The One Year War: full-scale Mobile Suit Gundam (Universal Century) rewatch proposal/interest thread
#Abstract (tl;dr):
To commemorate the first full-length entry into the timeline in 16 years (edit: revealed to be an OVA after the thread was posted) the ^^possible conclusion of The Origin in upcoming months, "The One Year War" will cover 35 years of UC Gundam in just one, start to finish (with breaks, of course). Without ever having to double up, it will be a leisurely stroll through the main body of work one of the biggest franchises in the industry alongside fellow r/anime denizens, with plenty of goodies for even some of the veterans.
#Preface:
Mobile Suit Gundam is a franchise that needs little introduction. The progenitor and prototype of all Real Robot mecha anime, to fans of anime, it's a historic figure, one that has informed entire generations of viewers born in the 70's, 80's, 90's, and, now, with the launch of the almost universally acclaimed Iron Blooded Orphans, even some born in the 00's. And not just in Japan, with some of the more popular titles airing around the world airing in Cantonese, Portuguese, Italian, Thai, English, Korean, French, Spanish, Arabic, Dutch, and German speaking countries (among others). The Gunpla model kits that the franchise spawned have become hobbies and past times of fans of different ages, genders, and races, from children lining their bookshelves to custom builders battling it out in global competitions. With many of the industry's biggest names pitching in on animation design, producing soundtracks, writing stories, etcetera, its impressive legacy has had the mark of greatness and has served as the launch pad for artists throughout the medium.
To say Gundam is one of the biggest franchises in anime is an understatement. In both girth of material and name recognition, it's absolutely huge and is credited with leaving a massive mark on the industry and on its fans.
But to a lot of people, the immense size of this series could very well set a higher entry barrier than most anime, one that could easily be difficult to surmount or even attempt. Even long running shounen battlers and afternoon shows usually contain all of their individual parts in one body, making Gundam look more like an unwieldy beast than massive bodies of work like One Piece and Detective Conan.
This is what the project will hopefully address. By setting out a regular rewatch schedule that hopes to put all of the main timeline (UC; explained below) into a consistent and rhythmic watch order, fans who started at an AU (like this season's IBO, those watching alongside u/wingzero00 's Gundam 00 rewatch, Destiny, Wing) or those who started somewhere in the main timeline out of order, can be able to tame this monster alongside peers of first-time and second-time watchers in order to see what all the fuss is about. Even established fans of the franchise will benefit from the project because we will be tackling all of the UC continuity, including titles that most of us haven't even touched yet. Considering next year is the first full-length UC Gundam series since Victory, Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt, this is a better time than ever to get into it.
#What is UC Gundam?
UC Gundam is the shorthand for the Universal Century continuity. Launched by director and visionary Yoshiyuki Tomino with his release of 1979's "Mobile Suit Gundam", UC Gundam is viewed by many as the "main" timeline of sorts, as it has the longest lineage and the most entries. This is the continuity that started it all, and one whose influence can be seen today with this year's Mobile Suit Gundam: Origins, and next year's Thunderbolt. Understanding UC is knowing Gundam.
#What would we be watching?
In order to keep things from getting too static, I propose the following watch order:
| Number | Name | Year Made | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mobile Suit Gundam | 1979 | 42 Episodes |
| 2 | MSG The 08th MS Team | 1995 | 12 Episodes |
| 3 | MS IGLOO | 2004 | 3 Sets of 3 Episodes |
| 4 | MSG: 0080: War in the Pocket | 1989 | 6 Episodes |
| 5/6 | MSG 0083: Stardust Memories | 1991 | 13 Episodes |
| 5/6 | Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam | 1985 | 50 Episodes |
| 7 | Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ | 1986 | 47 Episodes |
| 8 | Mobile Suit Gundam: CCA | 1988 | Film (124 minutes) |
| 9 | MSG: Unicorn | 2010 | 7 Episodes |
| 10 | Mobile Suit Gundam F91 | 1991 | Film (120 minutes) |
| 11 | Mobile Suit Victory Gundam | 1993 | 51 Episodes |
| 12 | Turn A Gundam | 1999 | 50 Episodes |
| 13 | Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin | 2015 | 2-4 Episodes (if we're lucky) |
This watch order is chronological, not by order of production (tentative to change: more below), with the exception of The Origin series.
EDIT: the watch order will be revisited in order to account for public interest. Comment on the following in order to help me sort this out:
- 0083 before or after Zeta?
- 0079 full or comp films?
- Reconguista in G or nah?
#The One Year War (start-time, end-time):
The One-Year War is both a major event in the UC Timeline as well as the premise of this rewatch. Theoretically speaking, if we add up all the episode above, the total number is 290 episodes. That's a hell of a lot. To combat this, I propose we watch an episode a day with a discussion thread at the end of every series (except for the films, which will only account for 1 day), with five day in between each series for breathing room. The result is ~361-364 days (depending on The Origin release schedule (wishful thinking)), which places us back to almost where we started with a few days left over! (Though, for the sake of hamminess, those leftover days will probably be used as "just in case" delays for whatever reason so that we'll meet up again on the same day).
Because December is one of the most active rewatch months, the fact that there was already a 0079 compilation movie and Zeta rewatch in 2015 (credit to u/HaveYouMetDev and u/Kuramhan for running those!) and to make this cheesier, this would presumably take place on January 1st, 2016 (or January 3rd, 2016 to match the title, if Origin stalls) and end on January 1st, 2017.
#Closing Statements:
If you've read this far, thanks! The project has been an idea I've been thinking over for some time, mostly because all of my experience before this year has been with AUs and, upon discovering the beauty that is UC (prompted by the IBO announcement and comments by others on this board) I've been meaning to kickstart this idea; in order to expose others to the material, to help others fill up some patches in their watch history, and to map out my own endeavors into parts of the continuity I, myself, haven't touched.
I hope you all are interested, I believe we can have a great time with this!
(If you're a fan of any one of the series and would like to help hosting individual sections of the project, shoot me a PM and we can see what we can get set up, if we get approval. For the rest, I'll take responsibility for posting the threads that haven't been covered by anyone else.)
Posted Nov 12, 2015, 8:00 PM UTC · edited