From Losers to Glory-A Gundam Wing Special-Part 6

Previously:

Trowa snuck himself into OZ, and his Gundam and a comatose Heero onto an OZ carrier.  Meanwhile, we only glimpsed at everyone elses story but still got a good fight between Heero and Zechs.  Now everyone scrambling to get back into Space before OZ begins its takeover.  Will our “losers” find their “glory” in an epic homecoming?

Vol.6 (Episodes 17-24)

In the Anime:

Despite an army standing in their way, the five Gundam pilots all successfully return to space, though Quatre is forced to sacrifice his Gundam Sandrock in the process.  Elsewhere on Earth, Zechs makes a last stand against Romafeller and seemingly dies, only to be rescued by Howard the Mechanic.  With the Colonies becoming more friendly and welcoming of OZ, the pilots attempt to disrupt OZ’s operations in various ways.  Trowa infiltrates OZ as a trainee and becomes the golden boy of Lady Une.  Heero attempts a stealth operation to destroy OZ’s newest test Mobile Suits, built by the five Doctors who created the Gundams, but he is captured by Trowa.  Duo and Wufei both attempt attacks on OZ’s space forces but their Gundams are overwhelmed by the new Taurus Mobile Dolls and are destroyed, with Duo and Wufei being taken prisoner.  Quatre returns home safely.  However, when the citizens of his colony turn on his Pacifist father and kill him, Quatre goes insane.  He retrieves the blueprints of a long lost Gundam prototype, the Wing Zero, and goes on a rampage across space, destroying several Space Colonies.  Trowa volunteers himself and Heero to go after Quatre in the new Vayete and Mercurius Mobile Suits at Lady Une’s request.

 In the Manga:

• After the Gundam pilots return to space, we have a time jump to the first appearance of Wing Zero.  Much of the events of Episodes 19-23 are covered by Chief Engineer Tuberov in a conversation with Lady Une-This includes Heero, Duo and Wufei’s capture by OZ, Trowa rejoining OZ and becoming a test pilot along with Heero for the Mercurius and Vayete
• The events of Quatre’s return to space and the death of his father are shown in a flashback just before Quatre destroys his second colony with Wing Zero.

So this is the volume with the shortest amount of changes…at least list wise.  Content wise, we basically hit the hyperspace button right after Sandrock went boom.  If Volume 6 could have its own subtitle, it would be the “Cliff Notes” Volume.  Everything important that happens after the Gundam boys escape Earth is thrown into a few pages long power point presentation that feels even less effective than Trowa BSing his reasons for getting into OZ while only making a couple quick references to his fellow pilots.  We don’t even get the most heartbreaking moment of the Anime: the destruction of the Gundam Deathsythe (that still stings to this day).  The only change I can get behind in this volume is Quatre’s story arc.  The Wing Zero reveal is great and it keeps its pilot a well kept secret until we see Quatre’s breakdown.  It just works, which is more than I can say for a lot of the cut corners we get in Volume 6.  It’s like the series isn’t eager to let the changes simmer and take before jumping ahead to the next big moment of the Anime.

It sounds like im frustrated…and I kind of am but I’m still enjoying being back in the Gundam universe where my Gundam fandom was born.  Anyway, we reach the halfway mark of both the Anime and the new Manga next Friday with Volume 7. See ya then.