Mobile Suit Gundam
"It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century. A half-century has passed since Earth began moving its burgeoning population into gigantic orbiting space colonies. A new home for mankind, where people are born and raised... and die."
- – The opening narration for the original Gundam 0079
Giant Robots have been a staple of media east and west since the 1950s. But it was only in 1979 that Japanese animator and all-around madlad Yoshiyuki Tomino chose to use them to tell a tale of war and the costs of war, of the use of giant robots as weapons no different from tanks and planes. From such seeds would be borne not only an Anime franchise, but an entire genre that would go on to redefine not just Anime, but tabletop wargaming, video games and much, much more.
Basically, Gundam is to Japan what Star Wars is to the United States. A tentpole of popular sci-fi media, a property that has grown and changed with generations and shows no signs of slowing down. Its influence can be felt everywhere, especially in the Traditional Games sphere where everything from Battletech to the Tau owe at least something to Gundam.
The Gundam Multiverse
Because Gundam is a "theme" more than it is a strictly defined setting in the conventional sense, this has led to a lot of different experiments with that core theme, telling and retelling he basic concept in many ways and birthing its own universe, some branches of which have gotten multiple explorations via multiple anime series and/or OAVs. Now, obviously, we're not going to fucking handhold you through all the differences, but we will be nice ad give you a very basic rundown of the different Gundam realities.
Universal Century
This is the original, OG Gundam setting, the Prime Material Plane from which sprang the entire multiverse of Gundam we know today. As a result, there are more series and OAVs set in this continuity than in any other.
It all begins in the Year 0079 of the Universal Century (from whence this timeline gets its name). Decades ago, humanity united under the EArth Federation and then colonized the solar system with a series of free-floating country-sized space stations. However, some of those space colonies have united to form the power-bloc known as the Principality of Zeon, which desires nothing less than to be formally recognized as an independent sovereign nation, free of the Earth Federation's control. When the Federation wouldn't give it to them, Zeon responded in a calm, level manner.
...By which we mean they invented Mobile Suit technology, wiped out half of Earth's population with a combination of mass-scale nerve gas attacks, nuclear weaponry and massacring a Federation-loyal space colony before dropping it on Earth. They were surprised when the Federation refused to surrender, and now the war is raging on both Earth and in space.
The story of the Universal Century truly begins on a Federation-allied space colony, which has secretly begun production of two new super prototypes for the Federation military; an assault carrier spaceship called the White Base, and an ultra-advanced Mobile Suit, the titular Gundam. Zeon gets wind of these and goes after the colony, which leads to it being destroyed and the colony's survivors fleeing to Earth aboard the White Base, with a young prodigy named Amuro Ray piloting the Gundam to protect them. Thus begins the long, long bloody conflicts to follow...
The Universal Century is famous (or perhaps infamous) for its efforts to try and present both sides as morally ambiguous. The Principality of Zeon draws very heavily from Nazi trappings and ideology, right down to viewing "spacenoids" (humans conceived and born in zero-gravity) as a superior race, and atrocities are practically their go-to tactic in war; gassing neutral colonies to scare others into signing up with them, launching nuclear bombardments, dropping colonies and meteors on Earth... seriously, the amount of war crimes that Zeon commits over the course of these series is ridiculous. And yet the Zeon officers we see tend to be noble, principled, efficient and genuinely idealistic, with a minority of raving bloodthirsty madmen (such as the founders of the movement). In contrast, the Earth Federation tends to be our nominal protagonist side, as well as the recurring victim of Zeon's onslaughts, and yet the people in charge of the whole shebang tend to be venal, self-centered, short-sighted and apallingly corrupt and astonishingly incompetent.
One of the few non-"Real Robot" elements of this dimension is the concept of Newtypes, which are basically spacenoids who have vaguely defined psionics, largely centering around extra-sensory perceptive skills that make them super-deadly Mobile Sit pilots, with some telepathy thrown on top.
- Mobile Suit Gundam (1979-1980 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985-1986 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986-1987 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (1988 movie)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991 movie)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory (1991-1992 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (1993-1994 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (1996-1999 OVA)
- G-Saviour (2000 live-action movie)
- Mobile Suit Gundam MS IGLOO (2004-2009 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010-2014 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015-2018 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015-2017 ONA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight AXIS (2017 ONA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018 movie)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash (2021-ongoing movie trilogy)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Cucuruz Doans Island (2022 movie)
Future Century
Generally summed up as "Gundam's take on a Super Robot" show, though even Neon Genesis Evangelion would laugh at how low-powered the Gundams are.
