Still A Better Love Story Than Twilight – Gundam Wing – Throwback Thursday

For those of you that remember Toonami in its heyday/first TOM era around 2000 probably remember classic 90’s anime in syndication like DBZ, Sailor Moon, Outlaw Star, and of course, Gundam Wing. For those of you who seem to have mistaken our blog for…well anything else, Gundam Wing is an alternate universe take on the Gundam world, circling around the concept of 5 Gundam Pilots sent from Earth’s colonies to fight and destroy the Organization of the Zodiac or OZ who creates Mobile Suits (giant robots) for the United Earth Alliance. To do so, they are given Gundams (giant bad ass robots) and descend to Earth during Operation Meteor.

So the plot involves our pilots;  Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei. From different colonies and cultures, the pilots unlike other teams such as the power rangers, do not know each other and actually fight at first before forming a tenuous bond of teamwork. Tie into this the very interesting situation of the pilots having cover identities with Heero actually piquing (then spurring) the interest of Relena Peacecraft heir to the Sanc Kingdom. The dynamic between them all is pretty interesting with a story that is cohesive and watchable (to an extent) over 20 years after it was made back in ’96. Again, it was the 90’s and throwing a princess into the mix made sense, but to be fair they did a good job throwing together a story with the main “antagonist” in the form of OZ’s best pilot, Zechs Merquise. Who of course wears a goddamned mask because Gundam.

On that note, the plot was honestly not what made this show memorable. The action of watching the mobile suits fighting the very distinct and unique Gundams sold the show, with the lead Wing Gundam having a similar appearance to the traditional Gundam (White mobile suit with shield and beam saber) can actually transform, with others such as Death Scythe (which surprisingly rocks a giant scythe) or HeavyArms (which is a bunch of guns hidden in the form of a Gundam and my personal favorite as a child). Sandrock and Shenlong were the other two who had equally distinct mechanics but I personally had less interest in, although Shenlong’s extending flamethrower arms were pretty boss.

Off this point I’d like to explain why this came to mind for my choice as TBT. I just finished Iron Blooded Orphans which hit me as the best Gundam I’ve ever watched, hell, it’s one of the best anime I’ve ever watched. While that show is fairly recent it brought back nostalgia and memories of playing in the schoolyard fighting pretending to beat enemy mobile suits with your friends. Looking back and reviewing things for this article I find myself groaning and moaning about some of the lines and animation, realizing it hasn’t aged the best but is still a good nostalgia watch. Really this just kind of makes me want to go back and watch but I admit it will be through a bias of childhood memories. The show is old, but just in case you haven’t watched any of it I’ve tried to avoid too many details of the plot because I still enjoy it, dated as it may be (hell some people haven’t seen any of original Gundam from the 70’s). After Iron Blooded Orphans however, my bar has been set higher and look out for my article to be released an indiscriminate amount of time from now. Did you watch Gundam Wing almost 2 decades ago? Have equally good and embarrassing memories? Let me know with a comment and leave a like or subscribe. Otherwise I can’t be responsible if Heero ignores your affection.