WARNING: This is the longest, rantiest, and borderline trashiest thing I've ever written. Read at your own risk! 
<< This awesome chibi Zechs is NOT my drawing. It is by the awesome Yamato. And if you have the galls to sit through my entire rant, you shall be rewarded with the link to her awesome website, including the famous/infamous torture chamber!!
You have heard of it. You will be overwhelmed by the number of websites dedicated to it. You have heard of grumpy gundam and non-gundam fans complaining about its overratedness and overpopularity. For 10 years Gundam Wing (GW) has remained the most globally popular and well-known series (paving way for its successor Gundam Seed/Destiny) of Gundam, itself the most successful franchise in anime history. That said, I’ll now sheepishly admit that I’ve only just saw the whole series recently. Because, after years of self-bombardment with spoilers, pictures, reviews and analytical theories, I’ve finally decided that it is a crime to fall in love with an obsolete anime without watching it.
Synopsis (from Amazon.com)
In the year 195 A.C. (After Colony), much of humanity has emigrated to orbiting Space Colonies; those who remained on Earth are governed by the oppressive United Earth Sphere Alliance. But the real power is wielded by the sinister Romefeller Foundation, whose directors plot to control Earth and the Colonies through their puppet military entity OZ, led by Zechs Marquise and Treize Khushrenada. Five teenage pilots in Gundam mecha suits strike at Earth, hoping to aid the rebel Colonists: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and WuFei Chang. The convoluted story line pits the Romefeller Foundation, the rebellious "Treize Faction" of OZ, the Gundam Pilots, and royal pacifist Relena Peacecraft against each other.
Characters:
GW showcased an army of pretty boys to cover a wide range of taste. A happy-go-lucky cutie role-playing Death in a priest collar? A sweet, blonde desert prince (DESERT, not dessert!) of Arabian descent? These are just a sample of the intriguing and oxymoronic characters in Gundam Wing. They are what I call flat but rich, two-dimensional yet complex, devoid of development but charismatic, unrealistic yet easy to fall in love with. Not art-house writing, but wickedly effective.
Heero Yuy – The sullen and “cold-blooded” (notice the parentheses?) 15-year old pilot of Gundam Wing and Wing Zero, who has been trained as a “perfect soldier” and memorable for his sharp death glare and a liking for tank tops and the self-destruction button on his gundam. Alright, the name IS kind of over-the-top, especially when the honourable Miss Relena keeps screeching out, “Heeeeeeeero!!!!” whenever our Heero is or is not around. Sure, Heero is dangerously attractive, but he is also the most psychotic and twisted of the five gundam pilots – basically our hero seems to be addicted to death and destruction.
Duo Maxwell – The American Sweetheart who is universally loved by both lovers and critics of GW. He is a cheerful, easy-going joker, always wearing a bright smile on his face. His unique fashion statement includes a waist-long braid and priest’s collar. Like all GW boys he has a painful past, and while he may look laid-back, this boy means business in his Gundam Deathscythe Hell -- yup, his mobile suit uses a scythe to slash unfortunate opponents. All in all, this boy plays the role of what he calls himself – “Shinigami” – “God of Death”.
Trowa Barton – The most depressed and repressed of GW pilots, Trowa is a taciturn melancholic clown/acrobat in the circus (see the contrast?). Some complain about his sweeping hair that covers half his face, but as usual I read into it too much and found it symbolic: it hides his expression and with it his emotions. Boy actually looks pre-maturely cute, ok? Poor Trowa seems to have an identity problem; he sees himself as merely a tool and his life is dispensable, making him the perfect undercover. I feel sorry for him, because I liked him a lot for his common sense, thoughtfulness, and consideration for others.
Quatre Raberba Winner – The sweet, puppy-eyed, blond aristocrat who has lots of love for his family, friends, his Gundam Sandrock, and the whole world. He is the youngest and only son of a filthy rich Arabian family. Masculinity challenged? A little. A spoiled brat? Quite the opposite. I came to respect and appreciate Quatre very much; underneath the meek smile is someone intelligent, mature, and determined. Unlike his four colleagues who became gundam pilots because they have no choice or have undergone great misery, Quatre chose to leave his loving family and comfortable life to fight for his ideals. Brilliance on the creator’s part for letting him went on a brief, wild rampage, making him a realistic human with moments of weakness yet able to come back even stronger. Quatre is compassionate to a psychic degree – his heart literally ached when his colleague self-destructed – and he always makes a point to understand and dig out goodness in people, including an enemy like Dorothy. It is this continuous strive to understand others that made Quatre an adorable young gentleman rather than a self-righteous, lecturing hypocrite, in contrast to …ahem, someone else.
Chang WuFei – The least noticed of the pilots, WuFei is a young Chinese Kung-Fu master who fights for personal glory. Frequently crowned as being self-righteous and arrogant, he does have a tendency to look down on females, as many young boys do. But I’m sure he’ll grow out of it. Hmmm… I guess WuFei fades into the background compared to his colleagues. I found his character a little “chop-suey”. He has a bit of everything – Heero’s coldness, Duo’s sense, Trowa’s solitude, Quatre’s idealism. His ShenLong (Dragon) Gundam is really striking though, as are his huge, almond-shaped eyes.
