Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

I have decided I am officially a geek. As a writer I am pretty much always thinking of the next thing I am going to write. Lately, however, it hasn’t been story ideas but rather research papers, and this isn’t because my father and I are gearing up to write another paper for LTUE. What does this have to do with my review this week? I have two papers already started and two more outlined entailing this one series.

This last fall my husband had me watch the anime series: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING. A Gundam is a type of exoskeleton mech suit upwards of 65 feet or more. The Gundam franchise consists of dozens of series, movies, manga, action figures, and has a huge following. It has been around since the late 70s and new series and movies are still being produced. Mobile Suit GUNDAM WING came out in 1995. It is, at this point, the only Gundam series I have watched though I would be willing to invest time in some of the others. Gundam falls into the space opera genre though it isn’t like many other space operas I have read or watched.

The story behind GUNDAM WING is that the Earth colonies are now well established and are at war with Earth. The colonies develop these specialized suits called Gundam and send them to earth. All five Gundam pilots are adolescent young men who are topnotch in a variety of military talents. The Earth and Colonies continually battle between each other though the characters are seen switching sides based on the political reasoning between the military forces.

Things that draw me in: The female characters of this show are awesome. In fact one of my all-time favorite heroines comes from this show: Lucrezia Noin. But even the villainous women are attention grabbing. They are villainous and don’t hold back (which I like to see in antagonists). I am working on a paper discussing how three of the particular females are good examples of how to write strong female characters.

I loved the political aspect. I am not one who always appreciates thick political intrigue, but Gundam Wing was fascinating to me. It was probably due to the fact that it has a good dose of action and the politics were done in a way that I could understand. It also wasn’t black and white and showed variation.

The music. I am a sucker for soundtracks and this one had all the good points (except the closing credits were kind of a letdown.)

I loved the fact that few people were strictly good or evil. In fact throughout the show people waffled between the political factions depending on what was happening. They all had their own motives that were consistent through the story and the writers did a good job about how personal morals can affect how one chooses to act in given situations (this is the basis for one of my research papers).

The things that kick me out: Whiny characters, male or female. There are two characters in the show that I wanted to strangle. Granted they were well written and their annoying personalities were integral to the plot, but it annoyed me nonetheless.

The artwork didn’t kick me out, but it didn’t draw me in either. When I am watching anime, I want to be drawn in. Not bad, but I have seen better from the same time period.

Yeah, those are my complaints about the show. I would say the show is good for kids over ten. Since it is a war it is kind of violent and there is a little language depending on which version you watch. (The version they first aired in America they cut all of the language including the word “kill.” They said “destroy” instead.) Note: It is 49 episodes long with a movie to help wrap things up. It is an investment of time.

Should you watch it? I definitely think people should give it a try. It is anime, but I think people who enjoy American cartoons would like this one.

Should you purchase it? I thought it was worth it. Moose received it as an anniversary present this last year. He was so pleased.