MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: THE ORIGIN (Kido Senshi Gandamu The Origin), by Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, based on the original story by Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hajime Yatate and mechanical designs by Kunio Okawara. First published in 2001 and first published in North America in 2002.
STORY:
In UC 0079, the Earth Federation forces are locked in battle with the Principality of Zeon, a rogue space colony that yearns for both independence and conquest. The other colonies are caught in the middle of this conflict, and it is during one of these battles that young Amuro Ray finds himself piloting the Earth's latest mobile suit: the Gundam. Now he's stuck on a ship full of junior officers and civilians, forced to fight in a war he never volunteered for, and facing down ace mobile suit pilot Char Aznable and the forces of Zeon in an effort to make it back to Earth.
