Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

My first ever anime review!

So recently Sunrise/Bandai remastered Mobile Suit Gundam SEED in HD, with the Blu-ray compilation coming sometime this year.

When I first heard the news, I was very excited. Gundam SEED was my first true foray into the Gundam franchise and left a deep mark on me as a teenager, becoming one of my favorite series of all time.

Ain't no better time than to have a trip down memory lane, and revisit one of the most iconic, and popular Gundam series of all time.

It has been almost 10 years since this series debuted, so I'm not going to bother with keeping spoilers in check. If you were a Gundam fan, you probably would know about the general story anyway.

(Warning: Long ass post ahead)

Two giant robots, a girl and a fuck-load of explosions.

Story

In the Cosmic Era timeline, humanity is divided into two major groups: Naturals and Coordinators. Coordinators are genetically enhanced humans, who are faster learning, stronger and immune to most diseases. Children born from a Coordinator couple inherit the genetic modifications without further need for more enhancements. Naturals are, duh, natural humans without any modifications.

The conflict between the two groups are the major driving force of the story. Coordinators are feared, despised and envied by Naturals; while Naturals are seen as an inferior species by Coordinators. Of course, this is not the viewpoint of every single person in the world, but certainly there is enough to launch a full scale war.

Before the war, most Coordinators fled to either PLANT, or neutral nations that are not anti-Coordinator, such as the Union of Orb.

In such a hostile world environment, it was just a matter of time before war exploded.

And then the war began between the Earth Alliance and PLANT's military wing, ZAFT. Three days after the war began, on 14th February, the EA launched a nuclear attack on one of PLANT's colonies, killing over 240,000 civilians. In retaliation, PLANT dropped Neutron Jammers all over Earth, which blocks nuclear fission reactions. This in turn caused hundreds of thousands of people across the planet to die as a huge energy crisis struck the planet, which was dependant on nuclear fission reactors.

Thus, began the Bloody Valentine War

Damn, this made World War II look like a snowball fight in comparison.

Giant Stomping Robots!! (Episode 1 of the HD remastered episode)

The anime starts one year after the war began, as the Earth Alliance is slowly losing ground to ZAFT's superior mobile suit technology, eventhough they have the numbers.

Receiving news that the Earth Alliance is also developing their own mobile suits, a small ZAFT commando team infiltrate Heliopolis, a space colony owned by the Union of Orb, in order to steal them.

Our protagonist, Kira Yamato, somehow ends up in one of the prototype mobile suits, as he learns to his horror that his childhood friend, Athrun Zala is now a member of ZAFT.

Rule of Drama

I don't think I did the anime any justice. This is, after all, a very summarized version of just the first episode.

Gundam SEED started off a bit slow, but the story gets better and more dramatic. Especially in episode 30,  after having their close friend killed by the other, Athrun and Kira finally have a no-hold-back beatdown on each other in their respective Gundams, resulting in one of the most brutal fight scenes in the whole series.

From that point on, the series matures, as the Bloody Valentine War became even more gruesome as both the Earth Alliance and ZAFT start engaging in genocidal tactics, determined to wipe the other side out completely.

The most annoying thing? Bloody flashback episodes. At least three of them were flashback episodes. It doesn't help that they used stock footage for them. It's no wonder the director, Mistuo Fukuda, earned the nickname "Flash Back 'Em All".

Overall, the storyline of Gundam SEED is very well done: there is no black and white morality here, though that is typical of any Gundam series, the added element of discrimination/racism and nuclear weapons bring it to a whole new level, sometimes it feels like extreme racial riots on a planetary scale.

Relatively speaking, Gundam SEED is probably the darkest Gundam series to date. It rarely has any funny moments, which of course is the whole damn point. By the end of the series, many characters have died.

War is hell, and the message is very clearly delivered.

Graphics

Gundam SEED is still a rather beautiful anime by today's standards, despite being made in 2001. However, low quality production still shows up once in a while in earlier episodes, though it is mostly averted by episode 10 or so.

