Recommended Anime/Manga?

[Randorama]

My two cents...

Gundam 0079 has recap movies that are not very coherent (Tomino was terrible at "summarizing"*), but coherent enough to give you an introduction to the UC.
Zeta is a really dark series that becomes messy from episode 34, but still represents the most mature iteration of the franchise. If the first series is a metaphor of WWII, then this is a metaphor of the Cold War, so you can imagine the rest.
ZetaZeta starts as a silly comedy but because mature by episode 34 or so. Previous discussions in this thread explain why.
Char's counterattack wraps this sequence, so it can be watched without too many headaches after at least 0079 and Zeta.

The various OVAs in the UC mentioned so far need little background. 0083 is Top Gun-style stuff, but animation levels are still outstanding. The other OVAs are also really good.

In recent times, Unicorn and The Origin are iterations bound to the UC time-line that do justice to the series more than the original Tomino creations, honestly.
Unicorn requires at least the first two series, but The origin is re-telling of the original series from Char's perspective, with absolutely bad-ass animation.

And Char Aznable is easily the most interesting character in any Gundam series, if not in most of the Mecha series released so far (can't spoil why, though).

The final movie hasn't surfaced yet, but the previous five have.

For the rest of the Gundam series, I invite you to watch 2-3 teaser episodes.
I ended up hating the new version directed by Mari Okada, and the 00 series was OK if you would ignore several annoying characters.



*Japanese writers seem terrible at summarizing, pacing and presenting information in balanced amounts, in general.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Origin is premium af. A stunner on BD. I'll be buying Ep 5/6 when available in the US at US pricing. Unicorn is also pretty premium. Watch the OVA, not the weird tv series remix thing. Both are excellent overall and totally worth watching.

@Randorama: Unfortunate to hear the movies are a bit of a mess. I didn't mind sitting through the first Gundam at all but I was hoping those movies wouldn't be a bad entry point for some friends that might not have the stamina for 43 episodes of 70s anime. Some reviews would have me believe it's better than the series but I very much doubt that. I might just have to buy it myself to compare directly while the original Gundam is still pretty fresh in my head from a semi-recent watching.

[Randorama]

@Randorama: Unfortunate to hear the movies are a bit of a mess. I didn't mind sitting through the first Gundam at all but I was hoping those movies wouldn't be a bad entry point for some friends that might not have the stamina for 43 episodes of 70s anime. Some reviews would have me believe it's better than the series but I very much doubt that. I might just have to buy it myself to compare directly while the original Gundam is still pretty fresh in my head from a semi-recent watching.

Well, the movies of 0079 are still better than the original series, but they are messy, since they have a few sudden plot shifts. There was no effort on Tomino's part to have new, shorter material to act as transitions between the surviving parts. The original series was 43 episodes of...well, mostly "fight of the week" drivel and some nice passages. So, movies are still quite better: something you can watch on a rainy day, with pizza and beer, and feel old good and old school about it.

Zeta follows the inverse pattern. The movies are too messy, and the series is good on its own, even when it unravels. I adore Nagano's style (i.e. the key animator/illustrator of the series), so I am biased.

[Bananamatic]

is the newtype magic in unicorn as bad as i heard?

i'd recommend 00 S1 over any of the tomino shows for a first time viewer, the weapons grade autism in his shows is insane and they all follow the same formula (annoying female characters, annoying kids in the war zone for no reason)
or maybe even IBO even if it was a bit too edgy and dumb but normies love it for that reason, also because it has no beam weapons

[FinalBaton]

Awesome, thanks everyone!

Yeah, there's a lot. I've got a buddy who's watching everything in production order. He's finally made it to Gundam 00.
But really, the place where order matters most is the classic Universal Century trilogy: watch the original '79 series [aka 0079] then Zeta then ZZ.

Beyond that, many other shows in the series are either a: entirely in their own self-contained continuity [G-Gundam, Wing, 00, SEED, Gundam X, etc], and are standalone by definition, or otherwise b: despite being connected to past series, still standalone enough to enjoy without having seen any other piece of Gundam media [like Turn-A -- it has a connection to just about every Gundam show made before it -- but you don't need to watch any of them before it to enjoy it].
Victory takes place in the UC timeline, but you don't need to have watched anything else to enjoy it.

