From Wing to 00 --The Gundam series' depiction of war transformed after 2001--

　"Mobile Suit Gundam", which was aired on TV from 1979 to 1980, became a popular series, and many anime works with the name "Gundam" were produced after that. Among the many "Gundam" series, "New Mobile Report Gundam Wing", "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" series, and "Mobile Suit Gundam 00" are the three most popular "Gundam" trilogies during Heisei era, with many beautiful boys that have attracted many female fans.

　The reason why the stories and character settings of these three works are quite similar is that the latter two works (SEED and 00) refer to and borrow their story settings and characters from "Gundam Wing", which was the most popular Gundam series in the 1990s. While the protagonists of the Gundam series prior to "Gundam Wing" were basically soldiers of the Earth Federation Government or similar mobile suit pilots, the protagonists of these three works are beautiful young terrorists who rebel against the government. This is where these series are very different from the previous Gundam series. However, Kira Yamato, the protagonist of "Gundam SEED", starts out as a terrorist just like Heero Yuy of "Wing" but as a pilot who rides on a Gundam, he plays a role similar to that of Amuro Rei of the first Gundam series. As a pilot who rides on the Gundam, his role is similar to both that of Amuro Rei in the first Gundam and that of Heero Yuy in the "Gundam Wing".

　And it is precisely because the story has a similar setting that the 9/11 terrorist attacks of 2001 have cast a large shadow on the depiction of war in the Gundam stories about terrorists. The three Gundam works make sharp contrast in the way they perceive the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the way they reflect them: "Gundam Wing" (1995), a work before the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the "Gundam SEED" series (2002-2005), for which the 9/11 terrorist attacks occurred while the project was being planned and prepared for production, and the post-9/11 work, "Gundam 00" (2007-2009), it can be seen that the way terrorism and war are portrayed has responded and changed to reflect the respective times. These three works are a trilogy divided into "before", "during", and "after", starting from 9/11 of 2001.
　For this reason, I think it is effective to compare and examine these three "Gundam" works in order to think about the reality and the view of war in the post-9/11 era.

 The first "Mobile Suit Gundam" in 1979-1980, which was not originally intended to have any sequel stories, has been expanded through three steps due to its popularity, as follows.

(a) The "Universe Century" series directed by Tomino Yoshiyuki, which followed the history of the first "Mobile Suit Gundam," starting with "Mobile Suit Z Gundam”(1985-86). Other works include "Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ"(1986-87), the theatrical "Char's the Counterattack", "Gundam F91", and "Mobile Suit V Gundam"(1992-93). There are different views on this, but "Turn-A Gundam"(1999-2000) is also considered to be in this series.

(b) Starting with “0080 War in the Pocket”, stories on the same history of "Universe Century", external stories in the same Gundam world by directors other than Tomino Yoshiyuki. There are also "0083" and "The 08th MS Platoon: Mirror's Report". "Gundam UC", written by Fukui Harutoshi, is also a work that has a place in the history of the "Universe Century".

(c) Starting with “Mobile Fighter G Gundam”, stories that bear the name "Gundam" but take place in a world other than the "Universe Century". In addition to the trilogy shown above, "Mobile New Century Gundam X" is another example.

　It should be noted that the "Gundam" works that will be the subject of this essay are mainly the works in (c) above, and are different from the works of "Gundam" in "Universe Century" like (a) or (b).

1."New Mobile Report Gundam Wing"

　The work "New Mobile Report Gundam Wing" (1995) is a work that is positioned as a middle-ranking work among the "Gundam" series works that already have a long history, because it is a work that succeeded in greatly recovering the popularity of "Gundam" that had been on a long-term decline in the early 1990s.
　During this period, "Mobile Suit V Gundam", which Tomino directed himself, did not gain much popularity, and the popularity of anime shifted to works other than Gundam, such as "Sailor Moon" and "Nadia of the Mysterious Sea". It can be said that this was the period in recent years when the status of "Gundam" was relatively the lowest in all the anime genre.
　"New Mobile Report Gundam Wing" quickly recovered from this decline and laid the foundation for the boom in Gundam's popularity that lasted for more than ten years. With the airing of this work, "Gundam" regained its central position in the anime genre, and since then it has continued to gain mainstream popularity in the genre. In the United States, "Gundam Wing" is considered to be the most well-known and popular of the "Gundam" series.

So what was so revolutionary about "Gundam Wing" that it succeeded in revitalizing the "Gundam" series? Various factors can be cited, such as the modernization of character designs and mechanical designs, music, and storytelling, but the following points are particularly groundbreaking in terms of story and setting.

・Taking as a model the stories of the "Saint Seiya" and "Samurai Troopers", both of which are very popular among women, the story of Gundam has been drastically transformed into a story about a group of beautiful boys.

・By abandoning the conventional framework of the Gundam story, in which the Gundam fights against the backing of a large organization called the Earth Federation Government, and changing the narrative structure to that of a battle between Gundam riders who rebel against the Earth Government as terrorists.

　There are various points that can be said to be new in "Gundam Wing", but the two points above are particularly significant changes in the story setting. On the one hand, this change caused a remarkable allergic reaction among the old "Gundam" fans, but on the other hand, it succeeded in attracting a large number of new female fans.

