Anime » Gundam Wing » Reviews

Very worth your time
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Rating: 8 out of 10

Gundam Wing is the series that really made me fall in love with anime. GW is an ensemble cast series, with six main characters, each of which are provocative and fascinating. Equally complex are the many sub characters; there's not even many walk-ons or single-episode characters that aren't given a degree of depth and purpose. The plot is swift and extremely detailed and chronological, so it's not one you can watch any episode of, out of order. But if you expect that kind of continuity going into the show, it's not a problem at all. The animation is decent, not movie style or even as good as some newer series, like Iunyasha or X, but its a good step above Sailor Moon quality. The reason I gave this an 8 instead of a 10 is that the script is sometimes not done as well as it could have been, with characters occasionally making unnecessary expository statements or speeches, and every once in a while, a stupid line. However, that's only in bits, and there are several awesome quotes over the course of 49 episodes and 2 OAVs. What really makes GW shine is the dynamics of all characters--how they interact, how they change, and how they relate to one another. There's not one person, major or minor, who is the same by the end of the series as when they began. In fact, some characters and relationships have done a complete (and believable) 180 flip, whereas other are more subtlety changed. Above all, GW is about politics, personal and world-wide. It's a very philosophical show, that focuses on the power of individuals to affect the world around them, for good or ill. This show almost convinced me that pacifism could work on a global scale.