Finally finished the UC, here's my ranking on everything:
I'm including what I consider to be the major mangas associated with the UC. I still haven't read Moon, but it's next on the list. If you have any UC manga reccs, please send 'em my way!
Yes, I split ZZ into two shows because the beginning and end are such a world apart, I can't even consider them the same thing (Also, my love for the 2nd half of ZZ would force it lower on the list if I averaged it's rank with the garbage 1st half).
I'm including my ranking scale below. Would love for you to share yours!
- Unicorn - 9.5/10 - I realize this is probably biased since Unicorn is a UC fanservice-athon, but it's just so damn good and rewards putting everything into watching prior UC Gundam. Also, it's the only Gundam show where Beam weapons feel appropriately beam-ish, which is a weird thing to focus on, but I've watched so much friggin/ Gundam now that it really just stands out I dunno.
- Thunderbolt DS & BF 9.5/10 - Jazz and vibes, pure vibes.
- ZZ (2nd Half) 8.5/10 - If you gave up on ZZ because of the garbage beginning, I implore you to press on because it just gets so damn good. The fight during the colony drop is the single coolest moment in the entire UC.
- 0079 - 8.5/10 - It's just that good, and I watched the series, not the comp movies.
- War in the Pocket - 8.5/10 - The best side story in the UC.
- Crossbone Ghost (Manga) 8.5/10 - Like Unicorn, this one is fanservice for those who've read all of Crossbone and watched Victory, so my high rank is a bit biased. That said, the characters are great and the story deals with some very interesting ideas. Overall, solid read.
- Beltorchika’s Children (Manga) - 8/10 - Tomino's true version of Char's Counterattack.
- The Origin - 8/10 - It may not be canon, but it gives some great insight into the events leading up to 0079.
- Zeta - 7.5/10 - Overall I love Zeta, it's just got a real slump in the middle that kept me from fully loving it. Best MS designs in the whole series though.
- Narrative - 7.5/10 - Solid sequel to Unicorn, with some pretty wild ideas (by UC standards).
- Crossbone (Manga) 7.5/10 - I just love the focus on late-UC, and seeing the Jupiter sphere is interesting, though the villains are corny as hell (a problem with all of Crossbone).
- F91 - 7/10 - Pacing issues be damned, this is a solid movie.
- Victory - 7/10 - Victory is weird, but mostly good weird. I wish we got more follow-ups to late UC because it is rife with potential.
- Hathaway’s Flash - 7/10 - MS have never looked so menacing, but the plot is kind of a confusing mess. Looking forward to the sequel, all the same.
- IGLOO 2 - 7/10 - Surprisingly interesting vignettes on foot soldiers fighting MS during the OYW, which is refreshing for the series. The death god metaphor is hamfisted, but overall it is interesting.
- Requiem for Vengeance 7/10 - A cool, if not meaningless collection of moments from the Zeon perspective. Worth a watch, but nothing special.
- Char’s Counterattack- 6.5/10 - Somehow 2 hours is not enough to properly cover everything this movie wants to do. Beltorchika's Children fixes basically all of my main issues with the movie.
- IGLOO - 6.5/10 - Cool ideas and the Zeon-perspective is interesting, but my god is it hard to look at. The animation is terrible, even for the time it was released.
- Cucuruz Doan’s Island - 6.5/10 - Harmless fun revisiting an infamous 0079 episode. It is mostly pointless, but I like the idea of exploring the Origin timeline in greater detail.
- Twilight Axis - 6/10 - Lots of great ideas smashed together in the densest 20 minutes I've ever seen.
- Return of Johnny Ridden (Manga) 5.5/10 - Cool ideas presented in the driest technical explanations I have ever read. Every time the story gets interesting, the author slows down to write 3 excruciating pages explaining the technical specs of a one-off experimental MS.
- The 08th MS Team - 5.5/10 - I sincerely wanted to like it, but it's just a mess. The MC is possibly my least favorite in all of UC. I get that the "boots-on-the-ground" aspect attracts people, but it just goes about it in all the wrong ways for me.
- Crossbone Steel Seven (Manga) 4.5/10 - Goofy, messy, and a waste of cool concepts.
- ZZ (1st Half) - 4/10 - Truly terrible. The comedy never lands and it holds many back from watching it's stellar 2nd half.
- MSV Johnny Ridden (Manga) - 3.5/10 - Pointless. JR is a cool character, I guess?
- Stardust Memory - 3/10 - I know I'll catch flak from people, but I genuinely do not understand the love for this one. The story is mostly pointless, and the characters are all far-and-above the worst in the entirety of the UC. I kind of like the idea that the MC pilot is not some God-tier Newtype, but he's such a lame little punk, I just can't get into it. GP-02 is a goofy, bulky boy, but the GP-01 is kinda cool, but 03 would be cool if it wasn't shoved into the abomination that is the Dendrobium for it's entire screen-time. You really don't need a backstory for the Titans, as it is self-evident in Zeta how the Federation has become extreme in it's views on Spacenoids between the OYW and Zeta. I sincerely hate this OVA, despite the gorgeous animation.
- Crossbone Skullheart (Manga) 3/10 - Dumb, just dumb. Monkey-soldiers piloting MS? What?
- Scale Parameters:
- (Adding a .5 means closer to the higher score than lower, but not quite in that higher tier.)
- 10 - Perfect, wouldn’t change a thing.
- 9-9.5 - Amazing, minor problems or pacing issues at worst.
- 8-8.5 - Great, easy to recommend, just has a few issues or pacing problems.
- 7-7.5 - Good, worth a watch with the caveat that there are several issues with the plot and/or pacing.
- 6-6.5 - Ok, definitely worth appreciating, but too many issues to outright say it’s good.
- 5-5.5 - Mediocre, a few good ideas which are wasted on a mostly poor outcome.
- 4 -4.5 - Bad, hard to recommend outside of completionism.
- 3-3.5 - Terrible, not worth the time even for the rare glimmer of a good idea.
- 2-2.5 - Awful, nothing of value.
- 1-1.5 - Garbage, shouldn’t exist.
- 0 - Nothing of artistic merit could ever be this low.