Gundam Wing

Gundam Wing is my favourite anime and perhaps is the only full anime series that I have re-watched for a few times. The first time I knew Gundam Wing from Endless Waltz which is actually the 'closure' of the series. I followed the main series on TV at Sunday mornings and I remember having to wake up very early. Because of violence, Gundam Wing was aired at 6am or something. I cannot remember if I watched in full as the only episode that was stuck in memory from watching this on TV is the fencing duel between Dorothy and Quatre. After that, I re-watched in laptop at least once in university and once in 2012. These were rushed watching so nothing much was stuck with me. Thus last week was my first time watching it properly. Although it took me only about 4 days, I did not rush and I stopped in between as and when I wanted to.

Gundam Wing story can roughly be divided in 3 arcs. The first one is the one making sense, followed by the confusing middle part, and finally towards the end that has nice fightings but does not really salvage the story. So I am not surprised and I agree that Gundam Wing may not be one of the better Gundam series in terms of the stories. A lot of history and loose ends become clearer after Endless Waltz or from reading the manga prequels and no wonder I was so confused when only watching the anime series. To be fair, let's consider it from a fresh perspective as if someone is just watching the main 49 episodes.

As with other Gundam series, Gundam Wing starts with the conflict between colonies and earth (governed by United Earth Sphere Alliance). The story begins at year After Colony 195 (AC 195) with Operation Meteor which involves the colonies sending 5 Gundams, disguised as meteors, to attack OZ, which is the major military arm of the UESA, on earth. The 5 Gundam pilots only know the existence of one another from their missions. The first part of the series on earth is the most exciting one as it culminates with OZ's plot to take over UESA and in the process making Heero kills all the pacifists from UESA. This effectively breaks down the peace-making effort and makes the colonies 'disown' the Gundams whose mission is originally to fight for the colonies.

Things start to get messy from here. With no support from the colonies, the Gundam pilots decide to return to space (i.e. the colonies). We learn that OZ is part of Romefeller Foundation which takes over from UESA and want to rule both earth and colonies. They are promoting peace by military strength and this results in militarisation of the colonies. With mobile dolls, there is no need of manned mobile suits so essentially Romefeller is selling weapons. Eventually the Gundam pilots come across one another in one way or another since they still have the same aim of fighting OZ. 

Meanwhile on earth, as a result of OZ revolution, many countries previously oppressed by UESA become more independent. Sanc Kingdom takes the center stage with Relena Peacecraft advocating total pacifism which puts her in direct opposite of Romefeller's militaristic view. Treize does not support mobile dolls and this results in OZ being split into his supporter against the rest. The situation in space is getting more chaotic and the plot involving the Gundam boys is getting more non-sensical so I shall just summarise that this part sort of ends with Quatre and Heero returning to earth to defend Sanc Kingdom which seems to be the only party opposing OZ.

The third part is the most action packed of the whole series. Romefeller is scheming to attack Sanc Kingdom with the excuse that Treize Faction is escaping to Sanc Kingdom to attack and Romefeller is coming to defend Sanc Kingdom. Relena turns out to be a badass: instead of fighting back, she decides to surrender to stop the war, staying true to the total pacifism that she is advocating. Ironically, Romefeller and Relena both desire peace just in different manner (i.e. militaristic vs pacifist). Romefeller sees Relena's influence and crowns her as Queen of the World in order to make all her supporters support Romefeller too. Relena reluctantly agrees of being 'used' this way but ends up using her position to continue advocating pacifism.

Meanwhile the newly completed spaceship, Libra, has been overtaken by a colony revolutionary group White Fang which declares war with earth. Suprisingly, Milliardo Peacecraft agrees to be the leader of White Fang against earth. Treize 'dethrones' Relena in order to defend this earth. Treize sends all mobile suits on earth to space for the final battle vs White Fang. The Gundams, now with Peacemillion, supports neither and their role in the final battle is to stop White Fang's attempts for direct assault on earth, firstly by its beam cannon and lastly by dropping the whole battleship on earth. It is then revealed that both Milliardo and Treize's aim is to have a massive war in order to traumatise everyone on earth and colonies so that both sides desire peace and no more war.

As much as I like Gundam Wing characters, each of them is very one dimensional. Cannot really blame them for that since this is a 90s series and things were simpler back then. The 5 Gundam pilots actually share very little screen time together so it makes their relationship, particularly towards the end when they are supposedly working as a team, rather weak. Sorry, but still Wufei is really a pain in the ass because his 'justice' motivation is so confusing. The rest is more simple minded but at least it makes them more understandable. In all, the whole dynamic of the characters and their interactions are another reason weak point of Gundam Wing.

I still think that Gundam Wing has the best Gundam designs compared to other Gundam series. The reason is simply because the 5 Gundams are so specialised and unique that they are very different from one another. Wing can transform into bird mode and it has its buster rifle for massive destructive force although it also has a beam saber. Deathscythe is specialised for stealth combat and as its name suggests fights with a scythe. Heavyarms relies on artillery. Sandrock is specialised for close combat with gigantic heat shotels. Shenlong is equipped for both close and distant combats with its beam glaive and its extendable dragon arms. Thus it is unlike many other series whose Gundams can be rather generic with each of them can fight with beam sabers and shoot some bullets.

I am not gonna discuss much about Endless Waltz other than it takes place a year after the main series (AC 196) and Wufei is still an asshole here. Haha..Overall the plot is smoother and makes more sense than the main series. How I wish they have more stories on what happens between the main series and Endless Waltz, especially on how the characters could have interacted with one another. At least that will explain how in Endless Waltz, the Gundam boys (minus Wufei) are more chummy and trusting with one another. And it is nice that the waltz in the title is not only a gimmick for an interesting name. It is actually explained that history is a repeated waltz of war, peace, and revolution.

Gundam Wing has a sequel with Frozen Teardrop and thank goodness it is only in novel. I read reviews to avoid this as it is going to destroy all the good memories with Gundam Wing. I am so tempted, though. So perhaps I just hope that it will never be translated to English hahaha...

Nevertheless, thank you, Gundam Wing, for being an anime that defines my childhood and my life. Life sounds exaggerating but even until now I will still collect Gundam Wing merchandises when I find any. Hehe...