Where to start with Gundam

Sep 30, 2018 11:14 AM

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Mar 2018

815

I always wanted to start watching Gundam but there are so many shows and it has been going on for so long that I feel daunted. I tried watching "Unicorn" but I felt lost because I had no idea what was going on. Can someone give me pointers with what to start watching? I don't want to go back to the very beginning. Has there been a recent show that is a good starting point for a newbie in the Gundam universe?

Sep 30, 2018 11:54 AM

removed-user

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Jul 2018

561791

The simple answer is it doesn't matter.

Each Gundam anime is completely individual (with the exception of "second seasons"). You can literally start watching any Gundam anime and the plot will make complete sense to you.

I do not recommend that you watch it from the very beginning and working your way up since the animeation is old and it really doesn't matter as I said above. If you're looking for a good place to start, check out this website.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/feature/2015-10-21/mobile-suit-gundam-where-to-start-and-what-worth-watching/.94461

Basically, everything including and after the "After Colony" timeline is worth watching. You can read the entire article if you want but that's entirely up to you. Also, don't bother watching Gundam Build Fighters unless you decide to watch Gundam from the beginning.

If you seriously want the full experience, though, you should just watch from the beginning. Also. some of the older ones are just genuinly good, especially the 8th MS Team. Similar shows like Macross, a space-opera mecha anime similar to Gundam, is more enjoyable if you watch it chronologically. Not because the anime are sequels or anything, but because you slowly begin to recognize references from the previous anime, creating a nostalgic effect.

removed-userSep 30, 2018 11:59 AM

Oct 1, 2018 4:27 AM

hipsipile

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Sep 2018

I myself am still going through all the Gundam franchise, but it really depends on what you’re looking for. Gundam series can vary widely in target audience, themes, animation and tone.
If you’re looking to understand Unicorn, you should really start with watching the original series.

In essence, the Gundam franchise can be divided into two categories:

1. The Universal Century (UC) timeline, which contains the first Gundam series as well as tons of sequels and prequels as well as spin-offs. The show “Unicorn” also belongs here.

2. The Alternative Timelines, which are an assorted bunch of different Gundam shows, each existing in their own independent universes and not connected to each other.

If you want to dive into the UC timeline – which is what started the Gundam franchise in the first place, and where about half the Gundam series fall into - you should definitely start with the original, Mobile Suit Gundam series that came out in 1979.
There are two ways of doing it: watching the TV series, or watching the compilation movies, both have pros and cons. My personal recommendation is that you start with the TV series because they do a better job at introducing the characters and the worldbuilding, but if you find the pacing too sluggish, you can skip to the movies instead.
The animation might be outdated and sometimes pretty bad, but it gives you context and knowledge tools to better dive into other Gundam shows in the UC timeline, that take from there. After you watched the original series, you can continue on the timeline: Zeta, ZZ (optional), Char’s Counterattack and then Unicorn. Or you can just go straight into some top-quality fan favorite spin-offs like War in the Pocket, 08th MS Team or The Origin.

Or, you can disregard the UC timeline in general and start with a show from an Alternative Timeline, in which you really don’t need any previous knowledge to fully enjoy it. Of the Alternative Timeline Gundam shows, the most popular are Gundam SEED, Gundam Wing, Gundam 00, and more recently, Iron-Blooded Orphans. I don’t know what are your tastes, but it’s always a good idea to watch at least the first 3 episodes of each show and see which one piques your interest.

Oct 1, 2018 5:23 AM

Dysisa

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Feb 2013

293

You start at the beginning, as you would any other series. From there you can kind of go wherever except arguably Build Fighters, which is best saved for last.

Oct 1, 2018 5:51 AM

RapidShadow

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Nov 2017

656

Watch the original series and then move on to the sequels until chars counterattack you can skip ZZ after that you're pretty much free to watch whatever you want in the Universal Century timeline.

Oct 1, 2018 8:53 AM

Murau

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Jul 2014

6990

watch all of the uc century start from the very beginning with the OG gundam 1979 it is great. if you don't want to do that watch the movies I guess.

Oct 1, 2018 9:00 AM

_-_Sally_-_

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Jun 2014

22566

Start from the beginning with the original Gundam series. Then, watch Zeta, then ZZ, then Char's Counterattack.

RapidShadow said:
Watch the original series and then move on to the sequels until chars counterattack you can skip ZZ after that you're pretty much free to watch whatever you want in the Universal Century timeline.

ZZ isn't as bad as people make it out to be. It starts off kinda foolish, but gets serious around episode 20. I enjoyed it just as much, if not even more than Zeta.

Oct 2, 2018 1:09 AM

huntress1013

Offline

Mar 2018

815

Thank you very much for all of your input. Special thanks to changelog and hipsipile, that was very helpful. I don't think I will go through the whole thing just yet and may start off with Iron-Blooded Orphans and see how much I like it. It is interesting that Gundam seems to cater to all different kind of tastes.

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Where to start with Gundam

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