Forum - View topicA newbie here... what's similar to MS Gundam series?
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EvDog
Posts: 2 |
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Having got a lot of information about the Mobile Suit Gundam series, and getting ready to start watching them, I was just wandering what other movies/shows were influenced by or are just similiar to Gundam?
In terms of the original MS Gundam series... is the movie trilogy a good way to start? I'm a bit put off watching the entire series... if I'll be able to get through the whole thing while enjoying it. I'm a bit put by its age actually, and I think it shows it. Looks kinda simple and low-budget, maybe just a product of it time. Again, are the movies a good way to start, and then if I like them go onto the series for some depth? |
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Rendart
 Posts: 111 |
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I was never really a big fan of Gundam. I can sugest Evangelion if your into mecha/psychlogical types of anime, Rahxephon also follws same genre. Macross is also a title worth checking out.
-Rendart |
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foxs_alterego
 Posts: 3 |
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Hmm... First thing I thought of is Mobile Police Patlabor (TV, OVA, and movies) - it's got a lot of superficial similarities like giant robots being a common part of the military (or the police force), and the story focuses on the people who pilot them - although the underlying themes are quite different. Other shows that feature giant robots, if that's the side of Gundam you're after, include Vision of Escaflowne and Neon Genesis Evangelion (there are others, but these are the best known). If you want to focus more on the political things of things... um, the Macross series, maybe, as well as Irresponsible Captain Tylor. Just because I believe everyone should watch it at least once (it takes place in space - that's enough justification for this rec. for me...
 )
…Right. Hope that gives you a place to start! This is all licensed stuff, so it should be easy for you to find. |
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zaphdash
 Posts: 620 Location: Brooklyn |
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Well, a ton of shows were influenced in a ton of ways by Gundam. It would probably not be a stretch to say that every (or almost every) robot show of the 80s and 90s owes something to Gundam, so you'd kind of have to get a little more specific about what you're looking for.
Several shows have already been mentioned. Macross and Patlabor are both fantastic. Both are members of the "real robot" genre that was started by Gundam, but they're otherwise rather different from Gundam. Still, they're both very good. The ties between shows like Escaflowne or Evangelion and Gundam are a little more tenuous, but they're there, and Escaflowne at least is a wonderful show. It's been a while since I watched it, but I would say Escaflowne's closest tie to Gundam is the fact that both are robot shows featuring a human drama set against a backdrop of warfare; prior to Gundam, most robot show antagonists weren't human, they were things like a mysterious alien force or what have you, so any robot show that features human vs human warfare has that, if nothing else, with which to credit Gundam. It's also been quite a while since I saw Evangelion, but if there's nothing else, there is at least one thing that ties it to Gundam. I recall a while back, stumbling upon a website that compared Shinji with the main character of an unnamed robot show. He spent the entire time making all sorts of connections between Shinji and the mystery man and complaining that the creator of the other show had obviously just ripped off Evangelion. At the end, he revealed that he was actually talking about Amuro Ray of First Gundam. He wasn't a moron who didn't realize that Gundam was sixteen years Eva's senior; rather, he was trying to show all the militant Eva fans that even Hideaki Anno is not a god among men, that his ideas came from somewhere, and that just because Eva did it doesn't mean that Eva did it first or that Eva did it best. Now, I can't say with certainty that Anno specifically had Amuro in mind as he created Shinji's character (well, the parts of Shinji's character that weren't based on himself, that is), but there definitely are a number of parellels there, and the people at Gainax make no effort to hide the fact that they're Gundam fans, so...I don't think it's too great a leap. Lots of other Yoshiyuki Tomino shows also share similarities with Gundam. I've actually never gotten to see any of his pre-Gundam work, so I can throw out some names, but I can't speak for whether they're what you're looking for. Some of his post-Gundam shows include Ideon, Xabungle, Dunbine, and L-Gaim in the 80s, and more recently, Overman King Gainer (just to name a few). I regret that I have been utterly unable to get ahold of Ideon, although I desperately want to see it, so I can't speak for it. The same goes for Xabungle, except that I'm not really as adamant about seeing it. I have had the opportunity to see parts of Dunbine and L-Gaim, but not much of either; what I've seen is pretty good, something I would recommend, but I can't say it doesn't get worse later on (I will say that that would run counter to