“Destroy Gundam!” essentially acts as a part 2 of Episode 1, continuing to raise the stakes and establish how underprepared and outmatched our protagonists are, as well as continuing to set a clear and distinguishing tone.

But what is interesting is how Amuro’s frantic and amateurish piloting is contrasted with Char’s own sense of dread and fear as he realizes how powerful the Gundam really is, it goes a long way is humanizing both sides of the conflict.

The whole episode builds to the first real challenge Amuro faces as pilot of the Gundam, his duel with Char. Already they’ve established Char as a serious threat and that he’s has far more expertise than our protagonist, given Amuro is too scared to fire at individual soldiers.

Much like the first episode, a clear tone is established with how dramatic its themes are in addition to the far more grounded world we’re shown, that drives home how alienating this series must have been to an audience who’d grown used to the Mazinger and Getter robo anime.

An episode of rising tension, with us being introduced to Char in a more direct light and setting up the intrigue of his character. The episode establishes a lot of the side characters such as Salya and Kai, with much of the White Bases crew being made up of these armatures.

It's definitely not without flaws but overall, “Gundam Rising” serves as a solid if shaky foundation to the beginning of this iconic franchise.

The voice acting overall is good with some less than decent performances but Tōru Furuya as Amuro and Shûichi Ikeda as Char stand out.

Though the sound design for the voice acting is pretty dodgy with some voice lines sounding like they were recorded in a kitchen with noticeable echo and others sounding like the va was too close to the mic.

It’s got its charm but it’s certainly obvious this a cheaper tv production than most and as such there’s a few errors and ugly “chicken scratch” shading in parts with the mobile suits. . Still it presents an interesting and memorable world that stood out from it’s contemporaries.

The music is well done, with a 70s funk0 in addition to its retro sci fi vibes. The animation is… ok, and serves it purpose.

Trying to remove the legacy this episode has so I can judge it fairly, I’d say the episode is a more than decent first introduction to this world. The prologue is great at delivering exposition and the opening scene with the zakus drifting in space is great at establishing atmosphere.

Episode 1: Gundam Rising
Honestly what the hell can I say about this episode that hasn’t been said like a million times. This is very beginning of the franchise and is so iconic that it’s hard to say anything about.

I am fascinated by obscure role playing games like these, this and Mekton Zeta are NEVER talked about and that's why they're so interesting

FUUUCK YEAH!!!!!! ZZ GUNDAM MENTIONED 💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪💪 WHAT THE FUCK IS A BAD SERIES 🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️🗣️
Hot take: Double Zeta > Zeta