Being one of the first Gundam series to be digitally animated, Gundam SEED was a huge leap in quality, it especially shines during the later episodes and during mobile suit combat scenes. Special mention goes to the design of the Archangel and the Dominion battleships, the Moebius Zero mobile armor unit and Freedom and Justice Gundams.

The HD Remastered version takes the graphics and pushes it up to eleven, by actually re-drawing and re-animating scenes that were low quality in the original: adding shadows and details to character faces and the mobile suits, detailed special effects etc etc.

Holy crap, how did I not remember her looking so bad??
(Remastered on top, original on bottom)

There are more comparison pictures here. (hint: The widescreen pics are the remastered versions).

One of my main complaints on the original Gundam SEED was that there was a shitload of stock footages. Recycled over and over and over and over and over again. It was very jarring especially when considering that the rest of the anime is actually quite well drawn.

Specific examples: Strike launching (in one of the episodes I can't remember which, the Strike was launching with the wrong equipment!!), Aegis firing his beam rifle, Kira in Freedom spamming his shooty beam death machine of doom, Moebius Zero using the Gunbarrel pods, Buster combining his two weapons into a single gun etc etc.

It was probably to reduce production costs but really...it was quite bad.

Characters

This is like...one third of the entire cast list. Probably less.

There are ALOT of characters in Gundam SEED. And this is not even counting the sidestories like in Gundam SEED Astray or Stargazer. 

The main characters are, as mentioned above, Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala. As characters, they do develop through the series, as they slowly get a hold of themselves and grow determined to stop the war at any costs. But their conflict and eventual reconciliation is one of the central theme of the plot, which in my opinion was much more important and interesting to watch. Thankfully, they were not generic heroes, though some people do find Kira's character a bit whiny to watch during the first part of the series.

To be fair, the guy was thrown into a situation he had no control over at all, and he was forced to kill people just because he was the only one who could pilot the one Gundam they still had on their side. For a person with no soldier training, it can be very traumatizing, especially when thrown into a life-or-death situation constantly.

Will you be able to point a gun at your own friend?
Threatening to kill him?

Athrun and Kira's conflict is central to the story, giving us different perspectives to consider: the traumatizing effects of war, the cynicism and at what point does the war end? Is there a right side?

The most interesting character in my opinion was actually Flay Allster, which has a very broken fanbase. You either love her. Or hate her.

Me? It's both.

One of the most tragic characters in Gundam SEED

I find her a fascinating character to watch. Yes, I hate her for the way she manipulated Kira's feelings; the way she was whiny and bitchy. But at the same time, to watch her as she spirals out of control is heartwrenching and I find myself unable to look away eventhough I know how tragic it will end.

It was like watching an accident in motion: you want to look away, but you can't.

While some people just hate her outright and dismiss her, I find that her actions are not without some form of justification. She was a young spoilt teenager (very likely a daddy's girl), and she was thrown into a middle of a war where survival was far from certain, and then she watched as her father was nastily killed off AFTER Kira promised to do his best to protect her father (note that I am not blaming Kira for this).

Sure, her actions were extreme, as she manipulated Kira's feelings as revenge. But is it that unthinkable? I certainly don't think so. Many people take for granted how broken someone can be when they reach extreme psychological low points.

Lets move on to the pilots. This is, after all, a Gundam anime.

The most badass pilot, and one of the coolest character, in the series in my opinion is:

Mu La Flaga.

Also owns a damn cool pilot helmet/suit.

Even before the series began, he was a famous pilot, known as the Hawk of Endymion, for taking out FIVE mobile suits in a Moebius Zero. Granted that said mobile armor is more powerful than the typical Earth Alliance mobile armor, but it is still a feat that was thought impossible.

Remember that is a world where the general consensus is that to take out even ONE GINN mobile suit requires FIVE mobile armors. If they were lucky. And in the process, very likely all of those mobile armors will be destroyed.

