*OPERATION: METEORIC GROWTH* Almost at 80k views! Your mission is to like, comment, and subscribe! Additional objectives include checking out my *Cowboy Bebop* video!
you're deeply preceptive in you're analyst, and I think you explained this to its core and amazing to explain some so enigmatic in its time. flawed or not though this is a very strange thing for its time because its ambiguous in its stance. I almost suspect it itself is a counter form of American brainwashing it introduces ideas in vague ideas and then shows action scenes to lead into emotional consequences. I know it left me questioning things going on around me as a kid and it reflected a kind of political backdrop where you would have to watch out for radicalized groups. its only become more true in a sense to. but I say this in jest of course. but gundam wing is disturbing and thats what's fascinating about it.
Gundam Wing was insane show for me to watch because of its antiwar message and the aftermath of 9/11. Joining the marines 4 years later and being in iraq a few times, the show would be in the back of my mind during that time. Re-watching it after my time in and 3 tours to iraq made me appreciate it even more.
Firstly, thank you for your service Marine. I shall send you a box of crayons to honor you 😂. The show itself is a weird mix of deep and shallow. I can appreciate the ambition but sometimes it looked like they were just doing everything under the sun instead of letting things breath a bit. If I can ask, as a veteran what particular parts of the show really resonate with you? And what did you come to appreciate post that experience? Hope you don’t mind me picking your brain as I’m writing my next video which deals with military literature and would love to hear from you about how media impacts your view of service.
Thank you for your service. Just curious since you mention 9/11 and Iraq, did you ever end up watching Gundam 00? That show was specifically written with a "post-9/11 world" in mind.
You do realize you participated in an illegal war, yes? Do not romanticize what you and your colleagues did because you enjoyed an anime you clearly didn't understand, 20 years ago.
@@Tyrarlwho fights the wars? Let me guess, just following orders and enlisting for the GI Bill and the discounts, woe is me. Sugarcoating hypocrisy under a layer of snark.
It is fascinating how Gundam veered off into very different directions regarding both child soldiers and asymmetric warriors post 9/11. Regarding child soldiers, compare and contrast Wing with Iron Blooded Orphans. Regarding asymmetric warfare, the comparison between Wing and 00 is also pretty stark.
IBO institutionalized child-soldiers and made it worse with literal slaves added to the mix. The five Gundam pilots in Wing were the only ones prominently shown, and they were trained like special ops operatives. As to asymmetric warfare, 00 isn't exactly analogous to Wing: they engaged in armed interventions without directly provoking the 3 power blocs to declare war-- they just ended up being the targets of a worldwide manhunt. Gundam Wing on the other hand clearly establishes that the five Gundams were designed as a consequence of the Earth Sphere government's tyranny, and the colonies had every intention of going to war had Operation Meteor went ahead as planned.
Gundam Wing was the show that truly introduced me to the sci-fi genre when I was a kid. It still has me in a chokehold to this very day. Also, the Wing Gundam Zero EW (aka. Wing Zero Custom) will always be the most iconic mobile suit in the Gundam franchise, with it’s beautiful angel wings. I mean hell, I still have the RG 1/144 scale kit.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story! It was a huge part of the childhoods of so many of us. The RG kits have been great. I have the MG, but I’ll probably build the RG one soon.
@@NerdTalkDan definitely and you’re welcome! I once collected the kits so that I could have proper references for my Gundam art. What version of the MG do u have? The old MG from 2004 or the newer Ver. Ka with the transformation gimmick?
@@celestialspartan1176 The OG MG Zero Custom. It’s an interesting kit, but has a lot of issues that hopefully got fixed in the updated version. I’m eyeing the RG Wing Ver. Ka but there a few other kits I’ve been meaning to pick up first.
@@celestialspartan1176I have HG Gundam Deathscythe-H and MG Gundam Epyon EW in my cabinet as they are my two fave suits with Epyon my overall fave Gundam Mobile Suit of any series
Gundam Wing deserves a full-fledged remake treatment in the form of an EW re-adaptation, where the characters, themes and story is placed significantly above the mecha action.
Hey 三 Gundam! Thanks for commenting! The closest we got was Glory of Losers which, full transparency, I haven’t read. But apparently that’s something it tried to do. It consolidated everything from the expanded lore into the main GW story and tried to clean it up a bit. The problem is just…how you create a story which properly addresses the themes of war? How do you solve the paradox of needing to fight in order to protect pacifism?
@@mpo48 yeah but 0080 wasn’t about how to create a peaceful world imo. It was more the tragedies of war by showing it in this micro scale. I think the above commenter was discussing specifically a wing remake.
As someone who got into gundam only a few years ago, Wing had quickly blitzed it's way into my top five favorite gundam shows; With the Tallgeese and Heavyarms as my favorites from the series.
Heavyarms is by far my favorite Gundam design. No silly gimmicks, just gatling gun and endless missiles to murder up the enemy. I just ordered a Heavyarms master grade model kit a couple days ago.
Walker, the Ares pilot. captured the theme of the show best honestly. There's also the Leo captain in episode 14. It's a shame the series didn't have more characters like them to help get the point across.
One theme it touches on but I wish it fleshed out more was the use of unmanned mobile dolls. With the rise of drone warfare, it would've be an interesting way to explore the concept and its inherent dangers
I think it did the best it could with a pretty novel idea. It was around 1995 so I’m not sure how developed actual drone tech was let alone whether it was being used militarily to the extent we use it now.
I think it went pretty hard on it. Not sure what much more it could do from a Wing lens, within the universe and themes it had. Touches on, it was a corner stone of the second half and why war itself had to end. I'd say it was a pretty major part of the sort of point of no return the show emphasized.
I think it needs a remake and a facelift. Do Glory of the Losers, but with an FF7 remake level re-do. It's time. Ace Combat 7 is the only other media I've found that really goes hard on the drone/uacv (unmanned aerial combat vehicle) theme and explores it in the context of war and politics
Dude I remember I left the marines in 2009 then I think in 2010 we start to do heavy drone strikes. I would think of the speech Treize made when first introduced to the dones in the series....
The latest Gundam film, Gundam SEED Freedom, revisited the Mobile Doll concept with Foundation’s use of GINNs and DINNs (SEED’s counterpart to the Zaku, until they came out with their own version of the ZAKU) as unmanned drones.
So many UA-camrs these days are doing perfectly well researched and thought-out video essays, but their overall linguistic and grammar skills still leave much to be desired. I appreciate your professionalism Nerd Talk, and will be instant subbing after I finish this comment. Then still have half the video to watch. Good stuff.
Thank you for the kind words. I spend a lot of time writing these scripts out in the hopes that they sound coherent, so to hear that the writing quality struck you as well done put a smile on my face. If you enjoyed the writing here, please check out some of my other videos which, hopefully, live up to your expectations! Have a great day and I hope to see you around the channel again soon!
Even though i disagree with the "last impression" part, i appreciate that i finally found someone talking in deep about the series and it's themes, unlike any other reviewer that sounds pretty much like this: "oh, repetitive animation, dumb ideas about war and peace and unlikable characters, boooo". See you next time and thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thank you right back! Even though we disagree a bit, I hope you enjoyed it and it gave you something to think about during your next rewatch! I hope you’ll stop by the channel again. Have a great day!
Just because a reviewer has generally negative view on Wing, doesn't mean their reviews are shallow or wrong. Here's an example where two grown-up scholars deeply discussed Gundam Wing free of nostalgia, bias or agenda in a podcast: ua-cam.com/video/hYnIcSJotNE/v-deo.html
@@androyus True but i'm not obliged to take you seriously if you say what everyone is saying while you refuse to elaborate, you know, like a REVIEW should be.
Gundam Wing really does capture a generation of new Gundam Fans ever since 2000. It’s just a solid good start for those who want to see the first English Dub in the Gundam series. Even there are fanfics involving Gundam as well. Even a continuing story of Heero Yuy ending up in the Cosmic Era or the Wing Boys get backup from a certain Assault Carrier and it’s five Gundam pilots.
This is probably the best analysis for Gundam Wing I've seen if this series was to ever get a remake it should include each of the pilots back stories in the manga adaptation that would've help flesh them out more
Thanks so much Wing Zero! It means a lot coming from a clear fan of the show. I don’t think we’ll ever get a remake, but you’re right that Glory of Losers would be a good template to base a remake around now that the GW lore has kind of solidified into its final form. What made you a GW fan?
@@NerdTalkDan Gundam Wing for I'm pretty certain for most in the early 2000's Toonami was the revolutionary starting point into the franchise(in the western side of the world) one of the earlier shows I've watched, just like u like it because of how awesome it is, but re checking it out as an older version of me objectively it's not the best out there in comparison to the other franchise but not the worst neither still feeling Rhythm Emotions:)
@@wingzero-0014 I’m gonna review Zeta at some point, but the next Gundam related video I do is more likely 0080 or EW. But that won’t be for awhile since I have other video ideas to go through first. But I hope you’ll stay tuned to this channel for more content you might find interesting!
