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Rewatched Endless Waltz few days ago. Here my short review about this Gundam Wing movie sequel.

Note: English is not my mother language so I apologize in advance for eventual grammar errors.

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Story
Endless Waltz takes place during Christmas Eve one year after the main events of Gundam Wing. The war between Space Colonies and Earth is ended but not everyone is good with the formation of a new unified global state and while the main heroes prepare to send their Gundam on the Sun for destruction as part of global disarmament, other forces are finally ready to start the true Operation Meteor and a new war against ... Earth and the newly set world order. Personally i enjoyed it. It's an hour length movie so there is not much to say about the plot. An important thing of this movie is that we explore the five main Gundam pilots past history more deeply, especially the one of Trowa and the true motivations behind the Operation Meteor that set the basis for the main series events.

Art
Compared to Gundam Wing main series there is a bit of improvement about visual graphic also battles are more faster and graphically a bit more appealing. I quite liked the first few minutes when we see the final events of Gundam Wing series in a revamped look.

Sound
Besides few new tracks and especially "White Reflection" by Two-Mix i didn't notice anything worthy of mention.

Characters
Main cast remain basically all the same (narrator voice included) with the addition of few new ones exclusive to Endless Waltz who play the villains role like Mariemaia, which somewhat i liked, i could have liked her even more if she had been more "mature" but, most of all, more villainous. Too bad in the end she's nothing more than a puppet. We also witness the return of Zechs, now fully allied with the G-Team. Wufei on the other side is ready to turn against his team friends for his personal reasons. He remains the usual hateful character from the main series who prefer to fight alone however he becomes more likeable here, especially at the end of the movie.

Overall
A good conclusion for the series and a must watch for Gundam Wing fans as this movie serves as sequel and explain important parts of some of the main heroes past.

Gundam Wing is one of those anime i used to watch when i was young and since then it is remained one of my favorite anime of all time. Definitely one of my favorite Gundam. Recently re-watched after years and, even if rarely i write reviews, i decided that it was time to drop one which is written with the mind of an young man and is more critical.

Note: English is not my mother language but i wanted to write a review anyway so I apologize in advance for eventual grammar errors. I also want to warn people for possible minor spoilers that might ... be present in this review especially in the "Character" section but i couldn't refrain myself to write the reasons in order to explain my opinion of them.

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Story
The story revolves around political tensions between Earth and Space Colonies, the latter ones being subjugated by the former. In order to free themselves from the yoke of the tyrannical military rule of the UESA (United Earth Sphere Alliance), the Colonies send five high trained mecha pilots clandestinely disguised as civilians to Earth to strike and cause mayhem from inside. To say it all the story isn't boring, at the half of the anime there are two recap episodes that personally i found useless i would have understand if it was a much longer anime. The only thing about the story that i didn't like is all these sides changing, factions that at the begining were enemies become good later and viceversa, same for some of the characters which in part i reviewed in the "Character" section below. The rest is fine. Last episodes are probably my favorites in part due to much more action, i particularly enjoyed episode 41. Also, i'm the only one who liked the political part? I noticed some people disliked it because boring. In my opinion it gives a more mature touch to the anime. Obviously more battles instead of talks, the better.

Art
Gundam Wing has the typical 90's and early 2000 style so while can still be awesome (and nostalgic) for some people like me perhaps can be a bit outdated for newcomers anime fans. Characters also have a typical 90's look, surely i can't complain about how they are drawn, i especially liked the style of the miltary uniforms, reminds me early modern Europen armies. Specific characters that i particularly liked for their design are: Treize, Dorothy and Quinze. Vehicles, mechs and Space Colonies design are quite nice (Bulge and Libra are awesome). Battles are cool, explosions however are not that visually appealing. A thing that i noticed is that some scenes like mechs destruction and explosions are reused in the same way for different battles, i don't know and i don't remember if this is a Gundam series thing, especially the older ones (been quite awhile since my last watched Gundam show).

Sound
Not much to say about the music. There are few pieces that i really enjoyed (especially battle themes) but those few are great. Songs performed by Two-Mix are really cool, worthy of notice is "Rhythm Emotion" which i always loved. Some other tracks i loved are: "Eternity and infinity are in these hands", "Gundam Attack", "Sandy Clock of a Sad Color", "True Figure of Truth", "Using the Cloak of Darkness".

