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Just keep in mind that Zeta is the sequel of Mobile Suit Gundam and 0080 and 0083 are side stories of it. Therefore, it is expect the audiences have some knowledges of the One Year War, the power struggle between Earth Federation and Zeon, the basic physic of Universal Century and the detail of the Atlantic Treaty before it can be enjoyable.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam is 43 episodes long, with a 42 episodes DVD release in R1. It is cut into 3 movies, also available in DVD. Zeta is possibility the most popular Gundams aside from Mobile Suit Gundam. It is very dark and tragic with many character deaths. It is the Gundam every fans should watch but I would not recommand it to new fans. Zeta should be watched after Mobile Suit Gundam as many characters appears in Zeta as well. The new Zeta movies condenses the 50 episode series into 3 movies with new footage. Two movies are released and the third one is coming to theatre in Japan.

0080 sets in the last 2 weeks of the One Year War in UC 0079. 0083 sets in UC 0083, 3 years after the end of OYW. They are not directly linked but the event in the end of OYW is the causes of the events in 0083. The main purpose of 0083 is to bridge Mobile Suit Gundam (UC 0079) and Zeta Gundam (UC 0087). It gives a hint about the forming of Titan, an elite group withing Earth Federation.

[QUOTE=SeraphimRei]What do you mean [I]bringing in a large group of female fans into the franchise.[/I] Is there something much different about GW than the other shows? Or was it one of the first Gundams? As you can tell I don't know much info about Gundam.[/QUOTE] Gundam Wing is very different from other Gundams in style. UC Gundams, from Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) to Victory Gundam (1993, last official UC Gundam TV series), has never get a reasonable size of female fans. Comparing to the character designs of GW, UC Gundam characters are far less attractive. Even the original pretty boy Char Aznable, (he is the one on my avater) cannot compare to the newer, even prettier boys of GW. BTW, he is the character both Zechs and Treize are based on. Also, the older Gundams spends more time on the political and military than romances between characters. The mobile suits in UC Gundams are not as colourfu as the ones in GW as well. They feel more like war machines, instead of some collectibles that can be used by the choosen ones. The GW Gundams are highly specialized but the UC Gundams can be piloted by anyone. A Gundam in UC cannot destroy hundreds of their opponents. The enemies in UC Gundam are far more skillful than the one in GW. They are given personalities and developed as characters as well. For a taste of UC Gundam, I highly recommand watching 0080 War in the pocket or 08th MS Team. 0080 has 6 episodes and 08 MS Team has 12. They are both side stories of the Mobile Suit Gundam.

All AU Gundams are designed to attract different groups of audiences. GW is the first one to successfully bringing in a large group of female fans into the franchise. As for Gundam Seed, its role is to bring new fans who have never seen Gundams before. Both shows take the things from older Gundams and repackaging them into something else to appeal to their target audiences. It is really not possibly to say which is more mature as they are different in nature.

Gundam Seed Genisis does not exist. The only CE Gundam making is Stargazer with 3 episodes planned. I would not recommand both GS and GSD to anyone who is familiar with UC Gundam. However, these two are good as beginner's Gundam. Keep in mind that a lot of the storyline are taken from older UC Gundams.

In Turn A Gundam, the main character dresses as a pretty young woman in some episode. He has disguised as a female MS pilot for some political reason. The manga Five Stars Stories has one of the most interesting cross-gender main character. Amaterasu-no-Mikado is the god created the god who created Joker galaxy. Amaterasu-no-Mikado is born without gender and emotion. To fit into the "human" world, he is physically splitted into several individuals, in both male and female. One of his split Ladios Sopp can be either a male or a female, depending on his choice. Female Sopp and male Sopp have very different personalities as well. Amaterasu is usually refered as male. He is living as 5 individuals with 3 males and 2 females.

[QUOTE]I noticed for the most part that Gundam Fans who started with the Original Gundam series tend to dislike Seed because literally everything it's trying to do, has been done in the Gundam Franchise and literally we've seen it done. Most fans who came in thanks to the poularity and airing of Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network tend to like Seed perhaps cause they haven't been really exposed to any other Gundams for the exception of what was is really available in the american market. So to them everything they see is original and unique, they have no knowledge of the previous series that haven't made it to the stateside yet. That's just my theory about why things are split. [/QUOTE] Your observation is absolutely correct. Sunrise and Fukuda have already stated that Gundam Seed is made to attract new generation of Gundam fans. It is not intented for the older Gundam fans who have already known Gundam. [QUOTE]Anyway getting to another point made earlier....if the Gundam Franchise in many's opinion is at a stalemate why not do the most reasonable thing in my eyes. If your going to reinvent the story all together. Throw out all the Gundam mythology we've come to know. Give the Gundams a new origin, new designs that don't look anything remotely like the Gundam design we've been use to, throw out the whole idea of colonies, and lastly stop making Char -.- ripoffs. [/QUOTE] Turn A Gundam fits your description perfectly. Instead of political war between Earth and colonies, Turn A tells unique story about the conflict between two cultures bound by the same history. It has a great story and some of the most likeable characters in Gundam. Unfortunately, with the inconventional mecha designs, Turn A proves to be poor in selling toys. Since it does not support the big merchandise market, Turn A is overlooked by many. Also, there is a "Char ripoff" in Turn A and Harry Ord has proved to be an excellent character on his own without living in Char's shadow. [QUOTE]Literally start from a new point, and actually create something original instead of borrowing off all the Gundam cliche we are use too. Perhaps you'll scare away fans perhaps you'll make more money but I wish Sunrise would actually be more daring with it's franchise as of late. [/QUOTE] If we want to see another good Gundam story, we need to have a good producer/director who is not going to do everything to sell toys. The creator has to put the story first, instead of the market. When Tomino first created Gundam, the show was cut short and labelled as an failure because he introduced new ideas and people did not accept his view. When there is a working formula that sells, why even bother to tell a different story. We are lucky that Tomino insists on making good stories.