I love Wing; it was the seventh or eighth grade for me among some other greats like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Dragon Ball Z, Final Fantasy IX, Zelda Majora’s Mask, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, and Dark Cloud.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Felldoh! It was a real magical time. We were getting an influx of such cool content from Japan. Raise a glass to Toonami and Adult Swim for the memories! If you enjoyed Bebop, I have a video covering it which you might enjoy!
As a kid, my favorite part was watching Wing Zero and Epyon beat the tar out of each other. As an adult, the bit that really sticks with me is how Trieze beat an army of drones singlehandedly by talking the guy at the control panel into pulling a gun on his CO.
Wing had a lot of these little moments which were amazing. Plot twists or just overly dramatic gestures. Tearing up Relena’s invitation is hilarious, but also kind of one of those memorable moments that lives in the hearts of Gundam fans
I never would have thought i would be watching a 90's history channel level documentary about Gundam Wing. This is awesome! Thank you for making this video.
I was debating making it a 2010s history channel level documentary, but I couldn’t figure out how to work in Nazi aliens making the pyramids. Alas. But seriously, thank you for the kind words. I always want to make these videos at least a bit informative and entertaining, so to have you call it a HC level documentary is a huge complement. I have some other videos in this style which you might be interested in. I hope you’ll check them out! Have a great day!
This was an excellent Retrospective, loved it. I never realised how stereotypical G Gundam was until those four side by side Gundams you showed. I know I’m a bit late to the party, but Gundam Wing is really awesome and this video did it justice.
Big agree on the mech design in wing, especially the grunt suits. The ares, mercurius and veyeate, all the tallgeese suits, and all the EW gundams are some of my favorite designs in gundam as a whole
Yeah, Wing definitely has the best Mech designs in my opinion, arguably some of the best music too...too bad everything else is kinda medicore, at least compared to the rest of the series.
Thanks so much for your kind words Shimazusama! You’re one of the few people who picked up on what I was trying to do with those chapter breaks so well done! If you’re a kid of the 90s and 2000s I have a few other videos similar to this which might take you back to those days. Have a great day!
For my part, everything surrounding the ZERO System showed the brainwashing side of warfare (especially since both guerrillas like the Gundam 5 and the conventional soldier Zechs were equally affected by it) while also keeping to Wing's idea that violence is a part of humanity that predates politics. I especially liked the parts where Quarte becomes uber extremist to support his cause--even at the expense of the people he took it up for--and how Heero's first run with ZERO had him realize how much harm the Gundam Scientists did to him and, presumably, the other 5. I'm also under the impression that Zechs and Treize cooked up their Final War together (albeit, without talking to each other), meaning Zechs never actually believed in Colony Supremacy and only wanted to crash Libra into Earth to terrify everyone from the mere idea of war for the rest of history, not abandon Earth. Seems like what he and Treize were talking about the entire time, why Zechs never really seemed on the same page as White Fang and how he helped stop the colony crash when it became apparent that everyone got the message that war sucks. Did I misread all of that? I will agree that 3 people surviving the epicenter of explosions is ridiculous, though. I also thought Duo's friend looked WAY too similar to Noin. I literal thought Duo's Friend was Noin once or twice.
There is a LOT of lore behind the zero system It’s essentially an AI system harmonizing with the pilot I’ve believed for a while this is the next logical step for AI tech, merging with the human mind for complex tasks like advanced space mech combat.
Thanks for the kind words man! If you know any other Gundam Wing fans, you know what to show’em lol. Since you liked this video, I have others you might enjoy so I hope you’ll check them out. Have a great day!
This is an exceptional commentary on Gundam and on warfare. If I had my way, the section about “The Nobility of Sacrifice” would be played at every war college the world over. A great work was done here.
Thank you so much for the kind words! It’s always nice to hear back from viewers who found something which spoke to them in my video. If you have any connections as West Point or Annapolis, feel free to send my video to them to watch in class lol. Have a great day!
If they edit Gundam Wing into monochromatic colours it would go well with older audience, less distraction from the toy-ish colours and leave more room to focus on the politics. I really liked your analysis, I've watched GW when young and discounted it for the repeative and inplausible fight scene and plot armors. But it will be refreshing indeed to watch it again with a political lense. As hasty as it ends up being, it's a good entry point.
Hey MZM M! Thanks so much for your comment. Yeah there were a lot of ways they could’ve tightened up the series, but it is what we got and I think it can be appreciated as a fun entry point to anime for so many of us. I don’t regret it having been such an important part of my formative years. I still love Gundam to this day because of it. I hope you’ll stop by again!
This is truly well done. So much so that I shared it on the Gundam Explained Discord channel. Thank you for making this video. You just earned yourself a new subscriber. Keep up the great work. 👍🏾
Thank you so much for your kind words and support Lucas. It means so much to me to hear Gundam fans enjoyed this video. In the words of Heero Yuy, Mission: Complete!
@@NerdTalkDan You're welcome. I can't wait for you to get into and finish Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans. It and Gundam 00 are spiritual successors to Gundam Wing that approach the plight of child soldiers or former child soldiers from different yet similar angles.
@@LucLightWolf121 yeah 00 will be a trip. I watched it when it was airing and loved it. I’ll get there eventually, but I hope you’ll give my non Gundam related work a chance! But if you could pick the next Gundam series you’d like to see me cover, any requests?
@@NerdTalkDan Will do. As far as requests goes: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory or Mobile Suit Gundam F91 would be interesting to talk about. You would definitely see the nuances within both stories. Fun fact about F91 is that it was meant to be a anime television series before that series was scrapped in favor of a compilation film. That's why the film is so disjointed. And Stardust Memory is essentially Gundam doing Top Gun in the Universal Century.
@@LucLightWolf121 it’s been a hot minute since I watched 0083. I’m a big fan of the mech designs in that OVA. I’m leaning more towards 0080 as the next Gundam I cover hopefully within the next year or so. It’s just such a beautiful story.
German here, loved the show when it came and it absolutely stuck to me. That theme song is so good, still and forever stuck in my head. IF ONLY THERE WERE ACTUAL HG OR EVEN RG MOOK SUITS! I'd pay a LOT for a good HG Aeris kit! Love that suit so much! Also good you point the child soldiers out and how damaged they are underneath.
I’m glad you enjoyed it! If I can help reconnect a viewer with a piece of their childhood then I’d say mission accomplished lol. If you enjoyed this video, I have similar ones which cover this era of anime history, so I hope you’ll check them out!
Why didn't I discover your channel sooner. Thank you for such a well-researched and well-presented video essay. Gundam Wing was also my first exposure to Gundam, and it introduced the franchise in such a glorious way that I remain a faithful fan to this day. People have already commented on all the good things, so I will just add a little more. The proof that you clearly understand this series is when you start talking about the Mook Suits (Although I prefer Grunts ). You specifically show the scenes of the Torrington Base battle from Gundam Unicorn, which everyone who watches it knows too well-they are one of the best depictions of how cool Mook Suits are.
Interestingly the points I latch onto I have seen no one analyze or discuss so might make a podcast about this show. 1. Autonomous weapons 2. Military industrial complex 3. Pacifism and self-defense 4. Idealism and philosophy 5. How rich nobles continue to rule the world 6. Characters who are defined by their emotions. 7. Melodrama 8. Showing war from the perspective of terrorist/guerrillas.
This childhood iconic masterpiece is what introduced me to gundam Seed then Seed Destiny, naturally when i watched GW dub i didn’t understand much but what captivated by art style and combat years later i rewatched it and deeply loved the lore and hidden messages which prepared me for Seed series.
I remember watching Gundam Wing before 2000. I was in Jr high in the mid 90's and watched it. I remember being frustrated because I felt like episodes were aired out of order or I could never catch the next episode.
Gundam Wing Blow my mind as a kid.. It's Serious Cute and Brutal.. Netflix doing live Action Gundam? But not Wing? That would be silly.. Western Audience still loved Gundam wing.. The Pilots the Mecha The Music are So Dope!
They should not do a live action of any Gundam shows it would be trash as fuck same as power rangers DBZ street fighter mortal kombat sonic Mario and all the rest... Keep it in animation format and redrop the whole series
Honestly after watching the show as a kid in 2000 and seeing other Gundam shows and other tv shows... watching it again as an adult... I actually like it better. The one message I got out of the show that made it different than other Gundam shows... the other shows I've seen you have a naive, innocent pilot who has friends and loses them and realizes war is terrible. Gundam Wing skips that and gives you characters who already know war is terrible, who have already done horrible things, who have already lost people. There doesn't need to be a lot of character deaths to show the audience 'war is bad' when the lead character is clearly someone utterly broken by war and what he's done to the point he tries to kill himself 4 times in the first few episodes just so his miserable life as a soldier can finally end. Heero starts the show LOOKING TO DIE. Looking for any excuse to kill himself. And by the end of the show when he's shooting down Libra, he's not using that as an excuse to die, he's not dying to right his past sins, he's not committed to saving everyone even if it kills him... he's saying he'll survive, he'll keep living, he'll keep living life after this. That to me was the real message. You can lose everything, you can do horrible things, you can lose your childhood, lose your innocence, lose your soul... you can want to die because living is so miserable... and you can then find people, a cause, friends, someone special... who make you want to keep living. Honestly I feel killing off any more characters than they did would cheapen it. All the pilots know loss already, all the soldiers know loss already. The civillians were shown loss through the show already. It was a lesson they already knew and understood.
