Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

[There is no such thing as an objective review. Interpretations and opinions of all forms of art and expression are subjective.]

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing! You know what that means? Mechs! Space battles! Socio-political conflicts! But most importantly, giant fighting robots! All very exciting things on paper. Though there is too much of a good thing.

With a hefty 49 episode count, Gundam Wing offers a story about the warring factions of Earth's inhabitants and space colony citizens in a fight for dominance. As expected of the franchise, two of the biggest appeals are proudly on display: bombastic warfare and mech fights. Bombs, assassins, guns, and missiles, both sides are using every weapon in their infinite arsenals. In fact, Gundam Wing features multiple battles each and every episode. A fine spectacle? Most certainly. But the quickest way to desensitize someone is to expose them to the same thing frequently.

With nearly half of its run time dedicated to combat, Gundam Wing lets its large cast of characters fall to the wayside. This is not to say they are idle or not present. But they are neglected, only working with an archetype for a base, and left unfinished. They fulfill their roles and that is enough. All the decisions that they make are to move the plot the way the creators want it to go.

This is a plot driven anime doing its best to masquerade as a character driven anime. It’s evident that the story was conceived first. The characters are simply cogs in the machine, made to serve necessary roles and existing to serve the plot, rather than steer it. Every choice they make feels obligatory. But it’s not only their actions that feel hollow—their words are equally banal. As any hope for deeper emotion and more nuanced characterization fizzles out, they gradually decline into little more than mouthpieces for their personal beliefs and philosophies. Anyone who wishes to see these characters in a different light other than mech pilots, soldiers, and politicians will never have that chance.

Gundam Wing takes itself so seriously that it seems to have forgotten the human aspect of war—the necessary moments of reprieve, the need for levity and rest, the precious pockets of joy and laughter. Soldiers are not an infinite resource, and they certainly are not machines. A person cannot fight every day. Yet war is all Gundam Wing knows and it is the only road everyone walks. The only way these teenage soldiers know how to express themselves is through fighting, and in many ways, that is terribly sad.

Ultimately, Gundam Wing is a just a small piece of an enormous franchise. One of its primary goals is to sell merchandise. There’s no shame in that. But even as far as series attached to a multimedia project with merchandise sales in mind go, there’s so much better out there.