#gundam wing rewatch 2020

[mpanighetti]

That moment when Um Actually dropped some Gundam Wing knowledge (we do in fact love to see it) but gets a fact wrong, you KNOW @meggie-stardust had to come in with an Um Actually on top

[meggie-stardust]

[gwlemonyshenanigans]

Spotlight Friday

Time is flying by so fast! In two days the event will kick off! Are you as excited as we are?

It’s time to put two more of our wonderful creators in the spotlight!

Meggie-Stardust/Wreck

Where can we find you? (Ao3, FFN, Tumblr, etc?)

AO3: Wreck; Tumblr: meggie-stardust

Who is your favorite character?

Treize

Which is your favorite Gundam?

Deathscythe

What is your favorite episode or scene from Gundam Wing? (Show, movie, or manga)

I love every moment that Treize gets to be extra, up to and including his death, but also the moment when Epyon is revealed to to be wearing kneehigh boots and holding a whip. Just chef's kiss.

What got you into the Gundam Wing fandom?

Back in the day I had a crush, and they started watched GW, so I did, too. And then I started looking stuff up and then I found the old GW Addition message boards and discovered fic and the rest is history. But that that was also like 22 years ago! So the rest of the story goes, at the end of 2020, a friend and I decided to rewatch the series for the first time since the early 2000s, and I got sucked back in. And here I am!

Which type of fandom media do you prefer to contribute? And to consume? (art, fics, metas, etc.)

I write fic, and I write silly shitposts. In terms of consuming, I love all contributions to fandom. Every one brings their own thing to the table, and it is such a gift for everyone else.

What is your favorite trope?

Specific to GW? I love me a good safe-house fic. And I am a big fan of post-war, everyone works for the Preventors.

Shamelessly plug the work you are most proud of and the reason why!

My Lemony fic from last year, and the first major GW thing I'd written since taking a 15 year break from GW. It's a 1x2x3 with multiple POV's and I can't believe I actually finished it! https://archiveofourown.org/works/31357937/chapters/77541641

Dhampir

Where can we find you? (Ao3, FFN, Tumblr, etc?)

AO3

Who is your favorite character?

Most likely Duo, but honestly all the boys are near and dear to me.

Which is your favorite Gundam?

Deathscythe, I love the look so much and the scythe is so cool. He was the first Gundam I saw when I started watching and I was intrigued from that moment forward.

What is your favorite episode or scene from Gundam Wing? (Show, movie, or manga)

When Duo breaks Heero out of the base towards the beginning of the series. I don't know why that scene was so poignant to me, but it's the scene that always comes back to me when I think about Gundam Wing.

What got you into the Gundam Wing fandom?

I didn't even know about Fanfiction at the time, it wasn't until almost ten years after watching Gundam Wing that I discovered Fanfiction, but it was one of the first series I checked out as soon as I discovered it and I was amazed at how great the writing was and the stories people came up with. I wanted to try it myself after reading and haven't left since!

Which type of fandom media do you prefer to contribute? And to consume? (art, fics, metas, etc.)

Fiction, I'm in awe of those who can draw, but I can't draw at all.

What is your favorite trope?

I used to be a die-hard 1x2 and 6x2 fan, but some great writers have made me love practically all the pairings possible.

Shamelessly plug the work you are most proud of and the reason why!

Oh man, that's hard. I guess I would say Sum Tuus, it's my longest fic and fairly dark, but I had so much fun with it too. I'm so proud of it because it wasn't the easiest to write, but I finished it and loved watching the characters evolve and change as they got older. It was one of the first times I wrote from a first person POV, which was a new experience, and I discovered I really enjoy it!

[thisweekingundamwing]

This Week in Gundam Wing (February 21-27, 2021)

Hey Gundam Wing fans!  Here’s your weekly roll-up, so be sure to send some love to your creators.

--Mod LAM

Fanfiction

Ticket to Freedom (Ch.12/45) by @bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Characters:  5 pilots and supporting cast

Pairings:  Heero x Reader, Duo x Hilde, Trowa x Midii Une, Quatre x Catherine, Wufei x Meilan, past Heero x Relena

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings:  reader insert, rockband AU, romance, drama, fluff, lemon, lime, slight Relena bashing

Summary: They were your ticket out of the sheltered and married life your parents had planned for you. And to be honest, you had always had a rebellious streak. You needed the freedom they offered, needed to taste life, live a little. But when they ask you to sing in their band, you are not so sure. How would a neatly brought up lady survive with a couple of wannabe rock stars? You’re about to find out.

Masters of Destiny (Ch.2/?) by @bobo-is-tha-bomb

Characters: Heero, Quatre, Wufei, reader

Pairings: Quatre x reader

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: reader insert, romance, drama, angst, violence

Summary:  As one of Preventer’s top bodyguards, you never hesitate to protect those you are assigned to. You have kept numerous high profile politicians safe and faced danger and threats without blinking an eye. But your latest assignment is an entirely different story: the enigmatic Quatre Raberba Winner, one of L4’s most eligible bachelors, filthy rich, and good looking to boot. Being near him sends your senses into overdrive and makes you dream of things you hadn’t thought possible. The only problem? You ran away from L4 six years ago to avoid an agreement that your family made for you with the very man you are now supposed to protect. Torn between your growing feelings for him and determination to make your own destiny, you struggle to do your job to the best of your abilities. But with sparks flying between the two of you, it might be the greatest challenge you ever faced…

God of Death by @helmistress​ for Duo Month

Characters: Duo Maxwell

Pairings: N/A

Rating: Teen and Up

Tags / Warnings: hurt/comfort, found family

Summary:  A look at Duo's life, and why he became the God of Death, and how he was able to put it to rest.

Dirty Computer (Ch.5/?) by @doctormegalomania

Characters: 5 pilots

Pairings: Heero x Duo

Rating: MATURE

Tags / Warnings: minor violence, espionage, post-war, implied / referenced self-harm, unreliable narrator

Summary: Years after the war, nothing is what anyone hoped for. Peace reigns supreme.  

