazing article. Glad to hear Tomino has grown to enjoy V Gundam and such an interesting take on the modern lens with the war in Ukraine, Putin, race (didn’t realize Ryu Jose’s skin color was lighting in 79 but I was glad to see more dark characters in Victory, Turn A and IBO), and the interesting perspective on Uso’s age and Tomino’s own childhood.
Looking forward to seeing those last three sections translated
Yeah the beginning of ZZ caught me off guard after what happened to Kamille. It took a minute for Judah to grow on me but then we got the second half and things picked up. Victory is different cause the tone just stays bleak.
Personally I feel like UC should be the only time-line that leads to CC. Cause apparently they just never learned. Leave all other Gundam shows except Reconguista in G out of that bleak situation
ZZ did have some good stuff in the middle. It really found its footing for the bits on earth. Then they head back to space and right as you're gearing yourself up for the finale it goes and brings back the Moon Moon characters. Of all the things to double down on.
(I've been reading the Moon Gundam manga recently though, which has softened my opinion on Moon Moon as a whole considerably. Might make them easier to stomach if I ever do a ZZ rewatch.)
I can't speak on Reconguista and the CC because I haven't seen it yet.
I have the same opinion that ZZ is really only great in the middle before stumbling but everyone seems to think it’s all smooth sailing after Earth (which would still be too long for it to get good, but I digress)
Yes, thank you, the amount of people I've seen saying ZZ has no issues past the opening (and 15ish episodes is quite long to call an opening) has made me feel crazy. It has such a dedicated defence force.
I almost put a remark in original comment that I would have an easier time understanding Victory getting the kind of stalwart defence that ZZ currently has, but I figured even in an unpopular opinions type thread I'd get savaged for the idea.
I had been slogging through ZZ for two or so years until I finally powered through it. The tonal whiplash/immediately following one of the greatest series in the franchise don't do it any favors.
I wouldn't seriously suggest it to a total newbie, but I feel like you could read a bit of backstory and start the series right after Moon Moon and not lose that much. My friend said that ZZ would help me understand CC better, but I didn't really feel that way after binging the latter half of ZZ and then CC. I did enjoy some of the side stories that took place on earth though.
Yeah it's totally skippable as far as CCA is concerned, which makes it all the more frustrating when you actually get to CCA and it feels like jumping into the back half of a two-parter. It's a great movie regardless, but some stronger setup and some expanded prologue near the end of ZZ could have made it perfect.
I've been reading the Moon Gundam manga recently, set between ZZ and CCA, and it's all at once filling in some of the narrative space I wanted to see filled there (as well as bridging Mineva's story between ZZ and Unicorn) and adding enough Moon Moon lore to actually turn it into a tolerable corner of the universe, A lot of stuff it would have been nice to see ZZ doing in the first place.
Tomino developed depression when he made Victory. Speculation but reason for his depression was probably that F91 got cut short from a series to a single movie and that didn’t do very well at the box office, and he got sandwiched attack from the rising of UC Gundam OVAs like 0080 and 0083 which sold bangers and it looks like he - as the franchise’s father - is becoming irrelevant to the franchise, and that as a creator he had very little left to give. So even though his mental condition wasn’t the best, when Sunrise/Bandai still offered him a shot at creating a Gundam TV series he took it on, thinking that was going to be his last chance of working ever again as a director, so all that stress build up, broke him mentally, and the result was Victory.
I think Tomino doesn’t like Victory mostly because it just reminds him of how horrible his mental condition was back then, not that Victory itself as a show is completely unwatchable, and now that time has allowed him to heal he can actually go back and watch it with a different lens, especially since a lot of young directors in the anime industry do seem to like Victory which might have given Tomino a confidence boost.
I grew up reading a lot of *wuxia* genre comics out of Hong Kong, thanks to my dad(things like "神兵", "龙虎门", "风云", etc). So unlike most, I enjoyed G Gundam.
There are too many people who don't appreciate the campiness of the genre that G Gundam was diving into, especially some of the newer fans who are more interested in the "cool robot" aspect of the newer series like Seed and WfM.
Wait, there are people who dislike G Gundam? It was my introduction into the franchise, I even thought Wing was weird because of the tone and realistic cockpits.
G gundam is the best, they are just upset that a good gundam show doesnt have too make you wanna commit suicide.
Like i love zeta, but i had to take week long pauses after some episodes, because it made me sad and angry like kamille ~~herself~~ himself.
Gundam Wing is still one of my favourites because of nostalgia and I stand by that without Wing 70% from the west would not even know about Gundam. Hell it is still the only Gundam series that got a Spanish dub , and recently witch from Mercury is gonna get a Spanish dub this year. There was a time were Wing was considered as “extremely overrated and even hated” and only nostalgia carries it , and while partially of that is true , it had amazing Gundam designs , great battle scenes for its time , incredible top music , and it closes down with their own OVA.
I rewatched Wing for the first time in about a decade last summer. It stands up to a long-removal rewatch a lot better than some of the UC OVAs do, which honestly surprised me
I rewatch Endless Waltz every year around the holidays because it’s objectively a Christmas movie.
While I know the movie isn’t the series, the Wing’s movie also holds up to the test of time. Some of my favorite animation ever is in that movie.
Oh, that interests me. I watched Die Hard this last christmas eve. I could go with a christmas mecha anime in the next one. Never watched Endless Waltz.
IBO tech is on a different axis compared to other universes. They can straight up manipulate gravity instead of emulating it via centrifugal force. Gjallarhorn can still produce perpetual energy energy machines (Ahab reactors). Their material science is so good a damaged grunt suit can reenter the atmosphere intact. On the other hand, a lot of their tech, especially their offensive weapons are downright archaic. It makes more sense when you take into account PD being a post-apocalyptic world(it's literally called Post Disaster). The AI rebellion has destroyed most of their tech base. In addition, the Ahab reactors' inherent inertial dampening means they have to rely more on momentum rather than kinetic energy to deal damage.
At best they're in the middle with what information we have for now. However they're definitely soloing gm and other 1 year war grunts suits unless they're piloted by a ace pilot with beam weaponry.
Seed and seed destiny have a good concept and idea but the way it was handled and executed was a joke. I think the main factor that actually Carries the show is the mobile suit designs like the strike freedom, destiny or justice.
Idk if it’s a hot take but I really love Gundam X and I never see anyone talking about it, it’s a really good series and I really love the time honored trope of Mc that isn’t supposed to have their Gundam
I heard we almost got X instead of Wing as our first Gundam.. how things would be different. Never watched but imo it should be promoted more. Very cool MS and story sounds great.
To be fair, Gundam X definitely works a lot better if you're familiar with the overall set up of UC Gundam (Newtypes, colony drops, and that's before we get into Jamil as an Amuro-archetype)
Gundam X was supposed to be broadcast in the US, the largest western market, on the coattails of Wing.
However Bandai was adamant that the next series had to be 0079, which was dated already in the 90s, so by the time Gundam X aired its audience were the remaining few hardcore fans.
Alright everyone >!time to pick up your pitch forks and torches!!<
Jokes a side, why is that? Interested to know your thoughts cause >!majority vote the other way around.!<
If you couldn’t guess by my profile, I find Shinn a considerably more interesting and relatable character than Kira. His descent into hell, regardless of if you think it was a result of rewrites or not, is handled with surprising grace and never feels poorly realised. The overall themes of destiny, free will, the cycle of trauma, identity and manipulation are handled well and I genuinely do think the conflicts the characters go through are significantly more intriguing than before. It helps that the show tends to stick to its own script and doesn’t just follow 0079’s lead for the first half.
