Mobile Suit Gundam Wing
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing | |
File:Gundamw.jpg | |
Genre | Military science fiction |
---|---|
Anime | |
Directed by | Masashi Ikeda |
Studio | Sunrise |
Released | April 7, 1995 – March 29, 1996 |
Anime | |
Gundam Wing: Operation Meteor | |
Directed by | Masashi Ikeda |
Studio | Sunrise |
Released | April 25, 1996 – October 10, 1996 |
Manga | |
Illustrated by | Koichi Tokita |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | TokyoPop |
Magazine | Comic Bom Bom |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Original run | April 1995 – April 1996 |
Volumes | 3 |
Manga | |
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Battlefield Of Pacifists | |
Illustrated by | Koichi Tokita |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | TokyoPop |
Magazine | Haoh Magazine, Comic Bom Bom |
Demographic | Shōnen |
Original run | 1997 – present |
Volumes | 1 |
Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, known in Japan as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing (新機動戦記ガンダムW, Shin Kidō Senki Gandamu Uingu),[1] was an anime series in the mecha genre, and is one of the alternate universe Gundam series, taking place in the After Colony timeline. It is the second alternate universe in the Gundam media franchise, following Mobile Fighter G Gundam. The plot centers around a war between Earth and its colonies in space; however, in contrast to the Universal Century continuity, the Gundams in Wing are more closely allied to each other than they are to any particular side in the conflict unfolding around them.
The series aired across Japan on the terrestrial TV Asahi network and the anime satellite television network, Animax. The series ran for forty-nine half-hour episodes, beginning on April 7, 1995 and ending on March 29, 1996. Masashi Ikeda was the overall director of the series. Katsuyuki Sumizawa (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers) wrote the scenario for the series and was one of three official script-writers, along with Akemi Omode and Katsuhiko Chiba. Ikeda wrote one script himself and one with Omode and one with Sumizawa. Toshifumi Kawase also wrote three scripts in the latter part of the first half of the series. Kō Ōtani composed the music. The series was loosely based on the original 1979 Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam, created by Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate. Also, Gundam Wing was the first anime in the Gundam franchise to be dubbed and released in tagalog, airing on GMA 7 in the Philippines during the late 1999 to 2000 period. It then aired on Cartoon Network in the United States [2] and is credited with single-handedly popularizing the Gundam metaseries among the Western audiences.[3] Since then, the series has also been dubbed into French, German, Arabic, Spanish, Malay and Portuguese.
Background
Mankind has colonized space (with clusters of colonies at each of the five Earth-Moon Lagrange points), and, down on the Earth, the nations have united as the United Earth Sphere Alliance. The Alliance rules the colonies with an iron fist. The colonies desire a peaceful resolution to the situation, joining together in a movement headed by the pacifist Heero Yuy. In the year After Colony 175, Yuy is shot dead by an assassin (believed to be Odin Lowe), forcing the colonies to search for other paths to peace. The assassination also prompts five disaffected scientists from the Organization of Zodiac, much more commonly referred to as OZ, to turn rogue after the completion of the mobile suit prototype Tallgeese.
Plot
The story of Gundam Wing begins in the year After Colony 195, with the start of "Operation: Meteor", the scientists' plan for revenge against the OZ military organization. The operation involves five young boys who have each been chosen and trained by one of the five rogue scientists, then sent to Earth independently in extremely advanced mobile suits, one designed by each of the scientists, known as "Gundams". Their mobile suits are called Gundams because they are constructed from a rare and astonishingly durable material known as Gundanium alloy, which can only be created in outer space.
The five Gundam Pilots — Heero Yuy (an alias, not to be confused with the assassinated leader), Duo Maxwell (also an alias), Trowa Barton (another alias, he was previously known as Nanashi (No-Name)), Quatre Raberba Winner, and Chang Wufei — originally have no knowledge of each others' existence. On first meeting any of the other five, each pilot believes the others to be enemy pilots in new OZ mobile suit designs. Once the young pilots realize that they have the same objective of destroying OZ (and in some cases the same mission), they band together to help each other complete their goals.
Media information
Gundam Wing was very popular in Japan during its run. After the show ended, two OVAs, compiling various scenes from the series along with a few minutes of new footage, were released in 1996 as Gundam Wing: Operation Meteor I and II. A three-volume OVA series, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, was produced in 1997 as a sequel to the TV series; plot-wise, it brought the After-Colony saga to a close. In 1998 a movie version of the OVA series was made, with new footage and a different ending (Last Impression).
Gundam Wing had a run on Cartoon Network's Toonami, premiering on Monday, March 6, 2000 at 5:30 PM EST. In the promos leading up to the broadcast, Peter Cullen narrated the back story, evoking memories of Voltron's opening credits. It was broadcast in two formats; an edited version shown in the daytime and an uncut version aired at night. Examples of the edits included the removal of blood, obscene language, and the word kill being replaced by the word destroy, though the word "death" was mostly left intact. (This was extended to Duo's nickname, "The God of Death", with it being changed to "The Great Destroyer", forcing the alteration of two episode titles.) The uncut version, shown at midnight, was completely unedited - a first for Cartoon Network, which at the time had never shown an unedited anime. Reception for the uncut version was a factor in the eventual creation of Adult Swim, which joined the network on September 2, 2001.
