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Series Retrospective -- New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (TV Series & OVA Movie)

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is a 1995 anime television series created by Sunrise. It began broadcast in Japan on April 7, 1995 with the original English-language run of the series beginning on March 6, 2000 on the popular Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in the United States, becoming the first Gundam series to be broadcast on American television.

In terms of release order, this series followed the release of Mobile Fighter G Gundam in Japan. Toonami wouldn't air that series until August 5, 2002.

I can't begin to talk about this anime without first sharing the masterpiece of a promotional trailer done by Toonami (narrated by the legendary Peter Cullen himself) when it first premiered in the United States. This is the anime that hooked a lot of people, myself included, to the Gundam franchise as a whole. It served as a gateway to both the Gundam franchise and merchandise surrounding it. Plus, it was a standalone story that wasn't tied to decades of lore like the Universal Century timeline that predates it, so this was an easy introduction to the basics and tone of what to expect out of the Gundam franchise.

Synopsis

The story of Gundam Wing begins in the year After Colony 195 with the start of Operation Meteor, five disgruntled scientists' plan for revenge against the tyrannical OZ military organization for their oppression over the space colonies. The operation involves five young boys who have each been chosen and trained by one of the five rogue scientists, then sent to Earth independently in extremely advanced Mobile Suits, one designed by each of the scientists, known as "Gundams". Their mobile suits are called Gundams because they are constructed from a rare and astonishingly durable material known as Gundanium Alloy, which can only be created in outer space.

The five Gundam Pilots — Heero Yuy (pilot of the titular Wing Gundam), Duo Maxwell (pilot of the Deathscythe), Trowa Barton (pilot of the Heavyarms), Quatre Raberba Winner (pilot of the Sandrock), and Chang Wufei (pilot of the Shenlong) — originally have no knowledge of each others' existence. On first meeting any of the other five, each pilot believes the others to be enemy pilots in new OZ mobile suit designs. Once the young pilots realize that they have the same objective of destroying OZ (and in some cases the same mission), they band together to help each other complete their goals.

Episodes

Episode Titles:

Characters

List of characters with their credited Japanese and English voice actors.

Gundam Pilots

Heero Yuy: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese), Mark Hildreth (English)
Duo Maxwell: Toshihiko Seki (Japanese), Scott McNeil (English)
Trowa Barton: Shigeru Nakahara (Japanese), Kirby Morrow (English)
Quatre Raberba Winner: Ai Orikasa (Japanese), Brad Swaile (English)
Chang Wufei: Ryuzou Ishino (Japanese), Ted Cole (English)

Gundam Supporters

Relena Darlian: Akiko Yajima (Japanese), Lisa Ann Beley (English)
Lucrezia Noin: Chisa Yokoyama (Japanese), Saffron Henderson (English)
Sally Po: Yumi Touma (Japanese), Moneca Stori, Samantha Ferris (English)
Catherine Bloom: Saori Suzuki (Japanese), Moneca Stori, Cathy Weseluck (English)
Hilde Schbeiker: Kae Araki (Japanese), Marcy Goldberg (English)
Rashid Kurama: Kazuhiro Nakata (Japanese), Michael Dobson (English)
Mike Howard: Hiroshi Ishida (Japanese), Ward Perry (English)

OZ

Treize Khushrenada: Ryoutarou Okiayu (Japanese), David Kaye (English)
Zechs Merquise: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)
Lady Une: Sayuri Yamauchi (Japanese), Enuka Okuma (English)

Romerfeller Foundation

Dermail Catalonia: Osamu Kato (Japanese), Jim Byrnes (English)
Dorothy Catalonia: Naoko Matsui (Japanese), Cathy Weseluck (English)
Tubarov Bilmon: Yuji Mikimoto (Japanese), Richard Newman (English)

Alliance

Field Marshal Noventa: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese), Paul Dobson (English)

Civilians

Heero Yuy (politician)
Vice-Minister Darlian: Akio Ohtsuka (Japanese), Michael Dobson (English)

White Fang

Quinze Quarante: Osamu Ichikawa (Japanese), David Mackay (English)
Sedici

Gundam Scientists

Doctor J: Minoru Inaba (Japanese), Dave Ward (English)
Professor G: Yuzuru Fujimoto (Japanese), Brian Drummond (English)
Doctor S: Shinya Ootaki (Japanese), David Mackay (English)
Professor H: Takashi Taguchi (Japanese)
Master O: Masashi Hirose (Japanese)

Mobile Suits

Civilian

A.C. 195
- Mining Colony Mobile Suit

Media

TV anime series

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, known in Japan as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, is the seventh Gundam TV anime series, and is one of the alternate universe Gundam series, taking place in the After Colony timeline. It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile Fighter G Gundam. The plot centers around a war between Earth and its colonies in space; however, in contrast to the Universal Century continuity, the Gundams in Wing are more closely allied to each other than they are to any particular side in the conflict unfolding around them.

The series was aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax, and the terrestrial TV Asahi network. It ran for forty-nine half-hour episodes, beginning on April 7, 1995 and ending on March 29, 1996. Directed by Masashi Ikeda and written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers) with music by Kō Ōtani, the series was loosely based on the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam series, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate.

IGN has a great article for the 20th anniversary of the series' US airing recounting how Jason DeMarco, currently the senior vice president and creative director on air for Adult Swim and one of the creators of the iconic action-animation programming block Toonami on Cartoon Network, worked tirelessly to get Gundam Wing on air.

Gundam Wing had a successful run in the U.S. on Cartoon Network's action cartoon/anime block, Toonami, premiering on March 6, 2000 and airing new episodes every weekday afternoon through May 11. The English dub of the series was produced by Ocean Studios (also known as The Ocean Group), which would go on to dub the original Mobile Suit Gundam series and several others in the franchise. Gundam Wing was aired on Cartoon Network as both an edited version shown in the daytime and an uncut version shown after midnight. Examples of the edits included the removal of bloodshed, obscene language, and the word "kill" being replaced by the word "destroy". (This was extended to Duo's nickname, "The God of Death", being changed to "The Great Destroyer", forcing the alteration of two episode titles.) The broadcast shown at midnight was completely unedited, which was a first for anime airing on Cartoon Network at the time.

Movie/OVA miniseries

Due to the popularity of the series, a three-part OVA, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, was produced in 1997 as a sequel to the TV series. One of the most notable aspects of the OVA was the massive redesigns each of the Gundams received (such as the Wing Zero's "angel-winged" appearance), courtesy of Hajime Katoki. In 1998, a compilation movie version of Endless Waltz was released, with additional footage, an altered soundtrack and a different ending theme ("Last Impression"). Endless Waltz aired on Cartoon Network on November 10, 2000.

Video Games

In 1996, a video game titled Gundam Wing: Endless Duel was released for the Super Famicom in Japan. The game was never released in the United States or Europe, but has gained some popularity through the emulation of older video games. The game was pretty much a staple to play on the SNES-related emulators.

Since then, Gundam Wing had appeared in several entries of the Super Robot Wars series, its number of appearances are second only to the Universal Century. Gundam Wing also appeared in all of the titles of the Another Century's Episode series. In the U.S., Gundam Wing characters and mecha have been featured in games such as the Gundam Battle Assault series and the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series.

Wing Gundam Zero Custom in the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series.

Wing Gundam Zero in Gundam Versus.

Gundam: Battle Assault is a 2D fighting game, developed by Natsume and published by Bandai for the Playstation, which was released on November 6, 2000. It is an American remake of the Japanese game Gundam: The Battle Master 2. It would be followed by a sequel of its own in 2002, titled Gundam Battle Assault 2.

The original Japanese version of the game, Gundam: The Battle Master 2 had an original cast and an original story for the game as well as all the same mobile suits with the Wing Gundam not being on the game, originally in its place was Hamma Hamma, while Gundam Battle Assault was released in 2001 in Japan three years after the original was released; making Japan have the same game in two different versions. When the game was localized, it was decided that the original cast be replaced by the suits' original pilots with Heero as the main playable character due to the success of Gundam Wing's broadcast on Cartoon Network's Toonami block at the time, making the game a proper crossover.

Although the Hamma Hamma was removed as a selectable character, its data was not removed from the game, allowing it to be selectable via a hacking device.

The Wing Gundam used in the game is actually a modified Zeta Gundam sprite and uses all of the suit's moves, including its Waverider Attack super attack. Because of this, the sprite of the suit transformed ends up looking awkward, including literally flying upside down.

Valder Farkill (from the Gundam Wing: G-Unit manga) pilots the Psycho Gundam Mark III while Treize pilots Valder's Hydra Gundam.

Those characters and mecha from Gundam Wing have continued to appear in other Gundam-related video games worldwide, specifically in the Gundam Versus series, New Gundam Breaker, and more recently, Gundam Evolution.

