Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Director
Yasunao Aoki
Production
Bandai, Sunrise
Country of origin
Japan
Format
OVA
Running time
85 mins
Year
1997

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz VHS

By John Huxley
28th Apr 04

Following on from the popular Gundam Wing series, Endless Waltz comprises of three 25 minute episodes, compiled to make a feature-length anime. Much like the original series, Endless Waltz is based around a very simple premise - Relena Darlian has been kidnaped by some evil organization with an aspiration of conquering the universe. However, as most Gundam fans will no doubt know, the simple story is nothing but a situation for the complex characters to get involved with. Once again we are forced to explore the meaning of 'war', 'peace' and human life. As a certain character says "History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace and revolution continue on forever"

Kinda poetic sounding, huh? Well, this b*llsh*t is spread throughout the first two episodes, wasting many opportunities for mech butt-kicking action. And lets be honest, that's what we're all here for, right? You must have noticed the Gundam 'Wing Zero Custom' with it's huge, feathered angel wings, and are probably dying to see it in action. Well, this is the place to go! The last episode is an action-packed resolution to the story, with Wing Zero Custom right in the middle. This is also a very satisfying end to the Gundam saga. That's right, this is the very end of Gundam itself. Nothing after this, no more. Really. No kidding! Of course, they are still free to set new series further back in the Gundam time-line, but this is the end in at least one sense.

The plot is involving and much more immediate than the winding (read: rambling) plot of the series and is better for it. However, if you are not acquainted with Heero and all his pals, you'll probably have no clue whatsoever. This is unfortunate, despite the best efforts of the director to fill the newcomers in with a quick re-cap at the start, Endless Waltz is almost completely meaningless to people foreign to the Gundam Wing series. These people could gape at the wonderfully designed mechs (and they are, very much so) or perhaps sneer at Trowa's ridiculous haircut, however, they will most likely find Endless Waltz a boring and bewildering experience.

Just a few miscellaneous points - the animation is now accompanied by some basic 3D computer generated objects. These work quite well, adding a little depth to otherwise average animation, and it's a pity they couldn't use them in the series. Also, the custom Gundams just role up unannounced. The what, where how and why is never explained. Although this is slightly confusing, the explanation would probably be so corny and unbelievable its probably best we don't know about it. Why a giant mech (that can already fly just dandy) needs a pair of bat-like wings can only mean one thing - they makes it look cool. Oh well, physics was never Gundam's strong point anyway. Thankfully this never really detracts from Endless Waltz, which remains an entertaining end to a decent series.

-- John Huxley 28th Apr 04

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz Images