Furthermore, this guy once took on a battleship with his Moebius Zero. And won. Eventhough Rau La Creseut was onboard the battleship and has a sixth sense connection to him. So, even WITH foreknowledge of him attacking, they couldn't stop him from disabling the battleship.

Also, remember that this guy is a Natural, meaning he has no genetic modifications whatsoever in a world where every single ace pilot is a Coordinator. He is near the top of the list of kick-ass pilots through pure skill.

Hell, all of these achievements were well BEFORE he ever got into a mobile suit (which was Strike by the way, sorta like a hand-me-down from Kira).

Even his death scene was epic.

"I'm the man who can make the impossible, possible."
*manly tears were shed*

A Positron Blaster Cannon that fires antimatter positrons that annihilates anything in its path? No problem!! I will block it!!!

The only reason that huge wave of energy didn't go right through him is probably because of his sheer goddam awesomeness.

His death then became another reason to hate Azrael for his actions. Too bad Gundam SEED Destiny removed the dignity of his death by having him somehow surviving that shit.

As for the villains, there are three featured in the series.

From left to right: Muruta Azrael, Patrick Zala, and Rau Le Creuset.

Muruta Azrael is the head of Blue Cosmos, a radical/terrorist anti-Coordinator group that has a lot of influence amongst the Earth Alliance military. This man is a complete monster. He is trigger happy with his nukes, laughs like a maniac, creates supersoldiers with superaddictive drugs (so that said soldiers will die from withdrawal without regular consumption) and treats them as equipment rather than actual humans, and is a supreme sore loser.

But DAMN he is one hell of a sharp dresser.

That is a nice suit.

AND his last name is named after the ANGEL OF DEATH. Rather fitting for a man who practically started the Bloody Valentine War. Believe it or not, prior to his utter breakdown towards the end of the series, a lot of girls regard him as a pretty hot guy. And he's not exactly an armchair general either, he actually goes to the front lines to lead the troops, though he never actually gets into a mobile suit to fight.

Hard to believe that this guy was voiced by none other than Nobuyuki Hiyama, the guy who voiced the hot-blooded Guy Shishioh from The King of Braves: GaoGaiGar.

Seriously, how the hell.
Also: I'M FABULOUSSSS

Patrick Zala, Athrun Zala's father, is the antagonist from the Coordinators side, and is the most sympathetic out of the three (relatively speaking). He became the chairman of PLANT after winning the election from the former chairman, and old friend, Siegel Clyne. Like Muruta Azrael, he wants to see the other side completely annihilated, because his wife was killed in the first nuclear attack that sparked the whole war.

From that point, he got worse. He framed his OLD FRIEND, Siegel Clyne for treason and had him assassinated. He treated his son like any other soldier and even shot him at one point. Then he had GENESIS designed and built. It's a superweapon that fires a massive burst of gamma radiation that literally boils any fluid within the human body, the pressure causing their bodies to explode. *shudder*

Also, apparently two shots from this thing will decimate ALL LIFE on planet Earth.

That thing even looks evil.

Last, but not least, we have Rau La Creuset, undeniably one of the darkest characters in the series and the most omnicidal Char Clone ever. He manipulates Patrick Zala and Muruta Azrael, to ensure that both sides will annihilate each other, and almost succeeds.

Rau La Creuset is a clone of Mu La Flaga's father, and somehow being a clone makes him want to kill all life on earth. Something to do with him being the only person suitable to judge all of humanity. And he has decided we all don't deserve to live. Harsh, but er...somewhat a weak excuse.

But hey, he gets results. And based on his backstory, he is not a Coordinator, or rather it was never mentioned if he was a Coordinator. Which means that this guy was such a badass pilot, that he can fake being a modified human. Holy shit.

With great piloting skills, comes one badass Gundam.