Toy Line

After the 9/11 tragedy, Cartoon Network quietly pulled all Gundam-related anime from their programming blocks and Wal-Mart and other stores pulled the merchandise since they were already having to deal with parents' complaints due to some of the subject manner and censorship that they already had to apply to this series (mostly Deathscythe Hell) and later Mobile Fighter G Gundam (concerning the several instances of poor usage of cultural stereotypes in names for some of the mobile suits in that series along with removing the "god" and "devil" connotations for Burning Gundam and Dark Gundam) when it aired two years later. Around this same time, the Gundam franchise as a whole was floundering to garner any new increase, despite the boom in popularity of Gundam Wing in the United States. In the following years, Toonami aired the original Mobile Suit Gundam to highly negative results in terms of ratings since a lot of viewers saw it as a downgrade visually in comparison (mostly due to the fact it was roughly 20+ years old at that point) to Gundam Wing and later Mobile Fighter G Gundam that aired after it. Unfortunately, both Toonami and Sunrise were in a tough spot as if they wanted to capitalize on this boom of popularity on the Gundam franchise created by Gundam Wing, so they had to introduce English audiences to the original Gundam series to allow them to digest all of the sequels and spin-offs in the infamous Universal Century timeline that are still being churned out to this day.

In the years that followed, Gunpla grew in popularity, thanks mostly to their focus in Gundam Build-Drivers and its sequels and spin-offs along with the rarity of finding them in local retailers (at least in the United States). Gundam fans had to rely almost completely on import retailers and hobby shops that specifically carried animed-related merchandise. We only began to see Gundam model kits (along with action figures) reappear on store shelves in recent years. I personally think a lot of that can be contributed to the high demand and profitability of nostalgia too. Gundam Wing-related suits tend to be among the most popular suits that are commonly re-released and repackaged among Gunpla and action figures.

Toynami / Bandai Action Figures (2000)

Bandai would release action figures based on the mobile suits from this series in 2000 to coincide with release of the anime.

Gundam Universe (Current)

Tamashii Nations has unleashed Gundam Universe 6" figure line with remarkable detail, along with dynamic posability, upping the ante for any Gundam collection. These figures feature suits not just from Gundam Wing, but from all corners of the entire Gundam franchise.

Model Kits or "Gunpla"

The hilarious thing to me about Gundam model kits or "Gunpla" as they have come to be known as today is those things used to be $5-20 at the most for standard and high grade models. I will never forget how my roommates in college laughed when I had the entire trunk of my car FULL of Gundam models that the local Toys R' Us were clearancing out at the time. Who's laughing now when a ton of those models are still pretty sought after since they haven't been re-released and reproduced at outrageous prices over the years that followed? I don't regret that decision in the least.

My close friends in high school at the time and I called that hotline for the Gundam model kit giveaway that Toonami was doing during that period but could never get through. I wonder if any of my readers had any luck? How many people remember even GameStop getting in on the action for selling these Gundam Wing model kits for like $4.99 to $9.99 a pop? That's nuts in hindsight, especially seeing how much these go for currently in Hobby Lobby, Target, and online across various retailers with the re-releases of the very same model kits going for almost quadruple that price.

The Verdict:

*** SPOILER WARNING ***

Narratively, I tend to split this story up into several digestible acts.

1. Five Gundams Arrival on Earth / OZ's Rise to Power

2. Space Race / Back to the Colonies

3. Rise of the Mobile Dolls / Resurrection of the Sanc Kingdom

4. The White Fang Emerges as the "True" Final Boss / The Final Curtain

5. Epilogue: Endless Waltz (OVA / Movie)

Act I: Five Gundams Arrive on Earth / OZ's Rise to Power (Episodes 1-16)

The first act of this story does a great job of introducing and establishing each of this anime's major players, namely the five Gundam pilots and the main supporting cast.

The anime quickly establishes a pattern of following each of the pilots engage in their guerilla tactics against OZ's forces while attempting to maintain their cover as ordinary teenagers - at least in Heero Yuy's case since he's the only one of the pilots who enlists into school when he's not on these missions. Sprinkled in the middle are the key players of OZ and the soon-to-be Gundam supporters and witnesses to their heroics commenting on their actions and offering their own philosophies on the concepts of war and peace. Upon first viewing(s), it's easy to overlook and ignore a lot of the politics and philosophy littered throughout this anime early on, but as it goes on it's VERY hard to ignore by the last two acts of the story.

This first act does a great job in establishing not just the key players but showcasing that these characters aren't merely black and white in terms of good and evil. For me personally, this was one of the first anime of its kind that I had the pleasure of watching that highlighted that characters don't have to be one-dimensional in terms of depicting good and evil. This is a work of fiction with multi-layered individuals that would be best described in modern terms as "grey area" characters who could easily shift from actions seen as heroism to villainy depending on the viewers' perspective. This is a common trait/trend in the Gundam franchise as a whole as most of the time, the characters who you are sold into being the villains aren't so bad after all, while the individuals who you initially saw as heroes aren't so heroic either.

This first act raises the stakes quickly and shows the consequences of these dangerous missions that the five Gundam pilots have engaged in with their war against the forces of OZ when they are fed misleading information that causes Heero Yuy to assassinate the innocent pacifists who were willing to start the peaceful negoiations among nations MUCH earlier than this story would have wanted. Chang Wufei confronts Trieze Khushrenada and has the opportunity to end this war against OZ here and now, but loses to him in a duel. This two losses leave the Gundam pilots disoriented and lost in terms of what to do next since their plans to defeat OZ have gone awry. Heero Yuy is willing to pay the ultimate price for his costly mistake and doesn't hesitate to self-denotate his Gundam (with himself inside) once OZ puts the colonies that they called home into the crossfire. Heero Yuy is thought to be dead by both the viewers and OZ following this turn of events (for at least an episode or two anyway) before the remainder of this act is spent following Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton going from place to place as he puts his life into the hands of each of the dead pacifists' family members as he begs for forgiveness. After an insightful episode that reveals Zechs' homeland and true reasons why he joined OZ while simultaneously providing him with a mobile suit that could compete with the Gundams (the Tallgeese), Zechs begins to question his own path in the new OZ after their coupe to overthrow the former Alliance, but doesn't hesitate to risk everything to rebuild Heero's Gundam and track down its pilot for he could finish that fateful duel. At this point of the story, Zechs and Heero are enemies only by a consequence of circumstances of their paths crossing on the battlefield. With the lines being blurred between friends and foes over the new direction that OZ and Romefeller are taking, soldiers like them (and the other Gundam pilots as we will continue to see in the next act) are struggling to find reasons to fight at all.

This act ends with the revelation of the fact that both Relena and Zechs are the "lost" siblings of the Peacecraft family that once ruled the Sanc Kingdom. The implications of this reveal won't have a major impact on this story until a bit later down the road.

Rewatching this anime with adult eyes really makes a lot of issues and themes in this anime come across as very problematic, specifically concerning a lot of the relationships established early on:

Heero Yuy / Relena Darlian

From the moment they are introduced into this story, Heero Yuy and Relena Darlian are bound to constantly cross each other's paths throughout this anime's narrative. In terms of a relationship though, it's a bizarre one to watch play out. These are two highly suicidal individuals who are on the verge of obsession with seeking out their own demise to the point that it's disturbing at various points of this anime to witness. Heero Yuy will not hesitate to sacrifice his body or even life if it means fulfilling his mission or not compromising his beliefs. It's admirable in one sense in terms of his character, but at the same time, a self-destructive message to convey to impressionable young adults/teenagers to which this show was being marketing towards at the time.

Relena on the other hand, is just as suicidal in her actions, if not even more bold in some cases later in the story. She constantly follows and pursues Heero, despite his bold declaration to kill her at the end of the first episode. That quote has become legendary in terms of memes and callbacks to this series, but I could see a lot of women looking at Heero's behavior and treatment of her as "toxic" behavior in a modern day mindset. He's far from the most offensive character in terms of these "toxic" relationships in this series, but Relena definitely goes above and beyond to pursue this guy who has no interest but ending her life at the beginning of this story. Relena seems to leech off his strength and iron will in a sense to give herself the courage to challenge her own personal hurdles and enemies, whether it being her initial confrontation with OZ's Lady Une following the murder of her father to standing up to Zechs Merquise during Heero and Zechs' duel in Siberia.

These are two confused individuals who are infatuated with the concept of death - Heero with the idea of dying for a noble cause and Relena with the idea of being a martyr for warriors/soldiers like Heero won't have to lay their lives on the line and could live in peace. One would think that two people with contrasting ideologies like this wouldn't be able to see eye-to-eye or to coexist in any capacity, but as this anime trails on, they seem to be able to feed off each other.

Zechs Merquise / Lucrezia Noin

From the moment that Noin is introduced, I could see a lot of red flags in terms of her relationship with the "mysterious" Zechs Merquise. She has openly sabotoged her own military career for he could excel higher than her in rank and position, all just to earn his attention. Zechs doesn't reward her affection and obvious feelings for him in any capacity other than with kinsmanship as he would with any other allied soldier on the battlefield. One could also read this as Zechs is keeping Noin at arm's length merely to protect her from his "true" self, hence why he wears a mask on the battlefield to begin with to mask his identity.

We have to remember that Gundam Wing is a byproduct of the times that it was created in too - the mid to late '90s to be exact. Noin's tomboyish appearance probably didn't do her any favors in terms of garnering Zechs' attention if we don't want to kid ourselves. Zechs probably didn't see her that way and was completely oblivious or rather in denial of Noin's affections as he was laser-focused on his goal of revenge upon those within the Alliance military who ruined the Sanc Kingdom initially. I could see him seeing that as a distraction or better yet, a weakness, that could be used against him if people knew that he was romantically attached to anyone. That's one of many reasons why he didn't reveal his identity to Relena sooner.

