Gundam: The Universal Century, Explained

Key Takeaways

• The Universal Century features a war between the Federation and Zeon ideologies, with a new era beginning in space.
• Zeon creates a mobile suit, starting a year-long war with the Federation.
• The RX Project creates a group of popular Gundams to counter Zeon's brutality in the Mobile Suit Gundam series.

the Mobile Suit Gundam the franchise is almost 50 years old. With dozens of anime series and movies, manga, video games, and Gunpla model kits, it is one of Japan's biggest IPs. Among the different series of the franchise, only one has the benefit of continuing since the beginning of the animation with dozens of stories that took place in one timeline: the Universal Century. This is the main timeline of Gundam and the most famous and popular.

Looking at the list of included series, it might all seem daunting, but given the chance, the story of the war between the Federation and Zeon is sure to appeal to everyone. If you want to see the Universal Century of Mobile Suit Gundamhere are the things you need to know before you jump in and believe in the possibility of a better future.

The Universal Century, Gundam's Icon

There is no good or bad, only Ideology

The Universal Century begins at 0001 UC. When the human population exceeded 9 billion, humans colonized space and left Earth. There was a new dawn for the species among the stars. The Universal Century was heralded by a change in the calendar, which meant a new phase in human history. There is a new space station called Laplace and inside, the Prime Minister of the Earth Federation, Ricardo Marcenas, is holding a ceremony to celebrate the change of the calendar and the new era. The terrorist group uses a solar-powered bomb and destroys the station during Marcenas' speech, leaving only one of the terrorists, a young man named Syam Vist, alive. Syam stumbles upon the World Century Charter, a declaration signed by today's world leaders. He took it with him and hid.

Humans build 7 colonies called “Sides”, and people gradually migrate to these. At one point the people living in these colonies are known as “Spacenoids” and eventually they find a leader in Zeon politician and philosopher Zum Deikun. Zeon comes up with the “Newtype Theory”, which talks about how life in space will finally unlock the potential of humans, allowing them the ability to think that will create a new era. in understanding. During an important speech, he suffered a heart attack and died. It is believed that he was poisoned by his allies, the Zabi Family. He left behind a wife and two children: Casval Rem Deikun and Artesia Som Deikun.

After his death, the Earth Federation was blamed, having been at odds with the Spacenoids for years. The Spacenoids have discovered a new space nation, seeking independence from Federation rule: The Principality of Zeon. Degwin Zabi is appointed as the new leader of the country and continues Zeon's efforts towards independence. With the help of Dr. Minovsky, Zeon has developed a new weapon, a superhuman mechanical suit: the mobile suit. And they developed the first mobile suit: YMS-05 “Zaku”.

Zeon produces the Zaku in preparation for war with the Federation. Finally, Degwin's son, Gihren Zabi, releases one of the space colonies from its orbit and sends it to Earth, arriving in Australia, completely destroying the country and changing the climate of the planet. This is known as Colony Drop. And with that, the One Year War begins. The son of Zeon Deikun joined the Zeon army and rose through the ranks, taking the name of Char Aznable. Because of the fast and powerful red Zaku, it was given the name “The Red Comet”.

The Federation adopts Dr Minovsky's research and together with Dr Tem Ray begins the RX Project, a secret operation to develop a new mobile suit to defeat Zeon. During the war, the project produced a new state-of-the-art mobile suit, surpassing anything created by Zeon: The Gundam. During the Zeon attack on Side 7, a 14-year-old boy named Amuro Ray discovers the Gundam and pilots it to defeat the invading Zaku. And with that, the action of the first Mobile Suit Gundam series begins.

Anime of the Century Universal

Here is your watch list

Universal Century includes dozens of anime series, OVAs, and movies. The same goes for manga, novels, and even games. Here is the media in chronological order of the universe:

• Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin: Char Aznable's story with modern animation, although its canonicality is debatable.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0079: The first series was published in 1979. It tells the story of Amuro Ray and the White Camp team in their fight against Char Aznable and Zeon.
• Mobile Suit Gundam MS Igloo Movie Trilogy: another side of the war next year follows the team of Jotunheim.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team: OVA featuring Shiro Amada's MS Team 08 on Earth in their battle against Zeon's new weapon.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: Battle in the Pocket: A Zeon team investigates the design of a new Federation mobile suit for Christmas.
• Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memories: The battle between Kou Uraki and the relentless Anabel Gato and two powerful Gundams.
• Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: The successors to the Zeon leaders continue to fight the Federation.
• Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ: Neo Zeon commits heinous crimes in his quest for victory and independence.
• Mobile Suit Gundam: Attack of Char: The climax of the rivalry between Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, changing the world of the Universal Century.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn: The rest of Zeon searches for Laplace's Box as a unique new Gundam that ushers in a new era for humanity.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative: The direct sequel to Unicorn, the battle against Neo Zeon continues.
• Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: Years later after Char's Counterattack, a boy transformed by that conflict begins his own revolution.
• Mobile Suit Gundam F91: Much later in the timeline, humans cannot escape the cycle of conflict.
• Mobile Suit Victory Gundam: The furthest point in the timeline, other than the Federation and Zeon, still has the Gundam.

Even though Universal Century looks like a mess, it has some of the best that the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has to offer. A clash of ideologies, political battles, sci-fi action, and compelling characters that stand the test. The Universal Century tells the story of Gundam and the never-ending quest for understanding.