So the next Gundam series I ended up picking to watch next after IBO and Witch turned out to be... the original!

That said, it was a close call between that and Reconguista in G... to the point where, after 16 episodes of the original, I wound up taking a break from that in order to watch G-Reco instead! Now I've just finished G-Reco.

It's definitely not going to be my new favourite Gundam; the pacing and scripting are both pretty messy, the emotional moments don't really land like they should, and I think it could've done with a tighter cast and fewer factions considering it's about half the length of most Gundam shows. Still, I did have some fun with it and always liked how colourful the whole thing is, so I certainly don't regret watching it all and giving it an honest try.

I also wouldn't mind trying to write some manner of fic for it if I get any ideas for that, even if mostly because there's only two fics for it on AO3 right now! ^^;

Next I'll be going back to the original series and finishing that up; after that, if this Gundam kick continues I might stick with UC stuff for the time being and slowly chip away at Zeta then ZZ, since by that point I might have a bunch of current anime on my plate from the Autumn 2023 season.

It's several years late compared to when it was originally airing, but I've just finally finished watching Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans after having recently started over with it from the beginning.

I loved what I got to see of it before (not sure what made me flake away from it a third of the way into the second season; guess I was having issues watching the simulcast on Daisuki at the time) and I love it now after having finally seen the whole thing. Right now I'd consider it my favourite Gundam out of the ones I've watched, though since I'll be watching the second cour of Witch from Mercury soon after this, I'll wait to see if the standings change.

That said, it's occured to me that it's been a long time since I saw any of the other Gundam shows I saw. I might like to rewatch Wing and/or the original eventually (the latter being in TV format this time, after I watched the movie trilogy version of it before). Wing might be particularly interesting to revisit, considering that a) it was my first Gundam, b) it was among the earlier anime I started watching in general, and c) it was my very first online fandom.

I've also been thinking a bit of 00 again; in particular, I kind of wonder if my feelings about its second season might've been less salty if I'd watched it a few episodes at a time in quick succession, as opposed to watching each episode as it aired each week. On the other hand, I wonder if I'd still feel salty about how it turned out anyway, as I remember a good bit of my salt over 00 S2 was related to how it took key aspects I liked about S1 and tossed them out of the window near the end; in contrast, the things I loved about IBO's first season were still present in its second, so I still unabashedly love it even if there were a couple of things I was iffy about and I recall other people throwing salt around over it back when it was airing.

For now, I just wanna get some IBO icons and be emotional about it, and I'll start Witch's second cour before too long.