LAM!verse Snippet by @lifeaftermeteor

Characters: Relena, Hilde

Pairings: background Wufei x Relena

Rating: General

Tags / Warnings: slice of life, friendship, post canon

Summary: Relena and Hilde catch up over video call 

Fanart

Heero and Duo by @duointherain

Heero and Duo by @duointherain

Wrong Location (Heero and Duo) by @duointherain

Duo Maxwell by @gundayum

Relena may be onto something... by @gundayum

Peacecraft Siblings by @yusukelogist

Duo and Hilde by @alphaikaros

Sad Relena by @alphaikaros

Relena and Heero by @enelle-art

Redraw Duo as Sailor Moon from the @gwartserver​ crew

Duo Maxwell by @bettertasting for @thaiteaaddict‘s isekai fic

Other Fanwork

Cosplay and Gunpla

Heavyarms WIP by @bobo-is-tha-bomb​

Wing Zero by @christianmswanson

A Set by ​@phoenixbrightheart

Headcanons and Discussion

Musings on Gundam Wing Fandom by @lifeaftermeteor

Musings on French music and GW by @cuteciboulette

Other Fun Stuff

@incorrectgundamwingquotes continues to make us laugh (example, example)

Operation Meteor vs Operation Meatier by @meggie-stardust

Remembering SDDI with @untitledtallgeesepodcast

Do It For Him by @bonesandsunflowers

@noromax brings us some pictures from GUNDAM Square

@meggie-stardust has been doing a running commentary throughout their rewatch.  The latest (episodes 35-36) is here, but you can catch up through their rewatch 2020 tag.

Calendar Events

@gwcocktailfriday is BACK!

Post your responses on Friday between 3-5PM EST

This week’s prompt is over here

2021 Rhythm Generation Zine applications open on March 1!!

Be sure to follow @gundamzine​ so that you don’t miss any info

You can review the theme announcement, the 2021 Mod Team, the schedule, the content paramters, and the FAQ!

Month of Duo is officially well underway!

The final theme - God of Death - wraps up today (Feb 28)!

Lemony Shenanigans sign-ups are closing soon!!

There’s still time - sign-ups continue until tomorrow (March 1).

Be sure to follow @gwlemonyshenanigans for info

Posting for this NSFW event will run May 1-31!

Today is the final posting day at @church-of-lemons

Check out the growing AO3 archive over here

This latest round includes works by @inversecalico,  Akumakoronso, @gwfrozentears​, Zapenstap,  Miaka Mouse, Gemstonecircles, and @relenaforpresident!

2021 White Day event voting has started

Be sure to follow @thisweekingundamevents for info!

[untitledtallgeesepodcast]

The year is 2020, After Gundam 41. After decades of vaguely remembering Gundam Wing canon, a group of rebels in various states of fandom participation (anime and others) decided to come together to record a podcast where they slowly but surely rewatch the series. Three of these brave individuals have finished the series in its entirety, but the fourth will be making their first attempt at completing the journey. This podcast goes by the name of "Untitled Tallgeese Podcast."

Join Kat, Mallory, Caitlin, and Cathy in this introductory episode where we talk about our history with watching (or not watching) Gundam Wing, how it was marketed to American audiences on Cartoon Network's Toonami, the broader context of the Gundam universe and mecha anime, our memories of what characters we loved, and give our predictions of what pairings we'll come out of this shipping.

Episode on Anchor || Episode Transcript

[satelliteinasupernova]

I, K, L!!!

I - Has Tumblr caused you to stop liking any fandoms, if so, which and why?

hmmm, really tumblr has only caused me to dislike things that I otherwise would have been indifferent about. I don’t think it’s caused me to dislike something that I once liked really (except where I’ve matured and started to recognize the flaws in things I once generally enjoyed).

K - What character has your favorite development arc/the best development arc?

Relena Darlian!! So excited about our Gundam Wing 2020 rewatch!

L - Say something genuinely nice about a character who isn’t one of your faves. 

For a long time, I didn’t really care much about Archie, but recently (due to the work of other fan creators) I’ve started to see his potential as a very caring and direct character. There’s something kind of nice about the fact that he isn’t always on his friends’ wavelength, but he is (when the writers let him be) steadfastly reliable.

[recentanimenews]

INTERVIEW: The Best Mecha Anime of 2020 is a Podcast

  It begins with a heist. As the conniving nobles of Stel Kesh marshal their forces against the war machine of Stel Apostolos, the hapless scion of empire Clementine Kesh makes a cunning plan. With the help of prisoners under her control — a pirate, a soldier, a former revolutionary — she plots to infiltrate and commandeer the mobile battle fortress Fort Icebreaker. Not for the good of her Stel, as her brilliant and cruel mother expects. But for her own use, to seize control of a house she has always revered and resented. Miraculously, Clementine and her prisoners succeed, taking Icebreaker for themselves. But fog rolls over the hills, and with it come monsters: the Divine Motion, living holy machine of Apostolos, and its cursed army of immortals known as the Black Century. Can Clementine and her squad of chained misfits, skilled as they are on the field, overcome a swarm of undead giant robots?

  You might think from this description that we’re talking about the new Gundam, or a fan-made scenario for the videogame BATTLETECH. But no, this is a podcast, the PARTIZAN season of long-running actual play podcast Friends at the Table. Each week, the cast work together to flesh out the story of a crumbling empire, the lives of its distant subjects inhabiting the planet Partizan, and how these subjects change as their world does. It is a no-holds-barred giant robot drama at a time when mecha anime is a rarity. A tale that synthesizes the melodrama and intense battles of Mobile Suit Gundam, the political debate of Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and just a bit of Neon Genesis Evangelion’s shocking bio-religious imagery. There’s sadness, hilarity, amazing fights, and scene after show-stopping scene where members of the cast commit fully to their characters to make impossible choices.