everything I've ever heard about either of them, though). Just based on what I've heard about it, I think I would probably recommend Ideon, but since I don't have firsthand experience with the show, I'm hesitant to tell you to try to get your hands on it. Overman King Gainer, I'm happy to say, I have seen in its entirety. You'll find that Tomino's style and his themes have changed a great deal over the past twenty years, though. King Gainer shares a striking similarity with a certain Gundam series, but it's not First Gundam; rather, it has a lot of ties to Tomino's latest (and one of his finest) Gundam productions, 1999's Turn A Gundam, which was drastically different from any of his previous Gundam outings. If you're looking for shows similar to First Gundam specifically, then King Gainer isn't what you want. If you're looking for shows similar to any member of the Gundam franchise, though, then it's as good as any. To cover your other question, yes, the movie trilogy is a fine way to start. Personally, I like the trilogy more than the TV series, but that's just me. The Gundam franchise is riddled with some pretty terrible movie compilations, but the First Gundam compilations are not among them. They're very well done, really a perfect compression of the TV series. I would go so far as to say that if you see the movie trilogy, you don't even need to bother seeing the TV series unless you just want to see everything for the sake of completion. The one thing I will warn you about is that, yes, First Gundam was created in 1979 and its age shows. The video was completely remastered, so the colors are pretty vibrant and the picture quality is good, but the animation itself is dated and the character and mecha designs are definitely anything but modern. To me, none of that is necessarily bad. I like the mecha designs, even though they're relatively simple; they're either good, or they're cheesy in an enjoyable way. I also really like the character designs, but obviously they're based on what was popular and fashionable in the 70s, not now, so they also look dated in that way. If that bothers you, there's really no way around it. Furthermore, the movie trilogy is mostly made up of animation taken directly from the TV series, so it's not a great leap forward in animation quality. The second and third movies both feature a good deal of new animation, but it keeps a pretty consistent look. So regardless of whether you watch the movies or TV series, you're going to have to deal with the dated look. If you can live with that, you're in for a great story and some great characters. |
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rektagunn
 Posts: 218 Location: enohana |
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Crest of the Stars, Banner of the Stars, and Banner of the Stars II: for that space opera feel without the heavy psycho trip
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eva05
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Gundam trilogy is really good.
Zeta Gundam, Double Zeta Gundam, 0083 Star Dust Memory, 0080 War in the Pocket and Char's Counterattack are also very good. Now opinions vary on this subject but I pretty much consider these to be the only real Gundam stuff. Most of what followed these original series lost what made the original Gundam so great IMHO. Excellent human drama, hard science(within limits of modern speculation) and intensely complex worlds with deep political stories...Basically space operas 
A lot of similar series with the same "spirit" have been made... Armored Troopers Votoms Fang of the Sun Dougram Are arguably two of the best. Dougram is actually brilliant, sadly never made available in English in any format to the best of my knowledge. Venus Wars was also written/directed by some of the same team members from the Gundam creators. The manga is also excellent. Some modern day Gundam style shows...well there really aren't any. Gasaraki has Gundam style elements and injects some Eva's psychology into the mix but Gasaraki is much more of a heavy miltiary/political scifi like Gundam than Eva... j |
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Randall Miyashiro
 Posts: 2451 Location: A block away from Golden Gate Park |
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You can easily follow the rest of the series by watching the films instead of the original series. As for modern shows that are like the Original Gundam, there really are not many of them. The 08th squad F91 and Victory Gundam capture the feel of the original series better than most of the sequels. Zeta and 0083 (my favorites) also have some Original Gundam elements, but tend to lack the "warmth" and heroic fun of the original series. The most Gundamish show IMO is Dragonar. It consists of humans fighting each other with Gundam scaled Okawara designed mecha. The plot is more serialized than episodic, with a lot of comradrarie and fun between the main three pilots. The main character's girlfriend's brother being the main villain is also remeniscent of Gundam. BTW my list of "most like the original" is very different from favorite Gundam series. F91 was very dissapointing and feels like a rehashed version of the original trilogy, and the characters from Victory annoy me. I would recommend you start with the three UC OAV series if you are having troubles with the Original.
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