Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, known in Japan as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing, is both a sequel and prequel to the Gundam Wing series. It is a sequel as it is a continuation of Gundam Wing, but is also a prequel as it reveals details regarding the past of the Gundam pilots and the true objective behind Operation Meteor. Both the Gundam Wing series and Endless Waltz are set in the "After Colony" timeline, an alternate universe to that of the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Endless Waltz originally premiered in Japan as a three-part OVA in 1997, and it was later released as a theatrical compilation movie in 1998, including additional scenes and an altered musical score.

The OVA premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block on November 10, 2000. The OVA also aired on Toonami on one other occasion:


 * August 30, 2002

Silent Orbit
Following the end of the Eve Wars in late AC 195, Earth and the colonies are united in peace as the Earth Sphere United Nation. On December 24, AC 196, Sally locates a deposit of neo titanium alloy in space. Quatre and Duo load Wing Zero, Deathscythe Hell, Heavyarms, and Sandrock onto a ship that is to be sent into the sun to destroy the Gundams permanently. The only thing missing is Altron, which Wufei refused to bring. At MO-II, the President gives a speech about peace. Noin and Une don't really care for those sort of things now that they are Preventers, whose job it is to keep the peace. At colony X-18999, Relena attends a meeting about encouraging emigration to the new colony. She drinks poisoned tea and is captured by soldiers of the Mariemaia Army. Dekim and Mariemaia Barton watch as their plan begins to unfold. At the circus, Trowa beats up several mysterious men who belong to the Barton Foundation. He has a flashback of when he was No Name and was shown a picture of Mariemaia by the real Trowa Barton. Duo finds Heero, and he says he's leaving because Relena has been kidnapped. Sally tells Noin that the neo titanium is used for the 13th constellation of mobile suit, and it comes from X-18999. She also says that Relena has been missing since visiting that colony.

Relena wakes up on a bed and meets young Mariemaia, who says her last name is Khushrenada, making her Treize's daughter. She says that she will rule the world now and follow her father's footsteps. Dekim gives a speech to his soldiers about taking over Earth, and he points a gun at Trowa, who has disguised himself as a soldier of the Mariemaia Army. When Trowa tries to shoot Dekim, Wufei stops him. Duo and Heero head to X-18999, and Heero has a flashback about destroying an Alliance base and accidentally killing a young girl and her puppy. Duo wakes him up as Mariemaia makes an announcement. She declares X-18999's independence from the United Nation and declares war. The President calls Lady Une, and she concludes this was planned before the Preventers were formed. Zechs shows up and asks to join the Preventers. Heero and Duo approach X-18999, and Sally and Noin offer backup fire. Duo avoids the Tauruses and crashes the shuttle into the colony. Quatre and the Maganac Corps leave in a transport ship to catch up with the Gundams and retrieve them. Heero and Duo steal two space Leos and separate. Duo is attacked by the new model Serpent and realizes by the fighting style that the pilot is Trowa. Heero is attacked by Altron, and Wufei asks him if he is doing the right thing.

Operation Meteor
Quatre and the Maganac Corps decide to take a different course to cut down time on their journey. Quatre has a flashback about Instructor H telling him to ignore Operation Meteor and follow his heart. Duo's stolen Leo is disabled by Trowa, and Duo wonders why he's been betrayed. Trowa fires a missile barrage, and Duo has a flashback about trying to destroy Deathscythe before Operation Meteor. Professor G told him to steal it and ignore Operation Meteor. Trowa has a flashback of the real Trowa Barton being murdered for trying to expose Doktor S as a traitor. Trowa decides to take on the name and pilot Heavyarms. The missiles impact and create a hole for Duo to escape in. Heero and Wufei continue to fight, and Heero escapes. Sally and Noin realize that the Tauruses and Leos protecting X-18999 are mobile dolls, and the real troops are elsewhere. At the satellite MO-III, Dekim watches as preparations are made to ship the Serpents to Earth. Relena and Mariemaia travel through X-18999 as Heero and Duo watch from nearby.

Quatre's ship catches up with the Gundam disposal ship, and he transfers over to it. He reverses course and activates the engines to slingshot around Venus and pick up speed to return to Earth. Zechs arrives at MO-III with the Tallgeese III and begins destroying the mobile suit carriers. He tells Dekim to surrender or he will destroy MO-III. Dekim says that if Zechs keeps attacking, he will drop X-18999 on Earth. Since he originally conceived Operation Meteor, he has no problem doing this. Zechs is forced to watch helplessly as the Serpent carriers travel to Earth. He destroys MO-III with his mega cannon, but Dekim escapes. Relena is shocked when she hears of the plan to drop the colony. She discovers she was kidnapped so that she could endorse Mariemaia. Duo and Heero find Trowa trying to stabilize the colony, and they help him. To play along with Trowa's ruse, Duo is captured as Heero escapes. Dekim, Mariemaia, and Relena all return to Earth and arrive at the Brussels presidential residence. Citizens around the world watch as Serpents land in many cities. Heero steals a shuttle and prepares to rendezvous with Wing Zero.