Zechs Merquise/Milliardo Peacecraft – Zechs, ah, that long-haired blonde hottie who, despite the ridiculous helmet that masked his pretty face for half the series, embarrassed me and Lieutenant Noin by turning us back into silly 13-year-old fangirls. Not that silly, actually, for behind that pretty face is a noble character who will sacrifice himself to protect what he loves – his kingdom, his sister, and peace. Yes, Zechs believe in peace. Doesn’t hurt that he is an ace pilot and charismatic leader as well. Yet, my dear Zechsy, why did you decide to hand your throne to your sister? Have you no love for your kingdom? Who planted that horrendous idea into your pretty head that Relena makes a better ruler than yourself? Did that ugly helmet hurt your brains? Why, Prince Zechsy, WHY?!
Lucrezia Noin – A most admirable and lovely female officer, so likable that I have absolutely no qualms about her being paired with my Zechs. They were a perfect match in every regard – looks, height, education, intelligence, abilities, accomplishments, charms, character. Bravos, Noin! You represent the ideal image of a beautiful, smart, mature and noble woman who has and deserves a successful career. On top of that, you actually fell in love with a guy who is equally outstanding! Plus, that guy actually loves you back! What a perfect world! They filled me with joy whenever they grace the screen together.
Treize Khushrenada & Lady Une – Both psycho yet charismatic, they were made for each other. Capture our noble Treize indulging on the fragrance of a rose, or our nasty Une suddenly changing into a sweet babe, and you will know what it means to be a great villain. I have to especially commend Treize for not being outshone by Zechs (they were constantly put together as partners/friends); that is quite something. And like everyone else, he also loves Peace! It was a poignant scene when Treize told WuFei that he memorized the names of every single soldier who lost his life in battle.
Plot:
Some would call the “intricate web of power” a complex plot. I beg to differ: to me GW presented a situational conflict – a “military history” to be more scholarly; a “sitcon” if I may call it. While each episode is not necessarily self-contained, it does bear some characteristics of sitcoms. Although there is an overall story arc, there is an element of repetitiveness: the rise of various villains disrupting peace and resolution of one crisis after another. Although the characters are colourful, they are introduced as is and are quite static. This is not criticism; simply an analysis. I just find GW more like a sitcon rather than having an actual progressing plot, albeit equally effective. After all, the ultimate appeal of Gundam Wing is not its apparent complexity, but its hopeless romanticism. Neither the story nor the characters are realistic; we will never meet anyone like the crazy Gundam boys in reality, and given the same setting, things will never turn out the way they are in the real world as in GW.
Now if only I can stop here and give Gundam Wing a 4.5, then everyone will be happy (myself being the happiest), but I just realised I have forgotten the most important character of GW…
It’s all about Relena Peacecraft – The most “controversial” character, or more precisely, the most hated or loved character in GW who deserves a 10-page analysis. She was a bored, spoiled brat at the beginning who met a dangerous boy threatening to kill her. That sounds exciting, so she stalked him in her pink limosine (no kidding!), dreamed of him, and, upon losing his track, called to the ocean with this infamous line, “Heeeeeeeroooooo!! Come and kill meeee!!!!” (Okay, I admit I’m obsessed with Zechs too, but I merely collected his pictures and stared at them.) Soon this same girl learned that she was a surviving heir to the fallen Sanq/Cinq Kingdom, thereby automatically turning into a world-leading “Peace-crafter”, the icon for Peace. Then, all of a sudden, the whole world starts to worship her.
First off, I am not a Relena-hater. I don’t hate her for stalking Heero or screaming Heero’s name 100 times, which are the most commonly listed hate reasons. In fact, I find those actions consistent with her spoiled childhood. It is a good, calculated strategy that allows room for character maturation. I am even starting to find her growing up strong until I realized there is something terribly, terribly wrong.
One has got to smell a fish when half the audience adores a character, while the other half utterly hates and despises her. Mind you, I would have rendered this character a great success if she is a charismatic villain. Unfortunately Relena was painstakingly designed to be loved and worshipped. So how on earth did she garner so much hate? No, it’s not simply because she “stole” Heero, or that fans are envious of her getting royal treatment; those are merely convenient reasons for Relena-haters to hate Relena and Relena-lovers to accuse haters for being shallow. I testify that I love Noin despite her taking my Zechs (in fact, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them together). No, there is something fundamental. In my opinion, Relena is really the result of an adorable-character-producing-machine gone wrong. The following paragraphs are not a feature of Relena-bashing, but more a demonstration of poor, ineffective writing. It is a list of what Relena is meant to be and how it turned out. Like they say about War, let’s all learn from past mistakes.
1. Kind/Caring vs. Self-absorption. Does she care about people. Not interested in the people she is trying to represent. World evolves around her. Never attempted to understand others. Lecture others without walking in their shoes. Just demands. Believes she is the One to spread peace to the world. Try to boss people she doesn’t understand.
2. Pacifism vs. Hypocrisy. Doesn’t know or care about “Peace” or “Pacificism”, then suddenly became a symbol for both. Shooting Une. Attention-seeking? Can let other do the dirty work. Never learned what war is really about. Because she is always protected by people around her (friends and enemies alike). Trying to stop something she doesn’t appreciate and symbolize an ideal she doesn’t understand. Did she do anything to restore Sanq or maintain peace? No. She was basically spoon-fed all the titles, plans and credits.
3. Brilliance vs. Garbage.
4. Global influence vs. Ridicule. Do you think pretty Prince Williams as of 2006 is so influential as to say, “Ok Israel and Egypt and Iraq and Iran and S. Arabia and Lebanon, stop fighting this minute because King of the World tells you to. Remember I am the son of beautiful Princess Diana, and I know how to spell Peace.” Sure thing, baby. Now moving on, how’re you and Kate doing these days?
