Amph The Gundam Mega-thread! (and other Anime/Manga)

But hey, it wasn't all bad. Remember Üso's touching reunion with his mother?

I recommend tracking down the original movie trilogy (It can be picked up very cheapily on Amazon if you pick up the older DVD release) and watching that. Only about 9 hours, gives you a great sense for the feel of the rest of the franchise.*

Spoiler: *Unnecessary additional info

The films are actually a compilation of the original series, which was just called Mobile Suit Gundam, but that series was very hastily produced, resulting in animation inconsistencies and some goofy holdovers from more gimmicky super robot shows that feel kind of out of place. Also, the TV series is much, much longer, natch, so if you want to appraise at a lower commitment, the films are the way to go.

 

Oh Ramza, how cheerful you are

EDIT: If you're going to watch SEED, I would recommend the remaster they just released. Fixes some of the problems, though adds another in...Episodes 15 and 18 and I can't post them without breaking the TOS

 

wait, each movie is 3 hours long?!

 

Victory is seriously one of my favorite entries in the franchise. I love every crazy, soul-crushing minute of it.

Nah, that's a high-end ballpark. I think it's closer to 2 hours and 15-30 minutes for each.

 

They're a compilation of a...50 I think, episode series.

Trust me...they're shorter than the series proper

Vic...well, you got the description right

EDIT: And I'm off to bed. But I'll leave with an example of SEED Destiny:




BEAM SPAM FOR TEH WIN!!!!

 

I follow a couple of shonen mangas, and have basically reduced my anime intake to movies and OVAs. I think the last anime series I saw in its totality was Elfen Lied so, yeah. The tics of the medium have started to annoy me and I can't take them for 26+ episodes!

 

Could be worse - pretty much everything I consume in terms of anime and manga is like 20+ years old. Makes me feel like some kind of hipster. A super robot hipster, if you will. "Oh, Daitarn 3? It's a pre-Gundam Tomino show. You might not've heard of it - it's pretty obscure."

 

I love 80s anime. I grew up on a steady diet of Saint Seiya, Karasu Tengu Kabuto, Mazinger Z, Kurenai Sanshiro, Ulysses 31, First of the North Star and Dragon Ball/Dragon Ball Z (go Europe!).

 

IT'S A GUNDAM! (couldn't resist)

There's a very small renaissance going on in the anime industry where we see remakes, adaptation or sequels to classic 70s/80s series such as Shin Mazinger Z, Dororon Enma, Yamato 2199, Jojo's Bizarre Adventure, Saint Seiya Omega and I would also include Gundam Unicorn to this. They all retain the classic character design but it has more modern animation. Shin Mazinger, Gundam Unicorn, Yamato 2199 and Jojo are definitely worth checking out.

 

Ah, I forgot. I'm following Saint Seiya Omega. Not a fan of the redesigns (RIP Shingo Araki) but the story is finally starting to pick up. About time. The only reason I didn't give up around episode 15 was out of devotion for the franchise.

 

I once went to a Gundam panel at Otakon.

I did not last long.

 

I'm somewhat of a big anime/manga fan. In that I read Naruto, Bleach and a few others every week. And somehow the World God Only Knows manga has ended up one of my favorite manga, partially because its weekly 15 pages have more content then 15 chapters of Bleach (not sure if that was a literal "I am your father" moment or just more trolling/poetic parting line from the overpowered villain this week). At least Naruto's ending is in sight (in the next year or two) and things are ramping up there.

Mostly I grew up watching Gundam Wing on Toonami (must remember to keep watching current Toonami before its canceled again). Turn A is probably my favorite, mainly because its not so depressing as most other Tomino (especially Victory from what I've heard) and has a mostly happy ending and pretty good combat. Too bad Bandai shut down just when they had finally licensed Turn A. G Gundam is just hilarious, Gundam Wing is famous among English fans, Gundam Seed was... sort of ok, Seed Destiny was terrible, 00 was way too much politics for my taste, haven't seen Age yet (not sure if there's any English legal sites in North America and too lazy to find other ways to watch it). Haven't bothered to watch Gundam Unicorn- UC was somewhat before my time (will get around to watching Zeta at some point), but at the rate Unicorn is going, might as well check back on it in another five years.

Hm, off-hand, Macross Frontier was probably my last super-favorite series (and the movies were great too). Too bad there will never be an official English release of those (most Macross stuff is tied up in endless Robotech lawsuits or something).

X was pretty good, though I think I only saw half of it. Gotta try to see the latter half someday, although I've read how it ends.

 

Considering I lack a TV, Toonami is out of the question till I go home on break

I can't believe I forgot Wing and G...need to add those on my list of Gundams that I've seen. The sheer WTH aspect of G is what makes that show fun. I mean, a Gundam that turns into a Windmill? And the Dutch mass-produced the darn thing?

Wing, for good or bad, is by far the most famous/popular in English-speaking countries. This is most likely because it was the first really big English release (if I remember right). SEED is probably a middle-ground...not like AGE, but not like Zeta by any means either. As odd as this may sound (considering I like X for this reason) I can't like 00 for how absurd it is, and not in a good way.

Unlike the fun absurdity of G or X, 00 just gets severely overpowered late series and in the movie. I mean, teleportation that isn't in Turn A? And teleporting ACROSS THE GALAXY in the movie? Along with a Sword that can cut through a small planet? WHAT. THE. KRIFF.

X is really good actually. Sucks that it wasn't popular enough at the time and they had to cancel it.

 

You have to remember that X came at the tail-end of nonstop Gundam. They literally aired Victory, the week after that ended came G, the week after that ended came Wing, and the week after that ended came X. Plus they changed the timeslot with little notice. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.

 

Oh I know why it was cancelled. Doesn't mean I have to like it

 

NEW Robotech series

 

"Give us money because we need to keep making it as hard as possible for Macross to be released in the US."

 

Watched my first episode of any Gundam last night. 00. I liked it enough that I'll watch the second episode.

 

Do yourself a favor and avoid the movie like the plague, if you get that far.

 

K. And if I do get that far what next?

 

Still applicable advice, but then I'm much more of a UC Gundam fan than a 00 fan.

 

Where does 00 fit in to the franchise? It seemed like the start. ​

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Gundam is actually quite complicated!

Well, no, that's a lie, it's pretty straightforward - there are basically two main types of Gundam series: Universal Century Gundam, where each property in the group can be fit into a single timeline (The original series is here, as is Zeta, ZZ, Victory, and a bunch more), and the alternate universes, where everything is its own timeline (00 goes here, for example). Anything in the latter category can be watched without much knowledge of anything else, as they're all essentially self-contained.

Typical of any property enjoyed by nerds there is actually a super obnoxious and elaborate overarching framework that can be used to tie everything together but it can be safely ignored 99% of the time. So, basically, 00 seems like the start because it is the start - of 00, which is its own thing.

 

Ah. That helps.

I'm a few episodes into Psycho-Pass and liking it a lot. GitS fans should definitely check it out.

 

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=it's+a+gundam!
Don't say that so loud.