Ive seen most au and uc gundams this one is probably the only one i will write a review on because i feel like theres too much Biased Information about this show atleast for the first season. Its incredible in doing what an au gundam is good at keeping its uc roots alive while innovating and creating different stories for a new audience. I believe Iron Blooded Orphans does this by going even farther with the political aspect and the military by having greater emphasis on them both with a nuance that is honestly lost in some of the other alternative universe gundams 00. The story itself starts off a little slow but slowly as it goes on you see more depth to what seems like a shallow pond at first .For example theres a scene in the middle that depicts a revolution caused by tekkadan near the middle or so of the show thats so realistic in its real world parallels its just something super rare to see in anime even in the genre but it really earns the real robot tag and this is probably the best one to depict those subjects who affect people and happens all the time in real life. One of my favorite parts of the show is how they depict Gjallarhorn who are supposed to be this evil military industrial complex who rules the entire solar system but when you see the backstories of some of the members who come off as super evil space police you come to see how they interact and talk about their ideologies and what they believe in and the different degrees on how much they actually believe it or not which is super gundam in general but this one is so in your face whether that be good or bad i personally find it awesome but i can see how it might be a little much. It also has insane lore with the calamity war where these specific gundams were made and its crazy they havent made anything about that still to this day but it adds a super cool layer to the show and gives more context to some of the mobile suits and of course the main mobile suit who rocks and is one of my favorite gundam designs ever and making the master grade gunpla plastic model for the Barbados only reaffirms this with realistic pistons on each limb and scram like thrusters on the legs and waist that remind you that this is a machine that is not only airworthy but can stand the vacuum of space as a aero space nerd i could go on about this thing forever honestly but i wont. The only complaint i really have is the slow pace at the beginning but i think it benefits the story in the long run. Im super excited but weary of season 2 since every reddit post ever will tell you thats where it fell off but Im hopeful about it. If you see this review and dont know whether to give it a shot because of the infamy this show has in the online anime sphere and especially with other gundam fans i say give it a go and if its not your cup of tea so be it but this might just be my favorite of the gundam au catalogue and maybe in a few more years people will see the vision that i see and will be less critical on season 1 regardless if season 2 shits the bed or not.