Project Gundam - The Final Five

It's been more than two years since I first posted about my intentions to view every Gundam series, film, and OVA ever made. And during those past two years, I've covered a fair amount of ground. At present, the complete list of Gundam anime I have viewed includes the following:

- Mobile Suit Gundam: 08th MS Team
- MS Igloo: The Hidden One Year War
- MS Igloo: Apocalypse 0079
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket
- Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
- Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation
- Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack
- Mobile Suit Gundam F91
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
- After War Gundam X
- Turn A Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray MSV
- Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Stargazer
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: Awakening of the Trailblazer

Which, of course, leaves me with the following:

- Mobile Suit Gundam
- MS IGLOO 2: Gravity of the Battlefront
- Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam
- Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn
- Mobile Suit Victory Gundam

I will probably watch MS IGLOO 2 some rainy day when I'm bored. The other two MS IGLOO entries did not take long at all to get through, and I imagine this sequel will be no different. Ultimately, I will probably finish viewing Unicorn last, simply because the release date for the seventh episode has the series wrapping up in spring of 2013. Currently, I am working my way through Victory Gundam, and while I can't say for certain when I will complete it, I would guess sometime in the range of late September to early October, assuming I take some breaks to view other anime.

Follwoing Victory Gundam, I plan to move on to ZZ Gundam. I loved Zeta, and to my understanding, there is a fair amount of content in ZZ that is relevant to Unicorn. As weird as it may sound, I am going to conclude this 'Project Gundam' by watching the show that started the entire metaseries. All of these will last me a while, however, as the three big titles in the franchise I have yet to view are all forty to fifty episodes in length.

For anyone wondering why Gundam AGE is not listed above, my answer is quite simple - I have zero desire to watch it. Everything I've seen and heard about it makes me cringe, and I fear it has a lot of potential to rank as my single least favorite Gundam series ever. I know a lot of fans judged the series by the first trailers released, but now that I know a bit about the plot and characters, I am even more hesitant to view it. To be honest, I will probably give it a shot at some point in the future, but I have absolutely no plans to start anytime soon. Also, the primary goal of this 'Project Gundam' was to explore many of the older Gundam series, many of which I have found quite enjoyable.

This whole experience has proved to be rather eye-opening. I've viewed series that I knew little to nothing about beforehand - Gundam X, and MS IGLOO. I've also come to find that my opinions have, on a number of ocassions, aligned opposite the popular consensus. While Wing and 0080 have many fans, I am not among them. On the other hand, I expected little out of both SEED Destiny and F91, but what I got was a decent series that easily surpassed SEED as well as my very favorite of the standalone Gundam films. From what I have heard thus far, I'm expecting ZZ to be decent, though not exactly the cream of the crop. Victory Gundam, on the other hand, is proving superb, and if it keeps on this streak, it may find itself a spot among my favorite Gundam series.

Anime Forecast: Summer 2012

As I mentioned in my summer gaming forecast, I’m going a bit more free form with regards to what anime I plan to watch between May and August, so expect there to be some 'wild card' reviews here. I have found that, with school still going on, it tends to be easier for me to knock a film or two out of the way than a whole series (regardless of how many episodes it is) any given month. That is a large part of the reason that Akira and The Animatrix were among the earliest of my 2012 reviews. In keeping with this, Resident Evil: Degeneration and Ghost in the Shell will be the two anime I will be watching and reviewing toward the end of spring. I have only two episodes left in season two of Sgt. Frog, though, and that may end up getting reviewed before summertime as well. Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a key series for me, and I will likely be viewing the remaining episodes of that along with Victory Gundam and Cowboy Bebop. I’m going to sort of juggle the three over the summer, and because of that I cannot say for certain which one will be reviewed first. However, I think it is relatively safe to assume that I will complete FMA: Brotherhood and Cowboy Bebop prior to Victory Gundam.

There are a few other films and series that I am considering for later this year, though I have not made any definite decisions on them as of right now. The only two that I will say that I would like to check out this year as part of my plan to view every Gundam series ever created are ZZ Gundam and the Zeta Gundam film trilogy. Aside from those, the only other Gundam series I have left to view are the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Gundam AGE. And from what little I’ve seen of Gundam AGE so far, the original Mobile Suit Gundam looks infinitely more appealing. Rest assured that I will be reviewing Gundam Unicorn upon the release of the final episodes. At present I have watched the first three episodes, but I do not wish to write up any sort of incomplete review of the OVA.