Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

No1 Jul 23, 2013

2

Ugh, where to begin.  Contains spoilers (if you can spoil trash)  Story: 3 The story is a weak copy of Gundam SEED (which was a pretty decent reworking of Gundam Wing's story). Been there, done that. Throw in a 'twist' invovlving amnesia, and you've got the recipe for every soap opera out there. Maybe this is just bias on my part, but Mechs do NOT belong in soap operas.  Animation: 3 I'd say a good 10-15% (if not more) of the series is flashbacks taken directly from Gundam SEED. Combine that with a dorky put-the-pieces-togather style mech that recycles footage every time it's deployed. Add in the standard complaint of recycled battle footage the Gundam name is notorious for. When you add those up, you've got 5-8 min of recycled footage per 20-25 min episode. If you can tolerate that, add 2-3 points, because the animation is decent. Nothing special, but decent.  Characters: 2 There are 3 characters they try to develop, Athrun (returning) Shinn (new), and Meer (new). Athrun goes through pretty much exactly the same development he went through in SEED, making me wonder why they bothered (either of the other 2 surviving ZAFT piolots would have made the series more interesting while filling a similar role). Shinji, I mean Shinn, merely goes from angsty and unlikeable with creepy little sister issues, to angsty and unlikeable with sociopathic issues. Personally I find it hard to relate with an unlikeable character thats one small step away from turning into a full blown serial killer. Meer just plain goes crazy. While it would have been good if they had developed that more, in most cases it felt like they were trying to cram her in. The fire escape scene was well done, and some of her early stuff wasn't bad. The rest... wasn't. There are plenty of other returning characters, that should have been further developed, but sadly Lacus, Kira, Cagalli, and Murrue merely got recycled footage for thier 'development', and they chose focus on a weak 'forbidden' romance instead. Oh, and the amniesia romance. That was just plain unbelieveable.  Overall: 2 SEED wasn't bad, it may even have been good (I'm definately biased against it considering it a Wing rip-off though). SEED Destiny... well, I consider it a waste of money, and my copy was sold long ago on ebay.  -No One

xMaster Mar 30, 2012

3

Gundam SEED Destiny. Oh boy. I'll have fun with this review. I have a lot of comments on this. PLOT: GSD takes place two years after the events of the original Gundam SEED. The story begins with "Alex Dino" escorting Cagalli to Armory One, to meet with the new Chairman of ZAFT, Gilbert Durrandal. But wait! The armory is attacked and guess what? GUNDAM. HIJACK. AGAIN. GSD's plot, or what you can call a plot, is literally a copy and paste of SEED's. No innovation regarding the flaws of the series. The show constantly swaps POVs from the Minerva's, ZAFT's new battleship to the Archangel and let me tell you: It sucks. The entire final story arc sucks. Everything post Episode 38 sucks.  Not even Maaya Sakamoto can save every show. CHARACTERS: Another issue I had with this show is characters. As Gundam SEED was to 0079, Destiny should've been to Zeta. Shinn Asuka, the main protagnist (And I use protagnist loosely here.) is Kamille 2.0 and the hero of the story. That is, until the later half where he becomes the villian. Imagine my suprise when Kira becomes the hero again. I've heard people call Kira's GSD incarnation "Jesus Yamato" and I'll have to agree with them. Lacus and Kira, while interesting in SEED, utterly suck and are complete and utter Gary Stus and Mary Stus, fraught with plot armor like you wouldn't believe. Characters get shafted and completely shipped off because of backstage drama. Cagalli, for instance. Ever wonder why she didn't keep her Gundam despite knowing how to pilot it? It's because of bad writing. ANIMATION: What animation? GSD abuses stock footage. Stock footage to the point you wouldn't believe for 2005 series. Hell, the final battle in the show is literally copied and pasted from SEED with minor ashethic changes. At least it's pretty to look at? TASTE THE RAINBOW! SOUNDTRACK: One of my favorite parts of SEED was the soundtrack. If anything, that's the only defining part of this show. The soundtrack, once again, proves that when you have the right people in on a show, it only makes so much of a difference. Oh. Did I mention they probably blew the budget on getting TM Revolution to voice a character who doesn't make a difference at all? VERDICT: Gundam Seed Destiny is a pile of crap with a rather lame excuse for plot, terrible writing and terrible character derailment. I still wonder; had things been different and Shinn actually had character development he deserved and hadn't devolved into a raging mindless villian and remain the protagnist, maybe the show wouldn't been so bad? GIVE ME MY SCREENTIME! THIS IS MY SHOW! GUNDAM SEED DESTINY GETS 3 MOBILE SUITS OUT OF 10. And that's being generous. Oh. I forget to mention. They are numerous recap episodes. Yep.

AlexPalmer Feb 2, 2010

8

Gundam Seed Destiny begins two years after the first Gundam Seed ended.  Many believe that peace will come about with the radicals of both sides dead.  The chairman of ZAFT is Gilbert Durandel who seems to be focused on peace.  As with the first series, the leader of the Earth Alliance is unclear and fairly irrelevant, but there are some key Earth Alliance characters who pilot mobile suits.ZAFT: Headed by Chairman Gilbert Durandel, ZAFT seems to be at a stable stage with a much stronger military.  They crank out new mobile suits including a set of new Gundams.  A key addition to the ZAFT militia are the Zakus, mobile suits that commonly resemble mobile suits of other Gundam series.  They feature the one eyeball, the antenna on the head, and the spiked shields.  Dearka and Yzak from the first series are still with ZAFT from the original Le Creuset team that also featured Athrun Zala.Earth Alliance: The Earth Alliance begins the war largely with demands that are illogical and obviously meant to provoke war.  As with the first, special forces invade to steal mobile suits, but this time, it's the Alliance stealing the ZAFT suits.  This force is made up of three young pilots, all with strange colored hair who are later found to be drug-injected super soldiers.  The Alliance is largely controlled by the Blue Cosmos/Logos group which is anti-Coordinator.  They also maintain their policies that there cannot be any neutral countries and ORB is forced to ally with the Alliance.  The most intriguing part is that a soldier similar to Le Creuset and wearing a similar mask but sounding like Mu La Flaga is seen at the beginning.ORB: The Orb Union is now headed by Cagalli Yula Atha, but she is subject to the opinions of the Council of Elders who aid her and also by her arranged fiancee Yuna Roma Seyran.  Kira and Lacus are also residents of ZAFT, but would seem to be ther only with the knowledge of a few people.  The Freedom and the Archangel are revealed to be here as well as the majority of the Archangel's crew.  The main plotline revolves around the second Cosmic War.  The Earth Alliance seems to be the initiator of the conflict, but it is later discovered that Logos is behind it.  Chairman Durandel declares war on Logos only to find that a third player, the Archangel, is also involved.  The story line focuses much more on the ZAFT aspect in regard to Athrun Zala, the former ZAFT soldier and son of former leader Patrick Zala.  He is originally with ORB, but goes on a visit to ZAFT to investigate the Plant's actions and is convinced by Durandel to join ZAFT again.  Throughout the war, he is confused as to who he should be fighting, especially when ZAFT is ordered to attack ORB and then to declare the Archangel and the Freedom as enemies.