Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED

Somewhere in the year 2010 my friend introduced me to the wonderful and weird world of anime. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is the first anime I ever watched and to this day it continues to be one of my all-time favourite anime. What specifically drew me into the anime, were the struggles of the protagonist and the seemingly hopeless situation that universe faced. Has my overwhelmingly positive opinion of the anime changed over the past seven years? Let’s find out, shall we.

Story – 9/10

It is year 70 of the Cosmic Era. After the violent attack on the Plant homeland, the Coordinators take it upon themselves ... to return the favor to their Natural brothers. This is the start of a war which will not only shape the future of both races, but also the legacy of the central cast.
Gundam SEED follows the journey of the spaceship Archangel and its crew, during a time of war. The Gundam multiverse is known for its dark outlook on war, and SEED is no stranger to the subject. I personally believe that the war portrayed in SEED is the most twisted of all the entries to the Gundam franchise, as the main reason for war doesn’t end up being something started out of greed, but rather a far more destructive emotion; Hatred. SEED portrays racism in its most vile form, as both the Coordinators and Naturals hate each other’s existence. Seeing the various ideologies and opinions clash throughout the various perspectives of the cast is truly a thought provoking experience. The Archangel’s journey is an interesting one to say the least. What makes the journey as endearing as it is, is seeing how the characters perspectives change over the course of the series. They end up questioning the meaning of war, the effects it has on society, whether their superior’s intentions are truly for the benefit of humanity and how they can change the world for the better. Sometimes the plot gets repetitive; especially during the episodes when the Archangel is being chased, but other than that there isn’t much more to complain about. A nice addition to the plot was the inclusion of romance. The romance itself happened naturally and instead of subtracting from the viewing experience like many other anime, it made not only the story but characters even more endearing.

Art – 7/10

For an anime which aired in 2002, the animation quality of the series is top tier when compared to other anime of the time. My complaint lies in the recycled use of action scenes. It cheapened a lot of action scenes, by making theme feel uneventful. Scenes where a supposed grand-scale war took place lost all effectiveness when it merely was a slideshow of previous events. Mobile Suit design for Gundam mechs is great, but unfortunately gets all the attention as the design for other Mobile Suits are uninspired. The character design for the anime ranges from cute to bad ass to neglected.

Sound – 9/10

Go and do yourself a favour and see if you can find the OST for this anime. Gundam SEED has a fantastic OST, which is equally parts adrenaline pumping and tear-jerking. The fantastic soundtrack of the series, further enhances every scene throughout the anime. Whether it is a uninspired fight scene or a moment which portrays the depravity of the beast called war, the soundtrack is an excellent addition to the anime. The Openings and Endings are memorable and have fantastic vocalists. SEED is one of the first Gundam series to receive an English dub and it is good enough. I really enjoyed the voice actors for Merrue and Mu, but unfortunately some of the younger characters had some rather average voice acting.

Character – 9/10

Because of the dark themes portrayed within Gundam SEED, it helped develop a cast of character who feel human as they question the morality of the powers which control their respective military organisations. Our protagonist – Kira Yamato – is introduced as a simple civilian. He ends up fighting in a war for the sake of those whom he cares about. As Kira is driven to the depths of despair, he is transformed into a character which one can sympathise with as the problems he faces are complex, but are found throughout our society. Athrun is a cool and collected character with equally troubling issues. Whether it is the constant struggle of having to fight his best friend or the sad relationship between him and his father, Athrun is an easy character to care for. As naive and childish as her ideals are, we all need a Lacus Clynn in our lives: someone who cares for strangers and strives to point out the best in people. My favorite characters in the anime are: Mu and Murrue, and not just because of their flirtations relationship. Murrue is the Captain of the Archangel and is as intelligent as she is caring. Mu is simply a bad ass. Do you need any other reason to love a character? Lastly I want to about the antagonist. He is the victim of humanity’s depravity and intends to take the world down with him. Ás twisted as his intentions are, I find it hard not to feel sorry for the guy.

Enjoyment – 9/10

I find it hard to be objective when discussing Gundam SEED, because there is very little wrong with the anime – for me at least. I love seeing the clashes of ideologies, observing the characters grow into better versions of themselves and listening to the gorgeous soundtrack. Gundam SEED is an anime which I can truly enjoy watching!

Overall – 9/10

Gundam SEED is a brilliant anime. As long as the animation doesn’t bother you, I would highly recommend the anime to any anime watcher. With a thought provoking story, relatable characters and a beautiful OST, Gundam SEED is a must watch for any anime fan!

Thanks for taking the time to read my review!

The first Gundam in the 21st century was a huge success in Japan. Melodrama is what SEED runs on, and the music accompanying it is stellar. If the thrill of romance triangles and soap drama is what you’re after it’s going to be an enjoyable ride. Substantially outside of music, however it’s awful. It is one of the first Gundam shows that I have only found one thing that I’ve liked about it. The story and characters are put on the backseat for forced melodrama, the animation is reusing stock footage to an unbelievable level and the execution of it’s premise is utter garbage.

As ... said earlier, the main draw of Mobile Suit Gundam: SEED is the melodrama. It is a main factor for everything that happens and it makes the story and characters suffer for it. There’s a difference between characters being irrational sometimes and the show having essentially no one with more than two brain cells to rub together. Their idea of intelligent characters like Mu and Rau are just people that end up having future foresight. They’ve read the script; it’s not that they are just making good decisions, they know what actions the opposition is going to make. Characters will rush in and get themselves killed because they do it. Stupid decisions are made constantly so that X character can do either kill someone, or see their friend die.

