Gundam is a massive franchise but who comes out top of the pilot standings? This big list will give you the answer.
Couple of rules, no Gundam Build Fighters as that isn't a real war, more upgraded Angelic Layer. This list will also feature 25 pilots not 10; and finally this is based on pilot achievements, impact on their series and degree of difficulty in which their Mobile Suit is used. You'll see when we begin.
25. Gym Ghingham from Turn A Gundam
The manliest character you'll ever see in the Gundam franchise and one of the few built to house the Musha Gundam outside the main series. He can even use G Gundam moves.
24. Mashymre Cello from Gundam ZZ
For an early antogonist he proves to be a damn sight more likeable than those before him and considering who he hangs around with it's no surprise that he's become one of the more standout characters in ZZ.
23. Elpeo Puru 2 from Gundam ZZ
All the Puru's have a unique feel to them but more on the other two later, Elpeo Puru 2 has bigger toys to play with but not as likeable as the other Purus.
22. Mu La Flaga from Gundam Seed
Despite only flying a mobile armor he manages to live well beyond the life expectancy of other pilots in the show, he also somehow survives impossible odds, although I don't think much of his Destiny incarnation.
21. Lockon Stratos from Gundam 00
He's the leader of the Gundam Meisters and there's more than one of him as his twin brother shares the title, despite no pilot being especially noteworthy Lockon manages to standout.
20. Roux Louka from Gundam ZZ
A more than worthy replacement for the dreadful Kamille Bidan in Zeta Gundam but largely overlooked as a character, did better in the Dynasty Warriors Gundam games.
19. Shiro Amada from 08th MS Team
Being the leader of a ragtag band of pilots isn't easy, especially in what is considered the Halo Reach of Gundam. His story alongside Zeon member Aina, easily makes for one of Gundam's most grey conflicts to date.
18. Heero Yuy from Gundam Wing
I don't rate the Gundam Wing pilots highly but at least Heero acts more of a pilot than the others, mainly because the Wing Gundam doesn't feel gimicky compared to the other Gundams.
17. Domon Kasshu from G Gundam
You got to give credit to G Gundam for at least attempting to seem like a capable Gundam series but yet still remain completely bonkers with the whole Burning Finger nonsense.
16. Yazan Gable from Zeta Gundam
Yazan is despicable, sexist and has killed more named characters than anyone else in the whole of the franchise, that's why he's such a good pilot and really earns the creator tagline of kill em all.
15. Kira Yamato from Gundam Seed
While controlling some of the most impressive looking Gundam's to date, he really makes a name for himself for being able to stop himself from killing his enemies, even if it sometimes causes more pain.
14. Io Fleming from Gundam Thunderbolt
Anyone who has the soundtrack of jazz in his cockpit is worth a mention, but his heroics really earn his position on this list as even when his first Mobile Suit goes he's more than capable of getting more.
13. Ramba Ral from Gundam
The first major threat of the Gundam series and one that makes you think that there's more to Zeon than just being evil. Right up until his death he proves to be formidable as even his suicide manages to bring damage to the Gundam.
12. Dozle Zabi from Gundam
Even a Zabi has some pride and not only was Dozle an absolute beast to take down in the Big Zam, he did it while evacuating his closest family, and likely the one who created the scenario of Gundam ZZ by sending Minerva to Haman Karn.
11. Elpeo Puru from Gundam ZZ
Cyber Newtypes got such a bad rap in the franchise but Elpeo Puru actually manages to be upbeat and powerful at the same time and is one of the few that can really bring out the silly sides of other Gundam pilots in the franchise with her hilarious dialogue in Dynasty Warriors Gundam.
10. Paptimus Scirocco from Zeta Gundam
As despicable as the Titans were, Scirocco remolded them into a credible threat and right up until the end was more than enough to finish the job against Kamille Bidan.
9. Amuro Ray from Gundam
As the first ever Gundam pilot, Amuro has more than enough honors to make him a great pilot but the first Gundam hasn't aged particularly well and his achievements are far overshadowed by those after him.
8. Loran Cehack from Turn a Gundam
Probably the only Gundam Pilot to be capable of battling in a formal ball gown and ultimately get away with crossdressing through out the series.
7. Athrun Zala from Gundam Seed
In contrast to other pilots, Athrun has defeated both KIra Yamato and Shinn Asuka, also punching Shinn several times doing what everyone wanted to do for all of Destiny.