5. Loving vs. Heartless. Mr. Darlian’s death. Mrs. Darlian. Zechs hugging her and all she say…I am a Peacecraft, you are not. Shut up instantly when H said he came for her Even Heero understood Milliardo, but Relena just scolded him in front of everyone, not very effective way of convincing, yet everyone in GW is convinced. Fighting is not right, but fighting is good if it is done by Heero. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
in the end, a narrow-minded girl who acts according to her puppy crush. Which is fine, just don’t make her Queen of the World.
Alright, so Relena is not cool. Pathetic, to be exact. But can’t we forgive this one little mishap and focus on the other great things about this anime? Unfortunately not. Of everything Relena blabs about, she is actually right about one: the world of Gundam Wing DID evolve around her. One cannot simply ignore Relena, because she is the centre of the story, the driving force of action, the carrier of the main theme. She is the true protagonist of GW who somehow ended up being the source for all the fatal flaws of GW’s plot and characters. I am writing this in pain.
Business marketing 101: Never hard-sell a character. Most of all, never, ever hard-sell a poorly-written character. The intelligent audience can decide whether a character is likable or not. This is a subjective matter anyway. With all the other awesome characters and their mobile suits, there is plenty of reason to love GW already. The truth is, Relena wouldn’t be half as annoying if the creators didn’t shove her down viewers’ throat. Sure, there will always be some who buy the hard-selling. Don’t blame them for their nicety and innocence; I wish I was like this. It just backfired on the other half of the audience who tend to be more sceptical. I don’t hate Relena for turning out lame; she’s too lame to save herself. I am angry at her creators for equating this pathetic character to Peace and implying that anyone who failed to love her is against Peace. You are free to worship your product, just don’t insult us for not doing the same.
How can one recognize cheap hard-selling? There are a few hallmarks. Hard-sell rule #1, “Name”: Relena Peacecraft, what an ingenious name that suits both sides of the world. It can mean either “Peace-crafter” or “Piece of Crap” depending on one’s taste. Hard-sell rule #2, by “word of mouth”: You have created a bunch of likable characters, so if you make them all adore and praise a single character, she will become the ultimate lovable character right? Better yet, if they are all willing to live, fight and sacrifice for her, then she must be someone VERY special right? Following this logic, we see Heero going from avoiding her and her yapping to abruptly falling for her; we see the other pilots fighting to support her without really knowing her or understanding her “ideals”; we see Noin following her around when she has a million better things to do; we see a bunch of anonymous fan-girls surrounding her begging to learn about Peace and chanting “the stars are much brighter with Relena among them”; we even see powerful villains like Romefeller fearing her “influence” on the world. Finally, we see the knightly Zechs struggling to become unnecessarily violent just to contrast her majesty’s holiness.
In essence, the “lameness” of Relena’s character has infected others. Because of her, otherwise cool characters were “forced” to make erratic, outrageous decisions and do things inconsistent with their personalities. And Zechs, oh noble Zechs, who practically went nuts towards the end. GW’s creators meant for Zechs to sacrifice for her sister. How touching. I view it as the creators sacrificing, no, slaughtering an ultra-cool character to hard-sell a lame character. What a shame.
*Deep breath* I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration, I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration, I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration…
So Relena is the unfortunate product of poor writing, miscalculations and cheap hard-selling. But why? Why from the same creators of so many awesome characters? Here is my little theory: because the creators got over-confident and started working with a project doomed to fail, or, talking big in line with GW’s tone, they are fighting a losing battle, chasing an unattainable goal – to create the Ultimate “Worshipable” Character. It is no doubt a feat, hence they try so hard: place her in the noblest position/title possible at any time, surround her with silly fan-girls, provide her with long, noble speeches, praise her through every character’s mouth, get everyone to live and die for her sake, dedicate a whole music video to her…“Anyone who watches GW has got to adore Relena!”
No human being is perfect in the real world, and no character can be perfect without seeming fake in anime. Worse still, Relena is far, far, faaaaaar from perfect; she is miserably flawed and incoherent, making her BOTH fake and pathetic.
Perhaps, like Total Pacifism, the Ultimate Worshipable Character is just a dream. It is unattainable, idealistic, silly, and… (sigh) hopelessly romantic.
Artwork:
There must be a reason why GW was so popular. The bishounens were drawn to utmost perfection. They were so handsome/cute that I’m still not ashamed of having collected their pictures once. Yup, I am shallow.
The ladies were less outstanding, especially poor Dorothy. Again, blame it on Relena, for I suspect they gave Dorothy those hideous eyebrows to contrast Relena’s “angelic” face. Hard-sell rule #3, “Comparison”: if an average-looking girl constantly shows up with an ugly one, she will look better. Then what was Relena the Great Pacifier… um, I mean Pacifist, doing in military uniform? She looks like a silly dwarf beside the tall and charming Noin. Somehow GW artists were better at drawing pretty boys than girls. In fact, most female characters have a masculine air to them. It really worked for Noin, for she looks deliciously cool and smart – a most charismatic female military officer. I particularly liked Noin in her OZ uniform, and writing this review, I suddenly realized why. It’s the comparison. Relena is not ugly, but not exactly pretty either. She looks eerily like a man in a lot of close-ups. That’s quite alright if she is supposed to look cool and professional like Noin, instead of looking feminine and lovely – so graceful that creators have to dress up their “Queen of the World” the EXACT way as Audrey Hepburn in the classic “Roman Holiday”, from hair-do, dress, down to necklace. Hard-sell rule #4, “Borrowed Robes”: anyone in Audrey Hepburn’s costume will automatically become the icon of eternal grace and beauty…
Dr. J (Heero’s boss) once commented that Relena and Heero share “the same innocent/kind eyes”. Now I don’t know if it is the scientist or the Gundam creators who have weird taste. I certainly agree with the “same” part, but how the heck did he find their eyes “kind”?! Heero has that freaky death glare (he is trained to be an icy soldier) and a lot of times Relena shows the exact glare when she is supposed to be playing cute or honourable. The most memorable scene has got to be when Queen Relena, in her Audrey Hepburn hair and dress, looks out of the window and meditates upon Peeeeeace, showing a masculine, hideous, twisted glare at close-up. Memorable? Definitely, it gave me nightmares.
