Customer Reviews

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing - Complete Collection 1

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I've started watching Mobile Suit Gundam Wing on Cartoon Network. I missed a few episodes, so i piced up Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Anime Legends Complete Collection I.The box set contains special features and extras. There are 25 episodes on 5 DVDs. If you want to know the episode titles. I have included them in this review. Also I have include some characters information.

Disc 01
01.The Shooting Star She Saw
02.The Gundam DeathScythe
03.Five Gundam Confirmed
04.The Victoria Nightmare
05.Relena's Secret

Disc 02
06.Party Night
07.Scenario For Bloodshed
08.The Treize Assassination
09.Portrait Of A Ruined County
10.Heero, Distracted By Defeat

Disc 03
11.The Whereabouts Of Happiness
12.Bewildered Warriors
13.Catherine's Tears
14.The Order To Destroy Zero One
15.To The Battleground Antarctica

Disc 04
16.The Sorrowful Battle
17.Betrayed By Home, Far Away
18.Tallgeese Destroyed
19.Assault On Barge
20.The Lunar Base Infiltration

Disc 05
21.Giref Stricken Quatre
22.The Fight For Independence
23.Duo, The God Of Death Once Again
24.The Gundam Thay Called Zero
25.Quatre VS. Heero

Characters Information

Herro Yuy
Descended from the L1 Colony, Herro is the pilot of Wing Gundam, Wing Gundam Zero , Mercurius and Wing Gundam Zero Custom from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. His determination and courage are matched only by his amazing aviation skills. Mercurius is later turn into a mobile doll by the White Fang , they use the battle date from Herro Yuy. To fight Duo in his Gundam Daethscythe Hell. But Duo overcomes Mercurius and defeat the mobile doll.

Duo Maxwell
Raised by the L2 Colony, Duo's cheerful disposition is quite a contrast to the obstinate warrior he becomes during battle. Duo pilots Gundam Deathscythe , Gundam Deathscythe Hell and Gundam Deathscythe Hell Custom from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz .

Quatre Raberba Winner
Quatre comes from a wealthy Arab family and decides to fight on behalf of L4 Colony, against his father's wishes. He pilots Gundam Sandrock, Gundam Sandrock Space Version Wing Gundam Zero and Gundam Sandrock Custom from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. He only pilots Zero for two episodes.

Chang Wufei
Descended from famous Chinese warriors, Wufei believes in the importance of honor. His intolerance of injustice is what drives him in his battle against Oz. Wufei pilots Gundam Shenlong, Altron Gundam , Wing Gundam Zero and Gundam Nataku from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. He only pilots Zero for one episode.

Trowa Barton
When Trowa arrived on Earth to pilot Gundam Heavyarms, he disguised himself as a circus clown. Trowa fights only when absolutely necessary and can also play the flute. Trowa also pilots Gundam Heavyarms Space Version, Vayeate, Wing Gundam Zero and Gundam Heavyarms Custom from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. Later the Vayeate is turn into a mobile doll by White Fang, they use Trowa Barton battle date. To fight Duo in his Gundam Daethscythe Hell. But Duo overcomes Vayeate and defeat the mobile doll. He only pilots Zero For one episode.

Princess Relena
After discovering her true identity as daughter of Cinq Kingdom's King Peacecraft and younger sister of Miliardo, Relena becomes a leader in the fight against the Romefeller Foundation. She is very found of Herro. Relena later becomes Queen Relena for the Romefeller Foundation. But later Treize stripes away her power and he becomes the leader of the Romefeller Foundation later. She goes into space to talk to Miliardo.

Zechs Merquise
After being disgraced for misconduct, Zechs re-merges as Miliardo Peacecraft to fight the Alliance and restore The Sanc Kingdom. Zechs pilots Tallgeese, Gundam Epyon, Wing Gundam Zero and Tallgeese III from the Movie Gundam Wing Endless Waltz. He only pilot Zero for two or three episode.

While this anime is a fine example of anime. This anime would definently be one of the most cherished animes I have ever seen/own. I DO NOT recommend buying the DVD set. (I know it is more expensive, depending on where you get it, but I would peronally buy the DVD's seperately and not in the set.) I recently got the first collection and the second collection for X-mas only to find that the 2nd disc only played episodes 6 and 7. The only parts of episode 8-10 that would play were the intro to the next episodes, the one after the credits. However, I would recommend this to anyone that likes any form of the "gundam" series.