In this dimension, most of Earth's population have abandoned their mother planet to settle on a series of nation-based (and heavily stylized) space colonies, leaving the planet to the impoverished and unwanted. To resolve disputes amongst themselves, and to elect temporary federal leaders, the colonies have created the Gundam Fight: a ritualized combat held every four years. Each colony deploys a single warrior in a Mobile Suit to Earth, and these warriors seek each other out and battle until just one remains standing - killing is prohibited, and a fighter is eliminated if the head of their Gundam is destroyed. Whichever country is represented by the winning Gundam becomes ruler of the space federation, until the next Gundam Fight.
We are introduced to Future Century in the year FC 60, the year of the 13th Gundam Fight. This tournament is different, however. Neo-Japan's Gundam Fighter, Domon Kasshu, has a secret mission: to hunt down the Devil Gundam (or "Dark Gundam", as the English Dub called it); a gigantic, AI-controlled, nanomachine-backed monstrosity that was originally supposed to reconstruct Earth after all the damage it has taken from the last twelve Gundam Fights, but which has gone haywire and now wants to annihilate humanity with the aid of its ever-growing army of Mobile Suit drones controlled by nanotech zombies.
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994-1995 TV series)
After Colony
This timeline can be crudely summed up as "What if Zeon actually was a bunch of heroic freedom fighters and not a bunch of self-righteous Space Nazi douchebags?"
In the year After Colony 195, the United Earth Sphere Alliance rules over the collective peoples of Earth, the Moon and the space colonies with an iron fist. Five colonies unite in secret to rebel against this dictatorship and commence with Operation Meteor: sending 5 super-powered Mobile Suit prototypes, the Gundams, to Earth to carry out a guerilla campaign against the UESA's military. These five Gundam pilots are our heroes.
Widely considered to have been the series that got women interested in mecha series or even anime as a whole due to its cast of prettyboy protagonists.
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995-1996 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1997 OVA)
After War
Remember how Zeon really likes to drop big things on Earth? Yeah, this series shows a more realistic look at what that'd actually do to the planet.
The year is AW 0015, and Earth is a mangled wasteland after a war between the Earth Federation and the Space Colonies wiped out 99% of the human population in the solar system. A group of "Vultures", people who scavenge the ruins of civilization for salvage, inadvertently discover the Gundam X, the last and most powerful Mobile Suit invented for the war, and inadvertently become caught up in efforts to promote an entirely new war.
Notable as the first continuity after Universal Century to feature Newtypes.
- After War Gundam X (1996 TV series)
Correct Century
Many Gundam-verses are Post-Apocalyptic to some extent or other. This one takes that idea a lot further.
It is the turn of the 20th century, and humanity is at peace. What they don't know is that they are not the first iteration of humanity; they are the ignorant inheritors of a world that has healed since it was devastated in a cataclysmic event long ago. And not all of their precursors were wiped out. In fact, a vast stasis vault exists on the moon, and this "Moonrace" intends to reclaim the world they once lived on. And if the natives don't like it? Tough.
As the series begins, the Moonrace begins an open invasion of Earth, only to find themselves stymied by one of their own, a scout named Loran Cehack, whose years on Earth ahead of the invasion have caused him to go native. When he discovers an ancient, ultra-powerful Mobile Suit buried in the earth, he becomes the last defender of Earth's heirs against the Moonrace - and in time will learn the dark secret history that even the Moonrace doesn't know.
One of the very few Gundam animes to never receive an English dub, the Correct Century has one of the most ambitious core concepts in Gundam's meta-history, as its creator officially proclaimed it to be the canonical future for every single other Gundam continuity, before and after its release, simultaneously. Fans, however, largely reacted by calling "bullshit", whether from the obvious continuity problems that this causes or from sheer emotional disgruntlement at the grimness this retcons into the happy endings of Gundam-verses like Future Century and After War. Even the people who own the meta-series seem to have decided to ignore this idea.
- ∀ ("Turn A") Gundam (1999-2000 TV series)
Cosmic Era
Often considered an attempt to update and remake the Universal Century timeline.