6. Zechs Marquise from Gundam Wing
Piloting the unstable Tallgeese followed by one of the most well designed Gundam's in the franchise Epyon, is no mean feat and backed up by defeating all the other Gundam pilots and forcing a draw against protagonist Heero Yuy.
5. Master Asia from G Gundam
The undefeated of the East is bonkers to watch, he doesn't use a mobile trace system is the only one to beat a mobile suit with his bare hands and even being the enemy he was never once affected by the Dark Gundam. Worthy of being Super Asia!!!
4. Marida Cruz from Gundam Unicorn
Marida's past is tragic, a surviving member of the Elpeo Puru's awakened by Glemy Toto, forced to fight her clones, sold into sex slavery and then brought into the cockpit of the Kshatriya, a Quin Mantha on steroids which was already a Qubeley on steroids and being able to pilot that to begin with is worthy of any list.
3. Char Aznable from Gundam
Char made a character type that survives to this day as every masked ace pilot shares his character DNA. He will always be the series character mascot, more so than Amuro Ray.
2. Judau Ashta from Gundam ZZ
I would overlook Judau normally; he's not much better than Kamille but at least more pleasent to watch, however he earns massive praise for survivng the Universal Century well into his old age in a crippled Double Zeta Gundam, that takes guts in a series known for killing them all.
1. Haman Karn from Gundam ZZ
But the best pilot of all is Haman Karn. She kick started events off screen in Gundam to save Minerva Zabi, played the 3rd faction in bringing the end to the Gryps 2 conflict, defeated Char Aznable, kick started the events of Double Zeta and even ended her life drawing her battle against Judau Ashta. Haman has contributed more to the Universal Century's story than any other character and went out in style, that's why she's the best pilot in Gundam history. If you want more proof, in Dynasty Warriors Gundam 2 she managed to hold her own against the pressure of both Judau Ashta and Kamile Bidan and has held her own against Gundam Epyon. Need more proof? I can go on.
It's not uncommon to find anime characters of ambiguous gender but every now and again you need to check your eyes to see if what your looking at is really what it is. Rules this time will only cover cross dressers not anyone who has been turned into a girl so Ranma Saotome is instantly disqualified.
Update: Includes honorable mentions
Boy? Girl? or is Hideyoshi a Gender itself?
Honorable Mentions
Kuranosuke from Kuragehime
Gives away too many clues about his gender early on and it's obvious in the face.
Nuriko from Fushigi Yuugi
Not helped by the fact that pretty much every male is a pretty boy.
Naoto Shirogane from Persona 4
A rare female entry, but still pretty easy to figure out.
Haruhi Fujioka from Ouran Host Club
Again another rare female entry but extremely easy to figure out.
10. Ciel Phantomhive from Black Butler
Dressed in an extravagant ball gown to catch an evil count, Ciel manages to fool even his own fiancee. The dress is so famous that it's become a cosplayers finest challenge.
9. Kazuki from Getbackers
Not as convincing as the higher ups on this list but played well for comedy when he ends up in women's clothes; even more so he hates being mistaken for a homosexual.
8. Rosiel from Angel Sanctuary
I never got on with Angel Sanctuary as a series, but Rosiel certainly passes for this list to the point where a simple voice change would make him female.
7. Haku from Naruto
Mistaken straight away by Naruto and fans alike with some wishing he was female, even now it's difficult.
6. Loran Cehack from Turn A Gundam
Mistaken early on as a girl and dubbed "Laura" for a while. Made even more convincing during a convenient fancy party plot where Loran pulls off his disguise more convincingly.
5. Tieria Erde from Gundam 00
Speaking of convenient fancy party plots, in a possible homage to Loran, Tieria dons a fancy dress to meet up with the enemy; also goes the extra mile with fake breasts as well.
4. Hibiki Amawa from I My Me Strawberry Eggs
The whole plotline is him cross-dressing but manages the entire series without being discovered, he really cares about teaching that much.
3. Hideyoshi from Baka & Test
As you can see from the image, you decide: Male? Female? or is Hideyoshi simply a gender itself?
2. Ruby Moon from Card Captor Sakura
Not helped by the dub who made Ruby an actual girl, despite that it can still fool most people. CLAMP sure have a strange way of portraying men.
1. Aoi Futaba from You're Under Arrest
Originally cross-dressed to catch a criminal, Aoi took on the whole female persona to the point where he is essentially one of the girls. So much so that you probably need the writer to point it out to you.
So why is a good show axed when bad shows still get season after season?
Well these examples may put a few things to rest.
1. Invader Zim
Everyone's favorite psychotic alien in one of Nicktoons darkest & funniest shows of all time.
