From movies to spin-offs, there are a lot of contents that you can find within the Gundam Franchise. But the highlight of this mecha universe has to be its TV series. There are lots of iconic major series to pick from, such as Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed, Gundam IBO, and lots of other great series from their Universal Century timeline.
That being said, not all of them are created equal. Some are clearly better than the others. Some are a bit overrated, while others are severely underrated. This article will talk about one of those underrated titles. Not many people appreciated this series at the time, but here’s all you need to know about it, and why you need to give it a try.
Gundam Reconguista in G
This series is called Gundam Reconguista in G, also known as Gundam G-Reco. It was aired from late 2014 to early 2015, with a total of 26 episodes. The “G” in the name has two meanings, which is “Gundam” and “Ground”. As for the word “Reconguista'', it is a respelling of the spanish word “Reconquista”, which referred to the nearly century-long battles between the Christian Kingdoms and the Moors for the right to rule the Iberian Peninsula that happened around 722 AD.
The story of G-Reco itself is tied quite closely to the concept of the aforementioned “Reconquista”. G-Reco takes place around 1000 years after the turbulent times known as the Universal Century. At this point, the world adopts a new timeline called the Regild Century. In this future times, the world relies on an orbital elevator called the Capital Tower. This elevator is the only structure that is capable of transporting a huge amount of Photon Batteries, a new source of energy found on Venus.
The right to control the Capital Tower has been given to the region where the orbital elevator stands, which is known simply as the Capital. But this fact doesn’t stop other factions on earth, such as a country called Ameria, from trying to claim the profitable and highly important Capital Tower. Not only that, there are other colonies from outer space, with the most aggressive and ambitious one being the Towasanga from the Moon Colonies, that tries to forcefully take control of the Capital Tower, and the rest of the earth. And thus begins the chaotic reconguista.
The Brainchild of The Creator of The Original Mobile Suit Gundam
Gundam Reconguista in G is the brainchild of Yoshiyuki Tomino, the original creator of 1979’s Mobile Suit Gundam. He fully wrote and directed G-Reco, which is the first Gundam project that he take on after the 1999’s Turn A Gundam. 2014 marked the 35th anniversary of the Gundam Franchise, so what better way to celebrate it than to create a band new Gundam series, written and directed by the original creator himself.
Needless to say, the fans are super excited to see this new series. After all, this is a new major Gundam series that was made to mark a very special occasion, and is helmed by a special person. This is why tons of fans flock in front of their TV screen to watch G-Reco when it premiered in October 2014. Unfortunately, they walk away feeling disappointed.
It’s clear from the first couple of episodes that Gundam Reconguista in G tries its best to be different from all the previous Gundam series. But that ambitious vision ended up backfiring to its face. The main criticism for this series is unfortunately the story itself. It is simply too hard to follow and even borders on confusing. And it would only get more convoluted as the series progressed. After a while, people simply stop watching, and lots of negative feedback comes pouring in.
The Tone and The Design
As mentioned in the previous section, Gundam Reconguista in G tries its best to be different from the other Gundam series. And one of the ways it decided to do that is through the design and the tone of the story. Let’s start with the design first.
The one responsible for the design of the characters and the mechas is a man named Kenichi Yoshida, who previously worked on the design for another mecha anime called Eureka Seven. As such, you can see the design philosophy from Eureka Seven carried over to G-Reco. One of the most notable ones being the fact that there’s almost no sharp edges on the Mecha, and also on the characters for that matter. As a result, the Mobile Suits and the people in G-Reco are by far the most friendly-looking mechas and characters in the Gundam Franchise.
The world of G-Reco itself follows the principle of light and bright, with the use of soft pastel colors on everything. Not only that, the characters are also quite cheerful and bubbly. There’s an air of friendliness around them. All of these decisions regarding the visuals of the world and the personalities of the characters resulted in an overall friendly and easy-going tone, which contrasted the complexity of the story. This kind of approach is unique to G-Reco. No other series has done it before, and it’s highly unlikely for the subsequent Gundam series to mimic this quirky style.
The New Compilation Movies
It’s clear that Gundam Reconguista in G is not among the pantheon of great major Gundam series, and most fans seem to agree with that assessment. So why should you watch this series despite this damning conclusion? Well, there are two main reasons.
The first one is the aforementioned unique visual approach. There’s simply no other Gundam series that looks and feels like G-Reco. It is by far the most positive-looking series compared to the usual Gundam series that thrives on being gloomy and serious. That alone is enough reason to make it such an underrated series within this iconic franchise.
However, this second reason is basically the main reason why you should check this series out. Gundam Reconguista in G is recompiled into 5 compilation movies, with the last one hitting the theater back in August 2022. These compilation films will feature improved visuals. But most importantly, from the fourth film onwards, there will be new story material that will give the series a different feeling than the 2014 G-Reco. So whether you’ve watched this series before or not, this is definitely the best time to dive into Gundam Reconguista in G.