Gundam (ガンダム) is one of the longest running series of anime featuring giant robots. Gundam is the collective term for the Universal Century (UC) series like Mobile Suit Gundam and series in alternative timelines, such as Gundam Wing, made by Sunrise Inc.. The name "Gundam" itself stems from a variety of theoretical sources, most commonly attributed to a need to conform with common giant robot naming conventions during the 1970s.

Overview

Concept

Mobile Suit Gundam was developed principally by Yoshiyuki Tomino, along with a changing group of Sunrise creators who went under the collective pseudonym "Hajime Yatate".

The celebrated series was originally titled Freedom Fighter Gunboy or simply Gunboy, because the title robot was armed with a gun and the target demographic was young boys. In the early stages of production, there were numerous references to the word freedom, such as the White Base being originally named Freedom's Fortress, the Core Fighter as the Freedom Wing, and the Gunperry named the Freedom Cruiser. The collective Yatate team combined the English word Gun with last syllable of the word Freedom, Dom, to form the word Gundom. Tomino then changed the name to the current title Gundam, suggesting that the name Gundam signifies a power wielding a gun that is strong enough to hold back enemies like a dam holds back floods. Gundams are not sentient like the Transformers but are machines controlled by their pilots. Like many of the "mobile suits" appearing in the series, a Gundam is usually piloted from the torso area.