Gundam
Gundam is an anime science fiction franchise running from 1979 to the present. The series is named for the titular Mecha.
Universes
The Gundam franchise is divided into several different and distinct universes with their own continuities. These are generally named after the calendar system used, as the Gregorian calendar is usually abandoned for unspecified reasons.
- Universal Century
- Future Century
- After Colony
- Turn A Gundam
- Cosmic Era
- Anno Domini
Setting
The Gundam universes all universally lack FTL drive technology and are for the most part confined to the Inner Planets of Sol System.
The general setting of the Gundam universes involves Earth's Lagrange points having been heavily colonized with thousands of space stations, and said colonies are at war with Earth-based nations, though varies between series which is the overall antagonist faction, and in some cases both of them are. For various reasons, these nations have taken to making use of humanoid mecha known as Mobile Suits (and occasionally non-humanoid mecha known as Mobile Armors) as their primary Armored Fighting Vehicles in space and on the ground.
Relatively speaking, the franchise tries to take a more realistic approach with the mecha (the Gundams) used by the protagonists. The Gundams' weapons can run out of ammo, the Gundams can get damaged, and it isn't uncommon for them to be destroyed (in a noticeable number of series, there's a trend for the protagonist's Gundam to be destroyed part way through the series and replaced with a stronger one). Some of the series, however, depart from this approach. The Gundams in Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed Destiny for example, end up being able to practically fight entire major battles without any help.
The series' other main focus is to give war a more realistic depiction, in the sense that in war nobody is really good or evil.
Detailed Series List
- Mobile Suit Gundam
- Zeta Gundam
- Gundam ZZ
- Char's Counterattack
- Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
- Gundam F91
- Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
- Victory Gundam
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam
- Gundam Wing
- Gundam: The 08th MS Team
- Gundam X
- Gundam Wing Endless Waltz
- Turn A Gundam
- G-Saviour
- Gundam SEED
- Gundam SEED Destiny
- Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Stargazer
- Gundam MS IGLOO: Apocalypse 0079
- Gundam MS IGLOO: The Gravity Front
- Gundam 00
- Gundam Unicorn
- Gundam AGE
Gundam in verses debate
Gundam occasionally pops up in verses debates. However it is normally ranked low in power compared to other science fiction universes due to the lack of any FTL drive system and the limited scale of the Gundam universe (generally limited to the inner planets of Sol system, and rarely taking place on any planet other than earth, the moon and Lagrange Points). The United Federation of Planets is generally considered to be more than sufficient to deal with most gundam universes.