Chris' Cel Site

Gundam

Home - Wishlist - Private Area - Links - Weblog - Send Feedback - About

Home/Change Series

“Gundam” is a long running anime series brand that first began in 1979 (U.C.0079-just kidding) with the original “Mobile Suit (Kidou Senshi) Gundam” TV show. Since it first aired, there have been numerous sequels (also manga, novels, and video games) featuring both the original characters (unsure but gifted Teen Pilot Amuro Ray vs. vengeance seeking, traitorous, Ace Pilot Char-- plus requisite side-kicks) and new characters, as well as parody cartoons, and other anime featuring the classic Gundam-esc robot design in parallel universes (something like the continuity between the original “Star Trek” and “Deep Space Nine”). Still, to the Gundam purist, the only Gundams to watch are creator Yoshiyuki Tomino’s UC (Universal Century) ones, which, thirty odd years on, are getting a new sequel in March, 2010.

Due to overpopulation, mankind has left Earth and traveled out into space to create a new home for himself. Gone are the days of Anno Domini, or the Common Era; humanity has ushered in a new era, the Universal Century. As humanity’s elite make their homes on Earth, the rest of our kind are uprooted and forced to relocate to Space Colonies, giant, off-world, solar powered cylinders that can each house millions of people. These colonies are grouped in areas, referred to as “Sides”, around our homeworld. Some among the settlers’ children, born off-world, have psychic abilities, and are referred to as “New-Types”. The conflict that develops between these spacenoids and those who remain earthbound (and between Newtype and Old-type), drives this sprawling multi-generational space opera franchise.

Sieg, ZEON!

The epic, iconic, sci-fi anime series that all other sci-fi anime since pay homage to, even to this day (“Eva” has nothing on this), “Gundam” features the age-old struggle between generations, with the New-Types portraying youth, the hope for the future, and the Old-Types embodying the power hoarding, elderly, past. It also skillfully shows the good and evil found within both sides, as romance is not bound by allegiance, and the spirit of everyman is ravaged by war. All the while displaying the bright primary colors of classic robot cartoons, and the audacious pageantry and melodrama that only classic villainy and heroism can pull off.