Mobile Suit Gundam Wing:

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, known in Japan as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (新機動戦記ガンダムＷ Shin Kidō Senki Gandamu Uingu^?),^[1] was an anime series in the mecha genre, and is one of the alternate universe Gundam series, taking place in the After Colony timeline. It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile Fighter G Gundam. The plot centers around a war between Earth and its colonies in space; however, in contrast to the Universal Century continuity, the Gundams in Wing are more closely allied to each other than they are to any particular side in the conflict unfolding around them.

The series aired across Japan on the terrestrial TV Asahi network and the anime satellite television network, Animax. The series ran for forty-nine half-hour episodes, beginning on April 7, 1995 and ending on March 29, 1996. Masashi Ikeda was the overall director of the series. Katsuyuki Sumizawa (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers) wrote the scenario for the series and was one of three official script-writers, along with Akemi Omode and Katsuhiko Chiba. Ikeda wrote one script himself and one with Omode and one with Sumizawa. Toshifumi Kawase also wrote three scripts in the latter part of the first half of the series. Kō Ōtani composed the music. The series was loosely based on the original 1979 Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate. Also, Gundam Wing was the first anime in the Gundam franchise to be dubbed and released in Tagalog, airing on GMA 7 in the Philippines during the late 1999 to 2000 period. It then aired on Cartoon Network in the United States ^[2] and is credited with single-handedly popularizing the Gundam metaseries among the Western audiences.^[3] Since then, the series has also been dubbed into French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Malay and Portuguese.

Background

Mankind has colonized space (with clusters of colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points), and, down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. The Alliance rules the colonies with an iron fist. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. In the year After Colony 175, Yuy is shot dead by an assassin (believed to be Odin Lowe), forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of Zodiac, much more commonly referred to as OZ, to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese.

In the After Colony timeline there are generally few explanations about the technology, as the series focuses more on character development. Most technology is assumed to work in at least similar fashion to the mobile weapon technology from Gundam's Universal Century. Some minor difference occurs, those are explained below.

One of the central elements of Gundam Wing's mobile suits is the use of Gundanium Alloy. What makes Gundanium so incredible is its properties: it is practically immutable, highly heat-resistant, and electrically neutral. These properties combine to produce a material that is extremely hard to damage, lending to the Gundams' atmosphere of invincibility and intimidation. The "planet defensors" are small disk-like drones that can be separated from mobile suits, and can arrange themselves to deploy an electromagnetic forcefield that would protect the mobile suit. The ZERO (Zoning & Emotional Range Omitted) System is a technology for interfacing the brain of the pilot with the mobile suit's computer (comparable to the Universal Century's biocomputer in the F91 Gundam). Only two known mobile suits were ever equipped with this system, the XXXG-00W0 Wing Gundam Zero and the OZ-13MS Gundam Epyon. Developed by OZ's Colonel Tsuberov, a loyal supporter of the Romefeller Foundation at OZ's Lunar Base, the Mobile Doll System uses a powerful computer system equipped in a mobile suit that allows it to act on its own without a human pilot.

Plot

The story of Gundam Wing begins in the year After Colony 195, with the start of "Operation: Meteor", the scientists' plan for revenge against the OZ military organization. The operation involves five young boys who have each been chosen and trained by one of the five rogue scientists, then sent to Earth independently in extremely advanced mobile suits, one designed by each of the scientists, known as "Gundams". Their mobile suits are called Gundams because they are constructed from a rare and astonishingly durable material known as Gundanium alloy, which can only be created in outer space.

The five Gundam Pilots — Heero Yuy (an alias, not to be confused with the assassinated leader), Duo Maxwell (also an alias), Trowa Barton (another alias, he was previously known as Nanashi (No-Name)), Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei — originally have no knowledge of each others' existence. On first meeting any of the other five, each pilot believes the others to be enemy pilots in new OZ mobile suit designs. Once the young pilots realize that they have the same objective of destroying OZ (and in some cases the same mission), they band together to help each other complete their goals.