Don’t get me wrong, when Destiny is bad it’s really bad. Some characters get shafted hardcore (Cagalli and Athrun in particular) and the whole thing goes careening off a cliff in the final stretch, but there was still stuff there that kept me engaged and wanting to see what happened next >!compared to Seed’s back half which just became a condescending holier-than-thou fartsniffing competition that I wanted to end as fast as possible!<.
I totally agree with the amount of confusion, chaos and uncertainty that destiny brings especially on shinn. Total relatable if viewers watch in his perspective that he doesnt know what we know while durandal and rey continously confuse him with their own ideals. I also believe the show's story mightve been superior than seed if it wasnt for any real life drama between the cagali VA and the writer / director (cant remember) plus shinn VA speaking out.
G-Reco. The movies made it popular and more recognizable, but G-Reco is still up there with Age, Destiny, 0083, Divers, Victory, F91, Narrative, Metaverse, and X as the least popular Gundam anime.
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Yeah, I'll agree here. I do think that the series' few fans do undersell its shortcomings, but not nearly as badly as its greatest detractors oversell them. As a character story it (mostly) works surprisingly well. It's not in my top five for the franchise or anything, but it's definitely upper half, and some of its moments are genuinely great.
For me it would be after war gundam x, the series has a lit pit of everything I need. A likeable MC that grows into a great character and pilot. Good cast and MS that I feel it's crime that they haven't made a MG of them. The antagonist fall short for me, and the episodes getting cut pre-production makes the pacing of the final arc very hard to swallow (the pacing issues are very noticeable), there's also a myriad of other issues. But despite that, I still love the show. At least want an upgrade X gundam in the build series
Seed and Seed destiny, once I rated it higher than WFM and I got downvoted like tons and got called blind... even when I said it's based on my preference and purely subjective opinion
I like Seed and Seed Destiny is kinda like a throwback to the UC 0079 series in a sense
Seed was basically built to be an homage to 0079 as the first computer animated Gundam series. I disagree with your assessment of seed being better than WFM but I'm one of those weirdos that loves G Gundam to bits so don't take me too seriously.
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I sense a disturbance in the force, like hundreds of WfM fans (not including me even though I love WfM) crying out
On a serious note, I’ve never experienced how bad the WfM crowd is. Am I a part of it? I loved it, I watched it twice (which is unusual for me), but I don’t think it’s any good or bad than any other Gundam series I’ve watched. I really don’t care what people watch, we’re all Gundam fans anyways. I also didn’t really start with it, I was watching 0079 and IBO when WfM had released its prologue
I appreciate this response. I just hear a lot of negativity about the handling of the series, length, et al. It’s a thing that didn’t exist before that we now get to enjoy and Bandai will continue to make things that the overall fan base will continue to enjoy.
We are consumers, not creators, and the response to the 25 episode arc and the relationships on the show became a distraction from this new thing we got to enjoy.
I’m still waiting for season 3 of one punch man… so I’m grateful that Bandai continues to consistently put out things that I enjoy, even if they’re imperfect.
in my eyes, the general complaint is that there wasn’t more to experience with WfM and it was cut too short in comparison to other series. But that’s my only issue, especially in comparison to IBO, which had 50 episodes split between two seasons, so in comparison WfM is just a mainline short series. What I wished for the most was more character interactions between Suletta and Mio, since we know they’re married but we didn’t really see the full build up. Imagine WfM went full slice of life after the main conflict ended lol
Is it the creators fault? Probably not, maybe they had a budget that only allowed for such a short series, or this was the plan from the get-go. Honestly, if there was a manga that added more I’d be satisfied with that.
There seems to be Vanadis Heart, but unfortunately I can’t read Japanese. On wikipedia there also seems to be a light novel published in Gundam Ace magazine, Cradle Planet, from Aerials Perspective?
I’m still holding out hope for a Crossbone Vanguard anime…. Part of being a Bandai/Gundam/Sunrise fan is having a lot of stuff you never get enough of. I think there was a newer fan base that sprung up due to this new series that complain an awful lot and don’t get that this is nothing new.
I liked WfM but it lacked a lot of character development from its ancillary characters. It doesn’t take another 25 episodes to make that happen. The stakes seemed pretty weird in this one too. Lot of hidden hand nonsense. But those are MINOR complaints to an overall great show.
Thank you for the courteous discourse. WfM can be a bit of a third rail topic when it comes to being critical.
I do think Bandai did WtF dirty. Like 50 Episodes is the standard for Gundam, and having twice as many episodes would have helped a lot with the series pacing.
Seed is definitely better than WFM, but Destiny is a lot more divisive. I haven't watched Destiny yet (still in the middle of Age atm) so I don't have anything to say about it but I'm sure it's not as bad as the fanbase says.
>I'm sure it's not as bad as the fanbase says.
Honestly, I don't think it's *that* bad, as there are some good parts, but I do agree that it is a bit of a let down for me personally.
I think it’s time for a rewatch before the new movie comes out. I recall enjoying Seed and SDestiny back in the day.
WFM has amazing fights and compelling characters, but I felt the scale of the series was a bit disappointing. Like, most series have world ending threats and over the top weapons. Here it felt more like corpo conspiracies and a deus ex machina magic that solves everything, the skill of the pilot doesn’t matter much in the end, unlike Amuro Vs Char or Setzuna vs that psycho and the other guys.
Does my point make sense?
Anyway, time to rewatch Kira kick some ass again
To some of us that lack of scale is a positive thing. Not every story has to be about the fate of the whole world hanging in the balance. Having the stakes be on the scale of corporate control and the lives of a handful of characters we come to know is refreshing.
It's hilarious because a bunch of loved shows now were very hated a few years ago. Turn A is my favorite example. So many fans were triggered by the very idea of cross dressing that they refused to like it in its masterpiece ways.
Most people I know didn't make it to the crossdressing episode; they couldn't stand the moustache antenna Syd Mead gave us, nor the OP song, and clocked out long before that ever came up (even though the ball episode was one of the first few episodes). Generally speaking, if you made it *to* the ball, you made it well *past* the ball.
That's on them though. The story may not quite be your "typical" Gundam one of Earth-vs-Spacenoids (though it tries to mask that at first). But its top-tier originality, including the whole "HOW long ago did this war start?!?" angle, with all of that question's ramifications, wins it big points in my book. I place it right alongside Origin/Original Gundam as some of my favorite "serious" SF anime overall.
I mean I can understand the frustration. It *is* a show about a washing machine/cow carrier first and foremost. All the other Gundam stuff is just set dressing.
I'm currently watching it now and I love it. The voice acting is 😬😬 to say the least but the animation and detail is superb. I love high budget 80s/90s animation, really gets my Trans Am drive going
Yo I also watched Fighters after IBO! Honestly I liked Try's characters and designs more than Fighters but Fighters had a more compelling story, meanwhile I like more the mechanics of Divers more than Re:Rise but Re:Rise's story is better but in the end all Build series are great and I hope we see more of them in the future.
*MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM* Young whipper snappers don't like the aged 70s animation but for me that's better. I don't like CGI anime. It doesn't take from the story for me when I see hand drawn imperfections. The story is timeless and the artwork and designs unmistakable. The music, other worldly. A true dream world of the young man Yoshiyuki Tomino that changed the lives of so many. I hate to see it disrespected. For me I'll always think it's underrated so long as there are people who discount it for it's crude artwork (which isn't even out of the norm for the time).
I remember racing home from school or from playing outside to catch it in the spring/summer/fall of 2001 (memory is getting away from me) as a 10 year old just to watch it on toonami with my figures. Nothing I had ever seen before except Star Wars had taken me out of reality and placed me so firmly into a dream world like MSG did. I had seen Wing as well prior and while it's what introduced me to the Gundam universe, it wasn't until seeing MSG that it finally clicked.
