Gundam Wing

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is a Japanese television anime produced by Sunrise and broadcast on TV Asahi from April 7, 1995, through March 29, 1996. Its 49 episodes take place in the After Colony calendar, beginning in AC 195. The story starts with Operation Meteor, a plan by space-colony rebels to send five Gundam pilots to Earth. Each Gundam is made from the exceptionally durable fictional material Gundanium alloy. The series was directed by Masashi Ikeda, with Katsuyuki Sumisawa credited as series composer and principal writer. Shuko Murase designed the principal characters, while Hajime Katoki contributed mechanical designs for production. Heero Yuy pilots Wing Gundam, the machine whose self-destruction is repeatedly attempted during his early Earth mission. Duo Maxwell pilots Gundam Deathscythe; Trowa Barton operates Gundam Heavyarms; Quatre Raberba Winner uses Gundam Sandrock; and Chang Wufei commands Shenlong Gundam. Their identities and objectives differ, so their cooperation is uneasy rather than automatic. Heero’s encounters with Relena Dorlian establish one of the program’s central personal connections. Relena learns that she is Relena Peacecraft, linked to the pacifist Sanc Kingdom and to Zechs Merquise, who is actually Milliardo Peacecraft. OZ officer Treize Khushrenada and his subordinate Lady Une shape the conflict directly. OZ begins as a special military organization within the Earth Sphere Alliance, then overtakes that Alliance and becomes associated with the Romefeller Foundation. The narrative does not end with the five original machines: upgrades and replacements include Wing Zero, Wing Zero Custom in later material, Deathscythe Hell, Heavyarms Custom, Sandrock Custom, and Altron Gundam. Wing Zero’s Zero System supplies data so intensely that it can overwhelm pilots, an element associated with Heero and Zechs. Quatre pilots Wing Zero after his traumatic break, while Trowa’s period of amnesia follows an explosion. These reversals occur amid changing Earth, colony, and military alliances. By the conclusion, Milliardo leads the colony-based White Fang force and the conflict culminates around the battleship Libra. Relena promotes a pacifist course while the Gundam pilots confront White Fang and the forces opposing it. The television story was followed by Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, released as a OVA in 1997 and edited into a film. Endless Waltz is set in AC 196 and returns to Heero, Duo, Trowa, Quatre, Wufei, and Relena. Its Gundams, notably Wing Zero Custom, became prominent in merchandise and Gundam imagery. It was the first Gundam television series broadcast in the United States.