On that note of him taking down Libra at the end, the original Japanese dialogue is, "I will NOT die", instead of the English dub, "I will survive". So he clearly doesn't wanna die
Nothing wrong with looking back on things from your formative years every once in awhile! Hope the video gives you something to think about on your next rewatch. Have a great day!
If you like those, check out the chapter intros for my Bebop video! Editing the chapter intros are some of my favorite parts of the editing process! Thanks for stopping by if you enjoyed this video, I have others which might strike your fancy.
I’ve always been a bit standoffish to the genre of Mecha. The large scale battles with robots turned me off for some reason. I do enjoy the themes youve touched on in the video though. But thanks to Code Geass and Gurren Lagann I do feel as though it’s probably not as bad as I imagine it to be. I should def give at least Wing a shot~ Great video as always Dan
I feel ya Blink. It’s not the genre for everyone, but there’s a lot of variety in the mecha genre so you’ll definitely find something interesting if you look. That said, I don’t recommend Wing as an entry point for you. I think you might enjoy some of the other series before this one. 0080 is a great start and short! Thanks again for lending your voice to this project. You’re one of my defacto people to call when I need a VA!
Thanks for taking my favorite show when i was a kid seriously. Ive always felt this show deserved a deep dive, its got its flaws and camp for sure but it does a lot right and i love it to this day.
It’s got a lot to love and a lot to laugh at. It’s sort of peak 90s. I hope this vid inspires you to do a rewatch and view the show from a new standpoint. Have a great day!
I appreciate the kind words! It was great to revisit such a pivotal part of many of our childhoods. If you enjoyed it, I have a few other vids which you might enjoy so I hope you’ll stop by and take a look! Have a great day!
Th reason I fell in love with Wing was the seriousness of it all. So much praise to Toonami for introducing this to us back in the day. This and when they aired 08th MS Team.
When this first came to Toonami, I was too young to appreciate it beyond "Man that robot looks cool!" When I rewatched it later the themes sunk in more. I get what you mean about it only being pseudo philosophical but still one of my favorites from the Gundam franchise.
Would love to see a video on G Gundam as it was the show that got myself into Gundam in the early 00’s still watching and building model kits with my kids to this day
That’s in the queue for sure! Until it’s made, I have some other videos covering anime from this era which might hold you over! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Chapter4 is why I loved GW (and where the online moniker I've used for over 20 years came from). It was refreshing, and is still somewhat rare decades later, to see media with such a blatant anti-war stance NOT take the angle of denigrating soldiers while also not pushing the then-emergent attitude that computers and autonomous weapons would defend us without needing to put men and women in harm's way. While some of Treize's speeches were grandiose and overly flowered, they very eloquently made the case that by removing the risk of loss in a war, you make it easier to sell and more likely to occur- which, counter-intuitively, puts more lives at risk, as the weapons become deadlier and more widespread as the 'risk' is lessened. He at first seems to be trying to glorify soldiers, but when you really listen to what he's saying, and especially on a rewatch after knowing the full arc of the plotline, you eventually realize that he knows removing the 'personal face' of war, by removing the soldiers, actually puts everyone at risk, as it's the soldiers' humanity, compassion, and ability to make decisions based on morality that actually keep people safe, while simultaneously realizing that if war is reduced to computers vs. computers, then people don't fear it as much since it's not their loved ones going off to do the fighting- and only by making people realize how much they stand to lose can you truly prevent wars. not through fear and 'strength', but by appealing to humanity and morality. I doubt it will ever actually work, but it's the most noble and realistic form of Pacifism I've ever seen espoused in mass media.
Thanks for your write up and analysis! It’s always good to hear what other fans have to say. GW was certainly ambitious in the topics it wanted to discuss.
Hey RedTeam! Thanks so much for commenting. There’s more Gundam in the queue so stay tuned. Since you requested it specifically, I’ll let you in on the next Gundam video (although not the next video to be made) Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket is probably the next Gundam work!
Thanks for the kind words Trooper. It was a work for fans by a fan so hearing good things from you guys has been great! If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to check out my other videos on this era of Cartoon Network history!
Very deep so this in middle school going to high school since I was trying to find the fist serous first to last but no luck I saw this and follow most of the part thank you to finish the puzzel for me great review as all ways.
thank you for allowing me to reminisce 🙂↔️ born in ‘87 i was a prime fan of this series in the exact moment of history you mention. i remember the release on toonami and all the prior animes along with it.
I’m glad I could help you reconnect with such an awesome part of our childhoods! It was a really amazing time to be a kid. If you like this era, I have a few other videos which may pique your interest! Hope you’ll check them out. Have a great day!
I'm doing a watch through of Gundam, one UC and one nonUC at a time. Just finished 00, and almost done with ZZ. Unintentionally watched Wing and 00 back to back. Got a little exhausted from the plot armored emo boys. 00 really is just an improved remake of Wing. GW Pros - Mech designs, including some of my favorite MP and MD designs (Aries 💯) - Some of the best music in Gundam - Character design and overall aesthetic Cons - Emotionless/boring characters - Confusing or non-existant motivations - Muddy politics, ideas on how to achieve peace (Quatre seems to be the only one with any sense) - The most plot armor ever, even some of the few characters that 'die' end up living. 00 Pros - Interesting characters - Clearer motivations - More focus on child soldiers, but IBO is better (most Gundam series kinda brush that under the rug) - More realistic politics and path to peace (if still unrealistic) - Less plot armor Cons - But still a decent amount of plot armor - Some of the worst overall mech designs in Gundam (Exia and 00 are some exceptions) - Too much too fast, can take a second to figure out who is who, or what is happening - Too many characters in general, long time for some payoffs and a few are not even needed (Wang Liu Mei especially)
That’s an awesome write up! I’m a big fan of 00 so I appreciate your comparison. Someone in the fandom wrote “Wing walked so 00 could run” and I think that makes so much sense!
Great review and thanks for the cool intro of two - mix of the OST and I am still shocked that is a duo I was thinking it was like a 4 or 5 peace band 😅
Great analysis. Though I disagree with a few of your perspectives (mostly because I interpret some ideas differently), this is a great analytical breakdown of a series I hold in very high regard. To this day, I apply some of the philosophical points in the series in my life. Also, great quote from Robert Heinlein. Starship Troopers is my favorite book. I still go back and re-read it from time to time. Thank you for creating this video. I realize it's over a year old. I'm glad the algorithm pulled it into my feed.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting! For sure, I’m not saying mine is the only interpretation so I’m always happy to hear from you guys about how you view the work. Meeting of the minds with people who love the same media is a lot of fun! That ST quote is a pretty good one. I love the novel as well and have been working on my next script which is discussing it! I hope you’ll take a watch when I finish. Until then, the YT channel Knowing Better did an excellent video on the topic so I hope you’ll check him out and tell him I sent ya!
@@NerdTalkDan of the figures I believe I had Sandrock (which was my favorite for reasons I can’t explain), Heavy Arms, and the version of Shenlong from Endless Waltz that I think may have had a different name. My brother had EW Deathscythe and Epyon. Of the models we had Vayeate, Mercurius, and Tallgeese. I think I may have also had the Tallgeese III action figure.
When I see the mobile doll heads, Ive always been reminded of those little bitty portable TV's, they were like 3 in and black and white, had a small metal antenna, got like 2 channels lol My dad did security on the weekends and had one to take with him
At this point Heero might just be immortal. Have you counted the times his accidents would have killed a lesser man? FOUR or maybe even five times in the first three episodes. Episode one: He falls from space Dead on impact. Even sexy Sechs said so. Also Episode one: Suicide by suit bomb (Ever noticed how often he tries to blow up his suit and just fails?) Episode two: Several gunshot wounds to his extremities. None hit any vital organs but there were several of them. Plus it was a hectic situation making his heart beat and him lose a fatal amount of blood fast. Also Episode two: He decided to drown for a bit. Episode three: Jumped out of the side of a building. Which was situated on top of a cliff. Screw gundamium. They should coat the Gundams in whatever his plotarmor is made of! Sometimes he clearly died and then an episode or two later it's just "Well he got better." Floating face down in the water in Episode 2? That was a floating corpse. Or when he blew up his Gundam. The core is near the cockpit. That explosion means certain death. Then he fell like 10 meters. But unlike his jump out of a building he did not somehow catch himself. He did break his fall though. With his face. On the ground. The blank stare with the empty eyes. That was a dead body. I mean Trowa even left him in Heavy Arms' Hand, which was towed to a truck instead of placing him in the drivers cabin. Who would do that do a still living, but mortally wounded person? In my opinion he's the most ridiculously overpowered character in Anime history. I know there's always Saitama and Goku and whoever else. But Those are superhuman figures in fantasy worlds. Gundam aims to be very realistic. (Blisfully ignoring the glory that is G-Gundam here for the sake of argument) Even the space colonies are based on real ideas. And in a setting like that i know of no other situation where people just walk off deaths. It became a running gag among friends who know G Wing. If some character is hyped as the best and strongest ever we top it off with "he probably also punched Heero in the face."
