12 Years Ago Today, The Best Gundam Anime of All Time Ended

Mobile Suit Gundam is one of the most important anime franchises of all time, laying down the foundation for the mecha genre as anime and manga fans know it today.

Created by Yoshiyuki Tomino, Gundam's commitment to political depth and grounded character development turned what would otherwise be a standard mecha sci-fi series into an epic space opera. The heart of the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise is the Universal Century, the timeline that started it out. From Amuro's first flight in Gundam 0079 to Hathaway Noa's latest outing in The Sorcery of Nymph Circe, the UC is alive and well.

That said, arguably the best entry in the UC ended 12 years ago on June 6, 2014, raising a new bar for quality not only for Gundam, but the anime medium. Based on Harutoshi Fukui's novel series of the same name, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is the ultimate sequel to Char's Counterattack and one of the best mecha anime ever made. A seven-episode saga that took four years to complete, Gundam Unicorn is a masterpiece that every mecha fan needs to watch once in their life.

Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is a Masterclass in Animation, Direction, & Music

In terms of production quality alone, Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is one of the greatest anime ever made. Unicorn is a perfect storm of legendary direction and amazing animation all blended with a beautiful soundtrack that elevates every single scene. The legendary director responsible for Rurouni Kenshin and the original Hunter x Hunter anime, Kazuhiro Furuhashi's direction is outstanding. Every scene and frame is beautifully composed with some of the best cinematography in the medium.

Unicorn's Mobile Suit action is the best in the entire franchise, featuring amazing fight choreography that highlights the weight and power of Mobile Suit warfare. This is to say nothing of the animation, which may be Sunrise's best work. Mobile Suit Gundam's animation is fluid, from how characters move, to the way Mobile Suits fight, and the visual depth present in the background of every single scene. Similarly, fans might know Hiroyuki Sawano best for his work on Attack on Titan, but his soundtrack for Unicorn may very well be his magnum opus.

To call Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn a masterclass in presentation would be an understatement. This is a series that uses the anime medium to the absolute fullest in every respect. As an OVA, every episode of Gundam Unicorn was given as much time as they needed before releasing, resulting in hour-long episodes with the production quality of a feature-length movie. Unicorn was later recut into a 22-episode series, but RE:0096 just doesn't do the OVA justice, hurting the story's pace and the directorial focus each OVA episode originally had.

Gundam Unicorn's Mech Design is the Best in the Franchise

The Gundam franchise has no shortage of amazing mech designs, but Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn may very well be the series' peak. Hajime Katoki, Junya Ishigaki, Mika Akitaka, and Nobuhiko Genba's mechanical designs are nothing short of superb. The titular RX-0 Unicorn Gundam is one of the greatest mechas of all time. The Unicorn Gundam's all-white Unicorn Mode is as slick as it is unique, but the Mobile Suit really shines in its Destroyer Mode.

In its Destroyer Mode, the Unicorn Gundam's Psycho-Frame glows with a gorgeous red that weaves its way through the suit's white body, while its horn retracts to resemble the RX-78-2's crown. The Unicorn Gundam is the perfect balance of the design philosophy found in later UC's Mobile Suits, while calling back to the beautiful simplicity of Amuro's original White Devil. While the Unicorn Gundam is very much the crown jewel of Gundam Unicorn, the OVA's other mech designs are just as fantastic.

Full Frontal's Sinanju is a perfect successor to Char's Sazabi from Char's Counterattack, featuring a gorgeous red body and a powerful design that perfectly communicates how much of a threat Full Frontal is. The ReZEL is quite possibly the best-designed grunt Mobile Suit in the franchise, a mass-produced Zeta Gundam that puts the original GM to shame. The Kshatriya is a fantastic early-series Mobile Suit, participating in some of Unicorn's best battles and resembling a clunkier, chaotic Qubeley – making it the perfect suit for Marida considering her connection to Ple.

Gundam Unicorn is a Love Letter to the Entire UC

Above all else, what truly makes Mobile Suit Gundam such an amazing series is how it acts as a love-letter to the entire UC timeline. Unicorn is an anime built on decades of storytelling, acting as a genuine sequel to both Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ and Char’s Counterattack, while weaving in references, Easter eggs, and themes from just about every UC Gundam anime. Banagher and Full Frontal’s rivalry is essentially Amuro and Char’s relationship reborn, to say nothing of how their ideals haunt the narrative. Marida and Minerva’s character arcs are heavily built on where ZZ took their stories, painfully exploring the life of a Ple clone who’s managed to live this long, while exploring and deconstructing the Zabi Dynasty’s legacy through Minerva.

Even OVAs like Stardust Memory are represented, with Torrington Base serving as a major setting in Unicorn Episode 4. Unicorn explores the world following Char’s Rebellion, while making it clear the events of ZZ have had a massive impact on the political landscape of the UC – more so than even in Char’s Counterattack. Like the Hathaway movies, Unicorn brilliantly uses a foundation built over 140 episodes, multiple OVAs, and a legendary movie to tell a story by Gundam fans for Gundam fans. Even the series' controversial ending carries so much more weight when you understand that F91, Victory, and eventually Turn A are the future Unicorn will eventually build into.

At the same time, Gundam Unicorn’s story is personal and self-contained enough where plenty of audiences have been converted into lifelong MSG fans through it. You'll miss out on a lot of the series’ political depth, subtle theming, and even some character development, but the sheer spectacle and heart that flows through Unicorn is strong enough for anyone to appreciate. Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn is not only the ultimate love letter to the UC, it's one of the best series to come out of the Gundam franchise and an absolute masterpiece from start to finish.