　From the first "Mobile Suit Gundam" on, the years of the "Universe Century" are counted in the U.C., but in "Gundam Wing", the years are counted in the After Colony(A.C.). The general setting of a world where space immigration has advanced, and where conflicts arise between the immigrants of the colonies and the Earth government, is followed in the "Gundam Wing".
　The name of the protagonist of the story, Heero Yuy, is borrowed from the name of a deceased person who once rebelled against the Earth government and passed down as a hero. In the first generation of Gundam, he is similar to Zeon Zum Daikun. Five boys, including Heero, are each given a Gundam machine and start their own rebellion against the Earth government almost simultaneously. They were trained and nurtured as terrorists, and the story begins when their operation, 'Operation Meteor', is finally launched.

　This work features five beautiful young Gundam pilots, including Heero Yuy, and the drama of how each of them came to be riding on a Gundam. All of them join "Operation Meteor" and begin their activities as terrorists. Heero comes into contact with a girl named Relena Dorian at the school he infiltrated for his mission. Relena's father was a prominent politician, but he had already been assassinated and died. Relena follows in her father's footsteps and begins her career as a politician, eventually becoming an advocate of unarmed total pacifism. At first, Heero and his colleagues are repulsed by Relena, but eventually they are enlightened by her ideas and begin to follow her.

　Relena's elder brother, Milliardo, changes his name to Zechs, wears a mask, and takes on the role of Char Aznable from the first Gundam, and reigns as a rival character to the main characters. In the latter half of the story, Milliardo also tries to drop a colony on Earth, as if he is tracing the actions of Char in "Char's Counterattack". His rationale is perverse, and he claims that he is fighting a war to force humanity to stop the war. In other words, what is revealed in the second half of the story is that both forces that are at war against each other are, in their heart of hearts, approve of the pacifism of Relena, and both admire her ideas.
　Relena once rose to become the reigning Queen of the Earth Sphere and took the family name of Peacecraft, but she resigned her position and became a diplomat. In the last battle, the Gundam team defeated the ambitious Treize Khushrenada, who had been trying to dominate the Earth sphere, and peace was restored to the Earth sphere.

　"Endless Waltz" (1997) is a sequel and external story to "Gundam Wing". Marie-Meia, the forgotten daughter of the war dead Treize, is taken on as the head of the rebellion. The five Gundams are in transit to be thrown into the sun, but when war breaks out again, the Gundam pilots retrieve them and go to war again. Of the five pilots, only Wufei joins Marie Maia's side and fights against Heero and the others, but he is moved by Heero's persuasion and rejoins the Gundam team again. The rebellion is suppressed by the reunited Gundam team and the efforts of Milliardo and others, and the ringleader Dekim is shot and killed, while the young Marie-Meia is taken into custody. The story concludes with the narration that the battle has ended the war in human history.

　The long story of "Gundam Wing", which has more than 50 episodes in total, contains many intricate stories, and it is impossible to tell the whole story with the brief introduction above. However, as can be seen from the synopsis alone, the war that is the subject of this story is suppressed by the ideology of Relena, who advocates complete pacifism in the story. The story seems to correspond to the idealism of unarmed pacifism advocated by the Socialist Party, which was in power in Japan at the time this program was broadcast.
　In addition to the two points mentioned above, this is a new point that was introduced in "Gundam Wing". Until then, "Gundam" did not depict a world where the ideal of pacifism was believed in, nor did it depict the end of war and the arrival of a world where human beings live in peace. "Gundam Wing" is the first work in the Gundam series to depict the ideal of pacifism being preached and its triumph. The way it was portrayed was passed on to its successor, "Gundam SEED".
　The way the war was portrayed in "Gundam Wing" was not always accepted positively even when it was broadcast. During the broadcast, there were many who criticized the pacifism advocated by Relena as hypocritical and deceptive. However, on the other hand, the way the war was portrayed in this hit work seemed to be rather relatively acceptable in this era.

　Even within the world of "Gundam Wing", it has become clear that Relena's pacifism is facing a serious contradiction. The "Sanc Kingdom," of which Relena is the chief, ostensibly claims to be unarmed and neutral, and claims to have no weapons, but in reality it is being guarded by a squad of armed mobile suits led by Noin and others. Relena herself was not unaware of the troops, but she knew about them, and showed the double standard of a politician who turned a blind eye.
　As a viewer who was watching the show in real time at the time of its broadcast, I thought that the direction the story should go must be the collapse and stranding of Relena's ideology, since such contradictions and cracks were occurring even within the world of the work, but the story did not go in that direction, and in the end, the world's people unanimously endorsed and accepted Relena's pacifism.

　Let's examine the view of war in "Gundam Wing" by quoting some dialogues from "Endless Waltz". This story opens with the following narration.

　In the year 194 A.C., the last battle of humanity between the White Fang Army on the side of the colonies and the World State Army on the side of the Earth has ended, and the pattern of confrontation has disappeared. The colonies and Earth chose the path of coexistence, and a unified Earth-sphere nation was born with the expectation of permanent peace.
　In the year 196, the After Colony(AC), there are no combat weapons in the Earth sphere. However, as long as humanity exists, fighting will never cease.

