Gundam Dissection - Mobile Suit Gundam (1979)
Published: 2026 August 16
Hello and welcome to Gundam Dissection! This is a multipart review and analysis series by me, .Sunny! As a complete newcomer to Gundam and mecha series in general I thought it would be fun to write down my thoughts on the series as I go through all of its many (many) installments. So if you're a long time Gundam fan or a newcomer interested in what its all about join me on my long deep dive into the Gundam universe!
Today we will be starting with the original Mobile Suit Gundam (1979). I will be splitting this dissection up into 7 "arcs" that roughly aligning with all the major battles of the show. These story arcs arent official or anything I just find dividing the story into these segments makes sense and makes analyzing and commentating on them easier.
So now that we're done with the preamble lets begin with...
1: The Attack on Side 7 Arc (1-5)
2: The Garma Arc (6-12)
3: The Ramba Ral Arc (13-21)
3.5 The Lost Island (15)
4: The Operation Odessa Arc (22-25)
5: The Battle of Jaburo Arc (26-30)
6: The Battle of Solomon Arc (31-36)
7: The Newtype Arc (37-43)
Arguably you could call this the "Battle of A Baoa Qu Arc" but if you are aware of this part of the show you know very well how important newtypes are to the story
Characters
Amuro Ray
Kai Shiden
In the Guncannon is our next pilot and my favorite character, Kai. Kai is such a lovable little shit. He's lazy and a coward yet still smarmy enough to take shots at Amuro just to be a jerk. Out of the 3 pilots he's probably the least committed to the war effort and makes this clear throughout. As a result he often gets chewed out for this but he just takes it in stride. Him treating everything as a joke is an obvious coping mechanism
Hayato Kobayashi
In the Guntank is our final main pilot Hayato. and given that prestige you'd think he'd be as important as our other two leads but well... how do I say this. Hayato is basically the dead weight character. In alot of ways his character makes sense. Hayato is just a normal kid who got drafted into being a soldier with no experience. so of course he's really bad at his job, its honestly kind of a running joke how often he gets into combat and then immediately requests help. In the earlier sections of the story he's paired with Ryu who essentially carries him through every combat encounter. And you'd think when Ryu died this would be when Hayato would rise to the occasion and pick up the slack that was dropped by Ryu's death. but it kind of never happens. Ryu's death just lays bare Hayatos inadequecies as a pilot. And in some way I don't hate that idea. Hayato is a civilian, he has no combat experience. Everyone else on white base is either a member of the army or has a superpower that makes them magically good at fighting in giant robots. Him failing to rise to the occasion isn't a black mark on him, and I feel like thats what the show is trying to do with his character. Its just that Hayato never really gets much focus in the show. He has as much presence as any of the nameless crew members on white base. If he were left out of the show it really wouldn't change much, especially since Kai already fills the role of the everyman coward who rises to the occasion. So all your left with is repeated scenes of Hayatos failures with no narrative payoff. Hayato is clearly bad at his job but no one ever seems to want to point this out. Bright never tells Hayato he's benched. Hayato never quits like Amuro or Kai. In fact out of the three of them he seems the most commited to the war effort and unfortunately for him he's the least qualified. There is one scene he has with Fraw Bow when he is injured that he expresses jealousy over Amuro's ability especially after his new newtype abilities have manifested. And this is a important scene because it allows him and Fraw to relate to eachother as being the two normal ones stuck in a horrible situation. It just seems like the story isn't interested in developing him and his story and its a shame because in theory he is a very interesting character, but in execution he just comes off as a joke.
Bright Noa
Ryu Jose
Ryu is great. He's essentially the backbone of the crew. Hes set up as the mentor figure with the most combat experience who everyone can always rely on. Like Bright he is also deceptively very young, being only 18. And just Like bright I feel like it makes even less sense for him to be that young. Ryu looks and acts like a man in his 30s. This is probably due to the fact that shows for children typically have their character at around the same age as their intended audience for relatability. When you're 12 years old an 18 year old seems like a grisled veteran but since I am 26, he seems like a baby to me. Regardless of his strange age, he's a fun character. He's tough and no nonsense but he also has a big heart. You get the sense that he understands how unfair the situation is for the pilots even if he's still willing to let them fight for their lives. He just does whatever he can to shoulder their burden (He's the one who has to remind Bright to ease up on the pilots) and it makes him come across as really warm and helpful. It makes sense then why he's paired so much with Hayato, being so good as his job that he makes Hayato look competent on the battle field. He's such a foundational member that it really does feel like a blow when he dies. While it is kind of obvious considering his role as a mentor figure, his absense on the show is felt by both the characters and the audience
Sayla Mass
Fraw Bow
Fraw Bow is Amuros childhood best friend and thats really all that can be said about her character.