For real! I mean he should’ve been dead pretty much episode 2 from drowning. I had a joke in one of my first drafts where I pointed out how Duo and Relena left him face down in the ocean for a REALLY long time for dramatic effect. That’s where my line “it takes itself seriously and perhaps too seriously” came from.
Respectfully, while Wing is a bit sloppy here and there i resonate with it far more than most of the other series i have seen. Each one felt missing in something i was satisfied with Wing. I could watch any other series and feel put off but always return to Wing entertained. I honestly cant explain it and i dont think its the nostalgia.
id love to see what gundam wing could be if they where given time to make a full show out of it some thing like 3 season long and really leaned into the things that made wing so good
I wonder of a modern localization would clean up some of the issues with GW. I absolutely love this show....would be cool to see a re-release with a new localization or a full on remake.
It would be interesting to take a look at. We get such high quality translation and localization nowadays, but I think part of the charm of the 90s and 2000s was this slightly weird stuff that sneaks in.
Im on my rewatched of gundam wing after two decades of its initial broadcast. I remeber cool robot fights. As an adult im seeing the small human moments that eyaxh character shows.
It’s always fun to revisit the stuff you loved as a kid with the experience of age. It makes life a little more fun to pick up on stuff and see how our own perspectives have changed!
Will always be might Favorite Gundam, and favorite Anime, just a classic in my heart. G gundam, Ruroni Kenshin, YuYu Hakusu, Outlaw Staw, Cowboy bebop, samurai Champloo Love em all Gundam Wing is at the top
Being 38 I cannot put into words the impact this anime had on me when I was 14 I also cannot put into words the impact 9/11 had on me when I was 15 and living in New York City a year after watching all of Gundam Wing an Endless Waltz
It was a scary time in America and to be in NYC when that happened must have been unimaginably frightening. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story with us.
one of the things that have come to mind about this show recently was reason the soldiers were always taken out so easily is because they dont have any true combat experience i mean before the gundams show up who were they fighting?
That’s a good thought! UESA essentially had the monopoly on mobile suits so they would usually be fighting against more traditional munitions and armor such as tanks. So fighting another mobile suit outside rare cases may have been something most MS pilots never experienced. Then they have to adapt not only to MS v MS combat, but against these monster machines made of near indestructible metal? It don’t envy them lol.
I’m going to rewatch Gundam wing after I finish Samurai champloo. I did the same G Gundam some years back. I loved Domon and his Shining burning finger lol, but I know Hero was real a badass.
Heero was an OG anime badass for sure. Just your run of the mill…child…super soldier lol. But we gotta hand it to Domon for ending up in one of the healthiest and loving relationships in all of Gundam. And that’s badass too
On the discussion of plot armor, it always struck me as odd when Tuberoff decided to capture Wufei and Shenlong, then literally an episode later he chastises one of the scientists for keeping the Gundam it around. Then 1 episode later, he questions to Lady Une why they’re still keeping the captured Gundam pilots alive(and later in the episode he tries to kill them). Like they totally changed his character for 1 scene just to keep Wufei alive. 😂 Still love Gundam Wing though!
*OPERATION: METEORIC GROWTH*
Almost at 80k views! Your mission is to like, comment, and subscribe!
Additional objectives include checking out my *Cowboy Bebop* video!
Gundam Wing Remake is gonna be like, GundamMyth:
Wing Gundam - Kiara Takanashi
Deathscythe Gundam - Calliope Mori
HeavyArms Gundam - Ina'nis Ninomae
Sandrock Gundam - Amelia Watson
Shenlong Gundam - Gawr Gura
👍👍👍👍👍
you're deeply preceptive in you're analyst, and I think you explained this to its core and amazing to explain some so enigmatic in its time. flawed or not though this is a very strange thing for its time because its ambiguous in its stance.
I almost suspect it itself is a counter form of American brainwashing it introduces ideas in vague ideas and then shows action scenes to lead into emotional consequences.
I know it left me questioning things going on around me as a kid and it reflected a kind of political backdrop where you would have to watch out for radicalized groups. its only become more true in a sense to.
but I say this in jest of course. but gundam wing is disturbing and thats what's fascinating about it.
Gundam Wing was insane show for me to watch because of its antiwar message and the aftermath of 9/11. Joining the marines 4 years later and being in iraq a few times, the show would be in the back of my mind during that time. Re-watching it after my time in and 3 tours to iraq made me appreciate it even more.
Firstly, thank you for your service Marine. I shall send you a box of crayons to honor you 😂. The show itself is a weird mix of deep and shallow. I can appreciate the ambition but sometimes it looked like they were just doing everything under the sun instead of letting things breath a bit.
If I can ask, as a veteran what particular parts of the show really resonate with you? And what did you come to appreciate post that experience? Hope you don’t mind me picking your brain as I’m writing my next video which deals with military literature and would love to hear from you about how media impacts your view of service.
Thank you for your service. Just curious since you mention 9/11 and Iraq, did you ever end up watching Gundam 00? That show was specifically written with a "post-9/11 world" in mind.
You do realize you participated in an illegal war, yes? Do not romanticize what you and your colleagues did because you enjoyed an anime you clearly didn't understand, 20 years ago.
@@mroy03 Blaming soldiers for fighting in a war, in a comment chain on a Gundam video, is peak irony.
@@Tyrarlwho fights the wars? Let me guess, just following orders and enlisting for the GI Bill and the discounts, woe is me. Sugarcoating hypocrisy under a layer of snark.
It is fascinating how Gundam veered off into very different directions regarding both child soldiers and asymmetric warriors post 9/11. Regarding child soldiers, compare and contrast Wing with Iron Blooded Orphans.
Regarding asymmetric warfare, the comparison between Wing and 00 is also pretty stark.
IBO institutionalized child-soldiers and made it worse with literal slaves added to the mix. The five Gundam pilots in Wing were the only ones prominently shown, and they were trained like special ops operatives. As to asymmetric warfare, 00 isn't exactly analogous to Wing: they engaged in armed interventions without directly provoking the 3 power blocs to declare war-- they just ended up being the targets of a worldwide manhunt. Gundam Wing on the other hand clearly establishes that the five Gundams were designed as a consequence of the Earth Sphere government's tyranny, and the colonies had every intention of going to war had Operation Meteor went ahead as planned.
Gundam Wing was the show that truly introduced me to the sci-fi genre when I was a kid. It still has me in a chokehold to this very day.
Also, the Wing Gundam Zero EW (aka. Wing Zero Custom) will always be the most iconic mobile suit in the Gundam franchise, with it’s beautiful angel wings. I mean hell, I still have the RG 1/144 scale kit.
Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story! It was a huge part of the childhoods of so many of us.
The RG kits have been great. I have the MG, but I’ll probably build the RG one soon.
@@NerdTalkDan definitely and you’re welcome! I once collected the kits so that I could have proper references for my Gundam art. What version of the MG do u have? The old MG from 2004 or the newer Ver. Ka with the transformation gimmick?
@@celestialspartan1176 The OG MG Zero Custom. It’s an interesting kit, but has a lot of issues that hopefully got fixed in the updated version. I’m eyeing the RG Wing Ver. Ka but there a few other kits I’ve been meaning to pick up first.
@@NerdTalkDanthat’s good man! Pick up the RG Wing Zero and Epyon! I highly recommend them.
@@celestialspartan1176I have HG Gundam Deathscythe-H and MG Gundam Epyon EW in my cabinet as they are my two fave suits with Epyon my overall fave Gundam Mobile Suit of any series
Gundam Wing and Toonami with DBZ had the corner on lock! Watched the series 5 times over and didn’t bat an eye!
For real. Don’t forget Tenchi and all the other goodness that was on Tokoyami at the time. It was like a golden age to be a kid lol
Leo pilot hears Jazz gradually getting louder. "Oh fuck."
And Thunderbolt would cement that legacy lol
Gundam Wing deserves a full-fledged remake treatment in the form of an EW re-adaptation, where the characters, themes and story is placed significantly above the mecha action.
