Anime: Shin Kidou Senki Gundam Wing

Notice: This review covers both the series and Endless Waltz, the movie finale. I won’t bother making two different ones for the same story.

Wing is basically the most angry-filled Gundam ever made. Watching it is making you feel like you want to beat someone up for wearing a blouse you don’t like. There is so much hate and insanity in this series, you are even wondering where the hell pacifism fits in all this mess. At the same time, this is what makes Wing to be so memorable. The gap between battle-frenzy bishonens and calm pacifistic bishoujos is so big, you don’t even hear your echo in there. Which is somewhat cool.

First of all, like all Gundam shows, this is basically an alteration of the original. Director Tomino is pretty much messing around with the details every five years and makes these variations, just so he can sell the exact same plastic toys, colored differently. In this particular case he said “I will take out the noble Newtypes theme which could hear the dead and thus feel the tragedy of war and I will replace it with HATREEEED! LOTS OF IT! HATE-HATE-HATE! He was still pissed off with the way Gundam Victory turned out to be. Plus the country was going through an economic crisis and everybody was emo, so the result was Wing.

So the story is as usual a war between the space colonies and the Earth Federation. The twist is that the entire colony army is nothing more than five super-ultra-God level Gundams, driven by five totally crazy-angsty-hatred filled teenagers. So we pretty much have five kids wasting billions of elite soldiers, robots, bases, etc. Why? Because they HATE THEEEEM! They hurt their homes and killed their families THEY MUST ALL DIEEEE! No wonder they have a few screws loose up there. Like, laughing while killing people and claiming they are the gods of death, being amnesiac circus performers, going crazy after having flashbacks of fire and explosions, and many more not so family oriented situations. I must say, they did a great job portraying all that and even excuse the apathy they show towards human life.

At the same time, there are other things going on to further point out this madness by creating a bold antithesis. For example, the Earth forces are also divided into their own respected parties, and while the youths go Freddy Kruger on their allies, they sit in some table and discuss politics and treaties, and comities, and degrees and LOTS OF BORING STUFF; GET OVER WITH IT AND GO BACK TO THE SENSELESS KILLING! Seriously, the scriptwriter made the politicians to feel like something you watch to fall asleep, whenever they are talking, your eyelids just start to get heavier. These completely boring parts are what in fact work as a trick to make you prefer the violence over a peaceful and civilized meeting with the warring factions. Who would want to listen to all those idiots? Just keep blowing stuff up until none of them disagrees with you. HATE-HATE-HATE-ANGST-ANGST-ANGST!!!

The trick does not stop there; no sir, they went further on to even more sinister antithesis. The main girl in the series is dead-set-on-peace-and-love-for-all, to the point she is as crazy as the Gundam pilots. I mean, seriously, she finds one of them injured, he gets up, kills the paramedics who came to help him, steals their ambulance, storms her birthday party, threatens to kill her, blows up her homeland, kills her relatives… and she falls in love with him and wants to smooth his cold heart. As well as to NOT fight for world peace. Does that make the slightest sense? Nope, but she too exists as an excuse to further prove how everybody in this show is an asylum escapee.
… Plus there is HATE!

In case you didn’t figure it out yet, the storyline is pretty weak in this variation. Mostly slow and predictable since the five youths are the crazy off-springs of Chuck Norris and always win or survive no matter how dangerous a fall or an explosion is. Plus their robots don’t even fight. They are playing with the enemy! They are so damn overpowered, they are simply unbeatable, or repairable in case their left shoulder gets a dent after a nuclear bomb explodes in their face. There are a few cases where they try to throw in a few plot twists, such as some military assholes scheming to kill all their rivals by letting them be ambushed by the Gundams and then blaming the evil colonies and bringing about a dictatorship in the name of peace and liberty. Makes no sense but then again neither did Adolf Hitler when he pulled the same trick. Whatever, it worked and offered a small twist for a few episodes before the plot switches to the Gundams now senselessly killing the dictatorship armies. HATE-HATE-HATE!