Why Cancel?: Nickelodeon claimed it was low ratings, the real reason was that Invader Zim frequently broke its budget and became too expensive for the Network to make.
Aftermath: It's staff would later be hired for Avatar the Last Airbender.
2. Class of 3000
A performance arts college led by Andre 3000 of OutKast. Decent animation and decent music.
Why Cancel?: Cartoon Network claimed it was too expensive to make, the real reason came when Andre 3000 was sued for plagiarism which ultimately sealed it's fate.
Aftermath: It was the last cartoon to be made under the old Cartoon Network banner which led up to the events of the 2007 Boston Bomb Scare which cost former head Jim Samples his job, what followed was a few years of crap Cartoon Network.
3. Warner Bros 90s Cartoons
Freakazoid, Animaniacs, Pinky & the Brain, Hysteria, all of Warner's finest from that era.
Why Cancel?: Some guy named Jamie Kellner decided to scrap the range claiming it wasn't right for the channel's image to have cartoons appealing to grown ups. Ironically this also happened to the Avengers cartoon.
Aftermath: Warner Bros have not been the same since.
4. Cancelled without reason
Danny Phantom, El Tigre, Super Robot Monkey Team Hyperforce Go, Juniper Lee, American Dragon, Young Justice, Megas XLR, Swat Kats & Samurai Jack.
Why Cancel?: In some cases poor time slots, in others it simply dropped off the channel for no reason. For Swat Kats, Ted Turner claimed it was too violent. Samurai Jack's chances look slim for a comeback following Mako's death and because Samurai Jack needs his voice but not other voices it poses quite a problem.
5. Gargoyles
Core of Disney's epic run of tv cartoons in the 90s.
Why Cancel?: Fell out of Disney's favor and ended up being drawn by a different animation house.
Aftermath: Disney seem to do this a lot with these kinds of shows, the same fate befell many of the shows I've mentioned along with the likes of WITCH & PB & J Otter.
6. Adult Swim Cartoons
Anything not Venture Bros or Aqua Teen Hunger Force.
Why Cancel?: Adult Swim is too poorly run to sustain cartoons properly, some never made it pass episode one. In the case of Titan Maximum which had better ratings than many of it's staple shows, creator Seth Green felt that Robot Chicken was more important.
7. Classic British Cartoons
It's worthy of note that many of our classic cartoons, mostly stop motion shows like Postman Pat, Bagpuss & Camberwick Green are notoriously short.
Why Cancel?: They were never cancelled, the shows were really that short.
Wallace & Gromit our best cartoon has only had four episodes, one movie and numerous shorts in 24 years and it frequently wins awards no problem.
Explain: We British don't do filler, also helps that British shows tend to have all episodes filmed in a series before broadcast.
8. And an Anime Example
The original Gundam Series
Why Cancel?: Surprisingly poor ratings cut the show to 39 episodes forcing creator Yoshiyuki Tomino to improvise an ending.
Aftermath: Rerun figures were better and with new editing and cuts was redone into a film trilogy before Zeta Gundam's release.
Anime can offer a lot of things to western cartoons but what can western cartoons do for Anime? Lets experiment by listing the Top 10 Anime that would benefit from Disney. (Disney being the most obvious one to start with)
Honorable Mention: Nadia Secret of Blue Water, Kiki's Delivery Service & Sailor Moon
10. Rose of Versailles
A classic series from a bygone age of anime about a daughter of a king's guard growing up as a man but later torn between duty and feelings, it also has the earliest examples of Yuri. While the woman disguised as a man trick was already done with Mulan it would easily work in Disney hands. The French Revolution lends itself to some beautiful scenes and enough elements to make it work as a full length film on the same level as Hutchback of Notre Dame.
9. Fruits Basket
If Disney can make this work it would use a number of elements that made the show a hit such as the animal transformations, something Disney is already well versed in, and can still run a good love story and actually make me cry, something which Fruits Basket failed to do despite the content.
8. Turn A Gundam
While I don't think it can emulate the cruel and unforgiving plot of a Gundam Series, it can however use Turn A's cast very well. Loran Cehack makes for a decent protagonist, Dianna Counter makes for a good Princess and Gym Ghingnham makes a great villain, the steampunk fashion also lends itself nicely to a good story.
7. Tsubasa & InuYasha
I couldn't decide between these two as both are listed for the same reason but different elements. The whole small group on a big adventure works nicely for both shows. Tsubasa has a protagonist and a princess that would suit Disney's requirements while InuYasha gives Disney an excuse to try a story in feudal Japan. While I don't think it can use Rumiko Takahashi's Action or CLAMP's personal touch I still think their worth a try.