In the Cosmic Era, Earth has largely united under the world-government known as the Earth Alliance, with some stand-out nations. Early in the Cosmic Era, advances in genetic modification led to the creation of a new breed of human, augmented on the DNA level in-utero to be faster, stronger, healthier, and especially smarter than baseline humanity. Who took that about as well as you'd think. The EA's other major achievement was the creation of the PLANTs; huge, hourglass-shaped space colonies meant for use as orbital manufacturing and R&D centers. Almost all Coordinators now live on the PLANTs, both because the first generation fled there to escape prejudice from the "Naturals" on Earth below and because the PLANTS universally lack the law on Earth that prohibits gene-boosting unborn babies. This has led to a growing PLANT-independence movement, calling itself "ZAFT", but the Earth Alliance is not exactly interested in giving up one of its major sources of technology, resources and wealth.
So ZAFT decides to pull a Zeon, cross-pollinating their PLANT indepence movement with Coordinator supremacist and anti-Natural movements and deciding to launch a full-scale war, with plenty of war crimes on top. This leads to both ZAFT and the EA pressuring the neutral nations represented both on Earth and in space to join their side.
Our story begins in Heliopolis, a PLANT founded and maintained by the neutral nation Orb. Heliopolis is secretly developing two new superweapons to protect itself against attempts by either the Earth Alliance or ZAFT to force its hand; a super-battleship called the Archangel, and a superior new Mobile Suit model called the Gundam. When ZAFT attacks Heliopolis, the colony is almost destroyed and the survivors are forced to flee aboard the Archangel, with a young Coordinator prodigy named Kira Yamato conscripted to pilot the Gundam to defend the ship as it makes the long journey back to Earth.
...You can see where the idea that this verse is a reboot of Universal Century came from, huh?
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002-2003 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV Astray (2004 OVA)
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (2004-2005 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer (2006 ONA)
Ano Domini
It is the year AD 2307 (hey, look at that; a Gundam-verse without a made-up calendar!) and the nations of Earth have colaesced into three super-powers:
- The Union of Solar Energy and Free Nations (or "Union,") composed of North and South America, Australia, and Japan.
- The Human Reform League (or "HRL,") composed of Southern/Eastern Asia (primarily half of Russia, China, India, and the surrounding nations).
- The Advanced European Union (or "AEU,") composed of essentially the modern European Union, and possibly some, if not all, of Africa.
Due to the near total exhaustion of Earth's supplies of fossil fuels, humanity has turned to solar power, constructing a vast ring-shaped orbital solar collector array in orbit around the equator, with each of the three super powers controlling one of the three "Orbital Elevators" that allows humanity to access the energy harvested from above - Union's in South America, HRL's in the Pacific Ocean, AEU's in Africa. Despite having cooperated to build and maintain the thing, this has done nothing to negate humanity's warlike nature, with war having become almost a game as each of the super powers uses military actions to make power plays over the three Orbital Elevators.
Enter the shadowy cult known as Celestial Being, who have come up with a totally ludicrous plan: to eliminate war by attacking all three forces indiscriminately, making themselves an enemy that will force humanity's collective unification before destroying that same collective military might and squashing humanity's stomach to war. To achieve this plan, they deploy four super-advanced mechas called "Gundams" to wage their terrorist campaign: the pilots of these four machines are our protagonists.
Basically, if Cosmic Era is a revamped Universal Century, then Ano Domini gives the same treatment to the After Colony timeline.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007-2009 TV series)
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00 the Movie: A Wakening of the Trailblazer (2010 movie)
Advanced Generation
AKA "Gundam does Robotech". Seriously. The basic concept here is that we follow a literal Hundred Year War fought with mecha, focusing on three generations of pilots; Flit Asuno, his son Asemu Asuno, and his grandson Kio Asuno.
It all starts when a mysterious hostile force attacks the Earth Federation from space. Dubbing their foes simply "The Unknown Enemy" (though they will later reveal their identity as the Vagan), they hire Flit Asuno, a young cybernetics and engineering progidy, to build them the ultimate weapon to counterattack the UE; the Gundam AGE-1. When its designated pilot is injured in a UE attack, Flit is drafted to pilot his creation instead. The destruction of his second home colony lands him on the battleship Diva, piloted by a rogue captain who is determined to battle the UE in defiance of the Federation's sluggish response to the threat. Flit uses the Gundam to protect colonies from the UE and in general to be a savior for humanity. It ends in tragedy and a dark revelation about the true nature of the Federation, and Flit embarks on a lifelong path of vengeance.