I could see their relationship garnering the "toxic" label too, given Noin's subservient nature to Zechs. I saw Zechs playing the part of the distressed/scorned princess for the first part of this anime while Noin played the part of his loyal knight sworn to serve and protect him. Even Relena gave Noin her blessing to continue watching over her brother in Siberia, further endorsing this loyal knight role for Noin.

I personally just find their relationship to be disgusting in a sense in repeated viewings. Noin and Zechs' relationship feels so one-sided. She makes all of the sacrifices to cater to everything that Zechs does or needs, whether it be her own students/soldiers in the episode where she's first introduced to her reputation and loyalty to OZ when she commits countless traitorous actions simply to stay loyal to Zechs. The first and only sacrifice Zechs makes is turning himself in to OZ in Siberia after securing the safety of Relena, Noin, and the others' escape. I personally didn't find that to equal much when Noin pretty much tailored most of her life serving this guy without any complaints.

Catherine Bloom / Trowa Barton

Trowa and Catherine's relationship is different than most of the other relationships that are established into this anime early on, mainly due to the fact that it's not a romantic one. She's one of the people that he befriends that are part of the traveling circus that he uses as his cover while moving from place to place when he's not on one of his missions as part of Operation Meteor. Catherine casually flirts with Trowa over the first few episodes, even taking the time to comment on how attractive he looks. Trowa doesn't even acknowledges her remarks. Catherine is the first person to recognize that these Gundam pilots are begging for their deaths and one with the fact that they are bound to die someday - specifically when she notices that he doesn't flinch when she was performing his knife throwing routine. She sees Trowa for what he is very early on - something that a lot of the other characters take the course of the entire anime to read into the other pilots.

Catherine is the one who shows Trowa that he's not willing to throw his life away as Heero when she slapped him when he opts to self-detonate his Gundam in a similar manner. Catherine reminds him that he has a family (whether he wants to acknowledge them or not) that he would be leaving behind - a powerful notion to preach in this first act which is ripe with highly-suicidal people, if I may add. Trowa doesn't have a "family" per say, but Catherine promises to be that person he has to go home to when the fighting is over.

I know that I'm getting ahead of myself here, but following Trowa's amnesia, Catherine takes Trowa in as her "brother" since he has no memories of his past life as a Gundam pilot.

Trieze Khushrenada / Lady Une

If I were to rank the most "toxic" relationships in this entire anime, I would dare say that Trieze and Lady Une's is at the top of this list, with Zechs/Noin and Heero/Relena not far behind. Without a shadow of a doubt, Trieze Khushrenada is the single most influenial and most manipulative character in this entire story. He is the puppet master behind almost every major event or occurence in some capacity as he has planted the seeds from the very beginning of this story to set the world towards peace. Trieze is a highly philosophical individual and an aristocrat, but for all of the women that seem to be throwing themselves at him at the various parties and events that he is attending in the first few episodes, he doesn't have remotely any interest in any of them. Much like Zechs Merquise, he has his own loyal knight in the form of Lady Une, who sadistic in her own right when it comes to executing his orders on the behalf of the OZ organization.

Trieze's manipulative touch over Lady Une starts early into this anime when he urges her to show more compassion following her role in the murder of Relena Darlian's father and again when he asks her to refrain from pursuing and eliminating the girl. For as cruel, sadistic, ruthless, and overall intimidating that Lady Une comes across in the first act of this story, Trieze has a natural charm to lower her iron wall of defenses and enable her to be molded to fulfill his every request. Lady Une's self-sabotage is just as problematic as Noin's own in a sense. Lady Une doesn't sabotage her own career but damages her own psyche in pursuit to please this man and garner his affection by developing another personality dedicated to specifically being everything that she thought he would want from his ideal companion. I'll discuss Lady Une's duality in-depth shortly, but it is both astonishing and outright horrifying to see this level of manipulative power this one man has on this woman to compel her to go that far to change herself to hopes of pleasing him. I'm sure a licensed psychoanalyst would agree that this behavior screams of desperation and even worse, insecurities about herself as a whole.

What makes this relationship so disturbing to watch in repeated viewings of this anime is that Trieze, much like Zechs, sees nothing wrong with his actions while these women are destroying themselves to please them in any capacity merely for they could pay attention to them. Instead, these "white saviors" are so caught up within their own philosophies and ideologies (along with their wealth of psychological issues) that they fail to see the damage that they have laid waste to these women that they allegedly care so much about.

Sally Po / Chang Wufei

Right off the bat when he's first introduced Wufei doesn't make any fans among the female viewers of this anime. He is a very misogynistic individual, easily cited when he first encounters both Noin and Sally Po's characters. He is quick to point out their weaknesses in comparison to their male counterparts and constantly points out how weak and emotional people like them shouldn't be fighting all. His dialogue could be a problem of translation issues from Japanese to English but in the context of this anime, it's hard to like his character when you're a female viewer of this anime. Wufei's biggest character defining moment of the first act of the anime is his defeat at the hands of Trieze Khushrenada, where he quickly realizes that he is one of those "weak" people that he had looked down upon up to this point of the story.

This is where Sally Po comes in. She was first introduced by encountering Heero Yuy and Duo Maxwell when Heero was captured while she was still part of the Alliance military. Heero and Duo made short work of that facility to escape much to the amazement to Sally Po and Relena Darlian witnessing their exploits firsthand. By this point in the story, Sally Po had left the military and went back to homeland to aid in the fight for their freedom following the rise of OZ's tyranny over several countries around the globe. While Wufei came to her and her countrymen's aid, Sally Po opted to show Wufei that the weak can still contribute to the fight as long as they have courage and the will to do so, even willing to put her life on the line to hammer this point home. It's at this point where it seems that Wufei is willing to reign in his misogynistic ideologies a bit.

Quatre Raberba Winner / Maganac Corps

I questioned Quatre Raberba Winner's sexuality as far back as in my teens upon my first viewing of this anime and there's still portions of this anime where I question it in repeated viewings. While it's easy to point to possibility that Quatre and Trowa had a homosexual relationship that is never seen on screen but pretty much understood between the lines of dialogue, I think there is a more coherent relationship to look at in terms of Quatre's relationships that were established in the first act from the very beginning. Out of the five Gundam pilots that have arrived on Earth as a byproduct of Operation Meteor, Quatre and Gundam Sandrock is the only one that is backed up by an entire militia consisting of the Maganac Corps. Quatre has a master and servant relationship with the members of the Maganac Corps after their leader Rashid feels indebted to Quatre after coming to their aid. This is NEVER shown on screen nor mentioned, but revealed in the "Episode Zero" manga.

When colonists first migrated into space, pregnant women had problems giving birth to newborn babies. This resulted in artificial reproduction, with babies gestated in test tubes. This problem was later solved, except within the Winner family, who had been in space since the formation of the colonies. However, unknown to Quatre, he was born naturally, although his birth mother died during childbirth. His twenty-nine sisters were all test tube babies.

Originally, Quatre did not feel loved and saw himself as an artificial person Zayeed Winner, his father, could easily replace. In the year A.C. 193, he allowed himself to be taken hostage when the Maganac Corps commandeered MO-III intent on negotiating for the employees to return to see their families on Earth. When the Maganacs allowed for Quatre to talk to his father, Quatre accused Zayeed of creating him artificially to be a servant for the convenience of the Winner family. Rasid Kurama, leader of the Maganacs group, slapped Quatre and urged him to have some pride in himself. Also on the resource satellite was Instructor H, who told Quatre to live a life worth being proud of, like the Maganacs.

Later, when Quatre overheard Yuda, a treacherous member of the group (whose name and codename "Iscariot" allude to Judas Iscariot), sending their coordinates to United Earth Sphere Alliance troops, Quatre captured him and tied him up. However, he failed to secure the ropes properly allowing Yuda to break free and try to shoot Rasid. Quatre knocked Rasid out of the way and took a bullet to his arm, but couldn't prevent Rasid from taking a bullet, too. Yuda was quickly killed by Maganac lieutenant Auda.

With the Alliance surrounding and about to attack and Rasid unable to lead his men, Quatre took command after Rasid gave him permission (even donning Rasid's goggles). With his leadership skills, Quatre helped hold off the Alliance's mobile suits, enabling the Maganacs to get to Earth safely. Forever indebted to Quatre, the Maganac Corps now considered him one of them and asked him to descend to Earth with them, but Quatre declined, not wanting to flee his problems.

Quatre would return to the Winner colony with Instructor H and the scientist eventually convinced him to become a Gundam pilot as part of Operation Meteor. This led to the relationship with his father becoming even more strained due to Mr. Winner's pacifist beliefs. Not wanting Quatre to carry out the massacre Operation Meteor originally called for, Instructor H had Quatre simply target OZ.

Summary of events for context from Episode Zero (via Gundam Fandom)

As a result, the Maganac Corps seek out and pursue Quatre at almost every opportunity through this story to aid their young master to show their gratitude.

