Mobile Suit Gundam Wing

Gundam Wing is interesting, it has a beautiful art direction and has some great sound design. On a technical level it's definitely an impressive series on its own. However, watching it critically as an adult to see if it would be appropriate for younger viewers really left me expecting more from it. The main cast of 'heroes' or characters the shows presents as protagonists are a far cry from heroic, and don't even really fit the role of the edgy anti-hero. They're villains fighting villains. Children who were groomed and raised to fight and die committing terrorist acts against a government with a shadow side. The facade of the government does what normal governments do. They do politics, deal in conflict and people in the darkness make power plays to assert themselves to power. Which is an interesting message for a kid's show, and not one I'm inherently opposed to. However, the reason I state that the show is probably better suited for older viewers is because the four Gundam pilots kill a lot of people, and at a few points consider murdering eachother or those trying to help them. At a few points the pilots attempt suicide to prevent themselves from being captured. Presentationally, this iteration of Gundam is more glitz than substance. And really is a pale shadow in terms of character when compared to its forerunner Mobile Suit: Gundam 0079. The series that started it all tackled the same themes, without the 'good guy/bad guy' paradigms that we as parents like with our war stories. It was a challenging narrative, and the protagonists don't really fit the mold of confident eager Avenger types. Wing however is darker, characters are much more melodramatic and one dimensional in comparison. As has become somewhat of a recurring point of contention among fans: The original hero/villain dynamic in 0079 is regurgitated to varying degrees of palatability throughout the franchise and is no different here. Wing's dynamic between Heero and Zechs Merquise doesn't quite mirror 1 to 1 Amuro and Char Aznable's relationship, but definitely makes efforts to. Zechs even sports a similar attire and his backstory is almost a direct carbon copy of Char. Which is fine, but as a parent who's seen both, the subtle differences really mire Wing's overall success. As for the fighting and violence which is the main appeal, it ranges from graphic depictions of terrorism and murder, to implied drastic carnage giant explosions implied to kill populations or multiple mobile suits along with their pilots. During the show, Colonel Une actually pushes a man out of a moving helicopter and shoots him in the head in mid air. The spectacle of mobile suits engaged in tense combat, where one suit loses maybe an arm or a leg or a weapon or something important that directly impacts the fight as it progresses is a staple of the series and as such you don't need to drive your stakes in for Wing in particular if you or your child is just looking for beautifully animated robot on robot violence. So if you're a parent who's never heard of wing, or if like me, you're a millennial who grew up with Toonami airing runs of Wing as a kid- Wing at any rate hits its max appeal as it reaches the height of nostalgia. If it doesn't quite pique interest there, then there's more than likely something far better to watch. Nobody in this show is really a role model if that's important to your decision. Not a single character really stands out as an exemplary moral character. Everyone is tainted and dark by design. For parents looking for something more tame but in line with fighting robots maybe consider the short lived Medabots or Transformers. I would recommend 0079, but that series as well has some standout violence and some nudity. So, maybe hold off on introducing your child to Gundam until their brains have matured a bit and are ready to view something like Wing without internalizing a sympathetic view towards teenage kamikaze fighters in giant death machines.