#the char aznable of it all

[chrissysky]

ya'll. this isn't even the first time gosho turned a pairing into kissing cousins. and they were a het pairing.

[amalgamasreal]

[sarcasticgiraff]

Amuro... char...

[amuwo]

They're friends :)

[i-clandestine]

there is no heterosexual explanation for this

newtypes are FREEEAKY

[yaboi8i]

You know when you think about it Rose Quartz is a less mentally fucked up version of Char Aznable- *i am instantly crushed by a mobile suit*

[gremoria411]

How to get into Gundam

Because fuck it, I was gonna do one of these sooner or later anyway.

So you want to know what this Gundam thing’s about, maybe you like the mecha design, maybe you caught part of an episode one time and want to catch up, or maybe you saw a nice piece of Chamuro fanart and want to go to the source.

But there’s so many shows and timelines that it can be quite daunting on first look, so this guide is intended to give a rough overview.

I would however like to stress two four things beforehand however:

This guide is not intended as “The One True Way” or anything. There’s no harm it coming into it a different way, and these are only my own opinions.

There’s nothing stopping you from just watching one show and leaving it there. You don’t have to watch every single show going, even I’ve only seen most of these, not all. Gundam typically has variations on similar themes - it’s very nice watching multiple shows because they complement one another, but it’s not necessarily required.

I am very much an insider looking out here, so let me know if there’s any details I’ve missed.

I’m not gonna recommend these on a “if you like X, then watch Y basis”, mostly because I don’t personally find genre recommendations helpful, so I’d recommend picking based on promotional material (vibes, if you will).

I’ll be using this chart, supplied by the excellent@l-crimson-l, to illustrate everything.

Gundam as a whole can principally be divided into three sections: Universal Century (or UC), the Alternate Universes (AU’s) and the Build Series.

The AU’s are below the light blue line, near the bottom of the Chart, the Build Series is within the bright green line at the top-right corner of the chart and UC is the big line in the middle. We’ll talk about each of them individually.

The AU’s

The Alternate Universes were conceived as a way to get away from the continuity-heavy nature of Universal Century and provide an easy jumping-on point for new fans. The AU’s are standalone and require no prior knowledge, and are thus an excellent place to start. Honestly, I’d recommend quickly searching some promotional materials (like posters) and just going with the one you find most appealing based on that. They are (in production order):

Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994)

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995)

After War Gundam X (1996)

Turn A Gundam (1999)

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002)

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007)

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011)

Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans (2015)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022)

There’s side series and movies and other things besides, but these are the mainline shows, if you will. I have specific notes on a few of them:

Witch From Mercury - It’s of a shorter length than is usual for mainline shows, so consequently it’s a much smaller time investment than the others.

Mobile Fighter G Gundam - While undeniably rad as hell, I would recommend watching another AU first. G Gundam differs from its stablemates in a few key areas, and I find it helps to have a contrast to fully appreciate those differences.

Gundam AGE - is probably the only one I wouldn’t recommend. I didn’t like the art style and the technical explanations just got on my nerves, so I stopped watching.

Turn A and G-Reconguista are technically part of UC as well, but it’s not really crucial information so don’t feel like you have to watch UC first (I’m only including this detail for completionism).

I’ve found all the AU’s I’ve seen to be pretty good, so I’d say that which one you start with really just comes down to personal taste.

The Build Series

Is just kind of doing its own thing. The Build series is basically Buy Our Toys: the series. It’s got a far lighter tone, and I’ve had cause to compare it to pokemon prior. It’s also chock full of references and in-jokes to the other series.

Build Fighters and Build Fighters Try are the ones I’d recommend - they’ve got actual stakes and the fight scenes are really good.

Build Divers and Build Divers Re:rise I can’t recommend - I just find Build Divers aggressively boring. Build Divers Re:Rise is just okay - neither standout good or particularly bad. Its main flaw is that it’s a sequel to Build Divers.

The OVA’s are pretty much bad across the board - I’d particularly recommend avoiding Gundam Build Metaverse.

Universal Century

Universal Century is the big main timeline of Gundam, and is the timeline the original Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979 takes place in. There’s a tendency among certain fans to place UC as the one-above-all of Gundam, but I wouldn’t really go that far. It’s all pretty good, but I wouldnt really say one timeline is better than another (save personal preference, anyway).

Because UC is so big, it can be subdivided a couple times. The primary division is “Mainline” UC versus everything else. Basically there’s four-five shows in Universal Century from which everything else flows. As long as you know roughly what happens in these shows, then you can watch basically anything else in UC and have a good idea of what’s going on. These are (in order):

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) - sometimes called Mobile Suit Gundam 0079.

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)

With Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) as a nominal fifth (honestly I feel like you could argue either way).

The rest of the shows are:

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 Three-Episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991 Thirteen-episode OVA)

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1999 Twelve-episode OVA)

G-Saviour (2000 Live Action Movie) - nobody ever talks about or acknowledges this one, it’s just here for completionism.

Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo (2004-2009 Three OVA’s with three Episodes each)

Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 Six-Episode OVA, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 Eight-Episode Series, adapted from the Manga of the same name)

Mobile Suit Gundam: Twilight Axis (2017 episode, adapted from a light novel of the same name. Later rereleased as Gundam Twilight Axis Red Trace, with additional footage)

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 sequel movie to Gundam Unicorn)

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway (2021 ongoing movie series, very much adapted from the novel Hathaway’s Flash)

Most of the other series relate to events in the aforementioned “mainline” shows in some way, but a lot of the sidestories set during the One Year War require very little introduction (Thunderbolt, 0080 and 08th MS Team). Similarly, works set in “Late UC” (F91 and Victory Gundam) carry on from the other series thematically but don’t have any plot connections, so they can all be watched without any background knowledge of the rest of the Universal Century.

