This month marks the 28th anniversary of Sunrise's Mobile Suit Gundam Wing franchise, aired twenty-eight years ago on April 7th. Two more years will be before the franchise celebrates its “dirty thirty.” Like other Gundam series, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing takes place in an alternate timeline.
For the uninitiated...
The term “After Colony” (A.C) replaces A.D, which we currently use, to mark the new timeline established after humankind has set up five space colonies along the Earth-Moon Lagrange points (a crucial part of the story). Despite humankind settling in outer space, their colonies are still under the oppressive regime of Earth's governments which have banded together to create the “United Earth Sphere Alliance” (U.E.S.A.) with the “Order of the Zodiac” (O.Z.) serving as the former's military arm and arms provider.
It is O.Z that is responsible for Earth's oppression and causes five of its scientists to defect, setting up shop in the individual colonies, and planning their revenge. The five scientists, who are only known by their codenames, recruit five individual teenage boys to carry out assassination missions. The scientists provide them with special mechas that are made of a space alloy called “Gundanium.” These suits are known as “Gundams.”
The five pilots are sent to five different points on Earth where they participate in covert operations and then ultimately cross paths with each other.
Ultimately, O.Z launches a successful conspiracy that eliminates the U.E.S.A.
Things are more complex as O.Z., too, is a puppet. The puppetmaster is the prestigious Romefeller Foundation, a cabal of the wealthy and influential elites, which has been manipulating world events for centuries.
A good analogy would be Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed in which the Romefeller Foundation can be compared to the Knights Templar and the Gundam pilots can be compared to the Assassin's Guild.
The battles will get the younger audiences drawn to the show but the intellectual value should be a draw to the older audiences. This is a series that I would recommend to anyone who's interested in politics if they're political activists, political science majors, and more. O.Z being the military wing of the U.E.S.A is comparable to the historical military coups launched in Burma, South Korea, and more.
Gundam Wing teaches a valuable moral lesson that “nothing is ever black and white.”
I definitely enjoyed Gundam Wing's story and got excited for its sequel film, which originally started as a 3-episode OVA, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.
The music of Gundam Wing, specifically the opening themes, got me more excited about the show.
“Just Communication,” the first opening theme to Gundam Wing, is one of my favorite anime tracks let alone on Gundam Wing, that I love listening to. I'm a fan of electronic music and the beats of “Just Communication” got my attention.
When I installed Napster for the first time, over two decades ago, that was one of the first songs that I downloaded, then burned onto a CD.
Gundam Wing was a hit with Western, let alone audiences in the United States, thanks to Cartoon Network putting it on its Toonami block. When my youngest uncle got DirecTV for my grandmother, who I was living with at the time, I got to watch Gundam Wing for the first time. I thought it was one of the greatest things ever, though I had nobody at school to talk with about the show (this was a time when anime was only popular with niche audiences).
Luckily high school was out early and I would get home in time to watch Gundam Wing.
When I went on a 1-week trip to Atlanta with my mom, I would spend most of the day walking around but would make it back to the hotel in time to watch Gundam Wing on Toonami. I knew about Gundam through the franchise's video games, which were often Japan-only releases, but Gundam Wing was the one show that pulled me into the franchise.
Even though I watched the original Mobile Suit Gundam, I still preferred Gundam Wing.
If I didn't watch Gundam Wing, I likely would not have watched the other series in the franchise (Gundam SEED, Gundam 00, Gundam Build Fighters, Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans, Gundam: The Witch of Mercury, and more). Gundam Wing was my gateway to being a fan of the franchise and other mecha-themed shows.
The show currently streams on Crunchyroll.
You can read my longer article on Medium: https://canhoangtran.medium.com/happy-28th-anniversary-to-mobile-suit-gundam-wing-569e9d225dc1