Looking for suggestions on the Gundam franchise.

twistedmic

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I'm kinda interested in getting deeper into the Gundam franchise but don't know exactly where to start and which shows I would be better off avoiding. For reference I've seen (and enjoyed) Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, Iron Blooded Orphans and The 08th MS Team. I did not care for the little bit that I watched of Mobile Fighter G or SD Gundam.
I would greatly appreciate any suggestions on what I versions I might like.
 

Chimpzy_v1legacy

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Above all else watch Zeta Gundam. It's old but it still stands tall.

Other than that, my suggestions would be:
- 0080: War in the Pocket
- Gundam Unicorn
- Gundam 00
- Turn A Gundam
- Build Fighters (no, really. But only after you've watched everything else)
- Mobile Suit Gundam (mostly as context for Zeta. You can get away with watching the compilation movies)
- 0083: Stardust Memory (also as context for Zeta)
 

09philj

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The main Universal Century continuity is loooong but it's fairly well liked (Apart from ZZ Gundam):
- Mobile Suit Gundam (Or the compilation movie trilogy)
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
- Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (Or Unicorn Re:0096, it's TV edit)

Plus other MSG related stuff like War in the Pocket and Stardust Memory. Not Twilight Axis though, nobody liked that.

Other stuff:
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 - It's a lot like Gundam Wing
- Turn A Gundam - Somewhat atypical entry, but well liked

Other good things with big robots in:
- Code Geass - Don't try to pretend you're not a Gundam series Code Geass, you're not fooling anyone.
- Aldnoah Zero - Arguably we should expect better from Gen Fucking Urobuchi than an obvious Gundam rip off but the first series is pretty serviceable. Not the second series though. Oh boy.
- Mobile Police Patlabor - Robot law enforcement. An oft overlooked cult classic.
- Eureka Seven - MECHA! ON! SURFBOARDS!
- The Vision of Escaflowne - Isekai medieval romance mecha action. The characters' huge noses takes some getting used to.
- Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann - Super Robots rather than Real Robots. Looks amazing.
- Super Dimension Fortress Macross - Admittedly they spend a lot of time in the shape of fighter jets but they are actually mecha
 

meiam

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You've watched most of the alternate century version, so there's really only the original gundam and it's many sequel left really. Disclaimer, I find most gundam to be merely okay show and pretty much just watched them for the mech (of those you watched I think seed is the best, IBO S1 was very good but S2 was a dumpster fire in a train wreck, 08th MS teams also very good, but it's very atypical for a gundam)

-If you want to watch the first gundam show, go with the movies, it had a lot of filler episode that get skipped in the movie.
-Zeta gundam is well regarded... but I find the main character the most insufferable POS in the history of anime, he's a character who make the world (and his life) worse whenever he take action. I could never get past the first 10 episodes because of that.
-ZZ gundam is sorta of a joke anime, if you didn't like fighter G, don't bother.
-Char counterattack is a movie, watch it for the sazabi and nu gundam (oh and it finish the main plot, but w/e).
-Stardust memory is pretty decent, it's heavily inspired by top gun, the mech design are really good, but it suffer from being a prequel of zeta that was made after zeta, so the event end in a bit of a wetfart ending and nothing that happen is really relevant.
-Unicorn is pure mech porn, amazing visual and action scene, terrible plot and actor. The main character isn't quite as bad as zeta MC, but oh boy does he try to be. The plot is complete non sense, with a big "twist" that's so stupid it hurt... but godamn! are the fight scene amazing, and the mech design good. Here's an example of the first fight (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mdrxmk-eiIQ) Stark jegan pilot forever! I'd recommend watching in japenes without subtitle, you still get the visual and can just imagine a plot that's not as stupid.
-Thunderbolt, technically in the universal century, but has little to nothing to do with the rest of them. Pretty good, although it tried to be too edgy for it's own good. Watch the first season, S2 finish on a cliffhanger that hasn't been resolved yet.
-Origin is a prequel to everything, don't watch unless you've watch most of the universal century stuff.

Otherwise there's a few other alternate universe.
-00 gundam is very similar in setup to wing, so you'll probably like it. S2 gets... weird and the movie even more so, I'd just watch S1.
-If you haven't watched seed destiny, skip at all cost. If you've watched it and enjoyed it, well you'll like zeta then.
-Turn A gundam is well liked, but it's essentially not a gundam show, it's much more similar to the old style of mech show, there's not really any politic stuff and only the main character as a mech.
-AGE is a kid show, it's mostly filler episode and isn't really interesting. It bombed pretty hardcore.
-Reconquista is G is a mess, there's something interesting in there but it makes so little sense that its hard to take seriously. For example, the first episode has the character riding in a space elevator with a bunch of cheerleader for no reason (both the cheerleader and space elevator), skip it.
-There's a bunch of build figther/diver stuff, just skip them, they're pointless stuff just to justify making new plastic model of older mech, and I say that as someone who love plastic model.