Animation – the animation was alright. It is a 10-year old anime, and I’d say the animation is quite good for its time, though some action scenes may have been recycled. The gundams were spectacularly designed, as well as their moves. It really is quite a sight to see the gundams in action, taking on 100 enemies or, better yet, another gundam. However, don’t expect to see intelligent, collective strategic maneuvers because most of the times our mighty gundams just plunge into battle without much organization.
Music: Great theme songs and soundtrack, most notably the catchy opening themes “Just Communication” and “Rhythm Emotion”… until we come to the totally bizarre ending song “Just Love”, one final attempt by the creators to hard-sell their Relena. At the end of every episode, we are brought to some peeeeaceful wild-life resort where lions, elephants, doggies and all sorts of cuddly animals live in harmony with the cute Relena. First there is a show-case of 10-20 Relena’s “best shots” (featuring her best death-glares), then we see our peace-ambassador gleefully posing with a different cute animal every 5 seconds, all with the repeated lyrics “just love!” in the background. You can never get enough of Releeeeena. I can hear the creators chanting over a very mediocre song, “Don’t you JUST LOOOOOOVE our Relena?” Who knows, if they chant it over and over again, perhaps some day it will really hack into our minds.
Those names!
What’s with those names? There are a lot of intriguing names in GW, and notably its creators loves naming characters with numbers. I’ve ranted about Heero and Peacecraft. Let’s move on to others. Hit or miss, they are still fun.
Duo Maxwell – Duo means “two”, pilot #2. It’s a great name because it can also be interpreted as the dualism of Duo: he is both a bright, cheerful boy and the dark “God of Death”.
Trowa – “Three” roughly in French. Amusingly, it sounded like a blend of “trapeze” and “clown” consistent with Trowa’s circus background.
Quatre Raberba Winner – “Four” in French. Why must they give people a hard time figuring out how to pronounce a name? And Raberba? Huh, Baba? Is it supposed to sound cute? And the last name “Winner” does not match Quatre; that sweet boy is determined, not aggressive. Oh and please don’t tell me Quatre’s father came out a final “winner” because he, like the great Relena, is a pacifist.
WuFei – Of course, “wu” is five in Chinese. And the arrogant and hot-headed Chang WuFei is reminiscent of Chang Fei from the great novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, much loved by the Japanese.
Zechs – Ah, this name is perfect for the “Zechsy” Lightning Baron, and I refuse to acknowledge that it merely stands for “six” in German.
Milliardo – “One billion”! Yay! Long live the rightful Emperor of the Universe!
Lightning Baron – Reminds one of the “Red Baron”, a legendary “ace-of-aces” German pilot (Manfred von Richthofen) during World War I. Interestingly Zechs wears a red uniform in OZ.
Noin – “Nine”. Why is Noin the 9th? Isn’t she only second to Zechs? That should make her… Seven!
Treize – “Thirteen” in French. We all know poor Treize is doomed from the start.
Lady Une – “One” in French (again). Wow, she is “The One and only one with a split personality”! And I have trouble sorting out whether “Lady” is her title or her first name.
Tallgeese – Zechs’s gundam. Alright, did the creators hate Zechs? All I have in my mind is a goose with a long neck… or is it supposed to be a swan?!
I give the creators credits for NOT naming Relena “Audrey” instead.
Verdict: I’d love to give Gundam Wing a 5. Afterall, I had loved it for years even before seeing it. I half-hoped that it is just mindless fun so that I can give it a good 4 and say defiantly, “Yeah it is shallow but it’s great entertainment! Plus all the bishounens!” But no, GW’s creators are ambitious; they wanted it to be deep. Fine, they achieved a certain level of depth through a web of power-struggle and memorable, complex characters worthy of 4.5. It is still fairly juvenile, but at least it is a thoughtful kid’s anime. But this is not enough; they want to preach a message of war and peace… through their beloved Relena -- She who spoils everything that is great about this anime: plot, characters, artwork, music. That cheap product alone downgraded GW from a thoughtful epic to something painfully close to Sailormoon, except here we have villains as well as friends who live, praise, fight and die for some lame female protagonist. Actually GW is far worse than the frank Sailormoon; for like Relena, it failed to live up to its own far-stretched standards. Gundam Wing, in the end, talks big and ends up narrow – as narrow as “Relena’s Broad Road to Queendom and Back to Rich Darlian”. Long live the Queen of the World!
Now let me crawl back to my beloved GW picture folder…
I love you, my dear boy, I shall always love you. And for that reason I must spank you.
