Anime that premiered in 1979, portraying a conflict between the Earth-based Earth Federation and the rebelling space colonies of the Principality of Zeon.

It follows a young man named Amuro Rei, citizen of colony Side 7, as he one day accidentally finds himself piloting the Federation's newest prototype weapon, the RX-79(2) Gundam mobile suit, the first step in countering Zeon's Zaku class mobile suits. Along with a rag tag bunch of other civilians and fresh recruits assigned to the Federation warship White Base, they find themselves unlikely heroes of the Federation, coming into contact and surviving encounters with elite Zeon mobile suit units and the enigmatic Char Aznable, Zeon mobile suit ace and recurring Gundam character.

Pioneered the real robot genre of mecha shows, though there's still some somewhat more fantastical elements like the Gundam's cockpit actually being a transforming fighter that slots into the Gundam's torso.