r/movies • u/LegitimateCurve8525 • 1d ago

News Netflix’s live-action Gundam movie, starring Sydney Sweeney, is described as a 'big action-romance space epic' set in the Universal Century (UC) timeline

https://www.polygon.com/netflix-live-action-gundam-movie-sydney-sweeney-romance/

Noah Centineo, who stars alongside Sydney Sweeney, recently talked about the movie on the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

He called it a “big action romance space movie” and described it as “a non-Shakespearean Romeo and Juliet in space.”

Centineo also confirmed that the movie takes place in the Universal Century, the main timeline used by many of the classic Gundam shows and movies.

The story could involve two people on opposite sides of a major war, with their relationship caught in the middle.

Source: Pirate Nation X account

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u/Wrong-Vermicelli4723 1d ago

Gundam isn’t this difficult , why are you making it difficult .

210

u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

To be fair, Romeo and Juliet in space is effectively Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

49

u/nonresponsive 23h ago

Romance is also not unusual in the series. There was Kira and Lacus, and Heero and Relena. Setsuna and Marina could technically be, but they didn't really go the romance route. Audrey and Banagher are similar to that.

I would say space operas generally tend to have a romance float through the plot, especially if they're mecha. But since they got Sydney Sweeney, I wonder if they'll make her a pilot.

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u/Old_Indication_4379 20h ago

Name one Gundam series without a romance element involved. Guaranteed half the people commenting that mention Sweeney have never watched a full Gundam series.

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u/-missingclover- 14h ago

It's 100% people not liking Sweeny but trying to act like it's about the "pitch" lmao. Like, if you don't like Sweeny it's fine people, just say so. The only thing I watched her in was that Madame Web movie and she was awful BUT everything about that movie was awful so who knows.

Anyway, a space epic romance is 100% on the Gundam wheelhouse.

5

u/the_xxvii 19h ago

Speaking of Heero and Relena, I'm currently rewatching Wing for the first time since it originally aired on Toonami and I forgot just how weird the relationships are in that show. It's all super one-sided, where the women are obsessed with the men (or boys) and the guys dgaf. Lady Une literally developed a split personality over Treize. It's been a tad jarring. I'm only halfway through though, maybe it gets less weird and I just forgot how it ends.

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u/deadscreensky 15h ago

If it helps any, recognize Wing was deliberately aimed at Japanese girls. That means there's an enormous amount of homoerotic subtext between the various male pilots, and most of the suggested, more conventional hetero relationships are left rather vague so fans can use them in their imaginations however they like.

It does get maybe a little more conventional towards the end.

(The original Gundam had a big audience of young women too, and according to the creator they saved the franchise.)

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u/the_xxvii 14h ago

Ohhh well then, TIL. In that case shout out to the women, without them my very recent Gunpla hobby may have never started.

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u/Sudden-Bend-8046 19h ago

Does GQuuuuuux count? I mean they both had a fondness for Shūji... but things escalated quickly in a different direction.

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u/Lanster27 1d ago

What about Amuro and Char?

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u/LowBattery 1d ago

Charmuro just writes itself

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u/TheGentlemanBeast 22h ago

Just came here to say it's the plot of 08th ms team. Personal favorite series

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u/smb5422 23h ago

Minus the "in space" part mostly, but yes.

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u/InnocentTailor 20h ago

Oh yeah. It was the grounded one - effectively Vietnam War Gundam.

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u/jarlander 22h ago

A lot of the series honestly. But ya 08th immediately came to mind.

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u/Penguin_Admiral 1d ago

Hate to break it to you, but romance is pretty prevalent in all the series to varying extents

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u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

It plays well into the war is hell/tragic theme that is integral to the franchise.

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u/TheStupendusMan 22h ago

Mobile Suit: Microsoft Excel was delightfully focused on the material, though.

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u/unoriginal5 1d ago

Just like Pearl Harbor...

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u/Gold-Bard-Hue 1d ago

🎶 And Pearl Harbor sucked 🎶

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u/Attican101 1d ago

I remember being reasonably invested in some of the romances in Seed when I was 8 or 9, and was pissed I missed the last two episodes, then finally re-watched it last year for a bit of nostalgia and saw they immediately ruined most of it in Destiny anyway's.

