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.