Happy 28th Anniversary To Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

This series within Bandai Namco’s Gundam franchise became a hit with Western audiences through Cartoon Network’s Toonami.

Any fan of the mecha anime should be familiar with Sunrise’s (currently named Bandai Namco Filmworks) Gundam franchise which is virtually a household name in the anime world. It is certainly one of my favorite franchises to date and I’m looking forward to the second season of Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch of Mercury. The popular franchise began with the “Universal Century” (U.C) timeline through Mobile Suit Gundam which aired from 1979 until 1980 for a total of 43 episodes.

The one series that gained a lot of popularity in the West, especially in North America, was Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. I was introduced to the series in 2000, near the end of my high school senior year, by Cartoon Network’s Toonami Block. I have one of my uncles to thank for getting the DirecTV service for my grandmother and me.

Watching Gundam Wing on Toonami was something I looked forward to when I got home from school, all I had to do was wait until 5 o’clock in the afternoon. I would be treated to some of the most intense robot battles. This series pulled me deeper into the franchise and drove me to research the differences between the series, especially the differences in timelines.

After graduation, during my 1-week vacation in Atlanta, I returned to my hotel room before five to catch up on Gundam Wing.

Gundam Wing was my gateway into the franchise.

The first episode aired in Japan on April 7th, 1995, 28 years ago, which makes it the 28th anniversary of the series. In two years, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing will be f — king 30 years old. This remains one of my favorite series though I wished its popularity was as strong as that of Cowboy Bebop, which recently celebrated its 25th anniversary.

While the original series takes place in the U.C. era, Gundam Wing takes place in the “After Colony” (A.C) era. In the A.C era, humankind colonized space (they have yet to colonize the other planets) and live on a total of five space colonies that are located on the Earth-Moon Lagrange points. This is significant because the five main heroes of the series are each from one of the five individual space colonies.

Even though humankind has colonized space, Earth remains in control.

This is the inverse of Mobile Suit Gundam in which the Duchy of Zeon, the outer space empire, is more powerful than Earth’s forces.

Earth’s nations, in order to exert their power over the colonies, form the United Earth Sphere Alliance.

The colonies get tired and frustrated with Earth’s oppression, leading a social movement headed by a known pacifist named Heero Yuy.

In A.C 175, Yuy is assassinated. The assassination is orchestrated by a secret group known as the Order of the Zodiac (O.Z.). 20 years later in A.C 195, five scientists from the five individual space colonies individually recruit teenage boys and train them to take on O.Z.

The five boys are each given a special mobile suit, the titular “Gundam,” which is constructed from a uniquely rare alloy called “Gundanium.” The five pilots are initially unaware of each other’s existence or mission but they ultimately come together in order to fight O.Z and free the colonies from Earth’s oppressive rule.

The five young boys control unique Gundams and have unique skills.

Heero Yuy, who pilots multiple Gundams before ultimately taking ownership of Wing Zero, is the combat expert. He’s my favorite protagonist of the series solely because of not being swayed by the peer pressure of having to feel honored for being the subject of attraction by the school’s most popular girl.

Duo Maxwell, a boy of Indigenous American heritage, dresses like a preacher and calls himself the “God of Death.” He controls the Deathscythe Gundam and is a skilled salvager.

Trowa Barton, a boy of unknown origin, is a skilled gymnast who was adopted by a traveling circus. He controls the Heavy Arms Gundam which I found interesting.

Quatre Raberba Winner, a boy of Arab heritage, is a boy who comes from a wealthy family. He controls the Sandrock Gundam and is a skilled leader.

Chang Wufei, a boy of Chinese heritage, is a boy who comes from a bloodline of strong warriors. He controls the Gundam Shenlong and is a skilled martial artist, though his brash and impulsive approach works against him.

I thought the Gundams were awesome but my favorite Gundam in the series had to be the Epyon Gundam that was originally piloted by Heero but handed over to Zechs Merquise, one of the main antagonists of the show.

The five young pilots are sent on their own individual missions and have no knowledge of each other, but they eventually cross paths. Some encounters are friendly and some encounters are hostile. The synergy that the five pilots have does not happen overnight.

They’ll cross paths with people who become valuable friends or strong enemies which teaches the valuable moral lesson that nothing is black and white.

The story has layers of depth that are slowly peeled with each episode. The battle between the Gundam pilots and O.Z. ultimately leads to something bigger at the end.

There’s so much political intrigue as O.Z. is the secret force behind Earth’s oppression of the space colonies. O.Z, itself, is supported by the Romefeller Foundation. I came to appreciate that nugget of knowledge when I grew older and developed an interest in political science. I enjoyed the mecha combat when I was younger, which I still enjoy today, but now appreciate the depths of intellectual value that Gundam Wing provides.

This is a show I would suggest to anyone majoring in political science.

The music, too, played an important part in the series. I looked forward to listening to “Rhythm Emotion” and “Just Communication” every time I watched the series. Once I installed Napster on my computer, I immediately downloaded those two tracks and burned them onto a CD that I could listen to all the time.

When I listened to the ending theme for the film sequel Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, I wanted to see the movie so badly, that I immediately tuned to Saturday night’s Toonami block to watch the film.

The franchise expanded beyond the series and film through manga series, novels, and video games.

I learned that the English dubbing for Gundam Wing could have been done by different actors. At a reunion dinner for the main cast of Cowboy Bebop’s English dub, with Mary Elizabeth McGlynn (the voice of Julia) joining them, McGlynn mentioned a “drought” in English dubbing jobs that lasted for a couple of years.

The reason is that the voice actors voted for an increased pay bump per line and to unionize at the same time. McGlynn’s fears were founded and confirmed as studios such as Sunrise (which also produced Cowboy Bebop) ditched California and shipped the jobs to Canada, where the majority of the Gundam franchise’s English dubbing is done today.

The video of the reunion dinner is in the article below.

The migration of the dubbing work to Canada ultimately led to the creation of Ocean Productions which is famously known for the dubbing behind Inuyasha and the early episodes of Dragon Ball Z (before it was re-dubbed with new actors).

If you haven’t seen the series yet, you can stream it on Crunchyroll.