G is good, 8th MS Team is [parasitic bomb].
Maybe on opposite day.
Refernce: Yoshiyuki Tomino is the creator of the Gundam franchise, and responsible for the majority of the UC timeline series.
----------------------------------------------------
UC Stories (In some semi-order of opinionated quality)
----------------------------------------------------
Z is great, and definitely my favorite. You'd get the most out of it with a good frame of reference for the first series plot though.
Char's Counter Attack is definitely the best of the movies, if not the entire series. Powerful, and a great cap on the Amuro vs Char saga. I just wish it was fleshed out a tiny bit more, though it works as a movie fairly well. It works best if you've seen the first series, and Z at least. ZZ isn't required but it does directly lead up to it.
08th MS Team was an incredible character narrative, with most of the super suit themes removed. It chronicles the average soldier for the most part, and definitely ranks up at the top.
Turn-A was great, even though it was a fairly big change in scenery and somewhat surreal. It wasn't action packed to the same degree as most other entries in the franchise, instead focusing on a powerful character narrative. It worked out really well, and was quite an interesting change of pace. To my knowledge Turn-A still hasn't received a release outside of Japan.
Unicorn is pretty great. Admittedly I'm a bit behind on it yet, but so far it appears to be shaping up to be a top quality UC Gundam.
War in The Pocket (0080) was also a great character narrative, approaching war from a little boy's stand point. Like 08th MS, it stayed out of super robot territory for the most part. It was very short, lasting only 4 episodes as an OVA if I recall correctly.
Stardust Memories was pretty neat, though short. Some of the tech displayed was questionable for it's place in the timeline though. Lots of nice Z series tie ins.
The first series (0079) is slow to start but ramps up about half way in. You should be able to sufficiently get by with the movie adaptations. It is definitely a product of it's time, and not everyone can fully appreciate it in it's original format. When it ramps up, though, it gets pretty good.
ZZ is a mixed bag. After Z's complete tragedy story, its said that Tomino wanted to lighten things up a little for a while. ZZ started off as a borderline comedy show. It wasn't overly well received, and never made it to american shores in any official capacity (last I knew). Z's movie adaptation even rewrote the ending so much as to infer that ZZ doesn't happen. At the half way point there is an OH [parasitic bomb] moment that changes everything, and re-anchors it back into a more serious tone. I was actually pleasantly surprised with the second half of the series. I will admit that the first part is a little more than tough to swallow after Z's finale though.
V is hard for me to place. I didn't finish it yet, which tells you something right off the bat. Additionally Tomino requested that people refuse to buy the DVD's of the series, claiming he hated making it and it sucks. I don't believe it ever had a state side release in any official form.
F91 is only this far down because of it's execution. It was a single movie of what was a story meant to be told as a full 50 episode series. As you can imagine, it is hard to follow, rushed, and generally underwhelming as a result. I wish it received it's own series instead.
I haven't watched any of the Igloo ones. No idea where to place it.
----------------------------------------------------
AU Stories (In some semi-order of opinionated quality)
----------------------------------------------------
Wing was really good, if you're willing to accept it has differences from the main series. One of the more intricate plots of the series if you really pay attention. I really liked a lot of the characters.
I was pleasantly surprised with Gundam AGE for the most part. It had some weird moments scattered throughout but the story held up fairly well. It was interesting to see it as a sort of remix of the themes from 0079, Z, and ZZ with each respective era of the timeline. It brought back some good nostalgic feelings here and there. Overall a big improvement over SEED and 00 in my opinion.
I'm not really sure yet where to place Gundam X. I've just started it really. It has some interesting elements, but I've yet to see how it shapes up. It never made any official jump across the ocean, to my knowledge, which can be seed as a bad thing. However, Turn-A didn't either I suppose.
G was OK for some people. Your mileage may very. If you liked Gurren Lagann, this one may appeal to you, but don't expect it to be of the same level.
Gundam 00 started off as a re-imagining of Wing to a degree. I think it had a strong start, but in season 2 it fell apart completely. Probably one of the most disappointing of the series, given it's potential. Oh, and avoid the movie at ALL costs. CANT UNSEE.
SEED and SEED Destiny were shitty. I will say the SEED Destiny Shin vs Kira battle was pretty awesome though. One of the better animated fights of the series. I hear rumor that Kira was originally suppose to die off in that battle, which would have made for a much greater story. Sadly Kira bullshit survives and god modes everything for the rest of the series harder than ever before.
I'm probably missing something here or there, but that's the series in a nutshell for the most part. There are some manga and novels scattered through the series, but I've mostly stuck to the anime. Here's hoping for a Crossbones Gundam anime adaptation though.
Additionally, there are plans to redo the first series. Rumor has it, that is follows the manga closer than the first anime series. The manga was produced after the fact, I believe based on the novel, which was written based on the anime series.
As a bit of trivia, this is what SEED was suppose to be before they went with the whole re-imagining route, and ruined it all. Its shocking to think how much better a re-animation of the first series would have been in comparison to that dribble.
OH WAIT, this is a Megaman.EXE thread. Oops.
Poll