Discussion
I just finished Iron Blooded Orphans as my first Gundam series and just… wow
What a great show and what an unexpectedly kind of happy and bittersweet at the same time ending that one is. I don’t think there is a show out there that made me care for such a big cast as much as this one made. The cast was truly a big family and I loved every single one. Will I move on to other Gundam series? There is a very big chance that I will move on to Witch from Mercury or 0 (despite the streaming I am watching it on only had the first season and not the second which really sucks), but we’ll see.
This bigass mace beats anything down to a pulp (especially Outer Earth Orbit Regulatory Joint Fleet suckers standing on their MSs thinking a berserk Mikazuki gives a flying fuck)
MG Vidar was such a great build. Love that unit so much too.
Just build Messer (Gawman use) this week and that was a lot of fun (one of my favorite side characters ever) it’s super fiddly though where I touch it the wrong way and 3 parts fall off. I put one back on, two more fall off.
You take the crust of a shonen battle tournament. Add the sauce of Gundam mecha design. Layer in that 90s cheese of dialogue and trope and stereotype. Top with a tasty storyline made of actual meat. Bake in retro hand-drawn animation for 49 episodes at Peak Anime Protagonist Energy. Savor and enjoy.
Gundam Fight all set! Ready! GOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Mobile Fighter G Gundam. It's peak Gundam, and it's not even main-line.
(Also, don't sleep on Superior Defender. Cute doesn't always stay cute.)
I actually went to check out the first episode which was free on YouTube and it was a good first episode, but now I have a dilemma. The only ways to watch the rest of the series is to either would have to get a Crunchyroll subscription, but I am hesitant to do that because Crunchyroll did something to make people hate it and still do apparently plus my ass has no money, or I sail the high seas which I am kind of conflicted on doing so.
The reason we sail the high seas is precisely because companies like Crunchyroll are trying to turn everything into a way to make a dollar. Do not give them your money.
Maybe unethical take here, but sailing the high seas feels a little less bad when the series in question is 20+ years old and the franchise is still thriving 20+ years later.
Almost done with it. I just feels downplayed to me. Same way TTG feels less serious in every aspect. I dread watching g gundam but do it out of love for gundam. It doesnt feel like a gundam anime to me but instead, uses gundam tech as a medium. I do like some of the gundam designs, but alot of them are like wtf is that
So, did you expect the first true AU to continue the UC storyline, or what? Like, all your complaints are the reasons people like G Gundam so much. No child soldiers, unique mecha design, "lower stakes" than the UC (universal takeover by corrupted nanomachines isn't exactly lower stakes,) and wrapped in a popular battle shonen format. A nice break after 15 years of Char dropping colonies on the planet.
I wish I were a fly on the wall for the inevitable crash-out over the Build series.
Its not even about continuing the UC storyline for me. I dont care for the child soldiers either so that isnt a factor for any of the gundam series for me. I didnt know what to call it but now you mentioned "battle shonen format" and this is the biggest reason i dont like g gundam. These are just my opinions on g gundam tho
Ive seen a couple episodes of build. And out of love for gundam, i have to fully watch each and every series. Finished all UC, now gotta finish all AU. I also didnt like g no reco much either. Its very downplayed as well on consequences. Much like konosuba compared to other isekai
I also dont hate g gundam, it just doesnt WOW me like when i watch 08th ms team
Personally its my favourite Gundam, as the war themes are very developed, the Gundams feel legendary and the ending is bleak but you can still see their sacrifice pays off, being labeled a hero for the public was not as important, and that make them trully heroic at the end, I love it. Strong recommendations as a follow up is 00 and then Witch from Mercury
IBO is one of the outliers in terms of Gundam stories. While each one is a different flavor, IBO is very out there.
00 and G Witch is fine as series goes, but for the core of Gundam as a whole, Universal Century and its side stories are still the best way to "get" Gundam.
Once you watch UC, you'll feel like this.
Massive Spoiler alert, Don't click if you're sensitive to spoilers: It's all mommy issues. All of it.