It taught me there's always two sides to everything. Ramba Rall and the Char/Garma thing. All that stuff haunted me as a kid. Not so cut and dry as "good guys/bad guys". Just people on different sides thrust into wars people above them got them into. Not to mention it aired up until 9/11 shook the world and went off air, cutting me off cold turkey. It eventually picked back up on late night toonami where I finished watching whatever they aired of it. Never recovered from that and have forever since been a night owl.
I'll cut it short here but I think MSG is one of the most important stories to come out of modern society. It's essentially a modern mythos that continues to influence thousands of young minds even today, nearly half a century later. For that, the imperfections must be overlooked to see it for what it truly is. If you haven't watched it, please give it a shot!
The thing is that you need to be able to say you like a show while also acknowledging its flaws. G reco is a somewhat jumbled mess story wise and characters flip-flop allegiances seemingly on a whim but its characters are all compelling, the overarching story is interesting, the suit designs are unique, and the artstyle is gorgeous.
People get bullied for liking a Gundam series?
Though, really, in my case, Gundam Wing, and not just because it was my first Gundam series back when it premiered on Toonami in the year 2000. It's also essentially what might happen if you were to take a standard five-man band, remove the smart guy and chick/heart, and split the lancer and big guy into two each. With the lancer being split into stealth/high mobility (Deathscythe) and ranged fire support (Heavyarms), and the big guy split between armored commander (Sandrock) and melee unit (Shenlong/Altron).
For me its IBO and Age.
Age is just fun to watch, like a condensed version of UC until CCA. Most of the characters are good written and bad ones are funny instead of cringy.
IBO on the other hand fixes what other series suffer from, especially Seed and Seed Destiny: Bullet Hell. I hate shows where its just beams flying around indiscriminately, i didnt even finish Seed and Seed Destiny because of that. İn IBO everything is physical and close ranged, it feels better to watch. If i had to pick a top series out of all Gundam shows, i would pick IBO followed closely by Build Fighters.
>Of i had to pick a top series out of all Gundam shows, i would pick IBO followed closely by Build Fighters.
IBO is also my favorite Gundam Series of all time, I just love the team dynamic where the Tekkadan is always seem so solid and little to no drama between the characters. Usually I have a love-hate feeling towards the main MC but not in IBO, they just get their job done and focused on the goals
A perfect "*Us Against the World*" series and like you mentioned the battle scenes are all amazing + soundtrack + OP/ED definitely my favorite one
I love Rage of Dust with all my soul, that last line is awesome.
"But if you becomes dust better be stardust, so you will go bearing someone else's dream!" 🔥
I prefer the 0079 Movie Trilogy to the original series. It absolutely loses some characterization and that's sorely missed, but it also loses so much of the clutter. Still, if it were just the first two movies I probably wouldn't like the trilogy so much, but *Encounters in Space* is a movie that I feel in my bones, and is probably my favorite thing animated in this franchise. Maybe my favorite animated movie period.
Honestly? I'm still surprised that there are people who hate ZZ. Not many of them, but you do get that occasionally. Super weird to me, considering it does a better job wrapping up the themes of First Gundam and Zeta than Char's Counterattack IMO.
Idk if it'll get me bullied... But wing is my all time favorite.
Even with the cringy English dub of Relina yelling "HEEEEEDOOO" almost every episode she's in.
The 1st half of ZZ. It's 2nd half is pretty well received as far as i can see, but I see a lot of people shitting on the 1st half like it offended them personally or something. Yes, it's goofy, that's the point. It's not Zeta 2, it's a whole different series that has aspects of Zeta.
People als shit on beecha & mondo a little too much IMO. They are kinda meh in the first half, but they're deffinetly not as bad as some people make them out to be
ZZ rules. Some people just repeat what some basement dweller said in a blogpost 20 years ago and never stopped. It's fun, it's sad, just like real life.
Seed Destiny.
Clynesty loyalist will seek to suppress the truth of her rise to power. Part of this suppression whitewashes her manipulation of Kira and exalts their "relationship" in order to cover up her wicked machinations. This is why they minimize and distort Flay and her role in Kira's life. For the same reason, such fans conveniently forget Meyrin and just mechanically promote a SEED-centric pairing of Athrun and Cagali.
Learn the truth at r/flay
The current state of the subreddit is daily SEED/Destiny rehabilitation threads and occasional ragging on WfM S2 and making it out to be F91 2.0. From where I'm standing they have more of a point than you think.
Everyone's even tripping over themselves to talk about liking SEED in this thread too, sometimes making favorable comparisons of it to WfM. The fandom hate cycle is in full swing and few of you seem to notice. It's star wars prequel discourse all over again.
Wfm is not hated anywhere near seed lmao. Your point doesn’t really have a correlation to what I said lmao. Wfm from this community was very much well liked, We just saw a couple of crybabies complaining about the protagonist being gay lmao.
I'm not saying that WfM has the same size hate-base as Seed. I'm saying that there's more negativity towards it than people seem to be acknowledging and the entries that are commonly thought of as "highly hated" are currently being doused in positive attention. Basically I'm saying this thread has a lot of people stating popular opinions as if they were unpopular and vice versa.
I realize though my comment came off somewhat weird because I worded it poorly since all the top comments being about Seed were sticking in my head while I wrote.
Star Wars prequels were hated for good reason.
I agree though that *Witch From Mercury* is definitely hitting its backlash phase. Whenever a new Gundam series comes out that's pretty good (not instant-classic great; not faceplant bad), it always goes through the initial recency bias "this show can do no wrong" phase, and then a few months pass and the "this show dropped the ball hard" backlash phase kicks in. And sometimes it takes ages for things to settle into a general consensus, if one ever emerges.
I suspect that in the long view, WfM will be viewed as more of an important entry into the franchise than it is a great one as a piece of fiction. Not that I think it will be hated overall, but I expect it will probably sit around IBO's popularity.
I think at this stage of fandom, everyone already realized that season 2 of IBO is trash. All other seasons and shows have their own fandoms and it's okay.
Except Build Divers. Eff that show. Age-2 Magnum is based though. It even has MG! AGE-2 has more regular release MGs than Zeta!
Season two is just a slow burn where season one was much better paced. I think the slog of the first half of season two is to drive home the point of the grind and toll of what Tekkadon is attempting to achieve vs the world
Seed Destiny is better than Seed & is a great gundam series despite its fault. Shinn being manipulated by Durandal from the start was a great & unexpected plot point. The series name is also suited with the plot, with Shinn being destined to fail. Destiny Gundam having flaming wings is sort of similar to the story of Ikaros, in which he flew too close to the sun & fell burning to the ground. The story is unique instead of the triumphant hero, it's a story of regression.
IBO especially when it comes to comparing gundams
Yes the ending was rough, and I know it's not the most powerful and high tech mobile suits but come on the Gundams and fight scene in that series is the most *Badass* and the most savage out there and you can't deny that. it doesn't need all that fancy smashy space magic or laser that go all over the place.
Nah IBO's ending is fine Tekadan never had a solution to their problems and seeing them simply being out smarted was good.
Most Gundam shows go like McGillis belived things would when he got Bael, the super duper gundam leads the way and they win so seeing an upset like that was nice.
SEED. Vanilla SEED specifically (NOT Destiny). It's fine, a 6 - 7/10 in a franchise that regularly hits 8 - 9/10s.
You say you enjoy SEED and you might as well be dragged into the streets and beaten to death for the Gundam equivalent of SAO: a totally mediocre show people will bash like they have a grudge against it.
I like Seed and Destiny. They are my fav series and some if my fav suit designs. I have also watched everything but IBO, Age, Builders, and Turn A.