Six mobile suits were introduced in this opening act that were piloted by the main cast:

Wing Gundam

Gundam Deathscythe

Gundam Heavyarms

Gundam Sandrock

Shenlong Gundam

Tallgeese

Act II: Space Race / Back to the Colonies (Episodes 17-26)

This was the story arc that flipped what we knew about the Gundam pilots' mission up to this point on its head. The support of the colonies that they once called home was nonexistent as they sided with the new OZ's ideals, complimented by the diplomatic change of face for Lady Une, who developed schizophrenia in this arc. Regardless, the Gundam pilots returned back home to the colonies, only to quickly find out that they were not welcome there any longer. The colonies were more than happy to welcome OZ's facade, only to distance themselves from any association to the Gundams out of fear of retribution from OZ and any other Earth-based military force.

After several rewatches of this anime, I have found Lady Une's split personas could be a study all on its own as the most compelling thing narratively in this arc. The ongoing dilemma and struggles with the Gundam pilots comes across as secondary. The Gundam pilots' greatest challenge during this arc is their struggle (Episodes 17-26).

Lady Une's Multiple Personality Disorder

While researching any information on this phenomenon in this anime, I found that the Gundam Wing Fandom has "official" names for Lady Une's two distinct personalities and describes them in-depth:

Military-Une is her dominant personality. She's cold, arrogant, shrewd, and callous. She does not seem to share Treize’s belief in honor or chivalry, and will use any methods (no matter how reprehensible) to get the job done. Une willingly sacrifices her subordinates and is single-minded in accomplishing whatever task Treize gives her. She has no room for failure, remorselessly punishing anyone who she feels has botched his/her mission. As both a military commander and an assassin Une is seemingly without feeling, and has no qualms about killing in order to fulfill Treize’s orders. Une does however value efficiency and competence, and will reward those subordinates who she feels display it; she will also stand up for them against the criticism of others. These traits can be seen in her willingness to hire and utilize Trowa Barton despite the doubts of others, including her former right-hand man Nichol. While in her soldier-persona, she dresses conservatively: braided hair buns, round glasses, no make-up (though she occasionally wore red lipstick), and an offensive no non-sense personality.

Peaceful-Une is the opposite of her military-persona in almost every way. As such, she has more liberal views and presents herself as a beautiful and charming lady that grabs the attention of all the men. She often uses her charms to get the necessary attention to convey her political views. She is a committed believer in pacifism and working together with others to build a brighter future; as a result she often stands opposed to Lady Une and Treize on matters such as war and Mobile Doll construction. Although Peaceful-Une is initially merely a facade used to sway people to Oz's side, Lady Une eventually suffers mental/emotional instability as the two sides grow irreconcilable.

Episode 19 is the first direct display of Lady Une's dual personalities at play. The mere mention of Trieze's name causes her to shift from her kind-hearted persona she's manufactured to engage into peaceful relations with the colonies back to her more cold and ruthless military persona.

It's intriguing in every rewatch to see how deep Trieze has his claws sunken into this woman to the point that she subconsciously creates another persona specifically to please him and enforce his ideals. The subtle tone changes to her voice actress' (the multi-talented Enuka Okuma) lines and delivery is incredible in terms of the distinction between the two personas at play.

Lady Une's diplomatic persona is completely unrecognizable to Wufei when he just fought her when he confronted Trieze in their fateful first encounter. That's proof alone to show how unrecognizable this new persona is to those who know the more militaristic (and much more ruthless) persona of Une.

On a certain level, it's rather amusing to see that even Nichol doesn't know which Lady Une to follow the orders of due to how radically different they are.

Lady Une's breakdown in her diplomatic persona after conversing with Trowa is another remarkable milestone in this transformation that she's undergoing. This persona is almost completely oblivious or better yet, ignorant to the evils that OZ has done up to this point. So when Trowa throws that into her face, she can't handle that realization that she had a hand to play into that. I have to correct myself. It's not ignorance, it's more of the fact that this new persona is directly in conflict with her other much ruthless persona. It's the first time that this new persona is enlightened in the fact that she played a direct role in the evils that OZ has committed up to this point in the narrative.

Trowa's even thrown off by her duality.

When the distraught Lady Une is helped out of the room, Nichol makes an interesting statement to the confused Trowa Barton.

Nichol: "Lady Une is a much stronger person in her uniform. She might feel like killing a questionable person like you."

Diplomat Une is fooled easily by Milliardo Peacecraft removing his Zechs Merquise disguise. Diplomat Une and Milliardo Peacecraft coming face-to-face in their more "diplomatic/peace-oriented" personas is symbolic in a sense, especially for two soldiers who have both been manipulated by Trieze up to this point and are learning to shed those war-focused tendencies that got them to this point of the game.

Trieze: "It's a fact that people even feel pleasure when they are being controlled by others."

That line right there is telling. Ep. 22 is Lady Une's most pivotal in terms of her transformation during this arc. Even Trieze is baffled and confused about what she has transformed herself into in order to radicalize her ideals in hopes to please him.

I find Trieze's confusion about Lady Une's duality jarring when he was the one who placed the suggestion into her subconscious before she left for outer space to be a liaison between OZ and the colonies. Did he underestimate the power of his hold over her at this point of the story? This could be the case after losing his influence on Zechs and Noin at this point of the story, following their departures/betrayals to the OZ organization at the time. This could be why he felt desperate enough to plead his case to Zechs to "save" her on the battlefield before she could truly balance her two personas.

She refers to him as "Master Trieze" in her confusion following this interaction. This could be a translation error from the English dub or simple human error from me mishearing the line of dialogue. If she's really calling him her "master" then that is even more problematic in terms of the deterioration of her psyche. It gives the notion that she is bound and indebted to him to a life of servitude without any free will of her own.

Nichol convinces her to act as an OZ soldier in the coming battle. Surprising that her militaristic persona doesn't come to surface until AFTER her diplomatic persona experiences the horrors of battle firsthand.

The core conflict between Une's two personas are how they must serve and obey Trieze's ideals. Nichol saw it as a means to unseat control from the mentally unstable and disoriented Lady Une after her conversation with Trieze by convincing her to act as an OZ soldier in the coming battle. This is a manipulative move straight out of Trieze's own playbook as the general understanding among OZ soldier is that there is no greater honor in terms of serving Trieze and expressing ones' loyalty is to die in battle. There is proof of this fact already when Trieze ordered "Zechs Merquise" to die in battle following his betrayal to OZ/Romefeller for his actions in Siberia. Viewers would continue to see soldiers throw their lives away in honor of His Excellency for the remainder of this series. Nichol's suggestion here is merely echoing what he and other OZ soldiers have sworn themselves to do. He is merely using it as a ploy to unseat Une for her position of power while taking advantage of her mental instability.

Lady Une: "Trieze is hoping WE both put up a good fight. There's no choice but to fight. Without fighting, nothing will change."

Another line where Une's personas shift back and forth, but this is the first time that they are in agreement about their current course of action.

Trieze: "Her feelings about me is making her feel insecure." (acknowledging and points out directly to Zechs that Une has developed split personalities)

A part of me makes me furious hearing him say this as if he's not aware that he's the one who made her insecure in the first place. It's hard to hate Trieze at times as he means well with his actions as revealed by the end of this anime's story, but my god is his methods were very convoluted to get there.

Her monologue at the end of Ep. 23 is in both voices/personas alternatively. She is aware about the changes going on in not just space but the direction that humanity needs to take for true peace to obtained.

Her "death" at the end of Ep. 25 sees both of her selves in agreement about the path the world needs to take to move forward and that's ensuring that the Gundam pilots pave the way to the future.

The irony of Une's "demise" is that Trieze even admits that he was wrong in the recap episode(s) and Lady Une was right all along with her diplomatic approach.

It's NEVER explained how Lady Une is shown standing behind him uttering "Everything is going according to your plan, Mr. Trieze." (Ep. 28) A ghost maybe? That scene still bothers me after all of these years and repeated viewings.

Relationships (Continued): Duo Maxwell / Hilde Schbeiker

When I was mentioning the relationships in this anime in the first act, I'm sure a lot of you who have viewed this anime already were shouting profanities at your computer monitors that I forgot this relationship/couple when in reality I didn't. Duo doesn't meet Hilde until the second act of this anime's story when the five Gundam pilots return to the colonies. Duo encounters Hilde when she first enlists to the OZ space forces as a young soldier, looking to fight to protect the colonies. They quickly realize that their goals and ideologies are the same and they shouldn't be fighting as enemies. Hilde's fateful encounter with Duo helps her realize that she doesn't see eye-to-eye with OZ's methods, causing her to leave the life of being an OZ soldier behind her.

Following this act, her and Duo are seen living together in the colonies. Since Duo is one of the more level-headed guys out of the five Gundam pilots, I can't be too surprised that he is the one with the most "normal" relationship, despite the fact that Duo and Hilde were trying to kill each other when they first met on the battlefield.

Five new mobile suits were introduced in this arc:

Mercurius

Vayaete

Deathscythe Hell

Altron

Wing Zero

Intermission: Recap Episodes (Episodes 27-28)

In first viewings, I honestly would recommend NOT watching the recap episodes as they are pretty confusing given the perspectives of the narrators of those two episodes, with Relena Peacecraft narrating the events of the first act of the series up to this point. Relena's recap focuses almost entirely on the exploits of both Heero Yuy and Zechs Merquise. No one seems to question how Relena knows all of these details when she wasn't even a witness to a bulk of the first-hand details to Heero Yuy's journey up to this point. Trieze Khushrenada narrates the events of the previous act while simultaneously giving viewers a preview of what is come. His recap episode is definitely misleading in a sense with the greatest offender being the image of then-thought to be dead Lady Une standing with him in his private quarters. I find his recap episode even more confusing than Relena's when he wasn't present for any of the events in space, yet has explicit details as if he were. I guess it would be safe to assume that he was getting detailed reports from both Nichol and Une, but that's a stretch at the most. I will say this much though. Trieze's recap does a better job than Relena's in terms of setting the tone and getting viewers up to speed in terms of presenting the major players for the next act.