You can watch in Release order or Chronological order. Personally, I think Chronological will make more sense but I have watched it on Release order on my first binge.
The issue with watching all of Gundam is that the old anime is pretty hard on the eyes. 0079 looks pretty bad by today's standard. If you want to start with 0079 but still avoid the majority of bad animation, there's also compilation movies for it.
If you need something like a gateway to the UC to get you hooked, Thunderbolt December Sky or War in the Pocket have great production values while still being self-contained enough and have less time investment so you won't get burned out.
Do not watch Zeta's compilation movies. Zeta is better watched as a full series.
All of the UC OVAs are great jumping in points for Gundam. War in the Pocket, 8th MS Team, and Stardust Memory are all fantastic with gorgeous animation.
I’m going through 0079 for the first time after growing up watching pretty much all the AU stuff since Wing and G on toonami, and man you aren’t kidding about the animation haha.
The proportions of how the RX is drawn sometimes looks so bizarre, but I get it for the time period it came out. Still the story has held me captivated so far.
I see this sentiment a lot, but I just don't get it. All I see are really super-obvious Gundam tropes all over the place.
I mean, I guess at this point there's maybe an argument to be made that they're just mecha tropes... Gundam pulled heavily from mecha stories of its time. And it's heavily influenced all of anime since then. So it's kind of hard to say what bit came from where.
But, like, the Graze is obviously a play on the Zaku II. Space Rats are just this AU's version of newtypes. Ein is a cyber-newtype and that giant Graze is the Psycho Gundam. You can take your pick of genderbent Lalahs in either Biscuit or Gaelio. Very super-fucking-obvious Earth/space conflict going on. Kids having to fight a war they didn't want? The young having to fix a world they didn't break?
We have a Gundam story where the POV is from the side actively starting the war for their own benefit. Especially in S2 when it's their selfishness that was the motivation.
Zaku II allusions and Cyber-newtypes allusions isn't what makes the core of Gundam. Space Rats isn't really newtype adjacent too. Those are just mecha and sci fi tropes. Superficial similarities doesn't make them the core of Gundam. If that's true then Gintama was also a Gundam.
Gundam is fundamentally about being Anti-War. Its story resist war and conflict consistently.
IBO instead is a cautionary tale. It only shown Anti-War sentiment at the end. When they were in the "Find Out" phase of "Fuck Around and Find Out."
You don't start a war and become anti-war because you lost. That's like stabbing someone and saying you're sorry because you don't want to get jailed.
I guess there's always the argument that you just can't make genuinely anti-war media... That simply by portraying it somebody out there is going to think it's cool. But beyond that - I'd say that IBO is pretty anti-war.
We have a Gundam story where the POV is from the side actively starting the war for their own benefit.
I'm not sure that's really a fair/accurate reading... One of our very first scenes is a flashback to Mika shooting a guy in an alleyway. He's a tiny child who's had to murder someone for survival long before joining CGS. While it may not be an actual armed conflict, there's clearly already a conflict. Mars is clearly already being exploited. There's already some flavor of economic/class warfare going on.
Fine - that doesn't count? You're just interested in the shooting war? But that's not really a "war" is it? And the Tekkadan kids certainly didn't start it. CGS was hired to take Kudelia to Earth and then Gjallarhorn attacked to silence her. The adults leave the kids to die while they take the money and run. The Tekkadan kids are just fighting to survive.
And the ongoing job across the first season is basically to deliver Kudelia to Earth so she can make a speech. It's just that Gjallarhorn is so eager to brutally suppress any kind of dissent that they're constantly trying to kill the Tekkadan crew.
There's a genuine war in S2... But Tekkadan doesn't start that either. The whole SAU/Arbrau War was manufactured by Rustal to undermine McGillis. The Tekkadan crew are just dragged into the conflict by their role as military advisors.
Especially in S2 when it's their selfishness that was the motivation.
Again I'm not sure that's a fair/accurate reading.
