Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: DVD Operation 3
review by Wayne A.
Not Rated
Running Time: 125 Minutes
Starring Hikaru Midorikawa, Toshihiko Seki, Shigeru
Nakahara, Ai Orikasa, Ryuzo Ishino, Akiko Ajima, Takehito
Koyasu (Japanese), Lisa Ann Beley, Ted Cole, Michael Dobson,
Paul Dobson, Brian Drummond, Saffron Henderson, Mark
Hildreth (English)
Studio: Sunrise (released through Bandai
Entertainment)
Written by Katsuyuki Sumizawa
Directed by Masashi Ikeda
Retail Price: $24.98
Features: Scene access, character/mecha information,
previews
Specs: Standard 1.33:1, 2.0 Dolby Digital English, 2.0
Dolby DigitalJapanese, English subtitles
The offensive against the gundams by Oz has left the
pilots scattered and demoralized.
In the five episodes on this disc ("The Whereabouts of
Happiness," "Bewildered Soldiers," "Catherine's Tears," "The
Order to Destroy 01," and "To the Battleground -
Antarctica") the pilots try to reorganize themselves and
decide what to do next. Each of them, in their own way,
struggles to their own conclusion and in the case of one
pilot, tries to atone for the wrong he has committed.
Without revealing too much, the disc ends picking up where
the end of the second disc left off. This disc also brings
the Romefeller Foundation on the stage. The foundation is
made up of European aristocrats who are the real political
and financial power behind Oz. The foundation has also
funded mobile suit research and production.
The most memorable episode of the disc is "Catherine's
Tears." Most of the episode revolves around two Oz mobile
suit pilots who recruit Zechs to assist them in an offensive
against Alliance soldiers who have not surrendered to Oz.
While Zechs remains an honorable soldier who upholds his
beliefs in the battlefield, the two soldiers who recruited
him show that not everyone in Oz is as upright as he is. The
episode ends with the storyline shifting to Trowa, who plans
a final suicide mission against Oz, as being the initial
staging of their conquest of the colonies. The episode's
themes has a resonance that echoes through the rest of the
series.
The transfer on this disc is noticeably darker than the
previous two discs. The darks on the other two discs were
done well, and didn't bleed into each other. On this disc,
however, this is a problem.
The audio is clean, though like I have said for the first
disc, the English track seems a little clearer than the
Japanese track.
As I have said before, the sub and the dub are thin and
not very well done at times. The extra information on
Quatre, Treize and the Sandrock Gundam are as thin on this
disc as the others.
Also of note is a foil trading card for Wing Zero, which
is nicely done and a preview of Gundam 0083, which I hope
will be released on DVD soon.
The darker video is strike against otherwise very good
record for transfers from Bandai.
 (4/5, NOT included in
final score)
 (3/5)
(4/5)
 (2/5)
(3/5,
NOT an average)
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