As for other mech show in the same vein.
-Code geass is probably the most gundam of the not gundam show, it's good but the writing get sloppy at time and the first half of S2 re-thread a lot of similar ground.
-I'd skip Aldnoah Zero, it start decent and the basic idea is cool (the main character are in the grunt suit fighting the bad guy in the super suit), but it just get worse from there, the MC is like an emotionless robot and the writting is piss poor.
-Patlabor is hard to get into, there's 3 version, the TV series, the OVA and the movie, all three stars the same character but are different universe of each others and re do a lot of stuff. Long story short, watch the movie (1 and 2) they're amazing if you like 90's movie (1 is a popcorn action show, 2 is a more of a political thriller), if you want more, watch the OVA.
-Eureka seven... Love everything about that show except the main character (never understood mech show fascination with incompetent piece of crap main character).
-Escaflowne is a shojo mech, it's actually really good and the soundtrack is amazing, it was sadly rush so the last half was compressed into a few episode.
-Macross is a very diverse franchise. Without getting into it, try frontier, if you like it for the Pop idol side, go with 7 and delta, if you like it for the action side, try the original. Oh and macross plus is a godamn classic, another great 90's movie.
 

09philj

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Oh, there's also the OVA Gunbuster, which was Hideaki Anno's (He of Neon Genesis Evangelion fame) directorial debut, and an early example of combining the kind of storytelling and aesthetics found in Real Robot shows like Gundam with mecha styled more after the Super Robot shows that came before.
 

Elvis Starburst

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09philj said:
- Code Geass
Meiam said:
-Code Geass
God damn I love this show. Gurren Lagann connects to me emotionally, but there's something about Code Geass that just ekes it out sliiiiightly more.

I've only watched Gundam 00 myself, so I'll be sitting in this thread happily awaiting recommendations from others. A friend of mine keeps suggesting Iron Blooded Orphans. Dunno if that one's any good though
 

twistedmic

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Meiam said:
-If you haven't watched seed destiny, skip at all cost. If you've watched it and enjoyed it, well you'll like zeta then.
I think I watched about half an episode before I turned it off and decided to pretend it never existed.

As for other mech show in the same vein.
-Code geass is probably the most gundam of the not gundam show, it's good but the writing get sloppy at time and the first half of S2 re-thread a lot of similar ground.
I watched a few episodes back when it was on Toonami/Adult Swim and didn't really care for it.
-I'd skip Aldnoah Zero, it start decent and the basic idea is cool (the main character are in the grunt suit fighting the bad guy in the super suit), but it just get worse from there, the MC is like an emotionless robot and the writting is piss poor.
Watched two episodes on Netflix before I dropped it.
-Patlabor is hard to get into, there's 3 version, the TV series, the OVA and the movie, all three stars the same character but are different universe of each others and re do a lot of stuff. Long story short, watch the movie (1 and 2) they're amazing if you like 90's movie (1 is a popcorn action show, 2 is a more of a political thriller), if you want more, watch the OVA.
I couldn't get into the show but I will give the movies a shot.
-Eureka seven... Love everything about that show except the main character (never understood mech show fascination with incompetent piece of crap main character).
That is one I need to get around to watching. I saw a handful of episodes on Toonami/Adult Swim and liked what I saw.
-Escaflowne is a shojo mech, it's actually really good and the soundtrack is amazing, it was sadly rush so the last half was compressed into a few episode.
This one is a longtime favorite of mine. I remember watching it way back when it was on the Fox lineup of Saturday Morning cartoons. It was the second anime series that I ever bought (Neon Genesis Evangelion being the first).
-Macross is a very diverse franchise. Without getting into it, try frontier, if you like it for the Pop idol side, go with 7 and delta, if you like it for the action side, try the original. Oh and macross plus is a godamn classic, another great 90's movie.
Is Macross the same as Robotech?
 

09philj

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twistedmic said:
-Macross is a very diverse franchise. Without getting into it, try frontier, if you like it for the Pop idol side, go with 7 and delta, if you like it for the action side, try the original. Oh and macross plus is a godamn classic, another great 90's movie.
Is Macross the same as Robotech?
No. Macross was one of the shows that didn't survive export to the US intact. Essentially what happened was that a company called Harmony Gold got the rights to three completely unrelated shows, those being Super Dimension Fortress Macross, Super Dimension Southern Cavalry Cross, and Genesis Climber MOSPEADA, then recut bits from all of them into a new show with a new script. This made the creator of Macross upset and also made it very difficult to legally get Macross outside of Japan for a long time. I believe Funimation has got the rights to distribute it now though.
 

meiam

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Last I heard harmony gold renewed the license, they were trying to make a new robotech (original this time). It might sound strange now, but re cutting other show wasn't all that unusual back then (the most famous example is power ranger). Some of it is available legally in the US (like plus) but most isn't.

As for patlabor, it depend what you didn't like about the show. The TV show is really episodic and has a much bigger focus on comedy. The movie were directed by Mamoru Oshii (of ghost in the shell fame) but are very different, the first one is a fairly traditional, but very competent, action movie. I'd say watch it first just to get an idea of the character but it's pretty close to the TV show (maybe a bit more serious). The second movie is pretty different, it's a serious movie throughout and most of the main cast and robot aren't that present, it has to do with terrorism (pre 9/11) and internal politic. If you want to try, here's a 10 minute clip that has two scene from the movie (around mid point so some spoiler) that give a good idea of the type of movie, the first scene being more about the investigation and politic side while the second is more of a "action" (it's probably my favourite scene of any movie, but I watched it while I was an impressionable teenager, so your mileage may vary). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w25dFyZNJfE