Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

At first a 3-part OVA before receiving a full theatrical release, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz concluded the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing storyline until the release of Frozen Teardrop.

In the year After Colony 196, the "Eve Wars" (the conflict between Earth and the Colonies) have ended, and both Treize Khushrenada and OZ have passed from existence. The Earth Sphere Unified Nation (ESUN), and a special peacekeeping police force known as the Preventers, rose from the ashes of OZ. Since they figure they will no longer have a role in the post-war era, four of the five Gundam pilots (with Wufei as the lone holdout) put their Gundams on a giant disposal satellite headed for the sun. Peace reigns supreme on Earth and in space.

This peace would not last, though: on the anniversary of the Eve Wars' end, a rebellion occurs on newly-completed colony L3 X-18999. The rebellion, led by seven-year-old Mariemaia Khushrenada (who reveals herself to be Treize's daughter), kidnaps Relena Darlian (now the Vice Foreign Minister of the ESUN) during a diplomatic visit to the colony. As the Gundam pilots investigate further, they discover that Mariemaia's grandfather -- Dekim Barton, a former adviser to martyred colony leader Heero Yuy -- really controls the rebellion. Dekim plans to use X-18999 to go through with the original Operation Meteor (crashing the colony into Earth and letting the Gundam pilots take control in the chaos) if the ESUN doesn't comply with his demands.

The Gundam pilots must prevent Dekim from seizing power over the ESUN, but two things complicate matters: the pilots don't have their Gundams, and the only one that does -- Wufei -- has defected to Dekim's side.

Tropes used in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz include:
  • Anime Theme Song: "Last Impression" as well as "White Reflection", both by Two-Mix.
  • An Asskicking Christmas
  • Back From the Dead: Zechs
  • Belated Backstory: the background of the Gundam pilots, via flashbacks.
  • Broad Strokes: infamously, this movie featured completely redesigned Gundams even in flashbacks. There have been some manga and novels that attempted to explain the change, usually just settling for an upgrade that happened after the end of the series even if the flashbacks say otherwise. In any case all of the major story events of the series are events of the past.
  • Butt Monkey: Duo, in a rare Gundam moment that's actually Played for Laughs.
  • Do Not Adjust Your Set
  • Mercy Kill: A non-lethal example. After Mariemaia takes a bullet for Relena and regrets her previous actions under Dekim's tutelage, Heero offers to relieve Mariemaia of her pain. Holding her at Gunpoint after surviving the destruction of Wing Zero. Mariemaia accepts and Heero pulls the trigger. The gun was empty, but Mariemaia reacts like she's been shot. As it turns out Heero was only symbolically killing her, both to clear her of her past sins and to absolve his own regarding the death of a little girl and her dog, he befriended before Operation Meteor began. Vowing to never kill again afterwards.
  • Milestone Celebration: the theatrical release was in celebration of Gundam's 20th anniversary. Funnily enough, in the manga, Duo sports a baseball cap for the very same reason.
  • Non-Lethal KO: during the final battle, Zechs, Noin, Duo, Trowa and Quatre take on Mariemaia's Serpent army, incapacitating the suits but not killing the pilots.
  • Reverse Mole: Trowa joins the Mariemaia army undercover. It was short-lived, however; as soon as he tries to assassinate Dekim, Wufei shows up holding a sword to his neck.
  • Title Drop

Mariemaia: "History is much like an endless waltz. The three beats of war, peace, and revolution continue on forever. However, history will change upon the day of my coronation."

  • Super Robot Wars: Used quite often since Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden, to the point that if a SRW game needs a Gundam representative, this is a go to representative to pad out the cast.
  • Where Are They Now? Epilogue:
    • Duo, together with Hilde, is now running a junkshop.
    • Trowa returns to Catherine Bloom and the circus troupe.
    • Quatre, reunited with the Maganac Corps, helps in the restoration of the colonies.
    • Wufei joins the Preventers as Sally's partner.
    • Zechs and Noin take off to Mars for a terraformation project.
    • Lady Une takes Mariemaia to visit the grave of Treize Khrushinada.
    • Heero and Relena's ending is different from the OVA and the film (the others have at least consistency): the OVA shows Relena at a press conference as Heero watches over her from the shadows, while the film shows the two of them in different places at once.