Taking place in the alternate universe calendar Cosmic Era
71: Due to the tragedy of "Valentine of Blood" the tension between EARTH
and a collection of outlying space colonies called ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom
Treaty) has erupted into all out war. Due to overwhelming numbers Earth was heavy
favored, however in response to the Earth's use of nuclear weapons ZAFT retaliated
with "Neutron Jammer" Technology disabling all nuclear ability and as
a result Earth was confronted with a serious energy crisis.
"G-Armament"
(G for Genesis and for Genocide) the code name for the General Unilateral Neuro-link
Dispersive Autonomic Maneuver Synthesis System: a mobile suit made by the Earth
Alliance in order to go up against ZAFT, however the young man (well … boy)
Kira Yamato who by a play of fate pilots the mobile suit called Strike names it
after the acronym of the system … Gundam
Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala two
friends on opposite sides of the war realize that their calm departure from each
other has become a parting they cannot restore as within the flames of war the
former friends had been reunited. I've been told that this installment is greatly
modeled off of the original Gundam but having seen so little of the original time
line I am unable to confirm or dispute this.
It is
difficult to go into more specifics about the overall story line without including
what I consider to be to many "spoilers" as even the cause of the war
does not become clear until around episode fifteen, however considering that this
is a "modern" Gundam production there are a number of things
we need to get out of the way; yes there is reuse of footage, yes viewers will
no doubt be immersed in so much melodrama it may at times seem difficult to breath,
yes nearly all the primary mobile suit pilots are 15 years old, yes the main character
is your typical troubled youth, and he does have to fight a blond guy in a mask.
Did I miss anything? Well probably but what's important is that none of that really
matters as this release takes all that has come to be know as the Gundam
stereotype and works it in such a way that this reviewer can only think to describe
as brilliant; battles are exciting AND meaningful (cough with a small number of
exceptions cough), designs (character mechanical and otherwise) are attractive
and interesting, characters are likeable, melodrama while at times thick is effective
given the context (and seriously what would anime be without melodrama?), angst
again while at times thick is effective given the context, performances given
by the stellar Seiyuu cast are fantastic, conflicts (personal political and otherwise)
well done, production quality in general is excellent (reuse of footage is not
as apparent as you might expect, and don't get me started about the music as this
review is rant like enough and I don't have time and you don't have the patience),
story is interesting and engaging and well paced and balanced, oh and I should
probably say something about the (implied or maybe not so implied?) under age
sex, and the pink explosions.
The bottom line is
I enjoyed Gundam Seed a lot, to much really, almost even to the point of
being ashamed. I'm not saying that it is without flaw but given the whole lot
of crap out there intended for the same demographic this could have been so much
worse. If you're a Gundam or mecha fan this recommendation is obvious but
even if you're not this could very well be the title that changes your mind regardless
of whether you fit in the intended demographic. Oh and if you got scared off after
you heard that this was to "be the next Wing" - yes, I heard that too
and I can see the correlation but I can honestly say I think your selling your
self short if you pass this up just cause you thought Gundam Wing was trash.
