Top vote-getters for different languages have a gap of more than 30 years between them.

The various series of the Gundam franchise are allowed to do their own thing. Sometimes that means space opera on a grand scale, and sometimes that means a zoomed-in story about a single elementary school kid’s loss of innocence from growing up during a war. Maybe things will get metaphysical with Newtypes stopping to pontificate on the meaning of human existence when they meet on the battlefield, or maybe the series won’t even acknowledge the existence of such extra-sensory-empowered individuals. Heck, the story might not even take place in the same universe as other Gundam series, given that the franchise’s ever-increasing number of different “centuries”/continuities.

There’s one thing all Gundam series have in common, though: awesome-looking robots. But with decades of Gundams to choose from, which is the best? That was the question put forth by the Worldwide Gundam General Election, which collected daily votes through the official Gundam website in 10 different languages. A total of 1,333,543 votes were cast, and the results have just been announced for not only the overall rankings, but also the favorite Gundam among voters for each language (and presumably country/region).

Starting with the overall rankings, hero mecha from the Gundam Seed branch of the family tree did well, with the Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam and Freedom Gundam coming in at fifth and fourth, respectively.

Third place went to the titular Zeta Gundam. As the hero mecha of the first Gundam series produced after the original Mobile Suit Gundam TV series’ eventual success, the Zeta benefitted from the higher budget and production values that the franchise could then be afforded, and it has a much sleeker, more detailed design than that of the original RX-78 Gundam.

Second place went to the Gundam Wing’s Wing Gundam Zero. Specifically, it was the version from Wing’s follow-up OVA series Endless Waltz, complete with its angelic appendages, that took the runner-up spot.

Finally, finishing at the pinnacle of the popularity poll was the Nu Gundam, as seen in Char’s Counterattack.

The Nu Gundam has a lot going for it, as Char’s Counterattack was not only the grand finale for the character conflicts set in motion in the original Gundam TV series and its Zeta and ZZ sequels, but also a theatrical feature. As such, the Nu Gundam is essentially the culmination of the core heroic design elements of the Gundam mecha design language, but with an added dose of dramatic gravitas and the budget to bring that vision to detailed, on-model life on the screen.

▼ Plus those cape-like funnel attack pods look really cool.

Despite finishing in first place, though, the Nu Gundam’s 94, 334 votes represent only a little over 7 percent of the total. While the Nu Gundam was the top choice among fans voting through the Gundam General Election’s language-based Japanese and Hong Kong portals, the top Gundam among English and Taiwanese Chinese voters was the Wing Gundam Zero, reflecting Gundam Wing’s status as the first Gundam series to develop a sizable fanbase in North America.

Meanwhile, mainland Chinese and Korean fans’ favorite was the Mighty Strike Freedom Gundam, from Gundam Seed Freedom, a souped-up version of the Gundam that(s the inspiration for the life-size Gundam statue in Shanghai.

French fans went with one of the most recent Gundams, Witch from Mercury’s Gundam Aerial…

…and Italian voters also showed support for a relatively young, non-Universal Century mech, Iron-Blooded Orphans’ Gundam Barbatos Lupus Rex.

Spanish-language voters, on the other reached all the way back to 1991 for the Gundam F91, star of the anime film of the same name. It’s an arguably unexpected showing, given how often F91 is dismissed as having been a forgettable flop in modern fandom conversations, but in fact the F91 finished seventh in overall votes.

And rounding out the regional/language-based results, Thai fans’ favorite was Strike Rouge, from the Gundam Seed continuity. It’s the only regional number-one that doesn’t have “Gundam” in its name and isn’t piloted by the series’ protagonist, as well as the only one without the near-ubiquitous blue-and-white Gundam color scheme, but Strike Rouge has enough supporters to also have finished eighth in the overall rankings.

Also of note, the Red Gundam, from the most recent Gundam TV series, GQuuuuuuX, finished in 11th place overall, two slots ahead of 13th-place finished, the original RX-78 Gundam.

▼ “Red Gundam” was a wisely chosen name, because there was no way fans weren’t going to call it that.

All in all, the result are a strong mix of new and old models, showing that Gundam manages to keep existing fans enthusiastic while also drawing in passionate newcomers, a rare trick for such a sprawling franchise to pull off.

Source, images: Gundam official website
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