[caliga]

I'm surprised there is no such thread yet, but let me post the question.

If one were new to gundam, where would one start?

I tried watching Gundam once, and i was very confused. Now that could have been because i started in the middle of a it.. or because there were 2 or 3 different gundams airing at the same time and i didnt get the time order (if one existed).

So, back to the main question. Where would one start?

[Oerot]

Well,

Mobile Suit Gundam would be the first starting point.

You can watch any of these in any order as they aren't related

G Gundam
Gundam Wing
Gundam Seed/Seed Destiny
Gundam 00

These series have nothing to do with eachother....

But the rest of the series are in the UC universe. With the first one Kidou Senshi Gundam/Mobile Suit Gundam being the first one... then it gets funny as you can watch them in broadcast/production order, or chronologically according the years portrayed in the series.

http://en.wikipedia....iversal_Century

A link to the chornological order, and then the broadcast order.

I'm not sure which I will go with, but personally I'm going to follow it chronologically.

[ParanoiaX]

http://anidb.net/per...how=rel&aid=715

Try and figure that thing out. If you can itll give you an idea of where you want to start.


If youre just getting started with Gundam and not sure if youll like it Id suggest starting with one of the alternate universes. I recommend Gundam SEED (the sequel Gundam SEED Destiny isnt nearly as good IMO though you may still want to watch it) for this purpose. Gundam Wing (and Endless Waltz) is also good but it has a little different feel than other Gundams. From the Universal Century (the origional timeline) I would start with the original Mobile Suit Gundam and then Zeta Gundam. Zeta Gundam is considered by many to be the best Gundam series. You might want to skip (I did) Double Zeta as it is missing much of the seriousness and political undertones that Gundam is generally known for. Do make sure you watch Chars Counterattack as it is the final piece in the MSG and Zeta saga.

Victory Gundam: DLed and started watching this but got bored about 10 or so eps in and stopped. The creator of Gundam has always enjoyed killing characters off but Victory has an especially high mortality rate.

Gundam F91: I found this to be a pretty decent standalone Gundam (its set in UC but isnt directly connected to any other Gundams).

G Gundam: Ive seen parts of the English Dub of this one. This was the first series created outside UC and it takes a very different approach than most Gundam series. I felt this series lacked the depth of others but English Dubs tend to do that.


I think that sums up all the Gundam Ive seen. Hope it helps.

[Ekard]

Gundam seed isn't exacty the best in the series personally I hate it and its terrible color pallette. Most people do agree though Gundam Wing is the best one of all of them. G Gundam pretty good too and everyone seems to forgot Turn a Gundam which never got a widespread release. Turn A Gundam http://en.wikipedia....i/Turn_A_Gundam I would watch last since the Director made it to be a compilation of all the Gundam stories. It also has one of the best stories its almost like war of the worlds where moon people invade the Earth and attack our cities in giant tripods. It takes place far far into the future after all the Gundam wars have ravaged the Earth back to a Victorian era. An example you will see is Bi planes trying to bomb a Gundam lol.

Gundam 00 the newest series is simply excellent and worth watching. Victory Gundam http://en.wikipedia...._Victory_Gundam should be avoided its simply a mess made when the director was insane with mental problems literally its why everyone in it dies and why it has the highest corpse count you will ever see.

[ParanoiaX]

I agree SEED isnt the best Gundam but its not overly complicated and includes a lot of the typical Gundam themes. Much of its plot was borrowed from MSG so generally if you like GS youll like MSG. I think it makes for a good entry level Gundam series.



Yeah I forgot to mention Gundam 00. Theres only 3 eps out so far but its very well done and I think it could become one of the best Gundam series. You should watch it even if youve never seen another Gundam show before.

[Raikiri86]

Universal Century
Mobile Suit Gundam
-(original. start of everything.)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team
-(side story to MSG, watch anytime)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
-(side story to MSG, watch anytime)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
-(OVA after MSG, watch after MSG if possible)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
-(sequel to MSG. helpful if you watched previous ones)
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ
-(sequel to ZZ. helpful if you watched previous ones)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
-(movie set years later, watched MSG at least)
Mobile Suit Gundam F91
-(movie set in near future, can be watched anytime)
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
-(set in very far future, can be watched anytime)

Future Century
Mobile Fighter G Gundam

After Colony
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing
New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
-(recommended after watching Wing)

After War
After War Gundam X

Correct Century
∀ Gundam

Cosmic Era
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ASTRAY
-(side story, can bewatched anytime)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY
-(sequel to Seed, should watch previous ones or you might be lost)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 STARGAZER
-(side story to GSD)

Anno Domini
Mobile Suit Gundam 00

Live Action Productions
G-Saviour (TV movie)

Computer Animated Productions
Gundam Evolve
-(alot of CG animation from each series. really cool, but no real story)
Gundam Neo Experience 0087: Green Divers
Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War
-(part of the UC timeline, OVA side story MSG)
Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079
-(part of the UC timeline, OVA after Hidden One Year War)


well theres the quick guide. i got the list from MAHQ. italics are the lil comments from me about when they should be watched. each bold section is a seperate timeline, so you can watched those independently from the other timelines with out any problems.

MSG, Zeta, and Seed each had a 3part movie that sums up the entire series. if you don't watch to watch all 50ish episode for each one, the movies will give you most of the important info

other notes:
-zeta and victory has very high casualty rate for named character. not for those who like lovey dovey happy ends. the hidden war series and 0080 is the same, not for those that don't like death...
-ZZ will start of really really light hearted for the first episodes before they start getting into the gundam feel. you're gonna need some patience for this series.
-the hidden war series will give you a view from the zeon side of the war. its an interesting watch, only a few eps each part.
-Chars Counter Attack will close up the entire UCtimeline before it. it concludes MSG,Zeta,ZZ. f91 and victory are set afterwards and are almost completely independent.
-each Astray episode is standalone. they just give set more of a background for the Seed universe. you'll get more outta these OVAs if you read the Astray Mangas.

personal recommendations:(not everyone will agree)
-8thMS team (personal favorite), the lead character has more balls(no pun intended) than ANY other leads. save none.
-MSG movies will get you started in the entire UC timeline.
-zeta, it has alot of influences on future series, subtle or otherwise.
-seed and wing, because they're the most popular recently. wing has a realy super robot feel tho. and seed does to once freedom comes into play. both are very newbie friendly, and good starting points
we will prolly see alot of influence in this next(and prolly future) gundam series from these two along with zeta.
-victory, despite what people might say, it is an interesting watch, different if nothing else. altho the story gets a lil jumpy around the middle and some of the mechs outright sucks.


de-recommendations:
-avoid Destiny. its a redressed zeta in seed universe.... but without the good plot.
-ZZ. not really recommended but it does have its rare moments...
-0083. mechs and battles are fun to watch. but the characters piss me off. they killed of the best one half way, and the next best hardly gets any lines.

the only ones i havent seen begining to end on the list is G Gundam and Turn A. so.... i cant really tell you how those are.

[caliga]

Interesting.. thanks for the help everyone.