Bunker Busting

Of all the anime from my rewatch project this year, Gundam Wing is the one I reassessed the most. I liked it before, but it hits differently now. I get more from the stuff that's not giant mechs destroying other giant mechs. I may post about some of that later, depending on how Thursdays play out this fall. 

For today, I'm just going to talk about the bunker scene at the end of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Here's the clip the times listed below are referencing. Discussion points, in chronological order:

~00:33 into the clip - Back when I was doing Burn Notice episode rundowns, I talked about my annoyance with characters who use the, "Go ahead and shoot me, then," bluff, usually as proof they are not a snitch/cop/spy, and how it never seems to backfire, no matter how unstable the person they're daring is.

(I've been thinking about if Takagi's death in Die Hard qualifies as a time it backfire. I think that requires assuming he was lying to Hans Gruber about not having the password they wanted. I feel, near the end, there's enough desperation in his attempts to convince Hans that he wasn't lying, but your mileage may vary.)

Anyway, here we see Mariemaia Khusrenada learning that Heero Yuy is not the person to run that bluff on. I mean, he was clearly going to shoot anyway, but I love how there is no hesitation. The moment she dares him, it's 'Roger that,' and BOOM!

~00:53: The thing the rewatch made me re-evaluate most was Relena. When I was younger and fixated on the pilots wrecking shit, she seemed like she was in the way. That it was everyone else accomplishing things. I didn't appreciate how much she grew through the series, how much responsibility she shouldered in the wake of her father's death and learning of her heritage. She survives assassination attempts, leads a country, accepts what is intended as a figurehead position as "Queen Relena", then pulls off a bloodless revolution through empathy, idealism and force of personality. She grapples with the gap between her ideals and reality, and what can be accomplished, but never loses her resolve to bring those ideals to life and create a future different from pretty much the entirety of human history prior to that.

(Note that, for all his charisma and "the man on a horse" ego, Treize Khusrenada never tried to directly oppose Relena the way he did the Romefeller Foundation. He waits until Zechs makes his idiotic, "Earth is the problem," declaration and uses everyone's fear to seize control. He knew in a straight up confrontation with her, he'd lose.)

Most of all, she doesn't blink. She's surprised the first time Heero pulls a gun on her, but I wouldn't say she's scared. She certainly isn't afraid to shield him from Duo moments later. After that, after her father's assassination, Relena refuses to sacrifice what she believes in for her own life. (She surrenders the Sanc Kingdom so people won't die for her, which is not the same thing.)

And so you get Mariemaia, trying to puff herself up after Heero's first shot (probably the first time anyone has directly threatened her), only for Relena to see right through it. The deadpan delivery of, 'Are you afraid, Mariemaia?' is perfect. It's not really a question. She knows the kid is afraid. Everyone in that bunker is afraid, except Relena. All the guys in the magenta shirts and armbands are soldiers that, through luck or skill, survived the events of Gundam Wing. You figure they faced death before, but they weren't ready for this. Which brings us to. . .

~1:31: When I first watched Gundam Wing on Toonami, lo those many years ago, I used to joke about how often Relena and Heero would say each other's name. Often in a soft murmur, and often it was the only thing they might say at that moment. You could make a drinking game out of it. 'Heero. . .' Take a shot. But in this case, it's once again Mariemaia's reaction that's the selling point.

Relena was always key to Dekim Barton's plan, in much the same way as Mariemaia (who thinks she's running things, but it's Barton actually giving orders.) Mariemaia has the lineage to get the surviving Treize Faction idiots to support Barton's plans. She gets him the muscle he needs. Relena's the one person people on Earth and in space believe in. She'll legitimize his coup, get the people to accept it quietly. And, because she's a pacifist, in Barton's eyes (and Mariemaia's) that means Relena's weak. She'll do what they want.

Except they're wrong. She won't bend to them, anymore than the Gundams - even if all the pilots other than Heero are trying not to kill their opponents - so now her value is as human shield. Just one problem, Heero knows the depth of her conviction in her beliefs. There's a reason he tells her more than once that she's stronger than he is. (In the Blind Target manga, he tells Quatre she's, 'the strongest.') She's willing to die rather than help Barton set himself up as ruler of humanity.

Mariemaia's just now figuring that out. The little gasp and the shocked look, priceless. It's sinking in that, the beloved elader who is supposed to be her bullet shield, the one whose presence is meant to ensure her safety, has a murder/suicide pact with the same Gundam pilot about to blow his own ass up trying to kill them. Don't you hate when that happens?

~1:45: I did make the mistake of reading the comments on that video. I mean, I know better than that from 20 years ago when I'd watch Weird Al's "Smells Like Nirvana" video and the comment thread was just one person being outraged on Kurt Cobain's behalf, and then someone correcting that person by pointing out the Nirvana guys not only agreed about how unintelligible they were, but were thrilled to get parodied, ad nauseam, forever.

But, setting aside the dozens of comments to the effect that telling Heero that Relena's in there only makes him more eager to shoot - yes, that's why he visibly lowers Zero's buster rifle immediately afterward - there was some debate about the location of that last shot. Did he alter his target on the third shot, because of the memory of that little girl? There is the brief shot of his targeting screen where the reticle seems to shift, but it sure as hell looks like the third shot hits the exact same place as the first two. I think it represents him raising the buster rifle again and sighting in on his target.

I think it's more that Heero is being incredibly precise. The little girl with the flower died because Heero miscalculated where he puts some explosives, so a mobile suit got knocked into an apartment building by the blast, killing innocent people. He's not going to make that mistake twice, he shoots where it will tear open the shelter, but the people in the bunker will survive.

I could be wrong. Could be Heero figured he had to stop them, but he'd die in the process when Wing Zero blows up hundreds of feet in the air. From that view, he was killing himself at the same time as penance.

Instead, he survives, climbs down into the bunker, symbolically shoots Mariemaia with an empty gun, which I think is his way of closing the door on that period of his life, going by his 'I'll never kill again,' comment before he collapses. Which isn't in the video I linked to, but is worth mentioning for how it connects to what is.