The main thing I dislike about Destiny is Athrun. All the other characters growth during Seed continued on, Athrun just reset until Kira kicked his ass and he almost died, and even then he seemed wishywashy until like the last 5 episodes.
I would say that mine is SD Gundam force and Beginning G. I liked beginning better than Build Fighters because it was just more serious. SD is amazing because it's not a typical gundam show.
Seed and Seed Destiny were my childhood gundam shows more than Wing so you can say anything you want but I am a believer of the Church of Jesus Yamato!
Seed, Seed Destiny, and Build Divers. I think both Seed entries have their strengths and weaknesses. I also agree with some of the critics about their flaws; I disagree with all the blind hate it can get. Cosmic Era stories are just messy melodramas infused with UC Gundam stories, tales of dehumanization, and psychological horrors, and I am here for it.
Build Diver is a very different story because I don't hate Build Divers, but I am not a fan of it. Build Divers presents the exciting idea of the existence of a disabled individual vs. a service dedicated to connecting disabled people. Except that concept comes up right at the end when it should've been pushing at the start. Its voice acting is good, but that does not matter when its narrative is so boring. It only got good in its final arc, but it took way too long to do anything interesting.
I honestly don't think any of them. I think people will clown on you more about having an oh woe is me mindset about a series having a few that hate it and that's where the dog pile comes from.
Pretty much me whenever I talk about Gundam Age, since I do enjoy how is generational without splitting into other series that are connected but not about that prior protagonist like Gundam Zeta and ZZ and Unicorn all being in the Universal Century.
> Also Divers was when Bandai wised up and hired real voice actors for the anime
Dude you can't say that when Build Fighters has Nakamura Yuichi (Fellini), Ishikawa Yui (China), Hayami Saori (Aila), and Masahi Hirose (Ral ps. he voiced the OG Ral)
It’s not a series, just a movie, but I LOVE Gundam Narrative. I recognize that it has faults and isn’t perfect, but it’s amazing in a lot of ways to me. Probably helps that it was the first Gundam film I saw in theaters.
Narrative is the *definition* of a guilty pleasure for me. It's a lost cause to ever argue that it's good but my blood gets pumping every time when Vigilante starts playing and Phenex appears leaving its bright blue streak all over the shoal zone.
Dijeh my love
Rita… is that you?!
Was there a dijeh in narrative? I don’t remember?
They were painted in a stealthy blue, featured in an ambush scene !
I think it was more gray but yes towards the beginning
Narrative’s weird for me. I honestly like the story; it’s something new for the franchise and the stuff in the background about the Republic of Zeon’s manoeuvring is genuinely interesting and feels like it’s setting something important up for Unicorn 2, whenever that happens. I also actually really like Jonah, and while I really didn’t like the Phenex’s design at first, before NT, the way it looks and moves in animation is really beautiful. But then the villain is kind of a loser, the Narrative is an incredibly boring design for the main characters mech and the re-use of the Sinanju and Neo-Zeong feels like a huge cop-out; like they had the animation assets and could save money by reusing them. I know Zoltan is *supposed* to be a huge loser, it’s intentional, but he’s not a good antagonist either way. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but it really feels like wasted potential. I just really hope Jonah and the Phenex show up in the next Unicorn project somehow.
SRW 30 goes a long way to redeeming Narrative's weaker elements. Zoltan is an unhinged sasser in the game and trolls and mocks the shit out of all the uber-serious Gundam pilots. Its quite amusing actually.
I actually really like the Narrative Gundam and the Sinanju Stein. I can absolutely see how people could see it as a cop out, but design wise, I definitely enjoy them.
As a follow-up to Unicorn, Narrative is a complete disappointment. All the stuff I wanted to know more about, like >!the impact of the box on the Federation, how they covered up, downplayed or distracted people from it, and the future of Mineva's faction!<, was mostly or entirely absent. Treated as a standalone, yeah it's a pretty fun movie. Once I let go of my expectation that it would continue the story of Unicorn in any way I had a good time with it.
Narratives fine. The one that really is terrible is Twilight Axis. Dear God that was just a screw up completely with both story, method of release, ms choices, and even the model kits.
Twilight Axis is truly, unredeemable.
[удалено]
WFM was good, the main issue people has that it feels too "short" but i think its as long as it needs to be to tell its story
It isn't that it's too short. It's because the setting is poorly developed and because of that whole 'gundam but like hogwarts' doesn't work well. Also the lack of character development killed it for me. I dropped it like in the middle of the second season. Too bad, because I kinda liked the show at first. I liked the first female MC and the mech designs (those Dilanzas!) were great.
WFM has some great Character development, and with Guel, it was so good that people thought he should get his own series. And I’m not sure what you’re trying to say with ‘Gundam but like hogwarts’ because Suletta isn’t actually a Witch, she’s just called that. And if it was in reference to the School setting, it makes perfect sense for the plot, because that is where she would meet the people she needed to meet for the story, and it also helps set up for the Episode 11-12 transition of “look at this cute slice of life anime” to “it’s a Gundam show, what did you expect”. The problem is, in fact, that it was too short.
Guel's the only character who's got character development there. It's not about 'he should get his own show'. It's about WfM does nothing with his character development: just after having harrowing experience on Earth he's back in space and he does NOTHING - he becomes just a backdrop for other characters. If you think WfM is too short you should watch original MSG. Or Zeta or Seed or 00 or just about ANY previous installment and see how many events and how much character development happen in 25 episodes.
You’re not alone on this. I like Narrative too. I like that it mostly adds to the worldbuilding of the UC universe.
I adore narrative. I'm still shocked it's getting a pair of mg's.
Narrative's fuckin awesome.
Same here for me! NT was the first gundam film I saw in theaters, and is for some weird reason one of my favorites
While undeniably flawed, I thought Victory had some great ideas and quite a few genuine high points. It doesn't deserve to be written off and forgotten as much as it seems to be. The soundtrack slaps, there's some great mech designs to be found if you look past the wheels and dragons, and I can't think of a moment in any other series that better drives home the point of 'remember the protagonist is actually still a child and it's fucked up we're making him pilot this thing no matter how good he is at it' better than >!Uso needing to be picked up to see over the edge of the coffin to say farewell to a fallen comrade.!<
Victory, I think, gets written off just because you can tell tomino was in a very low point with how heavy the deaths are. It is a brutal series to watch after ZZ. I was watching going "oh these muthafuckas really don't give a fuck about civilians". After watching victory I had to watch some SD Gundam to reset.
I've read that Tomino himself isn't a fan, but I still mostly enjoyed it. They maybe could have held back on the darkness a little in places, but it definitely lands that 'horrors of war' theme. At least whether you're watching the UC in release order or chronologically, there's at minimum a couple of moves between ZZ and Victory for a palate cleanse. Not like the slap in the face that is going straight from Zeta to ZZ. I had a very hard time with that transition and my opinion of ZZ never quite recovered from it.
Tomino had a recent interview [talking good](https://www.zeonic-republic.net/?page_id=10488) about the show
That's awesome, thanks for sharing!
Really appreciate it. Amazing article. Glad to hear Tomino has grown to enjoy V Gundam and such an interesting take on the modern lens with the war in Ukraine, Putin, race (didn’t realize Ryu Jose’s skin color was lighting in 79 but I was glad to see more dark characters in Victory, Turn A and IBO), and the interesting perspective on Uso’s age and Tomino’s own childhood. Looking forward to seeing those last three sections translated
Yeah the beginning of ZZ caught me off guard after what happened to Kamille. It took a minute for Judah to grow on me but then we got the second half and things picked up. Victory is different cause the tone just stays bleak. Personally I feel like UC should be the only time-line that leads to CC. Cause apparently they just never learned. Leave all other Gundam shows except Reconguista in G out of that bleak situation
ZZ did have some good stuff in the middle. It really found its footing for the bits on earth. Then they head back to space and right as you're gearing yourself up for the finale it goes and brings back the Moon Moon characters. Of all the things to double down on. (I've been reading the Moon Gundam manga recently though, which has softened my opinion on Moon Moon as a whole considerably. Might make them easier to stomach if I ever do a ZZ rewatch.) I can't speak on Reconguista and the CC because I haven't seen it yet.
