Gundam are not explicitly marxist but political themes lean into marxism at times. Some shows better than others, I’m not a gundam expert.
Just to add, Tomino (the guy who made the original 0079 Gundam) had a similar background to Ghibli’s Miyazaki (they’re the same age and they worked together on World Masterpiece Theater) and was also active in the student union’s in the 60’s. All the stuff he made is extremely class conscious. “Everything he makes is marxist in some way whether he still calls himself one or not.” applies to him as well, even if in public nowadays he’s kinda ultra liberal.
The show I’d recommend from him is Turn A Gundam, which besides being a beautiful high-concept Sci-fi show (that I won’t spoil) is also explicitly about settler colonialism.
So I’ve been told that Turn A is best with the context of having seen some UC Gundam already, is that true? I wouldn’t be able to judge, having been into Gundam to one degree or another since I was a kid.
Imo Turn A is perfectly fine standalone. It’ll help to be familiar with Gundam shows as a concept, but I think the core conceit is strong enough that you can go in mostly blind and be fine
Just to add, Tomino (the guy who made the original 0079 Gundam) had a similar background to Ghibli’s Miyazaki (they’re the same age and they worked together on World Masterpiece Theater) and was also active in the student union’s in the 60’s. All the stuff he made is extremely class conscious. “Everything he makes is marxist in some way whether he still calls himself one or not.” applies to him as well, even if in public nowadays he’s kinda ultra liberal.
The show I’d recommend from him is Turn A Gundam, which besides being a beautiful high-concept Sci-fi show (that I won’t spoil) is also explicitly about settler colonialism.
Edit for basic fact checking lol
So I’ve been told that Turn A is best with the context of having seen some UC Gundam already, is that true? I wouldn’t be able to judge, having been into Gundam to one degree or another since I was a kid.
Imo Turn A is perfectly fine standalone. It’ll help to be familiar with Gundam shows as a concept, but I think the core conceit is strong enough that you can go in mostly blind and be fine