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Gundam SEED Rating:   Genre: Action, Drama, Mecha, Sci-fi Studio: Sunrise Year: 2002 Length: 50 episodes Reviewer: SHiN_aKuMa Synopsis: Since after the dawn of genetics, man has now the power to modify their genes. They can make their offsprings powerful, intelligent, beautiful, anything their hearts desire. Through years of countless gene alterations, a new human race have emerged, the altered humans or the Coordinators. The unaltered humans or the Naturals have grown jealous over the Coordinators and thus create a conflict between the two races. The conflict leads to war when a nuclear missile destroyed a space colony. The Coordinators blames the jealous Naturals for the disaster. Review: Kira Yamato and his friends are engineering students in a Neutral Space Colony. Their lives changed completely when a small military force invades their colony. In the confusion, Kira pilots a mobile suit which he dubs GUNDAM and his friends ends up the crew of a newly-developed space battleship called Archangel. War is the basic ingredient of every Gundam series of, course it will be really stupid to create mobile suits in a warless story line. SEED is about a war between the Naturals against the Coordinators and conflict between friends. You'll expect lots of explosions, blood, shrapnel, twisted metal and screams of death. Also this series is very emotionally charged, which is a new case. It also adds new elements like mature situations, nudity, misery, etc. It's the first time I saw Gundam this new and emotionally packed. Although the war theme is similar to other Gundam series, but with the new addition of interesting and new subplots, it makes SEED different and worthwhile. Plus with the combination of fast pace and continuous flow of the story, it will make you watch the series for 5-6 hours straight. Characterization is very good. You'll love and hate the characters. Each of them has their own individual personalities. I like Yzak, he has that distinct attitude and I hate Fllay Alster for she is a very confused, evil and tormented soul. For those who hate her, raise your right hand. For those who like her, raise your left hand. The art is very good, clear, vibrant backgrounds and characters. I notice some few nicks in the animation. Noticeable, frequent use of recycled scenes and the annoying color of the blasts. Why is it pink? Laws of Physics? Must be the vacuum of space? The music is very good, cool background music ranging from smooth to the fast-paced battle music. And the Original Soundtrack is definitely a must have. There are few flaws in SEED. One is the similarity of the story. It feels like watching Space Battleship Yamato when Kira and his friends battle their way through space. Second is the revealing opening and ending videos. It spoiled my watching of SEED. They revealed that they are twins, someone is genetically related, they end up together, someone is bouncy on the chest area, etc. I was completely pissed! Fu.. *ahem*... damn! Third is the unintentional misspelled english words. If you're meticulous, you'll find their english incorrect. Like "Lanking (Ranking), Withdrawl (Withdraw)" and many others. Fourth is the voice overs. Kira's voice seems out of place. His generic voice doesn't seem to fit over his serious character. Aside from these flaws, SEED is one the best titles around. With new elements added and a good story, SEED is definitely worthy for any fan's anime library. Rating: Reviewer: ThunderEmperor Synopsis: Cosmic Era, Year 70. Due to the tragic "Bloody Valentine", the tensions between Earth and PLANT became an immediate all-out explosion. War between the Coordinators or the altered humans and the Naturals or the unaltered humans. The victory was thought to be that of the Earth's due to its elite numbers. However, their predictions were false and the situation became worse. It has been 11 months since the start of the war. Kira Yamato, a young coordinator becomes the pilot of the newly developed Earth mobile suit GAT-X105 STRIKE when the PLANT attacks a nuetral space colony Helliopolis. Review: To start with, Gundam SEED has got nothing to do with the older Gundam series. I am not a Gundam fan but I was able to enjoy watching Gundam SEED, and became a Gundam fan. There's a new genre added here in SEED, and that is "drama". Deaths of certain characters and heartbreaks are so dramatic. Gundam SEED is very emotionally packed and this what separates SEED from other Gundam series. What captured me about Gundam SEED are of course the cool mech-designs and the sudden twist of fate for our main characters in the first episode. Two childhood friends Kira and Asuran are somehow condemned to a destiny of bloodshed. Let me clear things here for you. Kira really doesn't wanna be part of the war. Kira decides to be the pilot of STRIKE just for the sake of protecting his friends. Kira's friends become the crew of the newly developed battleship called Archangel when they accidentally discover Earth's military secrets. The art and animation are superb, as expected from one of the most successful anime studio Sunrise. There are no visual flaws even in fast-paced fight scenes. Speaking of fight scenes, they are awesome and I can't think of any other mech anime that can rival SEED's action. The character designs didn't suit my tastes but I got used to it in the second half. In the first episode, I mistakenly took Kira's friends as extras. The characterizations are surprisingly wonderful. It was hard for me to pick my favorite character 'coz every character gets interesting as the story goes on. In the end, my favorite character is Yzak. What I like about him is first the way he fights; he fights recklessly and with no mercy. Second, is his seiyuu; his voice is done by the renowned seiyuu in anime Seki Tomokazu (also known as Van Fanel in "Vision of Escaflowne"). I really like listening to him especially when he shouts. The mech designs are superb. My favorite Gundam SEED mobile suit is the GAT-X103 BUSTER. BUSTER's two powerful cannons are really cool. When the two cannons are combined, there is no stopping BUSTER's Armor-Peircing Impulse Cannon attacks. Bwahahahaha! The fight scenes are thumbs up. What makes fight scenes action packed relies on the number of frames used and how smooth the fights go. Luckily, SEED made these all possible. I must mention that there is great amount of deaths here in SEED. Deaths of characters you love, characters you don't know and even characters you hate will surely make you sad. The music themes are surprisingly great, background, character, opening and ending themes. Buying its sound tracks will be one your top priorities. Great amount of unexpected plot twists make SEED's ending very hard to guess and I am glad I can't guess what's going to happen ahead while I was watching. Anime seiyuus Hoshi Souichiro (also known as Kusanagi Kei from "Onegai Teacher", Son Goku from "Gensomaden Saiyuki") and Ishida Akira (also known as Hiwatari Satoshi from "D.N.Angel", Eyes Rutherford from "Spiral") really made great performances here in Gundam SEED, and I find their superb portrayal of Kira and Asuran their best performance to date. Their performance is top notch and can be Oscar winning and they easily made it to my list of favorite seiyuus. Kira's voice can be annoying sometimes (to you) especially when he cries and screams but I find them very nicely done. I really had fun watching Gundam SEED and I must say it was more enjoyable than Gundam WING ever was. I recommend this anime to all Gundam and non-Gundam fans. No Gundam fans and non-Gundam fans of course should be without Gundam SEED. |
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