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Finding Relena: Exploring A Gundam Heroine's Legacy With Voice Actor Lisa Ann Beley


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Terraziel



Joined: 01 Jul 2023
Posts: 112
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 11:23 am Reply with quote
One of the first "real" websites I can remember was, I think it was probably a Geocities site, dedicated to HATING Relena Peacecraft.

Now I don't remember hating her quite that much, but annoying at best is not exactly a compliment. I haven't watched Gundam Wing proper since the before time (There is always more Gundam to watch so i don't have the time to give anything a do over), so i can't say whether she improves with age.
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merr



Joined: 11 Dec 2004
Posts: 515
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 11:40 am Reply with quote
She was always a standout in Ocean dubs, even if Relena is one of her weaker performances IMO. Once they started casting her as adults, she really shined. She was great as Ramius in Gundam Seed, and even better as Sumeragi in Gundam 00.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
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Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 11:42 am Reply with quote
Thank you for the interview ANN. Really appreciate this.
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Gem-Bug



Joined: 10 Nov 2018
Posts: 1513
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 12:19 pm Reply with quote
merr wrote:
She was always a standout in Ocean dubs, even if Relena is one of her weaker performances IMO. Once they started casting her as adults, she really shined. She was great as Ramius in Gundam Seed, and even better as Sumeragi in Gundam 00.


I totally forgot those were all the same person, wowzers. Iconic voice.
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tintor2



Joined: 11 Aug 2010
Posts: 2697
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:17 pm Reply with quote
Honestly, I guess the charm behind Relena is not exactly herself but her connection with Heero. Heero might be a bit plain but he becomes highly developed when wanting to fight in Relena's war.At least that's what I basically remember.

Also that Char is always causing chaos even if it's a parallel universe considering Zechs also kinda messes up at first. It's Tomino's chaotic legacy
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Kicksville



Joined: 20 Nov 2010
Posts: 1415
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:57 pm Reply with quote
Back in the day, I wasn't aware of Relena being disliked until seeing so online. Half the complaints were along the lines here, but the other seemed more annoyance at her presence getting in the way of BL fantasies - girls seemed to dislike her more than boys.

I'd felt at the time that her role in the story and decisions were no more or less absurd than any of the Gundam pilots. But it has been a long time...I've been meaning to do a rewatch.

I still remember Relena's voice from the dub clearly in my head, 25 years later.
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Arxana



Joined: 30 May 2020
Posts: 46
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 1:58 pm Reply with quote
Terraziel wrote:
One of the first "real" websites I can remember was, I think it was probably a Geocities site, dedicated to HATING Relena Peacecraft.

Now I don't remember hating her quite that much, but annoying at best is not exactly a compliment. I haven't watched Gundam Wing proper since the before time (There is always more Gundam to watch so i don't have the time to give anything a do over), so i can't say whether she improves with age.


A lot of that hatred (not all, but certainly a significant amount) came from the American yaoi fandom. Here were these five cute male pilots who were very easily shippable, including Heero who was often shipped with Duo, and yet the show dared to imply that there might be something between Relena and Heero? Relena has her flaws, to be sure, but boy, did the yaoi community amplify them to justify their hatred of her. I never considered myself a huge Relena fam, but seeing her character get dragged through the mud all for the sake of 1x2 made even me want to defend her back in the day.
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Wyvern



Joined: 01 Sep 2004
Posts: 1792
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:11 pm Reply with quote
Imagine you're fifteen years old, you're going through puberty and still figuring out what you want to do when you grow up and you only started being interested in boys like a couple of years ago. You invite some guy to your birthday party, he tears up the invitation in front of you and then publicly declares that he's going to kill you. And you know he's capable of it. A week later your dad dies. A month after that, you're suddenly the president of an entire country. You have survived like five murder attempts by this point. A few weeks later you're the head of an interplanetary peace movement. You are still fifteen.

Relena has earned the right to be as pushy and emotional as she wants.

Anyway, this was such a great article. Love the idea of catching up with classic anime voice actors and talking about old roles, I hope we get more like this in the future.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
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PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:28 pm Reply with quote
Arxana wrote:
A lot of that hatred (not all, but certainly a significant amount) came from the American yaoi fandom. Here were these five cute male pilots who were very easily shippable, including Heero who was often shipped with Duo, and yet the show dared to imply that there might be something between Relena and Heero?