Hey 三 Gundam! Thanks for commenting!
The closest we got was Glory of Losers which, full transparency, I haven’t read. But apparently that’s something it tried to do. It consolidated everything from the expanded lore into the main GW story and tried to clean it up a bit. The problem is just…how you create a story which properly addresses the themes of war? How do you solve the paradox of needing to fight in order to protect pacifism?
@@NerdTalkDan gundam 00 tackled the using war to create peace theme much better considering how that series ended
@@mpo48 yeah but 0080 wasn’t about how to create a peaceful world imo. It was more the tragedies of war by showing it in this micro scale. I think the above commenter was discussing specifically a wing remake.
@@NerdTalkDan im talking about gundam 00 here not 0080
@@mpo48 oops I must’ve misread! Gotta stop replying to comments right after I wake up 😬! Thanks for the reply!
As someone who got into gundam only a few years ago, Wing had quickly blitzed it's way into my top five favorite gundam shows; With the Tallgeese and Heavyarms as my favorites from the series.
Tallgeese is just gorgeous. If you get a chance, check out the artwork for Heavyarms ver. Ka.
Really didn't say death scythe...outrageous
Heavyarms is by far my favorite Gundam design. No silly gimmicks, just gatling gun and endless missiles to murder up the enemy. I just ordered a Heavyarms master grade model kit a couple days ago.
Walker, the Ares pilot. captured the theme of the show best honestly.
There's also the Leo captain in episode 14.
It's a shame the series didn't have more characters like them to help get the point across.
One theme it touches on but I wish it fleshed out more was the use of unmanned mobile dolls. With the rise of drone warfare, it would've be an interesting way to explore the concept and its inherent dangers
I think it did the best it could with a pretty novel idea. It was around 1995 so I’m not sure how developed actual drone tech was let alone whether it was being used militarily to the extent we use it now.
I think it went pretty hard on it. Not sure what much more it could do from a Wing lens, within the universe and themes it had.
Touches on, it was a corner stone of the second half and why war itself had to end. I'd say it was a pretty major part of the sort of point of no return the show emphasized.
I think it needs a remake and a facelift.
Do Glory of the Losers, but with an FF7 remake level re-do.
It's time.
Ace Combat 7 is the only other media I've found that really goes hard on the drone/uacv (unmanned aerial combat vehicle) theme and explores it in the context of war and politics
Dude I remember I left the marines in 2009 then I think in 2010 we start to do heavy drone strikes. I would think of the speech Treize made when first introduced to the dones in the series....
The latest Gundam film, Gundam SEED Freedom, revisited the Mobile Doll concept with Foundation’s use of GINNs and DINNs (SEED’s counterpart to the Zaku, until they came out with their own version of the ZAKU) as unmanned drones.
So many UA-camrs these days are doing perfectly well researched and thought-out video essays, but their overall linguistic and grammar skills still leave much to be desired. I appreciate your professionalism Nerd Talk, and will be instant subbing after I finish this comment. Then still have half the video to watch. Good stuff.
3.3K subs? This quality of content deserves MUCH more.
Thank you for the kind words. I spend a lot of time writing these scripts out in the hopes that they sound coherent, so to hear that the writing quality struck you as well done put a smile on my face. If you enjoyed the writing here, please check out some of my other videos which, hopefully, live up to your expectations! Have a great day and I hope to see you around the channel again soon!
Even though i disagree with the "last impression" part, i appreciate that i finally found someone talking in deep about the series and it's themes, unlike any other reviewer that sounds pretty much like this: "oh, repetitive animation, dumb ideas about war and peace and unlikable characters, boooo". See you next time and thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
Thank you right back! Even though we disagree a bit, I hope you enjoyed it and it gave you something to think about during your next rewatch! I hope you’ll stop by the channel again. Have a great day!
Just because a reviewer has generally negative view on Wing, doesn't mean their reviews are shallow or wrong. Here's an example where two grown-up scholars deeply discussed Gundam Wing free of nostalgia, bias or agenda in a podcast: ua-cam.com/video/hYnIcSJotNE/v-deo.html
@@androyus True but i'm not obliged to take you seriously if you say what everyone is saying while you refuse to elaborate, you know, like a REVIEW should be.
@@medranodiego8641 The elaboration is right there in the video that I linked in my previous comment 🤷
using the episode title music for the chapter cards was a touch of genius
They were fun and simple to make. If you wanna see my dedication to chapter intros, check out my Cowboy Bebop videos. That was an editing blast!
Watching Wing in Toonami was one of the coolest things that happened as a kid, I was so into it I dressed like Heero all summer vacations haha
❤
A man of culture 🤣
I rewatch the entire thing almost twice a year sad in a way but goddamn is the story still so fun to watch
Thanks for stopping by David!
That’s awesome that you rewatch it so much and still enjoy it. Why do you like this particular Gundam series so much?
Endless waltz is a great Christmas
Gundam Wing really does capture a generation of new Gundam Fans ever since 2000. It’s just a solid good start for those who want to see the first English Dub in the Gundam series.
Even there are fanfics involving Gundam as well. Even a continuing story of Heero Yuy ending up in the Cosmic Era or the Wing Boys get backup from a certain Assault Carrier and it’s five Gundam pilots.
This is probably the best analysis for Gundam Wing I've seen if this series was to ever get a remake it should include each of the pilots back stories in the manga adaptation that would've help flesh them out more
Thanks so much Wing Zero! It means a lot coming from a clear fan of the show. I don’t think we’ll ever get a remake, but you’re right that Glory of Losers would be a good template to base a remake around now that the GW lore has kind of solidified into its final form.
What made you a GW fan?
@@NerdTalkDan Gundam Wing for I'm pretty certain for most in the early 2000's Toonami was the revolutionary starting point into the franchise(in the western side of the world) one of the earlier shows I've watched, just like u like it because of how awesome it is, but re checking it out as an older version of me objectively it's not the best out there in comparison to the other franchise but not the worst neither still feeling Rhythm Emotions:)
@@wingzero-0014 I feel ya buddy. Thanks for sharing your story with us!
@@NerdTalkDan Sure, like to see something from the Universal Century timeline it has some popular shows like Zeta:)
@@wingzero-0014 I’m gonna review Zeta at some point, but the next Gundam related video I do is more likely 0080 or EW. But that won’t be for awhile since I have other video ideas to go through first. But I hope you’ll stay tuned to this channel for more content you might find interesting!
I love Wing; it was the seventh or eighth grade for me among some other greats like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, Dragon Ball Z, Final Fantasy IX, Zelda Majora’s Mask, Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, and Dark Cloud.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Felldoh! It was a real magical time. We were getting an influx of such cool content from Japan. Raise a glass to Toonami and Adult Swim for the memories! If you enjoyed Bebop, I have a video covering it which you might enjoy!
Yes let’s raise a glass indeed, and I will take my happy ass over to your Bebop video 👊🏻
One and the same lol
As a kid, my favorite part was watching Wing Zero and Epyon beat the tar out of each other. As an adult, the bit that really sticks with me is how Trieze beat an army of drones singlehandedly by talking the guy at the control panel into pulling a gun on his CO.
Wing had a lot of these little moments which were amazing. Plot twists or just overly dramatic gestures. Tearing up Relena’s invitation is hilarious, but also kind of one of those memorable moments that lives in the hearts of Gundam fans
I never would have thought i would be watching a 90's history channel level documentary about Gundam Wing. This is awesome! Thank you for making this video.
I was debating making it a 2010s history channel level documentary, but I couldn’t figure out how to work in Nazi aliens making the pyramids. Alas. But seriously, thank you for the kind words. I always want to make these videos at least a bit informative and entertaining, so to have you call it a HC level documentary is a huge complement. I have some other videos in this style which you might be interested in. I hope you’ll check them out! Have a great day!
It's important to distinguish that the Gundam pilots are guerrilla fighters, not terrorists, as their actions are focused on military targets
This was an excellent Retrospective, loved it. I never realised how stereotypical G Gundam was until those four side by side Gundams you showed. I know I’m a bit late to the party, but Gundam Wing is really awesome and this video did it justice.
G Gundam is a bunch of fun! The ethnic stereotypes are pretty funny since there’s nothing really malicious about it.
@@NerdTalkDan Exactly, it was so subtle that it went under my radar, XD
Big agree on the mech design in wing, especially the grunt suits. The ares, mercurius and veyeate, all the tallgeese suits, and all the EW gundams are some of my favorite designs in gundam as a whole
A fellow man of culture!
Yeah, Wing definitely has the best Mech designs in my opinion, arguably some of the best music too...too bad everything else is kinda medicore, at least compared to the rest of the series.
Sorry guys but Titans had best grunts
@@HardtoJedi Baund Doc will never stop being the ugliest mobile suit.
I can’t argue with that! I always liked the Taurus and Serpent suits.