There is also the trademark masked man of the series. This Char-wannabe is also plotting his own massacre from the sidelines and even gets to pilot his own super ultra robot later on, effectively becoming the sixth Power Ranger. Just like everybody else in the show he is insane and bent on revenge for some massacre. HATE-HATE-HATE! So as you can see there are lots of parties in the story, plotting to gauge each other’s eyes out. The way it plays out is simplistic but at least they don’t leave it linear all the way.

Speaking about the duration, as usual the show didn’t deserve 50 episodes (no Gundam ever did) just to tell a simplistic tale of HATREEED and TEEN AAAANGST!!! At the same time it tries to fill in all the boring parts with character coloring. There are segments where the pilots are separated and are given their own spotlight just to get to know them better. There is very little going on in these parts but at least it helps to understand a bit better their motives. How crazy they are, that is.

The animation is as always amongst the best its era had to offer and outside of some blobby faces and motions here and there, it is very consistent and detailed. The action scenes are cool in overall, although they are one-sided most of the time and tend to become boring for being so damn predictable. YEAH AS IF THE GOD OF DEATH CAN LOSE BY ANTS! Other than that, it is standard cool mecha action. The weaponry they use is damn crazy and the variety the secondary mecha have is huge to keep you wondering how the next robotic Pokemon looks like.

Furthermore the animators tried to attract even some female audience in this show by making the main pilots being bishonens. You wouldn’t believe the naughty things I was hearing from fujoshis and their ridiculous yaoi fanfics while the series was still in its prime. I mean these youths were clearly not attracted to chicks, even when most girls in the series love their bad boy personality. Plus they kept most of the time bonding as buddies only with each other. How hard would it be to assume they were… well…

I really liked the main opening theme; I still listen to it today. The rest of the songs are ok too, nothing bad; the combo of pop and electronic works within the context of the show. The dialogues may be hard to tolerate half the time, as they are angst-filled dribble, shallow pacifism, or boring politics. Nothing terrible here either.

In all, it isn’t a bad Gundam variant but it definitely lacks the maturity and the context of the original universe. Its value is also very low as the story is too linear and simple to deserve a second watch. Furthermore, all its good parts were recycled later on into the Gundam 00 variation with better animation (you know, angel-themed overpowered mechas, psychotic bishonens, pacifist women, scheming military, and so on). At the same time it may have lots of nostalgia value for those who were in their teens during the 90’s, as Wing is the first Gundam to be broadcasted to most western countries in primetime. It basically told the world that the franchise exists and made a lot of fans to further look for the rest of the alternative universes, and specials, and movies, and summaries, and parodies. All five hundred of them…

It is a half-enjoyable universe and mostly remembered for its oozing HAAATE! But nowhere near as well directed or that artistic as some other Gundam series, such as Turn-A or 08th MS.

And now for some excused scorings.

Gundams were not on my radar until the late 90's, when I watched the nicely done Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. I was stunned by the sheer quality of that animation, with nice mechas, a more serious and semi-realistic future, etc. So I gave Gundam Wing a chance in the early 2000's, hoping to grab more about the universe of the series and perhaps be gifted by 49 episodes of similiar quality than the Endless Waltz.

What happens, however, is that Gundam Wing is a pretty below-average experience. It's miles behind the quality of its OVA and feels more like an 80's show than a 90's. While the plot gets complex and can be intriguing, the show lacks deep characters and the usual nice twists and turns that were present in the first Gundams as well as in the latest ones like Gundam Seed and Gundam 00. As a result, I became sadly afraid of watching other mecha shows, especially other Gundams, because I was unware of their differences and thought most of them would be exactly like Gundam Wing. Gundam Seed changed my impression and allowed me to try many other Gundam series, but that doesn't make Gundam Wing better than a below-average show of the franchise.

