The Shooting Star She Saw is the first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam Wing. It first aired in Japan on April 7, 1995 and in North America on March 6, 2000.
Synopsis[]
The Alliance in control of the colonies.
It is the year After Colony 195. Humans have headed to space to live in space colonies. The colonists have been oppressed by the United Earth Sphere Alliance, which seizes control of many colonies using Mobile Suits. Rebel colonies implement Operation Meteor. New arsenals are sent to earth disguised as shooting stars. Five such objecct depart their colonies and head to Earth.
The "meteor" headed towards Eastern Eurasia.
A satellite detects the five objects heading for Earth. They inform the Alliance 'Specials' ace pilot Lieutenant Zechs Merquise, who is currently in the atmosphere, returning to Earth. Zechs' assault carrier detects one of the objects nearby and chases after it in his shuttle. The pilot of this atmospheric re-entry capsule, going by the name Heero Yuy, detects a civilian shuttle nearby. The shuttle holds Vice Foreign Minister Darlian, an important member of the Alliance and his daughter Relena. After arguing over Relena's upcoming birthday, they notice Heero's capsule.
Relena and her father on a shuttle.
Heero plans to shoot down the civilian shuttle, but is alerted to the Alliance carrier overhead. He enters the Earth's atmosphere and the Alliance carrier follows. Relena watches, and her father mentions Operation Meteor. The capsule breaks apart, revealing some kind of fighter craft. The Alliance carrier gets in attack range and Zechs orders his subordinates to shoot the craft down. The fighter craft dodges their shots.
Zechs escapes from his Leo after grappling Wing Gundam.
Heero knows he'll escape easily, but he is then notified that there are mobile suits onboard the Alliance carrier. He decides to turn around and shoot it down. Zechs gets in a Leo mobile suit and takes off. He manages to blast the craft. Two other pilots come out in Aries mobile suits. Suddenly, the fighter craft transforms into a large winged mobile suit. Zechs is suprised by this, as he thought only the Alliance had the resources to build mobile suits. As Heero continues to descend toward Earth, Zech's backup Arieses attack him but their weapons have no effect on his winged mobile suit. He then aims his suit's powerful beam cannon (or Buster Rifle) at the two Arieses and fires, destroying them both in a single shot. Zechs is impressed by this. He then heads after Heero again, and manages to dodge a second shot from Heero's suit before grasping on to it. He exits his Leo's cockpit and parachutes away till his carrier picks him up, while the two suits continue falling through the sky. Zechs is then informed that the winged mobile suit is made of a rare material called Gundanium Alloy, which means, he realizes, that it is a Gundam. As the two suits sink into the ocean, Zechs believes that the Gundam will remain undamaged but he doubts its pilot will survive. He is further informed that the Alliance's Marina will head out to search for the Gundam.
Treize reports to the Alliance leaders.
At the spaceport, Mr. Darlian gets off the plane with Relena. He goes with Alliance soldiers to see General Septum, while Relena walks home. On the way she sees Heero laying unconscious on the beach. She calls for an ambulance. Elsewhere, Colonel Treize Khushrenada, head of the Alliance's 'Specials' unit, also known as 'OZ' sits in an Opera balcony. He is informed by Zechs about what happened. He later heads to a meeting with top Alliance officials where he is yelled at by General Septum for losing valuable combat resources.
Relena finds Heero on the beach.
On the beach, Relena takes off Heero's helmet, and finds out that he is a boy her age. Heero wakes up, shocked that she has seen him. When the ambulance arrives, he sets off a charge in his spacesuit, which damages the suit, but does not harm him. He then knocks out the paramedics, and commandeers in the ambulance, making an escape. Relena calmly and rhetorically introduces herself and asks for the boy's name as he drives off.
The Gundam Sandrock attacks.
Meanwhile, at a mobile suit production plant, another Gundam, the Gundam Deathscythe arrives, piloted by Duo Maxwell. It destroys the plant. Another Gundam pilot named Trowa Barton attacks a space port in his Gundam Heavyarms. In the desert, a group of Leos look for one of the five shuttles. Suddenly, a large group of desert based Magunac mobile suits arrive and destroy them. They are led by Quatre Raberba Winner, pilot of the Gundam Sandrock, who destroys those that refuse to surrender. On the sea, multiple ships are destroyed by Chang Wufei, piloting the Shenlong Gundam.
Heero tells Relena he's going to kill her.
Zechs' carrier goes over the sea where the Wing Gundam sank. He tells his two subordinates that four other Gundams have been seen as well, making a total of five of them. At Relena's school, everyone is anticipating her birthday party, with her being the richest and most popular girl in the school. Heero is introduced to the class as a new student, and silently sits next to Relena. Later, Relena provides Heero with an envelope containing an invitation to her birthday party. Heero prompty rips it up, then tells Relena that he is going to kill her. Heero leaves Relena, who wonders what kind of boy he is to say such a thing.
Important Events[]
- Characters Introduced: Heero Yuy, Duo Maxwell, Trowa Barton, Quatre Raberba Winner, Chang Wufei, Relena Darlian, Zechs Merquise, Treize Khushrenada, Vice-Minister Darlian, Otto, General Septum
- Mecha Introduced: XXXG-01W Wing Gundam, XXXG-01D Gundam Deathscythe, XXXG-01H Gundam Heavyarms, XXXG-01SR Gundam Sandrock, XXXG-01S Shenlong Gundam, WMS-03 Maganac, OZ-06MS Leo, OZ-07AMS Aries
Staff[]
- Script: Katsuyuki Sumisawa
- Unit Director: Yasunao Aoki
- Animation Director: Nobuyoshi Nishimura