Previously:
Gundam took the 90’s by storm. The Universal Century found both successes
and failures with Gundam F91, Gundam 0083 and Victory Gundam. Following Tomino’s stepping back from the
franchise for personal matters, a new direction was taken and four new
universes were born for Gundam to play in: The Future Century (G Gundam); The
After Colony Era (Gundam Wing); The After War Era (Gundam X) and the Correct
Century (Turn A Gundam), the last of these universes celebrating 20 years of
Gundam excellence. Turn A closed the
90’s out on a high note. Now it’s time
to see Gundam enter the new millennium.
Part 3-The New
Tomorrow (2000-2009)
Alright, let’s get this out of the way real quick…G Saviour is a thing, it’s horrible,
it’s terrible, it’s live action and it should be best forgotten oh right it
already is lets move on.
Compared to the 90’s, the 2000s was not as busy a decade
for the Gundam franchise…at least not in Japan.
March 2000 saw the US debut of
Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network’s Toonami block and history was made. The summer of 2000 saw Gundam Wing being one
of the few shows to challenge eternal Toonami Champion, Dragon Ball Z, for the
throne of popularity. Wing was even able
to air it’s episodes uncut during Toonami’s Midnight Run, the first for any
Anime on Cartoon Network. Almost
overnight, Model Kits, Action Figures and DVDs all revolving around Wing ended
up in shops and sold like crazy. In
short: Wing was a mega hit and helped define an entire era of Toonami in the
process. Sadly though, Wing and the later airing of Endless Waltz were all the lightning in
the bottle the franchise could capture in the states. The subsequent airings of Mobile Suit Gundam, 08th MS Team, 0080,
0083, G Gundam and Char’s Counterattack didn’t even come close to matching
Wing’s success. Even the airing of
Gundams latest entry (at the time) didn’t recapture Wings magic. Actually, let’s jump to that particular
entry, shall we?
The first Gundam of the new millennium came in the form
of 2002’s Mobile Suit Gundam SEED. Set in the Cosmic Era, SEED was a reimagining
of the original One Year War except the new conflict was between Natural born
humans of the Earth Federation and the genetically enhanced Coordinators of
ZAFT. The central tale focused on two
Coordinators: Kira Yamato who is tapped to become an Earth Federation Gundam
pilot; and Athrun Zala, Kira’s best friend who is one of ZAFT’s up and coming
aces. While the similarities with the
original series didn’t gel well with veteran fans, SEED was still hugely
popular thanks to immense fan bases for several individual characters and some
catchy Jpop tunes. SEEDs success made it
the first Gundam series since Zeta Gundam to get a direct TV Series sequel in
the form of 2004’s Mobile Suit Gundam
SEED Destiny. Both shows spawned a
series of OVA compilation films (3 for SEED and 4 for SEED Destiny) which were
released between 2004 and 2007.
2005 marked the 20th Anniversary of Zeta Gundam. To celebrate, a trilogy of compilation films,
which would also act as a new retelling, were commissioned. This resulted in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation. An immense effort was made to integrate the
original animation of the 80s TV Series with newly updated visuals. However, the results produced a mixed to
negative response. Not only were the
differences in animation glaringly obvious, fans of the series were not happy
with the changes made to Zeta Gundams story, especially its legendary somber
ending.
In 2007, Mobile
Suit Gundam 00 entered the scene. Whereas
Gundam SEED drew heavily from the original Gundam series, 00 drew its
inspiration from Gundam Wing, focusing on a team of Gundam pilots seeking to
eradicate war from the Earth on behalf of the armed organization, Celestial
Being. Gundam 00 was the first of many
future Gundam projects to split its story into two distinct series, aired a
year apart from each other. Reception to
00 was fair, though some tend to like the more grounded first season compared
to the more scifi heavy second season.
While this technically branches into the next chapter, the 2010’s, 00’s
successful run made it the first Gundam series to be the focus of the first
original Gundam Theatrical Feature Film since Gundam F91 in 1991. Mobile
Suit Gundam 00: The Movie-A Wakening of the Trailblazer made the
controversial choice to bring extraterrestrials into the Gundam franchise…the
results are mixed, some like it, some don’t…it’s really up to the viewer.
Which brings us to the current era of Gundam, the
2010’s…where more bold choices, highs and lows were coming for the franchise.
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