For a lot of people, anime and Toonami were indistinguishable. Toonami is a programming block that exclusively aired anime or anime-inspired property that rose into prominence in the late 90s. Back in the early days of Toonami, the two biggest animes that put the block on the map were Dragon Ball Z and Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. The latter was part of the hugely successful Gundam mega-franchise from Japan. The franchise has made attempts to break to the West before, though hardly anything Gundam-related came to the West before Wing.
While Wing had some success in its home country, it found even greater notoriety in the West. When anime was still a very new thing for Westerners to grasp, everything about Wing stood out to audiences. The art style, the more mature storyline, the edgy dialogue, and the giant robots made a big impact on young viewers. Despite its importance, Gundam Wing is a show that doesn't really hold up that well. Many will always hold a nostalgic attachment to the series, and there are aspects that do hold up about it, but the show has not aged as gracefully as some would hope.
10 What Doesn't Hold Up - The Story
If the overall message of the Gundam franchise can be boiled down to a simple phrase, it would be "War is bad". The original shows in the franchise exemplified that message by showing the continuous suffering of its characters.
The anti-war message is a part of Gundam Wing, yet the theme is handled in the messiest way possible. Character's allegiances are constantly flip-flopping for no rhyme or reason, and it becomes hard to keep track of who's on who's side. Even the main five Gundam pilots have confusing motivations, which makes the story almost incomprehensible at times.
9 What Holds Up - The Mecha Battles
Though anime has existed in the United States for decades thanks to shows like Astro Boy, Speed Racer, and Gigantor, it wasn't until the dawn of Toonami that anime became its own genre.
The action as seen on Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing wasn't like anything else being aired on television at the time. Not all of Wing's fights necessary hold up. Nonetheless, the mecha's moved in a very dynamic fashion that always made them fun to watch.
8 What Doesn't Hold Up - A Chunk Of The Animation
The overall art style of Gundam Wing is pretty iconic, with many aesthetic choices withstanding the test of time, just as long as modern viewers ignore some of that 90s fashion. In spite of how famous the art style is, the animation can be a hindrance to the appealing art.
The animation is pretty decent during parts when it really needs to excel, like some of the fight scenes. However, inconsistencies and dull colors can be found throughout the show. It certainly not the most dated Gundam show ever, nor is it even the worst animated. But for those that are used to more contemporary anime, Wing can be hard to get through.
7 What Holds Up - The Music
Why does the main protagonist, Heero, have his hand in front of his face in the first opening of Gundam Wing? Probably because it looks cool.
The two opening songs for Wing were sung by a Japanese pop duo known as Two-Mix, and they are both catchy pieces of music. They even did the main themes for the Gundam Wing Endless Waltz OVAs and movie, contributing to one of the best scenes in all of Gundam. The main score for the show is evidently 90s, yet despite that, the soundtrack still holds up.
6 What Doesn't Hold Up - The Main Characters
Something that Gundam Wing was able to excel with was catering to the female demographic, thanks to no small part to the appeal of the five main Gundam pilots. It is because of this that Wing was able to market to the usually untapped teen girl market.
Sadly, the main characters are not well written. Protagonist Heero is literally a blank state, while Trowa is somehow an even blander version of Heero. Quatre acts too passively during times when he shouldn't, and no one ever liked Wufei. Duo is the only Gundam pilot that has any semblance of a personality, showcasing a more cocky persona than the other pilots.
5 What Holds Up - The Side Characters & Villains
Treize, one of the main villains, has a hard to follow motivation. Also, the way he bounces back-and-forth between being in a position of power and not being in power makes him hard to grasp for viewers. Nonetheless, there's theatrics to him that makes him entertaining to watch. Zechs is also a decent bad guy, even though he is literally a retread of Char from the main Gundam series.
While Gundam Wing is infamous for its male pilots, it's really the female side-characters that truly shine, with Noin in particular. She's the only major female pilot in the show, serving almost like the fifth Beatle - or this case sixth Beatle - to the boys' five-man band.
4 What Doesn't Hold Up - The Pacing
With 49 episodes to get through, the show has weird pacing for its very middling plot. The show would constantly change the perspective among its large cast, with one episode focusing on one character and the next focusing on another. The constant shifting in the story slows the pacing down at times. Main characters would also go missing for long stretches of episodes.
Gundam Wing, despite presenting itself as a serious mecha show, also had to fill a quota of one battle per episode. So no matter how arbitrary the reason it is, there had to be a fight scene in every episode.
3 What Holds Up - The Mecha Designs
Gundam Wing was able to successfully market to young girls thanks to the male pilots, which was no easy task. But it was the actual designs for the Gundams that help made the show an even bigger hit. The Deathscythe, Heavyarms, Sandrock, Tallgeese, and the Epyon are some of the most popular mobile suits in the Gundam franchise. They reached an iconic status within the anime community.
The imagery of the Wing Gundam Zero lifting its angel-like wings in space, while Two-Mix's "Last Communication" plays in the background, is one of the most enduring moments in all of Gundam. Twenty-years out, the model kits from Wing continue to be big sellers in the West.
2 What Doesn't Hold Up - It's Attempt At Being Edgy
Gundam Wing took itself very, very seriously. The plot is filled with dark imagery, and major plot points are handled with a lot of gravitas. The characters are meant to be edgy and cool, with the main protagonist Heero exemplify all those traits.
The show tries so hard to being edgy, that it ends up coming across as silly now. Back in the day, it was able to get away with its high levels of edge because that was still a very new thing for viewers at that time. What other animated show in the early 2000s had characters talking about god, death, and war? Now it seems ludicrous, but back then it was the coolest thing ever for a preteen.
1 What Holds Up - Endless Waltz
Gundam Wing is flawed, and it continues to show its age as time rolls on. Gundam Wing Endless Waltz, on the other hand, is still awesome. Originally a set of three episodes that serves as a sequel and ending to Wing, Endless Waltz was later turned into a full-length movie.
It succeeds in almost every way the show failed. It is solidly paced, the animation is still beautiful, there is genuine pathos to the plot, all five Gundam pilots have a role in the story, and it is filled with iconic imagery. There still some stuff to make fun of in Endless Waltz, like the fact that the main antagonist is a seven-year-old girl. But everything else about its execution is great and it is an amazing capstone to the series.