Shin Kidou Senki Gundam Wing

The United Earth Sphere Alliance is a powerful military organization that has ruled over Earth and space colonies with an iron fist for several decades. When the colonies proclaimed their opposition to this, their leader was assassinated. Now, in the year After Colony 195, bitter colonial rebels have launched "Operation Meteor," sending five powerful mobile suits to Earth for vengeance. Built out of virtually indestructible material called Gundanium Alloy, these "Gundams" begin an assault against the Alliance and its sub organization OZ.

One Gundam, whose pilot has taken the name of the slain colony leader Heero Yuy, is forced to make a crash landing into the ocean after an atmospheric battle against OZ's ace pilot Zechs Marquise. Upon coming ashore, he is found by Relena Peacecraft, daughter of a peace-seeking politician, who witnesses Heero's descent to Earth. Although neither of them realize it yet, this encounter will have a profound impact on both their lives, as well as those on Earth and in space colonies.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuy, Heero Main

Midorikawa, Hikaru Japanese

Maxwell, Duo Main

Seki, Toshihiko Japanese

Marquise, Zechs Main

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Barton, Trowa Main

Nakahara, Shigeru Japanese

Peacecraft, Relena Main

Yajima, Akiko Japanese

Winner, Quatre Raberba Main

Orikasa, Ai Japanese

Chang, Wufei Main

Ishino, Ryuuzou Japanese

Khushrenada, Treize Supporting

Okiayu, Ryoutarou Japanese

Noin, Lucrezia Supporting

Yokoyama, Chisa Japanese

Catalonia, Dorothy Supporting

Matsui, Naoko Japanese

Yatate, Hajime Producer

Ueda, Masuo Producer

Takamatsu, Shinji Director, Storyboard

Ikeda, Masashi Director, Script, Storyboard

Reviews

Feb 6, 2023

NullRay_85

Recommended

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing or "Wing Gundam" is arguably the most popular Gundam in the franchise, being many fans' first introduction to the decades-long franchise. Following the story of five Gundam pilots and their quest to rebel against their oppressors, it's an engaging series that has captivated many fans and newcomers to anime over the years. As a huge fan of Gundam, I've heard and read about the praises Wing gets so naturally, I was excited to watch it. So, does it live up to the fame?



Story - In the futuristic After Colony 195, Earth has formed a worldwide alliance and most of mankind ... have settled in space via colonies. When the Earth alliance rule began to oppress the colonies, several colonies began developing special mobile suits known as a "Gundam" to retaliate against them. The plot follows five Gundam pilots: antisocial hero, Heero Yuy; wisecracking joker Duo Maxwell; stoic loner Trowa Barton; kind optimist Quarte Winner; and arrogant showoff Wufei Chang as they battle the Earth alliance and their subdivision, the OZ.

The anti-war themes of the series is prevalent here and you get to experience the cast's ordeals as they struggle to find a cause to fight for. Despite being a confusing mess sometimes, I enjoyed the story and its themes. Still, I had some issues with it being contrived at times with numerous coincidents happening and characters getting plot-armor like crazy, constantly escaping danger like falling on their heads from deadly heights without a scratch.


Characters - Each of the five leads were interesting and get a decent bit of character development, like Heero showing basic empathy, Duo being snarky, Trowa slowly opening up to his comrades, and Quatre (while being the kindest) shows his darker side at one point. Sadly, Wu Fei is the weakest of the bunch, as he struggles to grow and remains arrogant till the last episode. While their personalities clash initially, seeing the five leads working together as a team by the end was really cool and made for some memorable moments. My favorite was Duo as he stands out compared to the rest, with his bubbly personality being a breath of fresh air (though be can be a total badass with his Deathscythe if need be). Relena is the poster girl of the show and while she has a reputation of being annoying, but I found her character to be good with an interesting arc. Hearing her screening "Heero!" every episode got annoying, though.

The supporting cast like Noin, Sally, Hilde, Catherine, and the Gundam scientist were nice too. Zechs Marquise was a great villain (and Char clone) with a solid arc about him finding a reason to exist as a soldier when wars aren't needed. Traize Kusheranada, Zechs' best friend and co-villain was equally cool and calculating, challenging Zechs and the Gundam pilots behind the scenes. Other than that, the other side villains were all one-note and generic.


