Forgive me for going on about this scene, but I actually really like it and really have a lot of feelings about Relena Darlian and her character progression over the course of the series.
Whenever I watch this scene, I keep in mind the scene we have that introduces her character—the daughter of a diplomat, who is understanding as she can be, but very young and clearly lonely. You can see her left behind when her father has to go on yet another meeting, which she doesn’t protest about, both because she knows it can’t be helped and because she’s used to it. She still glances back at the car, she still goes walking along the beach, she’s obviously still feeling abandoned, even though she tries not to. She’s very isolated and lonely.
So, suddenly, this mysterious boy literally crashes to earth in front of her and fights his way out of the situation, knocking over the paramedics that have been called to help him. How exciting and interesting must that seem to a lonely young teenage girl who constantly feels lonely and left behind?
How much like a fairy tale must that seem in that moment, to a girl who has been very sheltered all her life? She introduces herself afterwards, even though the strange boy is no longer there, because it must feel like her fairy tale must finally be starting.
And it’s not a fairy tale. GundamW is not about fate or romantic stories being told, it’s about the struggle and misery that war brings to people. It’s about how much fighting sucks. It’s about Relena growing up and finding her way, the balancing of her once maybe naive ideals with the more adult politics that she’s going to be shoved into.
I really like this scene because it establishes her character in a way that gives me such empathy for her, but also I felt shows just how far she’s going to grow over the course of the series.
And I just really, really have a lot of feelings about Relena Darlian, okay. ;__;