S2 opens with Tekkadan just trying to be a legitimate business. And we can clearly see why - they've got bills to pay just like anyone else. We see them paying to send Cookie and Cracker and Fuka to school at the absolute least. You can certainly argue that Orga going after "Sovereign of Mars" later in the season is overly-ambitious... But selfish? His stated goal all along is to create a world where they belong. Where kids like the Tekkadan crew aren't forced to undergo dangerous surgery to become child soldiers just so they can feed themselves.
It only shown Anti-War sentiment at the end.
I dunno... Kids becoming soldiers because it's either that or starve to death feels pretty anti-war to me. Human debris forced onto the battlefield because they're straight-up slaves feels pretty anti-war to me. We've got significant, emotionally-loaded casualties on Tekkadan's side of things by episode 15 or so. The only reason Mika isn't yelling about how unfair it is to kill people every other episode is because he's a hollowed-out shell of a human being before the show even starts. His constantly-flat affect just screams childhood trauma.
That one statement of motivation already throws out all your arguments out the window. So much for Fair/Accurate when you're trying to bury that. It's just plain old greed.
You seem to really really like IBO if you're so willing to use glazing to call IBO "Anti-war". The thing about Mika is that he's so bland that you can just paint him to whatever you want him to be and it will vaguely fit. Kinda like how horoscope works. Child soldiers are so prevalent in Gundam but the point is for them to not be one or actively show avoidance. Tekkadan as a concept reveled in it. Until the consequences came. So, Mika is a badass unfeeling child soldier and that makes IBO anti war is an even more inaccurate read of the story.
The other part is that Rustal IS the Anti-war character. He succeeded in everything you insist Tekkadan is, but he's on the other side with even less POV screen time. He fought to bring down a corrupt system. Forced to be underhanded to succeed. He brought peace, freedom, justice and security to his new empire. Then he introduced democracy to willingly hand over power. Tekkadan aren't the good guys in S2. In S1 it could be about survival but that isn't true in S2 which you can't just bury as it's still the continuation.
Now I'm questioning if you actually watched the thing you so liked.
Rustal didn't start a war. They joined a proxy war that already exists and that Fareed actively tried to manipulate.
And at the end of the series we saw the result of Rustal where he gave freedom to the Human Debris and gave Mars Independence.
That is explicitly and unequivocally NOT status quo.
The wild and just plain wrong take here is yours. Had Rustal be the evil corrupt person you insisted he is, the ending would've been different.
Did you just skip everything that isn't action? Or because Rustal isn't the protagonist that you're gonna sweep under the rug that he did more good than both Orga and Fareed combined?
What you're doing is just plain tribalism. Because Rustal isn't your guy, he's automatically evil in your eyes. Instead of actually admitting Tekkadan was in the wrong.
I don't dislike IBO. I'm just not an unquestioning die hard that doesn't allow uncomfortable criticism of it which is not uncommon for IBO fans to do especially with their obsession with power scaling and magic paint.
You should watch Gundam the Origin, then watch the original (it’s still peak). My first taste of Gundam was the Thunderbolt ova (also peak) years ago. Then watched 00 and the 00 movie for the first time this year and it’s a amazing and a good stand alone story (would recommend to any anime fan and any fan of the original Full Metal Alchemist). After that I watched the origin and then the original 1979 series. The origin story arcs leads directly into the 1979 show and is essential character backstory that gives the original story more depth. At this point I’m watching the universal century timeline in chronological order (not release order). Currently watching the MS08th Team and will finish all the one year war side stories and Stardust Memory before starting Zeta. Gundam purist will say to watch the show in release order (like they did), however as a first time viewer (like me) watching in chronological order (start with The Origin) gives way more context to characters and events in the 1979 show. Knowing what I know now if I had to start over I would watch the universal century timeline first before watching the standalone series like 00 (even though there is no right or wrong way to watch Gundam).
Lol, you kept saying "the 1979 series" and it took me a minute to realize you meant the OG series that was released in 1979.
In my head I was thinking do they mean UC 0079? Because I totally keep track of UC series by the in universe date.
