Getting into Gundam

Mobile Suit Rabbit Hole

My youngest son and I decided to dive into Gundam. It's a series I've always been interested in but the immense size and scope of it intimidated me.

I wasn't even sure if starting with the original series was a good idea, as it looked a tad dusty and I figured there would have been slicker retelling of the same story from the late 80's or 90's. Several years ago, I decided to just start watching Iron Blooded Orphans, as it was airing. My family quite enjoyed it and the opening theme, "Raise Your Flag", remains a favorite opener in this house. However there was a small part of me that still felt like I was jumping into the middle of the story. So I wanted to go further back in the history of Gundam, back to the roots, and see if I could get a better grasp on its epic narrative.

I've now found myself falling down a rabbit hole, and somehow I've dragged my son down with me.

Watching With a Buddy

Amuro Ray and Fraw Bow

I thought I'd be just watching Gundam on my own, while I worked out and stuff, but the first day I watched an episode my youngest plunked himself down next to me and decided this was a show for me and him to watch together. I'm not going to argue with that. He's definitely not afraid of watching older live action movies, but I wasn't sure if older anime would be his jam. But he doesn't mind it, and I think the quirks of older animation add to his enjoyment.

It helps that the foundation of Mobile Suit Gundam is great art. Some of the images of space stations and ships are gorgeous. Sure there are times when the camera is focused on a static image with a teeny tiny mouth moving, pushing the limits of what can even be considered animation, but I don't mind. I think of moments like that as a necessary aspect of the business and putting out so many episodes with limited time and work force.

Currently my son and I are about halfway through the initial 1979 series and I think we've both been surprised at how complex the narrative is. It starts  off pretty simple with a young boy, Amuro, finding himself at the helm of an experimental new robot battle mech, fending off an invasion of enemy forces. The mech appears to be more than meets the eye, making up for Amuro's lack of experience with overwhelming power and computer processing. The survivors space colony that Amuro belongs to must flee their home, and with limited military might it's up to Amuro to protect them as they travel back to earth.

After the initial escape from the space station, the narrative structure becomes a little repetitive, with the survivors being threatened and Amuro having to go out and kick some ass. With each episode, we learn a little more about the Mobile Suit's capabilities and the two warring factions. We have the Earth Federation, which comprises everyone on earth, duh, and some of the space colonies still aligned with the Federation. Amuro and his people are apart of the Federation. On the other side of this conflict is the Principality of Zeon, which is a nation of space colonies that have declared independence from Earth.

Over these first 10 episodes we're introduced to the crew of White Base, which is the ship of survivors making it back to earth, and Char Azanable, who is hunting them down. Char has his own cool ass mobile suit, and has a history of being highly successful in battle, which makes his losses to Amuro and his Gundam surprising.

The Plot Thickens

The show really started to get intriguing when Garma Zabi, a member of the royal family that rules Zeon, shows up to prove himself to his family by capturing White Base. Garma's presence really started to develop some complexity in the show, particularly in regards to his relationship with Char. Their relationship is weird, and it becomes apparent there are some political intrigues coloring their interactions.

When you think there’s more pizza, but someone just left the empty box in the fridge.

 At the same time that Garma shows up, Amuro has completely burnt out, no longer wanting to pilot the Gundam. He's become shell-shocked, having been in repeated life or death situations. And while an entire ship of refugees is relying on him for protection, his 15 year old mind is starting to crack under the weight of killing soldiers. My son and I were both totally surprised this was subject matter that was going to be covered in the show. In Iron Blooded Orphans, the kids have been hardened by their circumstances and handle themselves well against the adults.. But in the original series it's clear that Amuro has been given too much too fast and even after 20 episodes I can't say he's totally come to grips with going from fun teenage nerd to an important military asset in a war.

From what I understand, "children forced into a war" is a common theme through out the many series of Gundam, and I'm really surprised at how well it's handled in 1979 for what is ostensibly a kid's show. Sure there's fun action and adventure, but there's a fair amount of grieving for the childhood that's been lost. It doesn't make war seem very glamorous, and this boyish fantasy of piloting a kick ass battle mech that "stops the bad guys" alternates between rewarding and a nightmare of responsibilities and pressure. Turns out being a war hero is complicated.

The show really hooked us on Episode 10 when Char turns on Garma Zabi, leading the youngest son of the royal family into a fatal situation. From that point on the show has become more of a drama about how these characters are dealing with a complex military conflict, and less about what sticky situation is Amuro and his Gundam going to get out of this week. The Zeon people are no longer just "the bad guys" but are unfortunate adversaries, caught in a web of politics they often have little control over.

There's also some really powerful episodes in these first 20, specifically one where Amuro is finally reunited with his mother who stayed on earth when Amuro and his father left for the space colony several years prior. You'd think it would be a happy reunion, but when Amuro defends himself against Zeon soldiers, his mother can't recognize the person he's become and is ashamed of him. The tragedy is the mother didn't see the circumstances that lead to Amuro becoming this way, and Amuro doesn't have the ability to explain it to her. So the episode ends with him leaving his mother behind, realizing that he can't go home again and be the kid he was. Instead he has to figure out the man he's being forced to become.

The Timeline Conundrum

As I mentioned at the beginning of this journey, I started watching the series Iron Blooded Orphans, and then decided to go back to the original series to get a better foundation of the Mobile Suit Gundam Universe and its lore. And if you are familiar with Gundam you probably laughed at this. Because after several episodes i started to wonder just when does Mobile Suit Gundam take place in relation to Iron Blooded Orphans."

And that's when I discovered the very complex timeline of Mobile Suit Gundam.

You see the two series don't even exist in the same universe.

Let me explain. The story of the original Mobile Suit Gundam show takes place in what is referred to as  the Universal Century Timeline or UC for short. It consists of several series and movies that expand on the story the way, for example, every Star Wars movie and TV show expanded on the timeline and universe created by the original Star Wars movie.

But Iron Blooded Orphans is just a different reality. It's got a lot of similar themes and concepts. War, space colonies, mobile suit battles, etc, but it has no bearing or relation to the events of the original series or the UC timeline on a whole.

You could say Mobile Suit Gundam is to Iron Blooded Orphans as Star Wars is to Space Balls.

So Iron Blooded Orphans is a hilarious parody?

No. No it is not.

But there's a lot of Gundam series, are they all their own universes?

Let me direct you to this image I found on reddit.

From reddit.

Look, I get it. That looks...like something. But essentially each universe is its own thing and if you want to watch Gundam Seed, you can just start watching it, without any previous knowledge. Things get a little weird when the UC timeline kind of wraps its way around to whatever is going on at the Correct Century, but it doesn't feel that intimidating that I'm turned off.

It certainly feels more manageable to me than trying to understand the history of the DC comics universe.

Looking Ahead

As of this writing we're 20 episodes into the first series. I'll be posting more reactions to the show that will be linked to from here.

I think my goal is to watch Gundam/Zeta Gundam/And Double ZZ Gundam, because from what I understand that kind of wraps up that narrative.

My son is eyeballing Seed because that's the series his first Gundam model kit is from. That's right, my son is into Gunpla now.

We're in all the way.

Inspirations and Further Reading

Here’s a few links to some Gundam stuff.

Gundam.info : A Website dedicated to Gundam News

Gunpla 101 : A Blog About building Gunpla model kits

Kimi The Builder: Another Gunpla blog

Gundam News: Another news site

I honestly find it a little hard to find bloggers who review shows and talk about their experiences with different Gundam series. It’s generally either news or Gunpla. So if you come across this blog post and you or someone you know posts their reactions, whether in blog or video or podcast form, let me know.

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