Media information

Gundam Wing was very popular in Japan during its run. After the show ended, two OVAs, compiling various scenes from the series along with a few minutes of new footage, were released in 1996 as Gundam Wing: Operation Meteor I and II. A three-volume OVA series, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, was produced in 1997 as a sequel to the TV series; plot-wise, it brought the After-Colony saga to a close. In 1998 a movie version of the OVA series was made, with new footage and a different ending (Last Impression).

Gundam Wing had a run on Cartoon Network's Toonami, premiering on Monday, March 6, 2000 at 5:30 PM EST. In the promos leading up to the broadcast, Peter Cullen narrated the back story, evoking memories of Voltron's opening credits. It was broadcast in two formats; an edited version shown in the daytime and an uncut version aired at night. Examples of the edits included the removal of blood, obscene language, and the word kill being replaced by the word destroy, though the word "death" was mostly left intact. (This was extended to Duo's nickname, "The God of Death", with it being changed to "The Great Destroyer", forcing the alteration of two episode titles.) The uncut version, shown at midnight, was completely unedited - a first for Cartoon Network, which at the time had never shown an unedited anime. Reception for the uncut version was a factor in the eventual creation of Adult Swim, which joined the network on September 2, 2001.^{[citation needed]}

Despite the editing, Gundam Wing was a huge success in North America, and along with Dragon Ball Z, led to a rise of popularity in anime throughout the early 2000s.^{[original research?]} All Gundam Wing episodes have been released on VHS and DVD in the US. Differences between the two video systems is that the episodes on VHS contain the edited version shown on Cartoon Network while the episodes on DVD contain the unedited version and each volume is labeled "Operation 1-10." Endless Waltz was also dubbed and shown on Cartoon Network and was later released on a DVD that contains both the OVA and movie versions.

In 1996 a fighting game called Gundam Wing: Endless Duel was released for the Super Famicom in Japan. The game was never released in the United States or Europe, but has gained some popularity through the emulation of older video games. Since then, Gundam Wing had appeared in several entries in the Super Robot Wars series, its number of appearances are second only to the Universal Century. Gundam Wing also appeared in all of the titles of Another Century's Episode, with all five Gundam pilots and Zechs Merquise using their respective machines in Another Century's Episode 1 and 2, and Heero Yuy being the only one present in Another Century's Episode 3.

Like most Gundam works, Gundam Wing has also appeared in the SD Gundam sub-franchise. It was the main focus for Musha Senki and the basis for Superior Defender Gundam Force's interpretation of Lacroa, established hub of the Knight Gundam series.

Cast and characters

Openings, endings, and insert songs

Footnotes

^ The translation New Mobile Report Gundam Wing is used by the R2 DVD releases in Japan, and thus is used extensively by the English-language fanbase in order to differentiate it from the Universal Century Gundam series. While the use of the term "report" in the title is not necessarily incorrect, it does not convey the full meaning of the original-language terminology. The Japanese word senki (戦記) has a specific meaning of "military history." Some official translations in the past have used the translation New Mobile War Chronicle Gundam Wing as well, and some of the official art uses The New Mobile History Gundam Wing, and at least one Japanese book has used Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.
^ "New Mobile Report Gundam Wing". Mecha Anime HQ.com. Retrieved on 2007-02-14.
^ Oppliger, John (2007-10-12). "Ask John: Which Gundam Series Have Had the Most Impact on Anime?". AnimeNation. Retrieved on 2007-10-26.
^ Moneca Stori voices Catherine Bloom throughout the series. Cathy Weseluck voices the character in Endless Waltz.
^ Moneca Stori voiced Sally Po throughout episodes 3 to 12 of the English dub. Samantha Ferris, who had previously voiced minor characters in the anime, voiced the character from episode 20 until the end of the series, and in Endless Waltz.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

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