The plain execution of the ideas is garbage. The series has three factions and two of them are ok with putting mass genocide on their charter for the other side. They don’t just want to subjugate their opponents or resist the other side's ideals, they want the other side gone. 2D villains cause the premise of war to be such a joke. Any depth of “exploring racism between people made to be superior” is gone the moment you see that the moderates of each side still support extinction. It makes Orb this heavenly faction with the rationale argument comparatively. One entire faction filled with “good guys”. Wholly, it lacks the depth that the original series and many sequels after it did have, despite attempting to copy multiple different moments from the first series.

Animation-wise, it tends to use too much stock footage. I ended up watching a bit of both of the original broadcast and the remaster version, but both tend to overuse stock to the point where it becomes an issue watching. Additionally, the constant use of flashbacks to episodes that just happened just seems to be a way of padding time and saving budget even more. There were about 4 whole episodes dedicated to recapping previous episodes and yet still there was time to have minutes of flashbacks in almost every episode. Outside of that it’s very early 2000s, which is more the fault of the time. Music-wise it’s one of the best Gundam soundtracks. It’s a shame that it was wasted on this dumpster fire.
This isn’t exactly an uncommon viewpoint. I don’t recommend this show, just watch the original, or if you want something AU, After War Gundam X handles the us vs. newtypes theme better.

Gundam seed wasn't one the best series in my opinion. the character development was decent but lacked anything deep or insightful. the main character named kira wasn't the best choice to act as a saint like warrior. He moaned and groaned about fighting throughout the story while everyone else accepted it.

the combat dynamics was exaggerated but somewhat enjoyable. the main gundams or the "prototypes" acted as a "shinigami of gundams" where they wreaked death to any ship unarmed with gundams or top-of-the-line defenses. in large scale warfare when both side had powerfull figurehead gundams like the justice and liberty vs. prototype gundams (x3) each ... side demolished the standard mobile suites like stepping on ants. there was also parts where they repeated the same scene just to fill the combat which realy detracts from the quality.

the music was decent but not anything less or more than standard, there wasnt much flair or energy contributed to the story by it. the art was good where it contrasted from deserts, space, woodland, and urban areas and was semi-colorfull.

overall the setup was straightforward and good but the quality didnt seem to match that of other series. i liked the space combat which is usually left out and the use of space fleets. overall in general quality and enjoyment, i give it a 7/10

this a good anime to show enjoyment yet but in comical violence but it has good charcters in it kira and lacus start to develop a relationnship and fall for each other so there is a romance ellement to it. but Kira makes his suit OP which is cool nut the freedom and justice a awsome duo friend in war and in mobile suits. the freedom and justice has a nice colour complement but both are OP the justice has a muti-purpose backpack so it be used as assault pack or back thruster pac or a glider. the freedom has a cool full ... burst mode so that it can soot 5 powerful guns

I find this show to be incredibly boring. The character development and storyline are both lacking. I've watched Iron-Blooded Orphans and Mobile Suit Gundam 00, both of which were great, but this show falls short. I could go on and on about how bad it is. I suggest checking out the other two shows I mentioned because they are great and won't leave you disappointed like this one did.

However, I must say that I loved Gundam. It was one of the highlights of my Anime Marathon. I've seen other Gundam series before, but none of them had the same impact on me as this ... one did. The show tackles tough themes like friendship, war, and loss, and the intense conflicts make it a great series. The only drawbacks are the sometimes shallow characters and slow mid-series plot.

If you're looking for giant mecha battles, you'll want to check out Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans or Gundam 00. However, it's more than just a mindless Gundam show. It has depth and substance, which sets it apart from other mecha anime. Don't waste your time on Seed when there are better Gundam shows out there.

Gundam seed..... After watching when I was about 8 years old, I finished it with a smile on my face. Now watching it again many years later, I realize how deep the story really is. Episode after episode, I cried, I laughed and I seriously thought about our world today. The underlying truths in this anime can send chills up your spine.
The art, I have to admit was a little... Wacky. Many of the scenes were reused over and over again and there were some problems with the characters faces, but were fixed in the remastered version.(9)
The music is probably one of the major contributors ... to this anime's pure awesomeness. It made the emotions you were already having swell up. I have to say, I have all of the songs from this anime downloaded and listen to them daily. (10)
Characters in Gundam Sees fit together like a puzzle. One would not have been as great without the other. Not a single character seemed as if they were there as a filler. (10)
Enjoyment and overall, this is the one anime that I could watch over and over and never get tired of it or stop being inspired. (10)

I enjoyed this anime very much. The story was great but a bit slow at part. Worth watch for sure, if you like a deep story that makes you wanna know what;s going to happen. You have to watch a few episode to get into the anime though.

Overall, you should watch it ;D 9/10

Although I've seen parts of the original Gundam series and have known of the franchise for years, Gundam SEED represents my first complete viewing of a Gundam themed television series besides some of the OVA series such as War in the Pocket and Stardust Memories. Hence, I will not try to compare it to the "original" or UC timeline shows except for modest comparisons about tone and style. I believe in judging a work based on the merits of its own strengths and weaknesses rather than in comparison to others, unless some extraordinary circumstances make such an effort relevant (my opinion of course).