Characters
Most of the characters in this anime are presented way more mature than their actual age, especially the five Gundam pilots, of course this is in part due to their past experiences and military training. Some characters develop their personality through the events and completely change during the second half of the anime. I will limit myself to comment few ones. That being said among the five main protagonists the only one that i always loved is Duo Maxwell, he's simply the most likeable, cool, funny guy and most important he remains the same for all the show. About Heero Yuy, the main protagonist, initially he is presented as a cold blooded soldier trained to fulfill his missions at all costs in reality he's suppressing his emotions that might hinder his obejctives. His first meet with Relena seems to be the turning point of his personality, after that he will gradually change. I could also add him to the cool ones. Then, there is Treize Khushrenada, what can i say about him? The classic sophisticated calculating villian who do bad things while acting calm and cool. I like his design but seriously, he could have spared us his sermons about honor and chivalry that would fit better for a medieval world, they are way too exaggerated and seems out of place for a futuristic series like Gundam. There is no honor in war, especially in advanced technology warfare. Among the characters that annoyed me notable mentions are Wufei for the G-Team, i've never seen such a hateful character. Relena, her obession over peace and Heero are just ridiculous and boring. Another one is Lady Une but only during the second part when she acts as diplomat between Earth and Space Colonies, seriously... her personality switch is just crazily stupid, i definitely preferred her as OZ officer villain to be honest. Lastly, there is Zechs, while his design is really cool i cannot withstand his behaviour, he's perhaps the character that changes the most during the course of the story, he starts from being an agent of OZ obsessed with his revenge for his lost homeland only to join a terroristic faction and become an enemy of OZ and Earth (and thus of his Kingdom) later in the anime to promote his ideals of "peace". 0 coherence. Sometimes he even sides with the protagonists to fulfill his objectives, which are basically personal and involve simple rivalry between him, Heero and his initially friend Treize. As a villains fan of anime/movies etc... i've a particular eye over them and i never liked those who change sides or play double game or Anti-Villains to say it short. The anime also features a narrator voice (not appearing in the show) that personally, i liked, however i noticed some dislike by some people due to his "too political way" to narrate events.

Overall
As one of the anime i spent my childhood with i cannot say i didn't enjoy it. While Gundam Wing is worthy a try for everyone who love sci-fi, military and mechs large scale battles, it is particularly indicated for nostalgic of old times mecha and space opera anime lovers. Anime newcomers perhaps will find some thing better and less "vintage" around.

I hardly remember the last time i've seen an anime that made me feel emotional such as Kotonoha No Niwa (aka The Garden of Words) did.

The movie revolves around two characters who meet on a rainy day in a park: Takao, a 15 years old student aspirant shoemaker and Yukari, a 27 years old teacher. In only 46 mins, Shinkai, in his movie, tells us how the relationship between the two characters grows at every meeting, the whole wonderfully characterized with stunning visuals and well fitting soundings that you will hardly find in other anime. The story key theme is "loneliness" (clearly represented by rain ... and sad piano bgm) the loneliness of two protagonists who can only find peace and express themselves when are together on rainy days, at this point, i want to return on the movie title "Garden of Words" that, in my opinion, describes Takao and Yukari talking when are at the park.

Art and sound (both play a key role in the story itself) are probably the two strength points of this movie (and also of other Shinkai's works), these two elements are most likely the first things a person will easily notice. It's impossible to not remain shocked in front of the stunning images and the sound of the rain that can be heard for most of the time during the movie. The elements of visuals and the ambience sounds give you an unexpected sensation of freshness, the result is a enjoyment for the eyes and... yes, also for your lungs. This is probably the reason why i liked this movie so much.

In my case i also particularly enjoyed the story, simple, mature and with elements that are close to our reality like job, family and bullying. The two main characters are well conceived (nevertheless Takao doesn't even remotely strikes me as a 15 years old boy, he's way more mature looking) but the short length of the movie doesn't allow to explore more their histories except for a short flashback of Takao in addition, the movie plot focuses only on him and Yukari leaving all other characters with a marginal role.

Among the few things i didn't like there is the age gap between the two characters and probably the fact that some questions remain unanswered at the end of the movie but, i think this was the point of the whole story and what Shinkai wanted.

The movie itself has a good re-watch value (not my case though, i usually prefer to not rewatch movies that made me feel emotional more than two or three times) in part due to its lenght and in part because it's always nice to return on this visual masterpiece of animation made by Shinkai.

The Garden of Words is indicated especially for those who enjoy drama and romance genres or for those who are searching for a quick standalone anime movie thus, for this reason, it is not really for those who are searching for a deeper story and/or characters but personally i would suggest it to everyone, first, considering it has has the potential to entertain even those who don't like the genre and second simply because Shinkai's movies are worthy of note.