Mobile Suit Gundam

 

Who knows what silliness lurks in the hearts of old men? Not me. But somehow I found myself drawn to this giant robot anime series. I watched the first episode (first series--"Gundam Rising" / ガンダム大地に立つ!!) on the You Tub, and that sent me to Crunchyroll. 

I started a subscription 5/17/26 at the discounted rate of $2.09 (tax included) for 3 months--then I don't know how much, but it's irrelevant as I'll be quitting. (I might be silly, but I'm not stupid. Or well-heeled.) So I'm going to have to get busy with this watching thing.

The only other Anime series I have paid any attention to is Evangelion (which I loved), and I couldn't help but note that there were several similarities between Mobile Suit Gundam and Evangelion:

Giant robots are controlled by a pilot sitting in the chest area.

Young, scared, inexperienced kid controls the giant robot. Kid gradually becomes super good at this gig.

Father is distant and bitchy...though much more part of the story in Evangelion.

There's a cute girl who likes the hero, but he's pretty clueless.

On the other, hand I found Mobile Suit Gundam to be much more visceral and realistic. People die and are mourned. Even characters who are not minor die. And some characters see death coming, and they scream and cry. Ridiculous as it sounds, this series feels real. 

I finished the 42 episodes of the original series 6/4/26 and started watching Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, but it only took a few minutes before I realized that this couldn't be the next in order (even though Crunchyroll made it look that way by listing it as Season 2 of the original Mobile Suit Gundam), so I went Googling and found this beauty:

Watch Order:

And then it was off to seek Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, which turned out to be available on Crunchyroll...although I had to do some searching to find it.

I just watched the first episode. It was good. Big upgrade in the graphics. But it was a bit disorienting dealing with new characters...and it paralleled the first episode of the original series too closely. But hey, I'm in for a pound.

News as it happens.

P.S. The opening scene of the first episode of the original series was killer. Guys in robot suits in space land on a giant artificial satellite, make their way inside, and then emerge into what looks like Planet Earth. Quite the bug wow. (And, alas, repeated pretty much verbatim in Zeta.) It was a beautiful opening. I'd really like to see it in live action. Maybe someday.