PC power problem fixed, kind of... point is I'm back. I'm working on a side project voted on by my blog's readers, which will be posted here on a slower week. I instead had a burst of inspiration and decided to dedicate the next article to this as a lead in to my review of Turn A Gundam which will be another article I get to in the not too distant future. In all my life I have been told twice one of the most difficult things I've ever had to answer. "You're so passionate about Gudam it makes me want to get into it, where should I start?". The question that fills me with so much happiness for a few seconds before I am overcome with dread and anxiety and soon cursing myself for not having an answer, as well as worrying I am being seen more and more as one of those insufferable people who makes one or two things they like their entire personality. The reason I've never had an answer? The franchise is big, enough said. That's a gross oversimplification, but it is the main reason. It's a huge franchise spanning 40 years, so I wanted to sit myself down and force myself to answer the question, which I will finally answer here and now. Also I recommend listening to the original version of "Ai Senshi" while reading this.
I've gone over the franchise's history before, but I will do it once more for those who haven't read any of my other Gundam articles, this time in more detail to explain some of my points regarding the various series and it's place in this question. This will help lead me into where to start and how you should approach it. Yoshiyuki Tomino, a writer on the original Astroboy/Mighty Atom anime series, had his directorial debut with an anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's (Tezuka is the Japanese Walt Disney and his works have been plagiarized by Disney) Triton of the Sea manga. He would become more involved in the mecha scene during the mid seventies in directing the first half of "Brave Raideen", which would really kickstart his working relationship with Sunrise, and then he would produce "Super Electromagnetic Machine Voltes V", part of a trilogy of shows by the other "Brave Raideen" director: Tadao Nagahama. This trilogy was revolutionary for adding human drama and a level of seriousness and darkness to the Super Robot Genre. Tomino himself would run with this for his own shows Sunrise let him create including "Invincible Super Man Zambot 3" and "Invincible Steel Man Daiturn 3", huge successes over seas, but moderate successes at best in Japan. His next series tried to be a grounded and gritty war series, trying to reason the so called "giant robots" as not the righteous answer to some menace, but big metal war machines used in grunt warfare. He asked mechanical designer Kunio Okawara to make more realistic, practical and compact designs in contrast to the "super robots" of mecha shows at the time, and created the revolutionary "Mobile Suit Gundam" with Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, (Most of the art in this article is his) the character designer of several super robot shows like "Comabattler V" (predecessor to "Voltes V") and "Zambot 3" as well as creating his own series years before.
"Mobile Suit Gundam" flopped and was cancelled because it was too different from what people were used to. A serious character driven series that is slow and takes its time to get to the action was just weird, especially when Tomino wanted viewers to take away their own message from the series. However toy sales were through the roof and because money talks, the remaining episodes were aired and the show did exceedingly well in reruns, creating the "real robot" genre, a genre that would become home to many more famous works in the future such as "Neon Genesis Evangellion", "Full Metal Panic", "Code Geass" and so many more. Following the sudden surge in popularity Tomino would compile the series into three movies with newly added footage, and then go on to make many other mecha shows like "Aura Battler Dunbine", "Heavy Metal L-Gaim", "Combat Mecha Xabungle", and arguably his most important non Gundam work "Space Runaway Ideon", a show Evangellion's creator skipped his first day of collage for just so he could watch its premier. Tomino was eventually convinced to make a sequel series: "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam", thusly franchising Gundam and further cementing it as Japan's premier sci-fi series. He would keep working on the series as a franchise until quitting in 1993, and leaving the franchise behind after Sunrise kept asking him to soft reboot the franchise for the sake of attracting a new audience that never came until after they hard rebooted it many times without him. Since then Sunrise has made several stand alone Gundam shows and Tomino has returned to the franchise a couple times, and that leads us back around to the question that started this article to begin with... "Where do you start with Gundam?"
Now the first and most obvious thing is to approach the franchise's original timeline: The Universal Century, chronologically. I am a weird person, and I like "Mobile Suit Gundam" a lot. A rag tag group of teens having to take up arms to stop the tyranny of Zeon while being pursued by the legendary Char Aznable, one of the most famous anime characters ever. It is an interesting series, but it is weird. However I will tell you right now that everyone who says to get into this franchise you must tackle it chronologically and start with that show is wrong. Yasuhiko was overworked half to death making that show and he was hospitalized working on it. The show's production was even more hellish without him, and what was supposed to be 52 episodes was cut to 39 and they had to fight to get it up to 43. It is seen as a turning point in animation over in Japan, however it does NOT hold up as well as I wish it did. I low key hate the way modern anime looks, so the art style of this show appeals to me, but I know it will probably scare off viewers who hate the way old animation looks for no good reason. Also the pacing is off. I am kind of glad it didn't reach 52 episodes, because barring some hardly explored backstory for some characters that is set up multiple times for a further explanation that never comes, the show seems to want to dedicate some episodes to just filler stuff. Some of these like the episode where Amuro disables a bunch of bombs on his Gundam are actually surprisingly interesting, while some like the episode where they look for salt is kind of worthless barring a nice interaction or two. Some say watch the compilation films, because they are considered the canon way to watch the series, but I will tell you no. Because you miss so much notable stuff, like Ramba Ral, A lot of Matilda's interactions with the Whitebase crew that really built up to one of Amuro's most pivotal character growth moments in the series, and more. So how should you approach this?
