The Darkest Gundam Anime Can’t Be Watched Today And Fans Are Missing Out
If you’ve watched several Gundam series before and thought they weren’t dark enough, you haven’t seen Mobile Suit Victory Gundam yet. This series is set in UC 0153, long after the battle between the Earth Federation and Zeon is over. The Earth Federation is heavily weakened, leading Zanscare to decide to conquer Earth for themselves.
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam
Zanscare’s power only continues to grow, and they are cruel in their control. They primarily perform public executions via guillotines to make sure the population remaining on earth is truly afraid of them.
Earth’s only defense is the League Militaire, and a new weapon called the Victory Gundam, run by a 13-year-old boy named Uso Ewin, to stop them. It doesn’t take long for Uso to understand the horrors of war.
Part Of The Universal Century Timeline
The 51-episode series was released in 1993. It’s the fourth TV show in the Gundam franchise and Mobile Suit Victory Gundam is a sequel, though a long time after, Mobile Suit Gundam F91. It’s the last series, chronologically, of the Universal Century Gundam universe.
Still The Darkest Series
Mobile Suit Victory Gundam is easily the darkest series in the Gundam franchise. While other series feature their fair share of murders, they aren’t entirely pointless deaths like in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. Several supporting and major characters die out of the blue, and their deaths do nothing to move the plot forward.
Angel Halo Is Nightmare Fuel
That’s not even the worst part. Zanscare’s Angel Halo ship is a horror in itself. While it does appear in the Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam: Ghost manga as well, it only appears in Mobile Suit Victory Gundam as far as the anime is concerned.
The ship uses thousands upon thousands of “Psychickers,” humans kept in a constant trance to provide fuel to the ship. These people were controlled by “Newtypes” in charge of controlling and feeding the Psychickers.
If that wasn’t horrific enough, the ship’s purpose was to return human minds to the level of an infant and force everyone into a year-long sleep. While the ship didn’t have any defense mechanisms per se, it was still very secure. It could not be destroyed without killing a huge number of the helpless Psychickers.
Not The Best In The Franchise
When it came to the franchise, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam was not the best-rated by a long shot. It’s ranked 6.81 on MAL, with a ranking of #5174 and a popularity rating of #4163.
However, it’s not the worst either and does have some interesting elements going for it. The main characters are fantastic. If you’re looking for a new take on the Gundam universe, filled with excellent characters and gruesome scenes that will make your stomach drop, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam is the next one to watch.
Gundam: Requiem For Vengeance May Take The Title Of Darkest Series
Unfortunately, Mobile Suit Victory Gundam is not easily available to watch. There are no streaming services currently offering the series. If you’re willing to risk it and buy the discs to watch the series, the collection is roughly $75 to buy. However, if you’re itching for more Gundam in your life, Netflix is releasing a new “live-action” series: Gundam: Requiem for Vengeance.