You have heard of it. You will be overwhelmed by the number of websites dedicated to it. You have heard of grumpy gundam and non-gundam fans complaining about its overratedness and overpopularity. For 10 years Gundam Wing (GW) has remained the most globally popular and well-known series (paving way for its successor Gundam Seed/Destiny) of Gundam, itself the most successful franchise in anime history. That said, I’ll now sheepishly admit that I’ve only just saw the whole series recently. Because, after years of self-bombardment with spoilers, pictures, reviews and analytical theories, I’ve finally decided that it is a crime to fall in love with an obsolete anime without watching it.
Synopsis (from Amazon.com)
In the year 195 A.C. (After Colony), much of humanity has emigrated to orbiting Space Colonies; those who remained on Earth are governed by the oppressive United Earth Sphere Alliance. But the real power is wielded by the sinister Romefeller Foundation, whose directors plot to control Earth and the Colonies through their puppet military entity OZ, led by Zechs Marquise and Treize Khushrenada. Five teenage pilots in Gundam mecha suits strike at Earth, hoping to aid the rebel Colonists: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, and WuFei Chang. The convoluted story line pits the Romefeller Foundation, the rebellious "Treize Faction" of OZ, the Gundam Pilots, and royal pacifist Relena Peacecraft against each other.
Characters:
GW showcased an army of pretty boys to cover a wide range of taste. A happy-go-lucky cutie role-playing Death in a priest collar? A sweet, blonde desert prince (DESERT, not dessert!) of Arabian descent? These are just a sample of the intriguing and oxymoronic characters in Gundam Wing. They are what I call flat but rich, two-dimensional yet complex, devoid of development but charismatic, unrealistic yet easy to fall in love with. Not art-house writing, but wickedly effective.
Heero Yuy – The sullen and “cold-blooded” (notice the parentheses?) 15-year old pilot of Gundam Wing and Wing Zero, who has been trained as a “perfect soldier” and memorable for his sharp death glare and a liking for tank tops and the self-destruction button on his gundam. Alright, the name IS kind of over-the-top, especially when the honourable Miss Relena keeps screeching out, “Heeeeeeeero!!!!” whenever our Heero is or is not around. Sure, Heero is dangerously attractive, but he is also the most psychotic and twisted of the five gundam pilots – basically our hero seems to be addicted to death and destruction.
Duo Maxwell – The American Sweetheart who is universally loved by both lovers and critics of GW. He is a cheerful, easy-going joker, always wearing a bright smile on his face. His unique fashion statement includes a waist-long braid and priest’s collar. Like all GW boys he has a painful past, and while he may look laid-back, this boy means business in his Gundam Deathscythe Hell -- yup, his mobile suit uses a scythe to slash unfortunate opponents. All in all, this boy plays the role of what he calls himself – “Shinigami” – “God of Death”.
Trowa Barton – The most depressed and repressed of GW pilots, Trowa is a taciturn melancholic clown/acrobat in the circus (see the contrast?). Some complain about his sweeping hair that covers half his face, but as usual I read into it too much and found it symbolic: it hides his expression and with it his emotions. Boy actually looks pre-maturely cute, ok? Poor Trowa seems to have an identity problem; he sees himself as merely a tool and his life is dispensable, making him the perfect undercover. I feel sorry for him, because I liked him a lot for his common sense, thoughtfulness, and consideration for others.
Quatre Raberba Winner – The sweet, puppy-eyed, blond aristocrat who has lots of love for his family, friends, his Gundam Sandrock, and the whole world. He is the youngest and only son of a filthy rich Arabian family. Masculinity challenged? A little. A spoiled brat? Quite the opposite. I came to respect and appreciate Quatre very much; underneath the meek smile is someone intelligent, mature, and determined. Unlike his four colleagues who became gundam pilots because they have no choice or have undergone great misery, Quatre chose to leave his loving family and comfortable life to fight for his ideals. Brilliance on the creator’s part for letting him went on a brief, wild rampage, making him a realistic human with moments of weakness yet able to come back even stronger. Quatre is compassionate to a psychic degree – his heart literally ached when his colleague self-destructed – and he always makes a point to understand and dig out goodness in people, including an enemy like Dorothy. It is this continuous strive to understand others that made Quatre an adorable young gentleman rather than a self-righteous, lecturing hypocrite, in contrast to …ahem, someone else.
Chang WuFei – The least noticed of the pilots, WuFei is a young Chinese Kung-Fu master who fights for personal glory. Frequently crowned as being self-righteous and arrogant, he does have a tendency to look down on females, as many young boys do. But I’m sure he’ll grow out of it. Hmmm… I guess WuFei fades into the background compared to his colleagues. I found his character a little “chop-suey”. He has a bit of everything – Heero’s coldness, Duo’s sense, Trowa’s solitude, Quatre’s idealism. His ShenLong (Dragon) Gundam is really striking though, as are his huge, almond-shaped eyes.
Zechs Merquise/Milliardo Peacecraft – Zechs, ah, that long-haired blonde hottie who, despite the ridiculous helmet that masked his pretty face for half the series, embarrassed me and Lieutenant Noin by turning us back into silly 13-year-old fangirls. Not that silly, actually, for behind that pretty face is a noble character who will sacrifice himself to protect what he loves – his kingdom, his sister, and peace. Yes, Zechs believe in peace. Doesn’t hurt that he is an ace pilot and charismatic leader as well. Yet, my dear Zechsy, why did you decide to hand your throne to your sister? Have you no love for your kingdom? Who planted that horrendous idea into your pretty head that Relena makes a better ruler than yourself? Did that ugly helmet hurt your brains? Why, Prince Zechsy, WHY?!
