Customer Reviews

Mobile Suit Gundam - The Battle Begins (V.1) [VHS]

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Wow it only took 21 years to get here....

This series occurs at the beginning of the 79th Universal Century (UC 0079). Its the Gundam series that started it all. Much of the other gundam series owe a lot to the first one. You will notice similarities between the main "antagonists" of this one and Wing; also, you will notice that it centers around a war. Being created in late 70's, the main difference the bad guys are a little more distinguishable.

The plot line is still intense. The animation not as crisp as 0080, 0083, 08th MS, and Wing. You still have the "Super Robot Look" of the 70's on some of the enemy mobile suits. Treat it as a classic piece of animation and for what it is a piece of Gundam History (created 15 year before Gundam Wing). A must for Anime fans and especially Gundam fans...

The plot centers around the deployment of a rookie crew aboard the a starship called the White Base and the Gundam it supports during the "One Year War", where the space colonies allied to the Zion movement declared their independance from the Earth Federation.

Amuro Ray is the main character who controls the Gundam and Char Aznable his main antagonist. Both have potential New-type abilities that allow them to control their Mobile Suits with much eaze compared to the normal types. The development of Amuro from boy to man will be apparent in the series as well as his New-type abilites.....

Hope this helps and gets you going...

The series is great and it brought back a lot of fond memories for me. The first is the best. Its just too bad that it only features really horrible English dubbing and NO ORIGINAL JAPANESE vo. Buyers beware.

I am a 40+ years old gundam fan that had grown up with the original gundam series. At my time I watched the show in Hong Kong which was dubbed in Cantonese.Now I am so happy that in the US now they have the English dubbed version so that my son who is better in english rthan in chinese can enjoy the show too;Unfortunately the staff involved in the making of the english version decided to modified the original sound effect by adding too much of their idea.Sound effects like the firing of the beam sabre or the sound of the mobile suit moving that make the original show stand-out of the other robot show were either masked with new sound or too much additional after sound were added that totally ruined the scene atmosphere.I would be very happy if they can provided a new version that only has the english language option but without the new added sound effects.I recently purchased The Zeta gundam limited edition and It retained the original sound sffets and it sound so much better.Eventhough I already bought the whole set of the gundam 0079 I will still buy one more set if they can make it with the original sound effect with just the language english only,thanks.

This is were it starts. Buy this series.
The Gundam series marked a transition from the human shaped super robots of the era, to a more mechanical design (just take a look at Tomino's Daitarn-3, Zanbot-3, etc., etc.)
This is an amazing story, and heavily grounded in science. This was the framing for characters that would appear throughout the Universal Century again and again, and the founding of classic Gundam archetypes.
A note about the omittence of a Japanese language track. There is none. There is no release of the Gundam series on DVD in Japan (There's a laserdisc version, if you want that). For this reason, Sunrise wouldn't allow a Japanese track to be put on the American version.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM during it's run on Cartoon Network turned me away immediatly at first with it's dated animation and drawings that look like they were done during somebodies study hall but do not snub this show on looks alone, or you will miss out on a truly innovative, exciting and at times meaningful anime that outclasses many of it's contemporaries.

To those new to this show, I'll give you the basic rundown of the show. In Universal Century 0079, Earth's resources are running dry and many are left hungary. Many are forced to emigrate into outerspace and live in colonies or "sides" with Earth like environments. The Federation is challenged by the Dutchy of Zeon, who control the Side 3 colony and demand more recognition and independance from Earth and lauch a war with their revolutionary mobile suits, a one man robotic war machine capable of immense destruction. With options run out, the Federation has launched a counterattack against Zeon with their own mobile suits, one of them named Gundam which with revulotionary software can learn while it fights heads up the Federations strike. When a Zeon spaceship led by infamous "Red Comet" Char Aznable, finds the location of the mobiles suit's the Federation built, it destroys all but 3, the Gundam, Guncannon and Guntank and kills many of the Side 7 colonies inhabitants and much of the Federation crew at the colony. Young wiz kid Amuro Ray finds his way into the Gundams cockpit and starts to fight back and helps lead the scarce Fed crew and civilians to supposed safety on Earth.

