‘Gundam Wing' Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary Today
A fan favorite outside of Japan, Gundam Wing celebrates its 30th anniversary today.
Released on April 7, 1995, in Japan, Gundam Wing was another alternate-timeline Gundam show, specifically that of the After Colony timeline.
It dealt with a team of Gundams piloted by teenage boys sent to Earth to free the colonies in orbit from Earth's tyrannical dominance.
It was also one of the first times Gundam came Westward in a big way, as Gundam Wing was released on Cartoon Network's Toonami on March 6, 2000.
While the anime itself was very popular, due to the limited availability of the tie-in model kits, the series wasn't able to build momentum.
This aspect of the media mix is something that has been rectified in the decades since, and why multiple modern Gundam anime series tend to do far better in the longterm outside of Japan.
The production team behind Gundam Wing was also noteworthy, with veteran mecha designer Kunio Okawara handling much of the mobile suit design, alongside Hajime Katoki and Junya Ishigaki.
However, it notably featured character designs by Shuko Murase, who would later go on to direct the anime movie adaptation of Gundam Hathaway.
While I personally found the original Gundam Wing series overly melodramatic, with the OVA sequel Endless Waltz having questionable mecha designs, I can see their appeal and how they managed to capture new anime fans' attention at the start of the noughties.
These days you can watch Gundam Wing over on Crunchyroll, and play with the various mobile suits from the series in games like Gundam Extreme Versus Maxiboost ON. Endless Waltz was also recently featured in Super Robot Wars X.
So even though Gundam Wing is now three decades, it still feels suitably current, if still a tad melodramatic.
Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
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