  Just like anime is a team effort, PARTIZAN is collaborative content. The guiding hand of game master and games critic Austin Walker, the music of composer and Fallen London contributor Jack de Quidt, Ali Acampora’s sharp editing, and their excellent roleplaying together with the talents of Sylvia Clare, Art Martinez-Tebbel, Janine Hawkins, Keith Carberry, and Andrew “Dre” Lee Swan. Every single one of these people commits to the world, their character, and whatever choice would be the most “interesting” for the story, rather than for power-gaming. Just like Yoshiyuki Tomino’s work on Gundam would be nothing without the input of industry luminaries like Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, Kunio Okawara, and Ichiro Itano, PARTIZAN is made what it is through everyone’s input. That is, a fantastic story composed by folks at the top of their game worthy of comparison to any of its influences. The best mecha anime of the year is a podcast.

  With this in mind, I reached out to the Friends at the Table crew after the end of its recent Millennium Break arc to better understand their creative process. Their game master, Austin Walker, was kind enough to answer my questions via e-mail, with a few other players pitching in, as well. The following questions and answers are lightly edited for clarity and content. They are as follows:

  Which anime served as an influence when creating the world of PARTIZAN? How does its focus differ from COUNTER/Weight, Friends at the Table’s first season featuring mecha? Are there non-anime giant robot stories (like BATTLETECH) that served as an influence?

  Austin: At first I thought that this would be a tough question: How do I even start to list things like this? Then I remembered that a full year ago now, when I first started planning the season, I started a brainstorming doc by listing a set of inspirations (which were of course added to over the course of pre-production). The anime on that list were Legend of Galactic Heroes, Mobile Suit Gundam Thunderbolt, 08th MS Team, the first season of Code Geass, and the good parts of ALDNOAH.ZERO. Harsh but fair, I think. [Ouch! You’ll make Slaine cry if you aren’t careful. -Adam]

  The list also includes references to games, art, philosophy, and historical events, including The Imperial Radch Trilogy, A Memory Called Empire, Valkyria Chronicles, BATTLETECH, Armored Core, Legend of the Five Rings, Tie Fighter, Crusader Kings 2, the character art from Coup, Jakub Rozalski’s 1920+ series, Theses on the Philosophy of History, Civilization and Its Discontents, The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon, Pride and Prejudice, the 30 Years War, the Warring States Period(s), and the Westphalian Peace.

  BATTLETECH skyrocketed up that list after the 2018 game came out and solidified so much of the vibe I wanted, especially with the incredible cinematics and music. I think I must’ve linked the game’s incredible intro to the cast of the show ten times. 

    There are also a ton of things that became touchstones once the whole crew was talking about the season, or which have become inspirations along the way. Evangelion obviously came back into the public consciousness last summer, so elements of that were on our minds in some ways. I’ve been rewatching Mobile Suit Gundam Wing thanks to The Great Gundam Project and that’s definitely squeezed its way into the season, too. 

  And you know, the times we’re living in. How could that not shape anything right now?

  With the exception of Gundam, giant robots have fallen out of fashion in the anime industry over the past few years. This is due to a combination of factors: the rate at which skilled mechanical designers are retiring, the industry’s difficulty in training new animators in these skills, and the changing tastes of audiences. Do you believe that the genre’s fate is deserved, or that mecha shows deserve another shot in the spotlight?

  Austin: I don’t think that any genre’s fate is “deserved,” in that I don’t think success or failure in a market is some objective mark of quality. Many things fail to find an audience for reasons that have nothing to do with the artfulness on display, the effort of the creators, or the relevance or depth of thematic content. 

  Likewise (and as you said in the question), the reason for success is multifaceted and overdetermined. There is not one reason why, for instance, isekai seems ascendant right now. (Or, I should say, a particular type of isekai). Nor does something being in or out of trend preclude the ability for breakout works or shows that will one day become influential or critical for the development of new material. 

  All of which is to say that despite being a big fan of the genre, I’m not too put out by it not being the center of anime fandom’s collective attention right now. The wheel turns, and I expect that mecha shows will have their time in the spotlight again in the future — and hell, that might be because of a show (or animation technique or technology) that I don’t even like!

    There’s a phenomenon that former anime blogger ghostlighting referred to as “remembering love” —when anime pays homage to earlier works so as to honor the past. Some examples might include how the Renton Runs Away storyline in Eureka Seven subtly reworks the arc where Amuro runs from White Base in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, or how the flame dragons in Promare riff on animator Yoshinori Kanada’s love of dragon-shaped effects animation. PARTIZAN (as well as earlier seasons of Friends at the Table) argues that clinging to past glories is futile and that imagining a new future is not only important but necessary. But are there ways that PARTIZAN (and its Tomino-esque naming sense, begun in earlier seasons of the show) “remembers love” as well?

  Austin: Ironically, I think you’ve identified the biggest way in which we “remember love.” How better to engage with the work of Tomino and Gundam than to argue that “imagining a new future is necessary”? What is at stake in Tomino’s Gundam is how we imagine better futures, what we are (and aren’t) willing to do to achieve them, and how possibility is restricted by systems of power. 

  The core of the (often complex and contradictory) story of the newtype is that we are born into the world with the capability to overcome difference and connect to each other through a power of collective understanding. This is then drilled out of us so severely that the only thing that can make it return is trauma, technology, training, or the luck of history. (This is why children are the center of so much of Gundam, and why despite its bad reputation, Victory Gundam is so essential in understanding his work writ large). 

  I think our work owes a lot to Tomino’s in that regard, and likewise, I think both Gundam and Friends at the Table (and countless other things) are in dialog with the concerns of politics and philosophy since the mid-century. How do we do better? How do we ensure society does not charge further into fascism? How does power function? These are big questions that undergird Gundam as much as Macross as much as Evangelion —though each offers different answers, for sure. 

  Beyond all of that, there are lots of other examples of “remembering love” in our show, too. The idea of the poetic cipher system that shows up in the Orzen arc is a nod to Arkady Martine’s novel A Memory Called Empire. There are unconscious or ad hoc references, think about all the Hideo Kojima stuff we’ve stumbled into throughout PARTIZAN. The improvisational nature of Actual Play podcasts lets the mind wander, and you end up reaching toward things you might not ever choose to reference if you were working in a more iterative medium.

