I began the series with high hopes; so many have recommended me the series, giving it high marks that I was compelled to watch the series. Once I had the time and was able to borrow the whole series from a friend, I finally sat down and watched it from beginning to end throughout the week. I was surprised to find that this critically acclaimed series could be so disappointing.
What I find ironic is that the series was meant to be a reboot to bring non-gundam fans or fans that found it difficult to enter the franchise to enjoy this new update to the original
...
MS Gundam and I found myself wanting to run away from it.
Story (Spoiler free)
The beginning episode is a standard First episode - while somewhat introducing the characters that we will see for the foreseeable future, something happens that causes the main character to take a Gundam and protect everyone from the villians.There is a war between the Coordinators and Naturals that was sparked by a nuclear attack that destroyed a colony with many Coordinators. You will get bits and pieces of how the war really started, very little to keep you interested in why they are fighting until near the end where they actually EXPLAIN things. As you go through the first 30 episodes, you just follow the crew as they attempt to survive their journey to their goal; aside from that, there is no story AT ALL: no reasons why they are doing this and that aside from the Bloody Valentine Incident, you don't really know why they are fighting.
While I will proclaim that the characters and the action sequences are mid to high quality, to be entertained with random battles when this is a war series and it is frustrating to see that this important ship and Gundam does not influence the War at all. It isn't until around episode 30 that it felt that the writers and directors had to rush to make the series have somewhat of a plot and to see this rush makes it very uncomfortable and makes the experience unnerving. When you see how things are tied up in the end, you wonder how these characters with little influence in the final episodes are produce significant influence in the "final battle" and the final moments are seen, you are rendered appalled that all the problems are "fixed" in the last few minutes when you expect another episode to really create a satisfying falling action after the "story arc's" climax. All in all, it felt as if life has been wasted in those first 30 episodes that the remaining 20 is incredibly disappointing. The pacing is horrible throughout the story arc and through each episode.
As for the clues such as the SEED, space whales and various other things are discussed one time and never answered at all throughout the series, which leaves you wondering why they were discussed at all but if you think that watching SEED Destiny would help, don't even consider it at all. After you have seen series such as Cowboy Bebop, Outlaw Star, Fullmetal Alchemist, and various other stories that know how to write compelling story arcs with mature themes such as war, suffering, the good times and the bad times, well-placed drama, you will be significantly disappointed by this series.
Characters
You are introduced to a multitude of characters in the beginning but only are actually developed and are interesting. Characters such as Kira, the Gundam Pilot, Fray, the representative's daughter, Athrun, lead gundam pilot of the Coordinators, Cagalli, a young rebel that has two sides to herself, Capt. Ramius, commanding officer of the ship Archangel, Mu la Fraga, lead pilot protecting the Archangel; These are the only characters that are not as 2-dimensional as the rest of the characters and actually grow somewhat. The rest are so 2-dimensional they keep going to a 1-dimensional level; this permeates through the characters as they are reflective of their respective sides. This is shown on each sides resolve to win the war, "evolving" from the political to just overall racism.
Don't expect to be impressed by the character development, however, this is one of two only things that actually redeem the series. As for some insignificant characters, such as Lacus Clyne or Azrael (really? They couldn't think up a better, less obvious name?) that apparently have power, you become disappointed and just concentrate on the characters that actually have merti.
Animation
Well done, not my favorite character designs such as the eye art but the sequences were well done, even if they do reuse some scenes here and there. I have no complaints on the animation and actually praise the series for it. Obviously, because it is a 50 episode series, there will be a clip show and some episodes won't be as well animated as others but those are forgivable for the overall quality.
Music
Something I didn't pay attention to but I found it appropriate for the scenes they were implemented; however, they are not as memorable as music from other series. As for the opening and endings, they were well done, great music by their respective artists and fit the tone, especially when the end of the episode transitioned to the ending.
Conclusion
If you want to get into the Gundam Series, there are way better series than this. Sure, it is an update to the original MS gundam for modern audiences but I would much rather watch the original so I can better enjoy 08th MS Team, Stardust Memory, 0080, and various other series. Because of the length of the series and the frustration many will have with the first 30 episodes, this is one series to stay away from. If you are compelled to watch this series, I suggest to watch the first few episodes, then jump to the clip show that recaps the previous 20-25 episodes and then continue on.
However, I am completely disappointed and frustrated that I wasted so much time on this series when I could have spent that time on better series.
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Jun 1, 2010
Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED
(Anime)
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I began the series with high hopes; so many have recommended me the series, giving it high marks that I was compelled to watch the series. Once I had the time and was able to borrow the whole series from a friend, I finally sat down and watched it from beginning to end throughout the week. I was surprised to find that this critically acclaimed series could be so disappointing.
What I find ironic is that the series was meant to be a reboot to bring non-gundam fans or fans that found it difficult to enter the franchise to enjoy this new update to the original ... |
