I initially had heard of G-Gundam through the go for it Domon comics in the back of Gundam Wing's manga. I wanted to see the anime so bad, but I could never find much about it online. Eventually bootleg Dvds became more and more popular, and a full Bootleg set of G Gundam subtitled came into existence. I put off buying it, and then one day G Gundam was announced to be airing on Toonami. I was elated! I would finally get to see what I hoped was an amazing anime. i was so hyped I bought Gundam Battle Assault 2 because God Gundam was on the cover. I beat it with him, and the ending confused me. Why was Domon a super saiyan, and why was he in a room of flames ? I didn't get an answer to this until October 2002, when the series finally finished. When it ended, I had missed a few episodes due to Toonami's revolving schedule, so I bought the bootleg and marathon-ed it over the course of a few days. Never had an anime ending hit me so hard, made me feel so much,and made me want more. To this day, G-Gundam is my favorite anime. The battles still give me chills, and the ending makes me cheer out with joy. So what is G Gundam about exactly ?
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| When I saw this image, never before had I wanted to watch an anime so badly. | | | |
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G Gundam is the first Non Universal Century Gundam series. It follows the story of Domon Kasshu, a Gundam Fighter picked to compete for his home country of Neo Japan. In the future, the colonies rule Earth from space, and every four years they hold a Gundam fight to determine which country will rule for the next four years. Each country builds a Gundam (ranging from goofy to awesome) and they duke it out on the planet earth. This year is different however. Domon's older brother killed his mother, and stole the prototype Devil Gundam and ehaded to earth. Under the guise of fighting, Domon and his partner/ childhood friend Rain Mikamura scower the planet for signs of the Devil Gundam, and it's DG cells. DG cells turn a person or corpse into a super powered human, and can recover any damage. They come at a high price, extreme agression, and you are controlled by the Devil Gundam.
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| From top left to bottom right: Kyoji, Scwartz, Master Asia, Argo, George, Chibodee, Domon, Domon again, and Sai Saici. |
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The cast is as follows:
Domon Kasshu- Represenative of Neo Japan, and holds the title of King of Hearts martial artist. He returned home after years of training to find his mother dead, his brother gone, and his father cryogenically frozen. Pilots the Shining and later God Gundam.
Rain Mikamura- Domon's childhood friend, she's a doctor and his mechanic. She can pilot the Shining Gundam and later the Rising.
Chibodee Crockett- Neo America's representative, he's all of American stereotypes rolled into one. The current Queen of Spade of the Shuffle Alliance, he pilots the Gundam Maxter.
George De Sand- Neo France's represenative, the Jack of Diamond of the Shuffle Alliance. He's extremely gentlemanly, and pilots the Gundam Rose.
Argo Gulski- Neo Russia's representative, and the Black Joker of the Shuffle alliance. He's an ex space pirate forced to fight by Russia, and pilots the Bolt Gundam.
Sai Saici- The youngest representative in the Gundam Fight comes from Neo China. He's an excellent coke, and fights to revive the Shaolin temple. Sai is the Ace of clubs in the Shuffle Alliance, and pilots the Dragon Gundam.
Scwartz Bruder(Black Brother)- Neo Germany's representative, he helps mentor Domon to fight against the Devil Gundam, In reality he is a DG cell clone on Kyoji Kasshu, sent to help Domon. He pilots the Gundam Spiegel (Mirror).
Master Asia Tohofuhai- The Undefeated of the East, and previous King of Hearts. Domon's master who sides with the Devil Gundam. He won the previous gundam fight with his Kowloon Gundam, and now pilots the Master gundam.
Allenby Beardsley- A rival fighter from Neo Sweden who serves as a foil for Rain and love interest for Domon. She was an orphan specifically for the gundam fight, and pilots the Nobell Gundam.
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| Domon holding Allenby, God holding Nobell. |
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The series starts off with Domon and Rain landing in Italy, with Domon looking for a man in a picture (later revealed to be Kyoji). Domon gets arrested for fighting Italy's Gundam fighter's gang, and we learn about the world of G Gundam. The poor live on earth, and the rich live on the colonies. The earth gets more destroyed with each Gundam fight, and those on earth resent the colonies a little more each time. The series uses a monster of the week format, with Domon or a friend he made fighting a Gundam match. While searching for hsi brother Domon meets four fellow martial artists who will help him in his struggles. Chibodee, George, Sai Saici, and Argo, all of whom make a strong impression on Domon, and vice versa. Domon has no luck fidning Kyoji, so he heads to Japan, where he is reuntied with his Master, and is over joyed. That is til he learns Master Asia's secret- He's working for the Devil Gundam, and has captured Domon's friends. Just when all seems lost the Shuffle alliance eneters the fray, saving Domon. The Shuffle Alliance watches the world from the shadows, and takes charge whenever something evil reaches a tipping point.
The Shuffle Alliance fights with Domon's friends and realizes that they are the successors to the Shuffle Alliance, and give their lives to cure them of the DG cells that had been controlling them. They then join Domon in his fight against the Devil Gundam, and Master Asia. When they all combine their powers to fight the Devil Gundam, a mysterious masked man named Schwartz Bruder takes the scene and save their asses. Domon is beyond frustrated at being do weak, but after listening to Schwartz he realizes he must train if he ever hopes to fight Kyoji. He heads to the Guyana Highlands where he trained previously, and his comrades follow him. They all train there to prepare for the oncoming final round in Hong Kong. When it's time to leave, the Devil Gundam attacks. Everyone gets away except Domon, who stays behind to fight Master Asia and The Devil Gundam. Just as Domon is facing death, Schwartz shows up and saves him. mortally wounded, he tells Domon to remember his training. Domon does, activates his Super mode on his Shining gundam, and defeats the Devil Gundam. When it comes time to face Master Asia, Domon is given his brand new God gundam from the colonies. Master Gundam falls to God gundam's sheer might, and Domon speeds off to the final round in Hong Kong.