Art & Animation
The Gundams are gorgeous, and that's a huge plus and maybe the part that lure most people to watch it. While some of them are maybe too colored, they are well drawn and nicely animated for its age. The rest of the art, however, is not as nicely done as the Gundams. The characters are pretty average in quality, the colors of the show are not as sharp and good, giving a feeling that the show is way older than the likes of Evangelion and Pokémon for example. Perhaps this was intentional, but it failed to create a classic vibe. Animation-wise, the show is typical. You'll have lots of recycled scenes in combat, the characters are unable to express their feelings with belieavable facial expressions, dialogue scenes with only mouths moving are more frequent than today, etc. There is nothing great in this department besides the nice Gundam models, and that's a shame.

Sound
By the late 90's only a few shows dared to use more intricate background music and try with more flashy and impactful intros and endings. Gundam Wing's openings and endings are fine, the musics are good but are not exactly meant to prepare you to watch some war-based shounen show with lots of mechas and gunfire. In fact, the sound direction lacks more consistency to show what it really means to. The voice-acting has the recurring issues of late 90's show: bad lip-synch for some times and many voices that appear to be recorded in a giant empty warehouse. Despite the unfitness of the sound and the below-average voice-acting, Gundam Wing has some very good stuff that can save this department many times during the show.

Story
Gundam Wing brings the typical Gundam story with a few changes. That's not bad, space warfare is always good and the japanese knows how to do it better than anyone. The events starts as a few teenage pilots descend on Earth with their absurdly powerful new mechas to perform some intervetions amidst a incoming war between the Earth Federation and the space colonies.

1. Good try, but confusing pace
   Those who watched the more recent Gundam 00 will find here the father of that story. Overall the plot gets a good hold of what it tries to tell. The pace suffers from inconsistency, sometimes rushing events and sometimes (far more than necessary) looking to take ages until something meaningful happens.
   
   Gundam or Super Robot show?
   What can really annoy future-warfare here is that the Gundams start way too powerful, more similar to supernatural creatures than war machines, they take shots and bombs right in the face and nothing happens. You could even drop a freaking nuclear head on them and they'll easily walk away as if nothing happened. The Earth Alliance can't do anything against them, the Gundams are just immortal for many episodes, like they were Evas with their AT-Fields against hordes of mini-tanks that can barely even scratch them. To further increase this gap, these teenagers are super-powerful pilots born to kill and destroy. Only two guys in the whole world can stand against them, but none has a mecha strong enough to put up a fight.
   
   Random Missions
   It takes a lot of time for the events to takes you somewhere, and for the initial part you'll be watching dozens of random Gundam missions showing the super-cold characters and their craziness as well as the immense power of the Gundams. There is so much nonsense going around that is hard to truly understand the motivations of the cast. They just move, attack, kill, withdraw.
   
   Intrigue and something else
   Only at the second half the political intrigue will be more present, but it's more boring than in most other Gundam shows and then it quickly gives place to your usual Gundam ending sequence, with tons of heavy battles and some nice and enjoyable moments at least. One interesting element to notice in the end is how the Gundams are not tied to the characters. Many times you see them piloting someone's else Gundam, even the last and most powerful Gundams: Zero and Epyon, last for a few episodes in the hands of non-expectedt pilots. This is certainly a plus, but can hardly make up for the average direction and the terrible pace.
   

Character
Perhaps the biggest problem here is the cast.

1. I HATE you! I'm mad! And I'll kill you!
   While the character concepts are not bad, they have very little emotion to show during the story. Most of the time, all characters, regardless of its origin or motivation, feels like a cold-hearted mad bastard who don't give a damn about what's happening and is unlikely to feel remorse, pain, sadness, happiness, or anything at all. There isn't a single sane person in the show. The rich girl falls in love with the guy that points a gun to her, steals an ambulance, and claims to kill her. The masked man will kill anyone to atone for his sins in some sort of alternative path to peace. The villain doesn't make much sense in his actions, sometimes looking the stylish villain, sometimes the misunderstood bad guy. The Gundam pilots, especially, always try to look like badassess, they survive explosions, take shots and don't flinch, they rush towards fatal danger, and after a while most of the cast will feel a bit robotic and unbelieavable.
   
