Gundam Franchise: Expert Opinions Needed

[Nozomi]

Calling all Gundam fans! Especially those who have seen a majority of the series.

I just started watching Mobile Suit Gundam, to kick off my proper sequential viewing of the ENTIRE franchise (sans SD/Chibi series, naturally). I have seen Wing, which was the 2nd anime series I ever watched, and the first I really took seriously, after Pokemon. This was mainly thanks to the Toonami release of Wing.

I understand the differences between the timelines/universes in Gundam,; what I am unsure about, however, is the sequencing of the series within each of those divisions. Gundam 0079 is UC, which is fine, and I know Zeta Gundam follows that, but there's some stuff in between, shown here: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Gundam (and open the UC tab). In what order should I watch these?

Further along, what order should the rest of the franchise be viewed in?

Any help here would be much appreciated. Thanks!

[blkmage]

Really, the only confusing timeline is the UC timeline. The alternate timeline Gundam series are pretty short, so the viewing order should be obvious.

The main UC story goes Mobile Suit Gundam -> Z Gundam -> ZZ Gundam -> Char's Counterattack

Gundam Unicorn takes place not too long after Char's Counterattack, and anything that takes place after Unicorn is really far removed from the main UC storyline. The generally accepted good sidestory OVAs for the UC timeline are 0080: War in the Pocket, 0083: Stardust Memory, and 08th MS Team. These last three can be viewed in any order.

You can find more general Gundam chatter here.

[ShiroiHikari]

AU Gundam can be viewed in pretty much any order you want, except for stuff that's in the same timeline like SEED and SEED Destiny; obviously you want to watch SEED before Destiny. (Or just don't watch SEED and SD at all. >_>)

If you want to watch UC Gundam in chronological order, you can do it like this:

Gundam 0079
08th MS Team
0080: War in the Pocket
0083: Stardust Memory
Zeta Gundam
Double Zeta Gundam
Char's Counterattack
Gundam Unicorn
Gundam F91
Victory Gundam

[Nozomi]

Excellent, thanks Shiroi! I knew you'd come in on this one.

[Nozomi]

What about IGLOO though? Or is that optional viewing?...

[ShiroiHikari]

I actually haven't seen any of the IGLOO stuff yet so I can't say.

[Nozomi]

Further research on IGLOO has revealed that its rather rare to find (at least legitimately), and that its not completed yet, and that the release timeline for each segment is irregular, as well as irregular run-times. On top of that, the entire series is done in CGI.

Personally, I think that would imply that the series is optional-but-not-required viewing for the franchise.

[Agloval]

IGLOO is very optional. It's about weapons development and much of its pleasure comes from watching mad experimental projects in action. (IGLOO 2 is slightly different, as it's about the Federation slowly clawing its way back to technological parity/advantage. And a god of death. Basically the same idea, though.) I like IGLOO, but I think it has quite a lot of problems.

Chronologically speaking, the first episode of IGLOO is set before the beginning of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, and its last episode is set around the last episode of the series. IGLOO 2 starts a month or two later, and finishes a month or two earlier than IGLOO. So if you wanted to watch them in true UC-pedant chronological order it would be quite complicated.

I think it is completed, for now, at least in terms of no more is being produced unless more is announced, but I don't know what its availability's like in Region 1 (as I don't live there).

[Nozomi]

Ah, I see. Thanks for the input, Agloval!

[battletech]

It's going to take a long time to watch all of those. I'm planning on rewatching the UC timeline from start up to episode two of Unicorn. Enjoy the wild ride that is the UC timeline.

[Nozomi]

At the rate of 12 episodes a week, it actually doesn't take that long. But after 0079, I won't be picking up the franchise and the UC timeline until July, because my viewing schedule is filled with other stuff.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

At the rate of 12 episodes a week, it actually doesn't take that long. But after 0079, I won't be picking up the franchise and the UC timeline until July, because my viewing schedule is filled with other stuff.

You are a well-regimented dude. Once I finished the Gundam movie trilogy, I pretty much put other things on hold to watch Zeta. I still try to keep up w/ the new stuff as it becomes available, as this isn't too time consuming, but I am sorely tempted to put it all on the backburner.

[Nozomi]

Is Gundam Movie Trilogy 08MS, War in the Pocket, and Stardust Memory, all together? Or am I missing something here?

[blkmage]

The Gundam movie trilogy is a movie edit of the original series. 08th MS Team, 0080, and 0083 are all separate, unrelated (to the main storyline) OVAs.

[Nozomi]

Ohhh yeah... forgot about the compilation movies.

[Mr. Hat'n'Clogs]

So, while we're on topic, I heard that anything that isn't animated isn't canon?

[blkmage]

I'm not sure about that. I know from a conversation I had about three years ago, the prospect of the Gundam Unicorn novels getting animated at the time was pretty much considered to be zero. And there's stuff like Gundam SEED Astray, which I hear is better than the SEED anime, or the equivalent in 00. And then you have weird stuff that is animated, like the SD Three Kingdoms stuff.

I don't actually know the canonicity rules, if they exist, but I imagine it's more like the Star Wars EU, in which certain things take precedence.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

I would assume that, as a general rule, if it's directed by Tomino then it's canon. Also, AU Gundam is not canon. I know this doesn't cover everything, but it's a start.

The analogy w/ Star Wars EU makes sense, especially in the cases of Unicorn and 08th MS Team. Not Tomino but pretty much acknowledged as canon, if I'm not mistaken.

[Nate]

Sunrise has officially said anything animated is canon. If it's not animated, it's not canon. This means even the novels that Tomino has written aren't canon according to Sunrise.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

So SEED Destiny is canon? Ew...

[Nate]

In reference to the UC storyline. The AU things are in their own little worlds. The reason Sunrise spoke up about canon in UC timeline is because of things like the Crossbone novels so they stated anything that they hadn't animated wasn't canon.

[blkmage]

Oh, well that's silly.

[Nate]

Part of the reason they spoke up also was because Crossbone (as I mentioned above) specifically requires ZZ to not have happened as far as I know. This led to a debate of which happened, ZZ or Crossbone (since Tomino wrote Crossbone)? This required Sunrise to speak up and state animated=canon. This is further established with Unicorn now being animated (since it requires ZZ to be canon).

The one exception is the Zeta movies which aren't canon because they prevent ZZ from happening, and ZZ is established as canon.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

EDIT - Never mind...mods can scratch this one.

[airichan623]

So SEED Destiny is canon? Ew...

PFFT. I know, Destiny feels like it was written by an Athrun fangirl writing fanfiction at 2:30am on 5 cans of mountain dew.

I've only seen Seed, Destiny, and most of 00. Just do a 'season 1' first, then 'season 2' and you'll be fine.

[Nozomi]

Actually, thanks for the heads up about the Zeta movies. In planning the schedule out for September (all tentative, theoretical... making the excel sheet kills boredom, at least... y'know.), I was about to include those.

[ShiroiHikari]

Yeah, the Zeta movies aren't a good substitute for the TV series at all. They're far too rushed, and the ending is different. They're more for hardcore fans of Zeta than anything else.