Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Series Run (Japan): 1995-1996
Episodes: 49
Director: Ikeda Masashi (Samurai Troopers [Ronin Warriors])
Character Design: Shuko Murase (Nightwarriors: Darkstalkers Revenge)
Mechanical Designers: Kunio Ookawara (Mobile Suit Gundam, G Gundam), Hajime Katoki (G Gundam)
North American Release: March 2000 on Cartoon Network, Bilingual DVDs and VHS available

          The second Alternate Universe series following Mobile Fighter G Gundam, Gundam Wing (or simply "GundamW" as it was originally known) follows a story similar to that of the original One Year War saga. The year is After Colony (AC) 195, and after long years of war over rights to indepedence, the Earth based government has seized full hold of the colonies. In an effort to free themselves, rebel forces from five of the colonies send five young men in five powerful Gundams to Earth in order to combat the Earth Sphere Alliance and the secret organization responsible for their misery, OZ (Organization of Zodiac).

          Trained to be mercenaries, the five fifteen year old boys, Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre and Wufei, begin a desperate battle to uncover and destroy OZ, only to find that the situation was not as straightforward as once thought. In the midst of it all, one of OZ's top pilots, the mysterious Zechs Merquise, is fighting a private war of his own to right the wrongs in his own past. And in and out of the center of conflict, one young girl named Relena Darlian is struggling to find her way and help settle the war with as little loss to either side as possible. There is no real good or evil; only each man or woman's perspective on war and how mankind should live in order to further its own existence.

          Unlike G Gundam, Gundam Wing is a story heavily dependent on the philosophy of war as opposed to a true love story. The relationships between characters are sometimes sketchy at best, and their interactions are often best defined in conflict; whether against one another or in aiding one another in battle situations. In addition, it is believed by many that Wing was shaped as it was to attract a larger audience to gundam, extending it to females, whereas G reached out to the Super Robot genre. The series was later followed up with an OAV entitled Endless Waltz, which brought the AC story to a close and dealt with the original organization that ordered the Gundams sent to Earth. It was later released as a movie version with additional footage.


Article By: Christie R. Majors (`Straya)
Source: The Official Gundam Guide by Mark Simmons and Benjamin Wright (Viz Communications, Animerica)

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