   I'm crazy, but I have a past
   The show gives some spotlight to many of the important characters and create some nice background for them, even if their motivations shows up to be something stupid or crazy, at least they are shown. But the lifeless characters bring the whole experience down, making the 50 episodes look somehow useless or giving an impression that too much time passes without anything important happening. There are some charisma to a few of the cast, but that's not enough to compensate the rest.
   

Value
Gundam Wing is Gundam. It's part of the franchise and tells exactly what any fans of the franchise are expecting. You'll see space warfare, nice mecha fights, bits of political intrigue, etc. I don't reduce the value score of a franchise saying that is equal to predecessor, simply because that's what expected of a franchise most of the time. But Gundam Wing brings nothing good to add to the rich story of Gundams. The plot is terribly paced, the character are all mad baddasses with no heart and no feelings, the Gundams are so uber strong that they don't even appear to be some kind of military weapon, the political intrigue is weak, and there is no development whatsoever. A Gundam show without high value in such elements is simply a mecha fest that tries to be cool and impress younger audience, but is extremely badly executed and forgetable.

Enjoyment
You can enjoy Gundam Wing despite all the terrible issues. But even so, the fun is very limited. You'll be watching good combats, but the outcomes are very predictable and the characters are so crazy and tough that you never feel like they can be hurt (physically or emotionally). There are no inner demons for them to face and no major twists to make the story better. The show only drags along until some later episodes where the gunfire becomes a little better and deliver a more enjoyable experience. If you like other Gundams, especially the newest ones (except for Gundam Age), you may still find something to watch it, even it it ultimately feels weak. If you're not into Gundams, keep away or this show can really ruin the good image of the franchise and make you hate mechas for a long while like it did to me.

Comments
It's safe to say that this is simply nothing like most Gundams out there. Gundam Seed is a huge masterpiece, as well as Z Gundam. The original Gundam and Gundam 00 are good shows. Turn A Gundam is different, but fun anyway, like Gundam X. But Gundam Wing is a strange among all these. The excution of the Gundam elements are simply flawed, and when you can't execute such basic elements nicely you end up with a show that relies mostly on "impactful baddasses acts" and is a shallow and weak experience.

Despite all this, I managed to watch to show twice. Once before watching Gundam Seed and another time later, to see if the show really was that bad or if it was just me in a angry age that hated it for no reason. Sadly, the show is in fact a very weak one. It can grab some Gundam fans, but its shallow characters that try to be some sort of Rambo are the main issue that really destroys everything. Even removing these characters would leave only some below-average elements. Not even the production value is that good for its age, when you had shows like Evangelion.

In resume, Gundam Wing can be a real disapointment to anyone watching it. It takes all weaknesses of the Gundam franchise and expose them in a way that is hard to endure and that can even affect how you see the other shows. I can only recomend this if you've watched most other Gundams and has lots of free time to watch some mecha-show. Otherwise, go watch any (or almost any) other Gundam that you'll probably have a better experience.

I first saw GW on toonami and have been hooked since. An anime that tried to analyze what the modern battlefield has become.

Animation: Wow look at all the shiny beams flying about! Characters aren't drawn to be completely realistic(lol Trowa's hair) but get the job done. Being a gundam show it has its share of recycled footage so that brings the score down. The show spent time in many different locales of Earth as well as moving to space so the atmosphere never gets bogged down. A problem is very few character's change their appearance unless they wear the uniform of where they happen to be. All in all not great but not bad.

Sound: What can I say great music spread nicely throughout the show with only a few tunes being overused is a nice accomplishment in such a long show. The music tended to follow the tension of what was happening on screen so it flowed well. Explosions sounded weird and we have noise in space...yeah when will more people try the Kubrick approach. Silence works well in space oh well. Dialogue was handled well with the monologues not taking up too much time. Voices were ok nothing special.