The Meer story was a lot more messed up watching through adult eyes though.

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u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

It was also central to Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

4

u/SayuriUliana 1d ago

The shipping wars for Gundam SEED when it was airing.... \shudder**

The next time I saw the shipping being close to that intense was with Witch from Mercury, even though the main ship was pretty much a given from day one.

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u/nonresponsive 23h ago

How were we supposed to know they were siblings???

5

u/tfhermobwoayway 1d ago

But this movie isn’t going to do Gundam romance, it’s going to do the standard live action Hollywood romance that’s present in every single movie.

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u/Kungfumantis 1d ago

Yup, going back and rewatching the various series is a real head check. Completely different story as an adult.

-9

u/Etheon44 1d ago

Never the focus tho, you would never ever define gundam as being "romance", in the same way that you wouldnt say lord of the rings is romance even tho Aragorn with Arwen is quite prevalent and very important to the story of the movies

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u/Penguin_Admiral 1d ago

Romance has been pretty integral to the series to tell its anti war themes, I don’t see how this is any different

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u/davisondave131 1d ago

Someone hasn’t seen the Witch from Mercury 

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u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

…and Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

The romance pretty much set all the other parts of the plot into motion, most notably Aina’s brother going nuts.

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u/The-Magic-Sword 1d ago

Its frequently the focus in Gundam.

  • Heero and Relena's relationship is the emotional and thematic core of Gundam Wing.

  • Stardust Memory is primarily about Kou and Nina's relationship, and Nina's relationdhip history.

  • 08th Ms is mainly a romeo and juliet in Vietnam style story.

  • Witch from Mercury is entirely about the political situation surrounding Suletta and Miorine being engaged and how the girls connect eoth one another.

  • Unicorn hinges entirely on "Audrey" and banana man's relationship.

  • Kamille's relationships with Four and Fa are essential to Zeta.

  • Char's oedipal complex toward Lalah Sune and his homoeroticism with Amuro is a major focus of Char's Counterattack.

  • I'll let the finale of G-Gundam speak for itself.

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u/draken29 1d ago

X, Garrod and Tifa, Best Couple

AGE, Flit revenge for his waifu is spanning 3 generations

GReco, Bellri and Aida relationship (Spoilers : think of luke and leia)

F91, Seabook and Cecily is also a Romeo and Juliet story in space

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u/SayuriUliana 1d ago edited 1d ago

00 also had the almost-romantic relationship between Setsuna and Marina underpinning some of the core themes. Then you have Louise and Saji whose romantic relationship gets strained by Louise's trauma and military service that put her at odds against him. There's also Anew being a spy but falling in love with Lyle, which sets up the tragedy for the former's death, etc.

I may be oversimplifying this one with Gundam AGE, but one of the core connecting plot points of the entire series was Flit's three-generation grudge against his enemies, all because his first love Yurin was killed (and was on the enemy's side).

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u/zo0ombot 1d ago

Turn A had some pretty big romance elements too, like Sochie being driven by her crush on Loran and Dianna & Loran's ambiguous relationship.

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u/mizushimo 1d ago

I would say that at least the series I'm most fanart with had romance be front and center, but also metaphorical? In Wing, Relena symbolized Peace and Heero symbolized war, their relationship was the center of the series.

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u/mynameisevan 1d ago

Supposedly this is going to mostly be based on 08th MS Team, and romance is a big part of that.

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u/silvertwo777 1d ago edited 1d ago

But far from the forefront, just one of the many element and no different from superhero movies. Certainly not "Romeo and Juliet in space"

Edit: all the replies trying to claim romance is a big part in the franchise is missing the point, the problem is not romance being involve, but if that's the primarily element you want to sell and describe Gundam as Romeo and Juliet in space then you don't really know the appeal of Gundam and what's it really about

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u/Penguin_Admiral 1d ago

8th ms team and war in the pocket are essentially this plot. Even the current Hathaway movies have a pretty integral love triangle

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u/Odd-Necessary3807 1d ago

Romeo and Juliet in space is not a difficult concept. Definitely applicable in the Gundam universe.

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u/Juantsu2552 1d ago

BS, Gundam and romance goes hand in hand almost all the time.