Ladies and gentlemen you may remember when I mentioned Yoshikazu Yasuhiko being hospitalized through overworking on "Mobile Suit Gundam". Well afterwards he kind of laid low in regards to animation. He did his own mecha series: "Giant Gorg" in 1984, as well as directing the anime adaptation of "Kaze to Ki no Uta", but he mostly focused on manga. He did return to the franchise do character design on Zeta Gundam and Gundam F91. However his focus was almost exclusively on manga, with "Venus Wars" being a big success for him and he even made an anime film adaptation. While all that is great, especially "Venus Wars", his definitive work came after the turn of the century. Sunrise approached him with the offer to retell "Mobile Suit Gundam" in manga form as an anniversary project.. Yasuhiko being a major creative force on that series and his hospitalization hurting the production greatly, he felt like he was responsible for it and after a lot of time sitting on the idea, he decided this this manga would be his chance to make things better. After a lot of time thinking about it he accepted the offer. He said he wanted to published a hundred pages at a time and with water color so they created the Gundam exclusive magazine "Gundam Ace" to publish his manga the way he wanted and to show his beautiful water color lustrations as he intended. This manga adaptation: "Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin" is the definitive way to experience that series. The action looks great, the illustrations are amazing, and you can tell so much more in a book format than you can a TV series or movie. The manga not only shows an ideal version of "Mobile Suit Gundam" not hindered by production woes, but also makes many creative changes for the better, like having Sleggar Law join the crew much earlier, or multiple volumes dedicated to showing us just what lead to this war and how many of our important characters got to where they are. You might think this backstory is trivial, but no, I assure you it goes a very long way and is executed and told masterfully. If you're worried about the changes to the series made in adapting it to manga making this it's own timeline disconnected from the canon, I must tell you that it doesn't matter. Hardly any of the changes made have any impact on future events of the series. So you can comfortably read this and then go to the "Zeta Gundam" anime series or "Stardust Memory", a 14 episode anime OVA showing the events leading up to Zeta. Following you reading Origin you could do many things.
So I mentioned going directly in chronological order with the anime stuff after reading Origin, which is what I recommend, however let's assume you want to keep reading because reading is awesome. Let me tell you about Hiroyuki Kitazume. Kitazume got his start as an animation director for Tomino's works "Aura Battler Dunbine" and "Heavy Metal L-Gaim", then doing character design on "Super Dimension Cavalry Southern Cross". He was the animation director on Zeta Gundam and like Yasuhiko before him felt the strains of a rough production, though not nearly to the same extent, as a lot of the hardships there originated from Tomino himself and the intense depression he got into while making Zeta. Kitazume did all that again making Zeta's sequel series "Gundam ZZ", now doing character design in place of Yasuhiko as well as the film "Mobile Suit Gundam Char's Counterattack", where he had the same job. He would fall out of relevance following two of his own OVAs "Moldiver" and "Genesis Survivor Gaiarth", and "Yamato 2520" getting cancelled in the midst of a lawsuit. So he stopped doing big jobs and resigned himself to key animation on things like "Dragonball Z" and "Ah! My Goddess" until the 2000s when he was offered his own Gundam manga despite never working on manga before. Kitazume made "Char's Deleted Affair", a follow up to "Mobile Suit Gundam" where that show's main antagonist Char Aznable is hiding out with most of Zeon's remaining forces after the explosive final battle of Mobile Suit Gundam. It gives backstory to a lot of what changed him and happened with him before Zeta, which is nice because there are many scenes where there is implied history with him and other characters and things that we just don't learn more of in that series or ZZ. From here you could go chronologically when you are finished, and go right to the "Stardust Memory", or... maybe you want to keep reading because reading is awesome. The OVA taking place between "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083" and "Zeta Gundam" would get remade in manga form with that OVA's writer contributing to the writing side of things. That remake "0083 Rebellion" is incredible and just finished a few months ago as of writing this.
Kitazume would keep working on manga with "Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: Define", which is to Zeta as Origin is to "Mobile Suit Gundam", only Zeta Define is not a total replacement for Zeta like Origin is for it's respective series. It is a manga retelling of Zeta that makes some creative and story changes, and as the world's biggest Zeta fan I can tell you that this manga is incredible. He works on it with Kenichi Matsuzaki overseeing and editing it. Matsuzaki was a script writer on "Mobile Suit Gundam", "Space Runaway Ideon", "Macross" and the 1980s "Astroboy/Mighty Atom" anime series. Him being here assures less weirder things happening than there were in Char's Deleted affair and some more quality control and editing, as well as a new creative helping to bounce around ideas. Though there is a few issues. Yes, Kitazume's style doesn't translate to manga the best, leaving his illustrations to look like anime screenshots with flat textures, but it is really good. As of writing this it is still going, having surpassed Origin in number of years it has been running. As of posting this it is about 2/3 way through the show's story. A part of that is because so many episodes were important to Zeta that there isn't much excess to trim like there was with "Mobile Suit Gundam". It is not an actual sequel to Origin, but you can read both Zeta Define and Char's Deleted Affair right after Origin just like that with no issue, same thing if you want to squeeze in 0083 Rebellion as well. While we have nothing for ZZ and probably never will get anything for it, there is something for "Char's Counterattack". While making the movie tying up all the loose ends and arcs in the original Gundam saga, Tomino's script was rejected and he had to rework it, leading to his script becoming the novel "Char's Counterattack Beltorchika's Children", which has also had a manga adaptation. This adaptation is great and really brings the novel to life in a more accessible form, another very recommended read.