Just about all of the main characters are introduced here in this first disc. Amuro the Gundam pilot with his own views of war, Frau Bow his girl friend of sorts who tries to help Amuro whenever she can, Hayato, Amuros pint sized neighbor, Kai, local resident and smartass, Mirai a woorisome resident who serves as the Whitebase's new pilot. Sayla who may or may not have a connection with enemy pilot Char as well as the Fed crew Bright Noa the hard nosed commander with little at his disposal and Ryu, the only experienced pilot left aboard. Char the lead enemy pilot is introduced as well and is billed as a scurge of the Zeon's military.

This first disc gives you an introduction to the show and in it's first episode shows some rather raw and even unflinching views of war brought to someones neighborhood, unlike almost anything seen in Gundam Wing, a spinoff show. The first five episodes are perfect watching as a sort of matinee all by itself and ends in a great cliffhanger fashion for the next disc. If your curious about the show, pick up at least the first disc, and if you can make it by the dated look, you are honestly in for a great show that blend sci fi action and one mans look at the war.

Like a lot of other American Gundam fans, I was introduced to the franchise through Gundam Wing, one of the first Gundam series to be brought to the States and aired on Cartoon Network. Although I still prefer Wing, this series is superior in many ways; more detailed setting, more realistic mechas, etc. I won't rehash the plot here, since you can read about it in the other reviews, including Amazon's own. For anyone not familiar with Gundam, it's a long-running anime franchise that has sort of similar status in Japan to die-hard franchises like Star Trek or Star Wars in the United States (indeed, Gundam has a number of similar elements to both of them). It's one of the first anime to try to show mechas (i.e. giant robots) in a more realistic manner than the old super robot shows of 1970's, and also to add in some real human drama along with the action. One of the interesting things about Gundam is its moral ambiguity; it's clear pretty early that the Earth Federation are the good guys of the story and that the Principality of Zeon are the aggressors, but you realize quickly that things aren't that simple. While the young crew of the White Base is certainly likable over all, their superiors are often portrayed as corrupt, abrasive, and unsympathetic. The Zeon characters, on the other hand, are often very likable people doing what they think is right. The show's primary villain, Char Aznable, is a compelling and fascinating character, at times more sympathetic than his rival, the show's hero, Amuro Ray. With the exception of the Zabi family in the later stages of the series (and not even all of them), there are few clear-cut "good guys" or "bad guys" in the show, which makes its portrayal of war all the more realistic. Indeed, Mobile Suit Gundam, while not exactly anti-war in the same sense as the later Gundam Wing, does present a very emphatic "war is hell" theme, focusing less on the excitement and glory of the battles than on toll it takes on the soldiers and those who lose loved ones in the fighting. The Zeon also make a fascinating case; starting out as a movement only seeking independence from a corrupt regime (the Earth Federation), they are turned by the ambitious Zabi family into Nazi-esque aggressors (although I do think the Nazi connection is overstated by some fans). The Newtype supremacy talk of Gihren Zabi near the end is really chilling. They provide a great example of a just cause gone tragically wrong.
Granted, the show has its weak points. The animation is dated at best, and the music and sound effects could be charitably described as "amusing". The pacing is also not the best; the middle part of the show tends to drag a bit. The end feels a bit rushed, likely because it was cancelled early and the writers needed to hurry to wrap up the plot. Despite those things, Mobile Suit Gundam is still a classic, a true space opera with great characters and a lot to say.

I will admit it. I bought this disc. Why? Because I can't get enough of Gundam. Im sick of Wing and 08th MS isn't coming out fast enough. The plot is a little hard to beleive at first. Amuro Ray learns of the Gundam then finds it and destroys two Zakus in one episode is pretty hard to believe, but still pretty cool to watch. As Amuro improves his skills, he is joined up by Ryu, Hayato and Kai. All pilots of the Gundam, Guntank, Guncannon and core fighters. Also, Amuro comes face to face a bunch of times with Char in these five episodes. The disc basically shows how White Base escapes from Side 7, make a stop off at Luna 2 and then break for earth.

