Gundam, also officially known as Mobile Suit Gundam, is a franchise that has been coming out all the way back since the late 70s and has been consistently putting out top-quality content up until now with way more hits than misses. However, with so many anime series and even multiple timelines, within the franchise, it can be hard to know the proper Gundam watch order. Seriously this series has more sequels, prequels, spin-offs and non-canon entries than pretty much any other anime. 

So we’ve decided to take on the mobile suit-sized task and deliver you a Gundam watch order for new fans to follow along to. 

Mobile Suit Gundam Plot:

There isn’t exactly one plot to Gundam, as the series features multiple timelines where one series’ events are completely unrelated to another. The franchise generally focuses around soldiers, usually, younger ones getting as low as being in their teens, fighting in giant robots called mobile suits, with someone in these suits being known as Gundams. All the different shows and movies share a common theme of political and social commentary, exploring the consequences of war, power struggles, and technological advancement. The franchise also features complex and nuanced characters, as well as mecha designs that have become iconic in Japanese animation.

Gundam Watch Order 

We are going to start with the release date order for all of the many different shows and movies within the series and then go into the chronological timeline for some of the bigger universes within the franchise. 

Please be aware that the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise’s spin-off works, manga, light novels, video games, and other media are not included in this list, which only contains the core anime series. Only the big stuff here! 

For the release date order, we are also going to go with the release date of the very first episode, as some series within the Gundam franchise were airing at the same time. 

Release Date Order: 

  • Mobile Suit Gundam (1979 – 1980)
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985 – 1986)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986 – 1987)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam F91 (1991)
  • Victory Gundam (1993) 
  • Mobile Suit V Gundam (1993 – 1994) 
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam (1994 – 1995) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (1995 – 1996) 
  • After War Gundam X (1996)
  • Turn A Gundam (1999)
  • Gundam SEED (2002 – 2003)
  • Gundam SEED Destiny (2004 – 2005)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007 – 2009)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010)
  • Gundam Reconguista in G (2014 – 2015) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015 – 2018)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans (2015 – 2017)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt (2015 – 2017)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch From Mercury (2022 – currently airing)

From this release date order, we have only included anime series, not movies but we will include movies if they happen to fit into the various timelines in the Gundam franchise that we are covering. 

Chronological Watch Order 

There are several timelines in the Gundam Franchise, with most of the series within it just being self-contained and not being connected to others. However, there is one “main” timeline within the franchise that is generally referred to as the Universal Century timeline or just UC timeline for short. 

Universal Century (UC) Chronological Timeline 

The chronological Gundam watch order for the UC timeline as of now goes as follows 

  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin (2015-2018) – This anime adaptation retells the story of the original “Mobile Suit Gundam” series as well as the events before it.
  • Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: The Movie Trilogy (1981-1982) – A compilation of three films that retell the events of the original “Mobile Suit Gundam” series.
  • Advent Of The Red Comet (2019)
  • The 08th MS Team (1996 – 1999)
  • MS IGLOO (2004 – 2008)
  • 0080: War In The Pocket (1989)
  • Thunderbolt (2016)
  • 0083: Stardust Memory (1991)
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985)
  • Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: A New Translation (2005-2006) – A film trilogy that retells the story of “Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.”
  • Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ (1986)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack (1988)
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn (2010) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Twilight Axis (2017) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative (2018) 
  • Gundam Hathaway (2021) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam: F91 (1991)
  • Victory Gundam (1993) 

Outside of the UC timeline, there are some timelines that encompass multiple different series, but most shows outside of it are self-contained to just their own shows. Some of those larger timelines and their chronological orders are

After Colony/Mars Century Timeline 

Gundam watch order

The After Colony/Mars Century timeline, also known as the AC Timeline focuses on the story established in the show Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.

  • New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (1995 – 1996)
  • Operation Meteor (1996) [Compilation OVA]
  • New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (1997)

Cosmic Era 

Cosmic Era, commonly abbreviated as C.E, is the timeline where the event of the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED series takes place. The Cosmic Era is the only Gundam timeline outside of the UC timeline that features multiple different TV series within it. 

  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (2002 – 2003) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray (2003) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (2004 – 2005) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: STARGAZER (2006) 

Anno Domini

Anno Domini is the timeline that contains the event of the Mobile Suit Gundam 00 series. This series is unique as it actually follows the Gregorian calendar, with the series taking place from the years 2307 to 2314 supposedly in our “real world” timeline. 

  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 (2007 – 2009) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam 00 The Movie -A wakening of the Trailblazer (2010) 

Advanced Generation 

The Advanced Generation (often abbreviated as “AG” or “A.G.”) is the timeline of the Gundam AGE movies.

  • Mobile Suit Gundam AGE (2012) 
  • Mobile Suit Gundam AGE: Memory of Eden (2013) 

Outside of these series, most other shows are one-offs. 

How to Watch Gundam From Anywhere in the World

The simplest place to start watching this series is undoubtedly Crunchyroll, and next probably Netflix (if you already have an account).

Netflix 

Netflix is currently carrying various different movies and anime series within the Gundam franchise.

PRICE:

Netflix has three different plans. The basic one costs 8.99 USD per month, and the most expensive one costs 17.99 USD per month.

Crunchyroll 

Mobile suit gundam watch order

Crunchyroll currently has a wide variety of different Gundam series and movies on its catalogue.

PRICE:

You can get the Fan package of Crunchyroll for only 7.99 USD per month and watch all the anime and dramas available on the platform without ads.

You can pay a bit more to enjoy extra perks as well. The most expensive package costs 14.99 USD per month.

If Crunchyroll is geoblocked in your area, do this:

This method works on both desktop PCs and mobile phones or tablets.

  1. Purchase (or start a free trial) of a VPN. I can confirm that NordVPN works for this purpose.
  2. In the settings, choose your Canada for the options listed.
  3. Fire up the VPN and wait for it to do its magic
  4. Once you’re connected, navigate to Netflix (browser or app)
  5. Search “Gundam” in the Netflix search bar and you should see the anime pop up.

Enjoy! Please note that if your Netflix library doesn’t update to reflect the country you selected in your VPN, you may have to clear the Netflix cache first and try again.

To do this on mobile, go to settings -> apps -> Netflix -> clear cache. To do this on PC, you have to clear the cache in your web browser.

I’ve had no trouble using this method and I still use NordVPN to watch anime from various Netflix country libraries daily.


Now that you know the Gundam watch order, why don’t you check out our watch order explanation for other super popular shows like the Naruto watch order or Pokemon watch order!

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