Notice: This review covers both seasons of the franchise. I won’t bother making two different ones for the same story.Have no denials; SEED is the remake of the original Gundam and it is also the blueprint for the later 00. I was quite positive and enthusiastic about the original universe because it was the first mecha in general to be so mature and it bridged the mecha genre with space opera. The problem is that the maker, Tomino, didn’t try any harder afterwards. It’s not like it is illegal to rehash your own works and labeling them alternative settings or something, but he has done that, like, twenty times in a span of 30 years (including his other mecha shows as well) which tends to become tiresome after awhile. Other directors don’t do that so obviously, they keep experimenting, and they definitely do a lot better directing, yet Tomino is just redoing the same old formula with slight alterations. And sure, it sales like crazy, just like all of the identical mecha shows Nagai directed in the 70’s. That doesn’t mean they are great; they are simply easily digested and cool for the target audience.The first issue I had with this particular retelling is in the animation. The style they used in the faces felt stupid to me compared to the original. I mean, lol, they look like the Smurfs! Am I really supposed to feel the same dramatic tension as before if everything now looks more childish?Before you start nagging about me trolling about the animation, let me reassure you that I am not talking about the coloring or the robot designs. I admit that the technology improves and makes them look more and more fancier, more poser, and more cool to go buy the plamo. The thing is, they also start looking like a circus instead of just trying to tell a story. What the hell is wrong with the color palette? Red Gundams, Blue Gundams, Gold, Silver, Diamond, Pearl, POKEMON GOTTA CATHCEM ALL! Seriously, there used to be a lot less models in the original, each one having more significance. But now look at this mess, a new model every 5 episodes, with new power ups, new weapons, new boosters and whatever. Am I watching this for the story or the Playmobil variations? Yeah, it even fits the name, Playmobile Suit Gundam, you change one every month. Doesn’t that detract from the importance of the robot or even the pilots themselves? It all turns to a technology race, who gets to create or steal the latest model and blast to pieces the other side before the next model appears in 5 episodes to kick his sorry ass. It’s no longer about the talent of the pilot. It also turns to a fashion model contest, like, who gets to have the best looking one. My favorite is the PINK Gundam, because it was piloted by a pop idol… A pop WHAT???Oh that’s right, now we have pop idols as well. With pink hair to boot. Singing about world peace on top of everything else. Why do I get the feeling Tomino ripped off ideas from Macross? Skip that, he really did if you think how he included aliens in his later 00 variation (and boy did they suck). Furthermore, although SEED, like any other Gundam, had some of the best visuals of its time, this particular version was heavy on repeated footage. I could excuse that in the early 80’s because of the technology restraints but in the early 2000’s this is plain lazy and an excuse to save money out of a franchise that sales like crazy. I also never liked the way robots explode with pink smoke in this version; it made everything look gay. Heck, combined with THAT sort of faces it really was gayer. So no, in all the animation and artwork in this and most other series felt inferior to the original. And I don’t mean the number of polygons or the frames per second; I mean the aesthetic part about how serious everything looks. I didn’t like it that much.After that I will talk a bit about the sound part and more specifically about the soundtrack. Damn, so many different openings and so many different songs, and they are all pop full of teen angst. And sure, the target audience is blood-boiling teenagers and the ballads of the original universe would probably feel out of place. At the same time, this is exactly what makes the whole thing sillier as the feeling of the original was a lot more mature and serious, while this is like dancing drunk in a nightclub. Me no likes pop, but I do admit they are catchy and very memorable for their (inferior) kind.As for the voice acting, ok, aside from the occasional THE CHARACTERS DON’T MAKE SENSE trademark of Tomino, I guess they were ok. Full of corny ideology and screaming, the cornerstone of teen angst. I can’t say I hated it or anything, it was actually fitting the feeling of the show. And now the story part. I will not repeat what I said in my review of the original since IT’S THE EXACT SAME STORY LIKE IN ALL GUNDAMS! Something about a war between the space colonies and Earth, as well as the racial hatred between normal humans and a new breed of space-people. There are lots of twists and turns to this and I guess the overall story is quite amazing… with the exception of the pacing. It is mostly slow and has long summaries and even lots of recap episodes. Add to that repeated footage in battles and imbalanced power levels amongst the stats of the robots and the pilots (one moment they have a hard time beating one huge tank, the next they easily defeat three of them). It could easily be told in half the time, yet look at that THEY MADE A SECOND SEASON! Yup, SEED DESTINY came around a few years later and tried to stretch to double a story which was already stretched more than it should. The result was plain terrible and was considered one of the worst sequels of all time; a huge contrast to how Zeta Gundam was perceived as a much better sequel in the original universe (although it too suffered a lot from the Tomino syndrome). The pacing was awful, the story was going in circles, the new characters failed to be as captivating as the first. The only bright part in it was the introduction of a bunch of warmongers, who constantly spurred conflicts so that wars will never end. Too bad it didn’t last too long and the rest was mostly boring and a rehash of something we saw one year earlier. So what could have been an amazing 25 episode show unfortunately was stretched to last a hundred. The characters are… well… colorful. The teen angst goes off the scales and there are lots of twists and turn-heels, as well as lots of romance and out-of-screen sex. On a basic level there is so much variety, coloring and development, that you will definitely find someone to root for. And they are not immortal either; about half of them are dead by the end of the show, proving that this is really war and not Bleach. The problem is again Tomino’s bad habit of throwing turn-heels and mood swings every two episodes, as if everybody has permanent PMS. It becomes irritating since you just can’t get to know someone before he starts backstabbing his buddies for a handful of peanuts. Teen angst at its best.The second season screwed up big time by replacing the interesting chemistry of Athrun and Kira to this emo idiot called Asura. That guy was a bigger murdering asshole than even Sasuke from Naruto and he received such a bad fame from the fans, the scriptwriter rushed to replace him with the original heroes in the second half. I see how they tried to repeat what happened with Amuro and Kamille in the original series but phailed hard.There is definitely value in this anime, even if doesn’t deserve it. It sold too well and rekindled the interest of the fans in the mecha action. At the same time it is nowhere near as well directed or that artistic as some other Gundam series, such as Turn-A or 08th MS. So not really recommended. And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 8/10 General Artwork 2/2 (good looking) Character Figures 1/2 (generic) Backgrounds 2/2 (basic but fitting with the feeling of the series) Animation 1/2 (basic) Visual Effects 2/2 (great) SOUND SECTION: 7/10 Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series) Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series) Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess) STORY SECTION: 7/10 Premise 2/2 (interesting) Pacing 0/2 (very slow) Complexity 2/2 (rich context) Plausibility 1/2 (so-so) Conclusion 2/2 (solid) CHARACTER SECTION: 7/10 Presence 1/2 (typical) Personality 2/2 (rather cheesy but well founded) Backdrop 2/2 (everybody has some) Development 1/2 (overblown but it’s there) Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there) VALUE SECTION: 4/10 Historical Value 2/3 (very famous) Rewatchability 0/3 (now that 00 is out, no reason to do so) Memorability 2/4 (a gayer rehash but that is all) ENJOYMENT SECTION: 4/10 Art 0/1 (looks gay) Sound 1/2 (good songs but the dialogues are usually meh) Story 1/3 (great concepts but presented in a very slow way) Characters 2/4 (they are ok but nothing much) VERDICT: 6/10