　The narration that states that the war of mankind is over, yet indicates that the battle will begin again, sounds like it contains seemingly contradictory content. The first half of the above narration is a response to the declaration made in the final episode of "Gundam Wing" that all fighting had ended. The second half of the narration is a previous notice that fighting will begin again in the OVA story. The spliced-together nature of the situation leads to contradictions in the short narration.
　The meaning of the title of this OVA, "Endless Waltz," is revealed by the following lines from the rebellious Marie-Meia.

Marie Maia: "Don't you wonder?　Why do we need such a shelter in a peaceful world without weapons?　History is like a never-ending waltz. War, peace, and revolution are the three beats that go on forever. But with my coronation, history will change."

　This line from Marie-Meia shows her confidence that she can break away from the history of the past. She declares that the history of mankind up to now has been a circular dance of war, peace, and revolution, but after her coronation, a break free from this circle would be possible. This confidence in breaking away from the circle of history seems to reflect a time when the collapse of the Berlin Wall in 1989 was considered to be the end of the previous history. This confidence in breaking free from history has faded and lost its reality since the 2000s, especially after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Even in fictional anime works, the phrase "breaking free from the circle of history" is unlikely to appear in the post-2000s era, and here we can see a strong reflection of the 1990s era.
　In addition, there is the following conversation with Heero, who is trying to persuade Wufei, a Gundam pilot who has joined Marie-Meia's side.

Heero: "Is this what you call justice?”
Wufei: "I just want to make sure that justice in the name of peace, which is based on sacrifice, is really right. That's why I'll become evil.”
Heero: "The more you fight, the more your sacrifices for peace will be wasted. You must have realized that by now. Our war is over.”
Wufei: "Is that why we don't need warriors?　Do we cut off the soldiers who live only for war?
Heero: "Soldiers should have fought for peace. Try to believe in the world we have here now.”
Wufei: "I speak for the people who were treated as weapons. I'm fighting for all soldiers, including you.”

　In order to persuade Wufei, Heero says, "Believe in the world that exists here and now". In "Gundam Wing", there is a scene in which Relena says in a speech that the people of the world truly wish for peace, and Heero's words are spoken out of the same belief as Relena. In this scene, Wufei, who once shows a rebellious attitude, eventually returns to Heero's side, so he must have found the truth and persuasiveness in Heero's words.
　To the extent that such persuasion for peace was able to exert power and influence, the Relena of the story was able to gain power. Marina Ismail, who plays the role of Relena in "Gundam 00", a post-9/11 work that I will discuss later, does not have the words to preach such peace and is unable to exert power and influence on the characters in the work. The change from Relena to Marina, and the decline of her power and influence, can be seen as a reflection of the times after 9/11.
　In "Endless Waltz," there is a scene in which the president and his granddaughter are watching the battle between the rebellious Marie-Meier army and the government side on TV, and the following exchange takes place.

Daughter: "Grandpa. I thought we weren't going to war anymore?”
President: "Yes, you are right.”
Daughter: "Then why are those people at war?”
The President: "Not all children in the world are as good children as you.”

　In this scene, the president tells his daughter that only a few people with bad belief are making war, but the majority of people want peace, and she agrees with him. When the masses rose up against the rebellious Marie-Meia army, the people said, "No more war! "We'll defend our peace by ourself!"
　Even during the final battle, one of the Gundam pilots, Duo, shouts, "Let's just leave the weapons and the war here to abandon to hell!” He only destroys mobile suits and weapons, and is careful not to kill their crews. In the early stages of "Gundam Wing", Duo and the others had killed many people as terrorists, but after being inspired by Relena's peaceful philosophy, they change their attitude to avoid killing people on the battlefield. This non-killing attitude is carried over to the belief of Kira Yamato of "Gundam SEED", who fights to stop the war but does not kill people.

　Incidentally, in "Turn-A Gundam", which is later than "Gundam Wing" and earlier than "Gundam SEED", the protagonist Rolan is a good person, and he has a similar attitude to the protagonists of "Gundam Wing" and "Gundam SEED" in that he tries not to kill people as much as possible even when he is in a mobile suit. Based on this policy, Rolan fights without killing anyone until the middle of the story, but in a fierce battle in space, he realizes that he cannot defeat his opponent without killing him, and there is a scene where he shoots down an enemy mobile suit, abandoning his belief in non-killing. The depiction of this scene can be seen as a criticism of "Gundam Wing" by Tomino, the director of "Turn-A Gundam".
　Near the end of "Endless Waltz", Relena concludes her speech by saying, "What we need now is not principles and arguments, but a heart that desires peace!"
　After the battle is over, the Gundam pilots are destroying the Gundam's fuselage by blowing it up. Since there is no more war, there is no need for mobile suits, which are tools for war.

The narration at the end of this story is as follows

　In After Colony (A.C.) 197, peace has returned to the people. And in the history that followed, the existence of mobile suits, including Gundam, never showed its existence again.

　The values of peace as an ideal and the eventual end of war pervade the work "Gundam Wing". Although it has been subject to criticism since it was first broadcast, in the 1990s, the degree to which this idealistic belief in peace was accepted was relatively higher than it is today.
　However, after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the way war was portrayed in "Gundam Wing" became rather unacceptable, and even so, "Gundam SEED" and the following "Gundam" works tried to follow this work as a model.
　In the next section, I will examine these works.