Story: Terrorists? Okay they are terrorists but one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter plus this show doesn't celebrate the gundams destructive potential. On the contrary not only are the pilots isolated but they accomplish very little directly. What impact they do have is changing the attitudes of the people they fight against. Rip off of the original? Where as most of the universal century gundams focused on one tyrannical government following another GW follows the idea of fracticidal war and its implications. Such a gray story may not present a pretty picture of "Oh I support those guys 100%" but it shows what war has become. Ever heard of drone strikes in Pakistan? Mobile dolls are a perfect representation of what it means where one country can attack another but not 'technically' be at war. The show also illustrates the limitations of these weapons which have WOW parallels with our 'smart' bombs that have questionable use. The splintering off of groups isn't a gimmick, every side has clear goals they want to accomplish and will do whatever is needed. All in all a great representation of what the modern soldier has to deal with.

Character Development: Very little to be seen as characters are there to move the plot along. I didn't mind it so much because every now and again there would be a touch of humanity allowed out to reinforce the story. The pilots have a few memorable moments together. Unfortunately they still chose the obligatory shouting out of names that anime dialogue writers thrive on, yeah great way to detract from a serious battle. Definately the weakest point of this show.

Value: Not a bad job distancing itself from the universal century crowd. Add a few touches and it almost stands up to the original. Both dealt with war but the modern depictions were top notch. One of the few anime I can rewatch without feeling it dragging on.

Enjoyment: I used to own it on vhs but I ran the quality down so much I had to get it on dvd. Then add all the great promos toonami did with the show and quite the experience. Seriously they're on youtube if you didn't get to see them years ago I highly recommend it. Yes there are invincible characters but don't let that turn you off. This is a great preparation anime for the more serious LotGH which delves infinitely deeper into war and politics.

Overall[br]My adventures of retro-watching Gundam series continues with Gundam Wing, my second taste of a singular-universe Gundam. This is the one that started the trend of having pretty boys for the male lead pilots, ones that will attract a larger fanbase and create unpleasant tensions between heterosexual males and yaoi fangirls. The official art even has these suggestively uncomfortable themes, too! But in regards to the anime, Gundam Wing seems to be a below average entry to the franchise. With its nonsensical side-switching story, 3.5/5 dull lead pilots, an annoying (but hot, as always) bitch queen, another annoying schizophrenic lady, and the usual Sunrise contraptions, Wing manages to entertain those who are only in it for the character and mecha designs and battles, and will probably insult anyone trying to make sense of its politics.[br][br][br]Animation[br]For a 1995 production it looks good in official art but the quality suffers from time. The battles have nice choreography and so do the other non-mecha fights. Character designs take a little getting used to at first (especially with Relena, who looked too aristocratic and fat at first). The futuristic backgrounds suffer horribly as most buildings were just rectangles with lines nearly all structures and interiors are of various shades of steel, which is to say: not very exciting to look at at all. I bet the Gundams themselves look better as 3D gunpla.[br][br][br]Sound[br]Excellent OPs and EDs even though their beats are too retro for my taste. Yes, as a guy who loved the late 90s western music, this mid-90s pop sounds the same as the 70s' disco. The soundtrack is amazing as in any Gundam series. The battle sound effects are really dated but does not detract from the battles themselves. As an avid supporter of dubs, the English cast is quite fitting; except for some awkward moments mostly involving Relena and Heero, it is a great performance from everyone, but it is not on par with the original Japanese performance.[br][br][br]Story[br]Many people have written about how retarded the storyline in Wing is, and I must agree with them. The first 10 or so episodes were typical starters, making the viewer anticipate all five Gundams and the many factions involved in this war. There SEEMED to be a clear good versus evil in the beginning, but gradually, and I quote a reviewer's quote "Do you know which side we're fighting on?; I don't know," the factions become a total mess, with the only side we can sympathize with are the ones the main characters are in. There is not enough justification for the sides to switch sides, and it is just not clear who is betraying who and who is trying to take over the world. Normal conflicts like character battles, revenge, chivalry, sin atonement, and love-hate relationships are told good, but anything that involves politics are greatly mishandled. The ending to Gundam anime, as always, are all about space fortresses and "colony drops", which are all epic and such, but getting there requires some stupidity on Sunrise's politics-experts to create some good drama in a show about a goal towards total pacifism - one that involves peace advocates engaging in wars and massacres.[br][br][br]Characters[br]This category requires me to break it to you in face value: Heero has some of the most unbelievable plot shielding that rivals Jesus Yamato's (namely, rolling down a cliff and falling from his Gundam without any scratches nor breaking his neck); the naive Relena can't help but go with the flow, making her character obnoxious and unlikable (not that I hate her); Wu Fei just reeks of Japanese bigotry against Chinese (I am one, and I hate him); Lady Unn is most certainly a fine piece of work by Sunrise, being the most despicable character in the show who then attempts to win over the viewers' sympathy - it's not working. Most of the other characters fall between mediocre to just good. Sechs was once cool because of his role as the masked guy, but the final episodes nearly breaks all that is glimmering about him. Speaking of glimmering, Treize was a character I most certainly thought would fix this mess, but the politics got in the way of enjoying his character and all the other leaders of the various factions.[br][br]In all, almost all of the characters fall victim to the badly woven politics that bind them together in a cesspool of confusion. I could never fully enjoy the characters even if I wanted to. What makes this a 7 from the 4/5 I was going to give this? Duo Maxwell. He just shines awesomeness in every scene he is in. He is both cool and cute in the appropriate scenes, and even makes his cheesy God Of Death speeches chilling with sparkles. Nobody is really redeemable, but he at least made the show.[br][br][br]Conclusion[br]Gundam Wing isn't all that bad. It is thoroughly enjoyable even if its train-wreck styled writing is not the best of Sunrise's abilities. It may be memorable for some, but the only things I'll remember from this is that Heero is invincible and Duo is awesome. Another Gundam series done, and onto the next.

