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By Chris Snellgrove | Published
Sometimes an anime has released so many different shows and movies over the years that it’s hard for a new fan to know where to start. There may be no better offender than the Gundam franchise: it started back in 1979 and there are now a staggering 51 different series to watch.
If you want to dive into this iconic mecha series and don’t know where to start, we recommend starting with the 1995s. Mobile Suit Gundam Wingone of the most popular series in the franchise. Here’s what you need to know to become a Gundam fan.
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing as a starting point
Depending on your age, a reason to start Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is that you may already be familiar with the characters and the setting. Back in the 90s, Toonami brought this cartoon to fans and surprisingly it became a much bigger hit in the West than in Japan.
In short, even having half-fuzzy memories of watching this show after school or on its numerous Cartoon Network reruns will make it easier to dive right in from the beginning rather than starting a completely different show.
One of the other reasons Mobile Suit Gundam Wing It’s perfect for newbies is the same reason older fans sometimes make fun of the series: it takes place in a separate universe that’s much simpler and easier to understand than the Universal Century (UC) timeline.
That timeline is a fan favorite, but to understand it, you have to watch about 17 different series (that’s almost as bad as catching up on one piece). On the contrary, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing It’s a self-contained universe that still introduces you to many concepts in the UC timeline, so you can enjoy it on its own or treat it as a sort of appetizer to your Gundam main course.
starting with Gundam Wing gives you the opportunity to relive the history of the anime in a very powerful way.
Additionally, we recommend starting the franchise with Mobile Suit Gundam Wing because its characters and its story are more easily captured by the general public. For example, this was the first entry in the franchise that focused primarily on young characters, giving us teenage protagonists that the show’s creators intended to appeal to a new generation of fans.
While that appeal was limited in Japan, Western audiences who had grown up watching voltron and ranger I instantly connected with this story of teenagers using giant robots to fight for a better future.
While hardcore anime fans will yell at us for watching dubbed shows, another reason to start Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is that it has a really great English voice cast. David Kaye, for example, turns Treize Kushrenada into the kind of perfect jerk everyone loves to hate, and Brian Drummond is perfect as Zechs Merquise, an enemy warrior with his own strict code of honor.
We have to congratulate Campbell Lane as a narrator. With his talent, even the most basic descriptions will inevitably get you excited for the next battle.
A Gundam light on history and full of action
That brings us to the next reason why you should start the franchise with Mobile Suit Gundam Wingand that’s the fact that the show is light on story and heavy on action. Longtime fans of the franchise have often criticized this particular ratio because they think the show transforms a very complex franchise into something simple and flashy.
We recommend starting the franchise with Mobile Suit Gundam Wing because its characters and story are something that the general public can understand more easily.
However, when you get into a franchise with decades of complex history and dozens of different series, the fact that said series is action-packed and easy to understand is a good thing.
Your chance to experience the power of anime
Finally, although it will be your first series in the franchise, starting with Mobile Suit Gundam Wing gives you the opportunity to relive the history of the anime in a very powerful way. If this show hadn’t been a huge hit on Toonami, then the Gundam franchise probably never would have become popular in North America in the first place, so you’ll be watching the series that gave the franchise a real chance.
Whether they admit it or not, most Gundam fans in the West started with Gundam Wingso you will effectively start where the majority of the fandom began.
In the end, Gundam Wing is a perfect entry for anime fans looking to jump into this long-running franchise. At the same time, it’s a great standalone series for anyone looking for bigger characters, bigger mechs, and bigger battles. Just remember not to say “mission accomplished” until you’ve seen the entire series and the excellent OVA. Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.
