Universal Century

is the main setting of the Gundam anime metaseries. Universal Century makes up the dominating majority of the entire franchise. While many new Gundam stories are told in their own parallel universe with independent timelines, giving them a greater degree of creative freedom, the original U.C. storyline continues to be extremely popular for a variety of reasons. It established the series, and delivered many of its best moments, as well as setting the standard for realistic hard science fiction in anime; the original Gundam marked the maturing of the Giant Robot genre. Also, nostalgia for the oldest of the Gundam shows (and Gundam's resulting status as a pop-culture icon in Japan) is still a major factor in its continuing success.