Cover art to Zeta Define volume 1 drawn by Hiroyuki Kitazume
So maybe you don't want to read, be it a lack of interest or the TikTok Youtube Shorts brain rot destroying your attention span. Yasuhiko was asked by Sunrise to adapt Origin, to which he directed a 4 episode OVA series focused flashback stuff. It is absolutely incredible and is peak Gundam. Yasuhiko made a follow up film adapting the episode "Cucuruz Doan's Island" into an anime film with the team behind the Origin, intent on remaking that episode as a movie. The episode was removed from releases and airing by Tomino because he felt it showed the production of Mobile Suit Gundam at its worst, making it a sort of lost episode. People grew attached to it, and thought the idea of Amuro befriending and respecting a Zeon soldier who saw the horrors of war first hand was great. The movie is incredible and a great watch. If you want you could probably just watch Origin's OVA, the first "Mobile Suit Gundam" compilation film, the Doan's Island movie and then the last two "Mobile Suit Gundam compilation films, and just go chronologically from there. It works so long as you can overlook Slegger being the Whitebase crew in Doan's Island when he wouldn't have been with the crew by that point in the canon timeline.
So let's pump the breaks and stop for a second. Maybe this is all too big an ask for you, and that is understandable. So what if you don't want to dedicate so much time to Gundam before you even figure out if you're truly interested? Well this is where things get really open ended. Watching the entire universal century is a huge undertaking, especially counting F91 and Victory, and especially more so if you check out most of the side mangas and stuff. So let me tell you a more manageable approach, and the one Sunrise and Bandai themselves want you to take. So starting in 1994 Bandai has hard rebooted Gundam with every new series. (with the exception of Seed Destiny) Tomino himself has even continued this trend when he returned to the series with Turn A and Reconguista in G, the latter being after the Universal Century (or after Turn A depending on who you ask) and Turn A giving an in universe explanation for all of these stand alone shows and timelines placing everything o one timeline. The first of these standalone hard reboots: "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" is a bit divisive, with a lot of that being the show is a more absurd self serious super robot anime, in comparison to Gundam everywhere else being exclusively real robot. The show is basically Gundam meets Dragonball, and that is no exaggeration. From there we ended up getting many new standalone shows. If you want to just watch one of these I just recommend looking into them and picking whichever one seems interesting to you, be it the plot, look, word of mouth, etc. Maybe you want to watch Witch From Mercury because of the positive word of mouth and being the most popular Gundam series since Seed, (or because lesbians) go nuts. Though if you're still interested in the Universal Century or you don't have a lot of free time and want a smaller thing that is less of a commitment, than you're still in luck. There are many stand alone stories that you are more then welcome to experience, with the various OVAs. "War in the Pocket" is a cool 6 episode OVA about a kid who befriends a Zeon soldier sent on a suicide mission. "08th MS Team" is a great 12 episode standalone series about a team of Federation soldiers working in the jungle during the war from Mobile Suit Gundam, and it has a great compilation film adding an all new character to serve as a clever framing device, and making it a perfect companion piece to that series. Unicorn for some weird reason is something that seems to be a magnet to newcomers to this franchise, and to its credit, it is great, putting a capstone on the Zeon vs Federation thing. Gundam Thunderbolt is an awesome 8 episode OVA adapting of the first six volumes of one of the franchise's best mangas, and bringing us one of the most gripping and morally grey stories in the entire franchise. I already mentioned Stardust Memory. So many options to choose how you want to experience this franchise.
You may notice most of the artwork I shared didn't predominantly feature cool robots in action poses or anything like that. That's because despite being the key factor in the billion dollar Gundam model kit business that has has kept this franchise going since the beginning, they aren't what Gundam is about. Ultimately Gundam is a show about its characters and its commentaries and messages first, and about whatever mecha stuff second. If you come in purely for cool robot and mecha action, there is plenty to go around, but you may be disappointed and In the end though, you can just disregard this. This is just my answer to a question I've been asked a few times. You can approach the franchise however you want or just forget this entire thing completely, it doesn't matter. Though if this franchise strikes a cord with you, than you're in for one incredible ride if you want to whole heartedly tackle this franchise, one so near and dear to my heart, and one I will ever stop professing my love of.
If you have any follow up questions feel free to reach out to me with the contact information provided in the blog's first post. Have a great rest of your day.
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