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Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz
by Shawna James  
Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz box
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review ratings information
Note: This reviewer has not seen The "Gundam Wing" television series and so is covering "Endless Waltz" on its own merits. The reviewer is also reviewing the Cartoon Network Toonami version of the film and not the uncut release.
synopsis
Episode 1: Silent Orbit

A year has passed since the space colonies and Earth reached a peace agreement. Still, only tentative trust binds the Earth and its colonies, for keeping peace is often more difficult than warring. Mariemaia Khushrenada, the precocious young daughter of a dead colonial leader, organizes a special attack force to take over the Earth and complete her father's mission. Mariemaia and her ilk believe that democracy burdens leadership by diluting the strength of a society, a strength that should be embodied in one strong leader. To this end, the group kidnaps Relena Darlian who has since become a high-ranking government official. After having recently sent all of the Mobile Suit Gundams to the sun for disposal, gundam pilots must now retrieve the weapons for a counterattack. One of the pilots, Quatre, manages to save the suits, but not in time to send a force to prevent Mariemaia's colony from declaring independence and war on Earth.

Episode 2: Operation Meteor

The pilots are still too spread out in space and cannot organize properly against Mariemaia's forces, and Earth falls. Mariemaia moves toward her final objective by calling for everybody to declare her the supreme ruler. Resistance still mounts, however, and Mariemaia will have to wait to hold that title.

Episode 3: Return to Eternity

Gundam pilots finally launch a united attack against Mariemaia's fortress. Taking care to only harm those involved in the fray, the pilots hope their efforts will help return peace. Heero's assault on the fortress' shield proves successful and leads to the defeat of Mariemaia's forces. Mariemaia experiences the fear involved in war for the first time and expresses a sincere sorrow for causing discord.

review
The frenetic pulse of "Endless Waltz" cranks out enough pizzazz, spectacle and intrigue to be a United States presidential election. Political factions maneuver and clash under cloak of ostentatious physical battles between soldiers and their Mobile Suit Gundams. But "Endless Waltz" maintains the powerful sentiments that resonate from the TV series -- the costs of war pale in comparison to the costs of maintaining peace.

Lofty thematic content aside, Hatzuyuki Sumiozawa's script deftly weaves good characterization with action. Cyclical flashbacks elucidate motivations and set the stage for understanding main characters. Heero's myopic relentlessness in this epic fight against violence and destruction is all the more clear when he recalls killing a child during a previous mission. And Wufei' memory of deserting his alliance because of their plan for needless killing explains his desire to destroy the evils of the world by only fighting well-trained soldiers. When Heero and Wufei finally face one another in battle, Sumiozawa has already loaded them with spiritual mettle.

But where Sumiozawa's script succeeds, it also fails. The profusion of characters in "Endless Waltz" interact in a labyrinthine network of relationships and loyalties, and sometimes even the flashbacks cannot explain a character's purpose. Quatre, Zechs, Noin and Nameless One all lack sufficient back-story for a first time viewer. The Nameless character (that sometimes adopts Trowa's name) probably really has a name in other "Gundam" installments, and may actually be Trowa, but here he lacks an identity. At times the lack of character background intrigues, but it often merely confuses. And some of the blame must be attributed to the Cartoon Network's cut version.

The acting and Yasunao Aoki's direction help in overcoming any confusion that the script may engender. All the voice actors bring a depth to their roles that can only draw a listener into the story. Gentle and strong, instead of sharp and shrill punctuated phrases, drive "Endless Waltz." Even the role of Mariemaia Khushrenada, the young child/would-be dictator, is undertaken with delicacy -- without which the role would lose its originality. Aoki's direction keeps "Endless Waltz's" pace moving, using interspersed cuts during battle scenes to speed up the action. As the Gundams battle, Aoki cuts from long shots in space, to close ups on the gundam suits, to inner shots of the pilots in charge of their gundams. The quick cuts create great tension during the action and gives the illusion that a lot more battle is happening.

Still an above average film for first time "Gundam" viewers to watch, "Endless Waltz" will no doubt rate at the highest level for "Gundam" enthusiasts.



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