Mobile Suit Gundam 

In the war between the Earth Federation and Zeon, a young and inexperienced crew find themselves on a new spaceship. Their best hope of making it through the conflict is the Gundam, a giant humanoid robot, and its gifted teenage pilot.

Creators:

Yoshiyuki Tomino, Hajime Yatate

Stars:

Tôru Furuya, Alaina Burnett, Chris Kalhoon

Cast

Series cast summary:
Tôru Furuya	...	Amuro Ray 43 episodes, 1979-1980
Alaina Burnett	...	Sayla Mass 42 episodes, 1979-1980
Chris Kalhoon	...	Bright Noa 42 episodes, 1979-1980
Michael Kopsa	...	Char Aznable 42 episodes, 1979-1980
Brad Swaile	...	Amuro Ray 42 episodes, 1979-1980
Cathy Weseluck	...	Mirai Yashima / ... 42 episodes, 1979-1980
Eric Schneider	...	Degwin Zabi (English Voice) / ... 30 episodes, 1979-1980
Glen Hopkins	...	Omur Fang 23 episodes, 1979-1980
Sachio Kumagai	...	Omur Fang 22 episodes, 1979-1980

Storyline

It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. A war has broken out between the Principality of Zeon, a space colony that wants independence, and the Earth Federation. A teenage boy has to pilot the Federation's new secret weapon when the space colony in which he lives is attacked by Zeon mobile suits, gigantic robots piloted by humans. That new secret weapon is called the Gundam, a far more powerful mobile suit. The story follows Amuro Ray and many other civilians around his age who have to take over a Federation spaceship and become soldiers in order to survive the war against Zeon's forces throughout the One Year War.

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Plot Keywords:

shared universe | outer space | pilot | mobile suit | spaceship | 

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Genres:

Animation | Action | Drama | Sci-Fi

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Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

16 July 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Mobile Suit Gundam

Company Credits

Production Co:

Sotsu Agency,Sunrise

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min (43 episodes) 30 min (43 episodes)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

Tomino's original concept for the series was much darker, with Amuro dying halfway through the series, and the crew of the White Base having to ally with Char (who's given a red Gundam, no less), but finally having to battle him after he takes control of the Principality of Zeon. The original concept found expression in a series of novels written by Tomino soon after the show's conclusion, and elements of the storyline weaved themselves into Z Gundam and Gundam: Char's Counterattack.

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Quotes

Narrator: Universal Century 0080. As the sound of battle begin to fade away, the Federation and the Republic of Zeon sign an armistice, signifying an end to the brutal war. the new dawn brings with it the promise of peace for all mankind... for now.

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Alternate Versions

There are several music cuts/additions throughout the series in the English release. Many battle scenes that had no music on the soundtrack are replaced with a background score that was previously played only once. One of the shows insert songs called "Char is Coming" was replaced with an instrumental version, presumably because it was believed to have sounded a little too bizarre and dated.

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Connections

Referenced in Gundam: Battle Assault 2 (2002)

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Soundtracks

Eien ni Amuro
(Forever Amuro)
Ending theme
Performed by Kô Ikeda with Feeling Free
Lyrics by Rin Iogi (Yoshiyuki Tomino)
Music by Takeo Watanabe
Arrangement by Yûshi Matsuyama

User Reviews

First Realistic Robot Anime

After almost ten years of giant toys ruling anime, 1979 was the Year of the Gundam. Although 25 years old by now, and cheaply produced at the time, this anime is still very enjoyable and deep. Many are the reasons of its success... some here below:

• No aliens coming to rule the Earth. This is a war for independence. Men against men. Same blood color;

• No good guys vs bad guys. Here everyone fights to survive, it doesn't matter if they agree with war reasons or not. It's everyman fight.

• No giant samurai robot vs. monsters from outer space. Robots in "Gundam" are conventional mass produced weapons as good as tanks or choppers, for both sides. They need energy, fuel, ammo, maintenance, logistic, recover, repair, spare parts. Al these goods are often unavailable in the middle of the battlefield;

• No heroes. Just ordinary people, youths throwed in the middle of a war they didn't want and still can't understand. And, in some of them, Fear will ignite boys' growth to become men;

• no fairy tales. In Gundam people, lots of main characters, dies. Often in ungloryous ways. Often in second rank battles. But they always die for what they think is right. Sacrifice to protect a friend, not to win a battle;

Even being closer to war movie than to Sci-Fi, Gundam is still known as one of the most important and revolutionary examples of Science Fiction. I often ask myself why a good expansive Hollywood adaptation of first Gundam series hasn't still be made...