This review was originally posted in the Cartoon Network category because, at the time, there were no Gundam categories. This is a review of the series itself and not necessarily the quality of the VHS. I've opted to place the opinion here until there is a general Gundam Wing TV series category.

After reading all the hype about the Gundam Wing series, I decided to take a gander myself a while back. I went in with an open mind. I came out... unimpressed... underwhelmed... bored.

The animation was decent - a bit too grainy for my tastes though and much too bland. Very little care was taken to make sure that the "special effects" didn't look too stiff. I suppose this is too be expected because Gundam Wing isn't new anime. However, I couldn't get past it like I can with fantasy/shoujo anime. The plotline tried too hard to be realistic for me to suspend my feeling of disbelief.

As for the plotline, it seemed dull to me. There was emotion; I suppose it was supposed to be heartfelt. It wasn't pulled-off well though. Perhaps much of that was due to the rather stilted English voice actors. Without seeing the Japanese version for comparison, I don't know. I've been told that the seiyuu (voice actors) in the original Japanese version lend the show more depth and credibility.

The plot itself was uninspired. (That would be okay if the characters were interesting, but as I just mentioned...) I felt like I was watching a watered down version of Neon Genesis Evangelion - there was war, family discord and large robots, but there was nothing to debate, nothing to question. ("We've got mechas! We've got pilots! We've got none of that pesky intellectualism that makes a series stand out in a crowd!")

The characters were dull and drab. Once again, this might be partly the fault of the English voice actors. However, the character design was uninteresting too. I'm not asking for crayola-colored hair or wings or anything, but I do like it when the characters are easily distinguished from each other. Voice, mannerisms, clothing, hairstyle, eye color, etc. - all these things should combine to create memorable characters; this didn't happen for me. The only reason I can tell you which one is Quatre is because his haircut is so awful. With all of the preteen and teenage girls fawning over how cute the Gundam Wing guys are, I expected something much better than what I saw.

The music was insipid. The background music was ill-fitting to the point that I almost found it distracting. The ending song was... I don't know... not very good. In general, the music just didn't match the feeling that the show was going for. It felt like it was thrown together by someone how had seen half an episode or maybe borrowed from a different series.

All in all, Gundam Wing comes off like a hastily-produced, uninteresting series. It's better than watching those bad CG (computer-generated) shows that seem to be popular right now, but I don't think I'll ever be opting for Gundam Wing in the future unless I'm desperate and am forced to watch TV.

One last note: Gundam Wing was edited in order to be shown on The Cartoon Network. They have two showings: the edited one in the afternoon right after school lets our for most kids and the other showing is at midnight on the weekends. From what I can tell, there isn't a big difference between the two showings. The "edited" version has the harsher language (ie. "damn") removed and a few blood scenes removed as well. It doesn't seem that any plot or character elements are missing though.

To clarify, I have seen three consecutive episodes of this series.
[Written Sept 18, 2000]


Recommended:
No

Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children Age 9 - 12