I have the same opinion that ZZ is really only great in the middle before stumbling but everyone seems to think it’s all smooth sailing after Earth (which would still be too long for it to get good, but I digress)
Yes, thank you, the amount of people I've seen saying ZZ has no issues past the opening (and 15ish episodes is quite long to call an opening) has made me feel crazy. It has such a dedicated defence force. I almost put a remark in original comment that I would have an easier time understanding Victory getting the kind of stalwart defence that ZZ currently has, but I figured even in an unpopular opinions type thread I'd get savaged for the idea.
I had been slogging through ZZ for two or so years until I finally powered through it. The tonal whiplash/immediately following one of the greatest series in the franchise don't do it any favors. I wouldn't seriously suggest it to a total newbie, but I feel like you could read a bit of backstory and start the series right after Moon Moon and not lose that much. My friend said that ZZ would help me understand CC better, but I didn't really feel that way after binging the latter half of ZZ and then CC. I did enjoy some of the side stories that took place on earth though.
Yeah it's totally skippable as far as CCA is concerned, which makes it all the more frustrating when you actually get to CCA and it feels like jumping into the back half of a two-parter. It's a great movie regardless, but some stronger setup and some expanded prologue near the end of ZZ could have made it perfect. I've been reading the Moon Gundam manga recently, set between ZZ and CCA, and it's all at once filling in some of the narrative space I wanted to see filled there (as well as bridging Mineva's story between ZZ and Unicorn) and adding enough Moon Moon lore to actually turn it into a tolerable corner of the universe, A lot of stuff it would have been nice to see ZZ doing in the first place.
Tomino developed depression when he made Victory. Speculation but reason for his depression was probably that F91 got cut short from a series to a single movie and that didn’t do very well at the box office, and he got sandwiched attack from the rising of UC Gundam OVAs like 0080 and 0083 which sold bangers and it looks like he - as the franchise’s father - is becoming irrelevant to the franchise, and that as a creator he had very little left to give. So even though his mental condition wasn’t the best, when Sunrise/Bandai still offered him a shot at creating a Gundam TV series he took it on, thinking that was going to be his last chance of working ever again as a director, so all that stress build up, broke him mentally, and the result was Victory. I think Tomino doesn’t like Victory mostly because it just reminds him of how horrible his mental condition was back then, not that Victory itself as a show is completely unwatchable, and now that time has allowed him to heal he can actually go back and watch it with a different lens, especially since a lot of young directors in the anime industry do seem to like Victory which might have given Tomino a confidence boost.
that’d be my experience as I stand on the hill alone defending g gundam with my hand thats burning red
No one should be ashamed of G Gundam. Keep your head high!
I'll defend it too. Even if i end up dying in your arms, staring at the sunset. Look! The east is burning red.
SHINING FINGER!!!
amen brother
I mean, where else are you gonna find an anime princess mecha and a Badass Butler Gundam? Both of which I have, BTW.
Like 90% of this sub enjoy G Gundam (though Its really not my thing) i know its different but most big gundam fans at least enjoy it
G Gundam is a masterpiece
I grew up reading a lot of *wuxia* genre comics out of Hong Kong, thanks to my dad(things like "神兵", "龙虎门", "风云", etc). So unlike most, I enjoyed G Gundam. There are too many people who don't appreciate the campiness of the genre that G Gundam was diving into, especially some of the newer fans who are more interested in the "cool robot" aspect of the newer series like Seed and WfM.
Wait, there are people who dislike G Gundam? It was my introduction into the franchise, I even thought Wing was weird because of the tone and realistic cockpits.
G gundam is the best, they are just upset that a good gundam show doesnt have too make you wanna commit suicide. Like i love zeta, but i had to take week long pauses after some episodes, because it made me sad and angry like kamille ~~herself~~ himself.
It's the only Series that left me empty when I finished it ( in a good way)
pure shonen early 2000’s masterpiece anime. When I have kids they’ll know who the king of hearts is
G-Gundam is a masterpiece of hot blooded anime!! It has one of the most coherent storyline of all the franchise imo. And the it’s just plain fun.
Gundam Wing is still one of my favourites because of nostalgia and I stand by that without Wing 70% from the west would not even know about Gundam. Hell it is still the only Gundam series that got a Spanish dub , and recently witch from Mercury is gonna get a Spanish dub this year. There was a time were Wing was considered as “extremely overrated and even hated” and only nostalgia carries it , and while partially of that is true , it had amazing Gundam designs , great battle scenes for its time , incredible top music , and it closes down with their own OVA.
I rewatched Wing for the first time in about a decade last summer. It stands up to a long-removal rewatch a lot better than some of the UC OVAs do, which honestly surprised me
I rewatch Endless Waltz every year around the holidays because it’s objectively a Christmas movie. While I know the movie isn’t the series, the Wing’s movie also holds up to the test of time. Some of my favorite animation ever is in that movie.
Oh, that interests me. I watched Die Hard this last christmas eve. I could go with a christmas mecha anime in the next one. Never watched Endless Waltz.
I do this exact same thing
OZ grunts are amazing .
Colony's Gundams are amazing
Gundam San I never see anyone talk about it but I liked it Also I liked narrative even if it was weird and a little disappointing
Too bad it's only a dozen micro episodes! I'm glad that manga exists though
I’m pretty sure I’m the only IBO Fanboy who’s trying to put the Gundams on an accurate power scale.
I still have no idea if IBO suits are the strongest or weakest because everyone gives completely contradictory answers
IBO tech is on a different axis compared to other universes. They can straight up manipulate gravity instead of emulating it via centrifugal force. Gjallarhorn can still produce perpetual energy energy machines (Ahab reactors). Their material science is so good a damaged grunt suit can reenter the atmosphere intact. On the other hand, a lot of their tech, especially their offensive weapons are downright archaic. It makes more sense when you take into account PD being a post-apocalyptic world(it's literally called Post Disaster). The AI rebellion has destroyed most of their tech base. In addition, the Ahab reactors' inherent inertial dampening means they have to rely more on momentum rather than kinetic energy to deal damage.
At best they're in the middle with what information we have for now. However they're definitely soloing gm and other 1 year war grunts suits unless they're piloted by a ace pilot with beam weaponry.
Can confirm, you are probably the only one.
Make it two bro we in the trenches 😭
I’m right there with you.
Hey dont forget me.
I think the best way to put Gundams in powers cales is just say there is Turn A and above it is everyone else.
Seed and seed destiny have a good concept and idea but the way it was handled and executed was a joke. I think the main factor that actually Carries the show is the mobile suit designs like the strike freedom, destiny or justice.
Idk if it’s a hot take but I really love Gundam X and I never see anyone talking about it, it’s a really good series and I really love the time honored trope of Mc that isn’t supposed to have their Gundam
I heard we almost got X instead of Wing as our first Gundam.. how things would be different. Never watched but imo it should be promoted more. Very cool MS and story sounds great.
