Gundam as a Genre

Gundam has become a household name as one of the classic anime. It became the hallmark for Japanese mecha-style anime. Also, Gundam is known for it's flashy futuristic stories with gigantic battles. However, Gundam anime also contains deep development of characters and story lines. Whether or not you enjoy the all-out war of Zeon vs. the Earth Federation or gundams boxing with each other, like G Gundam, there is a lot of diversity to be found.  

Social and Political Issues

What makes Gundam really unique for me compared to other anime are the stories and deep development of characters and plots. Each Gundam anime is known for their complex plot lines that often have at least nine to twelve main characters. The makers of Gundam incorporate powerful themes into their stories that often reflect some kind of social or, in some cases, political issues or ideas. Some that come up include:

1. Pacifism 
2. Interventionism
3. "Ends justify the Means"
4. Military Industrial Complex
5. Nationalism vs. Individualism
6. Idealism vs. Realism 
7. Space Expansionism/Militarization of Space
8. Genetic Engineering

All of these ideas or concepts play big roles in certain gundam anime or varients of gundam. I want to look at two particular examples of the ones listed above: Pacifism and Genetic Engineering, which play huge roles in the anime series' Gundam Wing and Gundam Seed respectively.

Gundam Wing and Pacifism vs. Realism

Gundam Wing is about five young pilots from rebellious space colonies sent down to Earth to target high ranking officials within the militarized Earth Sphere Alliance Forces that have begun to expand their military control over the colonies. You later find out that they are targeting officers that belong to the Alliance Special Forces organization of "OZ", led by Col. Trieze Khushrenada. One of these pilots, Heero, meets a girl named Relena Peacecraft, the lost heir to a nation that preached the message of world pacifism. In a speech before the powerful sponsors of OZ, the Romefeller Foundation, she makes her message very clear.

http://www.watchcartoononline.com/mobile-suit-gundam-wing-episode-40-english-dubbed

Gundam Seed and Genetic Engineering

Gundam Seed is set in the middle of a two war between two rivals powers: The Earth Alliance and the ZAFT Organization, which represent

the space colonies. The two main characters, Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala, are on different sides and fight each other mercillesly in a war that is being waged for many different motives. For some, it is the military-industrial complex while for others it is revenge. However, the greatest running theme or social issue is the use of genetic engineering. The primary difference is that one side is filled with people called Coordinators or individuals that have had their genes manipulated before birth to affect certain biological or evolutionary traits. The Alliance, filled with people called Naturals, have no such affects and their exists a great deal of animosity over this question of "playing God." The feelings range, on both sides, from just being different to completely exterminating the other. Two such scenes are depicted below:

The first scene is a confrontation between Kira Yamato and ZAFT officer Rau Le Cruset. Le Cruset himself is nasty character that is often depicted as philosophe for ZAFT and the reason Coordinators and Naturals were fighting each other. He reveals the dark past behind the drive for "perfection" of mankind and justifies the destruction as precipitating from these actions. Essentially, he sees himself as the ultimate judge of humanity.
 

http://www.watchcartoononline.com/gundam-seed-episode-45-english-dubbed

The second scene is from the final battle of the Seed series. ZAFT has unleashed its massive superweapon and a huge battle is waged across the colonial space. This clip demonstrates destructive capactiy that each side has obtained in order to completely annihilate each other, from Director General Muruta Azrael's Nuclear Weapons to Chairman Patrick Zala's enormous GENESIS gamma-ray laser. Also shown is the battle between Le Cruset and Mu La Flaga, his genetic clone. 

http://www.watchcartoononline.com/gundam-seed-episode-49-english-dubbed