Kidou Senshi Gundam: Gyakushuu no Char

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.

All shows featured in Super Robot Wars V
Not included:
Gundam Crossbone (manga)
Full Metal Panic (post-anime Light Novels)

All shows featured in Super Robot Wars X
Missing Gundam Crossbone (manga)

All shows featured in Super Robot Wars T
Not including: Crossbone Gundam (Manga)

List of series featured in SRW1 - SRWAlpha

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.

Real robots are a subgenre of the mecha genre, in which the mechas are depicted as realistic warmachines as opposed to the superheroistic depiction of the super robot subgenre. It was started in 1979 by Mobile Suit Gundam.

Mecha? Super robot? Real robot? Androids? Cyborgs? Mechanical suits? All of them, fuck it. All have their merits and should be appreciated by all. Only really recommending stuff I have seen or have general enough knowledge of! (i'm pretty new to this sorry)

The mecha genre is specific to the anime medium, for the reason that what once started from an interesting concept, over the decades and the various artistic interpretations it had gone through, did managed to reach it's full development and thematic recognition.

It's origin can be traced way back to the end of World War 2, and the notion of the general populace at the time, that the technological breakthroughs, and their further usage to help and safeguard mankind are the way that we should develop as a species, so that's when the bipedal metal giants were born - a figures with humane limbs and features, that are controlled by a person and which allows them to wield this overwhelming power in service of a greater good.

In this interest stack, I've presented the ways in this genre had changed, and the specific shows which had major impact upon the development of the mecha as a concept, and the ways it had branched out of the established norm for this genre exploring a broad spectrum of themes. The order of the shows is in chronological order, since that way the slight alterations and changes can be presented in more simple and efficient manner.

Just the phenomenal Gundam series arranged according to release order.

Anime dubbed in italian which aren't marked as so on the database (as far as I know), if you know of other like these, tell me and I'll add them

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.

These are the anime included in the very first Super Robot Wars game, on Game Boy. Also featured in its HD remake on PlayStation 3 and Vita.

These are the anime that appeared in Super Robot Wars 2, released on Famicom and Game Boy Advance, with a remake on PlayStation.

These are the anime featured in Super Robot Wars 3, for Super Famicom and PlayStation.

These are the anime featured in Super Robot Wars EX, for Super Famicom and PlayStation.

These are the anime featured in Super Robot Wars 4, for Super Famicom and PlayStation.