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Falldog’s Guide to Gundam Canon and Timelines (2020 Edition)

 

About a six years ago I had the idea to put together a piece discussing the Gundam franchise’s many timelines and many, many complexities. Little did I know that I was opening a can of worms. Welcome to that can of worms.

The Gundam franchise is a confusing assortment of TV series, manga, games, novelizations, and even audio dramas. These are broken across many different universes, and within those universes, similar and sometimes contradictory stories. What I’ve tried to do below is take as much of the franchise’s numerous installments I could muster and lay them out graphically. Before we get to that there are a couple of core concepts we need to cover.

 

How to watch Gundam - Universal Century

 

So, you’re interested in watching through Gundam’s Universal Century (UC) timeline? From the quintessential Mobile Suit Gundam which started the ball rolling over 40 years ago, to the upcoming Hathaway’s Flash? Well here’s how.

Watch it in order in which the series was produced and released.

/end article

 

...alright, let me elaborate.

Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (MOVIE) Review

 

(Basic) Synopsis (Spoiler Free): It's Universal Century year 0097. A year after the "Laplace Incident", there are once again calls for autonomy for Spacenoids, but little being done about it. As if to break the stagnation, the third Gundam Unicorn model, the Phenex, thought to have been lost years previous, reappears. Both the Earth Federation and the Neo-Zeon remnants are determined to capture it for its Newtype capabilities, but they seem to be chasing a literal ghost in the form of its pilot, Rita Bernal. What did she, a Miracle Child, see so many years before that brought these events in alignment? And can either side prevent the bizarre Zoltan Akkenan from igniting a tragedy worse than anything seen before? The Pheonix Hunt will test the limits of all parties!

 

Otaku Evolution Episode 120 - Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Time to exorcise another evil spirit from my anime fandom and shove Gundam 0083 in the wood chipper where it belongs. Sure, it's pretty, but it's also as dumb as a sack of knobs. It's quite possibly the worst entry into the Universal Century timeline in terms of characters and plot. The characters? Most of them are insufferable. The plot? Goes further than it needs to. Maybe it's best to watch this by fast forwarding through most of the dialogue to the action bits. Or, you know, watch War in the Pocket or 08th MS Team instead.

 

Kou and Nina are just... I have a real life, palpable hatred for these fictional characters.

 

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Otaku Evolution Episode 119 - Cowboy Bebop

Hm, maybe I should have timed this better so it could be the 120th episode. 20th anniversary of the show, 120th episode, get it? Well, whatever, 119 will have to do.

 

Cowboy Bebop is an unvarnished work of genius, an exquisite blending of genres set to a multitude of rhythms. It's not defined by its genres, though, but by ingenuity in execution and emotional gravity. There's plenty of other reasons why it remains my favorite anime after so long.  So for my 35th birthday (what the fuck am I doing with my life?), I've decided to review this eternal classic of Japanese animation.

 

3, 2, 1... let's jam!  


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Zeta Gundam Memorial Box - Part I

Over the past few years I've seen a couple folks share images of their Laserdisc Zeta Gundam Memorial Boxset and I eventually picked up a set for myself. Laserdisc? Well, apparently it has all the original openings and endings in great quality without some of the issues on the US DVD release. Don't ask me, I have no plans of picking up a Laserdisc player to find out. I got them for the really cool artwork and, to me, collector value. They ended up being away more impressive than I originally thought so I figured I'd snap a bunch of photos and share 'em for anyone interested.

G Gundam gets BluRay box sets!

 

Finally, the news I've been waiting for... G Gundam is finally get a remaster and BluRay release!

G Gundam will be released in two box sets, ¥34,000 a piece... which is roughly $310 US. If you didn't already know, Japanese BluRay box sets are ridiculously expensive for various, somewhat nonsensical, reasons. Good news is that there are some subbing groups who will likely release rips, potentially with the original US dub for your nostalgic pleasure. Still no word on whether RightStuf/Sunrise/Whomever will be releasing it stateside. I think it's a sure thing we'll be getting one, but probably not until mid to late 2017 at the earliest.

The first Japanese box set will be released September 27th, while the second comes out November 27th.

 

Gundam: What Sunrise thinks is Official

While researching for Falldog's Guide to Gundam Canon and Timelines I was directed to this post by the great Mark Simmons on Mecha Talk back in 2007. In it he references a round table discussion from 2001 in Dengeki Hobby where folks from Sunrise discuss what's canon within the Gundam franchise. The website Mark linked to, at the time containing a transcript of the discussion, no longer exists. However, thanks to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine the content can still be accessed. In additional sections (which I didn't have translated) go on to reference other works and how they view them from a canon prospective. Mark's post on Mecha Talk does a good job summarizing the related content.

For my article on Gundam canon and timelines I went and got the primary section translated by Frog-kun. That translation is provided below for reference.

I asked Frog-kun for details regarding his translation of オフィシャル into canon and this is what he elaborated with,

 

"I translated the word オフィシャル (which is a Japanese transliteration of the English word "official") as "canon" a few times mainly to avoid repeating the same word over and over. If you don't think it fits, you can replace it with "official". From what I understood of the conversation, though, it did feel as if they were discussing official versus non-official continuity in a way that was very reminiscent of discussions about "canon" in the English fandom sense. I used the word because it would help put the discussion into perspective for an English reader.

"Also, you're right that Japanese fan lingo doesn't have a word like "canon", but there are words in everyday use like 本編 and 原作, which mean "original work". Discussions about what constitutes "official" work are still matters of contentious debate, and many Japanese fans hold the original work at a higher level of esteem than any subsequent adaptations.

"So yes, there was a bit of interpretation going on when I translated オフィシャル as "canon", but at the same time, I don't think the concept is absent in Japanese fandoms. "

 

 

 


Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt Episode 01 Review

Episode  01

 



*****SPOILERS*****

Synopsis: It's the year 0079 of the Universal Century era and a unit of the Earth Federation engages an amputee unit of the Principality Zeon in the remains of space colony section Side 4. The backdrop is a dangerous debris field that gives off electric discharges as if in a lightning storm. Devil-may-care ace Fed pilot Io Flemming is more than happy to throw away his life in combat, finding himself a new enemy in the enemy sniper Daryl Lorenz.
 


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