When people that know anime hear the word mecha, the first thing that comes to mind is giant robots operated by humans fighting in space. Typical cases in point being Robotech or, more likely, Gundam. The Gundam franchise is huge, with more than 15 different series such as Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (see below).

Gundam is the brainchild of Yoshiyuki Tomino, a renowned Japanese animator, who, together with the team at Sunrise Studio, put out work under the collective pseudonym Hajime Yatate.

Originally planned to be an anime for boys, the series was first titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy or simply Gunboy because of the gun the robot was armed with. During early production there were a lot of ideas with the words 'gun' and 'freedom' floating around, until the Yatate team decided to combine both words and change 'dom' to 'dam', coming up with 'Gundam'. Gundams usually are depicted as powerful, highly capable and unique fighting machines.

Gundam Seed Destiny

The Gundam anime has different and very distinct timelines, including action taking place in different alternate universes. The earliest series occur in the Universal Century (UC) where Gundam is the name of the Earth Federation's first experimental mobile suit. In the Future Century timeline, Gundam refers to a space colony's entry in the 'Gundam Fight' a type of competition to decide the new ruler of Earth. Then there is also the 'After War' timeline and many others. If interested, you can find a brief list by timeline of series at the end of this article.

Gundam is big, with the Japanese Self-Defence Forces even code-naming certain projects after the franchise. In July 2007 a bio-suit named ‘Mobile Suit Gundam's normal suit’ was displayed by Professor Dava Newman from MIT's Astronautics Department. Even NASA proposed to research the nuclear thermal rockets which is used on mobile suits in Gundam anime.

Below is a look at the Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket trailer to see what it is all about. 

My Gunpla is better than yours

If giant robots are not your thing, how about small ones? Recently the latest Gundam series came to light, called Gundam Build Fighters. In the anime, set in the near future and not in any of the other alternate universes, people duel in an arena with small Gundam-like robots.

These battles were inspired by the success of the series Mobile Suit Gundam in the 80s, that led to a Gunpla Boom (Gunpla are Gundam models for collectors). In the future, Gunpla Battles are held all over the world, to see which customised Gunpla is the best.

In the anime Sei Iori, a school student and Gunpla builder, has a dream to become as good as or even greater than his father was. He goes to school and works at his family's small Gunpla shop afterwards, constructing an excellent Gunpla. But because he has no talent at Gunpla fighting, he keeps losing the first round of every battle he's fought. That is until he comes into contact with a boy named Reiji, and together they take on other players. 

Gundam Build Fighters is an excellent anime, very different from the rest in the franchise. If you like duelling anime like Angelic Layer, this anime might just be for you. Hit play below for the trailer.

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If you like Gundam, you might also like Neon Genesis Evangeleon, Robotech, Macross Plus, Macross Zero as well as Eureka Seven. 

Gundam through the Ages

Universal Century

UC0079

Mobile Suit Gundam (the original series that started all in 1979)

Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: The Hidden One Year War

Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079

Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO 2: The Gravity Front

UC0083

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 : Stardust Memory

UC0087

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam

Gundam Neo Experience 0087: Green Divers

UC0088

Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ

UC0093

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counter Attack

UC0096

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn

UC0123

Mobile Suit Gundam F91

UC0153

Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

Anno Domini

(Takes place in our universe)

2010

Mobile Suit Gunpla Builders Beginning G

2307 – 2312

Mobile Suit Gundam 00

2314

Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: Awakening of the Trailblazer

After Colony

AC195

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

AC196

Gundam Wing : Endless Waltz

Advanced Generation

AG115, AG140

Mobile Suit Gundam AGE

After War

AW0015

After War Gundam X

Correct Century

CC2345

Turn-A Gundam

Cosmic Era

CE71

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

CE73

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer

Future Century

FC60

Mobile Fighter G Gundam

About our contributor: Allen Simpson is a blogger and a published poet who has a deep passion for anime. He is also co-owner of AnimeFanatika, a reliable source of information on Anime providing fans with the latest news, reviews and goings on in the industry. Visit their Facebook page and become a Fanatik today. Sugoi!