Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Gundam Series Best to Worst





I've decided to make a post ranking the gundam series from best to worst. The list will ignore OVAs and movies. This list is not opinion and is to be taken as fact. I'll try to keep it mostly spoiler free, but no promises.

Anyway, here we go.



--------------Triumvirate of Awesomeness--------------------

#1 Gundam Seed Destiny



Now, I know a lot of people give the series a hard time, and it does have its problems like the number of recap episodes and the amount of stock footage. But it is still truly the best Gundam out there. It masterfully captures the essence of what makes a Gundam. It has the best cast of characters compared to any other series. The politics and happenings in the world are the most realistic, and most interesting.

Kira is the coolest dude.

The ending most importantly, is probably the best ending I've seen in a Gundam series. It wraps up very nicely. The characters are with the heroines they should be with (AthrunxMeirin). The mobile suits themselves are all quite aesthetically appealing too.

#2 Zeta Gundam



I doubt most people will disagree that this is a good series. It's got a strong universe and the story is told quite well. It is probably the most popular Gundam series out there. The ending I felt was a little weak though. They just start killing a bunch of cast. Killing off characters does not make a series more 'mature' or 'deep' as some viewers would like you to believe.

I also did not care for Kamille's romance. Fa is right there. She is a nice girl. She is his childhood friend. But instead Kamille goes after the socially retarded and mentally unstable girl. What is it with Gundam protags?

The movies aren't that great though, so I don't recommend watching them in place of the series.

#3 Turn A Gundam

I'm too lazy to find pictures for the rest
This is probably the most unique Gundam series. The design of the gundam itself was rather controversial at the time, and at the end they try to imply that all the gundam series (AU and UC) take place in the same universe. The protagonist was cool and a bit of a change from the standard, and the setting in a kind of early 20th century earth was also pretty interesting.

The series starts of rather slow but really builds up by the end. It's a real shame that the ending was so bad. For whatever reason, Tomino, the idiot that he is, decided to have Loran end up with the boring and garbage Dianna, instead of the infinitely superior Sochie. This prevents the series from moving higher on the list.

--------------Good Tier--------------------

#4 Mobile Suit Gundam


This is the original Gundam series. It is quite dated, so it may be hard for new viewers to watch it now, but it is still quite good, and is after all, the series that started it all. Not much else to say. If you are going to get into UC then you should start with this.

#5 Gundam Seed


This is the 21st century's version of the original Gundam. It was extremely popular, and helped revitalise Gundam franchise which hand't been doing too well by that point. Unfortunately I didn't care for Kira's behaviour in the first half of the series which makes it hard for me to rank it higher. He NTRs his friend Sai, which I was not pleased with at all, and seems out of character for the man they call Jesus. I also was not happy with the characters they decided to kill off. They should have lived as far as I am concerned.

The show really picks off after Kira gets the Freedom though. And the cast is quite well done. The themes they bring into the show are also mature and invoke thought. Subjects like genetic modification, war, etc. Destiny takes this further though, which is why it is a better show.

#6 Victory Gundam


This show seems to get mixed reactions. Tomino himself doesn't like it. But, I liked it. I like Usso, I like Shakti, I like the characters. The show is pretty depressing though as they kill off like 50 characters by the end.

#7 Gundam Wing


Probably the first Gundam for a lot of people in the west. It was my first Gundam as well. The show is... alright. The protagonist is kind of a nice change from the typical kid who just happens to be thrown into a war and doesn't want to fight. It's also unique in that it isn't really a war, but more terrorism. The Gundams are acting on their own and are not part of an army, nor are the Gundam pilots even allied with each other. Heero is also kind of tsundere moe. The overall plot though, is kind of boring. There aren't really any stronger themes, interesting revelations, or anything at all.

The Gundam designs are nice though.

#8 Gundam ZZ


This show...

A lot of people probably wont like it. Especially if they are coming straight off of Zeta. Personally though, I don't think it is that bad. The show starts off week, for sure. It almost seems like Gundam was turned into a gag show. About half-way through though, the show starts to take off and have a more serious tone. It's got lots of Haman-sama which is a plus for Haman fans.

However, Tomino once again was an idiot and killed off good characters. I wont say specifically in case people reading this are planning on watching it.

--------------Kuso Tier--------------------

#9 Gundam 00


There are a million things I could write about this show, but I'll try to keep it somewhat breif. The show is just plain bad. There are no mature themes or interesting plot. Just some group of individuals called Celestial Being, who have an absolutely retarded goal of ending war forever.

The Gundams at the beginning are ridiculously overpowered. It's almost like Gundam Wing for the first part of the first season.

The only way the plot ever advances, is via technology.
Oh no these Gundams are totally destroying us!
Now we have something to fight them with!
Oh no now they are using something called trans-am and are destroying us again!
Now we have our own trans-am!
etc etc etc.

The worst part too, is that the technology makes absolutely zero sense. They never even really try to explain it. Everything works around GN particles, but the particles themselves make no sense. They can essentially do everything too, they are basically magic.

The other totally awful part of the show, is its use of time skips to advance the story. In between the first and second season they have a time skip of 4 years, just so they can have the world "change" as a result of the actions of the first season, without ever actually having to show how it all happened or developed. Then, the worst time skip in the series happens later in the second season. They use a time skip to develop the romance between a main character and some girl they just introduce, just so they be in a romantic relationship all of a sudden without ever having to show us it developed. And because it happened via time skip, why would I, or any other viewer, care if said new character died or did anything else? We have no attachment to her.

I'll stop there because I don't feel like discussing 00 in that much detail.

#10 G Gundam


I know a lot of people like this series. But, as a Gundam, it just isn't that good. I'm not even sure why they decided to make it a Gundam series, when it is as far away from being Gundam as anything.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying it's a bad show (it's bad) but it just is not a real Gundam show and so I have ranked it low.