Also, you really should watch 0079 -- it's a bit clunky in parts [you can describe all of Gundam like this, although 0079 also has the fact that it's a show from 1979 with various budget and production issues], but it's a great show overall. I dunno about the compilation movies for it, haven't seen 'em.
I'm actively dis-recommending the Zeta movies due to how much shit gets changed, especially if you're going to watch ZZ.

tl;dr: other than the original three shows, order barely matters, jump in

Gotcha. I'll watch the Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ series in order for a start, and ignore the movie compilations. And after that, Char's counter attack, and then pick some stuff in random order (maybe stick to other UC stories at first, but maybe other stuff too, we'll see). I'll ask again when I get there, it'll be a little while. lol

[Steamflogger Boss]

is the newtype magic in unicorn as bad as i heard?

i'd recommend 00 S1 over any of the tomino shows for a first time viewer, the weapons grade autism in his shows is insane and they all follow the same formula (annoying female characters, annoying kids in the war zone for no reason)
or maybe even IBO even if it was a bit too edgy and dumb but normies love it for that reason, also because it has no beam weapons

Gundam = newtype magic. It's just part of the material, lol.

[M.Knight]

To be honest, the politics stuff in Gundam is super janky despite supposedly being one of its selling points. Tons of abstract organizations with long-ass names I can never remember with super vague ideals of peace, war and whatever, and philosophical speeches about human nature or whatever that just sounds so goddamn forced. Nah, Gundam is at its best IMO when it portrays the lives of regular people or regular soldiers caught up in those destructive battles.

08th MS team is pretty good at this, but there is also War In the Pocket, as well as Thunderbolt December Sky which I both highly recommend. (Thunderbolt S2 sucks so much though, I suggest you pretend it doesn't exist) They are short shows while the regular shows are 50-episodes long series that could be summarized in less than half if you remove all the uninteresting and pointless mecha battles that only exist to sell plastic toys rather than advance the plot. On top of that, they are self-contained and you don't need to know anything to enjoy them aside from the fact that the Federation is fighting against Zeon. Also, none of those three shows have newtypes. Seriously, fuck newtypes. They almost always ruin every Gundam show they are in with their bullshit deus ex machina magic powers. I wish they removed that concept from the series entirely already. You can't call yourself a "Real Robot" show that differentiates itself from Super Robot shows but transfer all those same magical powers on pilots instead of the robots.

is the newtype magic in unicorn as bad as i heard?

i'd recommend 00 S1 over any of the tomino shows for a first time viewer, the weapons grade autism in his shows is insane and they all follow the same formula (annoying female characters, annoying kids in the war zone for no reason)
or maybe even IBO even if it was a bit too edgy and dumb but normies love it for that reason, also because it has no beam weapons

From what I recall, newtype magic isn't too bad in Unicorn for the most part, but then it comes back full force for the finale and makes it total anticlimatic garbage.

IBO is pretty good IMO. Not perfect (especially S2) but enjoyable overall. Good thing it has little to no focus on beam weapons because they kinda suck anyway. There never really is an impact when they are used. All the mechs go "pew pew" with some random pink or piss lines drawn on the screen and sometimes a random grunt suit nobody cares about explodes and that's it. Here, when the melee weapons crush the enemies, they crush them hard, tearing the mechs apart in brutal and visceral ways. That also helps to showcase the MC's...peculiar personnality as his fighting style is far from clinical. It all sells you so much better on the actual violence going on in the battlefield.
Also, IBO does not have a fight every single goddamn episode just to sell toys, so most of the fights actually matter. And no goddamn newtypes.

Mobile Suit Gundam F91: It's a Gundam movie! Ok, not much exciting or special going on here. But there's some pretty bruital violence at the start. It was worth a watch and it's a self-contained story.

The first scenes were the best in the movie IMO. They sucessfully portrayed the chaos that can happen during a battle from some civilians' point of view and I really enjoyed that. The rest isn't too bad but much less original overall. Final battle is not bad with some of the F91's cool moves, but that's about it. I feel like it is a show that is better in this kind of rushed movie format rather than the full series it was supposed to be, because it probably would have been padded with tons of crap.

