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Discussion Forums => Recommendations, Suggestions & Identification => Topic started by: Veridis on June 14, 2008, 02:38:50 PM
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I've decided I want to watch one of the gundam series because there are so many of them and they are so well known. The problem is there are so many that I'm not sure which one to watch.
If I don't like it I'm probably not going to watch any other gundam series so I'm hesitant to start watching any of them incase I accidentally pick the worst :-\
I'd like opinions on which is the best one to watch first and why you think it's the best one :)
(I've not watched any memorable mecha series before)
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If you want a sampler, I'd advise 08th MS Team, or 0080 War in the Pocket. They're side stories though, The main story is in Gundam + Z Gundam (and dying off in ZZ Gundam, ending with Char's Counterattack [movie]). Z is heavy stuff, you should probably watch at least the original Gundam (you can watch the 6-movie compilation if the full series will take too much time) so you have some backstory.
[Ah, my bad, I saw Gundam and instantly thought of Universal Century ^^ the ones I mentioned above are from the original storyline (Universal Century), but there are other Gundam series not related to the storyline as well (usually referred to as "alternate universes"). These are Gundam Wing, Gundam X, G Gundam, Gundam Seed (and its sequels) and Gundam 00 (and its still-in-the-works sequel), and of course the basket-of-everything Turn-A Gundam. If that was confusing, the Wiki article (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam) might help.]
If you want short descriptions of the alternate stories (highly biased of course, so prepare the salt shaker):
Wing: Gundams + bishonen + useless dialogue, but pretty good action and very distinctive mecha.
X: Generic post-apocalyptic setting + boy-saves-girl story
G Gundam: Gundams with corny names, out-of-this-world designs and superpowers. Don't expect it to be like the other Gundam series you've seen, this is in a world all of its own. You'll either love it or hate it, no middle ground here.
Gundam SEED: UC (Universal Century) ripoff, with some changes here and there, but still somewhat enjoyable in its own way. Can't say the same for its sequel, Destiny.
Gundam 00: Season 1 looks good so far, although it is very different from its predecessors. Pretty much the closest you'll get to Gundam-in-modern-political-setting fantasies.
I'm not going to try to describe UC since there are so many series out there I can't possibly describe them all accurately, except with one word: Win. I know some people won't agree though, but that's fine.
If you're starting out I'd suggest Seed or 00, you'll enjoy it more if you finish it first before going back in time to the UC series. The UC series tend to get lost in dialogue and details quite easily, and I generally find that in terms of directing style and scriptwriting it is quite similar to other anime of its era (80s - 90s, if you exclude the original series which aired in 1979), which might not sit well with the newer generations of viewers.
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I started with Wing and enjoyed it. I've only seen Wing/X and the Seed series and I enjoyed them (all but X). I think I'd listen to the previous poster though since he/she seems to have seen more.
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Like kureshii said, the best way to see the original Gundam story is through the movie trilogy, which can be found here:
http://www.boxtorrents.com/details.php/11579/Moblie_Suit_Gundam_0079_Movies(DVD).html
That's still late 70s/early 80s animation, so if you want something more modern, Gundam wing (1995) or Gundam Seed (2002) would be better. Plus with Wing and Seed, you don't need any background from other series.
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08th MS team is a good show but, is not a good representation of Gundam overall. There's not action in every episode and the characters are multidimensional. Part of Gundam for me is watching well animated mindless violence, with cool action sequences. If you want a good representation of Gundam go with Wing, or Gundam 00, all the character's have clear motivation, bad guys are bad simply because they're evil and everyone has a past they want to forget. Gundam is formulaic in a sense, but it's awesome. That's not to say you shouldn't watch 08th MS team, I really enjoyed it, just don't expect all Gundam to be like it.
-Kai
PS The avatar size limit is 150px X 200px, last time I checked, it's in the site rules thread.
Edited for spelling.
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I've watched about 5 or 6 Gundam series. I used to hate the gundam series first because I never really understood it having turned into random episodes on the cartoon network or some other channel. then one day I found the torrent for Gundam X: After War and decided to sit through it. After like 4 or 5 episodes into the series, I got hooked and watched through the whole thing in about a week. After that I went around looking for more series and found Gundam Wing which was pretty tight aswell. I wasn't really into the new gundam series like SEED Destiny which did look rather nice and had good music but the character development was nothing like After War.
In general I haven't seen a gundam series that I didn't like except Turn A gundam. I thought it was just crap and stopped watching it 7 or 8 episodes into the series. I just finished watching Gundam 00 and that was pretty good too. Albeit it was very close to SEED Destiny (I haven't seen SEED yet so can't comment on that) in terms of animation, plot, etc. Heck, you can even notice that the 00 series leading up to the SEED Destiny era because of what happens in the end.
btw, check out Full Metal Panic! The Second Raid aswell. It's pretty cool, but again in my opinion, the After War series was like the best and nothing matches that.
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Go with either the UCverse or the one-off series.
UCverse:
- Mobile Suit Gundam (Original)
- Zeta Gundam
- ZZ Gundam (Optional, but I like this for the LOL moments)
- 08th MS Team
- Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
- Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
- Gundam F91 (Optional, but good)
- Char's Counterattack
- Crossbone Gundam (Optional Manga)
One-offs
- G Gundam (You either love it or hate it. I love it for AWESOME.)
- Gundam X (DOUBLE X BUSTER)
- Turn-A Gundam (MOONLIGHT BUTTERFLY)
- Gundam 00 (Starts off redundant, gets awesome towards the end)
Want something that DEFINES Gundam?
The original Gundam episode, RX-78 vs Zeong, the last shooting. Char Aznable. Wave Rider mode Crash. Puru + Haman Karn. Gundam F91's afterimages THAT HAS MASS. God Finger. Moonlight Butterfly. Double X Buster.
SEED was so-so, SEED Destiny fails hard. Kira is a horribly done character, and so is the rest of the characters in SEED Destiny. Wing, while having angst moments (Heero...), is good just for Duo and Deathscythe alone.