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Now, character interactions. As I've warned you, this is NOT about "romantic" interactions. So, if you expected THAT you'd better go to CHARACTERS page in this site right now.
This page is directly related to symbolism, which will be presented in the next page.
One of the aspects that make this anime interesting is characters' interactions to what happens around them. They are, in my opinion, very QUEER! (Yeah, a queer word, isn't it?)
For example, GW pilots reminds me of a bunch of Samurais who are stabbing their own stomach. Whenever they think they need to, they try (or test!) self- detonating. They have this self-detonating system in their machines from the very beginning and apparently Heero earnestly shows his commitments of suiside from Episode 1 and very often later on. They rather die than benefit the enemy! What's the point of the war? Don't you fight to survive? Well, they weren't raised like that. They were raised to fight for the sake of colonies and they just couldn't give up. Self-detonating was not a 'giving - up' option for them. It was most determined choice they've ever made. (Luckily, that ended up failing every time... Whew!) This shows another aspect - A definition of death. For them, a death is a choice, not a consequence- part of a mission. They act like fighting machines.
Is that important, though? YES. Because it is mandatory to understand how they gradually changed. Let's pick Heero. He was aka 'perfect soldier' with a ruthless heart and cold eyes. But as the war goes on, he realizes being a killing machine can't be a way to achieve peace. He was just a tool, as long as he remained inhuman. And as long as he remained inhuman, he could not create a true peace thus what he was doing was all meaningless. Besides, Heero learned that violence is not the most powerful way to persuade people, through Relena's belief of total pacifism, even though he didn't always agree with her. He gets to know how to interact with those around you, too, by communicating with the GW pilots and other characters. He realizes it also is an important part of life. However, most of all, he learns "HOW TO LIVE". As a perfect soldier, his presence in a peaceful world would be meaningless. He couldn't do anything in there. But then wasn't he fighting for peace? This was his dilemma. And there was his major change when he unconsciously yelled, "I'll survive!" at the end of the TV series. As a machine, he should've not care if he died. But he chose to be a human being, who displays his will, emotion, and hope.
The main characters have something in common - they are loyal and faithful. Or rather, they 'act on their emotions', as Heero commented. Surprisingly, their emotions are their conscience! Their emotions tend to be equivalent to what they believe in. That's why their interactions(or reactions) are always frank and somewhat naive. Even when they are killing others, their hearts don't suffer for the dead, but for a suspicion that they might not be doing what their emotions (= conscience) are telling.
This interesting fact, that they are rather frank and naive, had another impact - those characters know who their enemy is! They see things as a whole, but they concentrate on a very specific goal like 'destroying Victoria Base' 'Throwing up the Alliance government' etc. There is a period when the GW pilots were abandoned by their homelands, colonies. Even then, they continuously aim for a same goal or target- peace, and they would (gladly?) kill anyone who gets on their way. They show a ruthless human side indeed. They never question, 'who is this fighting for, when I kill so many innocent people?' Instead they assure themselves, 'I'm doing this for the sake of peace.' That's where Relena's total pacifism comes in. Even though it is unrealistic as I described in the first page, it certainly serves its purpose as a step to a stable peace.Its Theme analysis / Plot structure / characters' interactions
Honestly, here is the LAST page of my blahs about this whole crab... It's about symbolism in GW series . Plz, check this out...Gundam Wing ¨Ï Bandai, Sunrise, Sotsu Agency 1995 - 2001
Copyright ¨Ï Jenny Ko 2001