Lucrezia Noin – A most admirable and lovely female officer, so likable that I have absolutely no qualms about her being paired with my Zechs. They were a perfect match in every regard – looks, height, education, intelligence, abilities, accomplishments, charms, character. Bravos, Noin! You represent the ideal image of a beautiful, smart, mature and noble woman who has and deserves a successful career. On top of that, you actually fell in love with a guy who is equally outstanding! Plus, that guy actually loves you back! What a perfect world! They filled me with joy whenever they grace the screen together.
Treize Khushrenada & Lady Une – Both psycho yet charismatic, they were made for each other. Capture our noble Treize indulging on the fragrance of a rose, or our nasty Une suddenly changing into a sweet babe, and you will know what it means to be a great villain. I have to especially commend Treize for not being outshone by Zechs (they were constantly put together as partners/friends); that is quite something. And like everyone else, he also loves Peace! It was a poignant scene when Treize told WuFei that he memorized the names of every single soldier who lost his life in battle.
Plot:
Some would call the “intricate web of power” a complex plot. I beg to differ: to me GW presented a situational conflict – a “military history” to be more scholarly; a “sitcon” if I may call it. While each episode is not necessarily self-contained, it does bear some characteristics of sitcoms. Although there is an overall story arc, there is an element of repetitiveness: the rise of various villains disrupting peace and resolution of one crisis after another. Although the characters are colourful, they are introduced as is and are quite static. This is not criticism; simply an analysis. I just find GW more like a sitcon rather than having an actual progressing plot, albeit equally effective. After all, the ultimate appeal of Gundam Wing is not its apparent complexity, but its hopeless romanticism. Neither the story nor the characters are realistic; we will never meet anyone like the crazy Gundam boys in reality, and given the same setting, things will never turn out the way they are in the real world as in GW.
Now if only I can stop here and give Gundam Wing a 4.5, then everyone will be happy (myself being the happiest), but I just realised I have forgotten the most important character of GW…
It’s all about Relena Peacecraft – The most “controversial” character, or more precisely, the most hated or loved character in GW who deserves a 10-page analysis. She was a bored, spoiled brat at the beginning who met a dangerous boy threatening to kill her. That sounds exciting, so she stalked him in her pink limosine (no kidding!), dreamed of him, and, upon losing his track, called to the ocean with this infamous line, “Heeeeeeeroooooo!! Come and kill meeee!!!!” (Okay, I admit I’m obsessed with Zechs too, but I merely collected his pictures and stared at them.) Soon this same girl learned that she was a surviving heir to the fallen Sanq/Cinq Kingdom, thereby automatically turning into a world-leading “Peace-crafter”, the icon for Peace. Then, all of a sudden, the whole world starts to worship her.
First off, I am not a Relena-hater. I don’t hate her for stalking Heero or screaming Heero’s name 100 times, which are the most commonly listed hate reasons. In fact, I find those actions consistent with her spoiled childhood. It is a good, calculated strategy that allows room for character maturation. I am even starting to find her growing up strong until I realized there is something terribly, terribly wrong.
One has got to smell a fish when half the audience adores a character, while the other half utterly hates and despises her. Mind you, I would have rendered this character a great success if she is a charismatic villain. Unfortunately Relena was painstakingly designed to be loved and worshipped. So how on earth did she garner so much hate? No, it’s not simply because she “stole” Heero, or that fans are envious of her getting royal treatment; those are merely convenient reasons for Relena-haters to hate Relena and Relena-lovers to accuse haters for being shallow. I testify that I love Noin despite her taking my Zechs (in fact, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing them together). No, there is something fundamental. In my opinion, Relena is really the result of an adorable-character-producing-machine gone wrong. The following paragraphs are not a feature of Relena-bashing, but more a demonstration of poor, ineffective writing. It is a list of what Relena is meant to be and how it turned out. Like they say about War, let’s all learn from past mistakes.
1. Kind/Caring vs. Self-absorption. Does she care about people. Not interested in the people she is trying to represent. World evolves around her. Never attempted to understand others. Lecture others without walking in their shoes. Just demands. Believes she is the One to spread peace to the world. Try to boss people she doesn’t understand.
2. Pacifism vs. Hypocrisy. Doesn’t know or care about “Peace” or “Pacificism”, then suddenly became a symbol for both. Shooting Une. Attention-seeking? Can let other do the dirty work. Never learned what war is really about. Because she is always protected by people around her (friends and enemies alike). Trying to stop something she doesn’t appreciate and symbolize an ideal she doesn’t understand. Did she do anything to restore Sanq or maintain peace? No. She was basically spoon-fed all the titles, plans and credits.
3. Brilliance vs. Garbage.
4. Global influence vs. Ridicule. Do you think pretty Prince Williams as of 2006 is so influential as to say, “Ok Israel and Egypt and Iraq and Iran and S. Arabia and Lebanon, stop fighting this minute because King of the World tells you to. Remember I am the son of beautiful Princess Diana, and I know how to spell Peace.” Sure thing, baby. Now moving on, how’re you and Kate doing these days?
5. Loving vs. Heartless. Mr. Darlian’s death. Mrs. Darlian. Zechs hugging her and all she say…I am a Peacecraft, you are not. Shut up instantly when H said he came for her Even Heero understood Milliardo, but Relena just scolded him in front of everyone, not very effective way of convincing, yet everyone in GW is convinced. Fighting is not right, but fighting is good if it is done by Heero. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.
in the end, a narrow-minded girl who acts according to her puppy crush. Which is fine, just don’t make her Queen of the World.