#11 Gundam X


The worst Gundam ever. It is the most boring and dreadful Gundam I have ever watched. It wasn't popular when it aired either. It was cancelled after only 39 episodes, so the story suffers from that too.

Recently, however, due to its low popularity, a number of Gundam hipsters have emerged. They will lead you to believe the show is actually really good, and didn't get the credit it was due. But trust me. The show is trash. It does absolutely nothing unique. The characters are a joke. The setting and plot is a joke. The only reason to watch it, is if you are a Gundam fan and need to see every series.

------------------------------------------

So, there you have it. The official list of the best series. Sorry I didn't go into a lot of detail on most shows, I just don't feel like spending all day writing this post. I do have other things to do after all, like translate milky holmes (just kidding). Also, don't ask about AGE. That show does not even deserve to be in a list with any of these shows.

19 comments:

  1. I really liked the CE universe in gundam, Its a shame we will probably never see the moive, and Im half and half between AthrunxMeyrin and AthrunxCagali. What do you think of AGE so far?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is too bad about the movie. I'm kind of hoping that the HD Remaster airing of Seed will renew interest in it.

      I have not watched a single episode of AGE and I do not plan to. I do not care for the art style or story presented. It also incorporates time skips in the show, which I hate more than anything.

      AGE has been performing quite poorly in Japan thus far though, so I'm hoping Sunrise will not make a similar series in the future.

      Delete
    2. You should really give AGE a try, Its one of the better ones.

      Delete
  2. Replies
    1. I'm hoping this wasn't you, Sakura-chan.
      http://www.theprogress.com/news/140042483.html

      Delete
    2. Let's try to stay on topic Saten-kun!

      Delete
  3. ur a gundam seceondary.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't think you know what secondary means.

      Delete
  4. wow...I really agree with your no.1 ranking of gundam seed destiny..!! I also like gundam seed after Kira got the Freedom..! he's SO cool..! I love this series best and I didnt even bother watchiing the other gundam series since it's a bit complicated to understand or the characters are not to my liking... anyway, I don't like Shin in gundam seed destiny..he's such a brat..^-^

    Kira Yamato FOREVER!!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yea the people that don't like Gundam Seed Destiny just don't like Kira. If you are a Kira fan then the show is great, because he is essentially Jesus.

      Delete
  5. personally, i like the story and design in uc, wing, 00, seed/seed destiny except turn a, and G gundam......... especially the FUCKING Strike Freedom!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know what you mean, the wings right?

      Delete
  6. Here's an opinion you can live with:

    Seed rips off of other gundam franchises, calling the pairings good is disgustingly laughable considering what happened in Seed and the beginning of destiny itself, the politics are ripped from UC on a good day and calling the mechs aesthetically pleasing was the only thing you said that made sense (even though the strike is a blatant original gundam ripoff with more option packs)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am well aware that Destiny copies stuff from UC. But I love UC, so copying what UC did doesn't bother me all that much, as it means it is just more of what I love.

      Seed (and Destiny) also helped to make Gundam relevant again, as the series was largely stagnant in the 90s, had low ratings, and low sales. Bringing back popularity to the Gundam metaverse is always a good thing in my books, so I love it for that too!

      Delete
  7. I should have watched "Gundam Seed" before! I don't know, but the first episode is kind of boring to me. A plain colored Gundam that powers up when painted, I laughed so hard and quit immediately. Well, as the saying goes, first impressions last. I'll give it a chance this time.

    Anyway, I've already watched a few Gundam series like X, G, Wing and 00. Based on my limited opinion, I like Wing the most since it captivated me the first time I watched it. By the way, Wing is the one that really popularized the Gundam franchise not Seed.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Gundam Wing was only relatively popular in the west. It didn't do very well in Japan.

      Delete
  8. Could not take the list seriously when you said Destiny was the best. I even liked Destiny, but that notion is laughable at best.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I seriously can't agree with the author regarding 00. I had watched Gundam and then Zeta prior to it, loved UC, though Wings and stuff like that was stupid. Watch 00 Movie this year, which forced me to watch the series and now love it above the rest. Also after watching 00, all the previous series look so dated (wanted to watch seed and wing now but looks so outdated compared to 00, hard to start or take serious in light of 00). Forget about how GN particles work, the progression of the story was awesome; yes technology driven!. Wouldn't it have been extremely boring to have watched several years of change that Celestial been caused leading to Season 2. How in the world would that have looked??? What was so cool was how by the time of the movie every side was for the most part on even playing field. The only complaint I have was the ending, from what was shown, the main antagonist was by far at a huge advantage over Celestial Been, etc. Also the soundtrack and varying intro/ending videos were awesome!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Wouldn't it have been extremely boring to have watched several years of change that Celestial been caused leading to Season 2. How in the world would that have looked???"

      Time skips are signs of lazy writing. They could have simply had a plot that didn't require several years of change.

      Think about other Gundam series, for example Gundam Zeta. Does Gundam Zeta have a bunch of time skips? No. But it still has meaningful plot and character developments. The story is constantly moving forward as a result of the actions of characters in the story. And you as the viewer gets to see it all unfold. It all takes place over the period of one year.

      Imagine if in Gundam Zeta, you see Amuro sitting at his villa not wanting to fight, but instead of watching his character develop, instead of watching his confrontation with char, instead of watching his internal conflict over the matter, there is just a timeskip where Amuro is fighting now and is ok with it. That would be stupid.

      Gundam 00 has very poor writing and a poor plot. It's like it's made for kids who have a hard time paying attention or something. Sure, it looks good, but that is simply a result of the time it was made. Gundam Unicorn looks good too, even better in fact, but that series is actually good.

      Delete