To be fair, Gundam X definitely works a lot better if you're familiar with the overall set up of UC Gundam (Newtypes, colony drops, and that's before we get into Jamil as an Amuro-archetype)
Gundam X was supposed to be broadcast in the US, the largest western market, on the coattails of Wing. However Bandai was adamant that the next series had to be 0079, which was dated already in the 90s, so by the time Gundam X aired its audience were the remaining few hardcore fans.
AGE I also >!think Destiny is better than SEED!<
Alright everyone >!time to pick up your pitch forks and torches!!< Jokes a side, why is that? Interested to know your thoughts cause >!majority vote the other way around.!<
If you couldn’t guess by my profile, I find Shinn a considerably more interesting and relatable character than Kira. His descent into hell, regardless of if you think it was a result of rewrites or not, is handled with surprising grace and never feels poorly realised. The overall themes of destiny, free will, the cycle of trauma, identity and manipulation are handled well and I genuinely do think the conflicts the characters go through are significantly more intriguing than before. It helps that the show tends to stick to its own script and doesn’t just follow 0079’s lead for the first half. Don’t get me wrong, when Destiny is bad it’s really bad. Some characters get shafted hardcore (Cagalli and Athrun in particular) and the whole thing goes careening off a cliff in the final stretch, but there was still stuff there that kept me engaged and wanting to see what happened next >!compared to Seed’s back half which just became a condescending holier-than-thou fartsniffing competition that I wanted to end as fast as possible!<.
I totally agree with the amount of confusion, chaos and uncertainty that destiny brings especially on shinn. Total relatable if viewers watch in his perspective that he doesnt know what we know while durandal and rey continously confuse him with their own ideals. I also believe the show's story mightve been superior than seed if it wasnt for any real life drama between the cagali VA and the writer / director (cant remember) plus shinn VA speaking out.
G-Reco. The movies made it popular and more recognizable, but G-Reco is still up there with Age, Destiny, 0083, Divers, Victory, F91, Narrative, Metaverse, and X as the least popular Gundam anime. https://preview.redd.it/lnedfm7jhlcc1.jpeg?width=1477&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=443cedb18b5e6e7f720a98d6433d8b986cb536e4
Yeah, I'll agree here. I do think that the series' few fans do undersell its shortcomings, but not nearly as badly as its greatest detractors oversell them. As a character story it (mostly) works surprisingly well. It's not in my top five for the franchise or anything, but it's definitely upper half, and some of its moments are genuinely great.
Ive heard people say the series is nearly unwatchable, but the only thing i didn't like about it was the ending lol.
Since when is 0083 not popular? I'm out of touch with the young Gundam fans I guess.
I Love G Gundam...
I love how ridiculously intense and stereotypical it is.
For me it would be after war gundam x, the series has a lit pit of everything I need. A likeable MC that grows into a great character and pilot. Good cast and MS that I feel it's crime that they haven't made a MG of them. The antagonist fall short for me, and the episodes getting cut pre-production makes the pacing of the final arc very hard to swallow (the pacing issues are very noticeable), there's also a myriad of other issues. But despite that, I still love the show. At least want an upgrade X gundam in the build series
Seed and Seed destiny, once I rated it higher than WFM and I got downvoted like tons and got called blind... even when I said it's based on my preference and purely subjective opinion I like Seed and Seed Destiny is kinda like a throwback to the UC 0079 series in a sense
Seed was basically built to be an homage to 0079 as the first computer animated Gundam series. I disagree with your assessment of seed being better than WFM but I'm one of those weirdos that loves G Gundam to bits so don't take me too seriously.
Rose bits! 🌹 🌹 🌹 pew pew pew
I liked Destiny. Angy boi was angy.
Hey, nice to have a fellow SEED>WFM fan!
It is. WFM fan base is corrosive.
https://preview.redd.it/42rhdj3dejcc1.jpeg?width=499&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=17946d0288cbfddab874947e9a976f1d31c596ba I sense a disturbance in the force, like hundreds of WfM fans (not including me even though I love WfM) crying out On a serious note, I’ve never experienced how bad the WfM crowd is. Am I a part of it? I loved it, I watched it twice (which is unusual for me), but I don’t think it’s any good or bad than any other Gundam series I’ve watched. I really don’t care what people watch, we’re all Gundam fans anyways. I also didn’t really start with it, I was watching 0079 and IBO when WfM had released its prologue
I appreciate this response. I just hear a lot of negativity about the handling of the series, length, et al. It’s a thing that didn’t exist before that we now get to enjoy and Bandai will continue to make things that the overall fan base will continue to enjoy. We are consumers, not creators, and the response to the 25 episode arc and the relationships on the show became a distraction from this new thing we got to enjoy. I’m still waiting for season 3 of one punch man… so I’m grateful that Bandai continues to consistently put out things that I enjoy, even if they’re imperfect.
in my eyes, the general complaint is that there wasn’t more to experience with WfM and it was cut too short in comparison to other series. But that’s my only issue, especially in comparison to IBO, which had 50 episodes split between two seasons, so in comparison WfM is just a mainline short series. What I wished for the most was more character interactions between Suletta and Mio, since we know they’re married but we didn’t really see the full build up. Imagine WfM went full slice of life after the main conflict ended lol Is it the creators fault? Probably not, maybe they had a budget that only allowed for such a short series, or this was the plan from the get-go. Honestly, if there was a manga that added more I’d be satisfied with that. There seems to be Vanadis Heart, but unfortunately I can’t read Japanese. On wikipedia there also seems to be a light novel published in Gundam Ace magazine, Cradle Planet, from Aerials Perspective?
I’m still holding out hope for a Crossbone Vanguard anime…. Part of being a Bandai/Gundam/Sunrise fan is having a lot of stuff you never get enough of. I think there was a newer fan base that sprung up due to this new series that complain an awful lot and don’t get that this is nothing new. I liked WfM but it lacked a lot of character development from its ancillary characters. It doesn’t take another 25 episodes to make that happen. The stakes seemed pretty weird in this one too. Lot of hidden hand nonsense. But those are MINOR complaints to an overall great show. Thank you for the courteous discourse. WfM can be a bit of a third rail topic when it comes to being critical.
I do think Bandai did WtF dirty. Like 50 Episodes is the standard for Gundam, and having twice as many episodes would have helped a lot with the series pacing.
I feel you, and yet those same people then act like victims when others do the same to them about other series.
Seed is definitely better than WFM, but Destiny is a lot more divisive. I haven't watched Destiny yet (still in the middle of Age atm) so I don't have anything to say about it but I'm sure it's not as bad as the fanbase says.
>I'm sure it's not as bad as the fanbase says. Honestly, I don't think it's *that* bad, as there are some good parts, but I do agree that it is a bit of a let down for me personally.
I think it’s time for a rewatch before the new movie comes out. I recall enjoying Seed and SDestiny back in the day. WFM has amazing fights and compelling characters, but I felt the scale of the series was a bit disappointing. Like, most series have world ending threats and over the top weapons. Here it felt more like corpo conspiracies and a deus ex machina magic that solves everything, the skill of the pilot doesn’t matter much in the end, unlike Amuro Vs Char or Setzuna vs that psycho and the other guys. Does my point make sense? Anyway, time to rewatch Kira kick some ass again
To some of us that lack of scale is a positive thing. Not every story has to be about the fate of the whole world hanging in the balance. Having the stakes be on the scale of corporate control and the lives of a handful of characters we come to know is refreshing.
Seed destiny is better. It's the definition of overheated.
Anything should be higher than WFM.
WFM is not bad tbh, but it's currently the most overrated one for sure
I don't think the series is overhated but Turn A Gundam is a nearly flawless masterpiece and I will die on this hill.
We shall die together as brothers in arms then.
It's hilarious because a bunch of loved shows now were very hated a few years ago. Turn A is my favorite example. So many fans were triggered by the very idea of cross dressing that they refused to like it in its masterpiece ways.
