Gundam Rising

Infobox Gundam Episode (MSG)


Title= Gundam Rising
episode_no= 1
prod_code=
airdateJ

airdateUS= July 23, 2001
Episode -2=
Episode -1=
Current Episode= Gundam Rising
Episode +1= Destroy Gundam!
Episode +2= Vote to Attack

"Gundam Rising" is the first episode of the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam.

Plot summary

Three Zeon pilots, Slender, Gene, and Denim, enter Side 7 in their Zakus. Their plan is to spy on the colony, but they find the colonies almost deserted, with a lone car driving along, and only one person visible.

That person is Frau Bow, who is running to her neighbor, Amuro's house, accompanied by a basketball-sized green robot named Haro. She finds him tinkering with a microscope, and informs him that there's a warship docking soon, and the whole sector is being evacuated. While Amuro gets himself ready, Frau goes outside to find Hayato, who was driving the car the Zeon pilots had seen earlier. She accosts him for not warning Amuro, but he simply responds by bitterly commenting that if military engineers like Amuro's father hadn't come to the colony, they wouldn't need to evacuate. Finally, Amuro comes out in his own car and he and Frau drive off.

Near the colony, a Federation officer is speaking about the new warship which is docking, the White Base. He believes that it, along with Gundam, will give the Federation a great advantage in the war. On board the ship, Ensign Bright Noa tells Amuro's father, Tem Ray, that they will be docking soon. Tem hopes to mass-produce the Gundam, finally ending the war.

On his Musai Cruiser, Zeon officer Char Aznable is watching the situation with his second in command, Dren. He knows well that the Federation has been working on the V Project, a large project to build a mobile suit of their own more powerful than those used by Zeon, and he believes that he's just stumbled upon it.

Back on the colony, Gene and Denim watch as the Federation prepares a few mobile suits to be transported. Gene breaks away, ignoring Denim's orders, and fires on the suits, destroying them. In an emergency shelter, civilians, including Amuro and Frau, stand huddled. They can feel the explosions, and Amuro goes off to find his father, and tell him to order an evacuation onto the warship. As he runs out, they all see the Zaku overhead as it fires on the Federation defenses.

Amuro drives off, and comes across some soldiers, who tell him to get back to the shelter. They try to get into an underground bunker, but a missile strikes next to their car and kills them both. Among the shrapnel and debris that shoots out towards Amuro is a large classified book. He opens it and finds full instructions for the Federation's special mobile suit: the Gundam.

Slender, who was left behind where they entered the colony, contacts Char, telling him about the Federation's mobile suits and how Gene attacked while Denim went in to cover him. Gene and Denim continue to attack the base, and the evacuees begin moving to White Base. Amuro finally finds his father, who tells him to get in White Base and then runs off to find some way to load Gundam into the ship.

Fraw shouts for Amuro to hurry and join her with the evacuees, but as she does, a missile strikes the crowd, sending her flying towards him. She is okay, but the rest of the crowd, including her mother and grandfather, are killed in the explosion. Amuro tries to calm the devastated Fraw, and finally gets her to make a run for the spaceport, before she shares their fate.

Amuro knows he must help somehow, so he does the only thing he can think of. He jumps in Gundam's cockpit and uses the manual to try to operate it. Gene notices the movement, and takes aim, but Amuro fires Gundam's vulcan cannons and scares Gene for a moment. Gene recollects himself and fires, but he realizes that the Zaku's rifle has no effect. Amuro finally gets Gundam on its feet, and begins to get the hang of the system. He becomes terrified, however, when the vulcans run out of ammo, and he sits there helplessly as Gene moves in for the kill. Before he can do anything, Gundam grabs the rifle, knocking it away, and grabs the front of the Zaku's head, ripping it away and slamming the suit to the ground.

Amuro manages to activate Gundam's beam saber, which he uses to slice Gene's suit as it retreats. Amuro hits its engine and the resulting explosion blows a hole in the colony, which takes in Tem Ray and another engineer. Knowing he can't do that again, he targets Denim's cockpit, killing him and making his Zaku useless. Bright gets the rest of the evacuees on White Base, and, watching on, sees that Amuro is the only living candidate to pilot Gundam.

Char watches from his Musai, and realizes how much he's underestimated the Federation's mobile suit. He then fires two missiles towards Side 7.

Important Events

*Characters Introduced: Amuro Ray, Frau Bow, Haro, Hayato Kobayashi, Bright Noa, Char Aznable, Dren, Tem Ray

*Mecha Introduced: Gundam, Zaku II

*Amuro pilots Gundam for the first time.