The second generation starts twenty-five years later and follows Flit's son, Asemu. He is given the Gundam as a sort of coming-of-age present by Flit on his seventeenth birthday, befriends Zeheart Galette in his last year of school, and is devastated when Zeheart turns out to be a Vagan agent. Although he is kind-hearted by nature, Asemu joins the military to follow and impress his father. Their relationship becomes increasingly strained as their viewpoints on war diverge and Asemu struggles with his continued friendly feelings towards Zeheart.
The third generation follows Kio, Asemu's son and Flit's grandson, who is only thirteen when he inherits the Gundam. The Vagan reveal their Earth-based sleeper agents on the anniversary of their first attack on the Federation and quickly turn Earth into a battlefield. Flit unveils the AGE-3 and puts Kio into it, having secretly trained him with flight simulators, and the Diva is brought out of mothballs to fight the new threat on Earth before returning to space.
- Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2011-2012 TV series)
Regild Century
Our first continuity to be distinctly linked to another continuity, at least if you don't count the vague handwave of the Correct Century being the distant future of all the previous Gundam-verses.
It is Regild Century 1014, more than a millennium since the Universal Century ended. Bellri Zenam is a cadet of the Capital Guards, charged with protecting the Space Elevator called the Capital Tower, mankind's most important link with space and source of the priceless photon batteries. Suddenly, the Tower is attacked by space pirates and Bellri encounters an unknown mobile suit called the G-Self, piloted by one of the space pirates, Aida Rayhunton. Somehow, Bellri is able to operate the G-Self, which is supposed to be operated only by a select few. Bellri ends up joining the space pirates to fight the emergent Capital Army and an unknown threat from space. Through his adventures he will learn about the mysteries shrouded in the Regild Century, including his own history.
- Gundam: Reconguista in G (2014-2015 TV series)
Post Disaster
It is the year Post Disaster 323, that is, over three hundred years after the Calamity War which brought destructive change to Earth's government. Mars has long been colonized, but suffers under crippling poverty, and now some of its colonies are seeking independence.
The Martian city of Chryse is a hotbed of the independence movement, spearheaded by Kudelia Aina Bernstein — the young daughter of an upper-class family. Earth has hired Private Military Contractor Chryse Guard Security (CGS) to enforce Earth's rule of the Chryse region. CGS's Third Group — made up entirely of Child Soldiers, orphans taken off the streets and children of extremely poor families — is given a special assignment: escort Kudelia to Earth to begin informal talks between the Earth government and the Martian independence movement. However, before they can even leave for Earth, CGS is attacked by Gjallarhorn, an elite military unit from Earth. The adults of CGS's first group order the Third Group to Hold the Line against the attack... while the First Group flee to safety, leaving the Third Group behind as Cannon Fodder.
The leader of the Third Group, Orga Itsuka, is not prepared to take this lying down. He orders Mikazuki Augus, his most loyal supporter and the Third Group's Ace Pilot, to enter the fray with the ASW-G-08 Gundam Barbatos — an ancient mobile suit from the Calamity War era, used by the CGS to provide power to their base. Armed with this ancient machine, Mikazuki fends off Gjallarhorn and saves the Third Group. The First Group's casual sacrifice of the Third Group is the last straw in a long line of abuse, and Orga begins taking steps to ensure that the Third Group won't have to suffer such treatment again...
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015-2017 TV series)
Ad Stella
Set in the year 122 of the Ad Stella (A.S.) calendar, a timeline that can best be described as 'the future Jeff Bezos/Elon Musk wish to build', AKA a corporate capitalist dystopia where a multitude of corporations have entered space and built a huge economic system, leaving the Earth and the people on it to rot. Making it an inversion of most Gundam Timelines where it is the Earth oppressing the people of space. A lone girl from the remote planet Mercury transfers to the Asticassia School of Technology, run by the megacorp conglomerate Beneritt Group which dominates the mobile suit industry.
Notable, and not always in a welcoming way, for being a) the first series with a female lead, and b) the first series with an explicit no-take-backsies 100% real no "they're just friends going through a phase" homosexual relationship.
- Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury (2022 TV series)