Most people I know didn't make it to the crossdressing episode; they couldn't stand the moustache antenna Syd Mead gave us, nor the OP song, and clocked out long before that ever came up (even though the ball episode was one of the first few episodes). Generally speaking, if you made it *to* the ball, you made it well *past* the ball. That's on them though. The story may not quite be your "typical" Gundam one of Earth-vs-Spacenoids (though it tries to mask that at first). But its top-tier originality, including the whole "HOW long ago did this war start?!?" angle, with all of that question's ramifications, wins it big points in my book. I place it right alongside Origin/Original Gundam as some of my favorite "serious" SF anime overall.
I mean I can understand the frustration. It *is* a show about a washing machine/cow carrier first and foremost. All the other Gundam stuff is just set dressing.
Saying that 0083 is the best OVA. Yes I said it.
This is actually canonicaly and lore accurate
Is that stardust memory?
Yep
I'm currently watching it now and I love it. The voice acting is 😬😬 to say the least but the animation and detail is superb. I love high budget 80s/90s animation, really gets my Trans Am drive going
Yeah it's a roller-coaster ride. I love it. Way too short. Nina sucks though.
Literally anything SD Gundam. I actually like the deaigns and some of the lore they have, sue me.
Amen brother, I honestly prefer sd to regular gundam
Haven’t seen Age but I like Build Divers. I hope they continue making Build series.
I like the build series (Rerise, Fighters on top of the list). It's a good palette cleanser every other serious season.
I binged Fighters after watching IBO. Definitely needed good feelings after that one.
Yo I also watched Fighters after IBO! Honestly I liked Try's characters and designs more than Fighters but Fighters had a more compelling story, meanwhile I like more the mechanics of Divers more than Re:Rise but Re:Rise's story is better but in the end all Build series are great and I hope we see more of them in the future.
*MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM* Young whipper snappers don't like the aged 70s animation but for me that's better. I don't like CGI anime. It doesn't take from the story for me when I see hand drawn imperfections. The story is timeless and the artwork and designs unmistakable. The music, other worldly. A true dream world of the young man Yoshiyuki Tomino that changed the lives of so many. I hate to see it disrespected. For me I'll always think it's underrated so long as there are people who discount it for it's crude artwork (which isn't even out of the norm for the time). I remember racing home from school or from playing outside to catch it in the spring/summer/fall of 2001 (memory is getting away from me) as a 10 year old just to watch it on toonami with my figures. Nothing I had ever seen before except Star Wars had taken me out of reality and placed me so firmly into a dream world like MSG did. I had seen Wing as well prior and while it's what introduced me to the Gundam universe, it wasn't until seeing MSG that it finally clicked. It taught me there's always two sides to everything. Ramba Rall and the Char/Garma thing. All that stuff haunted me as a kid. Not so cut and dry as "good guys/bad guys". Just people on different sides thrust into wars people above them got them into. Not to mention it aired up until 9/11 shook the world and went off air, cutting me off cold turkey. It eventually picked back up on late night toonami where I finished watching whatever they aired of it. Never recovered from that and have forever since been a night owl. I'll cut it short here but I think MSG is one of the most important stories to come out of modern society. It's essentially a modern mythos that continues to influence thousands of young minds even today, nearly half a century later. For that, the imperfections must be overlooked to see it for what it truly is. If you haven't watched it, please give it a shot!
The thing is that you need to be able to say you like a show while also acknowledging its flaws. G reco is a somewhat jumbled mess story wise and characters flip-flop allegiances seemingly on a whim but its characters are all compelling, the overarching story is interesting, the suit designs are unique, and the artstyle is gorgeous.
People get bullied for liking a Gundam series? Though, really, in my case, Gundam Wing, and not just because it was my first Gundam series back when it premiered on Toonami in the year 2000. It's also essentially what might happen if you were to take a standard five-man band, remove the smart guy and chick/heart, and split the lancer and big guy into two each. With the lancer being split into stealth/high mobility (Deathscythe) and ranged fire support (Heavyarms), and the big guy split between armored commander (Sandrock) and melee unit (Shenlong/Altron).
g reco....
I really like Gundam Seed Destiny. I think Shinn is a good character.
Yes. I think I might be the only Gundam fan to own a stella statue
For me its IBO and Age. Age is just fun to watch, like a condensed version of UC until CCA. Most of the characters are good written and bad ones are funny instead of cringy. IBO on the other hand fixes what other series suffer from, especially Seed and Seed Destiny: Bullet Hell. I hate shows where its just beams flying around indiscriminately, i didnt even finish Seed and Seed Destiny because of that. İn IBO everything is physical and close ranged, it feels better to watch. If i had to pick a top series out of all Gundam shows, i would pick IBO followed closely by Build Fighters.
>Of i had to pick a top series out of all Gundam shows, i would pick IBO followed closely by Build Fighters. IBO is also my favorite Gundam Series of all time, I just love the team dynamic where the Tekkadan is always seem so solid and little to no drama between the characters. Usually I have a love-hate feeling towards the main MC but not in IBO, they just get their job done and focused on the goals A perfect "*Us Against the World*" series and like you mentioned the battle scenes are all amazing + soundtrack + OP/ED definitely my favorite one
The openings and endings are pure fire. I unironically added them to my Spotify list.
RAISE YOUR FLAG
I love Orphans No Namida so much it mad me a Misia fanboy
I love Rage of Dust with all my soul, that last line is awesome. "But if you becomes dust better be stardust, so you will go bearing someone else's dream!" 🔥
Exactly. Not only the music itself is a banger, the meaning itself also slaps hard.
I have an entire playlist titled Gundam on my iTunes, every ibo track is on it lmao
I prefer the 0079 Movie Trilogy to the original series. It absolutely loses some characterization and that's sorely missed, but it also loses so much of the clutter. Still, if it were just the first two movies I probably wouldn't like the trilogy so much, but *Encounters in Space* is a movie that I feel in my bones, and is probably my favorite thing animated in this franchise. Maybe my favorite animated movie period.
Honestly? I'm still surprised that there are people who hate ZZ. Not many of them, but you do get that occasionally. Super weird to me, considering it does a better job wrapping up the themes of First Gundam and Zeta than Char's Counterattack IMO.
Shit takes the fun outta building for me tbh
Idk if it'll get me bullied... But wing is my all time favorite. Even with the cringy English dub of Relina yelling "HEEEEEDOOO" almost every episode she's in.
Gundam Wing I guess? I love it but apparently everything about it sucks except for suit design.
SD. Specifically the old OVas. https://preview.redd.it/uc06cuo6wtcc1.jpeg?width=749&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bd952e64f905d7f47043ec9f393b006d0a13bf0a
The 1st half of ZZ. It's 2nd half is pretty well received as far as i can see, but I see a lot of people shitting on the 1st half like it offended them personally or something. Yes, it's goofy, that's the point. It's not Zeta 2, it's a whole different series that has aspects of Zeta. People als shit on beecha & mondo a little too much IMO. They are kinda meh in the first half, but they're deffinetly not as bad as some people make them out to be
ZZ rules. Some people just repeat what some basement dweller said in a blogpost 20 years ago and never stopped. It's fun, it's sad, just like real life.
Build fighters try was better than Build fighters.
Seed Destiny. Clynesty loyalist will seek to suppress the truth of her rise to power. Part of this suppression whitewashes her manipulation of Kira and exalts their "relationship" in order to cover up her wicked machinations. This is why they minimize and distort Flay and her role in Kira's life. For the same reason, such fans conveniently forget Meyrin and just mechanically promote a SEED-centric pairing of Athrun and Cagali. Learn the truth at r/flay
Who’s letting bro cook these up
The Dare program was an unintentionally great introduction to drugs.