Summary: I ... found this show to be an enjoyable, although overlong, space opera; not particularly original or amazing, but engaging, with some nice nuances and surprises along the way. The 50 episode length attenuates the story a bit too much, 24 episodes would have been suitable, perhaps 36 if the content was actual backstory/plot and not filler material. Recommended to those who like mecha action, melodrama, broadly drawn characters and a dash of Shakespearian pathos with cliff-hanger endings all over the place.

I like to start my reviews with mentioning the flaws of shows I liked, just to get those out of the way, as a sort of due diligence.

The FLAWS of Gundam SEED: to repeat, 50 episodes is much too long for the amount of actual story that was told. The constant use of flashbacks, recycled images and repetitive combat scenes suggest to me that they simply did not have enough written material to justify the length.

The combat at several stretches can be frustrating cycles of essentially identical engagements that seem to resolve little except push the story to another cliff-hanger.

For example, even in many of the episodes with fresh developments, the scenes had rather repetitive action sequences--multiple shots of characters shouting variations of the same basic phrases, commands or epithets which is acceptable up to a point because in combat there aren't that many different things that happen during an engagement. However, it's the sheer number of times you see identical things that is galling (there is one sequence of the hero, for example, shooting at a special mech with a unique defense system where the shot, the reaction of the enemy and the hero's reaction are pretty much identical each time for several engagements--like, dude, that doesn't work, why the hell are you still doing exactly the same thing three episodes later?? It's like a video game where the players are just mashing the same buttons over and over again).

Some characters pop-put for almost a dozen episodes or more, never or rarely to be heard from, until the plot requires them for some purpose to jarringly come back into focus. The most egregious of this, for me, was the fate of Flay Allster, who is almost literally put on a shelf for a long stretch to be saved for an obvious role late in the series. Many of the characters, especially the bad guys, tend to be cardboard cutout figures that range from two extremes--either ludicrously vain such as the leader of the Blue Cosmos, or saintly father figures who smile gently and greet their deaths with beatific expressions of "I am a really good guy who accepts my duty with Honor and Nobility." Aw, come on! I think even great leaders probably faced their last moments sometimes, with "shit, this sucks, oh well." Then you have your cookie-cutter psycho bad guys and vanilla idiot bureaucrats: "Ha, I fear no enemy that we have been losing to who has proven themselves superior to us in every way and have defeated other units countless times with superior technology and tactics and now have in their possession our brand new super-weapons that were going to defeat them (haha, we're so good) but I'm not worried they can use those against us, so let me get back to my VERY important paperwork, please madame!"

I'd say the conversational dialogue of this show is rather sub-par, not many interesting interchanges or speeches. Although, late in the series, there is a very good conversation between Lacus Clyne and Athrun Zalla in a dark theatre that is exceptionally well executed, both in animation and voice-acting (of the Japanese talent). And, way too much awkward crying. You can make a drinking game out of how many times the hero cries in this show. The music of this show is excellent, suitably grandiose, pensive or melodic as the situation requires, however, again due to the length of the series, there is a lot of recycling of the audio tracks and obvious looping to have a piece fill an overly long combat sequence.

Despite all these rather egregious flaws, I still was highly entertained by this series. First, I enjoy melodrama of a particular stripe, and SEED is dripping with heavy-handed melodrama. Your tolerance for this may vary. Second, some of the weaknesses in SEED also contribute to its *strengths* ironically. The lack of expository dialogue, for the most part, is a relief for me. I prefer to be shown a story vs. having characters stand around for long periods discussing things. Most discussions in SEED amount to a few short interchanges right before or after a piece of combat or event. Even in quieter episodes where there is no action, the show rarely holds long for deep conversations about anything. Many will find this frustrating because many times little of anything important is either revealed or explained.

However, if you are willing to go where the writers are taking you and follow the story/characters over the long stretch, you realize that this show is painting with very broad, yet beautiful strokes. You realize that what seems like meaninglessly annoying developments, actually have their own explanations in the material itself, without needing any extra exposition or explanation (why do the Earth Forces essentially treat this supposedly super-secret weapon as second-hand citizens, begrudging them help at every turn? Why are the early Earth Forces they meet, so worthless and weak? Why do the ZAFT forces as run by the villain La Creuzet seem both devastatingly powerful, yet completely ineffectual against this band of misfits?). Note: La Creuzet knows exactly what he is doing at all times, from the very beginning of the show, nothing he chooses to do is inexplicable. He seems to be doing nothing, but he is actually complicit in many things--watch carefully, you will see that everything he does makes complete sense if you understand his motivations (hint: during his first engagements against the Archangel, he is always just short of the kill and goes absent at critical times--all with excuses that seem logical at the time, but later you realize what he was really doing). Luck, or Fate, as he calls it also plays a hand, of course, but he always seizes upon his opportunities--fortune falls to those who are prepared...(though, why did they name the villain on a brand of cookware?)

