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Many fans and even some non-fans have commented that Saint Seiya is dead and all that, and in some ways that's true, but I think that among shonen of that era, it's one of the few that still has some relevance, In past franchises that are mistreated, does anyone know how badly Hokuto no Ken and its universe are treated? What about the relevance of Captain Tsubasa, Mazinger Z, or many other franchises from that era that nobody talks about nowadays?

In terms of quality, even with all the criticism, I don't think it comes close to having the low points of, for example, the Dragon Ball sequels. Omega is far superior to GT in that it has a solid foundation in its sagas, solid new characters, respect for the original characters, and even gives relevance to those who didn't have it in the original series.

In Dragon Ball Super (Canon), something that generated expectations at the time, like the 12 universes each with its gods and so on, is a tremendous disappointment, despite the excitement generated by the final fight against Jiren. Among hundreds of characters, those recycled from Next Dimension are more memorable.

With this, I mean that the mentality of the fandom and influencers plays a role. Speaking of Dragon Ball, especially from the Hispanic side, there was also a lot of hate during the airing of Super, but the fandom dug in and adopted a defensive stance towards the canon. They started attacking Toei from the past for the changes, accusing them of altering the perception of what Goku was, and also ridiculing the stance of nostalfags that criticized that was childish, especially when it was associated with a lol cow (essence). You want to see guts here, and for the most part, they succeeded. Everything is seen from a "positive" perspective.

I'm not saying the Saint Seiya fandom should fall into that lobotomy of positivity, but they outright hate Kurumada, even blaming him for the cancellation of other projects, and big Spanish-speaking YouTubers defame him, reducing him to a nobody.

There's a controversial topic in the Gundam community regarding viewing order. Previously, it was common to recommend skipping ZZ to get to CCA, which is the climax of the UC universe. Now, this has reversed, and a defensive stance has been adopted regarding ZZ.

This stance basically asserts that ZZ actually contributes elements necessary for watching CCA and that it's a good series in itself. It's even said that skipping this series is anti-artistic, missing out on worldbuilding just to get to the explosive parts.

The problem is that if you're looking for a universe with a huge lore that tells the story of even the smallest events and characters in detail, all wrapped up in a grand continuity, Gundam UC is quite disappointing, at least in its animated content.

To illustrate this, there's another issue where the community gets defensive, and that's regarding the transition to CCA. The last we saw of Char was him floating in space with an unknown whereabouts after a battle with Neo Zeon. The next thing we see of him is that we're in the middle of a... War with the Federation and Char as the leader of Neo Zeon, a complete change. How did Char rise to power? What are his thoughts on the events since we last saw him and this movie? Any thoughts on Kamille or Sayla? How did the conflict reignite? And many more questions. The fandom will tell you that if you understand the character, you can piece together how everything ended up this way, and that might be true to a certain extent. But in a vast universe, it's disappointing when the most important characters don't show you the relevant events, not because of the "understanding," but because of the lore. As always, you'll be missing important pieces to fully appreciate the universe. This is just one example, but post-CCA it's even worse, and that's where the reasons for watching ZZ fall apart.

Is it necessary to watch ZZ for Gundam lore? (ZZ spoilers)

If you finish watching Zeta, there will be two big questions you want answered: how Kamille and Haman's condition ends up, and also things like Char's whereabouts. ZZ does answer some of these questions. Kamille wakes up, still in a deplorable state, but he recovers off-screen and is happy at the end. I'm happy for him, but it's not a reason to watch this series. You can watch the ending on YouTube, and it won't change much from what you see of him in the series. Haman Karn is the main villain of Gundam, the big winner of Zeta, but if you were interested in her character, she has very little screen time here. You can glean some value from it and see a few more nuances, but it feels like she was more active in Zeta, being a secondary villain introduced near the end.

Elements that are relevant to the UC: This series is very connected to Unicorn, especially with Ple and perhaps Mineva, although this character was never fake in ZZ and never had a defined characterization. The most interesting thing It's possible that the Federation's oppression will add more weight to future installments, but as the fandom says, you can piece together the story and understand it based on what you've seen before.

Is ZZ Gundam any good?

Even if it had no relevance to the lore, if it's good, it's worth watching. It's generally said that the first 20 episodes have a comedic tone, then it takes off and becomes incredible, but no, the only time you might think that is during the five Dublin episodes. After that, the quality drops again. There's a very boring part where they infiltrate a Chinese colony, Glemy is a very cartoonish villain, and the final battle with Haman Karn is quite mediocre compared to what Gundam has accustomed us to. What I can highlight is Judau; he maintains the level of Amuro and Kamille, and you could even consider him the best Gundam MC. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that this series has 47 episodes, and it feels so long that you might actually be enjoying something you want to watch.

TLDR: Gundam ZZ isn't worth watching to understand the composition of the UC because the UC itself is missing major pieces. The puzzles and the points it addresses are disappointing, and its quality isn't very good either, aside from a few specific elements, for a 47-episode series.

If you're a casual Gundam viewer who wants to get to the CCA, there's nothing wrong with watching it. However, if you've fallen in love with the franchise, you might find this and all the series in the franchise enjoyable.

WWE is currently going through one of its worst creative periods, and fans long for the past as if it were an era of planning and good storylines, when in general, aside from two things, the shows were just as bad as they are in 2026 There is no better example than this: analyzing the construction and consequences of WM 40 the most praised event of this era.

WrestleMania 40 was the endgame for WWE and is one

of the best events if you watch it without context because there are some good matches. However, the build-up and storylines outside the main event reveal that the shows lacked coherent narratives and didn't respect the audience, even back then.

Its important matches:

Becky Lynch vs. Reah Ripley: a rivalry that had nothing going for it, a match that served its purpose.

