After now going through more than a handful of mainline gundam shows i can’t help but wonder that these shows are too long for their own good. There seems to be some consensus from the production committees for these show to absolutely have a benchmark of about 40-50 episodes. While no necessarily a bad thing as it allows for more content to be added allowing for a more expansive scope. There are times when a show just ends up meandering around while adding nothing new to the story and characters leading to the entire thing being a waste of time and ideas, and that for me is gundam wing.
The backdrop to gundam wing is initially similar to the universal century with there being a conflict between earth and the space colonies. This time it’s earth that comes off as the instigator of the conflict as they want to bring order to all that is around them even if it means using oppressive force, especially on the space colonies. This in turn leads to the events of the show, as some faction within the space colonies retaliate by sending a handful of mechs to earth which are actually the gundam. Since in this show the gundams aren’t just a better version of the run of the mill mechs, but rather a SUPER better version of them as they are made with a special gundamuim alloy that serves as appropriate plot armour and a cheeky way to keep them as gundam within the shows universe.
The show itself starts off fine although overtly over dramatic sometimes for the sake of drama. the viewers get a sense for the show as it establishes its settings and characters and how the gundam pilots go about their missions. There’s alot of fighting and gundam action in between all this, and then the story takes a new turn as there is some form of coup that leads to the enemy infighting and more factions being formed. This isn’t the only time this happen, and more groups continue to form while the gundam pilots fight whoever there enemy is at that moment. There are of course some political intrigue and a lot of sweet gundam action in between all this. However alot of this just comes off as uneventful or boring because of the way most of the characters were handled.
Alot of the characters in this show come across as being one-dimensional and flat. There’s really not much to work with them outside of their most basic of personalities. Even then when it comes to the gundam pilots only about half of them have an interesting personality while the rest are just so boring especially the main protagonist, Heero Yuy. this is basically true for all characters in the show as it’s not whether they have depth or complexity, but rather if you can find them relatable of endearing. There are characters that change throughout the story, but that is very different from being developed. The most change they have is their personalities and that’s usually because the plot demands so usually via identity disorder, amnesia, or some brain altering device. They never feel organic and are only for the means of spicing up the story just to chug to episodes along a bit longer.
In terms of production value the show is really good compared to the last couple of titles. The characters while a bit stylized are very well defined. The mechanical design for the mechs are also good with the more common mobile suits taking inspiration from the real world military. The gundams themselves also look good and also very stylized maybe to the point of being on the edge of being ridiculous such as the nataku being like the dragon gundam although less overt. The animation for the show is also good as it bring as much mecha action as possible which are a blast to watch even if the plot is tedium. In the audio department the voice acting is good with the actors doing a well enough job making their characters sound believable. The sound effects are still similar to the ones used in previous gundam shows which is alright because it is a gundam show. The soundtrack is also good with a nice mix of orchestral and pop that are good to listen to even by itself.
There are few more points worth making such as it’s overarching thematic of peace. Such as how peace should be about through pure pacifism or through order and oppression from a high ruler, or that peace is impossible as humans will always find a way to create conflict. While the ideas themselves are fine the way they are presented is more preachy and less profound. It doesn’t help that it mostly comes in the form of long speeches from one dimensional characters that just makes the entire thing superfluous. Next pint of zechs aka a blatant char clone. While not the first char clone he’s the most obvious one in terms of his character and design. While not a bad thing and being a decent character himself. It shows that even other gundam show sometimes rely on many of its own archetypes for better or worse. Final point is the endless waltz ova which are a beautiful fireworks of nothing. They just look better while adding very little to the entire show except some contrived revelations and a more decent ending. They pass as an ok complementary piece and not much else.
Overall gundam wing is a very style over substance kind of show. While a bit tedious to get through, the reward is some nice gundam combat and cool explosions, Cool looking characters with drama that comes off as so bad it’s funny, and most of all a a good soundtrack.
