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There seem to be a ridiculous number of Gundam series, spinoffs and movies.
There also seems to be a lot of timelines, parallel universes which has
confused me more.

I've tried looking this up before, but there's a large variety of differing
answers depending on people's opinions.

As an anime fan, I think I should at least try it out. It might also help for
understanding a lot of reference jokes in other series.

Where does one start with all these? Can you watch the series as standalones
or should I start watching in a particular order?


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gundam
Where to start with Gundam?


AniDB has a nice [releation graph](http://anidb.net/perl-
bin/animedb.pl?show=rel&aid=715) regarding the different Gundam shows and
movies.

# Universal Century and related timelines

If you are interested in the original story of the [Universal
Century](http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Universal_Century) (UC) timeline and are
willing to invest a lot of time (about 74hrs), you can start off with _Mobile
Suit Gundam_ (1979-1980) show and work your way through the sequels following
the red line in the graph till the latest _Gundam Unicorn_ OVA.

_Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin_ is the OVA production following _Unicorn_ and
as the name implies it tells the background story of some characters and how
events lead to the original series. You probably don't want to start with this
if you intend to watch the original series and avoid spoilers.

_Gundam F91_ and _Victory Gundam_ are also part of UC, but are of a new
generation (referred as Late UC) with completely new characters and parties.
While _F91_ features similar spaceship and mobile suit designs as well as
similar uniforms, and rather falls in the category of a side story, _V_ seems
to be completely unrelated from my point of view, this also applies to _Gundam
Reconguista in G_ which is set in [Regild
Century](http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Regild_Century), a period 500 years
after _Turn A Gundam_.

The summary movies of the original show feature new scenes, but I don't
recommend watching them instead of the show, rather watch them when watching
side stories.

[code]

          140 TV show episodes ((43+50+47)*25min)
           13 OVA episodes (12*30min+25min)
            1 film (120min)
            7 OVA episodes (6*60min+90min)
    Total: 74hrs 15min
    
[/code]

# UC unrelated timelines

A [page listing most Gundam series timelines and related
works](http://gundam.wikia.com/wiki/Gundam_Wiki:Series) is also available in
Gundam Wikia. Currently these timelines are in order of production dates:
Future Century, After Colony, After War, Cosmic Era, Anno Domini, Advanced
Generation and Post Disaster. Shows set in these timelines may share some
Gundam specific traits, but they were created to be aired on TV and watched
independently to attract new viewers or younger audiences, while loyal fans of
the original series are treated with OVAs set in UC.

* * *

In the comments above
[senshin](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/1908/senshin) found a guide
(see below) that includes most of the shows (at least the various SD Gundam
shows are missing, which benefits clarity) up until _Gundam AGE_ and _Gundam
Unicorn_ , listing pros & cons for each show.

**Spoiler warning:** I found spoilers in _V_ (con) and _00 S2_ (con), there
may be more.

Link: [Gundam Series guide from /m/](http://i4.minus.com/ibqmrR7wH0gcDp.jpg)


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As [LiveWireBT](https://anime.stackexchange.com/users/2590/livewirebt) and
this [link](https://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/8717/60220) suggest, UC was the
longest Gundam timeline. And worth to be checked. I personally have watched
and recommend Gundam Seed, Gundam 00, and Gundam Unicorn. As they shared a lot
similarities about earthlings and spacenoids conflict.


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I would definately recommend 00 (sans movie- that may be canon but it was
originally supposed to be a seed movie till the lead writer had cancer so they
shifted to 00 as that was the anime at the time), seed (destiny if you want to
but wouldnt really recommend) and iron-blooded orphans (tekketsu-no orphans -
season 2 out in october and s1 just finished).

if your after just fights: try build fighters or build fighters try


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