Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny

Writer: Mitsuo Fukuda
Director: Mitsuo Fukuda
Production House: Sunrise
Review Type: Anime
Status: Completed
Genre: Mecha

Synopsis

Gundam Seed Destiny picks up two years after the original series, following pilot Shinn Asuka and the crew of ZAFT battleship Minerva and their role in the Second Bloody Valentine War, as well as featuring some of the returning characters from Gundam Seed. Our story starts when three mobile suits are reportedly stolen from ZAFT by a militant group called Phantom Pain, which is under direct rule of a terrorist organization named the Blue Cosmos. During the operation, an intervention was made by the Minerva and Shinn Asuka but Phantom Pain manages to escape, prompting orders from ZAFT for Shinn and the Minerva to destroy and abandoned space colony in order to prevent it from crashing to the Earth. Athrun Zala makes a return to the series as well, aiding the Minerva in their operation. They soon discover that rogue ZAFT soldiers are controlling the colony's trajectory to make it crash into the Earth. The Minerva and its crew failed to completely destroy the colony, and a second war starts as soon as news broke out regarding the ZAFT soldiers' involvement in the colony's collision course with Earth.

Athrun then decided to rejoin ZAFT and is assigned to the Minerva. This was not to last as Athrun became disaffected with ZAFT, following PLANT Chairman Gilbert Durandal's orders for the destruction of the Archangel and his best friend Kira Yamato. Athrun defected form ZAFT with Meyrin Hawke after Durandal framed him as a traitor. It is during this time whe the leader of the Blue Cosmos, Lord Djibril, orders the super weapon Requiem to be fired upon the space colonies, resulting in countless casualties. This prompted ZAFT's offensive on the Blue Cosmos, and the Minerva succeeds in capturing the Requiem. Following the offensive, Gilbert Durandal announces the 'Destiny Plan', where a citizen's job will be based on their genetics, and will face the wrath of the Requiem should any colony or country disagree.

This brings Shinn and the crew of the Minerva into direct conflict with the protagonists of the first series. Kira returns into the fray with a new mobile suit, the ZGMF-X20A Strike Freedom Gundam, and Athrun returning with the ZGMF-X19A Infinite Justice Gundam. This sets up a titanic confrontation between the pilots, and a climactic final battle ensues as the series reaches its conclusion.


Chibi's Destined Comments

The first 5 episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny made me feel like I was on another wild ride. The art is glossier, the animation a lot more fluid, and the pace to the story was adequate. I like that Athrun now is one of the good guys, and doesn't pilot a Gundam at first, but taking on a more diplomatic role in this installment. I also liked the introduction of the new Zaku to the Cosmic Era fold, as it was one of my favorite mobile suits from all the sagas. So it's pretty smooth sailing from here on right?

WRONG. DEAD WRONG. YOU COULDN'T BE ANY WRONGER! Once again, this show proves that one should not judge a book by its cover, all the potential the series had disappeared come the sixth episode. Watching this show made me feel like 'Hey, isn't this the Gundam Seed DVD? Did I put in the wrong DVD or what?'. While it is acceptable to pay homage to a series from over two decades ago (Gundam Seed borrowing extensively from the original Mobile Suit Gundam), it is unacceptable to steal from a series made only a year ago, and from the series YOU helped to write!


Sadly, it is not the blatant unoriginality that causes the anime's untimely demise, but it's the obvious lack of character development. Take out the flashback sequences (if you think Seed had a lot of this, think again), recap episodes (there was one even right before the series' finale!), or even take out half of the episodes in this series, and it would still come out relatively unscathed. In fact, i honestly think that it will be an improvement. Due to this lack of development, a lot of the situations seem forced and just too coincidental to actually happen, a flaw seen happen once or twice in Seed, but with this installment it feels as if Fukuda-san's got it down to an art form. While some of the new characters are easy to sympathize with, some are just too unappealing to actually care what happens to them.