2. "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED"

　"Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" is a robot animation (50 episodes) produced by Sunrise, which was broadcast on TBS from 2002 to 2003. Directed by Fukuda Mitsuo, with character designs by Hirai Hisashi, it was one of the most commercially successful and popular works of the early 2000s. Although the title bears the word "Gundam," it does not belong to the so-called "Universe Century" series, but began as a new "Gundam" series in a different world, and a sequel, "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY," was broadcast from 2004 to 2005 (50 episodes in total). The "Destiny" is a sequel to the previous work "SEED", and since the contents are directly related and they share the same worldview and characters, this essay will treat the "SEED" two parts as one work without making any major distinction. However, in "DESTINY", a boy named Shin Asuka appears as a new protagonist.

　The general framework of the story of "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED" is similar to that of the first "Gundam", which depicted the war between the Zeon Dukedom of space immigrants and the Earth Federation government, but the existence of genetically engineered "coordinators" is a unique setting in "Gundam SEED". In the first "Gundam," space immigration led to the birth of "new types" of humans, but the artificially created "coordinators" are more like the "enhanced humans" in "Z Gundam".

　In the "SEED" series, "Coordinators" with abilities superior to those of conventional humans establish a government called "Brandt" on the space colonies, and their army is called "ZAFT". Brandt and ZAFT come into conflict with the United Earth government, and a war breaks out. The protagonist, Kira Yamato, is a coordinator living on a neutral colony, but he gets caught up in the war initiated by ZAFT and fights aboard the mobile suit "Strike". The other main character, Athrun Zala, is the son of Patrick Zala, the leader of Brandt. He was best friends with Kira Yamato when they were children. Athrun goes to war as a pilot for ZAFT, and unexpectedly meets Kira again on the battlefield, and the two main characters get caught up in the vortex of fate.
　“Gundam SEED” is an ambitious work that has succeeded in attracting a large number of viewers, as it is full of enthusiasm for creating a new era of Gundam, and the character and mechanical designs have been arranged and redesigned in a modern style. Although it can be said that this work achieved its goals and objectives by achieving considerable commercial success, it is undeniable that it is a failed storytelling work that stands out among all the works in the "Gundam" series.

It is possible to point out various details about the bankruptcy of this work along with the individual episodes, but the following two major points can be mentioned. The first point is that "Gundam SEED" inserted more compilation episodes than any other Anime work. In the latter half of the first series, perhaps because the story script was not written in time, there were many compilation episodes that were repeated four or five times. Other TV animation works also have one or at most two compilation episodes, but there is no other work that has had as many compilation episodes as "Gundam Seed". This delay in production and the collapse of the schedule can be blamed on the scriptwriter, director, and production progress, but the main cause is probably the fact that the story was unreasonable to be developed and had reached an impasse.

　Another major failing of this work is that in the follow-up "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY", although Shin Asuka was supposed to be the main character, in the last battle near the final episode, Shin is relegated to the sidelines without any organic participation in the battle. In the past, there have been many various and avant-garde techniques used in battle animation in TV series, and there have been several works where the main character does not look like a main character at all. Still, it is probably unheard of for a war anime to have a main character who is not organically involved in the final battle that brings the story to a conclusion. In the stories that were produced after the TV broadcast, the production team felt sorry for Shin, so they produced additional stories that gave Shin some opportunities to play an active role.

And this tragic final episode, in which the protagonist is relegated to the sidelines, is not a reflection of the production's intentions for avant-garde techniques and effects, but probably more a reflection of the fact that the story had collapsed and was out of control. The scene in the last episode where the protagonist, Shin, stares blankly at the battle going on without his participation can be compared to the stupefaction of the creators who could not move the story itself in the right direction.
　By pointing out these two points, the failure and bankruptcy of the storytelling in this work is obvious, even without going into the individual distortions and contradictions of the "SEED" series. In the anime magazines at the time of its release, "SEED" was planned to be a trilogy, and a continuation of "SEED DESTINY" was even announced, but it has not been realized until now. There were talks of making a movie, but this too has not come to fruition. It is difficult to continue a story that has fallen apart, and it seems to have hit a dead end.

Although the primary responsibility for the failure and collapse of the storytelling can be attributed to the production team, it can also be seen as a result of the production team's inability to respond to the rapid changes that occurred during the preparation of the story. In other words, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which triggered a drastic change in the times, destroyed the story of "Gundam SEED".
　It is said that in the planning stage of "Gundam SEED", the success or failure of the past Gundam series was closely examined, and the two most commercially successful Gundam series, the first Gundam and “Gundam Wing”, were used as models. The similarity of SEED to the story structure of the original Gundam is obvious, but it also emulates the character layout of Gundam Wing in many ways. Following the example of "Gundam Wing", in which five beautiful boys are the central characters, "SEED" also has several beautiful boy pilots as the main characters. Not only that, but the peace ideology preached by Relena Peacecraft, the heroine of "Gundam Wing", is transplanted to Lacus Clyne, the heroine of "SEED". Lacus Clyne becomes a preacher of the gospel of peace, having inherited Relena's ideas.
　However, it has become clear that Relena's idea of peace, which was still relatively valid in the era of "Gundam Wing" in 1995, has become completely unacceptable in the post-9/11 era.

