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Gundam 00 is currently the only TV show that I’m following with (a lot of) interest . On the outside it may look like a lame cross between Gundam Wing and Full Metal Panic! (I seriously dislike FMP) but it is actually pretty good.

The show takes place in an alternate timeline from other Gundams, our time! The world is an hypothetical near future (year 2307 AD) where fossil fuels are mostly exhausted and many of our current political problems, including Northern Ireland, Sri Lanka and obviously the Middle East, remain, well… problematic. The political situation was somewhat simplified by the creation of three world powers - The Union (America, Australia, Japan), The AEU (Europe) and The HRL (Asia including part of Russia) - and making everyone else politically irrelevant.

Themes approached (up until episode 17) include racial hatred, nationalism, imperialism, PMCs/mercenaries (sloppy), terrorism (poorly), religious fanaticism, child soldiers and civil wars.

There’s also a nice side-story that provides a contrast to the world’s situation: the relationship between a spanish girl studying in Japan and a japanese boy. The major events that take place during the episodes are often viewed through their eyes, with their opinions and the effect the events have on them making G00 feel much more “real” than Wing or Seed or most other shows for that matter.

So far, (at least most) characters seem to have a history, depth, understandable motivations and actually act more or less like normal people contrary to other Gundams and many other anime and sci-fi shows. The characters don’t seem at all like an “amalgamation of emos” like in GS.

I wouldn’t say this is as good as Code Geass but worst case it’s something interesting to watch until CG’s second season (R2 or whatever) starts in April and best case, it becomes one of the best anime I’ve seen (the list currently being FSN, CG and GS).

In Summary: So far, BIG THUMBS UP.

UPDATED 27 Feb 2008