Act III: Rise of the Mobile Dolls / Rise (Resurrection?) & Fall of the Sanc Kingdom (Episodes 29-39)

Following the events of the end of the previous act, Heero and Quatre retreat back to Earth to recuperate and attempt to regain their focus while Duo and Wufei escape OZ's Moon Base during the confusion with their rebuilt Gundams (02 and 05 respectively) and hide within the colonies to finish the final adjustments to their incomplete Gundams. The Wing Zero is deemed too dangerous of a mobile suit for any human to pilot safely, so Heero and Quatre carelessly left it in space. Lucrezia Noin has been secretly gathering resources to form a private army in hopes of protecting the newly rebuild Sanc Kingdom under Relena Peacecraft's rule. Relena's influence and teachings of total pacifism has spread like wildfire at an alarming rate, earning the ire and attention of the Romefeller Foundation.

I failed to mention at the end of the previous act that Trieze Khushrenada has stepped down from OZ as he has no passion to support their implementation of the creation and deployment of "mobile dolls" (remote controlled mass-produced mobile suits that don't require a pilot) to replace human soldiers, turning the organization into disarray as Romefeller assumes control in his absence. As a result, Trieze has been "exiled" to his quarters that is under protection by OZ's splinter group, "the Trieze Faction".

Most of this act follows Relena's ongoing battle to continue enforcing her teachings of total pacifism while many soldiers find their way to the Sanc Kingdom in hopes of protecting her before she meets a similar fate to the previous king of the Peacecraft monarchy. A new character, Dorothy Catalonia, the grand-daughter of the Romefeller Foundation's Duke Dermail, joins the Sanc Kingdom and immediately plants herself as a "super fan" of sorts to Relena's exploits. Dorothy is obviously smarter than she lets on and clearly sent by Romefeller to monitor Relena's actions, but it's more than that. She expresses repeatedly that she is a fan of war and conflict, so she expertly manipulates the situations around Relena to see how she will react when she is placed in confrontations - almost testing to see how far Relena will practice what she preaches.

The most interesting thing in this arc is the revelation that Trieze has created another Gundam, the Epyon, that has included an identical system to the ZERO system outfitted within the Wing Zero. Heero Yuy is gifted this mobile suit by Trieze after coming to his aid by the request of his remaining supporters making a last stand at his hideaway in Luxemberg. Meanwhile, Zechs Merquise (after donning his mask again after disregarding his Milliardo Peacecraft ambassador persona in the colonies) acquires the Wing Zero after discarding the Tallgeese once it was critically damaged while under attack by OZ's space forces. I should also mention that Howard, who was previously working with Duo Maxwell as his weapons supplier and repairman for his mobile suit while he was on Earth, linked up with Zechs in space (on his spaceship Peacemillion) out of sheer coincidence and mentions that he was one of the lead mechanics who worked on the Tallgeese. After the Sanc Kingdom falls again to the overwhelming force of Romefeller's invading army of mobile dolls and Relena Peacecraft surrenders, Zechs and Heero engage into another fateful battle due to their mental instabilities while trying to control the ZERO system that ends in a draw due to their machines glitching out and ceasing to function. This prompts them to exchange mobile suits, with Heero citing that Zechs would understand how Trieze thinks more than he would.

Dorothy gets a lot more than she bargains for as Relena's exploits exceed her expectations. Even in the Sanc Kingdom's darkest hour, she doesn't ask her allies for aid to take arms and take action in terms of fighting back against Romefeller and OZ, but surrenders at the mercy of the Romefeller Foundation. Her actions are seen as even more heroic as Romefeller experiences firsthand just how potentially dangerous she is as a figurehead and nominates to see her as their representative to use to their advantage. This tactic backfires and blows up in Duke Dermail's face as the Foundation saw to acknowledge Relena's authority completely and not artificially like a figurehead like he initially intended. The Foundation then saw that Dermail be removed from his own seat of power and authority in the wake of Relena's promotion while the Foundation was on the way of completely supporting total pacifism on Earth.

Meanwhile, OZ's space forces, comprised of mostly entirely of Tubarov's "precious" unmanned mobile doll Virgo mobile suits and Taurus mobile suits, were being picked off by Gundam Altron and Gundam Deathscythe in hit and run attacks. This would come to an head when Tubarov was captured by remnants of the remaining Trieze Faction members still in space and other various "colony revolutionaries" that have dubbed themselves, the White Fang. Tubarov would attempt to escape but wind up being killed in the wake of a battle between OZ, the White Fang, and the mobile doll troops.

This act would end with both Heero and Zechs directless following their fateful battle in the Sanc Kingdom, horrified and scarred by the possible visions of the future shown to them by the ZERO system.

A new mobile suit was introduced in this arc:

Epyon

Act IV: The White Fang Emerges as the "True" Final Boss / The Final Curtain (Episodes 40-49)

One could argue that this anime's last story arc starts following Relena's surrender to the Romefeller Foundation and her appointment as their representative in the role of "Queen Relena", but I think the bigger turning point is when Zechs, or better yet, Milliardo Peacecraft, declaring himself as the leader of the White Fang and ushering in all out war against the Earth at the end of Episode 40. This same episode sees Duke Dermail killed in his hasty trip to space in attempt to salvage what little power he has left over the OZ military forces after Relena declares that all of Earth's borders should be eliminated and as a result the Earth will be unified as one nation, the World Nation.

Milliardo easily slips into the final boss role for this anime as he is laser-focused on this war against the Earth while the five Gundam pilots, along with their allies that they have made throughout the series up to this point (Lucrezia Noin, Sally Po, and Howard respectively) have all joined forces upon the Peacemillion to take the fight to Milliardo and the White Fang.

Relationship Update: Heero Yuy / Relena Darlian

At this point of the anime, Heero acknowledges Relena's strength - not in terms of battle prowess or anything physical like that, but her emotional strength to stand firmly into her beliefs NOT to fight at all and remain a pacifist, despite all that has transpired. Relena is essentially everything that her brother Milliardo pretends to be - a true leader and pracitioner of the Peacecraft family's teachings (i.e. yet another false mask to fool everyone else that aren't his closest loved ones). Heero even admits in Episode 48 that she's a much stronger person than himself, much to Relena's shock and disbelief.

Heero's attitude towards Relena has changed completely from sheer annoyance to admiration, much to the entertainment of the other Gundam pilots as they saw him as the more "sensible" of them, but found it amusing that Relena could even influence an intense individual like him. Heero goes out of his way to personally retrieve and protect Relena from the battleship Libra after being informed by Hilde that she was there.

Their compassion for each other hasn't eliminated Heero's self-destructive qualities though as he was more than willing to sacrifice his life to destroy the remaining block of the battleship Libra that was headed to crash onto the Earth below and cause a never-ending winter.

Relationship Update: Milliardo Peacecraft (formerly Zechs Merquise) / Lucrezia Noin

This is the point of the story where Zechs/Milliardo and Noin's relationship is at the levels of toxicity as Trieze and Lady Une's. Noin is on the side of the Gundam pilots standing against Zechs and the White Fang but not in any shape nor form is Noin willing to believe that this man, the one that she has pined for and literally begged for his attention, along with sacrificing her entire career for, is the villain that he has made himself out to be. Some people will see that as noble and loyal for the "knight" role that she has performed masterfully in this anime, but it comes across as foolish, especially when Zechs was willing to test to see how far he could push his villainy when he couldn't bring himself to cut her down in cold blood while piloting the Epyon. Yes, he couldn't pull through with it, but the intent was there. Let's not forget that. He TRIED it. I don't think that's something that we as viewers can easily just sweep under the rug and Noin shouldn't ever forget that either.

It was as if Zechs wanted to swat this annoying pest for good and be rid of her following him around like a lost puppy. Noin eventually gave up trying to challenge him or stand in his way as an enemy and merely just asked to be by his side for whatever fate is in stone for him. Milliardo doesn't deny this request as he allows Noin to simply witness and watch his fateful final battle with Heero Yuy. Let's not forget that this is repeat of what she did when Heero and Zechs fought in Siberia at the end of the first act too. She stood by and complied to Zechs' wishes and didn't interfere in their battle despite the fact that one of these people that she (and Relena) holds dear could and would more likely lose their lives.

Even when Zechs seemingly dies in the final battle with Heero Yuy, Noin isn't convinced in the least that the man that she loves so much is gone. I will say this much. By the end of this anime, I was left feeling that maybe just MAYBE Noin's affections aren't so one-sided. We wouldn't get a definitive answer until the Endless Waltz movie/OVA mini-series.

Relationship Update: Trowa Barton / Catherine Bloom

Following the events of Act II, Trowa Barton was left comatose after his body was found in space following the chaotic battle with Quatre when he was piloting the Wing Zero. When Trowa recovered, he was wondering aimlessly in the colonies as an amnesiac until Catherine recognized him and took him back into the traveling circus that had migrated to the colonies. From here on out, Catherine would care for Trowa as his "big sister" until the other Gundam pilots would recognize Trowa in passing and try to convince him to come back. Catherine would turn them away, citing that Trowa's trauma is preventing his memories to come back.

