If you've been a fan of anime and manga for a long time, you've probably at least heard of the Mobile Suit Gundam series, often referred to as simply 'Gundam'. This series has been going since 1979, as is easily one of the most popular mecha shows in Japan, partially thanks to the popularity of GUNPLA kits, model kits that let you build your own Gundam figurine.
Over the years, I've personally not had a huge relationship with Mecha shows. The biggest connection I ever had was to Power Rangers, which is a western adaptation of Super Sentai, a mecha show in the classical style of super-powered teams with giant robots, fighting Kaijus. According to many sources, Gundam differs considerably as it focuses on pilots who are normal people, and robots that are thanks to advanced in technology, rather than some weird space wizard just giving them to people.
I've tried a few different times to get into mecha shows and movies, and what I mean by that is that I watched Appleseed once and rather enjoyed Promare. In fairness, I did also watch most of two series of one particular Gundam show: Iron-blooded Orphans. While I never finished it, due to giving myself spoilers, I did enjoy my time with it.
With that in mind, I have decided to embark on a journey to start watching through everything Gundam that I can get my hands on, started with the following order:
Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin
Mobile Suit Gundam '79
Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
I do have plans for what to watch after this as well, but this seems like a decent starting point to me for now. I will release a blog entry for each series once I have finished it, and we'll see if I end up getting into Gundam as time goes by (smash cut to 1 year from now when my office is filled with GUNPLA figures.)