Review: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: BATTLEFIELD OF PACIFISTS

There are LOADS of Gundam manga spinoffs to pick from for this month, and that's doubly true for Gundam Wing manga.

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: BATTLEFIELD OF PACIFISTS (Shin Kido Senki Gundam Wing: Battlefield of Pacifists), based on the franchise by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino, written by Katsuhiko Chiba, and art by Koichi Tokita.  First published in 1997 and first published in North America in 2002.

PLOT:

In AC 196, the united Earth government are trying to eliminate the last caches of OZ mobile suits.  Helping them are the Gundam pilots, working behind the scenes to investigate reports of new automated Virgo suits and a mysterious mobile suit factory on an asteroid.  The boys will have to split up and work fast, as a former OZ commander and a fanatical pacifist activist are determined to get to it first.

Review: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING: THE GLORY OF LOSERS

It seems like no matter how many of these I do, I keep coming back to Gundam Wing.  This one is the most recent attempt yet, having debuted this year in English.  Can this version improve upon its precedesors?  Can it possibly make Gundam Wing's story any more coherent?

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING ENDLESS WALTZ: GLORY OF THE LOSERS (Shin Kido Senki Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz: Haisha-tachi no Eiko), written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa, art by Tomofumi Ogasawara, and based on the franchise by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino.  First published in 2010 and first published in North America in 2017.

PLOT:

In the year After Colony 195, the United Earth Sphere Alliance is at war with the space colonies orbiting Earth.  To save themselves and fight back against the Alliance, a group of scientists send down five young pilots in powerful mobile suits to strike fear into the forces of OZ.  As we follow the charismatic pilot Duo Maxwell, he learns that not only is he not the only Gundam pilot on earth but that their mission will force them to confront some of OZ's most skilled and dangerous pilots.

Review: GUNDAM WING: EPISODE ZERO

Normally I would be saving this for a future Gundam-themed month, but I'm currently just shy of the midway point of Gundam Wing thanks to a groupwatch with some of the Wave Motion Cannon boys and I'm ready for a good rant so this prequel will have to do.

GUNDAM WING: EPISODE ZERO (Shin Kido Senki Gundam W EPISODE ZERO), written by Katsuyuki Sumisawa & art by Akira Kanbe, based on the Mobile Suit Gundam series created by Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hajime Yatate.  First published in 1997 and first published in North America in 2002.

PLOT:

Before AC 195 and the events of Operation Meteor, there are still stories to tell.  There are the stories of five young boys each suffering through their own personal tragedies, as well as that of a lost princess.  Their pasts not only shaped their appearances and minds, but led to chance encounters with other notable figures from their future and eventually to the Gundams they would someday pilot.

Review: MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING

Around this time last year I covered all of the Evangelion manga, which was no small undertaking.  I figured that it would finally be time to cover the only other mecha manga franchise to rival it: Gundam.  While we haven't gotten as nearly as many Gundam manga as Japan has, we've gotten more than enough for a month's worth of reviews (and then some).  So why don't we start where most Gundam fans in the States started?

MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM WING (Shin Kido Senki Gandamu Wingu), based on the story by Hajime Yadate & Yoshiyuki Tomino with art by Koichi Tokita.  First published in 1995 and first published in North America in 2000.

PLOT:

In the year After Colony 195, humanity has spread from earth to space, but those in the space colonies are suppressed by the Earth Allied Forces and OZ, the secret society that guides their every move.  To fight them, five young men with powerful mobile suits are separately sent to Earth to fight them...that is, if they can stop fighting amongst themselves and the mysterious Zechs Marquise long enough to do so.