Gundam is one of the biggest mecha anime franchises of all time. With dozens of series and OVAs to choose from, there are so many ways to start your anime journey. (Not to mention the many video games)
Eventually, you’ll venture into their selection of films that are just as vast and diverse. While it might take you to watch a couple of series to understand most of the movies, each one offers an awesome experience.
Here are 5 Best Gundam movies you can watch now.
1. Gundam Movie Trilogy
This movie trilogy is not only the first set of Gundam movies to be released, but it also helped establish the original series as a major anime franchise. A huge financial success, the movie is a compilation of the original series split into three parts.
While there may be differences between the original series and the movies, it is still one of the best animated cinematic experiences, and a great way to start of your Gundam anime journey if you’re a newcomer.
2. Char’s Counterattack
The culmination of Amuro Ray vs. Char Aznable, Gundam’s greatest rivalry, concludes with Char’s Counterattack. Widely regarded as one of the finest Gundam animated works, this thrilling finale of a movie offered some of the most iconic scenes in the franchise, while ending another chapter in the long history of the Universal Century.
Apart from that, it showed how Gundam can be a successful cinematic experience, and create a story arc that will be remembered decades after.
3. Gundam Hathaway
While this is only the first part of an ongoing movie trilogy, Gundam Hathaway shows us how much the franchise can grow in the next decade, and provided us with one of the best animated works of 2021.
Gundam Hathaway continues the story set by Char’s Counterattack, Unicorn, and Narrative by moving on to Hathway Noa, son of iconic captain Bright Noa, in his journey to overthrow the Earth Federation.
With beautiful animation and backdrops, and battle scenes that make you hungry for more, Hathaway is a great start to a trilogy that looks to push Universal Century to new heights.
4. Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer
Gundam 00 is one of the best AU series of the 2000s, creating a fresh new twist to the classic Gundam story through solid world building and politics that made the previous series great.
While Gundam 00: A Wakening of the Trailblazer had less of that and focused on extraterrestrial conflict, it was still a fitting end to the story. With some of the best battle scenes of 2000s Gundam, along with a crazy story that just goes up to eleven, this is another movie worth seeing.
5. Gundam F91
A personal favorite here at The Geeky Juans, Gundam F91 is a movie with an interesting story on how it came to be. Intended to be the next big series in the franchise, it was suddenly turned into a movie, sacrificing long-term storytelling and going for something like a Star Wars movie.
While it may have had flaws in story and pace, Gundam F91 is still a fun experience that showcases one of the coolest Gundam designs, and a protagonist (Seabook Arno) that would become one of the best after the movie’s conclusion.
Conclusion
Gundam is an anime franchise that has proven time and time again that it can provide great cinematic experiences. These 5 movies are great examples that Gundam can be enjoyed outside of a series and OVA/ONA format.
If you’re looking for more Gundam content, you can check out 5 Gundam Series for Newcomers, and Gundam Starter Pack 2020 on Spotify.
About the Author
A former teacher and guitarist, Jude (Twitter, Instagram) is currently a writer that covers video games and is one of the co-hosts of The Geeky Juans. Apart from hosting the podcast, you can also catch him streaming at Dude It’s Jude on Facebook.
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