Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Part 1 (Collector’s Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing (新機動戦記ガンダムＷ, Shin Kidō Senki Gundam W), also known as New Mobile Report Gundam Wing or simply Gundam Wing, is a 1995 original television anime series directed by Masashi Ikeda & Shinji Takamatsu, and produced by studio Sunrise. Staff credits also include writer Katsuyuki Sumisawa, character designer Shukō Murase, and music composer Kou Otani. The series aired in Japan in April 1995.

Brief Unboxing Note:

This unboxing has been updated on December 2023 to amend its page design but also add additional context to some parts of the write-up. Everything else has been left unchanged from the original post.

Background:

“Mankind has moved into space.

Thousands of people live on giant orbiting space colonies called “Sides.” However, the Earth Government, which rules the colonies, is unjust and cruel.

A group of revolutionaries build five robotic weapons called Gundams and plan to send them to Earth to begin their fight for independence. Piloted by five young men, these Gundams carry the colonists’ hopes and dreams of freedom with them as they descend to Earth to begin Operation Meteor!”

Plot Synopsis via Anime Limited, August 2019.

The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise is very interesting with its wide range of characters, stories and of course the action. It’s also interesting for how it allows newcomers to jump in at any point. Whilst the original few shows are one massive storyline, eventually the later instalments were mostly standalone with no connection to any previous shows, OVAs or films.

Here we have Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, the 6th instalment in the Gundam franchise and one that won’t require knowledge of the previous titles to enjoy it. It takes place in the After Colony timeline, which is a separate continuity from the Universal Century where Amuro & Char’s saga is covered. That means a whole new cast of characters but the series keeps the same themes of war and the idea of using Gundams to fight.

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing is notable in the franchise for being the first one to receive exposure in the west thanks to Toonami for both the US and the UK. The series also received a release on DVD by Bandai Entertainment and Beez Entertainment for both territories, before the publisher discontinued which led to the Gundam licenses going into limbo. Anime Limited then announced a new partnership with Sunrise to release a number of Mobile Suit Gundam titles into the UK, which admittedly has had a rocky few years due to various pushbacks.

In 2019, UK distributor Anime Limited announced their Summer of Gundam 40th Anniversary plan, which included the Mobile Suit Gundam Wing series as well as its continuation Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, but the latter were delayed into 2020, so only the main series is going to be available during this plan.

Collector’s Edition Contents:

Like the other Gundam UK releases on Blu-ray, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing follows the same structure as before, with a box for Part 1 and a booklet for Part 2.

The package is presented as a rigid box with an Amaray case that covers Part 1’s content. The box has a spare slot for Part 2’s contents.

The artwork is free of any information or BBFC content and the info sheet covers the information and specification like previous Anime Limited releases. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has 1000 units printed for an SRP of £59.99. A standard edition Blu-ray will eventually follow suit.

Physical Contents:

• Rigid Box with Amaray packaging and clean artwork
• Info sheet for specification and BBFC description

On-Disc Contents:

Distributor: Anime Limited
Released: 26th August 2019

The collector’s edition release for Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Part 1 from Anime Limited covers the first half of the series with episodes 1 to 25, across four Blu-ray discs, with the authoring & encoding produced by Nozomi & Rightstuf. This is interesting considering Anime Limited usually would use the French master but the French release of Gundam Wing are on 3 discs in contrast. Note that due to how the series was made, this show is in 4:3.

The audio options available include Japanese with English subtitles and the Ocean Studios English dub commissioned by Bandai Entertainment. The yellow subtitles (with white for secondary dialogue/on-screen text) are also unlockable during playback and the disc is region locked to B for Blu-ray players.

Blu-ray Specs:

Languages	English, Japanese
Audio	English Linear PCM 2.0 Japanese Linear PCM 2.0
Video	1080p High Definition Native format 1.33:1 aspect ratio
Region	B
Subtitles	English
Locked Subtitles	No
Discs	4 BD-50s

Blu-ray On-Disc Extra Features:

Disc 4:

• Clean Opening Song “Just Communication” Version 1 & 2
• Clean Closing Song “It’s Just Love”

Unboxing Photos:

Final Notes:

Mobile Suit Gundam Wing Part 1 is available to purchase on Blu-ray by Anime Limited in the UK & Ireland territories. The collector’s edition Blu-ray has sold out (as of December 2023), but a standard edition Blu-ray is available to order through retailer Amazon UK, Anime Limited’s store and MVM’s Anime-on-Line store.

(Disclaimer: Amazon links are also included when available. They are affiliated so if you decide to order them, I’ll earn a small percentage if they ship which will help me with any hauls or small bills.)