[Bananamatic]

IBO is pretty good IMO. Not perfect (especially S2) but enjoyable overall. Good thing it has little to no focus on beam weapons because they kinda suck anyway. There never really is an impact when they are used. All the mechs go "pew pew" with some random pink or piss lines drawn on the screen and sometimes a random grunt suit nobody cares about explodes and that's it. Here, when the melee weapons crush the enemies, they crush them hard, tearing the mechs apart in brutal and visceral ways. That also helps to showcase the MC's...peculiar personnality as his fighting style is far from clinical. It all sells you so much better on the actual violence going on in the battlefield.

too bad it was completely arbitrary who dies no matter how hard the units got ripped apart (spoilers obviously) then some characters got killed out of nowhere just to increase the drama in s2
also, the physical ammo seemed almost useless, almost as if the mechs could do nothing to each other at long range, even barbatos' heavy guns just knocked the grunts back
it was entertaining but a complete shitshow at the same time

Gundam = newtype magic. It's just part of the material, lol.

i liked it better when it was just increased perception with some funnels added in instead of going DBZ like in zeta
same with 00, s1 was just straight up solid mecha action then in the movie it was just magical asspulls and units straight out of shitty fanfics

[M.Knight]

One of the most arbitrary death/survival thing IMO was

Spoiler

Julieta

in S2. It was pretty obvious the writers were in love with that character and made them survive despite being heavily injured in battle.

There's one thing I liked overall about S2 and its drama despite how artificial it can sometimes feel :

Spoiler

It didn't let Tekkadan "win" and become the Kings of Mars or whatever. They started as a very minor group that got kinda lucky and made some breakthrough but are not well-equiped to deal with the political game, so they get manipulated, make bad decisions and fail. The feeling of dread near the end when they know they may not make it, as well as Oruga's delusional plan to clear their names were enjoyable.

And it's true that the bullets weren't very effective. That's why I vastly prefered the melee battles.

[Shredpirate]

I would have to recommend Perfect Blue. Best of all the entire movie is on YouTube!

[null1024]

To be honest, the politics stuff in Gundam is super janky despite supposedly being one of its selling points. Tons of abstract organizations with long-ass names I can never remember with super vague ideals of peace, war and whatever

It's a lot simpler than that.
Gundam's message is basically "war is bad, but it keeps happening lol; both sides are bad even if one side is better than the other".
Zeon's a fucking shitshow that gassed whole colonies full of fellow Spacenoids and then dropped them on the Earth with zero provocation or warning [for those not in the know, this is the backstory to the original 1979 Gundam], and kept doing shit like that, and it's still shown to have a fair amount of decent people, despite basically being Space Nazis [hey, remember that conversation Degwin had with Gihren].
The Federation are the good guys, except it's pretty consistently shown that they're incompetent and/or corrupt as shit. Replace the words Federation and Zeon as needed depending on what series you're watching.

There's variations on the theme, and you get pilots waxing poetic in the heat of battle about it, but that's pretty consistently the gist of it.
The most complicated it got was in 00, which starts off by mirroring the political situation of when it was produced anyway.

Seriously, fuck newtypes. They almost always ruin every Gundam show they are in with their bullshit deus ex machina magic powers. I wish they removed that concept from the series entirely already. You can't call yourself a "Real Robot" show that differentiates itself from Super Robot shows but transfer all those same magical powers on pilots instead of the robots.

as for newtypes, that's really a product of when the era 0079 was produced, and then it stuck
if you can't stand newtypes, I dunno how you'd stand watching UC-era anything, it's actually a major part of why anything is happening at all
See, I'd say Zeta handled it fairly well, at least [there's a fair bit of out and out bullshit]. X did an okay job too [emphasis on okay, I'd say X's troubled run hurts it].

shame about nearly everything else, especially 0079
The end of 0079 is really fucking dumb because of newtype bullshit, although I'm just going to chalk that up due to the series being cut like 10 episodes short at the end because it was going to get cancelled.

