Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam is an internationally renowned franchise spanning 83 animated series and movies. Its toy and retail business are huge, with the Gundam franchise generating over $600 million annually.
The original franchise launched with 1979’s anime series Mobile Suit Gundam, and is considered the pioneer of the giant-robot mecha genre. The series is set in the Universal Century, a future where humanity has colonized space. A rebellion erupts between Earth and its colonies, with the conflict fought by pilots in giant, mechanized suits known as mobile suits.
A live-action adaptation of the series is in the works, with Jim Mickle attached to write and direct. Production is slated to begin in early 2025, though plot details remain undisclosed.
The order for watching the Gundam franchise follows the Universal Century timeline.
1. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN (2015-2018)
The story of The Origin is set in the Universal Century, a timeline that plays host to the Mobile Suit Gundam saga. The series covers the rise of the conflict between the Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon, culminating in the start of the One Year War
2. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN — ADVENT OF THE RED COMET (2019)
The tragic story of Char Aznable, the ace pilot known as the Red Comet, and his sister Sayla Mass unfolds against the backdrop of the events leading to the One Year War. The Zabi family’s rise to power, the birth of the Principality of Zeon, the early days of famous aces such as Ramba Ral and the Black Tri-Stars, the development of the revolutionary new weapon known as the mobile suit, and the road to war against the Earth Federation are all depicted onscreen for the first time
3. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM (1979-80)
In the war between the Earth Federation and Zeon, a young and inexperienced crew find themselves on a new spaceship. Their best hope of making it through the conflict is the Gundam, a giant humanoid robot, and its gifted teenage pilot
4. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THE MOVIE (1981) – FILM
A teenage boy must fight in an interplanetary war as the only available pilot to a revolutionary new giant battle robot
5. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM II: SOLDIERS OF SORROW (1982) – FILM
After attacks by Char and Garma, White Base crew battle Zeon forces through Asia, Europe, Atlantic on the way to Federation HQ. Crewmembers like Amuro, Bright, Kai, Sayla, Mirai, Fraw, and Hayato overcome fears, and losses to survive
6. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM MS IGLOO (2004–2008)
Jotunheim, a Principality of Zeon’s space cargo ship, is tasked to test and evaluate various prototype weapons during the One Year War in the year of 0079 UC
7. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE 08TH MS TEAM (1996–1999)
During a one-year war, a young lieutenant leads a mobile suit team against a secret Zeon weapon, meeting its pilot who questions the morality of the war
8: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 0080: WAR IN THE POCKET (1989)
In a space colony, a young boy discovers a cadre of terrorists and innocently decides to help them
9. GUNDAM: REQUIEM FOR VENGEANCE (2024)
In the year 0079, the Principality of Zeon rebels against the Earth Federation, sparking a war. After 11 months, the Federation seizes a Zeon base in Eastern Europe as a mixed battalion moves to reclaim it
10. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM THUNDERBOLT (2015-2017)
During U.C. 0079’s One Year War, the Earth Federation and Zeon’s Living Dead Division clash fiercely in the Thunderbolt Sector. Ace pilot Lo Flemming gains control of the latest Gundam prototype
11: MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM (1985–86)
Eight years after the One Year War, the Earth Federation creates an elite force called the Titans to hunt Zeon remnants. When Titans proves to be no better than Zeon, the Anti Earth Union Group (AEUG) is formed to restore peace in space
12: MOBILE SUIT ZETA GUNDAM: A NEW TRANSLATION (2005–2006)
Ten years after the One Year War, Camille Bidan becomes involved in the conflict against the Titans as the pilot of Zeta Gundam.
This can be watched as an alternative to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam
13. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM ZZ (1986)
Following the decisive battle against the Titans, AEUG’s Argama crew (along with a new bunch of kids), has little time to regroup as a new threat looms in the horizon: Haman’s Neo Zeon
14. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK 1988 – FILM
Amuro Ray and Char Aznable settle their rivalry once and for all during the Second Neo Zeon War
15. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM UNICORN (2010-2014)
A conspiracy around Laplace’s Box is potentially going to start another war between the Earth Federation and Neo Zeon. Chosen by fate, Banagher Links gets the key to the box, and must follow his heart to decide what to do with it
16. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM NARRATIVE (2018) – FILM
The Federation and Neo-Zeon collaborate to capture a rogue suit
17. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM TWILIGHT AXIS
Set months after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, the story focuses on two former Principality of Zeon Remnants, Former Weapons Developer Arlette Almage and Former Test Pilot Danton Hyleg. Both of them are hired by the Earth Federation Forces research team to investigate the remains of the asteroid base Axis. But upon their arrival, they encounter a Cyber Newtype, Quentin Fermo, who pilots the mysterious mobile suit, the RX-78AN-01 Gundam AN-01
18. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: HATHAWAY (2021) – FILM
Hathaway Noa, still haunted by his past actions, joins a terrorist organization called Mufti and adopts the alias “Mufti Nabiyy Erin”. Mufti is fighting a terrorist campaign against the Earth Federation government
19. MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: F91 (1991) FILM
After a generation of peace, the Earth Federation’s new space colonies becomes a battlefield. To save his friends and family, the reluctant warrior Seabook Arno becomes the pilot of a new Gundam which bears the code name F91
20. MOBILE SUIT VICTORY GUNDAM (1993–94)
Uso Ewin gets himself tangled in a battle between the Yellow Jacket and guerrilla resistance League Militaire. Following his heart, Uso pilots the resistance’s mobile suit and goes against the Zanscare Empire of space
BONUS: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE WITCH FROM MERCURY (2022-2023)
A compassionate girl enrolls herself in the Asticassia School of Technology in Planet Mercury that is run by the Beneritt Group that creates robotic mobile suits.
The series is a stand-alone and is not apart of the Gundam timeline.