While his reasons for villainy aren't very strong, there is no doubt that he gets the results. He may not have started the war, but he sure as hell made sure the casualties were high as fuck through manipulating people in the Earth Alliance and PLANT.

And a special group that deserves a mention, affectionately nicknamed by fans as "The Druggies"!!!

One of the few moments where Druggy is used as a good word.

Clockwise from bottom:
Orga Sabnack, pilot of Calamity Gundam, an artllery/bombardment type mobile suit, with extreme ranged firepower but lacks close ranged weapons.

Clotho Buer, pilot of Raider Gundam, a transformable mobile suit (abit ugly though) that is somewhat a jack-of-all trades, but Clotho uses him effectively as a hit-and-run unit. Raider also serves as a mobile carrier for Calamity, as Calamity does not have flight capabilities.

Lastly, Shani Andras, pilot of Forbidden Gundam, an amphibious/close combat mobile suit. It uses a giant scythe and has two special shields which can deflect energy weapons. It also has a plasma cannon which can bend, giving it a unique surprise element.

The Druggies were put under the command of Muruta Azrael, and are given performance enhancing drugs that places them on the level of Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala. By the time the Druggies appeared, Kira and Athrun were one of the most powerful pilots and were using nuclear-powered mobile suits. AND the Druggies were still giving them hell.

Damn.

Music

If there's one thing that people both lovers and haters of Gundam SEED can agree on, its that the music for the series is extremely good. This even extends as far to the sequel, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, and that one had even more haters.

I love all the openings and endings for the series and some of the background music as well, which until now are still some of my favorite J-pop songs of all time. The only other series which I have that much love for the music is Mobile Suit Gundam 00.

Maybe next time.

For me, Gundam SEED was my first introduction to T.M. Revolution and Nami Tamaki.

So far, almost all of the openings and endings were extremely popular when they first debuted.

These are definitely fantastic songs to listen to, it helps that the openings animation are awesome. And with the HD remastering, there's no doubt that it will be even more awesome.

(Artist - Name of Song)

Openings (in order of appearance)
T.M. Revolution - Invoke
Vivian or Kazuma - Moment
Nami Tamaki - Believe
Nami Tamaki - Realize

Endings (in order of appearance)
See-saw - Anna Ni Issho Datta No Ni
Tatsuya Ishii - River
Mika Nakashima - Find The Way

Insert Song
T.M. Revolution - Meteor

Special mention goes to this particular song, Akatsuki no Kuruma (translated as The Wheels of Dawn), which was played in full during Episode 40 of Gundam SEED. It was a tearjerking scene as the protagonists have to escape the Union of Orb and Cagalli's father sacrifices himself to ensure that they escape, for the sake of a peaceful future.

Akatsuki no Kuruma playing in the background was akin to a funeral song for him, and many viewers found the scene heartwrenching. Said scene can be watched here.

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So, to summarize the goods of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED:

• Decent starting storyline, but picks up immensely after about 13 episodes.
• Badass Gundam designs (Providence and Calamity are my favorite)
• The War is Hell theme is really driven home here, showing how bad war truly is, especially in the last arc
• Character driven, instead of focusing on said war.
• Excellent voice acting and characters potrayal (for the most part anyway)
• Fantastic music direction
• One of the darkest Gundam series to date

The bads:

• Not a very strong antagonist character(s), or rather since there are three major baddies, not all of them are fleshed out properly, especially Rau La Creuset.
• TOO. MUCH. STOCK. ANIMATION.
• Inconsistent animation quality (although this is rather common with any animated series)
• Similarities to the original Mobile Suit Gundam turns off veteran Gundam fans
• Character driven, instead of focusing on said war.
• One of the darkest Gundam series to date

Wow, this was one heck of a trip down memory lane for me. But Gundam SEED does hold a special place in my heart, as I watched it as a teenager.

That was a hell of a long post as well.

Now excuse me. I'm going to try to finish up Final Fantasy XIII-2. Tune in next time for the review.

Adios, kids.