Similarly, where SEED succeeds or fails for the viewer is in the characters. The characters are, on the surface, fairly simple. They don't seem, at first, to develop much, if at all. Over the span of the whole show, I began to realize that these people were being painted with very shallow but elegant strokes. Yes, their backstories are mere wading pools compared to many other shows, yet this ocean was wide, not deep. For example, at first, I despised Lacus Clyne, she seemed destined to be another foppy, fluffy bunny idol who will serve as a something for the hero to protect or treasure, yet, she gradually becomes something more as the series progresses. You realize her facade is incredibly strong, it's only in certain moments when her facade cracks, especially in the voice of the vocal talent behind her, that you realize the depths of her personality. She is both Muse and prophetess, yet still a woman with fear and desire. Once you realize that this space opera is closer to the classical variety, then it becomes clear that the players represent more than just their titles. We have the duality between the two friends mirrored by the duality of La Flaga and La Creuzet. Le Creuzet is himself the Iago of this drama, the serpent who wants to see the world burn. He is an existential fury who doesn't realize that just killing himself would be a lot quicker and easier. For a moment, Flay Allster seems destined to become a Lady Macbeth, though in the end she is more of a pawn. The metaphors become laughably blatant at one point, though, when the two best friends end up piloting the ironically named mechas, Freedom and Justice.

The most interesting characters in the show are actually the supporting cast, especially the women. More on the women in a moment. The cuckolded friend, Shai Argyle, seems like a quiet fool at first, yet you realize he is a mature and thoughtful young man, exemplified by simple moments as when he scolds his friend Kuzzey, an insecure follower who never seems to think for himself.

The female characters are very refreshing in this show. In many shonen action shows, they are either eye-candy, the love interest, sexy superstrong fighter/hard-nosed chick, damsels in distress or "this is the serious, strong lady you must respect because we want to show we believe in strong women" character. Although the women are mostly background characters in a show that revolves around the two male leads, they are all generally credible and interesting people who live for themselves. Even Yula, the tomboyish girl who wants to fight, is earnest and likeable. She doesn't seem like she is trying too hard even she actually is and neither does she become some kind of baddass, she's just someone who wants to make a difference, even if it may be a little more than she can chew. Murrue Ramias, the inadvertent captain of the Archangel, is a gentle, heartwarming soul; determined, yet forgiving. She is lenient in certain ways, and she knows it and asks for no apologies for it. Her foil is the hard-nosed Natarle Badgriguel who works under Ramias' command as CIC of the Archangel, although she is actually more talented and trained for command. Their interactions could be a story unto-itself. They don't seem at first to develop much, but as the show progresses, once again, you realize they always lived and breathed as themselves, not a body in a suit, but personalities who cared about what they were doing and how they did it. Ramais' love affair with the Archangel's Mobile Armor pilot (note MA, NOT Mobile Suit) develops subtly with a few looks and touches, and when it flowers, it's simultaneously surprising yet inevitable.

The notable exception, at first, seems to be Flay Allster, who seems destined to be the noisy air-head who hates Coordinators, yet, her character develops with her own lovely pathos in her own time. She attempts to be a temptress but she only succeeds in falling from grace. Unfortunately, her character never gets to really shine as she is sent to the backseat so we can have more pageants of repetitive combat sequences, except for a few tender moments that stick in the old cranial memory bank: the brief moment when you see her kneeling to pick up the trash that Kira leaves behind as he eats and sleeps in his Strike; when Kira, who in his fog of war, nearly forgets her is finally reminded by a single lipstick she left behind rolling on the deck; her looks of insecurity and jealousy;her moments of despair, hatred and anger; her moments as she steps past her friends talking in the mess hall, unable to connect with them. All of these little moments over the course of the entire series add up until one begins to see her like Kira does: a poor, simple, perhaps ignorant, human being who represents us all--vain yet gentle, selfish yet comforting, frightened yet brave, greedy yet generous with her love. Someone to cherish inside our hearts, as dear as our own souls, that instinct we had as children to look up at fathers with innocent, guileless eyes full of hope...someone to protect and never, ever, lose sight of, otherwise we lose our very own selves into the depths of ignominy and cast our humanity aside to share the darkness with the cold, heartless vacuum of space....

I do not consider myself a fanboy of anything and have a watched quite a variety of animes in the last 30 years. And I will say that I think Gundam Seed is as close to a 10/10 as you can get. It is a story about 2 boys that grew up as friends, then got separated by a war only to meet again on opposite sides, now having to fight each other. The main characters are equally likable and the tension between the 2 works really well throughout the show. The romantic relationships in the show work equally well and ... help to balance the many fight scenes. I believe that the husband & wife team that directed the show made the show as good as it is. Hard and Soft aspects make for a well balanced mecha anime. And I do also appreciate that the tone is serious and that silly comedy does not distract from the epic theme of Gundam Seed. The music is well done and important scenes, especially towards the end of the series get the epic scores they deserve.
Many people will have something to say about this or that character but a character does make a show and, therefore, do not be discouraged by nitpickers. If you like epic and gripping stories, Gundam Seed is for you.

the 1st time i watch this anime is in year of 2005 i think


on that time i dont like some anime ( i think im 11 yrs old on that time ) but when i see kira yamato change on that time ( ep 11 awakening sword ) or he released his true power or gone berserk i find this anime interesting. but i dont make an effort to criticized the story on that time


2011- i planned to watch to watch this anime because i remember it.
on that time i try to criticized the story or try to understand. because i want to know why ... are they fighting or what are they fighting for? well in the end i didnt understand to much of it because my mind is focus in fighting gundam.