Trowa eventually responds to the call back to the battlefield, despite not having his memories back but promises Catherine that he would return. Trowa would regain his memories after piloting the Wing Zero and the taxing nature of the ZERO system to the pilot's mental stability would flood those memories back into his mind. He could credit this to his desire of passionately wanting to protect Catherine and upholding the promise that he made. Unlike Heero, he's still unwilling to throw away his life aimlessly, especially now that he has a home to go back to and people waiting on him, like Catherine - and a lesser extent, Quatre.

Relationship Update: Sally Po / Chang Wufei

Sally Po and Wufei Chang don't spend any significant time together on screen like any of the other scattered relationships and couplings in this series, but they still have an obvious effect on each other.

By the end of this series, Wufei has seemed to have put his misogynistic ways behind him after recognizing his own shortcomings and the fact that he was merely projecting his own weaknesses onto other people when those were traits that he hated about himself. Sally Po, on the other hand, has found the inner strength (that she's always had by no fault of her own) to contribute to the fight and support Wufei and the other pilots any way that she can. We see her take charge and the lead in a lot of situations in this final act, which is really admirable, especially when viewers have seen the former Alliance soldiers getting slaughtered left and right or made to look foolish on numerous occasions throughout this anime's story.

Relationship Update: Duo Maxwell / Hilde Schbeiker

Duo and Hilde's relationship doesn't change much if at all by the end of this anime. Hilde even plays a pivotal role in sneaking into the battleship Libra and steals blueprints on it to aid the Gundam pilots in taking it down. Duo naturally comes to her aid when she gets in over her head and almost dies at the hands of the mobile dolls (rebuilt models of the Mercurius and Vayeate that were loaded with Heero Yuy and Trowa Barton's combat data) that were sent after her when she tried to escape.

Relationship Update: Trieze Khushrenada / Lady Une

I'm going to get to this one shortly in-depth...

New Relationship: Quatre Raberba Winner / Dorothy Catalonia

This final act seemingly creates a rivalry of sorts between Dorothy and Quatre since they are both involuntary pacifists who are forced to master the ZERO system in some capacity - Dorothy via the means of controlling the mobile suits with her lust for war and conflict and Quatre strategically after Heero installed the system onto Gundam Sandrock to lead the Gundam pilots into battle. Dorothy uses the ZERO system in this story's climax while they fight in a fencing match while Quatre opts not to use it, but ends up being stabbed in the abdomen by Dorothy in the battle. The wound isn't fatal, but Quatre manages to talk her down peacefully and with Trowa Barton's help, they shutdown the mobile dolls' main control unit.

Trieze Khushrenada comes out of hiding for this final curtain call to take the stage once more and relieves Relena of her duties as the representative of the Romefeller Foundation, recognizing that the Foundation or rather the World Nation requires the military power to bring Relena's ideals to light since the talks for peace are well over after Milliardo's declaration of war. I have to admit that Trieze crawling out of the cracks like the cockroach that he is after surviving the fallout and destruction that his machinations have left in his wake was a stroke of genius in terms of the ultimate payoff when it came to his actions as this anime's master manipulator. Even Zechs remarks at one point of the story that no matter what he does, even when he's not an OZ soldier anymore he's still doing what Trieze wanted of him whether he likes it or not. The only major player in this last arc of this story who doesn't follow Trieze's well laid out plans is Milliardo Peacecraft. All signs were leading towards a decisive battle between Milliardo and Trieze one-on-one but Milliardo refused (much to the dismay, opting to shoot down the leader of the World Nation right where he stood with the destructive power of the main gun of the space battleship Libra that the White Fang commandeered from the OZ space force. He is saved at the last moment by Lady Une, who is piloting a fully repaired/rebuilt Wing Gundam (01) and fully recovered from her coma that she was rendered into following the end of the anime's second act due to the gunshot at the hands of Tubarov.

Eventually, both of Une’s personalities merged, following her lapse into a coma; the 3rd and final persona of Une combines the best traits of both her selves: Lady Une’s military skills and drive with peaceful-Une’s belief in humanity and diplomatic skills for pacifistic negotiations. The 3rd version is in many ways the result of Une reconciling her internal conflicts and accepting everything about herself. Because of this, her other personalities never resurface, with the third persona becoming her permanent state of mind. All three personalities are deeply in love with Treize and they're motivated by the self-less desire to please him.

It should be noted that Lady Une's two split personalities never emerge after reawakening from her coma. Instead, they have merged into a single one without any conflicts with each other, united by their devotion and love for Trieze Khushrenada and his ideals. Her appearance for the remainder of the series is an amalgation of both her militaristic persona and diplomatic one. It saddens me that she's still so dependent and hardwired into this highly-manipulative individual, no matter how this anime attempts to paint his actions as heroic in this final act.

This guy has led countless sheep to slaughter, all for fulfilling his messed up notion of peace. Let's put it out there that Milliardo's methods aren't much better, but at least he was willing to die as the villain as he should for all of the bloodshed that he would inflict doing so. Trieze will continue to be seen as a martyr and a hero even in death despite all of the lives that were lost in the name of his scheming and manipulating to bring about peace when he could have skipped out on a lot of these steps early on. Mankind would have gotten to peace a lot sooner in this continuity a lot sooner if it wasn't for OZ and Romefeller dragging things out. That is one thing that is painfully obvious about this anime in repeated viewings. That and the fact that Trieze's schemes and puppeteering only worked out of sheer coincidence in a lot of situations with the right players being in the key positions at the right time. Otherwise, none of this would have worked out as he envisioned.

Trieze Khushrenada wouldn't meet his death at the hands of Milliardo Peacecraft in this battle, but instead against Wufei Chang in a rematch of their previous battle from the first act in this story. This time it was in mobile suits instead of in a fencing duel face-to-face. The most heartbreaking moment about this duel is the revelation that Wufei is reduced to tears upon defeating Trieze since he didn't think he would win. The sad state of affairs of this matter these were two individuals who wanted the exact same thing. They desired to die in a "meaningful" battle in the most glamourous spectacle possible, especially in Trieze's case and they came into this battle expecting no other outcome than their own demise. Throughout all of his scheming and manipulation over the course of this anime, that was what Trieze wanted all along. Everything was leading to this moment for he could die on his own terms in the most "beautiful" way possible (his definition not mine) for a soldier to meet their end. This was the reason why he was so passionate about his stance in terms of being completely against the implementation of the mobile dolls in the first place.

In repeated viewings, I cannot ignore the fact that this was Trieze's biggest showing of leading his sheep to the slaughter. It was stated numerous times over the course of this anime that normal soldiers cannot compete against the mobile dolls' ruthless and efficient programming and only "ace" pilots along the skill level of the five Gundam pilots could compete against them. As a result, this was another fine example of Trieze masterfully leading his pawns to their graves - willingly no less - in the name of justice and peace. To Trieze's credit, he is remorseful for what he's doing and has done, so there's at least one redeeming quality about that guy.

There's a strong argument that could be made that Trieze Khushrenada is arguably not only Gundam Wing's greatest villain, but it's greatest hero as well. Think about it. He is a constant inspiration and driving force behind all of the major players in this anime in some capacity and has a pivotal role in both of the Gundam pilots and Milliardo Peacecraft's greatest victories and defeats throughout the narrative. He moves and manipulates everyone across the chess board from the start to finish to move humanity towards the goal of obtaining peace on both Earth and the colonies.

Milliardo has gone so far down the deep end where he has convinced himself that the only way to enforce true change upon humanity as a whole and ensure total pacifism is villify himself and stage this bloodbath to coencide with Trieze's plans of dying as a martyr. Both of them are convinced that this entire war is necessary as a "lesson" to humanity and all future generations that war is bad. It's silly by the end of this final act and even more so in repeated viewings when you are able to see that humanity probably would have moved towards total pacifism a lot sooner than it did if it wasn't for all of the coupes and fractions that were playing hot potato in terms of control of the Earth Sphere Alliance and the space colonies.

Epilogue: Endless Waltz (Movie/OVA)

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, known in Japan as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, is the sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, both of which are set in the "After Colony" timeline, an alternate universe to that of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. Aside from being a continuation to the Gundam Wing TV series, it also reveals details regarding the pasts of the five Gundam pilots and the true objective behind "Operation Meteor."

Endless Waltz originally premiered in Japan as a three-part OVA in 1997. It was later released as a theatrical compilation film in 1998, including additional scenes and an altered musical score.

Synopsis

It is the year After Colony 196, and the battles between Earth and the space colonies have ended. Treize Khushrenada is dead and OZ has come to an end. This gives birth to the Earth Sphere Unified Nation (ESUN) and the Preventers. Seeing they won't be needed anymore, the Gundam pilots (except Chang Wufei) send their suits into the sun. However, this peace would not last, for a rebellion occurs on the newly completed colony, L3 X-18999. Led by seven-year-old Mariemaia Khushrenada, Treize's illegitimate daughter, the rebellion kidnaps Relena Darlian, now the Vice Foreign Minister of the ESUN, during a diplomatic mission to X-18999. As the Gundam pilots investigate further, they discover that Mariemaia is merely a puppet controlled by her grandfather Dekim Barton, a former advisor to martyred colony leader Heero Yuy, who is using X-18999 to go through with the original Operation Meteor, as a contingency plan in case the ESUN doesn't comply. The Gundam pilots must prevent Dekim from seizing power over the ESUN. The Gundams are retrieved from their course to sun to Earth's orbit thanks to Quatre and the Maganacs. The pilots use their Gundams one last time to fight against Dekim's forces, not killing anyone. In the end, Dekim is killed by one of his own soldiers, Earth and its colonies are at peace once again and all mobile suits (including the Gundams) are forever destroyed and never seen again.