Edit:
I currently have not attempted to watch the second collection yet since I am still working on the first, and praying that there are no more mishaps with the 1st collection. I bought this from Border's books, probally should have got it from amazon.com, but my parents bought it. I got the first one from the local Borders books, and when that one didn't work I went to a Border's an hour away from my house only to find that it was still defective. I honestly say if you really want this series, and you don't care about the possiblilty that it can be faulty by all means go right ahead, but this happened to me, and it can happen to you as well.

Edit 2: Complete collection 2 works perfectly fine, so there shouldn't be any faulty discs in that one.

Upon reaching episode 8 on disk 2 the DVD began to malfunction(skipping and frozen images). Other than that, this was a very good purchase.

Regardless of what you think of the usual "mecha" tropes of "pretty boys" in nigh "invincible machines" spouting off about "we shouldn't have to fight" while simultaneously mowing down mechas and their human inhabitants in an orgy of killing (okay, this is a less-bloody anime than most I've seen, since it's usually mechas we see being damaged or blown up, rather than humans, though there may be a bit of that here and there too)...

Gundam Wing was a rather good series. It was well animated (granted there might have been a few re-used space battle frames/scenes; considering the length of the series, that's almost inevitable), I recall it had good voice acting, and a great story arc (despite the occasional plot twist and turn and alliances forming, breaking, re-forming, switching sides, or whatnot). And, in some regards, it also helped bring anime to the American audience by making it more accessible to the younger audience, and to the American audience in general. I say that because, often animes tend to deal with real esoterica, which can be off-putting to the casual viewer. Soem anime fans may dislike this series for the same reasons. In some ways, it's a lazy man's anime, or a kids' anime 'cause there aren't these uber-esoteric themes to deal with. But that's part of what I consider to be good about it. It can be watched and enjoyed by pretty much anyone who enjoys "mecha" and/or "fighting" animes. But it has a certain depth to the story that takes it slightly beyond just the simple "fight" or "fight-in-space" genre. I'm not saying it's the deepest or most cinematic thing ever. But it has character development. You can identify with the characters, the plot lines are pretty clear, if occasionally it takes turns that weren't expected.

In all, it's a good series, and I recommend it to anyone who likes good entry level anime in the "space opera," "mecha" and/or "fighting" genres (with the usual "pretty boy" cast; that's pretty much a given, I could care less one way or the other, actually it might be nice to see a show that DOESN'T use "pretty boys" sometime).

Long story short, I recommend this one for novices, or those who like mechas and want to see some pretty good mecha action. Havent' watched the original "gundam" series, so I'm not biased toward or against them. So I speak only for this series itself. I've watched it, and I liked it. It stood on its own, and shouldn't necessarily be compared to other "Gundam" shows, or disparaged because it follows an "alternate timeline."

If you like Gundam Wing, you may also like G Gundam 1 & 2, Gundam 0080, Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory, Gundam 08th MS Team

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Addendum, having just completed a several day marathon with the first half of the Anime Legends complete collection, I can say that it's all I recall it being. If you like the giant-robot genre and/or the drama/shifting alliances genre, or the "pretty boys kicking butt" genre, you'll probably like this series. There are a few more repeated scenes (mostly in space battles) than I remember, but they're used in ways that unless you're really LOOKING FOR THEM, you probably wouldn't notice. So, I probably shouldn't have said anything lest it taint the viewing experience.

So, yeah, I am quite happy with the quality. Strangely enough, one of the things I don't like is that the trailers included seems to revolve around the same set of like 10 anime titles (had hoped to maybe hear about names I haven't already heard of repeatedly). I was hoping to broaden my horizons slightly. Most people probably won't notice or care about this lack of trailer diversity, tho'.

Broadcasted on American TV in 2000, "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing" (originally entitled "New Mobile Report Gundam Wing") was the country's first exposure to a franchise that has captivated Japanese viewers for over 2 decades, roping in a new fanbase. And now Bandai's "Anime Legends" branch has released this series in 2 money/space-saving bundles, the first bundle containing the first 25 episodes in 5 disks. In the After Colony (AC) year 195, mankind has found a new home in space colonies. But Earth's unified government rules the colonies with an iron fist, using giant robotic mobile suits to keep the populace in line. Fed up, colonial rebels pair 5 teenage soldiers--including the suicidal Heero Yuy--with the most advanced mobile suits and send them to Earth to wreak havoc. But the chosen few tasked with liberating their people sure have their work cut out for them.