  According to Matt Alt in his recent book Pure Invention, several members of Mobile Suit Gundam's creative staff were veterans of Japan’s '60s student movement who filtered into the anime and manga industry. PARTIZAN has a clear political stance that speaks to the present in the same way that Gundam spoke to its own audience. Accepting that all media is inherently political, what opportunities do you believe giant robot stories grant to speak to the world we live in?

  Austin: If I did a full list of the ways that giant robot stories could speak to our world, I’d need another hundred pages. “Here is a mechanical, humanoid body of incredible strength” is a potent, but malleable metaphor. Instead of re-litigating this, I’ll defer to this tweet of mine from last year which lays out just some of the questions that mecha stories bring the table:

  Whether you're telling a hard sci-fi story about military mechs or the most cartoonish super robot tale, both will involve big mechanical chassis doing actions the human-scale characters aren't. And that raises all sorts of questions! Here are a handful: pic.twitter.com/mxaVhGOW4x

— austin walker (@austin_walker) February 24, 2019

  How a show answers those questions — and trust me, I could seriously keep going all day on this — contribute to a show’s thematic and political meaning, and those answers differ wildly across the genre. Even just inside of Gundam, the answers are all over the place. Think about how different something like Mobile Suit GUNDAM Iron Blooded Orphans is compared to some other shows in the series.  And I don’t even mean Mobile Fighter G Gundam, the endless outlier, I mean Mobile Suit Gundam Seed or MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM 00 or even 08th MS Team. 

  Each new mech story is an opportunity to play with these ideas. I don’t think there’s a “right” answer for any of these questions, even if I have my preferences and tastes. Storytellers who want to play in this genre have a wide and varied palette of ideas to engage with. If there is any reason why I hope we see an uptick in mecha stories, it’s because I’m eager to see what a new generation of storytellers, artists, and animators could do with the genre.

  Something I’ve appreciated about Friends at the Table since its first episode is how much every member of the cast brings to the table — not just in the character they play, but in their dedication to shaping the narrative. Many of the show’s best moments come about not because of a single person’s ideas but through the creative alchemy of many different talented people playing off one another. In your opinion, how does the collaborative nature of actual play influence the development of PARTIZAN? What unique challenges are present compared to more "singular" works such as manga or novels? (Or considering that manga artists often use assistants and novels are also the product of editors and other collaborators, is all art collaborative to some degree?)

  Austin: In some ways, it’s very similar to working with co-writers on any other type of creative project. You bring your expertise and background and ideas to the table, they mesh in unique and interesting ways, and the final product represents a range of voices and perspectives.

  But it’s also a unique medium, in a way that I think is even distinct from working with a direct writing collaborator or in a TV show’s writer’s room. Everyone has a great deal of autonomy over their characters, which immediately means that as a showrunner or a creative lead, my role isn’t about “controlling” the story. Even if I might have idea A in mind for their character, they might have idea B or C or X, who knows. Because the show is at its best when people are engaged with their characters, the best thing I can do in a situation like that is to play in the narrative spaces that the cast is interested in, even if it diverges from my own expectations about where the season’s plot or themes might be going.

  Plus, both their and my ideas are also shaped by the dice! So many of the big, memorable Friends at the Table moments are arrived at via dice, using them either to determine an outcome or to help prompt us to set up certain stakes or consequences. The absolute best storytelling we do is when all of us let go just a little bit, meld with the game rules, and see what happens.

    Janine: The way we collaborate doesn't feel like it's about surrendering control in the way a lot of people would believe it does? At least from a player POV, if we feel strongly about how a story should go, especially regarding our characters, that's still encouraged and we often work to try and make those things happen. But there's also an advantage in the fact that every player has their own background, their own influences, their own style of storytelling, that no single individual no matter how broad their own background could replicate. Someone else at the table can come up with ideas that just may have never occurred to me, and the end result will almost certainly be stronger for it.

  Andrew: I would second Janine's answer, and say having everyone to build off of and collaborate with makes me feel more confident and competent in doing this. A big part of my personal anxiety is thoughts of "wait what if I'm doing a bad job??" and working in a group like this helps to combat that by 1) seeing other people immediately go "OOOOOOOOH" and get that positive feedback and 2) knowing that if I do have a half-baked or just not great idea that needs work or is better off getting binned, I also get that constructive feedback. 

  What is your favorite anime, personally? Would be glad to hear from any member of the crew who would feel comfortable answering.

  Austin: All-around: Paranoia Agent. Mecha: Zeta Gundam.

  Janine: Petshop of Horrors.

  Jack: Gundam 0800 War in the Pocket.

  Dre: Laid-Back Camp.

  Ali: Revolutionary Girl Utena. [I agree with Ali. -Adam]

  Sylvia: Ergo Proxy. (Two and a half hours pass.) Actually, I need to be honest my favorite anime is Death Note.

  Keith: I thought most of the night about this and I've got to go with the English dub of Yu Yu Hakusho. It's got to be specifically the dub or something else would win, probably the 2011 Hunter x Hunter.

    One more thing: if every member of the PARTIZAN season was entrusted with creating their own spin-off of PARTIZAN (in the vein of, say, Yoshikazu Yasuhiko's Gundam: The Origin manga, or the weird Votoms spin-off Armored Fighter Mellowlink) — what would they come up with?

  Austin: This is unfair because if I was desperate to do something, I’d figure out how to just do it, whether through a one-shot or a short fiction episode or something else. Because anything I say might be taken as a hint of what is to come. I’ll say that I’d love to fill in more of the blanks of how the setting of PARTIZAN got to be what it is: an anthology series telling even more stories about the long arc of the empire’s rise, told from the perspectives of ordinary people across space. This is already just The Road to PARTIZAN that we did, but more of it.

  Janine: A story about Kesh housekeepers in the vein of Kaoru Mori's Emma: A Victorian Romance.

  Jack: A story about a squad of Hyphan commandos who have been besieged in a square mile of forest.

  Dre:  A sports anime about another pilot who entered the Mech Sumo contest at the Kingdom game.

  Sylvia: Alise Breka presents: Among Sharks. The story of a Nidean captain escaping from an Apostolos base with the help of the very soldier who shot him down.

