The Gundam Chronicles: 003 – Gundam Wing Part 1

So far things have been going well in my “Gundam Project.” I have successfully finished watching Part 1 (episodes 1-25) of Gundam Wing. Part 2 is being shipped to me, and hopefully it will arrive soon.

I’ve been enjoying the show so far. I do have some issues with it, but first the good stuff. The fight scenes are really cool, as expected from a mecha series. Of course, they’re not nearly as visually appealing as today’s visuals, but given the time that the series was made, I’d say they did a pretty good job. The characters are all pretty like-able for the most part. My favorite character thus far has been Duo. I really like his positive attitude about everything, and I think he has a good voice actor too. I like Zechs too, though I think he looked a lot cooler with his mask on. Now he just looks like some generic bishounen character.

The story has been pretty good, though there are definitely pacing issues. Some of the conversations just seem to drag on for too long. I understand that Gundam Wing is meant to be partly political, but unfortunately that kind of stuff just doesn’t interest me. Aside from that, I am greatly enjoying the scenes where there is plot development. For example, I loved in episode 10 when Oz unveils and executes their plan to take over the Earthsphere Alliance. That was certainly something I was not expecting.

So far I have been watching the show dubbed. Some of the voice actors are downright terrible. I understand that the standards for good voice acting weren’t as high back then, but really now! For example, General Septum’s voice is so outrageous, I actually laughed every time he spoke. I guess I should pretend that’s a good thing.

So far, the show has been mediocre. I realize that I may not be appreciating it fully because I just can’t pay attention to the long drawn-out conversations. Thankfully, the narrations in each episode and the next episode previews are helping me stay on top of the story. The archaic visuals may also be affecting my enjoyment of the series, and I’ll admit that I’ve been spoiled by today’s anime. It’s tough for a “new anime fan” like me to fully appreciate an older series because of this. At any rate, I will continue to watch and will finish Gundam Wing. After that, G Gundam will be next. Since it’s a comedy, I think I will have an easier time appreciating it.