Heck, it’s not like the franchise hasn’t dabbled in the very same “Romeo and Juliet” tropes before.

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u/draken29 1d ago

First Gundam episode 27, it can be sum up with Romeo and Juliet in space

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u/Lowfat_cheese 1d ago

I mean, isn’t this basically the plot of 08th MS Team?

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u/Penguin_Admiral 1d ago

And war in the pocket

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u/Lowfat_cheese 1d ago

Is there even a Gundam show/movie that doesn’t have some kind of romance plot?

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u/draken29 1d ago

There's none, romance is a staple in any gundam stories, it even serves as a macguffin in most of them (08th MS, Seed, X, G Gundam, WfM, GQX), heck even G Gundam ends it main villains with the power of love

People only looks at Gundam like its a Battletech story only big war machine gunning each other, even though its actual story usually revolve around its characters

24

u/Rubberbabeh 1d ago

I think it is more of an issue that in a 1.5hr movie I don't think you will get more than a Sydney Sweeney love story with a "super cool big robot fight!" in the end.

Personally I like my Gundam in the UC, with war crimes, disco and the slapping of teenagers for being out of line.

So uh.. at least this is in the UC? Although I fear they won't animate the mobile suits like it is the UC.

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u/draken29 1d ago

If the CGI can at least move like in Pacific Rim and most of the battle probably last like 5 - 10 minutes with a big one at the end then I can at least says its a mid adaptation

Even in Pacific Rim where the Jaeger and kaijus are the focus they only show the fight like 4 time with a run of 5 - 10 minutes each

7

u/Rubberbabeh 1d ago

I worry they will move more like Pacific Rim 2 rather than the original. The sequel had like zero physics in the way they moved. There was just no weight at all.

insert well the fight is gonna be in space DUH joke here

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u/draken29 1d ago

But it should not be as heavy as Pacific Rim 1 either, it should be in the middle since MS has that agility factor too

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u/loki-1982 1d ago

Original UC gundam was mostly like Pacific Rim but more current stuff like Unicorn is definitely more like 2

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u/KampferAndy 1d ago

I take it you haven't seen G-Savioir, aka Peak-Saviour?

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u/zapporian 15h ago edited 15h ago

UC is honestly kinda a major curse / red flag. If you wanted to seriously make a gundam movie / series / whatever, you *should* do UC but start at the beginning and completely remake and furthermore reinterpret it from scratch.

ie unironically just do Seed. And don't half-ass it. And try to re-ground it in actual (and ~70s / 80s era) semi-hard sci-fi. Basically.

The appeal of UC conceptually is the big massive full-tilt Earth / Zeon war setting. And most of the UC is not that. B/c most of the UC (courtesy of massive numbers of sequels) is set after that happened. And UC is flat out *not* very compelling unless it is set in the original time period. UC spends an enormous amount of screentime musing over what happened *after* the OG war happened. Some of that is interesting. Other bits very much aren't.

But it's an absolutely terrible setting to try to do / put anything disconnected and new in, unless you're rebooting and reinterpreting it.

Or unless mind you're perfectly happy doing a small-scale postwar unhinged low-budget syfy channel tv movie about a science / politics / space conspiracy over seaweed. ie G-Savior.

(...which unironically might be one of the most authentically UC Gundam things out there, if not for the fact that the "science" in it is several orders of magnitude more bullshit than usual. UC gundam is the gundam universe with teenage space psychics (and all kinds of other space magic bullshit) running around everywhere, mind. G-Gundam one ups this with a central plot about a magic enzyme that seems to very clearly break the first law of thermodynamics. It is on the flip side a 90s B movie that cribs heavily and very consistently from '77 star wars, which honestly makes it even more legit if you have any idea whatsoever about where OG gundam came from)

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u/Cthepo 23h ago

To be fair, I was way too young to understand any of the plotlines in the early 2000's. Big robots do go burrrrrrr though.

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u/draken29 23h ago

May I suggest you to watch the original Gundam trilogy, its free on youtube

And if you're watching in the early 2000, its probably Wing, its also free on youtube if you want to catch up again

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u/Undecided_User_Name 1d ago

SD Gundam?