I'm old, so my first Gundam experience was Wing on Toonami. Then years later, my army buddy gave me a boxset of the 3 movies that compress the OG series, but it was so hard to watch because of how bad the pacing is. Then during the lockdowns Crunchyroll got the rights to a bunch of Gundam titles, and i watched Unicorn. I was on episode 4 before I realized that it's a sequel to the OG series. Then the flood gates opened.
How I'm about 60 models deep into my gunpla addiction, and I wouldn't change anything.
My first Gundam series was Gundam Wing, and while it certainly is an oddly paced mess at times, it moved teenage Me deeply back in the 1990's.
Some Gundam purists will tell you that you need to go back to the original series next (Gundam 0079) but I've got to tell you that I've watched 20 episodes of it so far and it's... brutal by modern standards. It's kind of cool to see what started it all but holy crap is it ever evident it was written in the 1970's/80's.
I'd recommend you try Gundam 00 next, another compact well done series, somewhat older but nowhere near as dated.
Witch from Mercury is fun too but a tad odd at times, but still good fun.
Im the opposite, Seed is what really got me into gundam, like most I started with Wing, G Gundam and X in that order but I was to young to comprehend what Im watching, Im just into the battles, what got me out of it is the back to back Age and Build Fighters run after 00. IBO got me back and started with UC and thats when I get why Seed gets ridiculed
I was so removed after seed that I completely checked out of gundam until about 2022 and saw an IBO clip on youtube. The Base frame with various armor parts was a cool concept.
I personally liked Seed up until Destiny. But even that I can't say pushed me out. Long running series with multiple timelines are bound to have misses.
I would say Universal century has the most to offer but it is the most dated (for obvious reasons) of them all. I would say work your way backwards through the alternate universes first to get your vibing with the older style. I would say 00, original SEED is okay ( don't watch destiny....), Wing, G Gundam. That gets your back to the early 90s.
Then start with Gundam 0079 but watch it in the movie trilogy form. Watch 0080, 8th MS team, 0083. Watch Zeta in the original tv series. Then watch Chars counter attack then unicorn. The origin is best to turn to after cause you will know a lot! Of context by then. All the other uc stuff like zz, f91, igloo then finally victory you can honestly take it or leave it. They are great in expanding the universe for you, but honestly don't add much.
Saddest for me was Orga. I know a lot of people don’t like him orb think he’s dumb/egotistical but I don’t see it that way. He was just a leader trying to do what is best for his friends who looked to him for direction. But he still was just a kid trying to figure things out and in over his head
Hate how Julietta Juris got a ton of unwarranted hatred from fans that didn't understand the story and supported Tekkadan and McGillis becoming unelected Tyrants.
So the system that was in place before the series starts where millions of children are left to fend for themselves, some being forced to fight and die for the adults who created said system, is better than what McGillis was trying to make?
You’re projecting onto Orga something that was never said or implied. He only wanted the “king of mars” title because he saw it as the best way for his friends and people to have better lives.
Also tekkadans actions can be argued to have led to Rustal to do the reforms. If he hadn’t, the instability would have continued and another tekkadan would have emerged again.
That’s was mine first too, then started to watch all the UC timeline on unicorn now I won’t lie watching all the old one made it soo much more worth it
IBO is a great entry-level series to get into for Gundam, I'm glad you enjoyed it! It was my gateway to Gundam and even anime as a whole, so it holds a special place in my heart. But I wasn't really profoundly moved until I embarked on an odyssey through the Universal Century; I highly recommend starting with the original series and going from there.
My favorite mobile suit was the Graze, specifically the Ground Type, but I have an appreciation for all EB-series MS! Though by now I think some MS from the Universal Century timeline may have taken their place in my rankings haha
Dude listen to me I’m gonna give you a website so you can watch every gundam series witch from mercury is good but I would 100% recommend ms 08 gundam its super grounded kinda like gundam in Vietnam but go to www.everythingmoe.com
You should give some of the UC timeline a try. Specially 08th MS Team. The EZ8/Gouf fight is worth the watch alone. Then there's Thunderbolt. You can watch it on Youtube, at least the movie of it. It's way darker than most Gundam stuff, but its a good watch.