  Ali:  A slice of life story of Apparatus Aperitif, the night mayor, learning the ropes of the job.

  Art: I want a Lambic House adventure story. Going out and getting fancy beer ingredients from weird places.

  Keith: Not to be self-serving but of course the anime I want is an Equiaxed pirate anime. But what I really want isn't an anime spinoff, it's a podcast spinoff. I want the concurrent Pod Save America podcast of, like, what a bunch of power serving dudes think about politics on PARTIZAN set during the events of the show.

  That's it for now. In the meantime, do you listen to actual play podcasts? What is your favorite podcast? What is the best Gundam and why is it Turn A Gundam? Let us know in the comments!

      Adam W is a Features Writer at Crunchyroll. When he isn't listening to podcasts, he sporadically contributes with a loose coalition of friends to a blog called Isn't it Electrifying? You can find him on Twitter at: @wendeego

  Do you love writing? Do you love anime? If you have an idea for a features story, pitch it to Crunchyroll Features!

By: news+feed@crunchyroll.com

[kuuderekun]

https://jaredmithrandirolorin.blogspot.com/2020/01/tv-anime-writers-and-directors.html

As I've said I want to start talking on this blog about how I think Directors often get too much credit and we should maybe start paying more attention to the writers.

The thing that makes TV Anime a particularly interesting medium in this case is how there are usually less writers then directors.

The "Series Composition" credit seems to be the writing equivalent of being the Series Director, it's a job that in theory could be done by someone not writing individual episode scripts at all, but it generally isn't done that way.  Usually the writer with that credit also writes more episodes then anyone else and that includes the first and last episodes and a few other of the most definitely not filler episodes.  And there are usually only 4 or 5 writers in total, often only 3 who could be said to have written a significant amount.

However there are usually between 7-10 Episode Directors, and the first and last episodes usually don't have the same director.  And the series director probably actually episode directs less then he would have if he he weren't the series director.  And no director even comes close to directing as many episodes as the "Series Composition" person writes.

Some shows fail to give a Series Composition credit, at least on the main Database websites (MAL, ANN and AniDB), but it's easy to guess who was serving that function by looking at what and how many episodes the writers wrote.  Like Sukehiro Tomitia for the first season of Sailor Moon who I've already talked about.  He also seems to be this again for the Black Moon saga, but for the Doom Tree arc I would argue the most important writer was Shigeru Yanagawa.

For Sailor Moon S things are a bit different.  Tomita seems to no longer be obviously the most important writer, Megumi Sugihara wrote the most episodes for S, but still not as many as Tomita wrote for prior seasons, she wrote 10 episodes of S.  She had been around since season 1 but not quite from the start of it.  S had more writers total because of the newcomer, Youji Enokido who wrote 9 episodes.  Tomito did write the first and last episodes, but S is structured so different from season 1 that even that doesn't mean as much, the last episode of S is literally filler.  Tomita wrote 7 episodes total.

Three of Sailor Moon's writers including Tomita would leave after S to go work on other projects, to some extent I think they were writing less during S because they were doing the prep work for those projects.  The one I talked about in the Cutey Honey Flash post was the lead writer of Gundam Wing, if you've ever felt like Wing is the most Shoujo of all Gundam shows, that's because it was written by someone who spent most of the 90s writing Magical Girl shows.

Sailor Moon SuperS is the first season to actually have a Series Composition credit, which is given to Youji Enokido. Kind of surprising as he was the complete Newcomer for S, Megumi had seniority but I guess you can't have the lead writer of a show for girls actually be a girl.  Enokido also wrote the Screenplay for the SuperS movie, Black Dream Hole (the first two movies were written by Tomita).

Megumi and Enokido both left Sailor Moon after SuperS creating a situation where Sailor Stars the last season had no writing staff overlap with the first 3 seasons and two writers who had no prior Sailor Moon experience at all.  If you think Sailor Moon's quality went down hill it was definitely the writing staff that changed more then the directorial staff, the Series Director of Stars had been part of the Sailor Moon directorial team since Goldfish Warning!.  But I don't think the Stars writers are overall inferior writers, they were just at the time less experienced, some of them I know went on to write stuff that can compete with the early seasons of Sailor Moon.  When Sailor Moon started Toei hired some pretty experienced writers and directors because they knew this would be one of their most important shows.  But once those writers wanted to go on to other things they were replaced by relative newcomers.

The first 6 episodes of Sailor Stars I feel would work really well edited together into a 2 hour movie. What's interesting here is each one has a different director, but it was all written by two writers, the only two Stars writers who were veterans of SuperS, so ideally placed to write that season's epilogue.  Though they had no experience writing the Outer Senshi since Enokido did their episode of the Special, in which case they did surprisingly well.

Megumi doesn't seem to have done much after leaving Sailor Moon.  Enokido while doing SuperS wrote 4 episodes of Neon Genesis Evangelion, all of them from the first half of the show.  I at first thought the only reason he had writing credits in the Rebuild films is because the first two redo/remake stuff from his episodes.  But then he also has a credit in 3.33 which has no connection to any episode he wrote.  So either their credits by default list everyone who worked on the original or they did consult him on something.

The first thing Enokido did after he left Sailor Moon was being the head writer of Revolutionary Girl Utena.  Yes I'm applying my maybe we give directors to much credit to even the most revered work of one of Anime's most worshiped Auteur Directors.  Utena definitely looks the way it does chiefly because of Ikuhara, and the basic idea of it's story started with Ikuhara.

But there is a segment of the fanbase who thinks Utena is the only (completely original to him) Ikuhara show that's great and are not so infatuated with his over hyped 2010s stuff, like WhiningAboutYuri on Tumblr, and that could be largely because the 2010s shows had completely different writers.  I personally enjoy his 2010s stuff, and probably consider Penguindrum more rewatchable then Utena.  But Utena is the only Ikuhara show I'd ever really put on a favorites list.  And YuriKuma's final act frustrates me, on a list of 2010s Yuri shows it'll always fall below Citrus on my rankings.  Of course even with Penguindrum I'd have preferred a happier ending.

