Kidou Senshi Gundam: The Origin

The franchise of Mobile Suit Gundam, and specifically it's Universal Century timeline (UC), is one of monumental value for the anime medium as a whole, since it is one of the first animated media that features the human tragedies and the fragility of the human psyche in wartimes, the basis of which are the production cast's memories from their childhood, as kids who had to grew up in the aftermath of World War 2, which you can definitely feel as undertones throughout the franchise's origins.

The series and episode count could seem daunting and tad overwhelming as count, hence why at the start of this list a few "hooks" of a shows will be included, which are fairly standalone by themselves, with shorter episode count, but still having the titular Gundam thematic hallmarks as a series. If you were doubtful about whether this show is for you, they are very good indicator whether you'll enjoy your time with the Universal Century timelines, which is dubbed the "main" timeline for a very good reason.

Mobile Suit Gundam is probably the most influential anime franchise ever, and contrary to common opinion, it is no a meathead action kids' show full of repetitive robot fights. Gundam is a very flawed but very meaningful work of art, full of thought provoking sociopolitical commentary on war as well as interesting supernatural conceptualization.

The Universal Century Timeline is the original Gundam "universe" conceived by Yoshiyuki Tomino, as well as the best Gundam timeline, but sadly it has a bad reputation for being extremely inaccesible due to the myriads of installments it has and the watch order that tends to confuse many with many remakes, alternative versions and branching spin-offs. The series is however easy to watch if you just have a clear order, and this interest stack is an attempt at offering a concise and simple list of the of the most important and best installments so you can watch the best stuff without having to plow through the admittedly abundant trash.

I will include all essential works and add a few ones that are not essential but still highly recommended for either high quality or thematic significance, but I'll make it clear when an installment is not *really* essential and just recommended. My criteria for essential is most of the time being crucial to the timeline or simply so high in quality that it makes no sense to skip it.

If you want a COMPLETE watch order including every installment and go deep down the rabbit hole I recommend the interest stack called "Mobile Suit Gundam: Universal Century Timeline Watchorder" by user giffica, as I found it to be a very thorough and well put together list.

Every anime directed by Ichirou Itano. Also includes series he only partially directed (i.e. Patlabor ep. 6).

Anime that aired in Britain on TV. Does not include streaming, home release, etc. Some air dates are included.


My source for some of these is through word of mouth or archived forum posts so if there are any inaccuracies I apologize. As a rule of thumb if an air date is included it means the show definitely aired.

This is a canonical watch order that is geared towards a first time viewer of Gundam. I myself experienced the series in this order, which preserves the canonical order, but mends it slightly to preserve watching experience and prevent burnout. Included will be double-ups of series, which means the TV and Compilation movie versions and/or OVAs. Most of those "rewatches" will come after a period of time, slid into the timeline in a way that prevents serious burn-out. Realistically you can swap around any of them for their relative compilation, but first will always come the "preferred" version.

There is nothing in this list I would call spoilers, but I do give some slight generalized opinions which may lead, or alter your own experiences. If you want to go in blind, just look at the show. The blurbs are there to decide if you aren't sure when you want to watch something, not to give you anything before you watch.

I will also be forced to keep a side list since the max number of items in a single list is 50. Until more Gundam content is released, it mostly has small 5-10 minute things that don't really add to the canon in anyway. However, Gundam is approaching a point where if 2-3 more series release this list will get tight. Here is a link to that list: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/12271

I want to clarify that I am not some super Gundam fan, and I began making this list from the beginning of my watching experience. It thus offers a glimpse into what watching Gundam in 2022 should be like for the open-minded, anime history inclined weeb. If you know nothing (or very little) about Gundam this is the perfect place to start in order to grind out the main Universal Century timeline.

If you have any questions (or suggestions to improve since I'm not a hardcore Gundam fan) please feel free to message me.

Getting started with Gundam can be tough because of the multiple timelines and the varying amount of time a viewer must invest to watch the show(s) depending on which timeline they choose to go with. Things are not as simple as picking which one is best; some fans will argue that a certain series is the greatest Gundam show, while other fans will argue for that same show being the worst of the franchise. Knowing how the shows interact with each other is the first step to figuring out what you want to watch, and this stack will help to guide you through that process.

Required viewing for emotional millennial trainwrecks just trying to feel something and maybe learn something along the way.

No specific genre's or release dates, just personal favorites that I've taken something from and think everyone should watch at least once. I tried to avoid stacking shows with too similar feelings so there can be something for everyone. This stack is fairly mainstream by design as it's the first in an anticipated series of similar stacks.

Thanks for reading!

A compilation of anime that began airing during the month of February.

This Month is most notable for airing the original Dragon Ball, Naruto: Shippuuden and the directorial debut of Satoshi Kon with Perfect Blue (premiered in August, but MAL logs it's theatrical February release so I'm keeping it here lol).

See Also:

January: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15005
March: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15017
April: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15029
May: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15033
June: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15041
July: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15044
August: ttps://myanimelist.net/stacks/15051
September: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15053
October: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15101
November: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15102
December: https://myanimelist.net/stacks/15104

2005 - 2016

Full list of all Gundam anime in order of release date. List will include EVERY entry including summaries

Char's Counterattack is one of the most famous works from the Gundam series and considered to be a masterpiece of the mecha genre. As a conclusion to the rivalry of Char Aznable and Amuro Ray of UC Gundam, you must first witness the evolution of their relationship in order to fully understand the emotional impact of their final confrontation. For that, here's a list with the most essential series in chronological watch order to immerse yourself in the fascinating world of UC Gundam.