So I’m assuming there was also apathy for Hilde and Catherine scone there was more there with their relationships with Duo & Trowa then Heero & Relena.
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FireChick
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Joined: 26 Mar 2006
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Location: United States
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 2:31 pm Reply with quote
Gem-Bug wrote:
merr wrote:
She was always a standout in Ocean dubs, even if Relena is one of her weaker performances IMO. Once they started casting her as adults, she really shined. She was great as Ramius in Gundam Seed, and even better as Sumeragi in Gundam 00.


I totally forgot those were all the same person, wowzers. Iconic voice.


I hear she was also pretty good as Eda in Black Lagoon.
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Zendervai



Joined: 06 Apr 2012
Posts: 263
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 3:17 pm Reply with quote
Arxana wrote:
A lot of that hatred (not all, but certainly a significant amount) came from the American yaoi fandom. Here were these five cute male pilots who were very easily shippable, including Heero who was often shipped with Duo, and yet the show dared to imply that there might be something between Relena and Heero? Relena has her flaws, to be sure, but boy, did the yaoi community amplify them to justify their hatred of her. I never considered myself a huge Relena fam, but seeing her character get dragged through the mud all for the sake of 1x2 made even me want to defend her back in the day.


What makes this really funny to me is that if you aren't really into shipping, it gets pretty obvious that Gundam Wing straightbaits really hard. Three out of the five pilots get really obvious love interests, but nothing ever actually happens with any of them.
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Deacon Blues



Joined: 09 Mar 2005
Posts: 463
Location: Albuquerque, NM
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 4:07 pm Reply with quote
Minor correction, but you're linking to something in the article that isn't entirely accurate. While the claim at the time was, Bandai seems to be struggling with fulfilling obligations.

Quote:
This fall, Relena is returning to US screens as the franchise celebrates the 30th anniversary of Gundam Wing with new showings of Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz.


Endless Waltz isn't hitting theaters until winter, January 12 of next year to be precise, in a double feature night with the Urdr-Hunt film (proof here).
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MFrontier



Joined: 13 Apr 2014
Posts: 20003
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 5:16 pm Reply with quote
This is a fun article not only exploring/defending Relena as a character but also spotlighting Lisa Ann Beley. It would have been nice if the interview covered some of her other Gundam roles like the captains she's played, but I'm glad she's still fond of Relena. Also, Exosquad mention!

I know it's far from the perfect Gundam show but Wing was my introduction to the franchise so it'll always be special to me.
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gloworm



Joined: 08 Jan 2007
Posts: 84
PostPosted: Fri Nov 28, 2025 6:52 pm Reply with quote
MFrontier wrote:
Also, Exosquad mention!

It's an interesting connection, considering the producers of Exosquad were Gundam fans and wanted Sunrise to animate the show. In the end they couldn't make the budget work, so they had to settle for having them do the end credits.
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mdo7



Joined: 23 May 2007
Posts: 8226
Location: Katy, Texas, USA
PostPosted: Sat Nov 29, 2025 1:24 am Reply with quote
gloworm wrote:
MFrontier wrote:
Also, Exosquad mention!

It's an interesting connection, considering the producers of Exosquad were Gundam fans and wanted Sunrise to animate the show. In the end they couldn't make the budget work, so they had to settle for having them do the end credits.


Not only that, some part of Exosquad kind of reminds me of not only Gundam, but also other Sunrise show like Dougram, VOTOM and yet those 2 anime titles I mention weren't available in the US when Exosquad was being created.

If Exosquad ever got a reboot/remake today, I want it as a mecha anime and one that can be a big callback/references to Sunrise 80's and 90's anime. I mean if Exosquad was heavily influence by Gundam, Dougram, and VOTOM despite all these anime title were not available in the US at the time of Exosquad's creation, then I think an anime reboot would work for it.

I would also love to see Lego bring back Exo-Force (anybody remember that?). Maybe not only the toy, but give it an anime adaptation and maybe a OEL manga (it did have a comic, but not an OEL manga which would make more sense). I mean anime was not mainstream in the US when LEGO's Exo-Force was created, maybe it's the right time to bring it back.
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