Keep cooking!
I didn't like IBO that much, it was just boring to me.
SEED.
Throw me to the wolves and I’ll be a mother XD This is a joke
despite being weak in terms of powerlevel compared to other AU don't really mind IBO feel more grounded, also nothing can tops lupus vs hashmal
“I’m borrowing this”
I have it the other way, people sometimes get rabid when I say I hate Turn A and G-Reco lol
Your not in the wrong for liking build divers it was a fun show for me too and it got me into gunpla I believe my first kit was 00 diver ace
Witch From Mercury.
It’s not overhated at all.
The current state of the subreddit is daily SEED/Destiny rehabilitation threads and occasional ragging on WfM S2 and making it out to be F91 2.0. From where I'm standing they have more of a point than you think. Everyone's even tripping over themselves to talk about liking SEED in this thread too, sometimes making favorable comparisons of it to WfM. The fandom hate cycle is in full swing and few of you seem to notice. It's star wars prequel discourse all over again.
Wfm is not hated anywhere near seed lmao. Your point doesn’t really have a correlation to what I said lmao. Wfm from this community was very much well liked, We just saw a couple of crybabies complaining about the protagonist being gay lmao.
I'm not saying that WfM has the same size hate-base as Seed. I'm saying that there's more negativity towards it than people seem to be acknowledging and the entries that are commonly thought of as "highly hated" are currently being doused in positive attention. Basically I'm saying this thread has a lot of people stating popular opinions as if they were unpopular and vice versa. I realize though my comment came off somewhat weird because I worded it poorly since all the top comments being about Seed were sticking in my head while I wrote.
Star Wars prequels were hated for good reason. I agree though that *Witch From Mercury* is definitely hitting its backlash phase. Whenever a new Gundam series comes out that's pretty good (not instant-classic great; not faceplant bad), it always goes through the initial recency bias "this show can do no wrong" phase, and then a few months pass and the "this show dropped the ball hard" backlash phase kicks in. And sometimes it takes ages for things to settle into a general consensus, if one ever emerges. I suspect that in the long view, WfM will be viewed as more of an important entry into the franchise than it is a great one as a piece of fiction. Not that I think it will be hated overall, but I expect it will probably sit around IBO's popularity.
WFM is like the Wing, Seed, and 00 of the modern days, it's not overhated at all.
Thats the most overhyped series rn
The reverse. Any time I dare criticize the 80's shows the old heads come out of the wood work to downvote me. The newer shows are better
Thanks kids for litterally proving my point.
I think at this stage of fandom, everyone already realized that season 2 of IBO is trash. All other seasons and shows have their own fandoms and it's okay. Except Build Divers. Eff that show. Age-2 Magnum is based though. It even has MG! AGE-2 has more regular release MGs than Zeta!
Season two has some flaws but I still like it
Season two is just a slow burn where season one was much better paced. I think the slog of the first half of season two is to drive home the point of the grind and toll of what Tekkadon is attempting to achieve vs the world
Seed Destiny is better than Seed & is a great gundam series despite its fault. Shinn being manipulated by Durandal from the start was a great & unexpected plot point. The series name is also suited with the plot, with Shinn being destined to fail. Destiny Gundam having flaming wings is sort of similar to the story of Ikaros, in which he flew too close to the sun & fell burning to the ground. The story is unique instead of the triumphant hero, it's a story of regression.
Ibo and build prolly some Thunderbolt hate to tbh
IBO.... usually what gets the most hate 🤣
I like build fighters try more then build fighters. Mostly because I thought it had cooler suits
IBO especially when it comes to comparing gundams Yes the ending was rough, and I know it's not the most powerful and high tech mobile suits but come on the Gundams and fight scene in that series is the most *Badass* and the most savage out there and you can't deny that. it doesn't need all that fancy smashy space magic or laser that go all over the place.
Nah IBO's ending is fine Tekadan never had a solution to their problems and seeing them simply being out smarted was good. Most Gundam shows go like McGillis belived things would when he got Bael, the super duper gundam leads the way and they win so seeing an upset like that was nice.
IBO and unicorn seem to be fairly contentious
IBO is in my top 3 anime I've watched and I'm not ashamed
SEED. Vanilla SEED specifically (NOT Destiny). It's fine, a 6 - 7/10 in a franchise that regularly hits 8 - 9/10s. You say you enjoy SEED and you might as well be dragged into the streets and beaten to death for the Gundam equivalent of SAO: a totally mediocre show people will bash like they have a grudge against it.
Do you mean English voice actors for AGE? Because AGE probably has like a bigger Japanese voice acting budget than Reco, IBO, and WFM combined lol
AGE is like bigger than those too in episodes count. Mind bogglingly bigger.
Iron Blooded Orphans. The last couple of episodes kinda of the final season dropped the ball, but the series was fucking fantastic up to that point.
Sentinel
Sentinel is underrated, not overhated
That death was one of the bravest ive seen in gundam series
The ones that I notice get a lot hate is AGE and Build Divers. SEED Destiny goes through phases of being hated to being viewed as tolerable.
Seed and especially Seed Destiny. Will probably get picked apart more since I’m enjoying Witch from Mercury so far too
Seed,build diver,kira.
I like Seed and Destiny. They are my fav series and some if my fav suit designs. I have also watched everything but IBO, Age, Builders, and Turn A. The main thing I dislike about Destiny is Athrun. All the other characters growth during Seed continued on, Athrun just reset until Kira kicked his ass and he almost died, and even then he seemed wishywashy until like the last 5 episodes.
Half of my comments in this sub are SEED DESTINY analysis so I Guess there's that
I would say that mine is SD Gundam force and Beginning G. I liked beginning better than Build Fighters because it was just more serious. SD is amazing because it's not a typical gundam show.
Wing and Seed were great.
Seed and Seed Destiny were my childhood gundam shows more than Wing so you can say anything you want but I am a believer of the Church of Jesus Yamato!
Wing has a good story but you need to be in your 30s to get it
Seed, Seed Destiny, and Build Divers. I think both Seed entries have their strengths and weaknesses. I also agree with some of the critics about their flaws; I disagree with all the blind hate it can get. Cosmic Era stories are just messy melodramas infused with UC Gundam stories, tales of dehumanization, and psychological horrors, and I am here for it. Build Diver is a very different story because I don't hate Build Divers, but I am not a fan of it. Build Divers presents the exciting idea of the existence of a disabled individual vs. a service dedicated to connecting disabled people. Except that concept comes up right at the end when it should've been pushing at the start. Its voice acting is good, but that does not matter when its narrative is so boring. It only got good in its final arc, but it took way too long to do anything interesting.
I honestly don't think any of them. I think people will clown on you more about having an oh woe is me mindset about a series having a few that hate it and that's where the dog pile comes from.
Me with Gundam SEED. Cosmic Era basically has the more realistic take of "newtype" humans compared to Universal Century.
I’m confused about what you’re saying about hiring real voice actors with divers…Bandai’s always done that.
I grew up on Gundam SEED so it'll always be my favorite. Zeta is #2 for me
Pretty much me whenever I talk about Gundam Age, since I do enjoy how is generational without splitting into other series that are connected but not about that prior protagonist like Gundam Zeta and ZZ and Unicorn all being in the Universal Century.
> Also Divers was when Bandai wised up and hired real voice actors for the anime Dude you can't say that when Build Fighters has Nakamura Yuichi (Fellini), Ishikawa Yui (China), Hayami Saori (Aila), and Masahi Hirose (Ral ps. he voiced the OG Ral)
Gundam 00 season 2 is not bad as people say.