　Even so, the story of "Gundam SEED" is severely burdened by the attempt to force the people to believe in the peace preached by the goddess-like Lacus Clyne, which results in severe distortions in this work. Compared to "Gundam Wing", which was criticized for its lack of reality, the structure of people believing in the ideas propagated by Lacus is far less realistic, and is distorted to the point of caricature. Why are the characters in the work persuaded to believe in a peace ideology that has no sense of reality in the work? The propagation of the peace ideology by Lacus Clyne is like a religion that uses hypnosis to gain followers, and Lacus's supporters look like fanatics who blindly follow their guru.
　The failure of the main character, Shin Asuka, to be organically involved in the final battle of "SEED DESTINY", as I pointed out earlier, also stems from the fact that the depiction of Shin being inspired and persuaded by Lacus's peace philosophy to join her side could not be depicted realistically and convincingly. Chancellor Durandal, who seemed to be a good guy until the middle of the story, comes to reign as a villainous enemy at the end of "SEED DESTINY". Shin, who originally fought under Durandal, has his doubts about Durandal, but he cannot leave him, and on the other hand he cannot change his belief and come to Kira Yamato and Lacus, who preach peace ideology. As Shin is the protagonist, it would be strange for him to work for the villains until the end, but on the other hand, if Shin goes to Lacus and Kira, the evangelists of peace ideology who seem less convincing, the consistency of the Shin character will be broken. The final episode, in which Shin is left in limbo and unable to participate in the battle, is a narrative failure due to his dilemma of being unable to go either way.

The battle of Kira Yamato, the protagonist of "SEED" and the biggest supporter of Lacus, is also portrayed in a way that seems opportunistic and without any sense of reality in the work. Like Amuro, the protagonist of the first Gundam, Kira's first experience with a Gundam was when he was attacked by the enemy and happened to get into a "Strike" Gundam in order to protect himself, but after that, he ended up fighting as a mobile suit pilot. Through encounters with Lacus Clyne, who preaches peace, and other opportunities, in the latter half of the story, Kira comes to have a "belief in non-killing", and even though he destroys the mobile suits and aircraft of the people he is fighting, he allows the pilots on board to escape without being killed. Eventually, Kira began to intervene on the battlefield to mediate and stop the fighting, without belonging to either camp. Kira is only able to do this because he and the mobile suit he is riding on have transcendent power in the world of "SEED". Even if one were to enter a battlefield where a fierce battle is taking place from a neutral position with the purpose of mediating the battle, one would normally be eliminated in a flash. The reason this doesn't happen to Kira is because the creators of the story have given him transcendent powers, and it appears that Kira and the mobile suit he rides on will not be shot down no matter what kind of attack they receive. Watching "SEED", I get the feeling that the mobile suits that Kira rides on are objects of religious reverence in the world of the work. Otherwise, I don't understand why only the Gundam he rides on is given special treatment in the midst of a violent battlefield.
The fact that this method of Kira's is acceptable is another reason why the story of "SEED" does not feel realistic, as it is too convenient and tailored for the storytelling.

Also, the political setting, which is the backbone of "Gundam SEED", was so immature and childish that it contributed to the collapse of the story.
　At the end of "Gundam SEED", the fierce battle between ZAFT and the Earth Alliance is depicted, but Murta Azrael, the boss of the munitions industry and the actual leader of the Alliance, and Patrick Zara, the supreme leader of ZAFT and the father of Athrun Zala, both die in the last episode. The war ends and a peace agreement is signed between the two camps. The flow of events from the battle to the end of the peace agreement is so similar that it can be said that the two sides, ZAFT and the Earth Alliance, are mirror images of each other. As far as I can tell from the descriptions at the end of the film, the coalition side led by Azrael and the Brandt side led by Patrick Zala did not really want war, but they wanted peace as their consensus. They had only been hunted into war because they were being held down by belligerent leaders. Once these leaders were removed, the obstacles to peace were removed and both sides smoothly agreed to peace.

　But wasn't it the same people who chose Azrael and Patrick as their leaders and gave them power? With what face will they deviate their eyes to their own responsibility for helping in the war? The way the people of the "Gundam SEED" world have changed, attributing the responsibility for the war to their deceased supreme leaders and pretending that they were innocent and peace-loving people, is similar to the way the Japanese people have changed after the end of World War II, easily abandoning their imperial ideology, attributing the responsibility for the war to some war criminals, and turning into evangelists for American democracy. This is similar to the way the Japanese people have changed. However, the work "Gundam SEED" does not show a critical perspective of such a change, but only ends with the elimination of the belligerent leaders as evil.