Gunther vs. Sami Zayn: a match loved by fans and critics, but both the match itself and its consequences make it the worst part of the event. Gunther was one of the most credible characters; only Roman Reigns was better than him. The IC was at its most prestigious. the challenger with the best construction, Chad Gable, and they had had some great matches, including one where Chad's daughters cried. Sami Zayn defeated several wrestlers, including Chad Gable, in a Gauntlet match, but with little context. His lack of backstory beyond trying to be an underdog (although he had more accomplishments than Gunther, and Chad fit that role better) meant the match was dominated by Gunther, who then targeted Sami Zayn's wife. Sami staged a Hulk Hogan-esque comeback, hitting a few finishers and winning the match. Without context, it might have been enjoyable, but you barely know Sami's wife that day, which narratively isn't believable, just as it could have been Chad Gable's daughter. Just a few weeks prior, Sami had this "Super Mode" in the Gauntlet match without much underlying motivation, unlike Chad Gable. This comeback, lacking context, was clearly intended only for those who watched that night. The consequences were that it didn't help Sami at all, nor did it propel him into the main event scene. It was a wasted opportunity for Chad Gable, which made more sense. The Intercontinental Championship lost its prestige, reaching Dominik and currently remaining uncontested. It matters to him, Gunther was never seen in the same imposing way again since he lost like a fool. He won the world championship, but he didn't have the same "aura" he had when he was a midcarder champion. All his rivals dominated and humiliated him; he looked like Rey Mysterio in 2006. His submission to Jey Uso at the following WrestleMania was a consequence of the fans supporting what happened the previous year. If you notice, it's the same match as the acclaimed Gunther vs. Sami Zayn (although the rivalry with Jey had more build-up) and a brainbuster doesn't save a match.

Jey vs. Jimmy Uso: characters with backstory, although the rivalry was weak and the match one of the worst. Jey Uso was a future prospect because of his "YEET" that drew crowds, but his poor wrestling skills and character as an individual performer suggest he was a mistake.

Drew vs. Seth Rollins: a match without a storyline since Seth was with Cody against the Bloodline. Drew wins. It could have been exciting because of Damian Priest's cash-in, another future gamble that didn't work out because the guy doesn't stand out in any way for the main event scene. But I suppose it helped the Punk vs. Drew rivalry, a rivalry that has an incredible final match, but I didn't think it was good as a storyline. Punk sabotaged Drew a lot, like preventing him from cashing in his Money in the Bank briefcase or preventing him from winning the world title in his hometown of Scotland. Drew made meta-narrative jokes on his social media, like his picture with Jungle Boy, but with all that, the story within the show focused on Punk's dog collar, Larry, wasting a Money in the Bank contract, Drew's coronation in Scotland, and two bad matches from that trilogy. They weren't worth it for that, even though the final match was great.

Iyo Sky vs. Bayley: a decent match that at least had some backstory (In general the women's division is always at the same level)

Roman Reigns vs. Cody Rhodes: the peak of WWE. We all know how The Rock interrupted a rematch. Anticipated, although these improvised events became what would make that match and the event great, thanks to the negative reaction from the public, they returned to the original plans and The Rock made his heel turn. The rivalry seemed more between him and Cody. The Rock's segments were the most attractive part of that road to WrestleMania, which leads me to point out two things: Seth Rollins' reign was weak; his world title seemed less important than Gunther's midcard; his match with Drew was pointless and was the opener the next day; and Roman Reigns' reign and character had been worn out for a while, specifically since SummerSlam 2022. After an incredible match and defeating his greatest rival, Brock Lesnar, for good, Roman no longer had credible opponents. From then on, and for almost two years, everything that happened felt like filler. The character had become so powerful and the reign so important that any viewer realized that he alone was at risk. Once a year at WrestleMania, there's another point: the characters that WWE considers important will only lose at WrestleMania or maybe at Summer Slam, making the weekly shows And the PLEs were largely irrelevant, something they tried to correct this year with surprising title changes before WrestleMania.

Cody's reign was also boring and disappointing. If you look at the results of WrestleMania 40, the only heel who won was Logan Paul. They took away Gunther's aura, ridiculed Drew McIntyre, and AJ Styles suffered another defeat, which isn't so bad in itself, but it shows that outside of Part Timers, there are no credible heels. It was very accommodating to the faces, and I'm not saying this has never been the case before. The faces of the company like Cody, Cena, Hogan, The Rock, or Roman Reigns when he was a face have always had that "super" mode, but now all the faces who were close to the main event had it. Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Damian Priest, or Seth Rollins had a "super" mode that ridiculed top heels like Gunther or Drew McIntyre. And by "super" mode, I don't just mean that they win everything, when Wyatt Six debuted, they went after Chad Gable, and that was the furthest they got. WWE didn't dare let them beat a face with any credibility to help them gain traction, because they were all super protected, This year, many praise the sacrifice of Seth Rollins recently lost to Gunther and Bron Breaker, but both matches were lost due to interference to protect him, which means his rivals' victories don't really boost his own standing. And why would they need to protect Seth Rollins? Why isn't he one of the faces of the company or do he have an imposing character? Rollins is also someone in whom investment was made and who didn't deliver, like his partnership with Paul Heyman. Aside from unforeseen circumstances like injuries, there was never any chemistry with him or his stable. But somehow, after so much prominence and protection that talented midcarders or lowcards would envy, he's sacrificing himself .

It's not the worst era in WWE, but it is a very bad one, and the foundation for the product, like the fans of shonen or series disappointed with their finales, didn't come out of nowhere. Supporting Sami Zayn's victory, doing the Yeet chant, tweeting a clip of Angle, Batista celebrating every little thing, and being a flatterer of anything the company does led to this, the road to WM40 wasn't good; The good part was the segments with The Rock. The rest was as bad as it is now.