2012- at this time i finished to watch this anime, not only finished, i understand the difficult situation on that anime. i learn some thing that can motivate me in this anime.


story 9/10
to difficult to understand but when you understand the story im sure you can like this anime

sound 10/10
i like the op 1-4 because when the 1st time i hear it i cant forget it, its not like the other anime op that after i hear the op i can easily forgot. i even memorize the lyrics of t.m revolution invoke ( opening 1 )

character 9/10
kira yamato- he is like an overpower character ( for my opinion ). hes berserker skill is the thing that i attract to this anime.


enjoyment 8/10
just like i said in the story part, the 1st time i watch this anime i think its boring like other gundam series i previous watch. but when i watch it again on the right age, i find this anime more interesting, because my mind is mature enough to understand difficult anime.

overall 8/10
because i like the fighting of mechas or machine, i like the romance ( just like the unexpected love team dearka and Miriallia, my favorite part there is when the two develop each other).

Out of all the Gundams (I might be killed for saying this), I would bet this one's the best. Sorry, it's just for once I connected to characters in the Gundam franchise! And let me tell you, the story and people in it do not dissapoint!
The soundtrack is beautiful, the art amazing, and the story really captivating.
Details I Really Liked: The relationships. The thing was, the writers managed to write in drama between emotions while they were battling with their Gundams in space! Just another way to blow off some steam, right??? Anyways, all the couples I love (but I'm a sucker when it ... comes to a certain blue-haired soldier. Yes, I'm talkin' to you, Athrun Zala!!!)
What I Could've Lived Without: That Fllay chick, and the sequel.
Overall, I rate this show a 9/10. Even if you don't like mecha, there's no way I would watch this for political reasons, anyway! Watch it for the DRAMA!!! :)

Mobile suit gundam seed is actually my first gundam show. After hearing so much about gundam and it's universe, I thought it's about time I got into it. I decided to start with gundam seed because it's detatched from the rest of the gundam universe and can standalone. This is very true as I didn't need much background information walking into this show, and I wasn't really confused at any point. If you want to start here, you very well can.

STORY 7/10
Gundam seed revolves around the earth forces fighting off an evil space organization named ZAFT for reasons that would spoil a really great plot ... point and aren't revealed until much later. Yound Kira Yamato is more or less thrown into piloting a gundam mech and fighting in this war. He must protect himself, his friends and his planet from some bad dudes in space. The story, while great overall, is still the one of the damaging parts of the series. The first arc (episodes 1-13) is pretty boring, aside from cool action scenes. The entire series is on a gradually increasing slope, as it starts off boring, and becomes orgasmic by the end. To change gears for a minute, let's talk about Star Wars. Overall, the movies are really well-made, exciting and filled with touching and really interesting characters. Despite that, we can't forget about the 3 hours worth of endless talking in a senate, or the obvious CGI, or forced romance and such. That is exactly what gundam seed is. It's all 8 Star Wars movies released at this point meshed into one - good and bad. There are amazing action scenes, incredible character developments, at the same time there's 10 minute conversations about space.

CHARACTERS 10/10
Things get really interesting with the characters, but it's not because of any backstory or distinct personality. The central character conflict is Kira Yamato (representing the earth forces) facing off his best friend - anthrum Zala (representing ZAFT). It's the dynamic between these characters and their affiliates that make up the meat of this show. Some characters might be working for the good guys, but are they really good? Some bad characters learn important things and switch sides. Point is, the main cast is dynamic and well-written enough for it to not be super 1-dimensional. On top of things, the motivation of these characters is super real. In this future world, some humans have been genetically modified to perform better. This brings up a major moral question that is explored brilliantly in the show, and Kira is one of the modified. The earth forces don't like those people, so it's up to Kira to make a good name for his race, while saving the life of his best friend on the other side. Kira is not the only one with a conflict as this. Anthrum has to answer the question of wether he agrees with ZAFT. The characters and their moral questions are no doubt the best part about the show.

ART 4/10
Ew. This show was made in 2002. While I normally like the early 2000's style of animation, like full metal panic and such, this doesn't look all that great. The character designs just look really weird at times, and everything lacks detail. The art in this show is just a lot of bold colors with some shading, which is lackluster even on 2000's standards. There's also an embarrassing amount of recycled animation. Every missile fired, every gundam launch off, every opening has the same exact shots being used while in space. Part of why the show gets better as it goes along, is because eventually they leave space, meaning that recycled footage is practically thrown out the window, since the backgrounds are filled with stuff now. The openings aren't special either. Instead of showing off kickass animation or telling a brief story like the best OPs do, this just shows pictures of characters with mechs in the background. All 4 of them have recycled footage, and it pissed me off a lot.

OVERALL 8/10
Despite its apparent flaws, this show was a blast. It was a very good introduction to the gundam universe for me, and hopefully it will be for you. I do recommend you watch gundam seed, but just keep in mind of the pacing and the poor animation. Also, while I did find this show very good, I would totally believe it if someone said there's a better gundam series. What are some other great gundam series that don't require a lot of commitment to them?

This is definitely my favorite gundam anime of all time... mainly because Kira Yamato is my favorite anime character of all time as well. I love his character development and all of the things he went through in order to fully realize what he really wants to do with his life and what he has to offer. His gundam Freedom just fits perfectly with his character. Only when you look deep within yourself will you find true freedom. I've learned so much from this show. It has a lot of heart and you can feel all the passion put into it. It's a show about ... war, but it's delivered in a very heartfelt way. It has a great uplifting message. Heck, I don't even know how many times I've rewatched this but I've grown so close to the main characters, and even the side characters are very memorable to me, too. I love the journey they all shared. It's a show that's really close to my heart... oh and I love the soundtrack, too!

