Mobile Suit Gundam

The Gundam Series (ガンダムシリーズ Gandamu Shirīzu) is a metaseries of space opera anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or "mecha") called "Mobile Suits" (MS); usually the protagonist's MS will carry the name Gundam. (credits to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gundam)

From Robotech (1985) to Gundam Wing (1995)

The original timeline for the Gundam series was the Universal Century (UC) series, which included Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985). Since the 1990s, alternative timelines have been produced and developed, including the Future Century, After Colony, After War, Correct Century, Cosmic Era, Anno Domini and Advanced Generation timelines.

As of January 21, 2008, the Gundam franchise is a 50 billion yen trademark. A year 2000 press release stated that retail sales of Gundam items had totaled $5 billion. In the 2008 ranking of average sales figures for anime copies sold in Japan (1970-2008 total sales figures averaged by episode), Gundam series were in four of the top five places: Mobile Suit Gundam ranked second, with Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny third, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED fourth, and Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam fifth. Also, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing ranked 18th and Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ ranked 20th. Gunpla's (Gundam Plastic model) holds 90% of the Japan character plastic model market.

Gundam: Wing Zero by Bandai

"Gundam Wing was a greater success in North America, however, and is credited with single-handedly popularizing the Gundam franchise among Western audiences. Just over a week after its premiere on Cartoon Network on March 6, 2000, the series was the top rated program in all age groups."

Anime

Gundam Wing was not the first series in the Gundam franchise to be dubbed and distributed in the U.S. (the compilation movie version of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, as well as the OVAs War in the Pocket and Stardust Memory, proceeded it by about two years), but it is well known as the first Gundam series to be aired on American television. The series aired on Cartoon Network's weekday afternoon programing block Toonami, premiering on March 6, 2000, and ending on May 11 of the same year. In the first extended promo leading up to the series' premiere, voice actor Peter Cullen narrated the back story, evoking memories of Voltron's opening credits. The promo was said to be so riveting that Bandai decided to use it as the official promo for the series.

It was broadcast in two formats; an edited version shown in the daytime on Toonami and an uncut version shown past midnight as part of Toonami's "Midnight Run." Examples of the edits included the removal of blood, profanity, and the word "kill" being replaced with the word "destroy" (this was extended to Duo's nickname, "The God of Death," changed to "The Great Destroyer," forcing the alteration of two episode titles), though the word "death" was mostly left intact. All Gundam Wing episodes have been released to VHS and DVD in the U.S. Differences between the two video systems is that the VHS episodes contain the edited version while the DVD episodes contain the uncut version.

Gundam Wing

Macross Plus

Plot Summary: It is the year After Colony 195, and war between the Space Colonies and Earth has begun. To give the colonies an edge, they send 5 young soldiers, trained to perfection, to earth in the most powerful of Mobile Suits-Gundams. With their arrival, the tide of the war changes as they battle against the Earth forces and the Colonies of their origin.

Running time: half hour per episode

Number of episodes: 49

Main Characters

From Left to Right : Heero Yuy - XXXG-01W Wing Gundam and the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero
Duo Maxwell -  XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe and the XXXG-01D2 Gundam Deathscythe Hell
Trowa Barton - XXXG-01H Gundam Heavyarms
Quatre Raberba Winner - XXXG-01SR Gundam Sandrock
Chang Wufei - XXXG-01S Shenlong Gundam and the XXXG-01S2 Altron Gundam