I'm okay with the idea of 'em, and how things turn out in UC because of 'em [newtypes were expected to become common with the increasing spacenoid population and we should really get everyone into space to advance the development of humanity with more newtypes, newtypes are really fucking good in wars, weapons development turns newtype focused to leverage that advantage... then it turns out that no, they're not really becoming commonplace at all like all that Zeon propaganda said and all those fancy newtype weapons aren't really what's gonna win wars].

anyone looking to Gundam as an example of a "Real Robot" series is deeply mistaken -- it's really only called that because it didn't really follow the classic super robot formula like damn near everything else, what with it making the robots more just machines like fighter jets and focusing more on politics and people
but in terms of actual realism, Gundam is and has always been fairly far out
and remember, they're still literally toy commercials largely intended to sell boxes of unassembled plastic pieces to people [I should know, I've got three of 'em staring down from above me in my room]

[Randorama]

Null1024: I generally agree, but with a few provisos.

In Zeta we have the Titans who like to gas everyone, AEUG and the other group to be the "good" federation guys, and Neo-Axis Zeon (or whatever they are called) being somewhat nicer guys (well, they are re-building from the 1 year war). Titans are supposed to be the CIA, Zeon the Soviet/KGB, and AEUG...I don't actually know. It is a bit more complex, but just a bit.

The point about the whole franchise NOT being a "real robot" series is perfect. We can say that Gundam however started the trend, and subsequent series developed the idea better (e.g. Votoms, and even in this one we have some rubbish at the end). I actually cannot think about of a "realistic" series beyond Legend of the Galactic Heroes, provided that "Prussians in Space" is a plausible option for a series that does not even have mechas

[Bananamatic]

watch Gundam X if you hate newtypes
I'd also say that 00 S1 isn't super robot at all

[Steamflogger Boss]

We could probably call Patlabor 1/2 "real robot" though it has been a bit since I've seen them. I really need to pick up the BD of the first two movies. I don't know the exact qualifiers for "real robot".

Honestly though, I really don't care about the believe-ability of the robots. Some bullshit is going to happen somewhere along the way in almost any sci-fi, most live action stuff included.

But then I enjoy stuff like Lupin and City Hunter. In an episode of City Hunter I watched recently he shot a bullet into the chamber of the gun a baddie was carrying from great distance. Anime is fucking impossible sometimes and I love it. Also Lupin just speaks for itself at this point with its absurdity. Anime often falls all over itself when it tries to be serious and/or realistic but of course there are great exceptions that I also love.

I don't remember if I mentioned this here before or not but here are some of my favorite anime movies. It's a pretty stock-ish list probably, and my favorite directors are immediately obvious.

Ghost in the Shell
Angel's Egg
Macross Do You Remember Love?
Perfect Blue
Roujin Z
Paprika
Sword of the Stranger
Patlabor 2
Urusei Yatsura 2: Beautiful Dreamer
Akira
Millenium Actress
Ninja Scroll

@Null Very good points all around. The "politics" aren't complex at all. There are many better choices for anime even space anime if that's what someone is looking for. Anyone that really wants complex politics should find some good books.

[M.Knight]

I don't think the Gundam politics are super complex, especially in UC where it is pretty obvious who the "bad guys" are, even if the better series muddle the lines and balance sympathetic and unsympathetic characters on both sides. But sometimes the world-building just loses me. IBO's organization names that aren't Tekkadan, I could never remember them. Wing also had various organizations and a foundation thingy I never really understood.
In any case, what doesn't work with Gundam politics for me is how detached they are from the fights and the struggles of the actual human beings on the battlefield. The series I enjoyed the most were the most personal, those who focus on a limited amount of characters instead of big organisations.

Gundam 00's concept was pretty interesting and I liked the mirroring with the real-world political/economic tensions because it is much more relatable and understandable than the UC "gravity weighs human souls down" nonsense, as well as Setsuna's background as it is fairly original to have the MC come from the Middle East. That said, I thought even S1 squandered its potential by having way too much focus on that useless and infuriating bitch Louise who steals the focus away from that good story concept to give us scenes that have nothing to do with the plot consisting of her treating her boyfriend like shit. Not to mention the annoying cyber-newtype drama.
To be honest, I think the Gundam 00 movie is more enjoyable than the series because while it is full of bullshit, it doesn't even pretend to be something else. It's not necessarily better but it was enjoyable nonsense, whereas the two seasons believe they can shove those teleapthy users and other magical stuff in front of you while keeping a straight face. Also the movie is much shorter, that's almost always a plus.