6. Princess Tutu
I think Disney curse the fact that they were beaten to the Swan Lake story by another company and the fact that their last attempts at ballet involved an alligator & a hippo. So if they want ballet, a story with Swan Lake elements and a great story then they should try this, it even has a duck as the lead transforming into a beautiful girl, it really works for them.
5. Negima
I was annoyed by how much Ken Akamatsu missed the point of how a fantasy series works, he's not that kind of writer and never will be. So if you could make a good fantasy, give Disney a shot at working with Negima. If done right it could make a lot of money in merchandise.
4. Mermaid Melody
I could put any Magical Girl show on this list but I chose this one for the element of song and the fact that they're Mermaids. It remains one of the few anime series with villain songs which is a staple of a good Disney film, plus with all the color and marketable mermaids available the Disney Princess line will be full of color coded pop stars voiced by Hannah Montana knockoffs.
3. The Sacred Blacksmith
I hate all the missed potential this show has, you can add so much to this but every time it just continues to miss it, which is a shame because the story is really good and would make a worthy replacement to the god awful Black Cauldron.
2. Twin Signal
To be honest I've never seen Disney do the robot thing right so why not try this one. You've got memorable characters, decent action and enough to play with to keep it friendly with the target audience.
1. Zatch Bell
I always think of this show as "It's about a boy in a dress playing with a Pocky Box" obviously there's more to it than that. I've watched a number of scenes in AMVs and the only song I can hear is Randy Newman's "You've got a Friend". I was never a fan of Zatch Bell but the Toy Story treatment will do it justice.
Anime likes to make people feel good about themselves, even those who are handicapped, so here are the top ten Handicapped Anime Characters. Rules this time is that the person on the list needs to be capable of doing awesome things despite the handicap, I do not include illness seeing as most characters with this don't see it as a handicap so Whitebeard from One Piece is disqualified as is Nagato from Naruto seeing as his extra bodies did all the fighting and not him personally. So lets begin.
10. Date Masamune from Sengoku Basara
Missing an eye never seems much of a handicap but in Sengoku times it was enough to be dismissed from active duty, not for Masamune however. In Sengoku Basara he proves himself to be the strongest character in the series, even his real life counterpart survived the Sengoku period and gained much respect from other warlords.
9. Guts from Berserk
In such a brutal series it comes as no surprise that protagonist Guts would end up losing an arm and an eye, something which later proves to have been a better choice as he hides a cannon in his new arm & magnetic grip for holding the sword better.
8. Shanks from One Piece
He lost his arm right at the beginning of the series but still has the power to stop most people in their tracks, the worst damage he's had was the three scars to his face, what makes it better is that he lost his better arm being left handed and is still capable of so much.
7. Gildarts from Fairy Tail
I get the feeling that him and Shanks are long lost brothers, but Gildarts goes the extra mile having lost an arm & a leg and a few internal organs but is still rated the strongest in Fairy Tail. Small nod to Erza for an artificial eye.
6. Andrew Waldfeld from Gundam Seed
Andrew lost an arm, a leg and an eye but is still capable of defeating able bodied pilots and newtypes, I mean coordinators. Made even more impressive when you think that he's a minor character that survived a Gundam series.
5. Edward Elric from Full Metal Alchemist
One of the most famous but surprisingly not number one. Missing an arm & a leg and fitted with Automail to make up for it, Edward Elric remains one of the greatest anime characters in history. He's still short.
4. Shishio Makoto from Rurouni Kenshin
A failed assassination attempt left him without sweat glands meaning a prolonged fight would burn his body to cinders but he manages to defeat most of the strongest members of Kenshin's team before his time runs out.
3. Judau Ashta & ZZ Gundam from ZZ Gundam
This is something that needs to be seen to believed. Judau Ashta is 80 years old and still alive, making him the longest living Gundam pilot in history but even more impressive is that he's still piloting ZZ Gundam that has rusted outdated technology and a peg leg but can still take out Mobile Suits like a pro.
2. Sora Takeuchi from Air Gear
The former leader of Sleeping Forest ended up wheelchair bound after having his legs broken but is still a capable storm rider and looks even more impressive when he performs in his wheelchair.
1. Lord Genome from Gurren Lagann
All that's left of him after part one was his head and yet it was his spiral energy that kicked off the final battle against the anti-spirals, let that sink in a moment. Just his head!