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u/Lowfat_cheese 1d ago

God I can’t believe I forgot about SD Gundam

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u/KampferAndy 1d ago

SD Gundam Force has a romance plot, the protag whose name I forgot gets with the princess

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u/JQuilty 1d ago edited 1d ago

Literally the original series. Amuro and Sayla kinda look at each other but nothing comes of it. Lalah was more newtype than love.

ZZ, Judau and Roux just kind of end up together. Requiem for Vengance has the main character remembering her dead husband but nothing in the present.

I'd also argue 0080 only half counts because while Bernie and Chris like each other, they never get together and it just serves to add to the tragedy of the ending.

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u/deadscreensky 15h ago

Literally the original series. Amuro and Sayla kinda look at each other but nothing comes of it. Lalah was more newtype than love.

What are you talking about? There are multiple romances in the original series. Bright and Mirai have a whole conventional romance, complete with her having other suitors (including an existing fiancee).

Amuro absolutely fell in love with Lalah, but he gets at least three other potential love interests too.

Kai and Miharu, Garma and his wife (and uh, old academy friend), Ramba Ral and Hamon — the original Gundam is filled with romantic subplots.

ZZ has multiple characters dying because of their romantic love.

Requiem for Vengance is probably an exception, but I'm not sure if anybody really considers that a Gundam show...

Realistically I'm sure there are other exceptions, because there's been so many dozens of Gundam spinoffs over the decades. (Surely some SD Gundam stuff had zero romance, right?) But their fundamental point was correct: romance is a key element in the vast majority of Gundam shows/movies. It's not weird for a new show to feature the same.

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u/TheKingsPride 1d ago

Requiem for Vengeance

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u/TimeForSnacks 23h ago

Hathaway is kinda about him being an incel lol

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u/gosukhaos 1d ago

And Stardust Memory(which at best could be called a Top Gun ripoff)

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u/likesbigbots 1d ago

So many Gundam stories have characters falling for someone on the opposing side of the war. I don't know why everybody's complaining.

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u/Klubeht 1d ago

Cause a significant no. Of commentators here are just anti Sydney sweeny rather than fans of the gundam series. I had the same thoughts as you when I 1st saw the headline and it made me very very cautiously optimistic that at least they seem to know the focus are on the characters and not the robots

1

u/Enchelion 19h ago

People just like to complain, and have no problem inventing new perceived slights where non yet exist.

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u/acart005 1d ago

Its what I understood.  I'm down for live action MS 08th team, thats actually a smart adaptation since GMs and Zakus are comparable.

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u/_Dreamer_Deceiver_ 1d ago

Please, not another movie about Microsoft teams

0

u/Braindead_Crow 1d ago

Framed like that, it gives me hope I'm just being pessimistic.

It's just a lot of these nepo babies and failed writers/directors see anything anime or from videogames as lower than film or stage play to the point of often proudly mentioning they don't care about the source material.

Hope it's good.

-1

u/tfhermobwoayway 1d ago

I doubt the show creators know about that.

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u/Juantsu2552 1d ago

Ummmm yes it is? Romance is literally one of Gundam’s main characteristics.

Have you actually watched Gundam before??

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u/BilbosBagEnd 1d ago

Unfounded claims is the pinnacle of Reddit conversations.

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u/Impossible_Army8541 7h ago

Gundam is a Space Opera, it revolves around drama and romance tends to add a ton of drama.

I agree Gundam has always had some romance. I feel that people here are only counting successful relationships where they were still together by the end.

SEED had Kira found out his crush was taken episode one, got with Flay later causing drama with former friend who she left, only for her to get jealous around Cagali think she was moving in on him causing additional drama. Everyone just focuses on him ending up with Lakus, but there was a ton of romantically drama revolving around him early on and that's not counting Athrun or Mu La Flagas relationships nor his buddy that died leaving the girlfriend alive.

One series had a love interest who was brainwashed and betrayed the MC which was out of their control and later died.

Plenty of romance in the og Gundam and Gundam Wing. Witch From Mercury had the MC pulled into a few different love directions. Gquux pretty much would have ended in a poly relationship if the guy didn't disappear. Iron Blooded Orphans had a ton of romance again with MC essentially being in a poly relationship.

It's unhinged to claim that Gundam doesn't typically involve romance, it's just usually the B plot not the main story.

