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‘Gundam Wing’ Celebrates Its 30th Anniversary Today
As of today, April 7th, 2025, ‘Gundam Wing’, a fan favorite outside of Japan, celebrates its 30th anniversary. Released in Japan on the same date back in 1995, this anime series was an alternate-timeline Gundam show, specifically part of the After Colony timeline. The story revolves around a team of Gundams piloted by teenage boys sent to Earth to free the colonies in orbit from Earth’s tyrannical dominance.
This series marked one of the first times Gundam came Westward in a big way, as it was released on Cartoon Network’s Toonami on March 6th, 2000. Although the anime itself was popular, its inability to build momentum due to limited availability of tie-in model kits hindered its success. This aspect of the media mix has been rectified over the years, and modern Gundam anime series tend to do far better outside of Japan.
The production team behind ‘Gundam Wing’ is noteworthy, with veteran mecha designer Kunio Okawara handling much of the mobile suit design, alongside Hajime Katoki and Junya Ishigaki. However, it also featured character designs by Shuko Murase, who would later go on to direct the anime movie adaptation of Gundam Hathaway.
Although I personally found the original ‘Gundam Wing’ series overly melodramatic, with the OVA sequel Endless Waltz having questionable mecha designs, I can see their appeal and how they managed to capture new anime fans’ attention at the start of the noughties. Today, you can still watch Gundam Wing over on Crunchyroll, and even play with the various mobile suits from the series in games like Gundam Extreme Versus Maxiboost ON.
It’s incredible to think that ‘Gundam Wing’ is now three decades old; it still feels suitably current, if a tad melodramatic.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2025/04/07/gundam-wing-celebrates-its-30th-anniversary-today/