The packaging includes a pretty cool sticker. The one thing that the really makes the show seem real odd is that the show has been restored. This includes the opening and closings which are changed in no way, but it kind of seperates itself far away from the dub.

Yes, there are extras on here. Theres three bios on the Gundam, Guntank and Guncannon. There is, however, a preview for a 3-D Zeon video game for the Playstation that looks so damn cool. The menu setup is still motion with the Toonami remix in the bacround for it. Overall, an ok disc, but I would appreciate it if Bandai would include the Japanese dialogue or atleast bump the price down.

I cannot believe myself that I'm giving my most beloved anime series of all time 3 stars. But Bandai are at fault!! The 3 star I gave I refer to the quality of this DVD. The series itself, without doulbt, is one of the best of all time.

In fact, the only real Gundam worth watching is the early Univeral Century time-line. The entire chronicle starting with Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam Double Zeta and lastly "Char's Counterattack" with "Gundam - The 08th MS Team", "Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket" and "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory" as side-shows.

I disapprove new Gundam rubbish with hugh female fan-base like Wing Gundam (why the hell a robot need a wing in the first place anyway??). Anyway, back to the DVD issue. First of all, the dubbing is Nightmare!! It taken those characters out of their personality. Secondly, why omitted the original Japanese soundtrack?? Surely if dubbing was bad, then you should have the freedom to try the alternative, but no, they want to choke up to death.

I feel sad for those who waited for this series to be release in the US. As a life-long fan, I feel sad that the series doesn't get the treatment it deserved. Bandai, if you can read this. Then release a fully restored, digitally remastered, with digital soundtrack it deserve, and not some cheap quick fix, rip-off like this one

Those of you, who haven't seen original Gundam series before. I think the good starting point is the three movie. Then it is up to you whether you would like to get the extended Episodes or not. I mean, Bandai plan is that once you got to see the well presented movie set, you going to crave for more and buy the crappy release extended series (if you read this, let it be known that we are not stupid, just go and release proper stuff)

Here it is. The series that started the Gundam tradition. Most people will complain and say that the animation is outdated and crummy, but they'll miss out on this classic. The animation is not too bad, but it's not the best. The animation for the Mobile Suits aren't too shabby, though I say the Zeong is a little flaky. The story is great and really pulls you in the Gundam universe. The audio, however, is the Achilles heel here. The characters voices' sound very strained at times and the music is just atrocious. Despite those 2 shortcomings, this is definitely worth checking out if you 've watched Gundam Wing to death.

I've seen gundam wing and although impressed by the newer graphics and gundams , it's story was not as impressive , nor interesting.Classic gundam is better because it is more realistic , instead of having dozens of mobile dolls blown up each episode , you have much fewer zaku's that have real pilots and it is not easy to destroy them.We actually get to see the face of each zaku pilot Amuro kills (7 or 8 so far), and every time he fights with Char is exciting.I enjoyed the designs of the battleships which have weapons that modern day battleships posses (cannons , flak guns , missiles etc) and reminiscent of real ships (cannons at the flanks).Amuro's mobile suit is something that you think can be created one day and not something that packs a weapon strong enough to destroy a colony , and although it posseses an invincibillity ( like any other anime hero or villain has) it is nowhere near that of wing zero or the other gundams which fought with almost no refueling or repairs for many episodes and could mot be harmed after a simple upgrade each time.
The classic has all the elements of G-wing'show plot (Both series) and it is that to which it is compared to in every turn.Also instead of the nameless oz or white fang or one of the many factions in wing here we have zeon , with it's hierarchy , it's ruling family and offcourse zakus.
Having said that it has its flaws too.First of all why the three cute children;One of them actually looks like Britney spears at that age. Second the title song ,yes it is 70's but BAD 70's music (Disco had better to offer.
Looks old but it is supposed to be that ,so it is no reason not to buy this series. This and Gatchaman made history and every new show either tries to honor or copy them except Evangelion .REI ROCKS!!!BYE,BUY MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM!!