G Boys Eyecatch

4, 2, 1, 3, 5--and Beyond:
A Look at Gundam Wing Doujinshi Couplings

Gundam Wing doujinshi tend to be character-driven stories. Not all, but a good many, also explore yaoi relationships between the characters--relationships that may have little basis in the original anime series, but can be made convincingly believable by skilled circles.

With its many major characters, Gundam Wing has yielded a wide variety of possibilities for such "couplings." By boiling the numerical meanings of characters' names down to a digit or two--"1" for Heero, "2" for Duo, "3" for Trowa, "4" for Quatre, "5" for Wufei, "6" for Zechs, "9" for Noin and "13" for Treize--a shorthand quickly emerged to describe the couplings featured in a doujinshi, with "1 x 2," for example, meaning a book that features Heero and Duo. The dominant personality--or uppermost in a pairing--in the story is listed first; "2 x 1" would be a story in which Duo has the upper hand.

Debuting as a weekly anime series on Japanese TV in April 1995, Gundam Wing grabbed the imagination of doujinshi circles and proved to have a monster grip. Although its peak of popularity had passed by the summer of 1997, Gundam Wing was still tremendously represented at that August's Comiket, with about 1,300 circles of the 33,000-some present--or nearly one in 25--devoted to Gundam Wing.

That's when Amiko Kawai, of the circle Gundam Wing Maniacs Club, began to keep count of the number of Gundam Wing circles, and their books and couplings, that could be found at each Comiket. She examined four Comikets in all--Summer '97, Winter '97, Summer '98 and Winter '98--and published the results in Japanese on her Web page at http://www.kinotrope.co.jp/~ami/Gundam W/ . CHECK IT OUT!

While Kawai-san created various tables with the numbers, she did not include tables to rank the couplings by percentage at each of the four Comikets, and to compare the percentage and popularity of each coupling over that four-Comiket period. So, using her numbers, I've put together those sets of tables, which you'll find below. (Thank you so much for making it possible, Kawai-san!)

First are the charts to compare the percentage and popularity of each coupling over that four-Comiket period:

Next are the charts ranking the couplings by percentage at each of the four Comikets. Something important to keep in mind is that the two Comikets held in August (Comiket 52 and 54) were each three days long, allowing more circles to take part. The two Comikets held in December (Comiket 53 and 55) were each two days long, limiting the number of circles that could participate. So many circles were excluded from Comiket 55 that this coming December's Comiket 57 has been expanded from two days to three.

Also, in the charts for Comiket 54 and 55, statistics are included for the number of kabegiwa circles. As is explained elsewhere in these pages, kabegiwa--"wallside"--circles are the most popular circles at Comiket. They're assigned tables along the walls, to allow more room for their lines of customers to form.

Statistics by Amiko Kawai

COMIKET 52 (AUGUST 1997): APPROXIMATELY 1,300 GUNDAM WING CIRCLES

Number ofPercent of
RankCouplingGW DoujinshiGW Doujinshi
1st2 x 174531.51
2nd1 x 257624.37
3rd3 x 11857.83
4th3 x 41717.23
5th2 x 41285.41
6th3 x 5102 4.31
7th1 x 4682.88
8th1 x Relena572.41
9th5 x 2 411.73
10th13 x 5381.61
11th2 x 5351.48
12th4 x 2301.27
13th3 x 2261.10
14th4 x 1230.97
15th6 x 13200.85
16th13 x 6170.72
17th1 x 390.38
17th5 x 190.38
19th6 x Noin80.38
19th2 x Hilde80.34
21st1 x 570.30
21st4 x 370.30
23rd5 x 460.25
24th13 x Lady Une50.21
25th2 x 340.17
26th1 x 630.13
26th3 x Catherine30.13
26th4 x Dorothy30.13
26th6 x 130.13
26th13 x 130.13
26th13 x 230.13
32nd1 x Sally20.08
32nd4 x 520.08
32nd4 x Noin20.08
32nd5 x 320.08
32nd5 x 1320.08
32nd5 x Sally20.08
32nd6 x 220.08
32nd6 x 520.08
32ndNataku x 520.08
41st13 x 410.04
41stNoin x Relena10.04
-2 x Relena00
-3 x Noin00
-4 x Noin00
-4 x Relena00
-5 x Marimeia00
-Dorothy x Relena00

COMIKET 53 (DECEMBER 1997): 665 GUNDAM WING CIRCLES

Number ofPercent of
RankCouplingGW DoujinshiGW Doujinshi
1st2 x 117525.62
2nd1 x 216424.01
3rd3 x 1568.20
4th3 x 4395.71
5th2 x 4375.42
6th1 x Relena314.54
6th3 x 5314.54
8th1 x 4294.25
9th13 x 5223.22
10th4 x 1111.61
11th13 x 6101.46
12th2 x 591.32
12th4 x 291.32
12th5 x 291.32
15th3 x 271.02
16th5 x 150.73
17th1 x 540.59
17th5 x Sally40.59
19th1 x 330.44
19th6 x 1330.44
21st2 x 320.29
21st2 x Hilde20.29
21st4 x 320.29
21st4 x 520.29
21st4 x Dorothy20.29
21st6 x 120.29
21st13 x 120.29
21st13 x Lady Une20.29
29th1 x 610.15
29th1 x Sally10.15
29th3 x Catherine10.15
29th5 x 310.15
29th5 x 410.15
29th6 x 210.15
29th6 x 510.15
29th6 x Noin10.15
-2 x Relena00
-3 x Noin00
-4 x Noin00
-4 x Relena00
-5 x 1300
-5 x Marimeia00
-13 x 400
-Dorothy x Relena00
-Nataku x 500
-Noin x Relena00

COMIKET 54 (AUGUST 1998): 898 GUNDAM WING CIRCLES (WITH 923 DOUJINSHI)

Number of
GW DoujinshiPercent of
RankCoupling(Kabegiwa)GW Doujinshi
1st2 x 1231 (36)25.03
2nd1 x 2210 (14)22.75
3rd3 x 469 (1)7.48
4th3 x 160 (12)6.50
5th2 x 457 (4)6.18
6th1 x Relena51 (0)5.53
7th3 x 546 (0)4.98
8th1 x 444 (0)4.77
9th13 x 523 (0)2.49
10th2 x 518 (0)1.95
11th3 x 214 (1)1.52
12th4 x 112 (0)1.30
13th4 x 211 (0)1.19
14th5 x 28 (0)0.87
15th2 x Hilde7 (0)0.76
16th1 x 35 (0)0.54
16th5 x Sally5 (0)0.54
18th1 x 54 (0)0.43
18th5 x 44 (0)0.43
18th13 x Lady Une4 (0)0.43
21st2 x Relena3 (0)0.33
21st3 x Catherine3 (0)0.33
21st4 x 33 (0)0.33
21st4 x Dorothy3 (0)0.33
21st5 x 33 (0)0.33
21st6 x 13 (0)0.33
21st6 x Noin3 (0)0.33
21st13 x 63 (0)0.33
29th2 x 32 (0)0.22
29th4 x 52 (0)0.22
29th4 x Relena2 (0)0.22
29th5 x 12 (0)0.22
33rd1 x 61 (0)0.11
33rd5 x Marimeia1 (0)0.11
33rd6 x 51 (0)0.11
33rd6 x 131 (0)0.11
33rd13 x 11 (0)0.11
33rd13 x 21 (0)0.11
33rdDorothy x Relena1 (0)0.11
-3 x Noin00
-4 x Noin00
-13 x 400
-Nataku x 500
-Noin x Relena00

COMIKET 55 (DECEMBER 1998): 402 GUNDAM WING CIRCLES (WITH 451 DOUJINSHI)

Number of
GW DoujinshiPercent of
RankCoupling(Kabegiwa)GW Doujinshi
1st1 x 2137 (4)30.38
2nd2 x 1116 (8)25.72
3rd3 x 126 (0)5.76
4th1 x Relena23 (0)5.10
5th3 x 422 (2)4.88
6th2 x 420 (0)4.43
7th3 x 518 (0)3.99
8th13 x 514 (0)3.10
9th1 x 412 (0)2.66
10th13 x 68 (0)1.77
11th3 x 27 (0)1.55
12th4 x 25 (0)1.11
13th2 x 54 (0)0.89
14th2 x Hilde3 (0)0.67
14th4 x 13 (0)0.67
14th5 x 23 (0)0.67
14th5 x 33 (0)0.67
18th1 x 32 (0)0.44
18th1 x 52 (0)0.44
18th2 x 32 (0)0.44
18th3 x Catherine2 (0)0.44
18th5 x Sally2 (0)0.44
18th6 x 12 (0)0.44
18th6 x 52 (0)0.44
18th6 x 132 (0)0.44
18th13 x Lady Une2 (0)0.44
27th4 x 31 (0)0.22
27th4 x 51 (0)0.22
27th5 x 11 (0)0.22
27th5 x 41 (0)0.22
27th5 x 131 (0)0.22
27th6 x 21 (0)0.22
27th3 x Noin1 (0)0.22
27th4 x Dorothy1 (0)0.22
27th4 x Noin1 (0)0.22
-1 x 600
-4 x Relena00
-5 x Marimeia00
-13 x 100
-13 x 200
-13 x 40 (0)0
-Dorothy x Relena00
-Nataku x 500
-Noin x Relena00

Return to MIND EDUCATION: Kagenami Q's Gundam Wing Doujinshi Reference Digs

This page was created September 21, 1999. Last updated November 23, 2004.

Shin Kidou Senki Gundam Wing is copyright Sotsu Agency, Sunrise and TV Asahi, and all images are copyright their respective artists and creators. No copyright infringement is intended or implied.