This was a fantastic breakdown of Wing. Loved using Wing's episode intros as your chapter breaks.
Thanks so much for your kind words Shimazusama! You’re one of the few people who picked up on what I was trying to do with those chapter breaks so well done! If you’re a kid of the 90s and 2000s I have a few other videos similar to this which might take you back to those days. Have a great day!
@@NerdTalkDan Yeah your video on Trust and Betrayal sent me here lol my favorite anime movie
For my part, everything surrounding the ZERO System showed the brainwashing side of warfare (especially since both guerrillas like the Gundam 5 and the conventional soldier Zechs were equally affected by it) while also keeping to Wing's idea that violence is a part of humanity that predates politics. I especially liked the parts where Quarte becomes uber extremist to support his cause--even at the expense of the people he took it up for--and how Heero's first run with ZERO had him realize how much harm the Gundam Scientists did to him and, presumably, the other 5.
I'm also under the impression that Zechs and Treize cooked up their Final War together (albeit, without talking to each other), meaning Zechs never actually believed in Colony Supremacy and only wanted to crash Libra into Earth to terrify everyone from the mere idea of war for the rest of history, not abandon Earth. Seems like what he and Treize were talking about the entire time, why Zechs never really seemed on the same page as White Fang and how he helped stop the colony crash when it became apparent that everyone got the message that war sucks. Did I misread all of that?
I will agree that 3 people surviving the epicenter of explosions is ridiculous, though. I also thought Duo's friend looked WAY too similar to Noin. I literal thought Duo's Friend was Noin once or twice.
There is a LOT of lore behind the zero system
It’s essentially an AI system harmonizing with the pilot
I’ve believed for a while this is the next logical step for AI tech, merging with the human mind for complex tasks like advanced space mech combat.
This may be the best video on Gundam Wing yet.
Thanks for the kind words man! If you know any other Gundam Wing fans, you know what to show’em lol. Since you liked this video, I have others you might enjoy so I hope you’ll check them out. Have a great day!
This is an exceptional commentary on Gundam and on warfare. If I had my way, the section about “The Nobility of Sacrifice” would be played at every war college the world over. A great work was done here.
Thank you so much for the kind words! It’s always nice to hear back from viewers who found something which spoke to them in my video. If you have any connections as West Point or Annapolis, feel free to send my video to them to watch in class lol. Have a great day!
Gundam Wing had an outstanding orchestral soundtrack, and cool mobile suit designs. it was my gateway to Gundam I've been enjoying ever since!
Aesthetically GW is just a very solidly put together show. I love the music and animation and glad others feel the same! Have a great day!
If they edit Gundam Wing into monochromatic colours it would go well with older audience, less distraction from the toy-ish colours and leave more room to focus on the politics.
I really liked your analysis, I've watched GW when young and discounted it for the repeative and inplausible fight scene and plot armors. But it will be refreshing indeed to watch it again with a political lense.
As hasty as it ends up being, it's a good entry point.
Hey MZM M! Thanks so much for your comment.
Yeah there were a lot of ways they could’ve tightened up the series, but it is what we got and I think it can be appreciated as a fun entry point to anime for so many of us. I don’t regret it having been such an important part of my formative years. I still love Gundam to this day because of it.
I hope you’ll stop by again!
This is truly well done. So much so that I shared it on the Gundam Explained Discord channel. Thank you for making this video. You just earned yourself a new subscriber. Keep up the great work. 👍🏾
Thank you so much for your kind words and support Lucas. It means so much to me to hear Gundam fans enjoyed this video. In the words of Heero Yuy, Mission: Complete!
@@NerdTalkDan
You're welcome.
I can't wait for you to get into and finish Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans. It and Gundam 00 are spiritual successors to Gundam Wing that approach the plight of child soldiers or former child soldiers from different yet similar angles.
@@LucLightWolf121 yeah 00 will be a trip. I watched it when it was airing and loved it. I’ll get there eventually, but I hope you’ll give my non Gundam related work a chance!
But if you could pick the next Gundam series you’d like to see me cover, any requests?
@@NerdTalkDan Will do.
As far as requests goes: Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory or Mobile Suit Gundam F91 would be interesting to talk about.
You would definitely see the nuances within both stories.
Fun fact about F91 is that it was meant to be a anime television series before that series was scrapped in favor of a compilation film.
That's why the film is so disjointed.
And Stardust Memory is essentially Gundam doing Top Gun in the Universal Century.
@@LucLightWolf121 it’s been a hot minute since I watched 0083. I’m a big fan of the mech designs in that OVA. I’m leaning more towards 0080 as the next Gundam I cover hopefully within the next year or so. It’s just such a beautiful story.
German here, loved the show when it came and it absolutely stuck to me. That theme song is so good, still and forever stuck in my head.
IF ONLY THERE WERE ACTUAL HG OR EVEN RG MOOK SUITS! I'd pay a LOT for a good HG Aeris kit! Love that suit so much!
Also good you point the child soldiers out and how damaged they are underneath.
Thanks giving full info about Gundam Wing. When i was a Kid I'm very Fan on this TV Series 😊
I’m hope if brought back some good memories! Have an awesome day!
@@NerdTalkDan True you brought Happy Memories on your Content. And very satisfied about you Content. Thank you again ☺
love the fair critque of a childhood show, well done!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Wow this is a deep video. I feel this is a masters thesis on Gundam in video form. Really good stuff, you brought me back almost 25 years
I’m glad you enjoyed it! If I can help reconnect a viewer with a piece of their childhood then I’d say mission accomplished lol. If you enjoyed this video, I have similar ones which cover this era of anime history, so I hope you’ll check them out!
Why didn't I discover your channel sooner. Thank you for such a well-researched and well-presented video essay.
Gundam Wing was also my first exposure to Gundam, and it introduced the franchise in such a glorious way that I remain a faithful fan to this day. People have already commented on all the good things, so I will just add a little more.
The proof that you clearly understand this series is when you start talking about the Mook Suits (Although I prefer Grunts ). You specifically show the scenes of the Torrington Base battle from Gundam Unicorn, which everyone who watches it knows too well-they are one of the best depictions of how cool Mook Suits are.
Grunt suit superiority! What’re your best grunts across the franchise?
@NerdTalkDan Not OP but I'll always have love the design of the mass production Zaku II.
Interestingly the points I latch onto I have seen no one analyze or discuss so might make a podcast about this show.
1. Autonomous weapons
2. Military industrial complex
3. Pacifism and self-defense
4. Idealism and philosophy
5. How rich nobles continue to rule the world
6. Characters who are defined by their emotions.
7. Melodrama
8. Showing war from the perspective of terrorist/guerrillas.
This childhood iconic masterpiece is what introduced me to gundam Seed then Seed Destiny, naturally when i watched GW dub i didn’t understand much but what captivated by art style and combat years later i rewatched it and deeply loved the lore and hidden messages which prepared me for Seed series.
Seed never didn’t for me. Would you say it’s worth a watch?
I remember watching Gundam Wing before 2000. I was in Jr high in the mid 90's and watched it. I remember being frustrated because I felt like episodes were aired out of order or I could never catch the next episode.
The struggle was real!
That thumbnail 🔥😭
Thanks dude!
Wing and Iron blooded orphans are the best imo. They’re incredible. I’d do horrible things for a remake of Wing in todays amazing animation
It would be nice, but I don’t think they’d ever do more than an OVA or some clips for a mobile game like Engage lol
Gundam Wing Blow my mind as a kid.. It's Serious Cute and Brutal.. Netflix doing live Action Gundam? But not Wing? That would be silly.. Western Audience still loved Gundam wing.. The Pilots the Mecha The Music are So Dope!
Hey Arnold! Thanks for stopping by and commenting. It’s got a great sense of style that’s for sure!
They should not do a live action of any Gundam shows it would be trash as fuck same as power rangers DBZ street fighter mortal kombat sonic Mario and all the rest...
Keep it in animation format and redrop the whole series
Honestly after watching the show as a kid in 2000 and seeing other Gundam shows and other tv shows... watching it again as an adult... I actually like it better. The one message I got out of the show that made it different than other Gundam shows... the other shows I've seen you have a naive, innocent pilot who has friends and loses them and realizes war is terrible. Gundam Wing skips that and gives you characters who already know war is terrible, who have already done horrible things, who have already lost people. There doesn't need to be a lot of character deaths to show the audience 'war is bad' when the lead character is clearly someone utterly broken by war and what he's done to the point he tries to kill himself 4 times in the first few episodes just so his miserable life as a soldier can finally end. Heero starts the show LOOKING TO DIE. Looking for any excuse to kill himself. And by the end of the show when he's shooting down Libra, he's not using that as an excuse to die, he's not dying to right his past sins, he's not committed to saving everyone even if it kills him... he's saying he'll survive, he'll keep living, he'll keep living life after this. That to me was the real message. You can lose everything, you can do horrible things, you can lose your childhood, lose your innocence, lose your soul... you can want to die because living is so miserable... and you can then find people, a cause, friends, someone special... who make you want to keep living.
