Mobile Fighter G Gundam
Early in the show's North American run, Bandai reported that "G Gundam" had the top ratings of any anime show for the period. The company considered the show to be a "hit" at the time. However, officials for Toonami recounted in 2006 that no "Gundam" series earned significant viewer ratings after the first North American airing of "Gundam Wing" in 2000. "G Gundam" received an overall positive critical reception amid its mainstream exposure in the United States. Nonetheless, views on "G Gundam"s plot remain largely mixed. Negative reactions to the plot mostly stem from its stark contrast to preceding "Gundam" entries that have traditionally focused on deep political and social issues in the midst of war. AnimeNation writer John Oppliger considered "G Gundam" to be "the plague of the "Gundam" franchise" and "one of the biggest mis-steps in anime history" due to its elimination of such serious subtext. Both Bamboo Dong of the Anime News Network and Duncan Scott of "Protoculture Addicts" were also initially disappointed for the same reason, with the latter writer feeling that the series features "Gundam" in its title purely for marketing reasons. Derrick L. Tucker of T.H.E.M. Anime Reviews called the series' episodic storyline its "most profound weakness", whereby "the narrative exists to move the viewer from fight to fight". Tucker also found that the potential for its more dramatic themes, such as tension between Domon and Master Asia or Domon's romantic relationship with Rain, is "overshadowed from start to finale by the show's domineering, if repetitive action sets".
Mobile Fighter G Gundam
The "Mobile Fighter G Gundam" television series originally aired in Japan the terrestrial channel TV Asahi from April 22, 1994 to March 31, 1995 for a total of 49 episodes. The show would not reach North American audiences until many years later. "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing", a series that succeeded "G Gundam" on Japanese television in 1995, was first localized in North America by Bandai Entertainment in early 2000. "Gundam Wing" was a moderate success in the United States while being broadcast on the popular afternoon Toonami block of Cartoon Network. In late 2001, Bandai acquired the rights to distribute an English-dubbed version of "G Gundam" with voice casting recorded by Ocean Productions in their Blue Water studio in Calgary, Alberta. The English-language version of "G Gundam" premiered as a free screening at the Sony Metreon Action Theatre in San Francisco on March 30, 2002. "G Gundam" began airing on Toonami on August 5, 2002. Due to the channel's censorship policies, some edits were made for the broadcast. This mainly involved altering the names of several mobile fighters, such as changing God Gundam and Devil Gundam to Burning Gundam and Dark Gundam respectively. The show was also aired on the channel's "Midnight Run" and as part of its Saturday programming in November 2002. Cartoon Network officially dropped "G Gundam" from its afternoon schedule the following June. The series has since been re-broadcast on the Japanese cable network Family Gekijo and the satellite channel Animax.