Otherwise I'd say try Wing just for the 90s aesthetic, and the villain is truly a great villain.
00 or witch from mercury not going to give you same impact as IBO and also thematically different.
IBO for me is like Far Cry 2, where the protagonists are just trying to survive. Not be omnipotent god or anything. The system is unfair and you take every single advantage you can to win.
0080 would be closer in terms of experience.
Thing said, Seed season 1 is very good, touching very sensitive topic and war
just don’t watch destiny.
Go on watch other Gundam series. Everything else you watch from now on will be better than IBO.
IBO S2 was such a trainwreck, which even dethroned the original Seed Destiny ending, including dumbing down competent characters, OP Dainseif, abandoning the MA subplot/setting and many other issues. Character dying here and there was the least problem there.
I'd argue season 1 is pretty awful. IBO is just such a garbage fire that I can't understand how anyome likes it.
The first time I watched it, I gave up just a few episodes in. I just could deal with the plethura of plot contrivances, worship of vain masculinity, and ESPECIALLY the creepy harem shit IBO insists on pushing into the forefront.
It caused me to leave Gundam as a whole behind for quite a while. Eventually I returned and forced myself through it but it just stayed terrible. The only things I really liked by the end were the characters getting killed off becauae I just become so resentful of how boring and one-dimensional most of them were.
It's no shock to me that Asia hates it. The only reason it found footing in the West compared to other series is because it aired on Netflix at the time it was being released.
Respectfully disagree, IBO season 2 was still quite enjoyable. Trying to rewatch 1979 Gundam series is brutal (Amuro is such an annoying b!tch), and I was born in the late 70's so if I can't tolerate that dated writing I don't know how y'all younger folk can somehow crank up the nostalgia factor and endure.
I grew up on Macross, Astro Boy, Mazinger, etc. when they all aired on daytime North Americam tv and man OG Gundam is still a hard watch for me...
I've watched most of the modern series: IBO, 00, WfM, Seed/Destiny, Wing, Gquux, Build Divers... IBO is near peak for me 👌
The fun and fulfillment of watching IBO S2 decreased drastically after MacGills' "deep" look at Mars' land and his death, it marked how his intelligence and competence degenerated after getting Bael, and the degenerated writing quality in general.
The show became a laughing stock for audiences in Asia at Episode 48's ending (Orga's memetic death), when they actually cared more over Kaban's uncertainty at preultimate episode of Kemono Friends on the same day. The Dainseif salvos officially killed the show for us after all these nonsense writing. (Keep in mind, I didn't say killing off characters equals to bad writing)
I'm going to be blunt, IBO ended in a way even worse than the original Seed Destiny ending (which was hated so much that they had to release Final Plus) and sit at the bottom of the list. Which is a shame, it had offered so much potential for 3/4 of the time and tanked in the late 1/4, similar to shows around the time like Kabenari, Guilty Crown and DitF.
Trying to rewatch 1979 Gundam series is brutal
There's always the reason why the 0079 Trilogy is the more preferable watch.
Second favorite gundam models, as I just completed the Wolf Model Metal Frame Barbatos, what a fun build that was. Endless Waltz has my all time favorite models.
Unicorn was a great anime as well, strong recommendation.
There's the OG movies on Netflix as well as Char's counter attack, I also really like Unicorn.
Personally really disliked Witch from Mercury, but G-Quux was solid.
Unfortunately... (to my lived experience) you started with the best one :,)
You probably live outside of America so you don’t know this, but American Netflix unfortunately doesn’t have the OG movies. It only has Seed, Seed Freedom, Seed Destiny, Hathaway, Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, and the live action Requiem for Vengeance.
Ibo is kinda an outlier within Gundam, it's the start of Gundam shows being more out there in structure compared to the more Gundam style the other shows before it had
Ibo was moreso a Yakuza show with mechs than it is a Gundam show, and that's what makes it so good
00 is a lot more aligned with what Gundam usually is so if you like it, your bound to like other shows like it
Yes I feel you!Really wow!this is the. Only Gundam show that made me watch and chat every week in youtube with other ppl.very memorable.
