機動戦士ガンダム Mobile Suit Gundam

There! I finished the classic of classics, the legendary First Gundam! *blows horn*
No wonder the last scene of SEED ended like that...

Now I understand why so many fans of the original Gundam stood up and cried foul when SEED appeared on the scene. However, I still think SEED stands up pretty well on its own and has its share of plot devices and some memorable (in both good and bad ways) characters.

The First Gundam is essentially a record of growth and development of the crew on White Base as they tumble through the chaos of wars and battles. Out of the whole cast that regularly access the bridge, only four people (Bright, Ryu, and the two operators that sit up there whose names I never remembered) were originally from the military. The rest are all civilians that never knew the cruelness of war first hand. During the four months that they were on-board the White Base, these young men and women saw life and death, fought down their own fears and weaknesses, went through the sweetness and bitterness of life, and finally overcame the ordeals and came to understand each other in a New Type-like fashion.

One thing I really like about the First is that while Amuro is clearly the protagonist, the other characters are not just there to fill the screen. Each and every one of them plays an important role and helps shape one another. Even Kai, who was acting even more spoiled than Amuro in the beginning, turned out to be a great man. On the Zeon side, there's also remarkable characters such as Ramba Ral and Crowley Hamon. Of course, there's the formidable and charismatic Red Comet Char. But no matter how much one grows or matures, there is no perfect person in First. There are people of great prowess and gallantry, but there is no hero figure. Even New Types are not that much different from the other people.

Speaking of which, the only thing I have complaints about is the eerie psychic brain wave battles between Seiya and Athena Amuro and Lalah. That was really weird for an Old Type like me and had me blinking a couple times before deciding not to think too much about it. I do like the "awakening" of the White Base crew at the end, though, even if it's just temporarily. After all, these people had come a long way by sticking together through all the highs and lows in support of each other.

It's a shame that the White Base got destroyed at the end. I'm not a mechanical person and don't typically find ships attractive, so I usually ignore the design of ships and vessels. I first came across White Base in the Famicom game SD Gundam 3 Eiyuu Senki and thought it was a cute horse. It even became a Pegasus in the Knight Gundam chapter. XD You can probably imagine my delight when I finally got to see the real White Base in action in First. ;)

Mecha wise, I don't really have anything to say except that Zeon sure was busy developing all those similarly ugly looking mobile suits. They all have similar names, too. No wonder they needed the mine resources on Earth (which reminds me, what's with the ceramic vase that M'Quve was obsessed with?) It must had cost them fortunes to churn out all these prototypes. I vote for Zaku on Zeon's MS, though! On a side note, I got a Zeong from a gashapon a long time ago and thought it odd to be legless. Turns out nothing was left out from the gashapon and it really is legless. It's piloted by Char in the last battle, too!

Oh, and HARO is the cutest thing! XD
Athrun, you should seriously learn from Amuro on the science of Haro making. Those colourful bouncing spheres that do nothing but utter the word "Haro" are bootleg Haros!

On a side note, there's a few other seiyuu neta beside the crossed out one above. I found it ironic that Char should shoot down Kycilia Zabi, since Gilbert ended up dying in the arms of Talia in SEED Destiny. The seiyuu of Kycilia and Amuro were enemies in Saint Seiya (Shaina and Seiya), but they were married before. Then Amuro's seiyuu married the seiyuu of Miharu. Char's seiyuu also married the seiyuu of Matilda before. Of course, there's the seiyuu of Bright (R.I.P., Suzuoki Hirotaka-san) who played Shiryu in Saint Seiya.

I've ranked the First Gundam the same as the 08th MS Team, which is the highest out of all the Gundam series I've seen so far, followed closely by SEED. Definitely recommended for any Gundam fan.

I added the ranks I gave to the series to the Quest list. There's years in between viewings of the various series so the ranks aren't really relative to each other. The only ones with no rank are Wing and Endless Waltz, which I watched before I had broadband internet and re-picked up anime after at least a 8-year blank period. Yup, I watched them in English on YTV. I'll update the ranks for them after I watch the series on DVD in Japanese.

The Quest:
機動戦士ガンダム *A
機動戦士ガンダムI
機動戦士ガンダムII 哀・戦士編
機動戦士ガンダムIII めぐりあい宇宙編
機動戦士Ζガンダム
機動戦士Ζガンダム 星を継ぐ者
機動戦士ΖガンダムII 恋人たち
機動戦士ΖガンダムIII 星の鼓動は愛
機動戦士ガンダムΖΖ
機動戦士ガンダム 逆襲のシャア *B+
機動戦士ガンダム0080 ポケットの中の戦争 *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム0083 STARDUST MEMORY
機動戦士ガンダム0083 ジオンの残光
機動戦士ガンダムF91
機動戦士Vガンダム
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 *A
機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊 ミラーズ・リポート
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -1年戦争秘録-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO -黙示録0079-
機動戦士ガンダム MS IGLOO2 重力戦線
機動武闘伝Gガンダム *B~B+
新機動戦記ガンダムW *N/A
新機動戦記ガンダムW Endless Waltz *N/A
機動新世紀ガンダムX *B-
∀ガンダム
機動戦士ガンダムSEED *A-~A
機動戦士ガンダムSEED DESTINY *B-
機動戦士ガンダムSEED C.E.73 STARGAZER *B~B+
機動戦士ガンダム00
機動戦士ガンダム00 S2