Welcome to Gundam
Month dear readers. This has been
requested for some time now, not just for me to take a break from reviewing a
series but also to do some coverage on the Anime Saga that provides part of my
namesake lol. So after doing a poll a
little while ago, the obvious conclusion was reached as to where I should start
with these reviews. So congrats readers,
you got what you asked for…I’m starting Gundam Month with Mobile Suit Gundam
Wing: Endless Waltz.
AC 196. One year
after the fall of the White Fang, peace has settled within the Earth
Sphere. But when an unexpected threat
from the past returns to challenge the present and claim the future for their
own. Heero Yuy and his former Gundam
pilot allies find themselves drawn back into action…on both sides of the conflict. As the endless waltz of war, peace and
revolution begins anew, Heero and his friends must engage in one final mission
to end the fighting and bury their ghosts of their own pasts once and for all.
March 2000. A
month or so prior, Cartoon Network’s Toonami block began airing a mysterious 15
second promo for a series then dubbed Gundam W.
I had no clue what to make of this mix of young men and giant robots and
lots and lots of action. But when the
series known as Mobile Suit Gundam Wing finally made it’s debut…the world
changed for me in a big way. While I had
gotten into Anime through other popular shows like Dragon Ball Z, Sailor Moon
and Digimon, Gundam Wing was the first Anime I felt exposed to a new kind of
storytelling, one that didn’t just involve powering up and power packed punches
for five straight episodes. Wing had an
amazing mix of character development, plot twists and epic battle sequences
that was unlike anything I had seen before.
And it’s popularity along with Z and Moon helped propel Toonami into
Must Watch TV status. So in the November
of 2000 when Gundam Wing Endless Waltz was announced to air on TV, everyone
went nuts. The story we loved wasn’t over
and the characters we enjoyed were not bowing out yet. But was it really fun then and was it still
good today? Both of them are a more or
less…yeah but it could have been better.
The story picks up a year after the end of the TV series
and while the movie does it’s best to bring viewers new and old up to speed,
only the older viewers who have watched the series a couple of times through
(like I did) will get what’s fully going on.
Example: Treize Kushrenada, kind of sort of good and bad guy of the TV
series, is mentioned a few times and a huge deal is made of how much of an
impact he had. The fact that everyone
freaks out when his “daughter” appears should be more than sufficient evidence
of that. But not showing flashbacks to
events Treize was part of during the series or even trying to integrate him
physically into the movie hurts the desired effect. Mariemea comes off as a virtual tool and is
more annoying that threatening, especially for someone following in the steps of
a great man who may or may not have been her father. Point is, plot elements like these as well as
the mile a minute cameos by secondary characters probably won’t ‘wow’ casual
viewers as much as older fans. Hence Endless
Waltz reveals it’s biggest weakness: it’s really meant for fans of the series,
not a fully bad thing but much like the future Gundam 00 film, it doesn’t help
much either.
I also am still not a big fan of the titular Gundams
themselves being sidelined til the final act of the film and then not even
getting too much screen time. Only Wufei
and his Altron Gundam get the most presence since they are part of the enemy
army. Now I will be the first to say
that any Gundam show is more about the people behind the mobile suits rather
than the mobile suits themselves. But
this is a film with just under a two hour run time, more appearances by Wing
Zero and Deathsythe…yeah the only ones that matter lol, are a must. They could have been used sparingly in
various different points of the film, like Char’s Counterattack or heck the F91
was a big presence from the last half of Gundam F91 until the end. Point is, to paraphrase Christopher Walken,
“I’ve got the fever, and the only prescription…IS MORE GUNDAM!!!”
Speaking of Wufei, he adds to one of my bigger irks of
the story, the villains. I’ve already
talked a bit about Mariemeia, who fails to be anything special. But Wufei is made a villain for what I feel
are the wrong reasons. His excuse for
fighting because he feels the world has left him behind and it’s all he knows
how to do, sounds a lot like Heero’s journey in the Gundam Wing series. Heero and the others have made a rather easy
transition into the peaceful era, even going so far as to send their prized
Gundams into the sun at the beginning of the movie, but Wufei, who seemed to be
in the same mindset at series end, has not moved on. It feels forced and more like an excuse to
get Gundams to fight each other…you know instead of giving the enemy an
original Gundam of their own. There’s
also Dekim but he’s no more than the crazed, rule the world type villain who is
just as if not more worthless than Mariemeia.
Now, it may seem like I am raging on this movie a
lot. Yeah much of it bugs me to this
day. BUT I do like this movie and feel
it’s a nice addition to the Wing universe.
The animation, music and action all soars at movie quality level. The story is a bit rough but there are some
good moments, like we get to see flashbacks for each Gundam pilot (trivia:
those stories were actually meant to be seen in the series but cut due to
time. Full stories eventually surfaced
in the Episode Zero Manga that is a really good read, highly recommended if you
can find it). And I have to say I do
love this films cast and the cast of the series. They were my first Gundam crew and it’s always
good to see Heero, Duo, Quatre and Zechs back in action. Heero gets the scene stealing moment of the
film though: challenged by Mariemeia to breach her impregnable fortress, Heero
replies with his famous “Roger that” line, making Mariemeia shocked for the
first time in the film, before Heero does just that, blow open the
fortress. I also like how Relena was
given a tougher role as the film went on and became a girl Heero truly
deserves. Many of the shows secondary
characters make appearances here and there with Noin and Sally Po getting the
meatier of the roles. I wish Zechs were
given more screen time so we could see how he survived the end of the TV Series
(Spoiler Alert?) but his return in the bad ass Tallgeese III is more than
welcome.
But what of the titular Gundams themselves? Well for Endless Waltz, each of the five main
suits got retrospective upgrades (Deathsythe Hell, Heavyarms Custom, Sandrock
Custom and Altron are even seen in the flashbacks before their final forms were
completed middle to end of the series).
Wing Zero Custom is the stand out.
That infamous image of the Gundam spreading its wings when Heero starts
it up at the start of the last act is still the image I associate most with
Gundam Wing (along with Wing Gundam’s first transformation in the series). A close second for most improved Gundam
featured is the Heavyarms, who goes from one giant gun to four giant guns and
way more missiles than it’s series counterpart.
It should be noted that the original release of Endless
Waltz was in a three part OVA series but combined into one “Special Edition”
film with new footage and restructured scenes for release around the 20th
Anniversary of the Gundam Franchise (I reviewed the film version for obvious
reasons lol). While I think this could
have been a little bit longer with more fleshed out scenes and better villains,
Endless Waltz as a whole is pretty enjoyable for any fan of the Gundam Wing
Universe. Most of the central cast has
lost none of it’s step (Wufei lost plenty though) and are just as enjoyable,
especially Duo (Candidate for VIP of the entire Gundam Universe). And for Gundam fans for whom, like myself,
Wing was a jump on point, this is a great trip down nostalgia lane…when the world
of Anime had a door kicked open into a much larger universe we were only just
becoming aware of.
Gundam Month
continues next time with MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM: CHAR’S COUNTERATTACK.
7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment