With this installment of the Gundam Wing saga, all the major powers begin to fall into their final alignments. Treize assumes command of the Earth forces, removing Relena from her position. Relena then heads to space to confront her brother Milliardo. Milliardo himself is relentless in destroying the last vestiges of OZ and Romefeller in space, and in completing the battle fortress Libra. Meanwhile, the Gundam pilots are reunited and recognize that both Treize (and by default, the Earth forces) and Milliardo (and the colony forces) are their enemies.

To say the least, this is an action-packed volume with quite a bit of plot development. All the characters get at least a moment to shine, including Sally Po. The animation is clean, if a bit sparse on the details. However, there are a few too many lingering shots that slow down what would seem to be perfect pacing. The camera remains on a face, or a ship, or even the Earth, for a few extra seconds. In the end, the episodes feel slower than the plot warrants. The effect is so noticeable that it was either intentional or the production was being hampered by budgetary constraints.

There's plenty of classic Gundam Wing action to balance out the plot development in Volume 14.	Every major character has a chance to shine in this volume, including Sally Po.

The audio is a mixed bag. The new opening theme is welcome and plays well, as do the regular list of sound effects and incidental music pieces. Unfortunately, not all of the dubbing cast seems to be on the same page. The narrator muddles through his monologue in each of the three episodes leaving dramatic pauses in the absolutely wrong place, making it sound as though he lost his spot on the script. The script itself often gives the wrong information, such as in episode 42 where it is announced that the Barge has surrendered and fallen into White Fang hands, when in reality it was destroyed. Of course in the previous episode, Duo’s voice actor commented that the Barge was “sinking” when in actuality it was exploding, making me wonder if the actors ever got to see the show before recording. Indeed, the inflections are totally at odds with how the characters act later in the same episode.

Overall, these are episodes setting up the final confrontations to come, but they will never be marked as the high point of the series. If you’re a Gundam fan, you’ll enjoy them. If you’re a fan of just this series, you must see them to follow the ever-changing After Colony world. However, if you’ve never seen Gundam Wing, it would be useless to pick up this volume. Start from the beginning. In the end, this is just more of what has made Gundam Wing so popular - a solid story backed by solid animation with hints of even better things to come.

Distributor: Bandai
Creator: Sunrise
Released: 1996

Video Quality: B+
Audio Quality: B
Presentation: B+
Content: B
Overall: B+