Honestly the most interesting thing about Fraw Bow is how uninterested Amuro is in her. Based on established conventions you'd think she and Amuro would be sweethearts and the show lampshades this multiple times. However, while Fraw Bow has a clear romantic interest in Amuro, Amuro doesn't see her that way whatsoever. and its not as though Amuro isn't interested in girls, we clearly see he is because of his crush on Matilda. He just isnt into Fraw Bow. In fact whenever they interact its clear he finds her annoying.
Them drifting apart is a major storyline that represents how the war has traumatized and isolated Amuro and it works really well, but its still obviously in service of Amuros character.
Fraw isnt a bad character by any means but she's definitely limited by the fact she's not a combatant and doesn't really have much of a dynamic with anyone but Amuro. Very late into the series she and Hayato begin getting close but again its more just to establish how far her and Amuro have drifted apart.
Mirai Yashima
I don't have much to say about Mirai. Like Hayato she's also kind of defined by being in over her head, but there really isn't all that much going on with her.
She's kind of Brights Fraw Bow in the sense that she only really has a dynamic with him and even then its not much. When they do start showing interest in eachother it does just feel out of nowhere considering their interactions mostly amount to Bright giving her orders.
Sleggar Law
Sleggar one of those characters that I guess is meant to shake things up. He comes in midway through the show but then dies soon after joining. He's alright, I guess he's meant to be like a replacement of Ryu and in a way I can see that working. Unlike Ryu hes a cocky jerk who is constantly undermining Bright, but the show never goes all in on him. I think he should have been more antagonistic, mostly because I feel like he represents the wider Earth Federation who underestimates White Base's capabilities. Instead, hes more of a jerk with a heart of gold who inexplicably has a brief romance with Mirai that isn't really all that interesting because neither of these 2 are all that interesting.
Katz, Kikka and Letz
These 3 kind of just exist for comic relief. Its usually never good. They're also the cause of all of the really out of place fanservice scenes the older women characters get for the flimsy reason that they need someone to give them a bath. All in all, the idea of a bunch of toddlers being on the front lines of a war effort is more interesting than their actual characters. I wouldn't say they're worthless characters but they definitely have more exposure in the show than they should.
Char Aznable
What can be said about Char. Char is without a doubt the most popular and well known Gundam character ever. Even before I watched a sigle episode I knew who he was and I must say he really does live up to the hype.
Garma Zabi
Garma is pretty cool, as the youngest of the Zabi family and he's got a lot to prove
Ramba Ral
M'Quve
M'Quve is the next big bad after Ramba shows up and he's kind of lackluster. In alot of ways he feels like a retread of Garma. A uppity aristocrat whos too sheltered from the realities of war. He has a sort of rivalry with Char but it doesnt amount to much. And despite being in the show for a lot longer than Garma i dont feel like he makes his presence known like Garma does.
There are interesting aspects to his character. Him deliberately sabotaging another soldier and effectively the war effort just so he personally benefit from it is a very good way to establish his character. The issue is well... we have character who already does that and its unfortunately the most popular character in the show.
I think thats fundamentally the problem with M'Quve, everything he is has been done before and he's perpetually in the shadow of other characters.
Dozle Zabi
The Zabi Family (Dozle, Degwin, Kycilia & Gihren)
I'm grouping these 4 together because I dont have alot to say about them on their own.
Dozle is... Okay. He's the tough as nails warrior of the family and he works as a big boss. Theres really not much to say about him outside of the fact he fits in his role well. Its just a shame he had to show up after Ramba Ral who did his archetype so well that Dozle seems underwelming in comparison but he's fine.
As for the other 3, given the structure of this kind of story you would expect that they would each have an arc similar to Garma and Dozle but they don't I presume because the show got cut 10 episodes short.
...
Lalah Sune
Lalah, like Newtypes as a concept, kinda comes out of nowhere. Her introductions marks the pivot from Gundam being a fairly grounded War story to more sci-fi fantasy. And its not a very clean transition. And her concepts not horrible, Its just another victim of the story being cut short