　And Murta Azrael, who is portrayed as a villain in the "SEED", when we see his brave and courageous actions of going to the front lines to lead the army at the risk of his own life, we start to doubt whether he is really a villain. In the first "Gundam," Giren Zabi, who leads the Zeon side, never goes to the front lines to fight, and the leading politicians of the opposing Earth Federation government, do not show up until the end. I can't help but feel strange that Azrael, who is supposed to be the master of evil in "Gundam SEED", is depicted in a strangely brave and devoted way, even though he is supposed to be clad in cowardice and self-defense. Even in "Gundam Wing", the main antagonist, Treize Khushrenada, is more than equal to Gundam pilots when controlling mobile suits, and even in physical combat, he is strong enough to defeat Wufei, who is an expert in fighting. He is not portrayed as an evil master who controls from behind, but as an enemy boss who comes to the fore and fights on his own. In the describing of the arch enemy, "Gundam SEED" can be said to be a continuation of the "Gundam Wing" in the way Azrael was portrayed.

　The shallowness of the political views in "Gundam SEED" can be seen in the political drama surrounding the independent nation of Orb, which tries to maintain its neutrality. The Emir of Orb, Uzumi Nala Athha, makes a selfish decision that puts Orb in a tight spot and causes him to self-destruct. It is clear that the series of actions and circumstances that led to the destruction of Orb are not something that a politician should be praised for, but in the evaluation of residents of Orb, it seems that Uzumi is treated as a tragic hero.
　In "Gundam Seed Destiny," the sequel to "Gundam Seed," Uzumi's daughter, Cagalli, succeeds her father as the Emir of Orb. Cagalli follows her father's philosophy and tries to keep Orb neutral, but she is torn between the ZAFT side, which is once again at war, and the Coalition side. Under strong pressure from the Coalition, the Orb council decides to side with the Coalition. Cagalli, who was about to be forced into a political marriage against her will, is rescued by Kira's Gundam, escapes from Orb, and takes refuge with the Ark Angel, which has an independent force. When the counter-offensive begins, Cagalli returns to Orb and preaches her beliefs to the people of Orb, gaining their support and overturning the rule of the Council to return to power.

This series of actions by Cagalli would be understandable if she were the queen or princess of the Kingdom of Orb. This is because, unlike a prime minister or a senator, a king or a princess cannot resign. However, in the world of "Gundam SEED," it is clearly stated that Orb is a democratic country. Uzumi was not the king of Orb, but a representative of the people who elected him to the position of chief. As Orb is a democratic system, Cagalli, who succeeded Uzumi, has become a chief of Orb not by hereditary succession, but by ellection of the people. If that is the case, when the political decision of whether Orb should join the Coalition or remain independent was divided, and the majority of the Council chose to join the Coalition, Cagalli, who opposed the Coalition and believed in remaining neutral, should first resign from the position of Emir. If the wind changes and it becomes disadvantageous for Orb to side with the Coalition and public opinion in Orb begins to support her, she may be able to return to the top of politics. However, after escaping Orb and being removed from political power, Cagalli's behavior still seems to be based on the assumption that she represents Orb. At that time, Cagalli was behaving in a way that an elected (and later resigned) emir would never behave, and her behavior was that of a queen or princess of the Kingdom of Orb. If you are a princess, you cannot quit even if you are forced to leave the country, so when you come back, you can immediately act as the authority of the country.
　This immature view of politics is undoubtedly one of the reasons why the story of "Gundam SEED" is not so laudable.

　The staff of Sunrise, who produced "Gundam SEED", must have felt frustrated with the way the war was depicted in "Gundam SEED". A perfect example of this is the Sunrise production "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Rebellion," which aired after "Gundam SEED" ended. In this work, Suzaku clearly resembles Kira Yamato and Euphemia resembles Lacus Clyne in terms of character design. Not only that, but Kira and Suzaku, and Euphemia and Lacus also show a twin-like resemblance in their preaching of non-war and pacifism. However, the pacifists in "Code Geass" have become involved in a tragic massacre. The hypocrisy of pacifist ideology in "Gundam SEED" has been brilliantly exposed in another work produced by Sunrise. In this respect, "Code Geass" has definitively overcome the story of "Gundam SEED".

　If we take a step back and look at "Gundam SEED" objectively, can we not positively evaluate it as depicting the reality of the post 9/11 era? However, the next "Gundam 00" is more worthy of such a positive evaluation. "Gundam 00" also did not reach the point of building a new successful story, but behind its storytelling is the awareness that the level of "Gundam Wing" and "Gundam SEED" is not sufficient enough for depicting the view of war today. Even if it did not go as far as to create a new pioneering story, "Gundam 00" is a work that thoroughly exposes the fact that the conventional view of war in "Gundam" is not valid, and in that respect it deserves to be evaluated. Compared to this, the "Gundam SEED" series, which is just a goofy story, cannot be evaluated even at that level.

3."Mobile Suit Gundam 00"

　"Mobile Suit Gundam 00" is a new work in the "Gundam" series, the first 25 episodes of which were aired on TV from 2007 to 2008, and the second 25 episodes of which were aired from 2008 to 2009. The character designs are by the popular manga artist Kouga Yun, and the director is Mizushima Seiji. The story begins with the following scene.
　A mysterious Gundam suddenly appears at the site of an open military exercise of the European Union (AEU), destroys the mobile suits of the AEU, and claims to be the "Solestal Being," an organization that can stop all conflicts and wars in the world. “Solestal Being” is a secret armed organization conceived and established by the genius scientist Ioria Schoenberg two centuries ago, and the four Gundams developed there have capabilities that cannot be countered by the weapons of the three governmental organizations that divide and rule the earth.

