T5W#490-Top 5 Ways Evangelion has Infiltrated Gundam

Welcome Dear Readers to 2025 and we’re kicking off a brand New Years Day with a brand new Top 5 Wednesday (cant believe we’ll be at 500 T5Ws in a few weeks).  As you know, we’re weeks away from the debut of the next chapter of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga, Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuX and all the crazy action that comes along with it.  As I talked about in my T5W about the reveal announcement back in 2024, what’s got me most excited is this being a co-production between Studio Sunrise and Kahra, aka the studios behind Gundam and the Rebuild of Evangelion film series.  It’s a long overdue team up but I wouldn’t say this is the first time Gundam and Eva have crossed paths.  To be more specific, Neon Genesis Evangelion is such an influential title in all of Anime and attempts have been made in the Mecha genre in particular to replicate or enhance those thoughts.  Gundam is no exception an in our first T5W of 2025, I’ll be breaking down what I think are the Top 5 Ways Evangelion has Infiltrated Gundam.

 
#5-Mind Warping Combat Systems (Mobile Suit Gundam Wing)

Piloting an Eva and a Gundam isnt easy nor is it for the faint of heart.  It takes skill and a ton of courage. With an Eva, you’ve gotta hope whatever crazy messed up science doesn’t come back to bite you in the ass hard with hallucinations and pain receptors that can result in broken limbs, lost eyes or worse (just ask Asuka).  The closest Gundam’s come to this kind of mind altering feedback is the Zero System from Gundam Wing.  It enhances combat capabilities by showing the pilot a ton of combat data all at once.  It might make you a beast on the battlefield but it comes at the cost of driving you insane.  In fact only three pilots in Gundam Wing were able to master the system between the Wing Zero and Epyon.

 
#4-Second Impact (After War Gundam X)

The events of Evangelion are set in motion by the apocalyptic Second Impact. The result of Mankinds First Contact with the Angel Adam came in the form of a massive explosion that melted the polar ice caps and killed half of the Earths population.  While Earth has seen its fair share of surface shattering events, none come nearly as close as that of the prelude to Gundam X.  Fifteen years before the beginning of the series (a time frame this also has in common with Eva), we get what’s basically a “what if…” scenario of the One Year War.  Instead of one space colony being dropped onto Earth, its more like…well a lot more.  The kill count actually tops Evas as estimated casualties of this atrocity reach about 90% or more of Earth total population…yikes.
 

#3-Sins of the Parent (Gundam Franchise)

Yeah ok this is a general Anime trope but no one sits higher on its hill than Gendou Ikari.  The head honcho of NERV and ultimate “Father of the Year” plays a dangerous game with the fate of the world for his own nefarious ends and puts his son through more hell than any 14 year old should be.  Gundams got its fair share of parents who either put their kids second to their work or use them to further their own agendas. Kamille Bidan’s Dad’s extra marital affairs spelled doom for Kamille’s Mom in Zeta Gundam and Athrun Zala’s father, Patrick, went full on Hitler against the Naturals to avenge the death of his wife in Gundam SEED.  Probably the closest we have to a full on Gendo in Gundam is Prospera Mercury from The Witch from Mercury…and we’ll get into more detail about her issues later.
 

#2-Berserker Rage (Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron Blooded Orphans)

The biggest drawback to an Eva is its unpredictability.  It’s not exactly a precise science and there’s various risks sending it into battle.  This includes the aforementioned pilot hallucinations, reliance on battery power and cables…and oh yeah going into a feral rage and beating Angels to death before eating them, yes you read that right.  Thankfully a Gundam hasn’t eaten an individual (yet).  There are very rare occasions where they do show signs of sentience.  Chief example: Mikazuki and the Gundam Barbatos in Iron Blooded Orphans.  The more upgrades the Barbatos receives, the more animalistic and feral its design becomes, culminating in the Barbatos Lupus Rex.  With Mikazuki literally plugged into it, the Barbatos can go absolutely wild and even has a berserker form of its own.  This is arguably most prevalent in the series finale where its likely by the time the Barbatos is finally slain, Mikazuki’s been dead for several minutes.  Meaning the Gundam was going down all on its own like the boss it is.
 

#1-Soul in the Machine (Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury)

We’ve all heard of a Ghost in the Machine but Evangelion took the concept one step further by literally infusing the mechas with souls.  Granted these were the results of tests gone horrifically wrong but the Evangelions do have dormant souls lingering within that can cause some of those aforementioned berserker states when their pilots (quite possibly their kids) are threatened.  G Witch went all in on this with one of the biggest shockers of the series: when we learn that Suletta isnt Prospera’s original daughter Eri, but a clone, and Eri herself has had her soul imbedded in the Gundam Aerial to preserve her life in some way.  Oh and those bits/funnels, theyre also Eri clones too operating together with original Eri at the helm.  Toldja Prospera was one messed up Gendo level chick.