Presentation - For a nearly 30 year old anime, Wing holds up pretty well with the stylish designs of the Gundams being the highlight. Each was distinct and unique, matching the personality of its pilot (Deathsyche and Epyon were my favorites!). The character designs were great though i didn't like some choices like Trowa's hair looking like a broom and Dorothy's eyebrows being disgustingly gross-looking. Other than that, the backgrounds were nice and I liked the deigns of the Taurus, Leo, and Aries suits. I watched Wing sub and the performances were good, especially Zechs (whose the same voice as Dio!) and Traize being standouts. The soundtrack was fantastic, packing many great tracks that fit the tone. The opening themes "Just Communication" and "Rhythm Emotion" as well as the ending theme "It's Just Love!" are catchy all-time classics.


Overall- While it didn't exceed my expectations, I had a lot of fun with Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. The story was a confusing mess at times though I still enjoyed watching it to see how things unfold for the cast, who I grew to like. The Gundam designs were awesome too and that's important for a Gundam show. If you're a Gundam fan, then watch Wing. It may not be as great as the Universal Century shows, but it delivers on the action and themes we've come to expect from the franchise. Newcomers will find it a fun watch, especially if you love of seeing giant robots causing all sorts of destruction (the first two episodes give you that and more). All in all, a great anime and a classic in the mecha genre.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 26, 2023

Civilwarfare101

Mixed Feelings

When I watched Gundam Wing the first time all those years ago back in 2016, I was like, "what was the hype even about, what was so special about this?" While I like it a bit more than I used to I can understand why me from all those years ago was never a big fan of it despite me thinking the series is decent overall.

I'll start with the good, the setting and world like a lot of Gundam shows are fascinating and interesting, I always loved the idea of mankind moving up into space colonies and one day leaving the earth which could ... happen someday, and I love how this franchise explores that possibility, and it's still just as interesting here, even if much of the backstory is clumsily delivered through narrated exposition a lot of the time, and I feel like the show could do a better job at weaving in backstory and exposition in better. The characters are also decent, Heero is a strange character at first but he started to grow on me, the villains like Trieze and Miliardo are also solid enough. However characters like Catra and Wu Fei aren't particularly that great, Catra being hard to sympatheize with after the actions he does later in the series and Wu Fei just comes as a smug brat a lot of the time. I do like Duo Maxwell a lot and he's a pretty entertaining character and the rest of the cast is just okay overall. Relieena is also somewhat tolerable for a pacisfist character since she never contradict herself that much or at least I can't recall.

This is where the series tends to break it for me, my big issue with Gundam Wing is the frequent time jumps and perspective breaks with characters, there's a lot that happens on this show but it never feels like you are going on a slow gradual journey with them, it feels more like a highlight reel where you will follow one character one minute for a few episodes, then they will be written out of the plot for a while and then you follow another character(s) and then after a while they will be written out of the plot. It makes for an awkwardly disjointed narrative where it's hard to get overly attached to anyone and their plight, Relianna's character development later in the show felt particularly jarring since she had shown up in so long. There's a "death" of sorts that happens later in the series and the whole time, I am wonder, "are they ever going to explain what her fate actually was already?" It makes me appreciate the original series and many other Gundam shows in how they are written since the cast was generally always together in one location, meaning you didn't have to break the perspective of other characters nearly as often since they were always near by. It made the narrative feel less disjointed ans stilted as a result. Most of the cast in Wing are always seperated and are off in different places so far away from each other as opposed to the story following two groups in the original series like the White Base and the Zabi family.

The last few episodes are easily the best since the series by that point is following 3 factions and the most of the characters are together making the story feeling it doesn't need to break off into subplot land nearly as much anymore. It actually feels like I am following a group and their stuggles rather than having it be the highlight reel.

Overall, I like Wing a bit better than before but not by much, this show will always be a reminder of how I take certain tropes for granted and how bizarre a story can be when these tropes are not being followed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Sep 5, 2020

camacusjamacus

Not Recommended

I loved this as a kid, so I figured it would be nice to check back in on this. That was a bad idea. The story telling and dialogue are insanely clunky and all over the place. Which is a shame, because there are some nice ideas that peak out throughout the series: how does war affect soldiers, how can true lasting peace be obtained, what is the nature of human kind, etc. This is to be expected of a Gundam show, it's always come for the cool robots stay for the political and personal intrigue. And the Gundams are still cool, make no mistake. ... The animation is solid, and there are some cool fights occasionally but nothing super awesome. Very few of the characters are likeable, have any sort of sensible motivations, or act like real humans. This show is an absolute mess, but I see what it could have been and it'll still hold a fond place in my heart.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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