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED got a pretty bad reputation because of its logic-bending super overpowered protagonist and its cheap, low budget copy-paste animations. I was actually pretty reluctant to watch this at first upon seeing the reviews, but after hearing enough music from this show, I cannot bottle it up anymore, until I finally decided to watch it.

STORY - The story follows the conflict between the alliance (humans) and ZAFT (Coordinators) and the protagonist, Kira Yamato, as he gets caught up in this conflict. If you're a long time Gundam fan, or if you have already watched Gundam 0079, then you'll notice that this show ... took a lot of reference from it. In fact, it is a rehash of the '79 show. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, as it takes those concepts and puts modern tropes and stereotypes that can be understood by the modern generation, but by some who does not like reuses, this can be very trippy.

The story also takes a lot of elements and stereotypes from space operas; elements of fantasy in the form of the Coordinators, overly dramatic romance and animation, space warfare (ofc), super plot-important protagonist, a deranged villain, and of course, the orchestral soundtrack accompanying every episode. I'm very stoked to see a lot of Star Wars influence (as if the main idea behind Rau le Creuset isn't already, if you know what I'm talking about), mainly with the music and themes of revolution and such mentioned above. I'll go ahead and warn you that this show talks about sensitive topics such as racism, politics, corruption, and unethical experimentation.

ART - The art was beautiful and pleasing. While there are parts where animations gets used over-and-over again and it can get really boring at times, the animators treated this project as art, and it ended with a very beautifully crafted art that is visually and aesthetically pleasing.

Kunio Okawara is back again on designing the mechas, except this time, instead of looking like giant bipedal war-tanks, all Mobile Suits on this show are almost like aircrafts. You can see a lot of inspiration with his previous works on Gundam X, especially with Freedom's wings looking a lot like Double X's 3 pairs of satellite wings on the back. Once again, the design is visually pleasing in the eyes of modern watchers, and I especially like how Strike's design took a lot of inspiration with RX-78-2 but in a more angular, sleek design.

SOUND - This is where the shows shines. If you've already heard Toshihiko Sahashi's previous works on Hunter x Hunter (1999), Magic Knight Rayearth and/or Saint Seiya, then you will know exactly what you're in for. Once again, the music helps in making it look and sound like a true space opera. Although, at times the music can sound a bit off and feel unedited, especially on some scenes with continuous fights.

CHARACTERS - The characters all started pretty straightforwardly and seemed one-dimensional (again, typical space opera). But as the show goes on, you'll start to see the dynamic between their character, their actions, and their outlook on the conflict. Alll the minor characters here started pretty bland, but some ended up very memorable. For simplicity's sake I'm only going to be listing the main characters who played a major role in the show.

KIRA YAMATO - The main protagonist. A pretty naive and stubborn person, but kind at heart. Despite being a coordinator, he lived among the humans on a neutral colony until it was attacked. The way he is handled in the story is pretty engaging, with how he slowly sees the world in a bigger picture, as well as taking lessons from it. Although I gotta say, his character development halfway through felt so abrupt, and it can be really odd.

ATHRUN ZALA - The deuteragonist of this show. During the airing of this show, friend-to-friend rivalries aren't uncommon, in fact it is a very popular trope back then. This show utilizes this trope, and it does it perfectly well. Unlike most of the shows that uses this trope, this doesn't have that hot-blooded protagonist x cold-blooded rival relationship, but instead presented a very solid relationship and the effects of war on it. Athrun is mature, reserved, and empathetic. He is a great contrary to Kira. Although because of his side on the war, it presents him as a rather skeptic. This can present problems in the latter story, as he is very laid back on his encounters with Kira, slowing down their development process, with his redemption arc only really lasting for about 15 minutes on one episode.

LACUS CLYNE - Lacus is another example of a space opera trope, a female character that only exists as a plot device to the characters rather than actually doing the action. I would not say that she's a bad character or bland, but she isn't really interesting. She only serves as both Kira and Athrun's motivations and development, but her "existence" also serves as a good contrast with the darkness and chaos going on throughout the war (with her songs) as well as a moral advice and inspiration to the characters.

OVERALL - This show surprised me, from what I thought was a trash of a show into something even greater than I expected. This goes to show how people pay little to no attention to the shows they are watching. Although I'd give some flaws a recognition that is rightfully worth showing, such as how some bits felt a bit too rushed once again with Kira's development and the ending which ended wayy too abruptly than what i would like it to be. I'd also say that Kira and Athrun's rivalry felt very underused throughout the show. I thought it was just because of the episode count, but I realized it's because of how the story was written. I am okay with skepticism, but instead of giving Athrun a lot of reasons to not fight Kira, give him reasons to scare or stray Kira away, either by fighting him head-on or pushing him away.

This is a pretty good show to watch for non-Gundam fans, or newcomers of the franchise. If you're a long-time watcher, i cannot really say exactly whether or not to recommend it as it may or may not appeal to your interests, but if it does then by all means, watch it. If not, then it's safe to say that you can avoid it and still not miss a major part of the franchise as it uses a lot of references to previous works.

Very awseome anime, totally to be watched by any mecha or gundam fan. I personally enjoyed the story and totally plan to watch the sequel. Overall the story is very well told like any gundam series, and except for the summary episodes I just couldn't stop watching until i finally finished it. I think unlike a lot of very callable story lines in anime, their are a few twists you just never see coming and that was an aspect of gundam seed i really loved. The characters are very well explained as well as the time and way the world is in which it takes ... place. Like i said It's a must watch series for any gundam or mecha fans.