Honestly I feel killing off any more characters than they did would cheapen it. All the pilots know loss already, all the soldiers know loss already. The civillians were shown loss through the show already. It was a lesson they already knew and understood.
Same here. Killing characters seems to be a go to tool for most writers kinda cliche to me now
On that note of him taking down Libra at the end, the original Japanese dialogue is, "I will NOT die", instead of the English dub, "I will survive". So he clearly doesn't wanna die
Gundam Wing has made me to fall in love with the GUndam universe.
I think it was an entry point for a whole generation of us! Weird to think how impactful it was.
just Communication has been one of my favorite songs for so long.
It slaps. Can’t forget Rhythm Emotion or White Reflection though
Gundam Wing was my Game of Thrones as a kid.
This is the best video I've seen on Gundam Wing. Subbed
Thanks so much for the kind words and support. If you know any other Gundam fans, you know where to send’em!
Wing was the first Gundam series I watched, it good me hooked
I think it was for a lot of us and man what a good choice it was. The mercy alone blew my mind lol
Nice to get a retrospective from someone who watched the show as a kid like I did
It was a great time to grow up
I don't care if you call it nostalgia or rose tinted glasses
I'm still endlessly replaying in my memory ♡
Nothing wrong with looking back on things from your formative years every once in awhile! Hope the video gives you something to think about on your next rewatch. Have a great day!
Why'd you have to put the puppy shot in? Gets me every time.
Mission Accomplished 😆
Those chapter intros are chef’s kiss
If you like those, check out the chapter intros for my Bebop video! Editing the chapter intros are some of my favorite parts of the editing process! Thanks for stopping by if you enjoyed this video, I have others which might strike your fancy.
I really enjoyed your video! I use to watch Gundam Wing in high school on Tunami.
Glad you enjoyed it buddy! I have a few similar videos you might enjoy on anime
I’ve always been a bit standoffish to the genre of Mecha. The large scale battles with robots turned me off for some reason. I do enjoy the themes youve touched on in the video though. But thanks to Code Geass and Gurren Lagann I do feel as though it’s probably not as bad as I imagine it to be. I should def give at least Wing a shot~
Great video as always Dan
I feel ya Blink. It’s not the genre for everyone, but there’s a lot of variety in the mecha genre so you’ll definitely find something interesting if you look. That said, I don’t recommend Wing as an entry point for you. I think you might enjoy some of the other series before this one. 0080 is a great start and short!
Thanks again for lending your voice to this project. You’re one of my defacto people to call when I need a VA!
the music they used to preview the next episode was also pretty fire
Most of the BGM of this series is pretty amazing!
Thanks for taking my favorite show when i was a kid seriously. Ive always felt this show deserved a deep dive, its got its flaws and camp for sure but it does a lot right and i love it to this day.
It’s got a lot to love and a lot to laugh at. It’s sort of peak 90s. I hope this vid inspires you to do a rewatch and view the show from a new standpoint. Have a great day!
I don’t recall Gundam Wing looking so clear and smooth.
@@xwarped83 HD version!
Gundam Wing is still one of my favorites next to Turn A best era of gundam imo.
I think it’s the same way for a lot of people! Were you one of the kids who caught it during the first airing in 2000?
Zeta and Turn A are the best.
This is probably one of the best retrospectives on wing I’ve seen
I appreciate the kind words! It was great to revisit such a pivotal part of many of our childhoods. If you enjoyed it, I have a few other vids which you might enjoy so I hope you’ll stop by and take a look! Have a great day!
@@NerdTalkDan I did and I’m gunna have to check out the rest of the channel
Yeah man keep this up and you'll go far on YT. Just found your channel and you sir earned a sub!
Hey Corry! Thanks for stopping by and the kind words. I’m happy to have you in this growing community!
Th reason I fell in love with Wing was the seriousness of it all. So much praise to Toonami for introducing this to us back in the day. This and when they aired 08th MS Team.
It was a good choice for the first one to air. The model kids alone were just so great lol
When this first came to Toonami, I was too young to appreciate it beyond "Man that robot looks cool!" When I rewatched it later the themes sunk in more. I get what you mean about it only being pseudo philosophical but still one of my favorites from the Gundam franchise.
Yeah it’s a fun show and I think one which has the a grudging respect in the Gundam community if only for the badass suits it made!
Would love to see a video on G Gundam as it was the show that got myself into Gundam in the early 00’s still watching and building model kits with my kids to this day
That’s in the queue for sure! Until it’s made, I have some other videos covering anime from this era which might hold you over! Have a great day and thanks for stopping by!
Excellent work on this one my man. Thanks for your efforts!
Thanks so much! I’m glad to hear you enjoyed it
Last Impression lol. I see what you did there. Great retrospective on the show.
Haha glad you enjoyed it buddy
Chapter4 is why I loved GW (and where the online moniker I've used for over 20 years came from). It was refreshing, and is still somewhat rare decades later, to see media with such a blatant anti-war stance NOT take the angle of denigrating soldiers while also not pushing the then-emergent attitude that computers and autonomous weapons would defend us without needing to put men and women in harm's way. While some of Treize's speeches were grandiose and overly flowered, they very eloquently made the case that by removing the risk of loss in a war, you make it easier to sell and more likely to occur- which, counter-intuitively, puts more lives at risk, as the weapons become deadlier and more widespread as the 'risk' is lessened. He at first seems to be trying to glorify soldiers, but when you really listen to what he's saying, and especially on a rewatch after knowing the full arc of the plotline, you eventually realize that he knows removing the 'personal face' of war, by removing the soldiers, actually puts everyone at risk, as it's the soldiers' humanity, compassion, and ability to make decisions based on morality that actually keep people safe, while simultaneously realizing that if war is reduced to computers vs. computers, then people don't fear it as much since it's not their loved ones going off to do the fighting- and only by making people realize how much they stand to lose can you truly prevent wars. not through fear and 'strength', but by appealing to humanity and morality. I doubt it will ever actually work, but it's the most noble and realistic form of Pacifism I've ever seen espoused in mass media.
Thanks for your write up and analysis! It’s always good to hear what other fans have to say. GW was certainly ambitious in the topics it wanted to discuss.
Great video! more Gundam series please.
Hey RedTeam! Thanks so much for commenting. There’s more Gundam in the queue so stay tuned. Since you requested it specifically, I’ll let you in on the next Gundam video (although not the next video to be made) Gundam 0080 War in the Pocket is probably the next Gundam work!
I still re-watch Endless Waltz every few years, just an incredible piece of anime!!!
Endless Waltz isn't a bad looking movie, but the plot is equally nonsensical as the show.
The Mecha redesigns alone were just top tier
This was a truly magnificent breakdown.
To me, it is the best video about Gundam Wing. You feel the heart and soul put into the video.
Bravo. 🫶
Thanks for the kind words Trooper. It was a work for fans by a fan so hearing good things from you guys has been great! If you enjoyed it, don’t forget to check out my other videos on this era of Cartoon Network history!
Very deep so this in middle school going to high school since I was trying to find the fist serous first to last but no luck I saw this and follow most of the part thank you to finish the puzzel for me great review as all ways.
Thanks always for your continued support macewbee!
thank you for allowing me to reminisce 🙂↔️ born in ‘87 i was a prime fan of this series in the exact moment of history you mention. i remember the release on toonami and all the prior animes along with it.
I’m glad I could help you reconnect with such an awesome part of our childhoods! It was a really amazing time to be a kid. If you like this era, I have a few other videos which may pique your interest! Hope you’ll check them out. Have a great day!
I'm doing a watch through of Gundam, one UC and one nonUC at a time. Just finished 00, and almost done with ZZ. Unintentionally watched Wing and 00 back to back. Got a little exhausted from the plot armored emo boys. 00 really is just an improved remake of Wing.
GW
Pros
- Mech designs, including some of my favorite MP and MD designs (Aries 💯)
- Some of the best music in Gundam
- Character design and overall aesthetic
Cons
- Emotionless/boring characters
- Confusing or non-existant motivations
- Muddy politics, ideas on how to achieve peace (Quatre seems to be the only one with any sense)
- The most plot armor ever, even some of the few characters that 'die' end up living.
00
Pros
- Interesting characters
- Clearer motivations
- More focus on child soldiers, but IBO is better (most Gundam series kinda brush that under the rug)
- More realistic politics and path to peace (if still unrealistic)
- Less plot armor
Cons
- But still a decent amount of plot armor
- Some of the worst overall mech designs in Gundam (Exia and 00 are some exceptions)
- Too much too fast, can take a second to figure out who is who, or what is happening
- Too many characters in general, long time for some payoffs and a few are not even needed (Wang Liu Mei especially)
That’s an awesome write up! I’m a big fan of 00 so I appreciate your comparison. Someone in the fandom wrote “Wing walked so 00 could run” and I think that makes so much sense!