The final rounds begin with Domon swearing to win every single match til he faces Master Asia. He's off to a rough start, complicated by the ruler of Hong kong, Wong Yunfa capturing the beaten Devil Gundam to use for his own plans, and opponents Domon previously defeated returning for revenge. Domon wins all of his matches with superior skills, and soon is up a against a tough opponent, Allenby Beardsley. She uses a berserker system to draw out her full potential, but is still defeated by Domon. Domon manages to overcome all of Wong's cheap tricks, which frustrates him into forcing Domon to fight against members of the Shuffle Alliance. One by one Domon fights them, and despite being able to activate their Gundam's respective Hyper Modes (All gold) and their newly found skills from the Guyana highlands, Domon wins.During the final match, Allenby is taking away to a hospital, which Domon blames on Rain due to asking her to stay with her. Rain resigns, and temporarily joins Neo Germany's team. Finally Wong realizes there is only one opponent that has a chance to beat Domon- pair him with Schwartz Bruder in a bomb filled arena. Schwartz Bruder dominates the fight, while Domon struuggles with his God gundam due to poor maintenance. Finally he calls out to Rain, who tells him what to do, and wins the match. Domon and Rain embrace, and see Schwartz's maks fall off- that underneath he is Kyoji Kasshu.
While Domon heads off to fight the final round of the Gundam fight, Rain sneaks into the hospital where Schwartz is being held. There she learns the truth behind the Devil Gundam- that her father and the military commander of Japan, Ulube had killed Domon's mother and tired to steal the Devil Gundam, then called the Ultimate Gundam. Domon's father was frozen so he couldn't fight back, and Domon and Rain were fed lies to make them participate in the gundam fight. Rain even witnesses her father trying to kill Schwartz/ Kyoji. She saves him, and the two of them head to Rantou Island, where the Devil gundam lays, and the final round of the Gundam Fight is held.
The Shuffle Allaince aside from Domon are defeated to allow him a path to fight Master Asia and the Devil gundam. Master Asia is winning til Schwartz shows up and turns the tide. He tells Domon everything, how's he's a DG clone of Kyoji, and how they are both close to death. He begs Domon to kill them, and tearfully he does. Master Asia berates Domon, and the final fight begins. Domon and Master Asia fight the most spectacular Gundam battle ever, with their fists speaking the words they cannot. Domon overcomes Master Asia, who then tells Domon his true plan. That he wanted the Devil Gundam to fix the broken earth, and get rid of all people on it. Domon made him realize that people are part of nature, and you cannot get rid of them so easily. Master Asia dies in Domon's arms, the two of them crying and reciting their school's motto.
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| Manly tears. |
Domon has won the Gundam fight,and now it's time for romance! Wait, Rain left him behind ? After some encouragement from the Shuffle alliance and Allenby, he finally heads off to space. To compund this, the colony of Neo Japan has been taken over by Ulube and the Devil Gundam with Rain inside. Domon begins to fight a losing battle, until the Shuffle Alliance and all of the Gundam fighters show up to help fight the Devil gundam. Through teamwork, they stop the Devil Gundam from reaching earth, and allow Domon and the Shuffle alliance to get inside. Domon makes it alone to the control room, only to find Rain metalized and inside the Devil Gundam. He begins to fight her, but all the damage he does only hurts her. Instead he tells her hoe much he loves her, and she breaks free. Together they defeat the Devil gundam, and fly off together to the earth. Everyone ends up happy with their significant others, having achieved their dreams. Argo freed his pirate friends, Chibodee showed the world the American dream, George brought honor to France, and Sai Saici revived his father's Shaolin temple. Domon freed his father, and got together with his childhood friend, which never happens in anime. Hopefully someday we get a 14th gundam fight, because I would shank a man for more.
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| I love it! |
G Gundam is such fun series. It combines martial arts with cool robot action. It doesn't take itself seriously, look at any Gundam for refrence really. From Tequila Gundam to Nether Gundam they are goofy. Our main characters are martial artists who can only communicate with their fists, and they find friendship among one another. I love the fights, to this day anytime Domon throws down with the Shuffle Alliance or Master Asia, or Schwartz Bruder I get chills. The end where Domon chases after Rain and give his heartfelt speech makes me happy, and when it end, I miss it. More than I've ever missed anything. It's a beautiful series about martial arts. super robots, and love. What more could you want? The first time i watched every single episode I took a few days off school to mourn it's ending. I played the Super Nintendo game, and Gundam Battle Assault 2 to fill the void. No anime will ever touch me as much as this one. The Subtitled version is so much better than the Dubbed in case you were wondering.
There's a rushed manga based on this series by Koichi Tokita, who also did the gundam Wing manga, and The gundam Seed Astray main series. It's rushed and the author obviously favors Allenby, but it's decent. There's a more recent manga based on G Gundam, but It's not translated in English so I have no idea on it's quality. The Super Nintendo game is okay if you like old school fighters, there's not much variety in the characters. Gundam Battle Assault 2 is great, it features the main G Gundam line up, The Gundam Wing Endless waltz team, and plenty of UC Gundams. Definitely recommended.
G Gundam Anime- 10/10
G Gundam Manga-7/10
G Gundam SNES- 5/10
Gundam Battle Assault- 9/10.
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| Goofy enough for you ? |
I loved this anime. I loved how goofy it was compared to other Gundam series at the time.
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