　Four beautiful young Gundam pilots named Setsuna, Lock-on, Alleluia, and Thielia declare that they will forcefully intervene in any and all conflicts on earth to stop them. After that, four Gundams of "Solestar Being" intervene in the conflicts on the ground, attacking both sides of the conflict to force a halt to the conflict, but the Earth government considers the armed intervention by the Gundams to be terrorist subversive activities. It is obvious that "Gundam Wing" share the same basic setting as "Gundam 00", starting with the Gundam's subversive activities against the Earth government as terrorists. At least as far as the introduction is concerned, the similarity between these works is very obvious.
　The three governments try to counter the battle initiated by " Solestar Being " by deploying their ace pilots, but they are unable to defeat the Gundam. Eventually, however, the existence of another force is revealed, and that force hands over some high performing mobile suits to the Earth government side, giving the Earth government a fighting force capable of countering Gundam. And the course of the war becomes chaotic. ......

　How to evaluate the work "Gundam 00" is a difficult task, as there are various points of view. In all fairness, among the three works that I have focused on in this essay (Wing, SEED, and 00), "Gundam 00" has the most well-developed story and setting, and is relatively most complete. If I had to pick one of the three from the perspective of the interesting story, it would probably be "Gundam 00". After reflecting on the fact that "SEED" became quite distorted and bankrupt in the middle of the story, it was a work that tried again with a similar theme, and it can be seen that the reflection of the failure of the previous work was utilized as a stepping-stone.
　As I mentioned at the beginning of this article, the basic setting and characterization of these three works are quite similar, and there are commonalities and similarities that should be compared.

　For example, in all three works, the idea of war to stop war is common. Milliardo's war of dropping colonies in "Gundam Wing" and Kira Yamato's belief in non-lethal action in "Gundam SEED" did not mesh well with the reality of the works, but seemed to be made possible by a transcendental power granted by the creators, and lacked persuasiveness and reality within the works. On the other hand, "Gundam 00" has a setting in which Ioria Schoenberg, a genius scientist from two centuries ago, is able to stop all conflicts on earth by force with her superweapon Gundam, which he has been researching in secret for generations. This setting is reminiscent of Dr. Serdang in "The Rise and Fall of the Galactic Empire" by science fiction writer Isaac Asimov. At the very least, compared to the methods and ideology of Gundam Wing and SEED, the story of "00", in which a transcendent weapon is used to suppress conflict, is more persuading and realistic than the other two.

　At the start of the story, the world was divided and ruled by three governments. The Union, centered on the U.S., the AEU, centered on Europe, and the People's Revolutionary Union government, centered on Russia and China, were three separate nations, but by fighting their common enemy, the Gundam, they gradually united to form a unified human nation. This is when Ioria Schoenberg's true intentions are revealed, and it is through the introduction of the Gundam that he aims to establish a unified nation of humanity. This development is not very new in science fiction novels, but it proves that "Gundam 00" has a solid setting and story at its core, compared to the previous Gundam works. However, the concept of a unified world state is not necessarily portrayed as a positive one in this work.

　In addition, there is a development in the early part of "Gundam 00" that shows that it is definitely a story after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. A series of indiscriminate bombings take place in major cities around the world as a move against "Solestar Being", an organization that uses Gundams to forcibly stop armed intervention in conflicts around the world. The criminal group issues a statement declaring that they will continue their terrorist activities as long as "Solestar Being" does not disarm.
　"Gundam Wing", which also depicts terrorist activities, did not include such a serious depiction of terrorist activities. The situation of terrorism occurring in any of the cities of the three major countries of the world, not targeting specific people or organizations, indiscriminately targeting citizens, and not targeting a specific hostile nation, is a realistic depiction in the post-9/11 era, and one that was not possible in the war anime of the 1990s.
　However, the story that "Solestar Being" locates the headquarters of the terrorist organization, bombs it, and destroys it completely is rather a bit naive and opportunistic description compared to the reality of modern warfare. The terrorist organization depicted in "Gundam 00" is holed up in a hideout, while the perpetrators of suicide bombings in our real world have infiltrated the general population and we are facing a situation where it is impossible to eliminate them, and the depiction of the terrorist organization in "Gundam 00" remains in an old-fashioned way.

　The reality after the 9/11 terrorist attacks is also reflected in the fact that Marina Ismail, who has the role of a heroine as an evangelist of peace, is completely powerless to play any effective role in the story of "Gundam 00". Marina is a heroine who plays the role of Relena in "Gundam Wing" and Lacus Clyne in "Gundam SEED", and she is responsible for propagating peace in the story. In addition, in "Gundam Wing", Relena is in a position to become lovers with Heero Yui, and in "Gundam SEED", Lacus is in a position to become lovers with Kira Yamato, and each of them occupies the position of the first heroine in the story. As the first heroine, Marina in "Gundam 00" is also expected to be linked with the protagonist, Setsuna, from the standpoint of the story's setting, and they meet many times and have suggestive interaction scenes, and Setsuna even sneaks into Marina's bedroom at night. In spite of this, Marina and Setsuna do not develop into lovers at all. Marina Ismail, as a preacher of peace, does not exert any effective influence on people at all, but only teaches songs to refugee children. Even as a romantic player, Marina ends up being unable to enter into a romantic relationship with Setsuna, despite the fact that the storyline and stage are provided for her many times in the story to be involved with Setsuna. Compared to Relena and Lacus Clyne, who played an active role in both politics and romance worthy of a heroine, Marina's complete helplessness in both aspects is a distinctive feature of "Gundam 00".

