It saddened me to see the number of people panning this excellent series on this site. Gundam wing, for me, was possibly one of the best anime's I have ever see, and YES I have seen the original series.
GW's charm lies not in it's battles, but in the evolution of it's characters. sure, fanboy-puritans could aruge that they are merely vacuous pretty-boys, but I put this down to annoyance that this excellent series managed to be more popular than it's predecessors.
The characters of GW all start out with certain mannersn and opinions, yet as they move through the show, their personalities develop. Heero, for example, starts off as a cold, cruel and calculating individual, trained from birth to be the "Perfect soldier". throughout the series, he rediscovers the humanity that had been so brutally drummed out of him, through his relationship with possibly one of the most unjustly hated female characters in the anime world.
Yes, I like Relena. she's a strong character, stays true to her morals, and suffers dilemmas and hardships that any other teenager of her age does. the relationship between this pair develops gradually.
and the Battle-Philosophy! there is so much moral dilemma in this series you could use it as a test for a debating group. the definition of enemy changes repeatedly throughout the series as loyalties change and situations vary.
the battle scenes are fun, the dialogue is excellent, the dubbing is pretty good...
all in all, the only thing I could find about to complain on was the fact that the voices for the dub sound far older than the actual characters do, Zechs in particular.
If you want a fun series that will make you think if you want it to, and show the moral dilemmas that could easilly be related to today, watch Gundam Wing. you might be pleasantly surprised.