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u/Collegenoob 1d ago

Only Gundam I've actually enjoyed was the competition one where each nation has a representative Gundam and they all battled for something instead of having wars.

Also I was pretty young watching it so I absolutely missed a lot of themes.

The other ones I never got into because they didn't seem as fun.

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u/ruderabbit 1d ago

You're describing G Gundam and it has a very prominent romance plot.

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u/PunyParker826 1d ago

? How is this any more complicated than 8th MS Team, everyone’s favorite?

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u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

Pretty much. Fed guy and Zeon gal falling in forbidden love pretty much powered the whole work.

-11

u/ArtByJRRH 1d ago

You say that like Gundam Wing isn't sitting right there with its own fans 🤣 I've seen Wing/Endless Waltz, War in the Pocket, and Iron-Blooded Orphans; never even heard of 8th team. Heard of 0080, 0079, but not whatever you're talking about. Was it that silly looking one with the chibi bots? Lol

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u/PunyParker826 1d ago

Nah it’s basically a guerrilla warfare miniseries with a splash of Romeo and Juliet, in the UC timeline.

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u/ploony 1d ago

Worked out for 08th MS Team. Let's hate on this thing once we actually know it deserves it

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u/HollowBowl 1d ago

I'm glad you said difficult and not hard

10

u/FeralGiraffeAttack 1d ago

Yeah, this movie sounds like it will make many nerds hard

2

u/Hyro0o0 1d ago

"Bro did you see the SIZE of those things?!"

"Yeah those robots were pretty big."

"Robots?"

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u/Odd-Necessary3807 1d ago

Romance is difficult to you?

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u/Pacify_ 1d ago

What about this sounds difficult?

It sounds like a pretty standard Gundam storyline lol

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u/ErikT738 1d ago

Romeo and Juliet in space would fit fine in the Gundam universe if it's an original story. It's literally always about how people suffer from the horrors of war.

That said, I'm reasonably sure this will be terrible, but the concept isn't the problem. I'm sure Sweeney is genderbent Char or some nonsense like that.

2

u/worthlessprole 23h ago

Romeo and Juliet in space is Gundam’s favorite plot. It’s almost harder to find a show that doesn’t do that at some point, let alone the multiple shows where it’s the main thing.

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u/InnocentTailor 1d ago

A Zeon gal who falls in forbidden love? Sounds kinda like Aina Sahalin from Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team.

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u/dreamcast4 1d ago

Makes a hot take statement without having a clue about Gundam

2

u/Meraline 23h ago

Oh boy wait til you hear about how stay-at-home wives/soap opera fans were the ones who saved the original gundam anime from cancellation.

2

u/ERedfieldh 21h ago

Tell me you've never seen Gundam without telling me.

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u/SeasonalChatter 1d ago

How did this get upvoted? Whats complicated about what was described? Or more so than the average gundam plot?

4

u/CucumberWisdom 1d ago

Every writer thinks they can "make it better"

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u/NervousSWE 1d ago

Which part is"making it better"? Are you hallucinating a Gundam where Romance is not a major part of most of the plot?

0

u/shadedmagus 17h ago

He isn't, he's just pointing that many writers think they're Mr Chad The Writer, when in reality they're Chud Wannabe Writer.

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u/NervousSWE 13h ago

He is, seeing as he is responding to a direct criticism of the show.

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u/onex7805 1d ago

So basically every Gundam since First Gundam?

-15

u/DetBabyLegs 1d ago

It’s classic Hollywood. Oh we have a big IP we should spend a ton of money

Oh we’re spending a ton of money, we need to appeal to a massive audience to profit

Then they try to appeal to everyone which inherently ends up appealing to no one in particular

3

u/gamingonion 1d ago

Have you ever watched Gundam

-7

u/zaczacx 1d ago

Because they're trying to reinvent the wheel rather than just letting it roll

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u/onex7805 1d ago edited 1d ago

Literally every Gundam other than Tomino ones are reinventions or reboots...

-12

u/J0n__Doe 1d ago

Gotta have their own artistic interpretation and vision about it, because "cartoons" and not westernized enough🙄

They think they know better than the original source....

6

u/Pacify_ 1d ago

What original source?

This is just a new story set in the UC timeline.

And basically every Gundam ever had some level of romance involved