This anime will either get you hooked in the first few episodes or you should stop watching. In my opinion, Gundam Wing had one of the most catching and interesting first episodes of any anime series which I have watched.

This anime is action-packed, and full of moral and political dilemmas about the nature of war. By the end of the story you will wonder if anyone in the story is good or bad: this is exactly what the writers want you to feel like. The writers, with Gundam Wing, are trying to convey the ambiguous nature of war and the ever-changing relationship of people to wars. This is done excellently in Gundam Wing.


The animation was great for its time but nowadays has become slightly dated.

The sound was the best part of the series: several catchy tunes and realistic battle sounds.

The story was interesting and the many plot twists kept this long series from becoming stale or predictable.

The characters were the true failing behind the series: Reelena Peacecraft becomes annoying very quickly, other characters are stale or stereotypical; the only interesting characters are Heero Yuy, Trieze, and Zechs.

Overall, I enjoyed this anime and it is a classic of which I have rewatched the episodes many times since it was first released.

I'll start off by stating the obvious:
I didn't enjoy this series much. I ended up sitting through all the episodes just waiting for them to finish.

The visuals, even for its time, are very much average. A lot is happening onscreen most of the time, but the animation is missing a few frames, and the artwork is pretty non-exciting. Also, the action scenes are rather dire - nothing spectacular ever.

The sound seems a bit broken. A little like it was recorded 10 years before the series was released. The music is nothing special to me, and the sound effects are often repetitive and crowd each other so the clairty is further impaired.

The story is the series' strongest point. Over 49 episodes, it never feels too stretched out (like many other unfortunate long-running anime series) since the plot is constantly twisting and turning. However, the plot itself has a tendancy to become dull since it focuses on so much politics.

The characters are, for the most part, either annoying or bland. The main heroine is one of my most hated anime characters of all time. If she were real I would kill myself to avoid being in the same plain of existence as her. Where the creators of the series have tried to give characters depth, they create confusion, since it appears the characters can't make up their mind on various subject matters.

I definately would not want to watch this series again. It's just too long, too dull, and the visuals are not up to standard. I know there are many Gundam fans out there, but by golly I certainly was NOT persuaded to join them.