And also on Utena Ikuhara was never even an Episode Director.  So he was at the top of the pyramid but there was a lot of delegating.  It was a collaborative effort on every level.  It's almost like when that one comedian makes fun of Steve Jobs getting all the credit for the iPhone.  Enokido may well have done more writing then Ikuhara did directing.

Enokido wasn't Utena's only writer.  One I already made a post about due to my love of some of his other work.  But a lot of the other writers seem to have Utena as the only Anime they ever worked on.  Including the person who wrote most of the Nanami episodes, how is it that person hasn't gotten more work when they're obviously a comedic genius?

Enokido however had the Series Composition credit and wrote 20 episodes, just over half.  They include the first five, episode 7, and 9, the two not as filler as you think recap episodes and almost all of the final Apocalypse Arc.  And he wrote the Screenplay for the movie.

Enokido would have a lot of post Utena work.  Not always stuff that is still well known.  He wrote 5 episodes of RahXephon, a show often compared to Evangelion that in my opinion is far better.  Maybe that's partly because Enokido wrote more of it then he did Eva.  He also wrote Redline which seems to be a popular racing movie.

But perhaps the most notable thing Enokido has done in the last decade years is Stardriver.  I haven't seen Stardriver yet mainly because it lacks a dub, but at this point I doubt it ever will get one so I might as well just give in and watch it subbed.  It's been described as like if Eva and Utena had a baby who grew up to do musical theater.

Stardriver's director is the same director as Sailor Stars, who had been an episode director on Sailor Moon going back to season 1 and also worked on Cutey Honey Flash.  He then worked on Fun Fun Pharmacy and a number of the shows that proceeded Pretty Cure in it's time-slot, and did episode 8 of the first season of Pretty Cure.  His visual style is certainly an interesting one to combine with the writer of Utena.

Gen Urobuchi is a rare example of a writer who's name gets mentioned more then the directors of the popular shows he wrote.  But sometimes his association is with the source material rather then the Anime directly, it varies.  I find it interesting how many of his shows have Yuki Kajuria on the music even though nothing else connects them.  Maybe they just naturally go together.

All that is just the tip of the iceberg.  There are plenty more Anime where I think the writer is more why I like them then the director.  I'll likely make more posts on this subject in the future.

One detail I'd like to point out before ending this post is that the two most popular up and coming Female Anime directors of the last decade also had female writers on their most notable work, who also wrote plenty of stuff directed by men.

[mpanighetti]

Finally finished Endless Waltz with @meggie-stardust and for some reason I needed to wrestle another Tubarov meme out of my brain so

[mpanighetti]

No you went too far for this gag

[meggie-stardust]

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING - REWATCH - 41 - 42

41. Crossfire at Barge

RHYTHM EMOTION FINALLY

What’s Zechs doing in a mobile suit, they ask. It’s like he likes to fight and they have no idea what his military history is....

Duo to Trowa: Hey lets all subtly pretend we aren’t here and then join the conversation and the battle in a really natural way.

Wing Zero just magically knows that that’s Sally Po

Sally the Gundam Finder. We don’t know where Trowa left it, right? Just she found it. Like a person who finds water in the desert.

Cool shot of Wing Zero’s eye

Now that Duke Dermail is dead, Relena is the only one who can control Romefeller. IS she tho??

TREIZE RETURNS

A red dawn rises, blood has spilled last night

Ooh evil face Relena for a moment

I’ve seen Frozen, I know that she is supposed to wear a dress and crown at all time, even when brooding and locked in a room.

Treize just strolling in and laying down the law. Such a BAMF.

Relena wants to stop Zechs. She thinks she’s the one who has influence over him??? Have they even met face to face since they were children???

Treize: You are free. Leave the gowns, we’ll use them later.

Dorothy is ready to stalk Relena to the ends of earth and even space

This White Fang guy who doesn’t want Zechs to use his mobile suit changed his mind quickly

Trowa just doing own thing, even with amnesia

Oh, I forgot that Heero would have brought Epoyn to Sanc so that’s why Noin knows and Quatre thinks it might be Heero

I love how Trowa has no memory but his instincts are pushing through

Well, Zechs, that’s one way to take care of barge, just cut it in half

Everyone is pretty sad that Barge is gone even tho it was trying to take them out…? Do we even know who we are fighting any more???

42. Battleship Libra

Lieutenant Nichol? He’s still around? I for got about that guy.

Lady Une in a magic case. Like Sleeping Beauty.

Treize stays on brand by bringing Une a $200 bouquet of roses

Treize just subtly dropping some large scale secret plans to comatose Une

That Romefeller stained glass is amazing

This Romefeller parliament is a brodeo. 

Treize’s machinations are amazing. I love him. 

Who is Relena traveling with? Is that Oz? The Treize faction? Why do they just let some rando 15 year old go into space? The Sanc Kingdom doesn’t exist, Romefeller kicked her out... she’s no one.

The voice acting is getting a little sloppy. That was basically just Duo and Zechs chatting there.

Gundam 05?!

“If you guys are justified, then you’ll defeat me” Wufei that really isn’t how battles work.

Is Wufei saying, “if you can’t beat me, you can’t beat Treize?” Or “I’m protecting Treize?” I am confused. I think he’s confused, too.

Who was this random who just killed himself but sounded just like Zechs? 

Too many fools in outer space. Amiright?

OK, everyone loves Treize again. Gotcha. (One of us)

Wufei has no time for anyone floating around space near him. Space is infinite why are you flying near me

This is such a crazy buddy cop spin off: Sally, Wufei, and Heero

It’s Wufei’s turn in the Zero system

“The road I’m taking is the correct choice” famous last words, Wufei. 

Wufei is like “If I’m wrong the world will end. Oh, it didn’t end, I must be right. Obvi”

Heero saw Relena. Wufei sees Treize and Zechs… I’m just saying. Wink Wink

Hey you guys remember the alliance, right? No, god, it’s been like 40 episode, thanks for reminding us. 

Wufei: The Zero system says I have to have a weird sewer orgy with the other Gundam Pilots…. Well, if you say so. 

