BoardChiri Bad Acting and worse Bad Screenplay

Catangro After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Ortiz Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

Monique One of those movie experiences that is so good it makes you realize you've been grading everything else on a curve.

filmfan1991 Yoshiyuki Tomino's 1979 "Mobile Suit Gundam" started the Real Robot craze in Japan where in anime there was more focus on plot and character development and the robots them self's were treated as weapons of war and not as the Saturday morning cartoon superheroes they were portrayed as back in the early to mid 70s. Set in a fictional universe in the Universal Century year 0079, the Principality of Zeon has declared independence from the Earth Federation, and subsequently launched a war of independence. The conflict has directly affected every continent on earth, also nearly every space colony and lunar settlement. Zeon, though smaller, has the tactical upper hand through their use of a new type of humanoid weapons called mobile suits. After half of all humanity perishes in the conflict, the war settled into a bitter stalemate lasting over 8 months. Enter teenage Amuro Ray from Side 7 who along with his close friends are thrust into the harsh realities of war and pay the consequences.For its time the animation was good but nowadays looks clunky and dated. Some of the episodes follow the monster of the week pattern. But beneath this is a great multi layered story of war, loss of innocence, coming of age and of course the blurred line between good and evil.The voice acting is one of the highlights of the TV show. Mobile suit Gundam launched the careers of famous Japanese voice actors Toru Furuya and Shuichi Ikeda for their portrayals as Amuro Ray and his rival in zeon Char Aznable respectively. The English dub is good as well with Brad Swaile as Amuro and Michael Kopsa as Char."Mobile Suit Gundam" is not a show to be missed by mecha fans or hardcore fans of anime in general. The animation might be dated but the story and characters are what drive the show. Don't miss it.

xamtaro I am not what people might call a "long time fan". My first Gundam show was "Gundam Seed" for crying out loud. I have heard the outcry of many fans as to the unoriginality of Gundam Seed, hence i decided to "go back to the source" and check out the original 1979 Gundam series: The legend that started it all. My chance came when it was shown on local TV for a while(too bad it never completed its run and was replaced by the 3rd rerun of Gundam seed again) "Oh the horror!". My thoughts exactly as i sat through the painfully campy opening theme song. As i shook my head in disgust over the horrendously childish lyrics that sounded like some rejected theme song from Tetsuwan Atom(Astro Boy to you guys in the west), i prepared myself for the worse disappointment in my life.And i was so proved wrong.Gundam's story was anything BUT childish or campy. I presented a very real and very engaging war story about a gifted youngster and his friends thrown into the heat of combat by circumstance. The story goes that "The Principality of Zeon" wages war with the Earth Federation over authority in the outlying space colonies. The war soon spreads to the colony "side 7" where our main character, Amuro Ray, resides. Following an unprovoked attack on the colony, Amuro and his friends stumble across the prototype Federation mobile suit called "Gundam". A series of events lead up to our unlikely heroes landing on board and becoming drafted as the crew of "White Base", a powerful Federation space carrier commanded by the then ensign Bright Noa. This motley gang soon learn to work together and in due time, they and Gundam come to play a pivotal role in the war.I was at first impressed by how The drama and inter character relationships and interactions play out as good as some live action TV shows and they manage to engage you on an emotional level that many anime fail to. You get a sense that the characters really grow and evolve as the story moves along, never falling too far into the usual stock character stereotypes. Aside from some well developed characters, I like how the story manages to weave in some underlying philosophies and thought provoking points of view on war. It lends an edge to the show that makes it a whole lot "smarter" than your average shonen adventure or super robot series.I actually found myself more interested in the ZEON side of the conflict. There was a subplot of political backstabbing and "power-play" among the ruling party of ZEON. Very intriguing. What was more intriguing was the mysterious Char Aznable. Aside from being a highly skilled mobile suit pilot and "rival" to Amuro Ray, bits and pieces of his past and ulterior motives are revealed little by little in such a way that makes you want to know more about him. He is easily my favorite character among all the characters from various gundam series.True to the hype, the numerous battles in Gundam are done so much more realistically than the more recent Gundam Seed and Gundam 00. Also, there is a greater emphasis on teamwork between Amuro in the Gundam, the weapons and support team on White Base and the other pilots in the other mobile suits. The inexperience of the crew and the vulnerability of the Gundam make each battle a true nail-biter with a greater sense of true peril than battles in the recent Gundam series. Admittedly, this is not an easy series to get into, mainly due to its age. Already mediocre compared to other anime series that came out in the late 70s and 80s, the animation style is painfully dated compared to today's fare. But I urge all you people who are hungry for some well thought out war drama to look past the superficial aspects and embrace the essence of what Gundam is.Look past the dated animation, skip the opening theme song if you must, and you will find out why MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM is such a well respected and influential anime classic.PS: Why is Gundam Seed's picture there? This is supposed to be the original Gundam, not Gundam Seed.

Matt Fokker (drakeluft) Quite possibly the greatest and most influential Japanese science fiction ever made, Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) has spawned numerous TV and movie sequels, spin-offs, and remakes, as well as a multitude of written media, comics, and video games. Sometimes referred to as Japan's "Star Wars," Mobile Suit Gundam elevated mecha shows from semi-superhero "Super Robots" into the realm of hard Sci-Fi. Set in a realistic future earth-sphere, painted on the backdrop of a war for independence, is a wonderful character drama with plenty of action as well. Mobile Suit Gundam redefined animation in Japan, and it's influence is visible in modern "anime" works; it elevated animation beyond juvenile entertainment into mature stories, and Japan is still one of the only countries that views the animation medium as being capable of such.

Hanage Until this story came out, animated story was considered one for kids. This story talked about a war for the very first time. There were no good guy or bad guy who would confront each other. There were two different justices for both sides and not only just simple purpose as "justice", but also there were intrigues, doubts, treacheries, and personal grudges in both sides. Since this story talked about a war, it also covered for civilian casualities which lead to an uncountable number of orphans, refugees, minors who were forced to fight, and painful separations of such minors and their families.After this, story like simple confrontation of good and evil is considered one for really small kids.