I think Zeta has one of the better actual implementations of the newtype concept when you see the way the Federation treats Amuro after the war. That works because you don't see any magic powers, just the logical consequences of the military trying to handle someone who supposedly has those powers. On the other hand, Zeta also has some of the worst newtype hax in the entire series. The endless mental phone calls during the fights and the end battles that devolve into very supernatural stuff were very jarring. I found Zeta's second half absolutely terrible in general but this adds to it.

Doesn't Gundam X have lots of newtypes, actually? I haven't watched it yet, but it should be the next Gundam show on my to-watch list.

I heard about Patlabor and can recognize some of the mech designs but didn't pay much more attention to it than that. I may have to check it out!

[Steamflogger Boss]

Really just the first two movies. The third is odd...doesn't really fit. Also the ova is decent.

[FinalBaton]

We could probably call Patlabor 1/2 "real robot" though it has been a bit since I've seen them. I really need to pick up the BD of the first two movies. I don't know the exact qualifiers for "real robot".

You really should! They look real nice!

Last time I had seen them, before picking up the BD, was in 480i on analog cable through a crt... i flipped out when I saw the BD version. lol

One thing that will jump at you right away, is how realisticly and dynamicly all the scenes are lit. The lighting comes through so clear through the art. even a fair bit of super bright highlights/blooming used to great effect. The movies just glow.

Amazing stuff to rewatch, they're in my top 10 animu movies, and not at the bottom of the list either.
Captain Goto 4 lyfe.
That guy is my spirit animal.

[Bananamatic]

Doesn't Gundam X have lots of newtypes, actually? I haven't watched it yet, but it should be the next Gundam show on my to-watch list.

it revolves around newtypes but it really just shits on them instead

[M.Knight]

Hahaha, it sounds funny. Shows with zero newtypes at all are my favorites but this isn't bad either!
I should watch it sooner than I thought, then.

[Ji-L87]

Patlabor 2

Really just the first two movies. The third is odd...doesn't really fit. Also the ova is decent.

I heard about Patlabor and can recognize some of the mech designs but didn't pay much more attention to it than that. I may have to check it out!

lol, Am I really the only one actually enjoying the Patlabor TV-series?

Yes, the movies are great, fantastic even! Superb stuff and highly, highly recommended if they seem at all interesting to you, but the OVA and more importantly the TV series also comes highly recommended but for completely different reasons.

The movies look good, sound good and has all the right qualities of director mr. Oshii.
But it does paint a somewhat one sided picture of what Patlabor can be, one that gets progressively darker with each release and I'd argue, more removed from what team Headgear introduced with the original OVA back in the day. Much like Ghost in the Shell, it does kind of get completely assimilated into his style after a point. I'm still having a hard time going back to watch Patlabor movie 2 because it just felt so wrong to me, after just having finished the TV series the first time I ever sat down and watched all of Patlabor. I know the second film is the most beloved of the bunch but it just left such a weird impression on me that I still isn't gung ho about seeing it when I got the dang disc on my shelf.

That says more about me than the movie, which is still fantastic of course.

Point is, the OVA and TV series, and the New Files OVA related to it, is the other, sillier and slow burning but just as lovable side of Patlabor. This time characters get to grow (and you get to grow to like them, hopefully), the relationship with SV1 is fleshed out a bit, in short, everything gets to expand a bit. It is silly, it is dumb and it features some truly sly humour and social commentary and in my own opinion, the slow atmospheric slice of life parts is some of the absolute best parts. For some reason I really like the tattered old building they all call home, it is charming and lovably rendered throughout and few things gives me that particular taste of sentimental feelings like that Kenji Kawai soundtrack.

Gawd.
Everytime Patlabor comes up I write a rant post like this, smh.
Final point is, Patlabor, in whatever form interests you the most, is a good time.

On the topic about Gundam, I'm about to sit down with 0080:War in the Pocket any day now. I really look forward to it but remain terrified it will completely destroy me and leave me an uncontrollably sobbing mess

Moving over to newer anime, I'm really enjoying Megalobox, Hinamatsuri and FMP: Invisible Victory. I'm watching these with friends, along with a bunch of other spring shows every other week or so, so progress is reaaally slow and we're ridiculously behind as usual.

