Anime Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Apr. 2nd, 2023 11:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jennariaLet's kick it old school!
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING - 1995 (Japan)/2000 (US), available on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation
Amount watched: 15 episodes of 49 total
Official description: (From Crunchyroll) The Revolution Has Begun!
Mankind has moved into space. Thousands of people live on giant orbiting space colonies called "Sides." However, the Earth Government, which rules the colonies, is unjust and cruel. A group of revolutionaires builds five robotic weapons called Gundams and plans to send them to Earth to begin their fight for independence.
Piloted by five young men, these Gundams carry the hopes and dreams of freedom of the colonists with them as they descend to Earth to begin Operation Meteor!
Weeb rating: 5/10? Possibly higher. Gundam Wing has the advantage that you don't need to have watched the entire Gundam franchise to understand what's going on, but there's still that 'we got problems, giant robots can solve them' thing.
Ass rating: 1/10 - this is a surprisingly sexless anime for something that's not straight-up for kids. Maybe it's the giant robots.
Shit rating: 2/10? I haven't watched the entire series, so I can't judge it properly. At the time I did watch it, I was busy being surprised at how little it matched the fanon.
Violence rating: 5/10. Most of it is cartoon violence, with lots of explosions but no blood, but wow is there a lot of that cartoon violence.
Crack rating: 5/10, mostly because of the aforementioned 'we got problems, giant robots can solve them' thing.
Actual opinion: So the thing with GUNDAM WING is that it carries a bunch of baggage with it. First of all, the Gundam series - which is a giant Thing that's been going on since 1979, and WING is the first time they did an off-shoot where you didn't need to have watched literally hundreds of hours of TV in order to follow what the fuck is going on. ...but still involving giant robots piloted by people.
Second of all, the fandom. GUNDAM WING was my first encounter with anime fandom, and specifically self-proclaimed Yaoi Fangirls, back in the day when yaoi paddles were a Thing. And glomping. And fangirl Japanese (note one of the fandoms that Fanlore specifically cites for the usage). Sadly, this encounter was before I actually saw the series, so I was left with a (somewhat hypocritical) wariness of yaoi fandom, and the lingering impression that GUNDAM WING was, well, slashy. Clearly. Right?
...wrong.
Fanon Gundam Wing had all five Gundam pilots in the same place, at the same time, for prolonged periods - I believe a favorite plot had them all undercover at the same school. All five of them were gayer than gay. Other pretty boys appear, also gayer than gay. Relena, the female main character, came in for more bashing than a pinata. Also oh yes there were giant robots and a plot, somewhere over there somewhere.
Canon Gundam Wing doesn't have the five Gundam pilots all in the same place at the same time for longer than a handful of non-contiguous episodes. They don't know each other, mostly don't like each other, and don't appear to be thinking about either romance or sex, because Plot is happening. Also, there are female characters besides Relena. Actually a lot of female characters, who get less screen time than the boys but are still there and more than just Designated Love Interests. Also also, there really is a hell of a lot of plot: GUNDAM WING wants to talk about peace, and war, and what's required for both, and how fucked up people can be.
If you're looking for something uncomplicated where things go boom, this is not your show. But if you're up for some 90's anime nostalgia, or you just want to know who this Duo Maxwell is that's popping up in your crossover, you could do worse. If nothing else, the opening theme still makes me smile.
MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING - 1995 (Japan)/2000 (US), available on Hulu, Crunchyroll and Funimation
Amount watched: 15 episodes of 49 total
Official description: (From Crunchyroll) The Revolution Has Begun!
Mankind has moved into space. Thousands of people live on giant orbiting space colonies called "Sides." However, the Earth Government, which rules the colonies, is unjust and cruel. A group of revolutionaires builds five robotic weapons called Gundams and plans to send them to Earth to begin their fight for independence.
Piloted by five young men, these Gundams carry the hopes and dreams of freedom of the colonists with them as they descend to Earth to begin Operation Meteor!
Weeb rating: 5/10? Possibly higher. Gundam Wing has the advantage that you don't need to have watched the entire Gundam franchise to understand what's going on, but there's still that 'we got problems, giant robots can solve them' thing.
Ass rating: 1/10 - this is a surprisingly sexless anime for something that's not straight-up for kids. Maybe it's the giant robots.
Shit rating: 2/10? I haven't watched the entire series, so I can't judge it properly. At the time I did watch it, I was busy being surprised at how little it matched the fanon.
Violence rating: 5/10. Most of it is cartoon violence, with lots of explosions but no blood, but wow is there a lot of that cartoon violence.
Crack rating: 5/10, mostly because of the aforementioned 'we got problems, giant robots can solve them' thing.
Actual opinion: So the thing with GUNDAM WING is that it carries a bunch of baggage with it. First of all, the Gundam series - which is a giant Thing that's been going on since 1979, and WING is the first time they did an off-shoot where you didn't need to have watched literally hundreds of hours of TV in order to follow what the fuck is going on. ...but still involving giant robots piloted by people.
Second of all, the fandom. GUNDAM WING was my first encounter with anime fandom, and specifically self-proclaimed Yaoi Fangirls, back in the day when yaoi paddles were a Thing. And glomping. And fangirl Japanese (note one of the fandoms that Fanlore specifically cites for the usage). Sadly, this encounter was before I actually saw the series, so I was left with a (somewhat hypocritical) wariness of yaoi fandom, and the lingering impression that GUNDAM WING was, well, slashy. Clearly. Right?
...wrong.
Fanon Gundam Wing had all five Gundam pilots in the same place, at the same time, for prolonged periods - I believe a favorite plot had them all undercover at the same school. All five of them were gayer than gay. Other pretty boys appear, also gayer than gay. Relena, the female main character, came in for more bashing than a pinata. Also oh yes there were giant robots and a plot, somewhere over there somewhere.
Canon Gundam Wing doesn't have the five Gundam pilots all in the same place at the same time for longer than a handful of non-contiguous episodes. They don't know each other, mostly don't like each other, and don't appear to be thinking about either romance or sex, because Plot is happening. Also, there are female characters besides Relena. Actually a lot of female characters, who get less screen time than the boys but are still there and more than just Designated Love Interests. Also also, there really is a hell of a lot of plot: GUNDAM WING wants to talk about peace, and war, and what's required for both, and how fucked up people can be.
If you're looking for something uncomplicated where things go boom, this is not your show. But if you're up for some 90's anime nostalgia, or you just want to know who this Duo Maxwell is that's popping up in your crossover, you could do worse. If nothing else, the opening theme still makes me smile.