...I haven't watched much Gundam in the first place. A smattering of G Gundam, and the entirety of The Witch from Mercury.

So, I probably don't know what I'm talking about.

Peter Eng
--
Insert humorous comment here.

I've watched a lot of it and all I can say is it's a lot like starwars in that it's many things to many people and you can find most anything to your taste
doozie bots... that is all

LAST EDITED ON Jul-24-26 AT 07:05 PM (EDT)
 
....DCForum from the early 2000s can do polls??

*Cough* Anyway, while I think most Gundam is really good, I think the wacky hijinks ones are a lot more fun. They also tend to become serious over time.

To quite a character from Gundam Build Fighters (The spinoff which posits a world where Gunpla is The Thing The World Is Obsessed With a la Yugioh): "We can take it seriously because it's it's a game."

If anyone is trying to decide which to try for first, I do suggest Gundam Build Fighters, it's sequel, Build Fighters Try, and the related VRMMO version, Gundam Build Divers and sequel Gundam Build Divers Re:RISE, which fall under the 'Wacky Hijinks' tag.

A really good starting point for the SRS BSNS column is Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, which is a svelte six episode OAV series rather than a full 50-some episode TV show but which will still give you the vibes of how the bulk of the franchise tends to go. (You know, being the dictionary image example for the phrase 'War Is Bad', but also having the 'See also: Wow, Cool Robot' entry.)

Edit: Other shorter, yet excellent examples for SRS BSNS Gundam are 08th MS Team and Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, though that one may require a bit more general knowledge of the setting than the others.

>....DCForum from the early 2000s can do polls??

Yup. I just haven't posted one in aeons. They're a little awkward, since the question has to be stated in full as the subject line, and you can't explain any details without making a second post, but they do work.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
zgryphon at that email service Google has
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

>>....DCForum from the early 2000s can do polls??
>
>Yup. I just haven't posted one in aeons. They're a little awkward,
>since the question has to be stated in full as the subject line, and
>you can't explain any details without making a second post, but they
>do work.
>
>--G.
>-><-
>Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Mod
>Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
>zgryphon at that email service Google has
>Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.
wait wait wait, Utena + gundam, you should see Utena Gundam. aka Mobilesuit gundam Witch from mercury

>wait wait wait, Utena + gundam, you should see Utena Gundam. aka
>Mobilesuit gundam Witch from mercury

I've been waiting to watch G-Witch with friends who have only watched Build Fighters (and I think we watched F91?) (and one has a handful of original series episodes under her.)

Same with G-Quacks. Our schedules are weird and wild and there's brain worms involved that's kept us from starting, and more important things keep bumping their way up the priority list.

I can't wait to finally show them Build Fighters Try and Build Divers and Re:RISE.

LAST EDITED ON Jul-27-26 AT 07:52 PM (EDT)
 
Belatedly, a lot of this hinges on matters of taste. As far as I know, there's not a real dividing line between 'wacky hijinks gundam' and 'serious business' gundam- the closest thing you get to 'wacky hijinks' are SOME of the Build seasons, and even those have some pretty serious elements. Like how in the original Aila is basically as Four Murasame as a person can get in a 'basically the real world' setting.

If you're asking this question because you're looking for a place to start with Gundam, honestly I'd recommend you begin with Gundam X. It's not heavy on the military and power blocs/political struggles, has a strong romance, hopeful tone and strong adventure feel, as well as just being one of the best seasons of Gundam outright.

If you don't want to even get close to real dudes fighting and dying, the original Build Fighters, as well as Build Fighters Try, are your best bet, but they're not REALLY Gundam in the strictest sense- more something akin to Beyblade or Angelic Layer.

If you want something short, try the first season of Witch From Mercury, which has almost no real life-or-death battles, and then consider the second season which is where all of the power bloc, military, political, life or death war struggles take place. I wouldn't recommend the similarly short GQuuuux because that's like the Mirror Universe for the original 0079, and you would probably need a relatively intimate knowledge of the original show to get the most out of it.

If, on the other hand, what you REALLY want IS military-political-lifeordeath-powerbloc stuff, ypu want to go with Gundam 00, both seasons. It's probably the best written 'military serious business' show, with complicated geopolitics, a more developed take on the 'not really terrorists but blowing up everyone with our robots equally for the sake of world stability' take that Wing had, with a much more thorough followthrough and better characterization.

Also consider some of the currently available Super Robot Wars games- V does the plot of Unicorn reasonably well, T has a decent take on the idea of 'what if Char's Neo Zeon and Haman's Neo Zeon came into conflict', 30 is set post-Char's Counterattack with Amuro and Char both surviving and handles the Narrative plot plus the idea of 'ghosts of war' who never gave up their conflict even when they aged beyond it, and Y goes in completely the other direction by having Char's Neo Zeon become a force for good, with Gyunei and Quess as some of your first and strongest allies, and Char fully realizing his 'surrogate dad' role for Kamille.

EDIT: a friend has also pointed out to me that ZZ is pretty heavy on the hijinx, with stuff like Moon Moon, chickens, Beecha being a jerk that has to be cajoled into thinking he's important so he doesn't screw everything over for everyone else, Yazan Gable at his most comical goldfish poop antagonist instead of being the eternal Violator, and lots of silly faces.

> If you don't want to even get close to real dudes fighting and dying, the
> original Build Fighters, as well as Build Fighters Try, are your best bet,
> but they're not REALLY Gundam in the strictest sense- more something akin
> to Beyblade or Angelic Layer.

YES! Angelic Layer! That's the perfect example! (And also a *really good series*, in my opinion)

And you're right, the Build Fighters series are probably the lowest stakes you're going to find in Gundam short of going full SD Gundam (And even a couple of those, I think...)