“Treize and Zechs are my enemies” Really Wufei, I thought it was telling you you needed to become a trouple with them… but ok. You do you. 

Zechs will just fire on Dorothy, and she’s like, whatever. I’ll just monologue through my arousal. 

“I’m the only one who can stop my brother” Again. Are you tho???

Thoughts:

Just Communication vs Rhythm Emotion: So whenever I think about Gundam Wing, Rhythm Emotion is the song that pops into my head. When I made a post about doing this rewatch, I added Rhythm Emotion... But it’s crazy, we get it start at episode 41 of a 49 episode show! Granted, they teased it for the last few episodes, but still. The Rhythm Emotion opening gives us new poses, the upgraded Gundams (including Epyon), some weird royal garb for Heero and Relena, but Treize is conspicuously absent (oh and no whip sound effext so minus points for those). It’s a great up beat song, that jumps us right into the action and sets the pace for where we are in the story... That being said, Just Communication is objectively a better opening. We se so much more of the cast, and it takes it time and has a very satisfying end before the show starts. Rhythm Emotion feels rushed and the end of the opening feels so abrupt. I mean whatever, I still love both songs, but do you guys remember the remix version???

OK, in regards to the actual episodes... I hate to say this but I feel like things are getting a little sloppy. We spent like 20 episode setting up these complex relationships, and then like 20 more building up conflict, and then oh shit we have to wrap this up in less than 10 episodes. We’re doing a lot of info dumping so we can remember what organization is what, and so we know the motivations of the characters. I mean, look, it’s not like it’s the final episodes of Evangelion or anything, and I remember the last two episodes being amazing, it’s just it’s not as tight as it was during the first 3/4 of the show.

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

Does Trowa finally get to be the final pilot to go for a spin in Wing Zero now that the band is basically back together? Relena has to go stick her foot in it at some point as well.

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING SHIRTS

What’s up Gundam Wing fandom! I designed a shirt a few months back, and I’d love to share it with everyone. Sometimes when you get back into a fandom 20 years later, you want merch to match your modern aesthetic. 

Order Here: https://www.customink.com/g/tue0-00cd-y9us

This is available in both men’s and ladies cuts. I’m wearing a men’s small in the pic.

I’ve set up a Custom Ink group order, for anyone who wants to order one. I will make no money on this, and all payments will go direct to Custom Ink for the shirt only. 

The ordering will be open for about 2 weeks to start (this may change), so go grab one while the gettin’s good. All orders will ship at the end of the ordering period. 

Order Here: https://www.customink.com/g/tue0-00cd-y9us

[meggie-stardust]

I remember watching gw as a kid and seeing the scene where heero snaps his knee back in place and duo is looking at him like he's absolutely insane and I always thought it was SO endearing.

otherwise the scene where heero breaks duo out of his cell even though he originally came to kill him *clenches fist* that's the Good Stuff

Yes, fam.

For someone who calls themselves the god of death, they’re awfully squeamish about about broken bones.

And the breaking out of jail. A+ that’s the good shit.

[meggie-stardust]

GUNDAM WING - REWATCH - 45 - 47

You guys get a triple episode this week! You’re welcome, bitches.

45. Signs of the Final Battle

There’s that space crew working again. I hope they support the position of White Fang...

Quatre: I no longer need the ZERO system; I’ve absorbed it

Howard: You guys gotta rest, it’s happy hour somewhere *flips on Margaritaville*

Does Treize think he can win in space? Yes. Yes he does, obviously 

Can a launch be “very successful” or just successful or unsuccessful 

Oh, hey, Hilde, Whats up?? I forgot about Noin!Lite

CANS is a bit wishy washy. Oh no, don’t blow up the earth. Oh, hey we need to blow up all the gundam. Only we can have a gundam. 

Those minidisks are back. Usually I forget this was made in the 90s.

Whey would my brother start a fight when they could just talk? Relena didn’t you read the tags: Friends to enemies to lovers, slow burn, 300K, major character death

All the “girlfriends” are having a secret meeting. 

Hilde is delivering plans about a weakness in a battleship... Interesting... 

This isn’t a kids game; are you sure CANS???

Wufei is like I’m just gonna jump in for Duo here, since he sucks at Chess

Duo: Hey, Heero you wanna play 5 person chess? This is how we do it on L2

The alarm goes off and they’re all doing cool Flying V formation like the mighty ducks. 

Wow we could have had this the WHOLE TIME if they just TALKED TO EACH OTHER??? We were robbed.

I have questions about the structural integrity of a mobile suit in space. Hilde isn’t waring a space suit, and her mobile suit is compromised… Wearing a helmet seems to be an aesthetic decision only.

Can we talk about the glint in Deathscythe’s eyes? Because it’s so badass.

Duo can tell that it’s Trowa and Heero just by how they pilot… interesting… (Is my 1x2x3 shipper showing??)

It’s canon: Duo is better than Heero and Trowa combined. 

Don’t get me wrong, I like Hilde, but if the show had balls they would have killed her Rogue One style

The pilots new flight suits are A+ 

46. Milliardo’s Decision

$10 Milliardo’s decision is to put his helmet back on and become Space!Zechs

OOOH Tallgeese II has entered the battle

Treize: I built a Gundam before, but I just want to pilot the same mobile suit as my boyfriend so I also build the Tallgeese II

Oh hey, Wing keeps showing up... I wonder what’s gonna become of it this time....?

I don’t even know what what’s happening here with them all hanging out, but I am here for it. 

Trowa: be nice to women; Wufei’s flexy arm thing breaks

Duo about Heero: he makes mistakes just like the rest of us; the rest of the pilots are all silent not because they disagree, but because they are thinking of all the fucked up shit they’ve seen Heero do in the past. 

To quote Brand New/Taking Back Sunday, Heero is as subtle as a brink in the small of my back

Heero’s a little short of a storm trooper...

