Mobile Suit Gundam is the father of all real robot Anime. It set the standard for Mecha even now as there are so many Gundam Copy cats. It showed that the characters operating the mecha suits can actually have issues going on outside of just fighting constantly. Amuro is the main character who studied the Gundam suits to see what made them tick as his father had high position in manufacturing them.
The story starts IMMEDIATELY within the 1st episode that set off an all out war in space. The story of the original MSG is so powerful for being so old. Trust me if you watch this, you will keep comparing it to other Mecha because it set many standards,tropes,cliches,etc for the genre. That's not to say MSG is the only good Mecha, but it set the path for this great genre of Anime for decades to come and you can still see and feel the influences in modern Mecha.
When someone died in MSG, you felt it. The director wanted you to feel the impact of every death. Real people were getting killed and the consequences for space war was impacting innocent people that got caught in the crossfire.
The ONE AND ONLY flaw that people will bring up is the art and animations are dated but I felt the love within that show. The love that only Sunrise can put in Mecha. It didn't bother me at all. The Music,Characters,and story are all 10/10s.
If you don't watch the original Gundam, then that means you don't really like Mecha. You owe it to yourself to watch this if you truly enjoy the genre.
