Dragon Ball

Mobile Suit Gundam can be enjoyed as an anime series, manga or movie. It's rather an old anime that had it's final TV run in 1980 and movie in 1982. The anime first premiered in Nagoya in 1979, and is the first of the Gundam series spin offs and sequels. Gundam actually refers to "mobile fighters" or "mobile suits".

Mobile Suit Gundam was initially not popular with viewers, and the series was canceled after 39 episodes by the show's sponsors. After negotiation, they allowed an extra 4 episodes to be shown extending it by one month. It was initially planned for 52 episodes.

The series later premiered in the USA in 2001 and followed a similar lack of ratings to that in Japan. The series was almost over when the September 2001 attacks took place in New York. After that, war themed and voilent programming was pulled from many TV networks. Mobile Suit Gundam was given another chance on the Cartoon Network's adult swim block, but again failed to generate public interest, and again pulled before completing its run.

Overview

The Principality of Zeon declares its independence from the Earth Federation, and what then ensues is a year long battle between the two. The war ravages into every continent, space colony and lunar settlement with Zeon holding the upper hand through their use of humanoid mobile suits. All is going to plan until a Zeon recon team disobeys mission orders and attacks the space colony, Side 7. In an effort to protect themselves, the citizens of Side 7 stumble across the Federation's latest weapon - the Gundam. Along with the Gundam and support from Earth Federation soldiers, a mounting defense and attack takes place.


MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM AT A GLANCE

• Director: Yoshiyuki Tomino
• Genre: Drama, Mecha, Military, Science Fiction.
• Trivia:: The original design for the Gundam was supposed to be a uniform low-visibility gray. However the show's sponsors, looking for a marketable product line, resulted in the colours being a white, red, blue and gold scheme.
• Studio: Sunrise
• Games: Games in English released by PlayStation.

Feature Film and US Release Dates:

- Mobile Suit Gundam (Mar-1981)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Soldiers of Sorrow (Jul-1981)
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Encounters in Space (Mar-1982)

Major Characters:

EARTH FEDERATION

Amuro Ray
Bright Noa
Fraw Bow
General Revil
Haro
Hayato Kobayashi
Kai Shiden
Matilda Ajan
Mirai Yashima
Ryu Jose
Sayla Mass
Slegger Law
Tem Ray

PRINCIPALITY OF ZEON

Char Aznable
Crowley Hamon
Degwin Sodo Zabi
Dozle Zabi
Garma Zabi
Giren Zabi
Kishiria Zabi
Lalah Sune
M'Quve
Ramba Ral
Black Tri-Stars


Official Gundam Website: Gundam by Bandai

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