The year is After Colony (AC) 195. The world as we know it is in turmoil, and in space, amidst the vast Colony clusters, the Earth Alliance Military is acting as an occupation force. In the deepest of secrets, 5 outlaw scientists complete 5 special weapons, mobile suits called 'Gundams' and send them to earth. Piloted by five youngsters, unaware of each other's existence, their mission is to halt the Alliance and free the colonies, especially dealing with the elite forces of Oz.
However, as the battle continues, this single mission turns into a struggle for survival, and, in the end, a desperate attempt to maintain peace. The five pilots-- Heero Yuy, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wu Fei, Duo Maxwell and Trowa Barton-- join their forces, as all of them want to end the needles fighting and the pointless battles. For Heero, it also means to give a token of his love towards Relena Peacecraft who, in her own way, fights for that same peace...
Written by DarthViking.
Story & Characters
In spite of having been created primarily as an anniversary gimmick for fans of the numerous old Gundam series, Gundam
Wing surprises for actually having a good and well-knit plot, instead of being simply another mecha/giant robot story.
Forget the mecha for a second, and you have a great picture of the horrors and stupidities of war, presented in a
complex narrative that shows each side's point of view - power-crazed warlords, pacifists without a clear aim,
confused guerrilers who don't know what they're doing, manipulative commanders who know exactly what
they're making others do, and even the common civilians who have no idea what's happening and what is all that
fighting for.
The fact that so many points of view are showed, some characters do not have their motivations clearly pointed out in
bright letters, and some of the subtleties in the story depend highly on your understanding of the dynamics of politics
and war to be noticed has lead people to say Gundam Wing doesn't make much sense. Fact is, it's not supposed
to make a lot sense, it's supposed to show that war is not simple - different characters have different opinions
about the war(s) in question, and by the end you conclude that, ultimately, all and none of them was right.
It's not a simplistic story by any means, and the many sudden plot twists and (apparently, at first) unexplained
changes in a character's position/beliefs/motivations may turn some of the audience off, but if you like
complicated plots with multi-dimensional characters and unexpected out-turns, that's Gundam Wing for you.
And well, ok, also if you like giant robots making things go boom with shiny laser beams.
Rating: 9
Art
The anime art has a distinct shonen feel: clear and sharp traces, hard colours with practically no soft layering effect
(also known as shoujo sparkles - you only get those a few couple of times with the main female character, only to be
quickly replaced with machinery explosions or the eventual blood spatter). While the art on the human characters is
decent, if irregular, varying from <i>very</i> nice in some episodes to <i>very</i> ugly in
others (depending on the cell artist of the day) the mecha art is fantastic. The mecha battles scenes are amazing, with
the robots always looking perfect from every angle (even if their pilots may appear completely distorted by the angle).
It's a great treat for fans of the genre.
Likewise, the art of the mechas in the manga version is very good, although you unfortunately lose the colour and
lightning effects only the anime can give. Like the shorter condensed story presented in the manga, you get a
"condensed" version of the mecha. The art for human characters, on the contrary, is a leap of quality from the
anime, being less angular and sharp, and more anatomically correct.
The big leap in quality, though, is from the TV series to the OVAs. The OVA art is a lot better, and consistently good
through all three chapters. Had the TV series been like this, I'd rate the art a lot higher, but in the overall
pack of anime+manga+movie, I'd say is pretty shonen series average, with a bonus point for the gorgeous
machinery/weaponry.
Rating: 7
Sound
Being (as mentioned in the Story part) a fan gimmick gave Gundam Wing an advantage over other Gundam series, at least
for <i>seiyuu</i> (voice actors) fans like myself: we get none other than the omnipresent Hikaru Midorikawa,
Seki Toshihiko, Koyasu Takehito and Ryotaro Okiayu together in voicing the, if not main, at least most prominent
characters. That in itself would be enough to make seiyuu fans happy, but added to the exquisite job the rest of the
cast does, delivering lines with the right tone, matching each character with the perfect voice (ranging from Sexy &
Broody to Extremely Annoying to Gentle & Sweet to Major Bitch) the dubbing alone already makes the anime series
worth watching and re-watching.
( I have not watched this series with dubbings other than the original Japanese one and the so-so Portuguese one, so I
can not speak for the infamous and much criticized American dub. I'll leave that for American fans. )
Where Gundam Wing loses points in the Sound presentation is on its opening/closing themes. All of them could have been
better chosen to represent the kind of anime this one is, but if you judge from the loud and boppy techno songs alone
without any prior knowledge of the story, you will <i>never</i> guess the depth of seriousness of the plot.
I know friends who happened to love those songs, but to me they're just irrititating.
The same can't be said for the character image songs released in the OSTs. Although they don't exactly count
as canon source, the lyrics of those songs are very interesting to understand some of the characters a little better, as
is the case of Treize Khushrenada and Trowa Barton. Their songs reveal a lot more than is said through all the series.
Another plus is that a lot of the seiyuu are actually good singers, which makes some of the character songs nice enough
to keep listening beyond the point of satisfying curiosity (and then again, some other aren't, and you're
probably never going to listen to some songs again if you can help it).
Rating: 7
Presentation
As much as I defend Gundam Wing's <i>slight</i> superiority over other mecha series in terms of
storytelling, the initial plot is not original in the least - you've seen "<i>teenage boys save the
world with giant robots</i>" a hundred times before. The difference is mostly in the charisma of the
characters, and the smart plot twists that never fail to make you go "WHAT?" every odd number of episodes.
There is no fanservice of the panty-shot kind, nor easy cheeky humour through the series. For some younger audience this
may be boring, but for older viewers it's a relief (you can focuse on the misadventures of the pilots without
having to suffer Relena's panties/breasts), and the hints of humour are of the witty, subtle kind (you snicker
madly at some points, but never crack up with laughter). None of this should make the series less enjoyable, though,
even for the audience not interested in the plot and exposition - there's always the mecha battles to keep one at
the edge of his seat.
Rating: 6
Final Verdict
7.3333 (above average)
Reviewed by Dimmie, May 12, 2005