Gundam SEED was the first Gundam anime that I watched during high school and it got me into the Gundam franchise. I would always stay up late to watch it on Cartoon Network and I adored it back then, but now that I've matured more I see the hate for this show which I didn't honestly see back then.

Story
Gundam SEED is set in the future where humanity has reached the space age and genetic modifications, which the latter leads to a hated war between the Naturals (natural born people) on Earth and Coordinators (modified born people) in space colonies known as PLANTs. To put ... a stop to the war, Kira Yamato, a Coordinator living in a Neutral Colony has to join with Naturals on a warship to fight his own kind while he has to fight a childhood friend along the way. This seems like an interesting story with one friend pitted against each other in war, but all we get is one constantly screaming the other's name followed by a pew-pew from a laser rifle.

Art
For created in the early 2000s and the first Gundam anime to be drawn in CG, it was more than good for its time. The character and mobile suit detail was impressive, although the background art looked it was made in the era of Gundam WING or Mobile Fighter G Gundam.

Sound
I have to say the sound was the best part about this anime. It captures the moment almost perfectly with either emotional, intense or epic fight music. The openings an endings are top-notch and I could listen to them all day long.

Character
I have to be brutally honest here. The majority of characters were unique in their own way, except for a few which are the main characters. Kira Yamato for instance, is the WORST one of them all. He is probably the most annoying protagonist in any anime. Throughout the anime you'll hear him either crying loudly or moaning about everything else like how he hates to kill and how wrong it is, despite being in a war.

Overall
The anime is neither mediocre or perfect but if you ignore the constant footage recycling again and again over the 50 episodes (48 if you're watching the remastered) then this is at least 7 out of 10.

Gundam Seed is awesome and impressive in the first time i watched it but it change since the romance disturb it i have watched all episode and feel sad because cagalli is kira sister and kira is ended up with lacus just like i say before because this anime have romance i think kira is more suitable with cagalli if she not kira sister and in gundam seed destiny nothing change kira still with lacus i wish that lacus die just like flay in gundam seed destiny but it not happened at all

note: it's still disturb me because kira ended up with lacus not with ... cagalli

very good plot. romance does really stand out; even though lots of people criticize it, i believe that it s just depend on each different people tastes. probably only american people hate it; in japan, lots of people prefer gundam seed and destiny over any other gundam. If you like mecha fight and romance, then this is definitely an anime for you. Lots of people criticize that the main character is whiny kid; however, it really matches to real life (iimagine a 15 years old student, suddenly become pilot and has to see all those bloody and lives loss and losing someone they love). mecha ... fight is awesome as well. Music is really epic when main character appears. it is really hard to add more new events to the plot considering that lots of other gundam already includes about those plots(for example: genius mecha pilot, sacrifice, space fighting over peace, each people have different opinions, romance..) so it is nothing special when you see the repetitive plot.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed is another entry in the Mobile Suit Gundam series originally beginning in 1979. I recently watched through it the first time and wanted to share my thoughts on this anime. This anime's story is heavily influenced by the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Seed's story has two sides participating in a war with one side being the earth forces and the other the nation of Zaft. On both sides of this war are good and bad people. It is due to this that the viewer is able to cheer for both sides which is a good thing. However, there are ... some real negatives to the characters and writing of the show.

First of all, characters don't develop for most part. Kira and Athrun realize how the war is not good, but both personalities of these characters remain the same. We learn of their backstories, but in terms of the present when the anime is taking place they hardly grow in terms of how they think. Viewers see how the battles and war has a significant impact on Kira's(protagonist) mental health, but Kira barely changes even halfway through the entire anime. So the impact it has on him is not as memorable or of significance since it ultimately leads to nothing. It takes all the way until around 30 of 50 episodes in the entire anime before we see Kira and his friend Athrun the two most important characters to the entire story begin to develop and change their attitudes. Once they do begin to develop as characters though it's very well done and the anime improves greatly because of it. Regardless, it should not take literally 60% of the anime for the protagonist and deuteragonist to develop. Looking past that, the motivations for characters at times and the way they're written can be dumb.

At one point in show a major character talks with the main heroes. They both agree that they don't want to kill each other and really have no reason to fight each other. Both sides in this conversation get along well despite the high stakes. Even the antagonist in this scenario realizes it's dumb they're going to fight the main hero. They know they're going to lose, but decide to fight for really no reason while acknowledging themselves it is dumb. Then this particular antagonist fights and loses as predicted and ends up dying off. There was zero logical reason for this character to have fought the main heroes once again when they personally did not have a problem with them and knew they would lose yet they chose to. This is simply bad writing in my opinion. On the topic of characters, let's talk about the female cast of characters whom are mostly disappointing.

Female characters in Gundam Seed are unfortunately very uninteresting. Flay while a interesting character and love interest of Kira who is developed is very unlikable in terms of personality. She frequently whines, contributes little of much to the story itself beyond bothering Kira and becomes borderline psychopathic as the show goes on. She is developed well, but has no charm and comes across as annoying so as a viewer I had a hard time rooting for her. Cagalli is the star of the female cast of characters. As a character she grows over the course of the show and has a dynamic personality. She doesn't feel one dimensional and is a multi faceted character. Her character is well done because she not only develops in the present of the story, but over time there's plot twists regarding her and her backstory is well developed too. Last, the major noteworthy female character is the captain of the ship for the earth forces. She is a dynamic character, but we don't learn a whole lot about her and her best moments are when she interacts with Commander La Flaga. Commander La Flaga being one of the best characters of the anime. Another aspect I'm mixed on is the combat segments of Seed's story.