Alright, so Relena is not cool. Pathetic, to be exact. But can’t we forgive this one little mishap and focus on the other great things about this anime? Unfortunately not. Of everything Relena blabs about, she is actually right about one: the world of Gundam Wing DID evolve around her. One cannot simply ignore Relena, because she is the centre of the story, the driving force of action, the carrier of the main theme. She is the true protagonist of GW who somehow ended up being the source for all the fatal flaws of GW’s plot and characters. I am writing this in pain.
Business marketing 101: Never hard-sell a character. Most of all, never, ever hard-sell a poorly-written character. The intelligent audience can decide whether a character is likable or not. This is a subjective matter anyway. With all the other awesome characters and their mobile suits, there is plenty of reason to love GW already. The truth is, Relena wouldn’t be half as annoying if the creators didn’t shove her down viewers’ throat. Sure, there will always be some who buy the hard-selling. Don’t blame them for their nicety and innocence; I wish I was like this. It just backfired on the other half of the audience who tend to be more sceptical. I don’t hate Relena for turning out lame; she’s too lame to save herself. I am angry at her creators for equating this pathetic character to Peace and implying that anyone who failed to love her is against Peace. You are free to worship your product, just don’t insult us for not doing the same.
How can one recognize cheap hard-selling? There are a few hallmarks. Hard-sell rule #1, “Name”: Relena Peacecraft, what an ingenious name that suits both sides of the world. It can mean either “Peace-crafter” or “Piece of Crap” depending on one’s taste. Hard-sell rule #2, by “word of mouth”: You have created a bunch of likable characters, so if you make them all adore and praise a single character, she will become the ultimate lovable character right? Better yet, if they are all willing to live, fight and sacrifice for her, then she must be someone VERY special right? Following this logic, we see Heero going from avoiding her and her yapping to abruptly falling for her; we see the other pilots fighting to support her without really knowing her or understanding her “ideals”; we see Noin following her around when she has a million better things to do; we see a bunch of anonymous fan-girls surrounding her begging to learn about Peace and chanting “the stars are much brighter with Relena among them”; we even see powerful villains like Romefeller fearing her “influence” on the world. Finally, we see the knightly Zechs struggling to become unnecessarily violent just to contrast her majesty’s holiness.
In essence, the “lameness” of Relena’s character has infected others. Because of her, otherwise cool characters were “forced” to make erratic, outrageous decisions and do things inconsistent with their personalities. And Zechs, oh noble Zechs, who practically went nuts towards the end. GW’s creators meant for Zechs to sacrifice for her sister. How touching. I view it as the creators sacrificing, no, slaughtering an ultra-cool character to hard-sell a lame character. What a shame.
*Deep breath* I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration, I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration, I need to maintain my civility despite my frustration…
So Relena is the unfortunate product of poor writing, miscalculations and cheap hard-selling. But why? Why from the same creators of so many awesome characters? Here is my little theory: because the creators got over-confident and started working with a project doomed to fail, or, talking big in line with GW’s tone, they are fighting a losing battle, chasing an unattainable goal – to create the Ultimate “Worshipable” Character. It is no doubt a feat, hence they try so hard: place her in the noblest position/title possible at any time, surround her with silly fan-girls, provide her with long, noble speeches, praise her through every character’s mouth, get everyone to live and die for her sake, dedicate a whole music video to her…“Anyone who watches GW has got to adore Relena!”
No human being is perfect in the real world, and no character can be perfect without seeming fake in anime. Worse still, Relena is far, far, faaaaaar from perfect; she is miserably flawed and incoherent, making her BOTH fake and pathetic.
Perhaps, like Total Pacifism, the Ultimate Worshipable Character is just a dream. It is unattainable, idealistic, silly, and… (sigh) hopelessly romantic.
Artwork:
There must be a reason why GW was so popular. The bishounens were drawn to utmost perfection. They were so handsome/cute that I’m still not ashamed of having collected their pictures once. Yup, I am shallow.
The ladies were less outstanding, especially poor Dorothy. Again, blame it on Relena, for I suspect they gave Dorothy those hideous eyebrows to contrast Relena’s “angelic” face. Hard-sell rule #3, “Comparison”: if an average-looking girl constantly shows up with an ugly one, she will look better. Then what was Relena the Great Pacifier… um, I mean Pacifist, doing in military uniform? She looks like a silly dwarf beside the tall and charming Noin. Somehow GW artists were better at drawing pretty boys than girls. In fact, most female characters have a masculine air to them. It really worked for Noin, for she looks deliciously cool and smart – a most charismatic female military officer. I particularly liked Noin in her OZ uniform, and writing this review, I suddenly realized why. It’s the comparison. Relena is not ugly, but not exactly pretty either. She looks eerily like a man in a lot of close-ups. That’s quite alright if she is supposed to look cool and professional like Noin, instead of looking feminine and lovely – so graceful that creators have to dress up their “Queen of the World” the EXACT way as Audrey Hepburn in the classic “Roman Holiday”, from hair-do, dress, down to necklace. Hard-sell rule #4, “Borrowed Robes”: anyone in Audrey Hepburn’s costume will automatically become the icon of eternal grace and beauty…
Dr. J (Heero’s boss) once commented that Relena and Heero share “the same innocent/kind eyes”. Now I don’t know if it is the scientist or the Gundam creators who have weird taste. I certainly agree with the “same” part, but how the heck did he find their eyes “kind”?! Heero has that freaky death glare (he is trained to be an icy soldier) and a lot of times Relena shows the exact glare when she is supposed to be playing cute or honourable. The most memorable scene has got to be when Queen Relena, in her Audrey Hepburn hair and dress, looks out of the window and meditates upon Peeeeeace, showing a masculine, hideous, twisted glare at close-up. Memorable? Definitely, it gave me nightmares.