What episode of GW is the music in 21:26-22:37 from?
The background music in this masterpiece of an anime is epic.
Great review and thanks for the cool intro of two - mix of the OST and I am still shocked that is a duo I was thinking it was like a 4 or 5 peace band 😅
Haha Two Mix is a JPop legend for sure.
Gundam Wing was the shit to me as a kid. Never miss an episode and rewatching it on Crunchyroll app after 25 years later. Never gets old 😎😎😎😎😎
It’s a fun but if nostalgia for sure!
Great analysis. Though I disagree with a few of your perspectives (mostly because I interpret some ideas differently), this is a great analytical breakdown of a series I hold in very high regard. To this day, I apply some of the philosophical points in the series in my life. Also, great quote from Robert Heinlein. Starship Troopers is my favorite book. I still go back and re-read it from time to time. Thank you for creating this video. I realize it's over a year old. I'm glad the algorithm pulled it into my feed.
Thank you for stopping by and commenting! For sure, I’m not saying mine is the only interpretation so I’m always happy to hear from you guys about how you view the work. Meeting of the minds with people who love the same media is a lot of fun! That ST quote is a pretty good one. I love the novel as well and have been working on my next script which is discussing it! I hope you’ll take a watch when I finish. Until then, the YT channel Knowing Better did an excellent video on the topic so I hope you’ll check him out and tell him I sent ya!
@NerdTalkDan I will be waiting for that video to come out.
I loved this show. Also, the action figures were incredibly high quality. They felt expensive and were well-detailed.
The merch that we got because of this show was wild. The model kids and action figures were amazing. Which ones did you have?
@@NerdTalkDan of the figures I believe I had Sandrock (which was my favorite for reasons I can’t explain), Heavy Arms, and the version of Shenlong from Endless Waltz that I think may have had a different name. My brother had EW Deathscythe and Epyon. Of the models we had Vayeate, Mercurius, and Tallgeese. I think I may have also had the Tallgeese III action figure.
When I see the mobile doll heads, Ive always been reminded of those little bitty portable TV's, they were like 3 in and black and white, had a small metal antenna, got like 2 channels lol
My dad did security on the weekends and had one to take with him
I always wanted one of those as a kid! TV on the go? It seemed like magic
Ikr, so did I! So small, it was utter wizardy! Phew... TV's and various screens really have come a LONG ASS WAY lol
At this point Heero might just be immortal. Have you counted the times his accidents would have killed a lesser man?
FOUR or maybe even five times in the first three episodes.
Episode one: He falls from space Dead on impact. Even sexy Sechs said so.
Also Episode one: Suicide by suit bomb (Ever noticed how often he tries to blow up his suit and just fails?)
Episode two: Several gunshot wounds to his extremities. None hit any vital organs but there were several of them. Plus it was a hectic situation making his heart beat and him lose a fatal amount of blood fast.
Also Episode two: He decided to drown for a bit.
Episode three: Jumped out of the side of a building. Which was situated on top of a cliff.
Screw gundamium. They should coat the Gundams in whatever his plotarmor is made of!
Sometimes he clearly died and then an episode or two later it's just "Well he got better."
Floating face down in the water in Episode 2? That was a floating corpse. Or when he blew up his Gundam. The core is near the cockpit. That explosion means certain death. Then he fell like 10 meters. But unlike his jump out of a building he did not somehow catch himself. He did break his fall though. With his face. On the ground. The blank stare with the empty eyes. That was a dead body. I mean Trowa even left him in Heavy Arms' Hand, which was towed to a truck instead of placing him in the drivers cabin. Who would do that do a still living, but mortally wounded person?
In my opinion he's the most ridiculously overpowered character in Anime history. I know there's always Saitama and Goku and whoever else. But Those are superhuman figures in fantasy worlds. Gundam aims to be very realistic. (Blisfully ignoring the glory that is G-Gundam here for the sake of argument) Even the space colonies are based on real ideas. And in a setting like that i know of no other situation where people just walk off deaths.
It became a running gag among friends who know G Wing. If some character is hyped as the best and strongest ever we top it off with "he probably also punched Heero in the face."
For real! I mean he should’ve been dead pretty much episode 2 from drowning. I had a joke in one of my first drafts where I pointed out how Duo and Relena left him face down in the ocean for a REALLY long time for dramatic effect. That’s where my line “it takes itself seriously and perhaps too seriously” came from.
To think, death keeps war itself restrained. That it cannot become more of a monster than it is.
Respectfully, while Wing is a bit sloppy here and there i resonate with it far more than most of the other series i have seen. Each one felt missing in something i was satisfied with Wing. I could watch any other series and feel put off but always return to Wing entertained. I honestly cant explain it and i dont think its the nostalgia.
This is crazy deep narration !! Amazing, and of course amazing television show
Thanks for stopping by and your kind words. If you enjoyed this video, you might enjoy some of my other anime coverage videos!
Great Intro!
Thank you kindly! It was fun to try and recreate such an iconic intro sequence.
Wow, great review!
Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed it. If you wanna see more videos in this style, I have a few which you might enjoy. Check ‘em out!
Gundam Wing holds a close place in my heart.
I’m glad to hear it! Did you grow up in the Toonami and AS era as well?
Going the O.Z. Sympathizer! J/k solid video dude. 🤙
Treize Faction forever! Thanks for stopping by. Glad you enjoyed the video!
id love to see what gundam wing could be if they where given time to make a full show out of it some thing like 3 season long and really leaned into the things that made wing so good
A multi season single series of Gundam would be something to see. Give things a moment to breathe
Well written and executed! This was a good hour of fun!
Thanks for the kind words! If you enjoyed this one, I have a few other vids you might be interested in! Hope you’ll check’em out!
@@NerdTalkDan I shure will check em all out!
I wonder of a modern localization would clean up some of the issues with GW. I absolutely love this show....would be cool to see a re-release with a new localization or a full on remake.
It would be interesting to take a look at. We get such high quality translation and localization nowadays, but I think part of the charm of the 90s and 2000s was this slightly weird stuff that sneaks in.
Im on my rewatched of gundam wing after two decades of its initial broadcast. I remeber cool robot fights.
As an adult im seeing the small human moments that eyaxh character shows.
It’s always fun to revisit the stuff you loved as a kid with the experience of age. It makes life a little more fun to pick up on stuff and see how our own perspectives have changed!
I remember this one and Toonami.
What an time to be a kid! Thanks so much for stopping by and commenting!
Will always be might Favorite Gundam, and favorite Anime, just a classic in my heart. G gundam, Ruroni Kenshin, YuYu Hakusu, Outlaw Staw, Cowboy bebop, samurai Champloo
Love em all Gundam Wing is at the top
The classic lineup from Toonami and Midnight Run!
Thanks for making this video... Great analysis BTW...
we really need this show to adapt the Glory of losers manga. just to see the katoki style gundams animated would be heaven
That would be the dream. Imagine a full series with EW quality animation?
@@NerdTalkDan no idea why they havent when ive heard witch was a big bomb
Being 38 I cannot put into words the impact this anime had on me when I was 14 I also cannot put into words the impact 9/11 had on me when I was 15 and living in New York City a year after watching all of Gundam Wing an Endless Waltz
It was a scary time in America and to be in NYC when that happened must have been unimaginably frightening. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your story with us.
one of the things that have come to mind about this show recently was reason the soldiers were always taken out so easily is because they dont have any true combat experience
i mean before the gundams show up who were they fighting?
That’s a good thought! UESA essentially had the monopoly on mobile suits so they would usually be fighting against more traditional munitions and armor such as tanks. So fighting another mobile suit outside rare cases may have been something most MS pilots never experienced. Then they have to adapt not only to MS v MS combat, but against these monster machines made of near indestructible metal? It don’t envy them lol.
I’m going to rewatch Gundam wing after I finish Samurai champloo. I did the same G Gundam some years back. I loved Domon and his Shining burning finger lol, but I know Hero was real a badass.
Heero was an OG anime badass for sure. Just your run of the mill…child…super soldier lol. But we gotta hand it to Domon for ending up in one of the healthiest and loving relationships in all of Gundam. And that’s badass too
On the discussion of plot armor, it always struck me as odd when Tuberoff decided to capture Wufei and Shenlong, then literally an episode later he chastises one of the scientists for keeping the Gundam it around. Then 1 episode later, he questions to Lady Une why they’re still keeping the captured Gundam pilots alive(and later in the episode he tries to kill them). Like they totally changed his character for 1 scene just to keep Wufei alive. 😂
Still love Gundam Wing though!
All very good questions which I can answer with …hey look over there Trowa is still alive!
It changed my life
There's not enough love for Epyon. It's so beautiful. 😢😢😢
There was a RG release of the Epyon which is straight up gorgeous.