This is where the stark contrast between Tomino-sensei's and Fukuda-san's writing becomes blindingly evident. Tomino-sensei knew how to pace things. Whether you liked having a battle scene in every single episode of Zeta Gundam or not, time was always allocated for events to occur other than the battles, like character development. If Seed proved anything from its conception, is that Fukuda-san couldn't pace stories well. Another thing Tomino-sensei would take into consideration is the budget of the series, and making sure it lasts the entire duration of the anime. All the funding Fukuda-san poured into making the Akatsuki (which is a rip-off from the Hyaku Shiki only with more guns because this is the Cosmic Era timeline, where guns ARE a substitute for skill) so grand looking (I mean seriously, this suit doesn't even feature in ten episodes, or even 5 for that matter) , when it could have been used to give the Destiny Gundam more than one animation sequence where it charges with its big sword (which happens more than once, it's like the King of Flashbacks' reputation on the line or something). Taking the sequence from the opening theme and making it the Strike Freedom's debut as well? I mean, Zeta Gundam may have reused launch and transformation sequences, but that's just shameful, highlighted even more by the fact that the whole reason the original Freedom Gundam was destroyed was so Kira could have a MORE powerful Gundam. It's a shame the God Gundam was already used in Mobile Fighter G Gundam, or it'd fit in perfectly, and probably would proceed to kick all the other Gundam's butts in the process.


Now for the biggest gripe I had about this series and why I detest it so much. I, absolutely, positively, ultimately, and murderously HATE Shinn Asuka. Much like where Seed borrows extensively from the original Gundam, Seed Destiny sets itself up to be the Zeta Gundam of the Cosmic Era, hence the likeness between the main pilots, Shinn and Kamille. Whilst Kamille was a brash young pilot with a big disciplinary problem, he did shape up and actually ended up being a war hero, and ultimately won me over as a really cool pilot apart from his predecessor, Amuro Ray. In Seed Destiny however, Shinn never ever shapes up, and kept butting heads with the mature Athrun, and this to me is not the way to win viewers over. Shinn Asuka is just too weak a character to be the main focus point of the story, and while his Destiny Gundam is very attractive, it just feels as if he doesn't deserve to pilot it, as he is an arrogant, angsty. whiny and just plain retarded character. I was actually just hanging on to the series wanting to see something bad happen to Shinn the entire time, and that says a lot about what I think of him.


The return of the older cast to me was also a little unnerving towards the end of the anime. I was certainly dumbfounded trying to figure out what Fukuda-san's motives actually are in bringing them back. This time, even much-loved characters like Kira made me irritated. I just had the sense of the grave mistake Fukuda-san made with the first half of the series, and this was probably a feeble attempt by him so salvage the already pretty looking turkey he had been cooking. A lot of people have likened this show to Zeta Gundam, but in Zeta, Amuro, Char, and the others from the first Gundam, while important, are never more important than Kamille is, as the main character. They never make you question if the director really wanted to make another series about Amuro and Char (well, they did get a movie in the form of Char's Counterattack, but you get my point) and the others from Mobile Suit Gundam, because they have supporting roles. Important ones, yes, but they never shoved Kamille offstage while they RANTED about how war was wrong and then proceeded to beat the crap out of each other with steroid pumped Gundams. And even though at the time, I was happy to see Kira and Athrun and Lacus and Cagalli again, even if you originally liked them, it's possible to dislike them in Seed Destiny.

In conclusion, I honestly think that this was the product of a bunch of executives looking to boost model kit sales rather than actually catering to the fans. Unfortunately, chances are that fans of the original Gundam Seed will enjoy this sequel, but other than that, I would be hard-pressed to recommend this to anybody else. I'd even rate Gundam Wing higher than this. An awful, awful follow up to a pretty enjoyable series. Proceed with caution.



Chibi's Review



Storyline: 2/5
Character Development: 1/5
Art: 5/5
Originality: 1/5