Animation – the animation was alright. It is a 10-year old anime, and I’d say the animation is quite good for its time, though some action scenes may have been recycled. The gundams were spectacularly designed, as well as their moves. It really is quite a sight to see the gundams in action, taking on 100 enemies or, better yet, another gundam. However, don’t expect to see intelligent, collective strategic maneuvers because most of the times our mighty gundams just plunge into battle without much organization.
Music: Great theme songs and soundtrack, most notably the catchy opening themes “Just Communication” and “Rhythm Emotion”… until we come to the totally bizarre ending song “Just Love”, one final attempt by the creators to hard-sell their Relena. At the end of every episode, we are brought to some peeeeaceful wild-life resort where lions, elephants, doggies and all sorts of cuddly animals live in harmony with the cute Relena. First there is a show-case of 10-20 Relena’s “best shots” (featuring her best death-glares), then we see our peace-ambassador gleefully posing with a different cute animal every 5 seconds, all with the repeated lyrics “just love!” in the background. You can never get enough of Releeeeena. I can hear the creators chanting over a very mediocre song, “Don’t you JUST LOOOOOOVE our Relena?” Who knows, if they chant it over and over again, perhaps some day it will really hack into our minds.
Those names!
What’s with those names? There are a lot of intriguing names in GW, and notably its creators loves naming characters with numbers. I’ve ranted about Heero and Peacecraft. Let’s move on to others. Hit or miss, they are still fun.
Duo Maxwell – Duo means “two”, pilot #2. It’s a great name because it can also be interpreted as the dualism of Duo: he is both a bright, cheerful boy and the dark “God of Death”.
Trowa – “Three” roughly in French. Amusingly, it sounded like a blend of “trapeze” and “clown” consistent with Trowa’s circus background.
Quatre Raberba Winner – “Four” in French. Why must they give people a hard time figuring out how to pronounce a name? And Raberba? Huh, Baba? Is it supposed to sound cute? And the last name “Winner” does not match Quatre; that sweet boy is determined, not aggressive. Oh and please don’t tell me Quatre’s father came out a final “winner” because he, like the great Relena, is a pacifist.
WuFei – Of course, “wu” is five in Chinese. And the arrogant and hot-headed Chang WuFei is reminiscent of Chang Fei from the great novel “Romance of the Three Kingdoms”, much loved by the Japanese.
Zechs – Ah, this name is perfect for the “Zechsy” Lightning Baron, and I refuse to acknowledge that it merely stands for “six” in German.
Milliardo – “One billion”! Yay! Long live the rightful Emperor of the Universe!
Lightning Baron – Reminds one of the “Red Baron”, a legendary “ace-of-aces” German pilot (Manfred von Richthofen) during World War I. Interestingly Zechs wears a red uniform in OZ.
Noin – “Nine”. Why is Noin the 9th? Isn’t she only second to Zechs? That should make her… Seven!
Treize – “Thirteen” in French. We all know poor Treize is doomed from the start.
Lady Une – “One” in French (again). Wow, she is “The One and only one with a split personality”! And I have trouble sorting out whether “Lady” is her title or her first name.
Tallgeese – Zechs’s gundam. Alright, did the creators hate Zechs? All I have in my mind is a goose with a long neck… or is it supposed to be a swan?!
I give the creators credits for NOT naming Relena “Audrey” instead.
Verdict: I’d love to give Gundam Wing a 5. Afterall, I had loved it for years even before seeing it. I half-hoped that it is just mindless fun so that I can give it a good 4 and say defiantly, “Yeah it is shallow but it’s great entertainment! Plus all the bishounens!” But no, GW’s creators are ambitious; they wanted it to be deep. Fine, they achieved a certain level of depth through a web of power-struggle and memorable, complex characters worthy of 4.5. It is still fairly juvenile, but at least it is a thoughtful kid’s anime. But this is not enough; they want to preach a message of war and peace… through their beloved Relena -- She who spoils everything that is great about this anime: plot, characters, artwork, music. That cheap product alone downgraded GW from a thoughtful epic to something painfully close to Sailormoon, except here we have villains as well as friends who live, praise, fight and die for some lame female protagonist. Actually GW is far worse than the frank Sailormoon; for like Relena, it failed to live up to its own far-stretched standards. Gundam Wing, in the end, talks big and ends up narrow – as narrow as “Relena’s Broad Road to Queendom and Back to Rich Darlian”. Long live the Queen of the World!
Now let me crawl back to my beloved GW picture folder…
I love you, my dear boy, I shall always love you. And for that reason I must spank you.
You, you actually read through the WHOLE thing?! I bow down to thee, O Masochist, yet I also worry about thee. I hope the following link to Yamato's website H.I.N.T. (Heero is not toast) will cure you by turning you into a sadist.
(Alright, even if you just scrolled all the way down, I appreciate your effort. So run along and torture some chibi Relena. Mwuahahahahaha...)
(Alright, even if you just scrolled all the way down, I appreciate your effort. So run along and torture some chibi Relena. Mwuahahahahaha...)
