, also known as Mobile Suit Gundam Evolve, is a series of promotional short films set in the different timelines of the Gundam series. Originally there were only five Evolve episodes, produced from 2001 to 2003, Bandai created ten more Evolve episodes from 2004 to 2007. While the first two episodes took place in the Universal Century, some of the later clips also showed Gundams from the other timelines.
The clips show alternative scenes, side-stories or omakes for fans. The clips feature a mix of animation media which vary from traditional animation to 3D rendering to cel-shaded animation. The target is to show the Gundams and other mobile suits in high-quality CGI. A total of 15 shorts were released and later compiled in three separate volumes, namely Gundam Evolve ../+ ("Plus"), Gundam Evolve ../Ω ("Omega") and Gundam Evolve ../Α ("Alpha"). Each volume consists of 5 episodes.
The logo features a battered Core Fighter floating upside down, as seen on the final episode of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.
Episode summaries
01 – RX-78-2 Gundam
This episode is the only one that features no CG. Instead it is a short clip show of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. In this episode Amuro Ray, waiting to start in the final battle of A Baoa Qu, sits in his RX-78-2 Gundam while the other forces are already fighting. He recalls many of the battles he has fought until now, beginning with his fight against the mobile armor Elmeth when he killed Lalah Sune. Afterward he recalls the battle against the Black Tri-Stars, Ramba Ral and Char Aznable. He also thinks about the people important to him who died, including Ryu Jose, Matilda Ajan and Sleggar Law. Then he hears Sayla Mass who tells him that if they can overcome war, humanity should as well. Soon afterward, Amuro launches.
02 – RX-178 Gundam Mk-II
The events of this episode take place after the Gryps Conflict. The story revolves around a video tape which is sent to Kamille Bidan by Argama chief engineer Astonaige Medoz. On the video Astonaige wishes him a quick recovery and it also contains a video scene from a battle training at which Kamille participated during the Gryps Conflict. In the training he uses the Gundam Mk.II to fight against several drones and two Rick Dias in a combat simulation. Although he thinks it is too easy, he accidentally destroys the camera probe recording the training. The episode ends with a written report by Kamille apologizing over damaging the surveillance pod, in which he angrily wrote in later sections denying himself of any responsibility for the incident, protesting over having to write such a formal apology at all, and going further on to accuse his superiors Quattro Bajeena and Henken Bekkener of being totally irrational and incompetent.
03 – GF13-017NJII God Gundam
The third Evolve clip is about G Gundam. It features Domon Kasshu, who is practicing tai chi with the God Gundam. However suddenly Rain Mikamura appears in the Rising Gundam and attacks him because he was away for two days. He tells her he was only training but she believes that he was off chasing skirts, and the two fight. Trying to end the battle, Domon attacks with the God Gundam's God Finger (actually the Sekiha Tenkyo-Ken), causing Rain to counter with the Rising Gundam's Rising Finger (actually Rising's own rendition of the Sekiha Tenkyo-Ken) attack. Both attacks clash together with an immense power, but Rain's attack breaks through. When the smoke clears, Rising Gundam is performing Tai Chi while God Gundam looks on, with insults like "Womanizer" and "Lazy Bum" written all over its head.
(Note that nothing within the actual G Gundam series implies Rising can perform a Finger attack in the manner shown; in the series, the Rising Gundam's strongest attack is the Rising Arrow, which is fired from the beam bow on its left arm. Likewise, Rain being able to outmatch Domon in actual Gundam combat seems strictly for comedy. However, the design documents of the Rising Gundam do include a Rising Finger attack at well, though Rain is never shown to have trained to use it.)
04 – RX-78 GP03 Dendrobium
After the last clip played in the Future Century, this episode returns to the Universal Century. It is revealed that several people leaked information about the Gundam Development Project to the Zeon Forces because Jamitov Hymem dislikes it. Afterwards a ruined MS-14A Gelgoog is shown floating in space after a group of Gelgoog Marine Types and MS-06F Zaku II mobile suits attack the La Vie en Rose. To counter them a woman named Defrah Kar pilots the Gundam GP03 Dendrobium Stamen to destroy them. To make this easier she uses the Orchis platform and, thanks to its powerful weapons, is easily able to destroy them, and thanks to her I-field she is even able to defend herself from the attack of a large battleship. However, after the battle and while ejecting the Stamen from the Orchis, a severely damaged Gelgoog is able to shoot at the cockpit of the Stamen, killing Defrah and incidentally destroying the experimental cockpit. Afterwards the people who looked on the Gundam data examine the data of the GP04 Gerbera. This animation may explain the confusion concerning the two types of cockpits for the Stamen unit.
05 – RX-93 ν Gundam
This episode shows a bright alternative scenario for Quess Paraya from Char's Counterattack, as Tomino's attitude during Char's Counterattack was rather grim and depressing. The episode begins with Quess, who had apparently used the NZ-333 Alpha Azieru to severely damage Hathaway Noa's RGM-89 Jegan. Afterwards Amuro Ray in his RX-93 Nu Gundam has a Newtype reaction to her and confronts her. He accuses her of not understanding Hathaway's feelings, but Quess does not listen and attacks him. However Amuro is able to trap her inside the Fin Funnel's beam barriers. Afterwards they hear Hathaway who tells Quess not to be angry, and Amuro tells Quess that Hathaway is not dead. Thanks to this and Amuro's words she calms down and she finally uses the Alpha Azieru to rescue Hathaway.
This episode was written by Yoshiyuki Tomino, whose change of outlook used this animation to give Quess a happy ending as an alternative to her death in the film.
06 – YMF-X000A Dreadnought Gundam
The clip starts off with a battle between the YMF-X000A Dreadnought and several ZGMF-600 GuAIZ. Although Prayer Reverie tells them that he does not want to fight they continue and one of them slams him in an asteroid. Suddenly a DRAGOON-equipped Dreadnought "ghost" appears, separates itself from the real Dreadnought and attacks the GuAIZ, destroying all of them very easily. Afterwards it fires all its weapons on the real Dreadnought but the attack is stopped by the CAT1-X1/3 Hyperion. Then the two suits battle and finally Prayer joins the fight and together with the Hyperion he destroys the "ghost". At last the two suits turn their weapons on each other. In the end, this turned out to be a dream of Prayer's, foreshadowing his eventual battle with the Hyperion.
07 - XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero
This episode begins with a figure in a spacesuit (Heero Yuy) setting bombs, then fades to Gundam engineer Doctor J, apparently imprisoned. He talks to a shadowy visitor about history and his young protege as the person in space suit tries to escape the facility he has just sabotaged. The guards catch up to him, but he uses a nearby Virgo II mobile doll to distract them and escape to his machine - Wing Zero. Heero uses the twin buster rifle to break out of the base's hangar, but loses the weapon in the escape and resorts to using a Virgo II beam rifle. He is chased by several Virgo IIs along the length of the facility, which is actually a gigantic colony cannon. After dealing with his pursuit, Heero attacks the cannon directly with his beam rifle as the bombs begin to go off. Doctor J finishes his narration, commenting to his visitor (now revealed as Relena Peacecraft) that he chose Heero's codename personally. As the colony cannon explodes, Heero flies away to his next mission.
Gundam Evolve 7 was written and directed by Shukou Murase, who was character designer for the original Gundam Wing series. The original Japanese voice actors are used; Hikaru Midorikawa for Heero Yuy and Minoru Inaba for Doctor J.