Anyway, super happy with how well the new Full Metal Panic! looks and feel. The 3D for mecha was expected since they used 3D for certain scenes and vehicles since the beginning but it's just surprisingly well put together. Lots of really nice details and touches, like how the transport helicopter's blade interacted with a smoke grenade in a scene early on.
I was also nervous the characters would end up looking bad or forcefully "modernized" but they are surprisingly on point (and on model, for that matter). I have a really soft spot for FMP so I'm just happy to see it wasn't butchered and seems to be in good hands.

[Steamflogger Boss]

Haha, the tv series is fine, I just wasn't thinking about it. You are right though it is very different. I'm an Oshii fanboy so the Oshiification with the 2nd movie in particular is a huge plus for me.

Nice to hear on the new FMP. I'll be getting the BD and trying it regardless but still, good to read it doesn't suck.

[FinalBaton]

I really need to get around to watching the Patlabor TV series. I have the OVA series here and have watched that. but not the TV series yet



BTW : I just saw that RightStuf has a promo on all Discotek/Eastern Star releases. could be of interest for some of us oldtakus.

[Steamflogger Boss]

BTW : I just saw that RightStuf has a promo on all Discotek/Eastern Star releases. could be of interest for some of us oldtakus.

Lupin Series 2 almost never goes on sale so for anyone that doesn't have it and wants it, this does make is a better price than normal.

[Ji-L87]

BTW : I just saw that RightStuf has a promo on all Discotek/Eastern Star releases. could be of interest for some of us oldtakus.

It is of great interest, however our postal system has just introduced a system which pretty much guarantees import costs now, where as before it was much more hit and miss, so importing things just got a bit less interesting (and I've spent too much money on kickstarter and games in general this month). RightStuf does have cool sales anyhow, always fun when they're on if I'm about to get anything.

Edit: Why is the Sister Princess bluray so expensive, even with the sale? I'm not looking into buying it - just saw it while browsing - it doesn't seem like a high profile release or premium in any way to warrant it's price. Is the show even any good, like at all? I remember seeing art from it but no one ever talks about it.

[FinalBaton]

The amazon price of $60 is very expensive for that bluray you mentionned indeed. have no idea what's up with that
BTW I forgot to add : a coupon code(2018-DISCO) needs to be entered on the cart page over at RS, for the discount to take effect

however our postal system has just introduced a system which pretty much guarantees import costs now, where as before it was much more hit and miss, so importing things just got a bit less interesting

damn, that sucks

[FinalBaton]

Speaking of expensive : the Patlabor tv series sets are $50 each everywhere I looked, and there's 4 of em to cover the series. Ouch... I'll be watching those online. lol

[Ji-L87]

Speaking of expensive : the Patlabor tv series sets are $50 each everywhere I looked, and there's 4 of em to cover the series. Ouch... I'll be watching those online. lol

Collecting all of Patlabor on physical media is an expensive road to travel, but worth it IMO. I basically bought one or per month and then watched them slowly so I didn't run out of episodes until I get some more

Edit: So is Gundam, even with sales it's a bit of an expense, if only because there's so much of it.

[FinalBaton]

If you adore it, then it's worth it no doubt. But since I'm not sure of just how much I'll like it... then it becomes a pretty expensive gamble.

I'll watch it online first and if I really, really end up digging it, then I'll consider buying on BD for sure

[Steamflogger Boss]

Speaking of expensive anime I just replaced my animeigo Macross with the ADV release. The animeigo release is def available for sale or trade. One or two discs have the micro cracking in the center issue. I had been swapping them out when I could but gave up with a rarer volume or two. It's an insanely common issue but it sucks. The discs play no problem but you have to be careful getting them out so you don't make it worse. Considering that issue I'd let it go pretty cheap.

That issue pops up with many old animeigo dvds cause they cheaped out bitd. Something worth knowing for collectors.

[FinalBaton]

Thanks for the intel on AnimEigo early dvds. I actually didn't know that. something to keep in mind

Are you talking about the MACUROSS movie "Do You Remember Love"?


Speaking of Macross, I just saw recently the CGI intro for the BD of SDF Macross. Yikes!