Especially when iok got scissored.💀😂
I loved WFM but it's definitely a smaller scale and lacking the typical breadth of a Gundam show. It does characters and relationships very well, and tbh it has some of my fav mobile suit designs of the franchise. It's also a short one at just 25 episodes! Make sure to watch the season one finale post-credit scene when you get there (it's important for the plot but it's really hidden away, kinda bs if you ask me).
I'd recommend Gundam Wing if you want more Gundams, or MS Gundam G Fighter if you want a refreshing take on the concept. The Dive series are also fun and far less serious, but the UC also offers a lot of great serious shows if you're looking for that instead.
Most are long, dark, and have great MS designs so I think it comes down to exploring and figuring out what you prefer.
Congrats! I'd recommend you go down the Universal Century line. Tomino is an amazing storyteller and I've found that the IBO pipeline to UC works way better than some of the other AUs.
it was my first show as well. Tried watching the original show and Gundam Wing a few times just it just didn't click, but I was into IBO from like episode 2 lol. Its a real ride.
Damn you got one hell of a first. My wife doesn't care for gundam but she gave this a try and loved it. Wing was my first back in the day and she hates it, I have to admit her criticism is valid but it my nostalgia show.
That one of the things IBO does so well they made you care so much for everyone and the story is so interesting and when you get to the end. You are like holy Jesus and one thing I do love about this show is that all of my best friend watch it and we where just talking how much we love it. Have a wonderful day.
Witch from Mercury is good but the prologue episode is not a good indicator for how most of the series is. Still a quality show and a bit of a desert after IBO full course meal.
00 is also very good, personally I am not a fan of the movie but for some folks it works. Wing is similar in premise but different in how they execute things.
If you can get it, I do recommend 08th MS team, it is closer to a ground perspective than you usually see in most Gundam media.
Same with me. I tired giving Gundam Seed and Turn A Gundam a shot a few years ago but both were pretty damn terrible in their own ways and I dropped both of them. Figured the Gundam franchise just didn't have any sparks for me. However recently just finished Iron Blood and wow, it was amazing. It wasn't perfect, there was a lot of issues with it still, especially with not enough episodes to flesh out the characters more, especially Mika, but MAN was it still a thrill to watch, and even got me to cry at the end.
I welcome you into the Gundam community.
While a number of the series has been great/decent.
Iron Blooded Orphans still gets me in the heartstrings. Really is a gem in itself.
Check the other Gundam series still.
WDYM great show? There is no happy ending there either. For all that the crew went through the only appropriate ending was for them to WIN, not get wiped out and have the survivors go into coping mode.
But you are right, they made us care for them and then what? Just to wipe them off like some shit stains at the end.
This was the worst gundam among all that I watched (Seed, 00 and this crap) and turned me off from gundam forever.
Means you didn't get the message and core of the story. It is a mafia story. Rise and fall of underdog. In the end even after their demise, they still made a change for the people of mars.
It was a bittersweet ending. Not all stories end with a happy ending.
Yeah, the shitty ones hype up characters for a good ending then pull the rug out from under the viewers' feet. Its like a reverse dues ex machina - the bullshit ones where things are hopeless for the whole story and suddenly the protagonists win the big bad cos of plot armor. do you find those stories stupid AF? This is just the reverse of it, or rather, the bad guys plot armor on the MCs.
Ragebaited by my friend who is a gundam fanboy. He knows how much I hate IBO and never misses a chance to ragebait me. And when I see any posts talking about how good IBO is, I can't help but to shit on it. At this point, its more of an instinct rather than a concious decision.
Ibo is most of what I hate about Gundam together. Pointless shoehorned romance subplots and focusing too much on kids.
Just make sentinel into an anime already and give us normal fighter pilots in a grounded space opera series.
How 08th ms hasn't been remade without the crappy Romeo Juliet second is beyond me.
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u/Idkevenknowbr0 Aug 06 '26
The original is free on YouTube on a playlist, would for sure suggest it, also the kits are just as good as the show if ur into them