Endless Waltz exists as a proper epilogue of sorts for the events of Gundam Wing's TV series. Narratively, it serves as a final test for humanity as a whole to ensure if humanity is willing to maintain the peace that so many gave their lives to obtain one year prior. On top of that, the film/OVA mini-series adds some extra context for the origins of the true purpose of Operation Meteor and origins of the Barton family name.

The most jarring thing to notice at first glance of Endless Waltz is the massive redesigns of all five of the Gundams from the end of the Gundam Wing TV series. These redesigns were done courtesy of artist Hajime Katoki, who is renown for his work in not just the Gundam series (Gundam Sentinel graphic novel, OVA series Gundam 0083, V Gundam, and G Gundam prior to his work on Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz), but for video games, specifically the Super Robot Wars series, Policenauts, and another series that I covered in a previous retrospective, Virtual On.

The redesigns while excellent and simply gorgeous to look at, posed a problem in terms of continuity. The opening moments of Endless Waltz retcons them in the flashbacks as if the original designs from the TV series never existed to begin with.

This would be a problem that would be fixed in the Glory of the Losers manga retelling of the events of the TV series, Endless Waltz OVA, Episode Zero and Frozen Teardrop manga as one cohesive narrative with all context included from the start and revisions as needed.

Endless Waltz does its job in terms of answering a few unanswered questions that were left lingering on the table once the TV series concluded:

Trowa Barton's origins and the true objective of Operation Meteor as what was hinted and alluded to by Quinze (of the White Fang) to the Gundam scientists at the end of the TV series.
The source of Heero's kindness despite being raised as a soldier; status of he and Relena's relationship
Trieze Khushrenada's legacy that he left behind - specifically a daughter with ties to the Barton family that continues to prove that Trieze has has been influentual into everything in this story
Milliardo Peacecraft's fate following his battle with Heero Yuy, along with where he and Noin stand in their relationship
Where is Wufei's "integrity" (honor) following the death of Trieze?
Last but not least, can peace truly be maintained if humanity aren't willing to fight for it for themselves instead of relying on the Gundams?

I think I like the music in the original OVA miniseries and episodic format in that cut, but I appreciate the additional scenes in the film so it's a toss up on which one I prefer in terms of repeated viewings of this film. (Laughs) It does make for a good Christmas-themed movie if you're looking for stuff to check out during the holidays. While working on this retrospective, it fit right in on my agenda in terms of fitting in holiday-themed stuff before closing out the year. I was fortunate enough to fit my annual rewatch of the TV series to roll in the New Year with a viewing of this film, so it all worked out in terms of timing.

Repeated viewings of this movie just adds to my frustration that I wish that the TV series added the much-needed context that this film provides in terms of the pasts of the five Gundam pilots and the true objective behind "Operation Meteor." I think they could have gotten away with letting viewers know about the real purpose of Operation Meteor early on in the TV series and it wouldn't have changed the plot too much as the ambiguity of their motivations made the opening act muddy to begin with. They were just targeting OZ without any rhyme or reason. If this whole plot to avenge the assassination of the previous Heero Yuy was established in the beginning, it would have hammered home why the colonies saw fit to take action in the first place.

In terms of the redesigns of the five Gundams, it was pretty to look at for a film/miniseries like this, but I couldn't see them putting that much detail and effort into a 49 episode long TV series. Repeated viewings of the TV series makes the cut corners and recycled scenes and sequences that they reused over and over to save on animation stick out like a sore thumb, especially in the high quality and remastered formats of the TV series. It would have taken Sunrise to opt for a production studio on the lines of MAPPA's current man power and attention to detail to get something that vibrant and detailed to look that good for such a lengthy of a project, especially for back in the mid to late '90s. That being said, I love the redesigns to the five Gundams. If those Gundam designs weren't already oozing with personality before, then they are exploding with it like fireworks for each of the Gundams' strengths and styles with their redesigns. These are definitely some of Hajime Katoki's best designs that continue to stand the test of time.

In terms of the prior and existing relationships from the TV series, it saddens me that a lot of them really don't change in this film.

Zechs and Noin are essentially in the same place they left off from the end of the TV series, but Noin at least got him to agree to allow her to tag along this time around. Heero and Relena are still into each other, but with their same level of awkward behavior. Sally Po and Wufei still have their respect between warriors bit going on. Trowa still lives with Catherine as surrogate siblings. Quatre still has his brotherly comradery with the Maganac Corps. Duo and Hilde (who is pretty much completely nonexistent in this film outside of an extra scene during the credits) still have the most normal relationship of anyone in this anime. Last but not least, Lady Une continues to serve Trieze's will; this time by taking in and raising his daughter, Mariemaia, after lending a hand in cutting the ties of Dekim Barton's attempts to manipulate her as a figurehead (read: puppet) to start another war.

(Shaking my head) Trieze Khushrenada has been dead for over a year and Lady Une is still suck doing that man's dirty work and cleaning up his messes.

That being said, I still say this film is required viewing for anyone that was a fan of the TV series or anyone who wanted some additional context for the events of that series.

In North America, Endless Waltz premiered on Canada's YTV on September 11, 2000 and on Cartoon Network in the U.S. on November 10, 2000. The initial airing of the OVA on November 10, 2000, was Cartoon Network's second highest-rated program ever at the time, only being topped by the Funimation's in-house dub of Dragon Ball Z.

It was later released to VHS, UMD, and DVD by Bandai Entertainment, with the DVD edition containing both the OVA and compilation film versions on one disc. Due to the closure of Bandai Entertainment, the OVA and film went out-of-print. On October 11, 2014 at their 2014 New York Comic Con panel, Sunrise announced they will be releasing all of the Gundam franchise, including Endless Waltz in North America though distribution from Right Stuf Inc., beginning in Spring 2015. Right Stuf had re-released Endless Waltz on Blu-ray and DVD in December 2017.

Comparisons to Gundam 00

It's easy to criticize the politics and philosophies of this anime, especially with modern day eyes, but this is an anime that is truly a byproduct of its time period of creation. Most people tend to describe it as a "MUCH more edgier Gundam 00" and I tend to laugh at that remark for a lot of reasons.

First of all, Gundam 00 recycles a TON of the same English voice actors as Gundam Wing in a lot of similar roles. On top of that, it's a largely similar story with a team of five specialized Gundam pilots.

For those wondering, these are the characters that are voiced by returning Gundam Wing voice cast members:

Setsuna F. Seiei voiced by Brad Swaile, who previously voiced Quatre Raberba Winner in Gundam Wing.
Sumeragi Lee Noriega voiced by Lisa Ann Beley, who previously voiced Relena Peacecraft in Gundam Wing.
Lichtendahl Tsery voiced by David A. Kaye, who previously voiced Trieze Khushrenada in Gundam Wing.
Joyce Moreno and Homer Katagiri are both voiced by Brian Drummond, who previously voiced Zechs Merquise in Gundam Wing.
Graham Aker voiced by Paul Dobson, who previously voiced Rashid Kurama, Lt. Nichol, Field Marshall Noventa, and Inspector Acht in Gundam Wing.
Billy Katagiri voiced by the late Kirby Morrow, who previously voiced Trowa Barton in Gundam Wing.
Daryl Dodge and Ali Al-Saachez are both voiced by Scott McNeil, who previously voiced Duo Maxwell in Gundam Wing.
Kati Mannequin and Revive Revival are both voiced by Cathy Weseluck, who previously voiced Dorothy Catalonia and Catherine Bloom in Gundam Wing.

Without going into spoiler territory, the first season of Gundam 00 is very reminiscent of Gundam Wing, just with a much more consistent plot and better storytelling. The second season aligns more with the storytelling style of Zeta Gundam more than Wing, so the comparisons aren't just a complete copy and paste of just from Gundam Wing. Gundam 00 always felt like Gundam 0079 if the Wing boys were all on White Base to me, but it didn't bother me in either case. It made for a cool vibe.

I don't want to give too many details but Gundam 00 even has it's own spin on the "mobile doll" concept and philosophy, but that deserves to be seen for yourselves rather than allowing me to spoil the messy details about that. I'll just say that's worth the viewing alone to see it pop up in a Gundam series again.

Without spending too much time on this and dwelling on it explicitly, I consider Gundam 00 to be Gundam Wing's spiritual successor in a sense.

The comparisons to Gundam 00 lead directly into the legacy of this Gundam series.

