What Anime are you Currently Watching?/Anime Recommendations

[ZeroAX]

Any suggestions on starting Gundam? I want to start looking into it, but the whole outlook is somewhat overwhelming...

Also, any suggestions for anything that isn't really harem/lovey dovey stuff or crappy animation? I've gone with some suggestions lately, but they've all been based on relationships, have crappy animations, or are almost porn, so, I need some help here. Maybe some medieval/combat oriented/samurai stuff?

Wing is by far the best one. You could also watch Code Geass: Lerouch of the Rebellion (there are 2 seasons, the second one called R2), which is made from the same company, is similar with Gundam (robots + politics), but also adds a bit of death note to the mix.

[MrPopo]

Any suggestions on starting Gundam? I want to start looking into it, but the whole outlook is somewhat overwhelming...

Gundam Wing is a good stand-alone series and was done in the mid-90s, so the animation is pretty good. There's a lot of philosophizing in it about the nature of war, though.

The original Mobile Suit Gundam really does show its age. Zeta Gundam does as well, but I think it holds up better than the original.

The way the universe is set out, you've got the following:

Universal Century main timeline:
Mobile Suit Gundam
08th MS Team
0080 War in the Pocket
0083 Stardust Memory
Zeta Gundam
ZZ Gundam
Char's Counterattack

That puts a good wrap on the original series. There are a few other UC shows, but they're set pretty far after Char's Counterattack and are new storylines in the same universe.

Then you have several alternate universe shows:
G Gundam
Gundam Wing
Gundam X
Turn A Gundam
Gundam 00

These all use the same basis of giant robots named Gundams and their use in war, but they treat it differently.

[ZeroAX]

You forgot Gundam Seed but I didn't really like that one too much...

[Nemoide]

I'm fairly new to Gundam, and have been really liking what I've seen so far.
I'd recommend starting with the original "Mobile Suit Gundam" movie trilogy. They're a condensation of the original series but are generally considered superior. The original series has some serious pacing issues and can really drag at times - the movies fix that.

The unfortunate thing about so much of Gundam is that it refers to the original series (or movie trilogy) a lot, so it's tough to appreciate modern Gundam without the stuff from the 70s.

I know Gundam Wing is the most popular Gundam in the US (it was on Cartoon Network), but a lot of "hardcore" fans don't like it and it's probably safe to say it isn't representative of Gundam as a whole. I'm not sure how well it holds up either, since it's very "NEW FOR THE 90s."

[brunoafh]

I would direct a Gundam newcomer to the original series. I haven't seen the movie trilogy but the original series is one of my favorite Gundams and for a 70s show it holds up very well. It is responsible for one of the biggest anime franchises ever, after all. It has all the things that makes Gundam appealing and production quality-wise you can only go up after seeing it.

For someone unwilling to deal with dated animation I would probably direct them to Turn A, which again does pretty much everything that makes Gundam appealing, and very well.

I wouldn't start with one of the alternate universe series (Turn A isn't alternative universe). All of them are very hit or miss and will probably give you a false interpretation as to what the franchise is like.

[KillerJuan77]

A few weeks ago I decided that I should rewatch Evangelion and also watch the 2 movies (Death & Rebirth and The End Of Evangelion) so I'm now watching the Rebuild of Evangelion. The first one was great (And the animation is absolutely stunning) so I'm watching the 2nd. one today.

Also, does anyone else finds it ironic that the 3rd. one is called "You can (not) redo" even though the film is a remake?

[Xeogred]

I'm fairly new to Gundam, and have been really liking what I've seen so far.
I'd recommend starting with the original "Mobile Suit Gundam" movie trilogy. They're a condensation of the original series but are generally considered superior. The original series has some serious pacing issues and can really drag at times - the movies fix that.

The unfortunate thing about so much of Gundam is that it refers to the original series (or movie trilogy) a lot, so it's tough to appreciate modern Gundam without the stuff from the 70s.

I know Gundam Wing is the most popular Gundam in the US (it was on Cartoon Network), but a lot of "hardcore" fans don't like it and it's probably safe to say it isn't representative of Gundam as a whole. I'm not sure how well it holds up either, since it's very "NEW FOR THE 90s."

This. I really tried watching Wing again last year (I hated it back when it was on Toonami, should've known better...) and I rarely drop shows, but I wasn't going to stomach anymore of that. That one and 00, are just awful. Utterly one dimensional characters, tries to be edgy, and Gundam Wing has the most insane plot armor I've ever seen. The main characters would come in and literally blow up ~5 mech's with one bullet, even the action was incredibly boring because of how over the top and invincible they were. There's a scene where one guy gets blown out of the cockpit and lands on the ground (few stories high) with a few scratches, then later he rolls down a mountain practically and it's alright, no biggie. None of the main characters liked each other and it wasn't amusing in the least, it felt like the series had no main character and nobody to root or care for.

The Chinese dude in the show has to be one of the most annoying characters I've ever seen. There's an episode where they're at some camp and he's crying about not caring to fight because he doesn't have to, while all these people are dying left and right in this battle at a camp. Finally something happens and he cares again. Literally episodes later he's preaching to others about not standing up for people and protecting them. Damn it was hilariously bad.

The original series is like the Star Wars of Japan. I went with the movies myself and loved them. Then from there there's Zeta (my personal favorite), and the rest of the UC stuff. There's plenty of standalone OVA's, like 8th MS Team, 0080, 0083, and the newest Unicorn which is awesome so far, but you get a lot more out of them if you've seen the original stuff first.

For the Alternate Universe (AU) stuff (stand alone shows with their own worlds/stories), G Gundam is awesome but not always for everyone and certainly a different take on the franchise. Gundam X is really good and I have to wonder if it could have saved Toonami if they aired it back in the day, it's awesome and good 90's fun, way better than Wing. Turn A is pretty unorthodox and a bit weirder, I'd say get some other Gundam shows under your belt before watching it.

After that, all the other shows have just been horrible copies of the original. SEED, 00 (season two just stripped out every plot element from Zeta, like SEED Destiny did apparently too). I'm not one that really cares about retelling the same stories in some stuff, but these shows were just simply average at best to me and nothing I'll care to say much about or rewatch.

I love Gundam, but I love to hate half of them too.

[ZeroAX]

Interesting post. I really liked Gundam X too. I don't know if I would call Gundam Wing that weird (btw I think 3/5 of the pilots were likable. Now Hiro and the chinese guy....). I mean Gundam Seed made waaaaaaaaaaaaaay less sense to me. And Gundam 00 I could not watch, cause the pretentious factor in the first episodes goes through the roof, and I could see that it would be another boring story like Gundam Seed.

So you think I should watch the original stuff? I only watched 2 series and I found kind of boring, but perhaps that's because I went into them with the wrong mentality (Wing was probably the "blockbuster" version of Gundam, while the older ones seemed more about creating and expanding a world, but because I had not watched the original series, that was lost on me).

I think I had watched 08th MS team (I THINK) and the other was about an enemy falling in a colony and becoming friends with a kid, I think? It's been 10 years so my memory on the series ain't that fresh.

EDIT

Which reminds me, any good anime with pseudo-politics, wars, revolutions ect? Preferably in a modern or futuristic/sci-fi setting (I never liked Medieval fantasy stuff)

[MrPopo]

I haven't gotten around to watching it, but VOTOMs is a war anime using much more realistic mecha.

[brunoafh]

Which reminds me, any good anime with pseudo-politics, wars, revolutions ect? Preferably in a modern or futuristic/sci-fi setting (I never liked Medieval fantasy stuff)

Definitely Votoms. Dougram and Legend of the Galactic Heroes probably fit the bill too.