Kidou Senshi Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam

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The Mobile Suit Gundam novel trilogy is very much non-cannon, but it's genuinely great and brings a lot of interesting things to the table.

I would like to talk about how drastically different to the original series, they're almost entirely different aside from similar characters and plot points. The characters don't even go to Earth at all in the novels, and end up feeling more to the point than the movie trilogy did. I can't complain about any of the differences because they are so drastic to the point of being completely different stories. My favourite difference the novels have is its insight on characters' minds ... that adds much depth to them. I was surprised by how much more interesting the characters get from this, I'd like to note how this affects Gihren, who becomes significantly more interesting from just one paragraph of him thinking about his plans after the war ends.

These novels explore Newtypes a lot more than the anime version, which is one of the more interesting things about them. It adds so much insight into the Newtypes themselves with even more characters who are Newtypes themselves. I don't want to spoil anything so I won't get into the little things, also, Newtype stuff is complex and hard to accurately describe.

The novels do maintain the high standard of quality I tend to associate with the Gundam franchise as a whole, I even think this surpasses the original Gundam T.V. show and movie trilogy in terms of overall quality, due to its greater focus and smoother pacing on top of the added depth of the characters. It is absolutely not cannon and not essential to read, but its insight into characters and Newtypes on top of being a genuinely great read makes it well worth a read for fans of the franchise. I feel that these novels deserve more recognition and highly recommend it.