While this series was popular on both sides of the Pacific--and the first alternate universe Gundam show to get its own sequel--it also had its fair share of critics, particularly those who were already familiar with Gundam. For starters, any diehard fan can point out the dozens of cues "Wing" takes from earlier Gundam shows and films. You've got the oppressive Earth government ("Zeta Gundam"), the masked villain with a hidden agenda ("Mobile Suit Gundam"), the hero's girlfriend who's also the sister of said villain ("MSG" again), soldiers who've missed their psychiatric evaluations (take your pick) and so forth. Another negative is how the show's diverse, but bizarre, cast of characters constantly talk about war and peace. While this is a central feature in all things Gundam, and while some of what is said makes sense, it's mostly philosophical babble used to make the show sound more intellectually refined than it really is (and in some cases, this actually worked). And "Wing's" not so big on character development either. Take Relena Darlian, the hero's girlfriend/masked villain's sister. Though she's supposedly an important character, she doesn't really do anything except follow Heero around, and he's trying to kill her . . .

So as not to end this review on a sour note, "Wing" flies in other areas. Amazon reviewer Charles Solomon once said that Gundam fans care more about mecha battles than tightly woven storylines or credible character arcs, and to a certain extent he's right. "Wing" has plenty of robot-on-robot action to go around. Though the one-sided fights between the Gundams and the cannon fodder get old after a while, the bad guys soon up the ante with their own secret weapons. For those who have watched the show on TV, watching it in its original Japanese format makes for a new and interesting experience. And for those who buy DVD's for the Easter eggs, each disc in the collection feature character bios and mech specs (both of which can be found online), DVD credits, and assorted anime trailers from Bandai.

This series is rated for ages 13 and up: Violence, Adult Language.

The anime itself is easily 4 stars, maybe 4 and a half. My only real issue with it is the somewhat campy nature of some bits (Zechs' mask, the five pilot's young and identicle ages, the forcing in of antiwar messages where they do not make sense) and, more importantly, the female lead. Relina, in my opinion, is disturbed to the point of being creepy. Which is strange because that was the completely wrong effect the writers went for. She is the type of peace activist who goes out of her way to preach in a warzone and really does not fit, in my opinion.

Other than that, this is a great series with many great characters, a solid story and good action. I highly recommend it.

So why only one star? Well it's simple. The first disk is glitchy. I've tried multiple DVD players, one less than a half year old, others no older than 3 years. The first time I played it I could not get past the midpoint of the third episode. I exchanged it and had the same problem. Trying it again as I type this and it's going through, but I still cannot select episodes 4 or 5 manually and God only knows if it'll lock up again on me. This is simply shoddy work which should have been fixed by now, considering how long ago it was released. Buy this at a store, if you really want it that bad. You can exchange it more quickly if there is a problem and can demand they have it tested out for you before you pay for it. By the way, it just locked up on me again. Gonna exchange in the morning, trying their remaining 5 sets in store. If I can't get one working I'm getting my money back and I wouldn't be surprised if there's a lawsuit eventually for Best Buy being sold such a defective product.

I have read many reviews on this product and was a little skeptical about the technical quality of the product. I decided to order it anyway and boy am I relieved. I had no problems with any of the discs ( I use a PS3 ). I once read a review that this follows much of the same time line as many of the other Gundam series, which is not true. I think that is what makes this probably one of the best out of the entire series. 5 Heroes trying to save earth and space without asking so much as thank you in return. Pretty basic but a very well put together series.

I give the series a three start rating, but only one star to this specific box set. I've never had so many defective discs in a single box. They seem to be warped, and when stuck in a player that spins up to a decent speed, they start vibrating like crazy. In by box, discs 1, 2, and 5 all share the issue, with 2 being so bad my main DVD player connected to my TV refused to play it. Only my 5.5 year old PowerBook with a low speed DVD-ROM was able to play it.

I found similar problems with the second set of Gundam Wing as well.

Well, after ordering this set, and then reading about the disc 1 errors, I was a little hesitant in my purchase. The moment this came in, I put in disc 1 and played through episodes 3-5. I have had no issue and everything plays great.

To complete this set, order the Complete Collections II and Endless Waltz. This was on of my favorite shows years ago, and I'm glad I can own it for a fraction of the cost compared to the original box set. The entire series cost me $40.

this is one of those anime that go into legends as great master peaces. I recommend buying the complete collection 2 so you have it all.