the second one, though tbh i feel like both are a bit too energetic
That's what I'm going for though.
The weird thing about Gundam Wing that I've found now that I'm abridging it:
a) there are actually SO FEW satisfying Gundam fights
b) most of the soundtrack is somber, dramatic and slow
c) they reuse cels for fight scenes so often that a scene with 100% unique footage is basically impossible to find, and this is one such scene
So in planning out all of the show's first half, I coordinated it so that there is one "big fight" for every remaining episode. The biggest one comes at the tail end, between Quatre going crazy and Heero defending the colony from him while Trowa is dramatically trying to get them to stop. For a comedy, it's rather heavy-- which is good, I want there to be legitimate drama and stakes. But the actual soundtrack paired with it reinforces that melodrama. I'd rather reinforce the awesome one-time visuals of two Gundam pilots fighting in brand new mobile suits in space.
Since Two-Mix is closely associated with the show-- they're responsible for both opening themes and the theme for the "Frozen Teardrop" followup-- I've been combing through their discography for a high energy "robot fight" song I like. The more somber moments-- Quatre showing he's crazy, Trowa sacrificing himself-- I'll go with the silence of space to puncuate the moment, and use the Two-Mix song for comedic hard cuts when Heero stubbornly keeps fighting. It's also important to keep it somewhat resembling Two-Mix's "Just Communication Part II" as the fight will abruptly transition into the season credits and that song.
My current
problem is that I actually like "Break" better than "Dokuhaku", but "Break" is a theme from a totally different anime, Case Closed. I'm worried using it would be jarring to people who know where it's from. Like if you were watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and suddenly the Transformers theme song played in a fight scene.