Either Relena is just super excited to see Heero or they are slowly reducing the oxygen in her holding cell

Hilde brought them the data, and then Heero doesn’t even leave it with the other pilots, he literally brings it back to LIBRA??? WHERE IT CAME FROM

The closed caption just said [mysterious charm] AMAZING

Zechs: Guys I have a really cool idea, but I need your help to move my desk to the observation deck for ~the aesthetic~

IDk what look Heero is going for when he’s sneaking on the libra, but it’s not half bad, and it comes with a neckerchief 

What is this amazing pose of Tallgeese II standing on the shuttle. AMAZING. Treize is such a BOSS 

Wait. Zechs was a hologram the whole time?! That’s so extra, I love it.

How are all these people magically connected. How does Une immediately wake up when Treize is about to do something crazy

Did Une just take Wing?! I have no memory of this

Zechs: CANS restrain Dorothy; CANS:  FINALLY my moment has come!

Wow I have no memory of this

Wing Gundam pushing Treize out of the way and Dorothy losing her mind

OMG IT WAS Lady Une the whole time?!

Way more badass than any of us gave her credit for. Going from being in a coma, to launching a Gundam into space, to taking the brunt of a beam canon. Lady Une is the MVP of this episode.

47. Collision in Space

Heero: I’m just gonna have a little nap right now, and then when Treize fails, I’ll go ahead and blow up the Libra

Howard: Which side should we root for guys? Whats the over under on White Fang? 

Sally: OK, we’re gonna side with Treize, ok guys? Hope you agree because this is gonna get crazy.

CANS: Why do the Gundams hate us even tho I just gave the orders to destroy them last episode?? 

Well, last episode Duo was the superior pilot. This time, not so much... 

Treize: I would thank the Gundams, but I think my silence is better, they’ll totally get what I’m going for 

Dorothy: Wait, you can’t move the libra? I have to view of the battle #priorities

Peacemillion is just the right side to fly in and destroy Libra. How convienent.

Noin folds like a lawn chair, but so does Zechs

CANS IS SUCH A BITCH

Peacemillon’s plowing into us… it’s the only thing that’s gonna plow into you

CANS: How could this happen?! 

Treize is so proud of the ships

God Relena, do we have to spell everything out for you about what’s happening right this second

Heero: I need Wing Zero. Good thing it just crashed into this ship

Trowa about Wufei fucking off: He’s fulfilling an old promise. That means Wufei and Trowa did talk when they bro’d downed at the circus

Treize: that pilot has to be that kid… play it cool. Don’t him know you remember his name.

Heero said butt

This is what I’m here for; Duo infiltrating everything. 

Trowa is the best. Just do a double spin out of the way and a bow. Ta da!

DorothyxQuatre duel. This is the only Quatre ship I’m here for. 

I was just wondering what happened to the scientists.

We built an error into the canon… interesting, where did you get that idea

Duo looks so badass threatening the scientists. More of this please. 

Epyon standing there like a Gargoyle 

Crushing blow??? GET IT???? GUys do you know what he’s gonna do next?????

Thoughts:

I am glad that @mpanighetti and I decided to do these 3 episodes as a group, and then finish out the series with the last two episodes together. 

I had very little memories of some of the details here, and I get why... honestly, these are weird kinda filler episodes. When a series is only 49 episodes, we don’t get a lot of time for nothing to happen, but the writing is getting looser at the end of the series, and if this arc had happened in the first 1/2 all of this would have probably happened in 1 episode, and instead we get 3. 

There are a lot of badass moments here: Duo, Une, Treize.... but the rest of the episodes feel a little flat... 

What I think I remember for the next episode(s):

I have so many memories of the penultimate episode (which i will make a whole post about separately) but we get an epic battle between Treize and Wufei, and I honestly forget how things fully wrap up during the last episode, so I am so excited that we’ve made it to the end. I can’t wait to write up my final thoughts and then rewatch Endless Waltz.  

[meggie-stardust]

Reflecting on the Episode 48 of Gundam Wing

For the last 20 years, if anyone were to ask me what the most memorable episode of Gundam Wing was, I would say: Episode 48: Take Off Into Confusion. What’s interesting is that it’s really only Wufei and Treize’s fight that I vividly recall, and having just rewatched this episode, I was surprised at how much happens. But that’s for a different post...

What I want to talk about is what is was like to watch this episode the first time it aired in the US on Toonami, on May 10, 2000. 

If you didn’t watch Gundam Wing back when it first aired on Toonami, the one thing you need to know is that it aired an edited version at 5:30pm, and then it aired again––unedited––at midnight as part of the Toonmai Midnight Run.

So, let’s go back in time to Wednesday, May 10, 2000. I was a junior in high school, and was a punkrocker who had suddenly gotten into anime (mostly because of a crush I had one of my best friends who said it was amazing). I remember watching this episode during the fist airing, and as many of you know, Treize has always been the most interesting character to me, and seeing this final speech and battle between him and Wufei blew my mind. His death was so unexpected (he is, after all, the only main character to die) and his final moments were amazing. I was in awe. 

Aside from blood, Treize’s speeches were also always somewhat edited from the afternoon to the midnight version. So I was eager to see what was different during that final battle in the uncut episode. 

Luckily for me, for some reason my mom’s cable was on eastern time instead of pacific time, so I watched the edited version at 2pm and then the unedited version at 9pm. 

THEN I had to see it again. Remember this was 2000. Some people had DVRs––I didn’t. So, I did the most logical thing. At about 10pm, I drove to my dad’s house (he only lived a few minutes away), so that I could watch the episode again during the pacific timezone midnight airing. I had to explain to both sets of parents that: No, I’m not crazy. Yes, I understand it’s a school night, but it’s ok, my first period tomorrow is a free period, so it’s fine. I just have to go watch this episode for the third time in one night. 

What’s that meme?  My child is fine. Your child watched the penultimate episode of Gundam Wing 3x in one day on broadcast cable. 

I mean, thank god I had my own car, because I doubt I could have convinced any of my parents that this was a good idea otherwise. 

I didn’t react to the episode the same way this time. Do I still think it’s one of the best in the series? Yes. But it really is because of the Wufei and Treize battle, rather than the episode as a whole. And I think that says more about my interest in Treize as a character, than anything else.