Mobile Suit Gundam, also known as Gundam 0079, is the first entry into the legendary Gundam franchise. As someone who has watched a limited number of other Gundam series before this, I'd have to say that it definitely shows. While later shows in the franchise took the themes and visuals of 0079 and improved upon them, 0079 presents them in their barest, rawest forms. To some degrees, that isn't really an issue, but in others, it does end up taking away from the series.

The first thing that I want to tackle on the series, and, inevitably, something that might bother some viewers, is how it almost feels misogynsitic to a degree. While not entirely flagrant or blatant, it feels like the female characters are mistreated for the most part. There is an entire episode that's basically dedicated to showing why women shouldn't be pilots, with a line straight up saying something akin to that without any shame behind it. The female characters clearly play a very secondary role in the story's narrative, a lot of them feeling like tools or vehicles for the plot rather than actual characters within the story. While this was pretty much par for the course in the 70s, it could definitely be an aspect that a modern viewer would perceive as offputting.

That aside, the cast is fairly varied and is overall pretty colourful. Each character is pretty visually distinct, such that they're easily identifiable at a glance. This felt like a breath of fresh air considering that there is a certain degree of "sameness" in modern anime, with certain designs being rather generic and discernable only by the unique touches of the studio producing it rather than through any uniqueness of the character themselves. While some characters started out fairly weak, they all grew on me by the end and I had at least some form of appreciation for most, if not all of them, including ones I blatantly disliked at first.

While Gundam 0079 really comes into itself in its later parts, the first quarter or so of the show does feel like a drag. It's rather weak and feels much more episodic than anything else. The show really finds itself when it starts to develop and show off its overarching plot, but that in and of itself isn't very present during the beginning parts of the series. However, the payoff is definitely worth sticking with it if you're struggling to get through the early segments.

Surprisingly, despite the limitations of the tech back then, Gundam 0079 has its fair share of awesome and adequately hype moments. There was a certain moment somewhere in the 30s where I found myself jumping in excitement at something that happened. It caught me completely off guard, as I wasn't expecting something to be so competently hype based on what I'd seen of the series thus far. It ended up becoming my favourite moment of the entire series, and it, in combination with both some of the good earlier parts and epic later parts, showed me that the series DOES have a lot to offer for modern mecha fans.

Overall, I'd have to say that Gundam 0079 does get a pass. While I couldn't really recommend it for everyone, I'd say it's definitely a good idea to check out for anyone who is a mecha fan that is also interested in some of the history of the genre. The art style does have a certain charm to it, and it's interesting to watch through it and see where some of the things in later installments of the franchise came from.