Combat in Seed is lacking compared to other Gundams in my opinion. The fights just were not always very exciting, there's lots of stock footage and there wasn't that great of animation. Many of the fights the stakes did not feel very high. I often felt that the main characters were not in severe danger or could possibly die. In other Gundam shows major story characters are killed off at certain points and this leaves a strong impact upon the viewer of the show. In Seed though, until the 2nd half of the anime there's very few major story character deaths and as a result you are less likely to be on the edge of your seat during a fight because you know everyone will make it through okay. Fortunately, most of the fights are still entertaining to watch. A huge positive of this anime though is how it progressively gets better until the end.

Gundam Seed I consider to have three big story arcs. The first is okay, second is great and the third is excellent. So as the show goes on, the quality of the writing, fights, animation and music consistently goes up. This is a good thing. My issue though is it shouldn't take until the last third of the anime for the anime to truly become excellent. If the whole anime had been as good as it was the third arc this would have been one of the best Gundam shows for sure. During the third arc, characters switch sides, important story characters are killed, the stakes are raised to a whole new level as entire planets hang in the balance of things and the characters truly begin to change. Last, I want to talk about production values of Seed.

Gundam Seed has some great music. I liked the music very much throughout this anime and I felt it helped enhance the show. Music played at the right times and enhanced the atmosphere of this anime. Voice acting for the dub was quite good and I felt like the voice actors nailed their voice acting. In terms of animation, Gundam Seed is not too impressive. As I said earlier, the show has lots of stock recycled footage used, the fights aren't as exciting as previous Gundams and there weren't too many environments that stood out to me because of a lack of attention to detail. So overall how is Gundam Seed?

Gundam Seed is a good anime overall. I wouldn't personally say it's one of the best Gundam shows though. It does start off good and gets better and better, but is only truly excellent the last third of the anime. Early on, many characters remain the same and don't develop, the writing is mixed with some character motivations being nonsensical and no real sense of danger for the main heroes when they are in fights early on. By the end though, things greatly improve and the last third of the show is incredibly good. Another huge problem is that Seed feels like a retelling of the original Mobile Suit Gundam's story, but with less memorable characters, worse writing, worse fights and is less original because of how much it resembles the original. Seed's biggest problems is that the fights throughout most of the anime are just mostly good and okay instead of being great/memorable and that the anime doesn't start off excellent and doesn't truly become excellent until way too late all the way around 60% through the anime. Overall, that's gonna wrap up my review of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.

This is one of my favourite Gundam series. It's also worth noting that I have a fair amount of nostalgia for this show and have a positive bias as a result.

What stands out most to me about SEED from all other Gundam series is the character drama being much more prevalent, this brings so much more emotion to the show and makes the cast of characters so much richer than any other anime I've ever seen. I love the character dynamics between characters like Kira and Athrun as well as Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset so much I feel I have to mention ... them specifically. Of course the war aspect delivers, this show can be absolutely brutal and depressing in its portrayal of war, I love it. I also love the parallels this show makes to previous Gundam series while still deeling completely different; its overall sequence of events is parallel to the original Gundam series, has a moment very similar to The 08th MS Team, and I feel as if the character Mu La Flaga is heavily inspired by Char from Zeta Gundam. But the way these callbacks are done don't feel like rehashes, it transforms previous aspects of Gundam that I love and makes something amazing out of it, the staff's love of Gundam shows here and enhances the whole experience.

I don't have many problems with this series, but I have some minor issues with the animation. There's a fair amount of reused animation throughout the show, and I feel it reused more animation towards the end where it started to become a problem, but most of the time I didn't mind. It does result in the battles having little visual variety which may kill the excitement for some people.

I have seen both the HD remaster and the original standard definition version and can say both versions are great overall. I have one issue with the HD remaster where there are shots that are just zoomed in versions of shots from the original standard-definition version of the show, where the visual quality notably lowered, which is pretty distracting. But other than that, I can't think of any notable differences between the two versions. The big thing that I really like about the standard definition version is its English dub, it's a great dub and I enjoyed this more than the HD remaster with English subtitles. It did have a few lines with awkward delivery, but those are rare and everything else is performed very well. I can't comment on the HD remaster's English dub because I haven't seen it, but I've heard nothing but bad things about it, which is a damn shame. Unfortunately the only way to see the old version of this show that I know of is to get the collector's ultra edition (which I have and can say is a fantastic collection) or old DVDs, both of which are unreasonably expensive just to watch the show. Basically, you're probably just better off watching the HD remaster because it's way easier to access thanks to the poor preservation of the original standard definition version of this show.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED brings the heat in the main areas that matter to me. The drama is fantastic and emotionally impactful, the scale of the war is fantastically grand and politically interesting, and the way it references the older Gundam series is simply beautiful. Even the problems I have with the animation are far from ruining even individual episodes for me. I absolutely love this series and cannot recommend it enough. The old English dub of this show deserves to be preserved much better than it has, it's actually a crime how it has been nearly erased from the internet.