[QUOTE]What I'm trying to say is that all the Gundam series stand alone with their own type of personalities. SEED is different because of how it started off instead of with a colony being dropped or w/e the freaking colony was nuked! I mean when have you seen something like that in another Gundam series?? [/QUOTE] Not coming here to argue, but that is not something I would consider unique in Gundam Seed. There is no colony dropped or nuked in both Victory Gundam and Turn A Gundam. In fact, there is no colony in Turn A. Also, Gundam X does not start with a colony drop or nuke. It starts with the end of the war where the colonies have been dropped 7 years earlier. That is something kind of unique in Gundam. Both Zeta and ZZ do not start with nuking colony as well. Green Noah and Shangri-La are technically not nuked. I try not to get into any discussion about Gundam Seed as I am too old to enjoy it :catgirl: The flashback and recap episodes are killing it for me. The story starts with very promising pace but it can not keep up with the standard. Some of the scenes are too predictable only because we have already seen them in other Gundam series.

As a long time Gundam fan, for over 20 years, I don't really mind both G Gundam and SD at all. Actually, I found G Gundam entertaining enough to be a great Gundam series. It may look different but it preserves many Gundam themes and expresses them in a unique way. It is definitely an interesting series to watch. SD has been a part of Gundam since the 80s and they are funny to watch. The older Super Deformed Gundam is something all Gundam fans should watch and love. The newer Superior Defender targets a very different set of audiences. It is a smart marketing move to introduce toys to younger generation of fans. At least it does not try to be serious like Gundam Seed. I personally think Gundam Seed and Gundam Seed Destiny are the worst Gundam series ever created. Instead of having stories about human, Gundam Seed is presented as toy commercials to show case the latest market trend. The story is poorly paced with lower than average character development. There is nothing we have not already seen. Instead of wisely using the plot, most of the time is spent on the cheap romances between immature kids acting in childish ways.

I would certainly treat Rick Hunter and Hikaru Ichijyo quite different. Rick is properly only known in a small part of the world. On the other hand, anime fans have been following Hikaru's story for the last 24 years, since the release of Macross in 1982. Next generation is a part of Robotech, not Macross and it has nothing to do with the original Macross story. The only other full length TV series of Macross is Macross 7 (1994) and Hikaru, Mimei and Misa are not in the story. Max and Millia are and their daughter is the main character.

ZZ is famous for is lighter tone in the first half of the story. There are quite a bit of comedies in the show, with the Zeta-Zaku being the most famous. The second part of the story becomes much darker but it is still far from the atomspheres in zeta and Victory. Anyway, ZZ has a great story on its own and it is too underrated IMO.

Zeta is definitely one of the best Gundam series with a good balance of action, character development and plot. The animation may look aged but the story is far better than many newer series. Zeta Gundam has a highly likeable cast of characters. They are the stars of the story. The plot is fast moving with little stock footages and flashback scenes. The action is possibly the best in all Gundams with interesting mechas design and innovating technologies. Zeta may not be as dark as Victory or as delicate as Turn A; but, it stands on its own as a masterpiece. There is no line between good or evil as they are the same in Zeta Gundam. Being a fan of Zeta for almost 20 years, I highly recommand it to anyone who enjoy good human drama and great character developments. I am kind of disappointed that the opening songs are cut from the DVD release. I also highly recommand to all Zeta fans the three new movies of the series. I am very impressed by the first movie. It is well written and well made.

Many people do not agree to watch English dubs because many English dubs change the stories and characrters. Take CardCaptor as an example. The original CCS is very different from the English dubbed version of CardCaptor in characterization and storyline. When watching Japanese animations, many perfer to watch what the Japaneses intented to make the show, not an English interpretation of the subject. It really depends on personal taste and the amount of modifications of specified shows.

[quote name='densuke']CLAMP doesn't even necessarily think up ALL the characters for the anime based on their works. Card Captor Sakura anime (by Madhouse) includes Meirin Li, a character not in the manga.[/quote] Clamp did the original design on her. Some characters in X manga are replaced by original character in the TV. The movie has a character who is not in the manga but he is in the Tsubasa manga. In Tokyo Babylon OVAs, all characters are original except the 3 main characters. [quote]And I consider Gundam to be a SUNRISE property -- take a look at [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam[/url] : "...Gundam is the collective term for the Universal Century (UC) series like Mobile Suit Gundam and series in alternative timelines, such as Gundam Wing, made by [b]Sunrise Inc...[/b]"[/QUOTE] Bandai owns Sunrise, so, technically, it is still correct that Bandai owns Gundam. However, credits are given to the directors and storywriters of each series. They are the creators, not Bandai or Sunrise. The two companies are investors. For example, Mobile Suit Gundam is written and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. The credit of the production goes to Tomino, not the Sunrise. Similarly, the credit of Gundam Seed/Destiny goes to Fukuda, who is the director.