What's Your Say?
Okay, this page isn't official yet, but I wanted to get it up because of all the mail I've been getting. This page is for comments sent in by YOU! Mostly I won't be adding too many comments, but if I do, they'll be in italics.
Thanks to the people who have submitted!
Below you won't find flames. Also, if you write in with and just repeat things from my essay, I won't post those, either. Looking for original, thoughtful ideas ^_-. They haven't been edited in any way.
TinTine writes--
"The reason for this letter is about the
possible influences of the characters' personalities. It is quite obvious that
Zechs Marquise and Heero Yuy are supposed to represent Char Anzable and Amuro
Rey, the original rivals from Mobile Suit Gundam. Zechs wears a helmet during
much of the series, like Char did, and even sports a pair of sunglasses in the
Episode Zero manga. As for Heero, there is not much similarity between him and
Amuro besides the fact that both were in their teens (15-16 yrs. old) when they
started to fight in a Gundam and are cold-hearted towards people. It may be a
mere coincidence, or it could be just the the staff paying homage to the history
of Gundam.
"But, it's with the interview with the
director Ikeda-san in an issue of Animerica that interested me. According to
him, the reason that he's not good at male-female relationships (on the subject
of Heero and Relena's relationship) is because of his days working on Armored
Trooper Voltoms (actually, working under a man whose name I have forgotten), an
old anime made in the 1970s. Fortunately, the International Channel was showing
it, and I decided to watch it to see what he means. Instead, I saw interesting
connections between Voltoms and Gundam Wing.
"The story in Voltoms is about a man
name Chirico Cuvie, a soldier who's been sent on a mission that would forever
change his life. During this failed mission, he opened a capsule that contained
a sleeping woman. She opened her eyes to him, and he escapes out of confusion
and for his very life. Despite that, he got interested in the woman, and she got
interested in him. Throughout the series, the two would find each other if
separated and would even say each other's name when they're apart. When they're
together, they hardly say a word to each other but enjoy each other's presence.
As I continued watching the long series, it instantly hit me- the relationship
between Chirico and the woman is like the relationship between Heero and Relena.
" The striking similarities does not
end there. The main character, Chirico, is rather moody and does not speak much.
He sees nothing else in his blood-stained life but to fight or else he has
little to live for. He fights because that's all he has been doing for most of
his life. As for the woman, she's the PS, or "Perfect Soldier", a
human trained to fight without emotion and does not even have a name. When she
met Chirico, though, she started to develop emotions and fell in love with him,
determined to never leave his side. She is called "Phantom Lady" in
the seiyuu credits, but Chirico gave her the name of his dead loved one, Fyana.
"What I have pointed out in the last
two paragraphs may as well be just a mere coincidence. After all, Voltoms was
made first way before Gundam Wing, and most of the evidence I have presented
mostly pertains to Heero and Relena's personalities and relationship. But,
I just firmly believe that Ikeda-san's experience with Voltoms helped him build
the foundation for many of the characters' personalities and relationships in
Gundam Wing."
Mai say--
"There's something I noticed about the way characters look and their occupations against their REAL ages. But I think that their ages should NOT be the basis of their occupations. they should be disregarded. Why?
"You have stated that Sally Po is not a full doctor because she is only nineteen, yes I might agree with you on that, but suppose in the pseudo world of Gundam Wing, that working people tend to be younger than expected? You're right, she looks thirty-something. So what's up with her being nineteen? And Treize, well, looks also well into his thirties as well, only much more clean-cut.
"The basis for their credentials in work, I think, is how old they look, and not how old they REALLY are. Sally and Treize look as if their thirty-plus, therefore they should be taken as people who are aged thirty-plus. Let me expound.
"In the real world, there are absolutely no generals as young as Treize (twenty-something; I should know because my own dad is a Navy officer ^^;;), and since Sally Po is presented as a doctor and is AUTHORIZED to go in the room where Heero was confined and examine him... surely she must know much more than mere first-aid, right? The creators must have missed that 'little' glitch of age. No one nineteen or below is permitted to go in a room as delicate as the one that confined a theoretically dangerous person such as Heero.
"Granted, that most of the rebels in Asia (some leaders are only eleven years old) are kids, still, we have to take note that being a rebel is not official (or anything goes), so that takes the Gundam pilots off the hook; but being a general and representative of the world nation at twenty-five (am I right?) and a doctor at mere nineteen is a bit...far-fetched.
"Of course, an exception to the 's/he looks younger than s/he really is' is Relena Peacecraft. She definitely looks her age.
"Look at her. I could understand she became queen at fifteen (in the medieval times, it's normal), but being a vice-minister in place of her late foster father? She's still in high-school, for god's sake!
"A kid in confidential meetings? Umm..."
Heh, I guess really a lot of that mail I ended up not being able to use after all...*shrug*. Sorry, to those of you I couldn't post.