Compilation Movies

Just a quick note here - many of the Gundam series have compilation movies, where either a whole series or part of one are compressed down into a movie. While each movie compares differently, they usually boil down to this: Compilation Movies usually have worse pacing, but really nice animation.

One of the great things about Gundam is that different shows offer variations on themes, so seeing how different characters react to similar situations, or how different settings change their approaches can make it incredibly rewarding.

I haven’t seen enough of SD Gundam to make any sort of recommendations there, and Manga is something I might touch on another day.

EDIT: Oh hey also: You can watch a good chunk of these on YouTube, for free, officially. The Official Gundam.Info YouTube channel rotates the series shown on its channel periodically. I think it’s got F91 and SEED on there currently? But it’s had Wing, 00 and Witch From Mercury before. Also all of the Build Fighters series are there.

So yeah, that’s a thing.

[beeffilledshark]

I can’t keep finding panels of all the comedy gundam mangas they’re going to be the death of me

[southernappalachianmidlander]

bright noa and casval "char aznable" rem deikun, circle strafing around each other in a room, never coming into physical contact but knowing, deep in their souls, that some fuckshit is going on

[bulecelup]

in Neo Zeon

[kishigunpla]

You smell of water, Char...

The scene of Char in the shower from episode 6 of the original Gundam anime is one of the most iconic and memorable in the entire show, for many reasons. In this post however, I want to focus on Char's famous line - 水臭いな、今更。[Mizukusai na, imasara]

The phrase mizukusai literally translates to "smell of water", but is an idiom meaning distant, stand-offish, not frank, or reserved. Originally it was used to refer to food or drinks that were too watery, lacking taste, or unsavory.

Let's look at it in the context of Char and Garma's conversation, both the original Japanese and English translation from the Blu-ray release.

Garma: 私はよい友を持った [Watashi wa yoi tomo o motta]

Char: 水臭いな、今更。ハハハ！[Mizukusai na, imasara. Hahaha!]

Garma's line uses the verb 持つ [motsu] meaning "to have" in this context, like in the proverb 持つべ��ものは友 [motsubeki mono wa tomo], "a friend is a good thing to have". My Japanese isn't good enough to get the exact nuance, but it's my understanding that his phrasing here is a bit formal.

Hence why Char replies as he does, but here's where things get interesting. I have seen this line translated into English so many different ways. "Don't get all sentimental on me now" is what this release uses, but the point I want to make is that translating from Japanese misses the joke that makes this dialogue and this scene so genius.

Essentially, Char is telling Garma not to be so distant or speak in such a manner now, after all this time. But as anyone familiar with Gundam knows, and as hinted by his smug little eye twinkle, our boy is up to no good.

While he's putting on a show to keep Garma's trust, you might say that in reality, he is the distant one here, to put it (and his revenge fueled murderous intent) mildly.

This is of course while Char is in the shower, soaking wet...and quite literally, would smell of water.

[garmyarmy]

I think it was really cute how Garma was playing himself up for Char in this scene. It's also funny because his composure is kind of breaking while he does it. Char's amused, Garma has his attention, and the lady wearing the pink dress in the background gets it.

[diurnaldays]

Had a thought about a Gundam modern AU where Char (who is a self-described leftist with slight ecofascist leanings) infiltrates the Young Republicans club -- half for shits and giggles and half because he has a personal ax to grind -- and comes up with increasingly elaborate schemes to backstab its executive board (who are all the kids of the Zabi political clan)

Garma is probably the most "normal" one who could be talked out of his family's insane streak of right-wing fascism and become a regular politically moderate bisexual white guy, but only if you don't insult his family while convincing him that neo-Nazism is Bad, Actually

Kycilia is the #girlboss with Kristi Noem energy who says that society needs strong women soldiers and CEOs who will get rid of all the undesirables

Gihren is the unapologetic neo-Nazi who says all the edgy things you'd expect and also acts like a 4channer

Meanwhile, in terms of the older Zabi family members who aren't in the club but sometimes show up at school, Dozle is the military veteran local politician who won't shut up about being a military veteran dad, while Degwin is a decently high-ranking Republican politician at the state level who constantly talks about a culture war and secession but also sometimes pays lip service to bipartisan compromise or whatever

Anyway Garma somehow gets into a freak car accident while on a fishing trip with Char, who was sleeping in his tent at the time and definitely had nothing to do with it

Degwin also "tragically" passes away in a house fire right before Gihren gets shot by an unknown assailant, and Kycilia is assassinated in a similar way by an entirely different unknown assailant *cough*

(Honestly not sure how Dozle's death could fit into a modern AU -- maybe a monster truck accident? Or he chases after Amuro's car for some reason and swerves off of a bridge)

[silenthilllz]

Bastard

[wordsandrobots]

Today's awful realisation: you could set a decent Char/Amuro [79 to Unicorn] AMV to One of Us is Gonna Die Young.

Why yes, I do love tonal dissonance, want made you ask?

[missmassacre]

I can't believe Char did a Yezhov to Johnny Ridden