Legacy

While not as pivotal nor as important to the overall Gundam timeline as the renowned Universal Century timeline that is still being continued today, Gundam Wing is still a landmark alternate reality/stand-alone Gundam series that served as a gateway into the franchise as a whole for many fans in North America. Gundam Wing's popularity continues today as those suits still appear in multiple video games, the model kits/Gunpla are still being produced and rereleased, along with action figures of the various mobile suits that appeared in the series consist most of the current Gundam Universe toyline. Sometimes, it annoys me that Gundam Wing's suits flood the options for a lot of Gundam-based merchandise instead of other suits and series being represented, but the truth of the matter is that is the series that is most recognizable to Gundam fans outside of Japan.

Like previously mentioned, the five pilot format isn't anything new for mecha anime, but we saw the Gundam franchise dig into that design well again when they did Gundam 00. The "boy band" of Gundam Wing is the team that brought a lot of fans to stick around with the franchise and try out other Gundam series, so a lot of people have a lot of love (and hate in hindsight) for this series and look back onto it fondly. I personally see it as the same relationship that a lot of gamers have with Final Fantasy VII. It's the game that brought them into JRPGs as a whole and definitely a piece of nerd culture that spoke volumes to them in their youth. I personally can adtest to those emotions as seeing what these individuals were able to endure and move on from in this anime was exactly what my adolenscent mind needed at the time, especially with its subject nature concerning the philosophies of war and peace.

The following themes (which didn't start with this series but are staples of the franchise as a whole) that are found in Gundam Wing are still being explored in future Gundam series:

Does the Gundam have a soul of its own?

We see evidence of the Gundam(s) showing some signs of sentience on several occasions throughout the series. The first instance is Sandrock communicating to Quatre to exit the cockpit before self-destructing at the end of Episode 17. The other instances can be seen throughout the rest of the series in the various points where the pilots are interacting with the infamous ZERO system installed in the Wing Zero and the Epyon. We never see them engage in any sort of verbal communication onscreen, but Wufei has an unique connection to his Gundam that he constantly refers to as "Nataku". He spends a lot of the course of the anime's story struggling to be worthy enough to wield Nataku's strength against evil.

Conflict is never black and white; tons of grays even more blending of the colors to make both sides lose focus of friend or foe.

This is a concept that goes back as far back as the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. The mere sight of seeing a masked character in a Gundam series like Zechs Merquise or better yet, Char Aznable, is a signifier that goes off in my head in every Gundam series that this character or those around him aren't what they seem at first glance. Eight times out of ten, this is a safe assumption to make in this franchise.

This statement leads into a common trend in the Gundam franchise where enemies aren't always enemies and friends aren't always allies. Perspective and these relationships change. The greatest takeaway from any Gundam series is that much like the journey that is life itself, nothing is truly black and white in absolutes.

Manga Prequels & Sequels

A prequel, detailing the events leading up to the launch of the Gundams to Earth, is Episode Zero. Several sequel manga occurring between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz have been written, titled Blind Target, Ground Zero and Battlefield of Pacifists. A coincidental storyline is presented in Last Outpost (G-Unit). The Gundam Wing, Battlefield of Pacifists and Endless Waltz manga series were published in English by TOKYOPOP, while Blind Target, Ground Zero and Episode Zero were published by Viz Communications. Another sequel manga detailing the future of the colonies, Tiel's Impulse, was also printed, but not in English. In 2010, as part of the 15th anniversary of Gundam Wing in Japan, a new sequel photo novel titled Frozen Teardrop began publication, along with a stylized manga re-telling of the Gundam Wing series titled Glory of the Losers (with Vertical Comics publishing an English release beginning in 2017).

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Episode Zero, released in the United States as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Episode Zero, is a manga miniseries based on the anime series Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, featuring stories set mostly before the events of that tale. Unlike other Gundam Wing manga, which are not necessarily considered as being in continuity, Episode Zero has the distinction of being written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa, who was also the writer of the anime series, and thus carries a higher level of credibility. Akira Kanbe handled the art duties for this project.

Episode Zero can technically be considered canon, since it was originally going to be included in the Gundam Wing television series. Director Masashi Ikeda specifically asked Sumizawa to pen the main characters' backstories, and they were to be included in the series following episode 27 ("The Locus Of Victory And Defeat"). However, due to production scheduling being the "worst ever" (in Sumizawa's own words) and his withdrawing as a scenery director, Episode Zero's tale kept being delayed and pushed back. Though it was later intended to play some role in episode 31 ("The Glass Kingdom"), the problems persisted, and the Episode Zero story ended up being left out of the anime series entirely.

New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Frozen Teardrop is a serial novel created by Katsuyuki Sumisawa based on the New Mobile Report Gundam Wing anime series. It was serialized in Gundam Ace between August 2010 and November 2015 and was collected in thirteen volumes. It follows the story decades after Endless Waltz.

Setting

Frozen Teardrop is set during the Mars Century, the era that has succeeded the After Colony era, on the terraformed Mars. Since the formation of the young Mars Colony and its government, trouble has been brewing within it with the assassination of its president, Milliardo Peacecraft. In the present day, ESUN President Dorothy T. Catalonia authorizes the beginning of "Operation Mythos" to resolve the problems on Mars - which primarily involves the assassination of Relena Peacecraft.

Concurrent to the events of Mars Century are flashbacks during After Colony, told through Preventer agent Kathy Po, the daughter of Sally Po. The flashbacks detail events in After Colony leading up to the events of the series, including the origins and backgrounds of OZ Leader Treize Khushrenada and Gundam pilot Heero Yuy.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Endless Waltz: Glory of the Losers is a manga based on the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing anime, featuring a 'more complete' re-telling of the series by incorporating elements from various other side stories. It was serialized in Gundam Ace. Its English release has been published by Vertical Comics (which has also published the English release of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin).

Story

The story follows the plot of the Gundam Wing TV series very closely, incorporating plot elements introduced in the prequel manga, Episode Zero, and the concurrently-running photonovel, Frozen Teardrop. Therefore, the manga acts as a retelling of the original animated TV series with all backstory and sidestory plot elements incorporated, as the 'complete' story.

Closing Thoughts

The biggest question to come up in talks about this anime in hindsight is "Does It Hold Up?" I definitely think so. There's a lot of themes that apply now in our society more than ever here in 2024 as I'm writing this article and probably would continue to do so in the future.

Sure, there's some moments and trends in this anime that are definitely byproducts of the times that it was created in, but I still think this is an anime series worth checking out, especially if you are a newcomer to the Gundam franchise. You don't need 40+ years of history and continuity to follow this series unlike a lot of stuff released in the highly popular Universal Century timeline Gundam series and it's an easy gateway into checking out more series in this franchise.

In the early 2000s, this anime, along with Dragon Ball Z (and a lesser extent Sailor Moon) on Toonami's weekday afterschool action block on Cartoon Network that opened a lot of eyes to anime as a whole if they weren't already captivated by the Pokemon/Digimon/Yu-Gi-OH! phenomenon that swept the West. It wasn't catered to just children, but was a mature tale aimed at young adults, despite its extensive edits and censorship during its daytime broadcasts. It was revolutionary in the sense of contributing massively to the rise of anime's popularity, especially in young adults in the early 2000s. Gundam Wing's impact is one thing about it that one cannot erase from history. In terms of "holding up", I think it does for the most part, but I would be lying if I said that it was better than anything in the genre alone or the overall spectrum of anime as a whole. It still is now what it was then, a gateway to bigger and better anime, even though there's many who would argue that Gundam 00 does Gundam Wing better than Wing does, but that's up for your own interpretation.

Special Thanks

Emily R. (AnimeEm) - One of my oldest online friends who I first met when I stumbled across her Gundam Wing fan site so many years ago. She's been a constant resource to continuously discuss and compare themes and perspectives from the show now that we're in adolescent years instead of our teenage years when we first discovered this anime.
Thomas P. (secpepper) - One of my former classmates who I have still kept in contact with after all of these years. He reminded me of how much of a significant impact that this anime had on just not the both of us individually, but for a lot of fans as a whole.
Angela P. (acomicbookgirl) - One of my good friends that I had the pleasure of introducing and watching this anime with in full over the past year, who offered a lot of insight on her perspective on it after seeing it for the first time in 2023.

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Series Retrospective -- New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (TV Series & OVA Movie)

Table of Contents:

Synopsis

Episodes

Characters

Gundam Pilots

Gundam Supporters

OZ

Romerfeller Foundation

Alliance

Civilians

White Fang

Gundam Scientists

Mobile Suits

Gundam Pilots

Maganac Corps

United Earth Sphere Alliance

Romefeller Foundation / Organization of the Zodiac (OZ)

Sanc Kingdom

White Fang

Earth Sphere United Nations / Preventers

Mariemaia Army

Civilian

Media

TV anime series

Movie/OVA miniseries

Video Games

Toy Line

Toynami / Bandai Action Figures (2000)

Gundam Universe (Current)

Model Kits or "Gunpla"

The Verdict:

Act I: Five Gundams Arrive on Earth / OZ's Rise to Power (Episodes 1-16)

Act II: Space Race / Back to the Colonies (Episodes 17-26)

Intermission: Recap Episodes (Episodes 27-28)

Act III: Rise of the Mobile Dolls / Rise (Resurrection?) & Fall of the Sanc Kingdom (Episodes 29-39)

Act IV: The White Fang Emerges as the "True" Final Boss / The Final Curtain (Episodes 40-49)

Epilogue: Endless Waltz (Movie/OVA)

Comparisons to Gundam 00

Legacy

Manga Prequels & Sequels

Closing Thoughts

Special Thanks