Despite the editing, Gundam Wing was a huge success in North America, and along with Dragon Ball Z, led to a rise of popularity in anime throughout the early 2000s. All Gundam Wing episodes have been released on VHS and DVD in the US. Differences between the two video systems is that the episodes on VHS contain the edited version shown on Cartoon Network while the episodes on DVD contain the unedited version and each volume is labeled "Operation 1-10." Endless Waltz was also dubbed and shown on Cartoon Network and was later released on a DVD that contains both the OVA and movie versions.
Manga sidestories have also been produced. A prequel, detailing the events leading up to the launch of the Gundams to Earth, is Episode Zero. Several sequel manga, occurring between Gundam Wing and Endless Waltz have been written, titled, Gundam Wing: Blind Target, Gundam Wing: Ground Zero,and Battlefield of Pacifists. A coincident storyline is presented in Last Outpost (G-Unit). The Gundam Wing, Battlefield of Pacifists, and Endless Waltz manga series are published in English by TOKYOPOP, while Blind Target, Ground Zero, and Episode Zero are published by Viz Communications. Another sequel manga detailing the future of the colonies entitled New Mobile Report Gundam Wing Sidestory: Tiel's Impulse was printed in 1998 and has not been published in America.
In 1996 a fighting game called Gundam Wing: Endless Duel was released for the Super Famicom in Japan. The game was never released in the United States or Europe, but has gained some popularity through the emulation of older video games. Since then, Gundam Wing had appeared in several entries in the Super Robot Wars series, its number of appearances are second only to the Universal Century. Gundam Wing also appeared in all of the titles of Another Century's Episode, with all five Gundam pilots and Zechs Merquise using their respective machines in Another Century's Episode 1 and 2, and Heero Yuy being the only one present in Another Century's Episode 3.
Like most Gundam works, Gundam Wing has also appeared in the SD Gundam sub-franchise. It was the main focus for Musha Senki and the basis for Superior Defender Gundam Force's interpretation of Lacroa, established hub of the Knight Gundam series.
Cast and characters
Character | Japanese Actor | English Actor |
---|---|---|
Heero Yuy | Hikaru Midorikawa | Mark Hildreth |
Relena Peacecraft | Akiko Yajima | Lisa Ann Beley |
Duo Maxwell | Toshihiko Seki | Scott McNeil |
Trowa Barton | Shigeru Nakahara | Kirby Morrow |
Quatre Raberba Winner | Ai Orikasa | Brad Swaile |
Chang Wufei | Ryuuzou Ishino | Ted Cole |
Zechs Merquise | Takehito Koyasu | Brian Drummond |
Treize Khushrenada | Ryotaro Okiayu | David Kaye |
Lucrezia Noin | Chisa Yokoyama | Saffron Henderson |
Lady Une | Sayuri Yamauchi | Enuka Okuma |
Catherine Bloom | Saori Suzuki | Moneca Stori & Cathy Weseluck[4] |
Sally Po | Yumi Touma | Moneca Stori & Samantha Ferris [5] |
Hilde Schbeiker | Kae Araki | Marcy Goldberg |
Dorothy Catalonia | Naoko Matsui | Cathy Weseluck |
Duke Dermail | Osamu Kato | Jim Byrnes |
Quinze | Osamu Ichikawa | David Mackay |
Howard | Hiroshi Ishida | Ward Perry |
Doctor J | Minoru Inaba | Dave Ward |
Narrator | Akio Ohtsuka | Campbell Lane |
Openings, endings, and insert songs
- Openings
- JUST COMMUNICATION by Two-Mix (ep. 1-40) (YTV Broadcast: 1-49)
- RHYTHM EMOTION by Two-Mix (ep. 41-49)
- Ending
- It's Just Love! by Rumi Onishi (ep. 1-49)
- Just Communication (Instrumental Version) by Kō Ōtani (Toonami Broadcast, ep. 1-49; the credits aired over an amended version of the show's first opening)
- Insert songs
Footnotes
- ^ The translation New Mobile Report Gundam Wing is used by the R2 DVD releases in Japan, and thus is used extensively by the English-language fanbase in order to differentiate it from the Universal Century Gundam series. While the use of the term "report" in the title is not necessarily incorrect, it does not convey the full meaning of the original-language terminology. The Japanese word senki (戦記) has a specific meaning of "military history." Some official translations in the past have used the translation New Mobile War Chronicle Gundam Wing as well, and some of the official art uses The New Mobile History Gundam Wing, and at least one Japanese book has used Mobile Suit Gundam Wing.
- ^ "New Mobile Report Gundam Wing". Mecha Anime HQ.com. Retrieved 2007-02-14.
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(help) - ^ Oppliger, John (2007-10-12). "Ask John: Which Gundam Series Have Had the Most Impact on Anime?". AnimeNation. Retrieved 2007-10-26.
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(help) - ^ Moneca Stori voices Catherine Bloom throughout the series. Cathy Weseluck voices the character in Endless Waltz.
- ^ Moneca Stori voiced Sally Po throughout episodes 3 to 12 of the English dub. Samantha Ferris, who had previously voiced minor characters in the anime, voiced the character from episode 20 until the end of the series, and in Endless Waltz.
See also
- List of Gundam Wing Episodes
- List of minor mobile suits in Gundam Wing
- Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
- After Colony Timeline
- After Colony Nations and Factions
- After Colony Mobile Units
- After Colony Technology
- After Colony list of characters
External links
- The official website of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (English)
- Template:Ja icon Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Official Web (Japanese)
- Mobile Suit Gundam Wing ({{{type}}}) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- AboutGundamWing.com - An archive of Gundam Wing transcript and reference information