⦿ Alternate Versions (Universal Century)

> Mobile Suit Gundam: 0079 (TV):
Mobile Suit Gundam I (Movie)
Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow (Movie)
Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space (Movie)

> Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (TV):
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation - Heir to the Stars (Movie)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation II - Lovers (Movie)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation III - Love Is the Pulse of the Stars (Movie)

> Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (OVA):
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096 (TV)

> Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (OVA):
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet (TV)

> Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (ONA):
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky (Movie)
Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower (Movie)



⦿ Mobile Suit Gundam Franchise Total Episodes: 964 episodes (TV Series + ONA)

> Main Series (726 Episodes):
Mobile Suit Gundam: 0079 (43)
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (50)
Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (47)
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (51)
Gundam Reconguista in G (26)
Turn A Gundam (50)
Mobile Fighter G Gundam (49)
After War Gundam X (39)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Wing (49)
Mobile Suit Gundam: SEED (50)
Mobile Suit Gundam: SEED Destiny (50)
Mobile Suit Gundam: 00 (50)
Mobile Suit Gundam: AGE (49)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (50)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (24)
Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX (TBA)

> Series Connected to the Universal Century (49 Episodes):
Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn RE:0096 (22)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin - Advent of the Red Comet (13)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt (8)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance (6)

> Gundam Build Series (101 Episodes):
Gundam Build Fighters (25)
Gundam Build Fighters Try (25)
Gundam Build Divers (25)
Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise (26)

> SD Gundam Series (137 Episodes):
SD Gundam Force (52)
SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors (51)
SD Gundam World: Sangoku Soketsuden (10)
SD Gundam World Heroes (24)



⦿ Not Included in Interest Stack (Not Watching)

> Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (Universal Century)
> Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (Universal Century)
> Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (Universal Century)
> Mobile Suit Gundam: MS IGLOO (Universal Century)
> Gundam Evolve (Universal Century)
> Mobile Suit Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance (Universal Century)
> Gundam Reconguista in G (Regild Century)
> Turn A Gundam (Correct Century)
> Mobile Fighter G Gundam (Future Century)
> After War Gundam X (After War)
> Mobile Suit Gundam: AGE (Advanced Generation)
> Model Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G (Anno Domini)
> Gundam Build Fighters
> Gundam Build Fighters Try
> Gundam Build Divers
> Gundam Build Divers Re:Rise
> SD Gundam Force
> SD Gundam Sangokuden Brave Battle Warriors
> SD Gundam World: Sangoku Soketsuden
> SD Gundam World Heroes

The intent of this stack is to provide a complete history of Sunrise animation in a single course, meant to fit inside the framework of a 3 credit class with an expectation of 90 hours of out-of-class material over the period of a 15 week semester.

Adaptions of manga, or novels will be mostly excluded unless the creators themselves worked at Sunrise like in the case of Dunbine, or Arion. This means extremely notable, and historically important series, such as Cyborg 009, Ultraman, City Hunter, Inuyasha, Planetes, Sgt. Frog, and Gintama will all be excluded, despite the critical artistic contribution of this works on Sunrise's style. A truly dedicated academic would, at the minimum, watch some of the City Hunter, Inuyasha, Sgt Frog and Gintama side content since they were incredibly important on influencing Sunrise studio direction.

This course would ideally be taken alongside a thrice per week hour long lecture, breaking down the lineage of Sunrise's works, and how they influenced one another to build what we have today. As a result, there may be a series you feel is critical, or exceptionally great, but it will be excluded in favor of discussing the series role and relationship to the studio due to the limitations watching long form weekly series made for weekly broadcast. Sunrise is unique in that many of their major series have movies, or OVAs that summarize or recap the main franchise to give viewers a soft entry to understanding the work. However, there are of course serious works like Giant Gorg, Vifam, Pazer World Galient, Ronin Warriors, Jushin Liger, the entirety of the critically influencial Brave Series, most alternative Gundam series (which would be left to their own "Gundam" course), Garasaki, Infinite Ryvius, s-CRY-ed, Big O, Tiger & Bunny or even Love, Live! that would be discussed in class even if they aren't going to be watched.

This is a developing experiment, so please contact me if you have any suggestions, or questions.

☆ = Mandatory Viewing

My preferred timeline order:
☆ Gundam: The Origin
☆ Gundam I
- Gundam: Cucuruz Doan no Shima
☆ Gundam II: Ai Senshi-hen
- Gundam Thunderbolt: Bandit Flower
- Gundam: Dai 08 MS Shoutai
- Gundam 0080: Pocket no Naka no Sensou
☆ Gundam III: Meguriai Sora-hen
- Gundam Thunderbolt: December Sky
- Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
☆ Zeta Gundam
☆ Gundam ZZ
☆ Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char
☆ Gundam Unicorn
- Gundam NT
☆ Gundam: Senkou no Hathaway
- Gundam: Senkou no Hathaway 2
- Gundam: Senkou no Hathaway 3