Gundam Wing staff issues

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Kavik Ryx
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Gundam Wing staff issues

On ANN, I once read that director Masashi Ikeda left Gundam Wing about half way through. However, does anyone know exactly why this happened or have an idea what was going on in its staff at the time?
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AmuroNT1
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I never actually heard any solid confirmation as to the rumor that Ikeda left GW and was replaced (usually it's said that Shinji Takamatsu, who would later direct X, replaced him). All I can say is that head writer Katsuyuki Sumizawa says himself in the Episode Zero manga that production scheduling was "the worst" and that he stepped down as head writer around episode 27 before returning shortly later as a regular writer.

Besides that, I remember hearing that after he finished directing the first part of Inuyasha, Ikeda took an extended vacation from directorial work to relax and catch up on his fishing.
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This is probably a bit of random gossip, not official maybe, but I heard that Ikeda stated in an interview that he didn't like doing romance which is why the relationships in Wing are so... strange. Is that true or was I reading something made up?
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AmuroNT1
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In an interview with Animerica from years ago, when asked about Heero and Relena, Ikeda said that he's not good at writing "boy-girl romance", and that he considered the political and symbolic relationship between them to be more important than any romance; however, he said that the viewers are free to disagree. He attributed this to having grown up on in "a Ryosuke Takahashi world".

Of course, the above comments are sometimes taken out of context and used as "proof" by yaoi fans that Heero despises Relena and wants to kill her. :roll:
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Then I'm sure they hate the Blind Target manga where it cuts away just as Relena and Heero are about to kiss.

And, realistically speaking, if Heero really wanted Relena dead, he'd have blown her brains out the first chance he got. But I'm sure this argument has been thrashed out before.

BTW who's Ryosuke Takahashi?
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AmuroNT1
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Oh, I've seen some people who deny Blind Target entirely. Of course, what I think is really funny is that all the semi-official GW manga, the ones that show support for Heero and Relena as a couple (BT, Battlefield of Pacifists, Episode Zero), are written by people who were on the writing staff for the anime.

Ryosuke Takahashi is a famous director and writer. He's probably most famous as the director/creator of Votoms and SPT Layzner, but he's done a lot more than just those and is considered one of the directors. Here's ANN's entry for him: http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclo ... hp?id=5620
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Arsarcana
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Yaoi fans will jump on anything that supports their pairing and ignore anything that doesn't. Witness the existence of the Yzak/Diakka fandom, despite the latter having a girlfriend before GSD dropped that plot... or Heero/Duo despite pretty much everything between Heero and Relena, including their canonical couple status in pretty much every story G-Gen game and SRW title they appear in.

Uhh, none of that is really relevant to the issue of staffing in Wing. I just needed to vent a bit where obsessive yaoi fans are concerned.
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wing zero alpha
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AmuroNT1 wrote:Of course, the above comments are sometimes taken out of context and used as "proof" by yaoi fans that Heero despises Relena and wants to kill her. :roll:
Interestingly when asked if Heero and Duo had it in for each other, Ikeda reportedly laughed at the suggestion. I also find it ironic that he says he's bad at writing a boy-girl romance, even though he went onto direct Inuyasha, which had that as the central theme. Then again, he had Rumiko's manga as a reference point, so...
Arsacana wrote:Witness the existence of the Yzak/Diakka fandom, despite the latter having a girlfriend before GSD dropped that plot...
Heh, I remember Yzak's wiki having been editted to make it sound like he and Dearka were sleeping in the same bed; the edit surprisingly stayed up for more than a week too, and also removed all references of Shiho Hahnenfuss. But anyway, back to the topic.
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wing zero alpha wrote:
AmuroNT1 wrote:Of course, the above comments are sometimes taken out of context and used as "proof" by yaoi fans that Heero despises Relena and wants to kill her. :roll:
Interestingly when asked if Heero and Duo had it in for each other, Ikeda reportedly laughed at the suggestion. I also find it ironic that he says he's bad at writing a boy-girl romance, even though he went onto direct Inuyasha, which had that as the central theme. Then again, he had Rumiko's manga as a reference point, so...
To say nothing of the fact he was a slightly more experienced director by that time.

Still, I have to laugh when I hear of those two as a couple myself, even if its not the worst pairing ever put together. I can usually take or leave Yaoi fanboyism, as it does occasionally produce something interesting, in the same way all those bizarre Tenchi pairings do.
wing zero alpha wrote:
Arsacana wrote:Witness the existence of the Yzak/Diakka fandom, despite the latter having a girlfriend before GSD dropped that plot...
Heh, I remember Yzak's wiki having been edited to make it sound like he and Dearka were sleeping in the same bed; the edit surprisingly stayed up for more than a week too, and also removed all references of Shiho Hahnenfuss. But anyway, back to the topic.
Lol. I remember that too. :P

Honestly, I remember hearing the story about the director quitting too, but short of Mark or someone who can read Japanese coming on and siting something, I doubt we're going to find out anytime soon. My Japanese is too embryonic to read anything but mecha names, at the moment. :(
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turkishproverb wrote:Unless your Joe Quesada.
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Kavik Ryx
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This is all well and good; however, this thread is about the staff of Gundam Wing, not its yaoi obsessed fanbase. So no more bringing it up please.
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Kavik Ryx wrote:This is all well and good; however, this thread is about the staff of Gundam Wing, not its yaoi obsessed fanbase. So no more bringing it up please.
'
Someone's uncomfortable. :P

Anyway, as I said, I think i remember something along those lines, but I can't remember what it was exactly.

Looking at the two shows, though, there WAS extensive crew overlap.
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Ascension wrote:
turkishproverb wrote:Unless your Joe Quesada.
:lol: Ahh, Quesada. He is to comic book fans what Fukuda is to Gundam fans.
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wing zero alpha
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turkishproverb wrote:Still, I have to laugh when I hear of those two as a couple myself, even if its not the worst pairing ever put together. I can usually take or leave Yaoi fanboyism, as it does occasionally produce something interesting, in the same way all those bizarre Tenchi pairings do.
Actually, they were my favorite pairing in Wing during its run; I saw what the director mentioned in that interview, a la the symbolism between the pacifist and the fighter coming together, and I thought it made for a good romance (opposites attract and all). And now that I am recalling, I also remember many a debate with yaoi fangirls, which usually ended with them blocking me from their AIM and not speaking to me ever again. Ah the good old days.
turkishproverb
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wing zero alpha wrote:
turkishproverb wrote:Still, I have to laugh when I hear of those two as a couple myself, even if its not the worst pairing ever put together. I can usually take or leave Yaoi fanboyism, as it does occasionally produce something interesting, in the same way all those bizarre Tenchi pairings do.
Actually, they were my favorite pairing in Wing during its run; I saw what the director mentioned in that interview, a la the symbolism between the pacifist and the fighter coming together, and I thought it made for a good romance (opposites attract and all). And now that I am recalling, I also remember many a debate with yaoi fangirls, which usually ended with them blocking me from their AIM and not speaking to me ever again. Ah the good old days.
being blocked was a bad thing?

And I actually meant i had a hard time with duo-heero compared to relena-heero.

but either way, back to the topic at hand.
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Ascension wrote:
turkishproverb wrote:Unless your Joe Quesada.
:lol: Ahh, Quesada. He is to comic book fans what Fukuda is to Gundam fans.
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I remember laughing as i read an article a while a go that stated that Wu Fei was in love with Treize simply because he cried when he died.
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ugh, no more fanboy/girlism please, this was supposed to be about GW's staff not the characters. Someone should ask Mark Simmons about whether Ikeda leaving is true or not.
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