Marina, who is supposed to be the heroine of "Gundam 00", does not play the role of a heroine at all until the end of the story. This portrayal of her helplessness is, on the one hand, something that should be positively evaluated and, on the other hand, something that cannot be positively evaluated. In light of the reality after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, it is not possible to make a story like Relena's or Lacus Clyne's, where they preach peace and people listen to them without much hesitation. It can be seen that the producers' awareness is reflected in Marina's helplessness. This awareness on the part of the filmmakers leads to a positive evaluation of Marina's helplessness.
　It can be said that "Gundam 00" failed as a piece of drama in that it could not finally present the image of a heroine of a new era who plays an active role in a different way than before 9/11.

　Although a large number of characters are introduced, they are not able to function effectively in the story and make the story more exciting, which shows the poor quality of the "Gundam 00" story. Marina Ismail is a typical example of this, but similar points can be made about other major characters.
　For example, there is a character named Wang Liu Mei, a conspiratorial woman who is pulling the strings behind the scenes on both sides of the fighting organizations. In the OP of the first season, she appears calmly drinking tea, which gives us the impression that she is a scheming woman who is not in the forefront, but is pulling the strings behind the scenes. However, in the second season, she seems to have made Nena and her Trinity brothers her subordinate, but she is betrayed by Nena and easily defeated, revealing her as a small person who cannot even control her own people. Wang Liu Mei appears in a meaningful way and is portrayed as a major character, but there is not enough story to match her.

　In a successful Gundam work, the many characters in the work build up a wide variety of relationships with each other, as if a net has been cast over them. Unexpected relationships between people that transcend the barriers between friend and foe have been a selling point of the drama in the Gundam series. However, in "Gundam 00", most characters do not have effective relationships with anyone other than the people around them, and are simply thrust into the storyline where they are tossed about in flashy battles.

　A typical example of such a character is Louise Halevy and Saji Crossroads, a couple of college students who are portrayed for a considerable amount of time in the first season, even though they are hardly organically involved in the story. In the first season of “Gundam 00”, this couple is not organically involved in the main story of the moment, other than the fact that Saji lives next door to the hiding place of Setsuna. Near the end of the first season, when Louise is back home in Spain and attends a relative's wedding, Nena, riding a Gundam, bombs the wedding venue on a whim, wiping out Louise's relatives and seriously injuring Louise herself by losing her left wrist.

　Louise, who appears in the second season, has become a ruthless mobile suit pilot and is addicted to drugs to suppress her emotional instability. Revenge against Gundam has become her reason for living. Louise's boyfriend, Saji, happened to have his life saved by Setsuna, and was living in a battleship of "Solestal Being". The drama between Saji and Louise, who meet again as enemies on the battlefield, is a major point of excitement in the second season of the story.
　Unlike the first season, where Louise and Saji were not organically involved in the story, in the second season, they are organically involved in the main story, as they meet on the battlefield and participate in the war. In order to portray a war that inevitably involves civilians, the producers must have thought that the drama of the warriors alone would be insufficient, and requested the introduction of civilian characters like Louise and Saji.

　However, even though they were forced to be involved in the main plot of the story, the story of Louise and Saji seemed to be unnaturally detached from the main plot. Even though they were forcibly thrown into the war scene, I didn't necessarily get the impression that they were effectively involved in the main story. This is because even if the whole story of Louise and Saji is deleted, it does not seem to have a significant impact on the main war drama.
　Gundam 00's intention to portray the difficult issue of how to blend the drama of everyday life, which includes love, and the drama of war, which reflects the present day, through Louise and Saji, was not necessarily successful. Although the story depicts Louise and Saji's encounters with war and terrorism in the form of witnessing actual terrorist attacks, it does not always succeed in organically incorporating them into the main war drama.
　Thus, despite the creation of many major characters, "Gundam 00" does not make much effective use of them, and simply moves forward as a war drama.

　In the early part of the story of "Gundam 00", there was a hint of a grand story behind it, with a amount of intriguing settings, but in the middle of the first season, when another Gundam team -- Nena and the Trinity brothers -- appeared, it became apparent that the story was shallow. Once the Earth government had mobile suits that could compete with the Gundams, the story became a war anime that relied on flashy, visual effects-driven battle scenes between Gundams, and it could not be said to be a successful story as a whole.
　In the sense that it was created with the awareness that it is a war story after 9/11, "Gundam 00" is a work that shows more progress than "Gundam Wing" or "Gundam SEED". However, this awareness is only expressed in the passive depiction of Marina Ismail's helplessness, and it can be summed up as not having reached the realm of creating a new story that reflects the reality of today.

(from "Kami Samonakuba Zannnenn(Godly otherwise disappointing)" 5-1)
by Komori Kentarou
INDEX        Sakuhinsha 2013