Return to Eternity
Heero maneuvers his shuttle alongside the capsule containing Wing Zero and ejects from the shuttle. He gets inside, breaks the capsule open, and heads for Earth. On Earth, the Brussels presidential residence is lowered into the ground. While Wufei sits in orbit of Earth, he thinks about how before Operation Meteor he clashed with Master Long over the decision to drop the Long clan colony on Earth. Heero arrives at Earth, and Wufei attacks him. As they fight, Wufei tells Heero that Earth did not change after the Eve Wars. He says that to determine whether peace really did come, he will become evil itself. Duo breaks free from prison and finds Trowa sitting in a shuttle. Trowa says he is waiting for Sally, and she arrives after rescuing some hostages. In Brussels, Zechs and Noin fight off the Serpents with only the Taurus and the Tallgeese III. Their battle is more difficult because they are disabling the suits, not destroying them. Heero and Wufei continue to fight and enter the atmosphere. Heero tells Wufei that Treize is dead and his fight is over. Wufei says that he still fights Treize everyday, and that they both know they can only acknowledge their lives on the battlefield. Quatre, Trowa, and Duo reclaim their Gundams and head for Earth. Relena tries to make an announcement to the people, but Dekim stops her.

As Zechs and Noin are outnumbered, they receive help from the Gundams. Heero and Wufei still fight, and Heero asks how many times he must kill that girl and her dog. He then gives up and crashes into the ocean. Wufei is affected by this and has a flashback of his colony being destroyed. As citizens protest in the streets, he joins them. The Serpents continue to outnumber the Gundams, and they give up. Heero floats over the presidential residence with the battered Wing Zero and begins firing his buster rifle. Mariemaia begins to panic as the shelter collapses. Lady Une appears out of nowhere and saves Relena and Mariemaia. After the third shot, Wing Zero explodes and crashes on the ground. Lady Une is about to slap some sense into Mariemaia when Relena does it instead. Dekim is about to shoot Relena, and Mariemaia takes the bullet. He is then killed by one of his own men. Heero enters the room and offers to end Mariemaia's pain. He shoots his gun and finds it has no bullets. He no longer has to kill anyone and collapses. As AC 197 begins, the world is peaceful again. Duo, Quatre, and Trowa destroy their Gundams together. In China, Wufei destroys Altron. Sally asks him to become a Preventer, and he agrees. Zechs and Noin leave the Preventers to help terraform Mars. Lady Une takes Mariemaia to visit Treize's grave. Duo returns to a colony with Hilde, and Trowa rejoins the circus. Quatre parties with the Maganac Corps, and Heero watches Relena give a speech. Now that peace has been achieved, mobile suits are never seen again.

Gundam redesigns
One of the most notable aspects of Endless Waltz is the massive redesigns all five Gundams underwent. The Gundams are still the same ones that were used at the end of the Gundam Wing series, although changed from the original TV versions. The Gundams have more stylized and somewhat ostentatious designs, reflected in the Wing Gundam Zero's giant "Angel Wings" (as seen in the above image), the even more demonic appearance of the Gundam Deathscythe Hell, and the more dragon-like appearance of the Altron Gundam. Despite the dramatically different designs of the Gundams, the story of Endless Waltz retcons them as if they have always appeared this way. It is noteworthy that most of these changes in design do not have an overly large impact on most of the Gundams' abilities. However, the angel-winged redesign of the Wing Zero removes its "Neo Bird Mode" transformation ability from the TV series.

Theatrical Version Changes

 * When Endless Waltz was released in theaters in 1998 as a lead-in to Gundam's 20th anniversary, several new scenes were added, adding approximately ten minutes of new footage to the story. Most of this footage comes in the form of an extended battle scene between the Gundams, but there are a few noteworthy changes that were made between the two versions.


 * The titlecards and transitions between episodes were removed, making the three episodes into a single movie.


 * Many of the instrumental score cues have been shifted around from the OVA. Additionally, the OVA's ending theme, White Reflection, was replaced with a new theme, Last Impression, performed by TWO-MIX.


 * Duo's flashback is moved up to the shuttle flight, just before Heero's; in the OVA, it takes place as Trowa's Serpent fires at Duo's damaged Leo.


 * There is a new scene which shows Zechs reading his field manual inside the Tallgeese III and his eventual reunion with Noin. This takes place after he destroys the Mariemaia Army headquarters at MO-3.


 * A new scene shows Sally Po, donning a stolen Mariemaia Army uniform, rescuing the hostages on X18999 (including Catherine and the circus manager).


 * Duo, Trowa and Quatre's battle scene in Brussels is lengthened and much longer compared to the OVA.


 * Another new scene, taking place after Relena's impromptu speech, has Dorothy Catalonia appear in Brussels, convincing the citizens to heed Relena's words and do things for themselves if they want true peace.


 * Another additional scene features Heero sleeping inside the cockpit of the damaged Wing Zero while lying at the bottom of the sea, following his battle against Wufei. Wing Zero then re-activates on its own (awakening Heero in the process), stands up on its own, and supposedly convinces Heero to complete his mission.


 * The individual character endings are changed to be longer and more elaborate, but remain generally the same in tone.

Characters
Heroes=