Art: Gundam SEED's art is fairly good. Other than the common anime problem of many characters having awfully similar builds and faces, the designs are good and the animation too. I can't say I paid much attention to it, though, since I typically don't consider it especially important. I did spot occurrences of reused animation, especially towards the end. And I don't mean just a few scenes.
Sound: I watched the dub. The voice acting is, in my opinion, very good. Apart from minor instances of awkward delivery, the performances completely succeed in conveying emotions and atmosphere. Some of the voices tend to sound annoying, but considering the characters they belong to, that's actually fitting. The scoring isn't extraordinary, but still quite good. Especially towards the end, certain tracks help give events a very epic and emotional feel. The opening and ending songs are all generically decent, with some standing above the others a bit.
Character: This is probably the hardest section to rate. I'll put it like this: Gundam SEED's cast of characters can be divided into two. Half of the characters are interesting and likable, the other half make me want to puke. Perhaps I'm exaggerating - most characters I'm indifferent to, there are only several that make me want to puke. But I stand by my view that Gundam SEED has some of the worst, most annoying characters I've witnessed in anime. Don't get me wrong, most of the main cast has some measure of depth and good development; some of them just tend to be impossibly annoying. Flay Allster provided a new definition for uselessness. Lacus Clyne and her bouncing robot tennis balls made me want to punch the screen. And Kira... Oh, boy. The protagonist, Kira Yamato, deserves special attention.
Quite frankly, Kira is the worst canon Mary Sue I've ever seen. The little bastard combines being perfect at everything (an actual character trait) with irritatingly unfailing fighting skills and a smug idiocy that made me root for the enemy. He then tops it off with more of Vitamin Whine than most people can stand. He even worsens other characters, like Cagalli. And yet, SEED shows it can do better, with awesome characters like Mu la Flaga, Murrue Ramius, Natarle Badgiruel, Andrew Waltfeld, etc. They could only do so much though.
Enjoyment: This section has very much to do with Characters. To put it bluntly, if SEED had fewer crappy characters, I would have enjoyed it a lot more. There were situations that were almost painful to watch, and I know I'm not the only one. The berserk mode, for instance, unfailingly caused eye-rolling reactions on my part. My enjoyment increased a lot towards the end of the series though, where the climatic battles didn't leave much room for angst and other annoyances.
Overall: What can I say? I'm glad I watched Gundam SEED. A lot of bad has been said about it in some circles, which worried me a little. True, a lot of good has been said as well, but that has always come off as fanboyism. SEED isn't close to being among my favorites, but I liked it well enough. Some pretty good fights and tense story made sure of that.
