(New Mobile Report) Gundam Wing (1995)

I'm sick today, so trying to make my way through a dialogue or something feels like a big ask. Something I've talked about (mostly on the Star Wars blog) is going back and looking at media that I liked as a kid. Part of it is trying to see if I still think it's any good. Part of it is looking at what influences me and my writing today. I chugged through Gundam Wing last month, but finally got around to Endless Waltz while I was sitting on the couch today. 

Gundam Wing is not a good show. The plot doesn't really make sense, it has too many characters (which means they can't really use them effectively), plot armor levels are all over the place, the literal teenagers act less hormonal than the adults...

But it's an entertaining show, because it is fucking insane.

The birthday invitation of death only caps off the first episode that includes suicide attempts, space suit kung fu, maniacal laughter, mid air mech ejections...

And it doesn't really get any less weird:

That's one way to get a date.

This should be edited, but it's not.

So many suicide attempts. (He's fine like two episodes later.)

And the music is great:

So, what do I learn as a writer from Gundam Wing? 

Sometimes, just making it fun as hell is worth it. Gurren Lagann is usually held up as the standard bearer for "insane, but cool" mecha shows, but I think Gundam Wing one ups it. I don't know that it's actually a better show, just that it's doing the "fuck the plot, just do whatever is as over the top as possible" thing to a greater extreme. I think it's because GL mostly limits its insanity to bigger and bigger mechs and manly speeches, while Gundam Wing uses it everywhere. The politics, the romances, the music. Nothing is safe from being made about 20% cooler, even if it makes 200% less sense.