To celebrate the upcoming 50th anniversary of Gundam in 2029, an animated music video featuring virtually every series in the franchise was released. It follows three different generations—father, son, and granddaughter—discovering and growing up with Gundam in different ways over the decades. 

One thing I find noteworthy about this animation is that it implies the father, a fan of the original series, does not really “keep up” with Gundam for a chunk of his life. He watches everything in the Universal Century timeline up to Char’s Counterattack religiously, but then falls out of touch with it as he gets married and starts a family. It isn’t until a few years later, while discovering G Gundam with his young son, that he dips his toe back in.

However, there’s something of a generational divide depicted. While the son is enraptured by the martial arts fury of Domon and Master Asia, the father is stunned. And as they go through the other alternate universe series up to Turn A, you can see him actually getting overwhelmed by these unfamiliar worlds. 

That’s when the two go back to check out older titles in F91 and Victory, which acts as a middle ground and bonding experience. These scenes highlight what a drastic change G Gundam was “supposed” to be, and I find the dad’s rocky acceptance of them surprisingly refreshing. While I’ve always been fond of the AUs, I understand that they can be a far cry from what made many people fall in love with Gundam, and I appreciate that the music video acknowledges this gap.

This video is an idyllic and glamorized rendition of Gundam fandom, and differs from my own life in many ways. Even so, it makes me reflect on the wonderful memories I’ve had with Gundam across most of my life at this point. Whether it was discussing favorite characters and mobile suits in high school or being there to see my own wife watch G Gundam for the first time many years later, it’s been an indelible past of my own history.