Gundam (universe)
From MechaWiki
Gundam ガンダム| Gandamu is a metaseries of Japanese anime, featuring giant robots, or "mecha", created by Sunrise studios. The series started in April 1979 as a TV series called Mobile Suit Gundam, and later became a franchise name with more sequels, prequels, side stories and alternative timelines, published and aired in various media including TV anime, OVA, manga, novels, and video games. Gundam became a collective term for 7 different time lines, all featuring their own story-lines, with a few common denominators and war machines called Gundam.
The original timeline for the Gundam series was the Universal Century (UC) series, which included Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985). Since the 1990s, alternative timelines have been produced and developed, including the Future Century, After Colony, After War, Correct Century, Cosmic Era and Anno Domini timelines.
In the 2008 ranking of average sales figures for anime copies sold in Japan (1970-2008 total sales figures averaged by episode), Gundam series were in 4 of the top 5 places: Mobile Suit Gundam ranked second, with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny third, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED fourth, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam fifth. Also, New Mobile Report Gundam Wing ranked 18th and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ ranked 20th. TV anime sales history total sales figure ranking averaged by episode, Latest version. TVアニメ歷代売上累計平均ランキング最新版TOP25
As of 21 January 2008, the Gundam franchise is a 50 billion yen trademark. Otona no Gundamu Perfect, 大人のガンダム完全版Gunpla's(Gundam Plastic model) income is 90% of the Japan character plastic model market's income.Flow of the Japan toy industry (日本の玩具産業の動向), Japan Economic Department, Information section(日本経済情報課)
Academic fields in Japan also view the series as a good inspiration in research fields. The Gundam academy, or officially International Gundam Society is the first academic institution based on a cartoon.Gundam cartoon academy to turn science fiction into reality in Japan.
Current list of animated Gundam productions:
Universal Century:
Mobile Suit Gundam (TV) (1979)
Mobile Suit Gundam (movie trilogy) (1981)
Mobile Suit Z Gundam (TV) (1985)
Mobile Suit ZZ Gundam (TV) (1986)
Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack (Movie) (1988)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (OVA) (1989)
Mobile Suit Gundam F-91 (Movie) (1991)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories (OVA) (1991)
Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Last Blitz of Zeon (Movie) (1992)
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam (TV) (1993)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (OVA) (1996)
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team - Miller's Report (Movie) (1998)
Mobile Suit Z Gundam: A New Translation (Movie trilogy) (2004-2006)
M.S. IgLoo: The Hidden One Year War (OVA) (2004)
M.S. IgLoo: Apocalypse 0079 (OVA) (2006)
M.S. IgLoo 2: Gravity of the Battlefront (OVA) (2008)
G-Saviour (Movie) (2000) [NOTE - Technically not considered as part of the Gundam continuity anymore, following a ruling by Bandai of Japan]
Future Century:
Mobile Fighter G Gundam (TV) (1994)
After Colony:
New Mobile Report Gundam W (TV) (1995)
New Mobile Report Gundam W: Endless Waltz (OVA) (1997)
New Mobile Report Gundam W: Endless Waltz - Special Edition (Movie) (1998)
After War:
After War Gundam X (TV) (1996)
Correct Century:
Turn A Gundam (TV) (1999)
Turn A Gundam: Earth Light (Movie) (2002)
Turn A Gundam: Moonlight Butterfly (Movie) (2002)
Cosmic Era:
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (TV) (2002)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Special Edition (Movies) (2004)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (TV) (2004)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: Special Edition (Movies) (2006)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: C.E. 73 - Stargazer (ONA)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Movie (Movie) (2009) [NOTE - Given still in production, status of this title is variable]
Anno Domini:
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (TV) (2007)
Mobile Suit Gundam 00 Second Season (TV) (2008)
