Okay, here comes my first anime review: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
Plot Summary:
The series is the first set in the Cosmic Era. This series begins with the Bloody Valentine War between the Earth Alliance, and on the opposite is the space colonies that form ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty). Mankind is divided over human genetic engineering, with normal humans known as “Naturals” and the genetically engineered/upgraded humans known as “Coordinators”.
Heliopolis, a so-called neutral space colony was holding a top-secret weapons research facility, producing prototype Gundams for the Earth Alliance. ZAFT, which is composed of Coordinators, attacks Heliopolis, stealing 4 out of the Earth Alliance’s 5 Gundams. In the battlefield, civilian Kira Yamato stumbles upon the Strike, the last remaining Gundam of the alliance, and is forced to pilot it. In the midst of battle he encounters his old friend, Athrun Zala, as one of the hijackers of the 5 Gundams, who sides with ZAFT.
Being a Coordinator, he is the only one who can pilot the Gundam. But Kira is not with ZAFT, even though they’re his own kind, nor the Alliance. Since the Alliance is the only place he could turn to at the time, he sides with them. He pilots the Gundam to protect his friends, and to fight his best friend, which pains both of them. It’s a war between individual beliefs.
Genre: Drama, Mecha, Military, Romance, Science Fiction
Age Rating: Teenagers and above (May contain bloody violence, bad language, nudity)
No. of Episodes: 50 episodes and 1 OVA
Story
For those who had watched the original Gundam 0079 series (which aired in 1979), they’ll find that first half story of Gundam SEED has lots of similarities with Gundam 0079. Many people said that this series s*cks as it is reusing the old plot… But, I think that they’ve done a pretty good job in this series, although the first half of the story is modified from the original Gundam series, but in latter portion, the story begins to grow in its own way.
The story is simple and easy to understand. Since this is a military based anime, so it may contain some fiction politics which is not we’re used to. This is a good chance to have an idea about what is politic.
The bad is, they cant make clear of the character’s feelings of affection, for example, I don’t know that Kira is in love with Flay before he has a fight with her fiancee, Sai Argyle. lol…
But, overall, the story is very well told, there are more story arcs in latter part, and I found most of them are very interesting… I like it, lots of people who watched this series said they’re impressed with the story…
I’ll have it rated: 33/40
Animation
Studio: Sunrise
Year: 2002
Type: Series
Gundam SEED is the first Gundam series to use the Digital Colouring. Overall, Sunrise did a great job at the animation. BUT, there’s one factor drags my rating down on this anime… There is some scene that always repeat… reusing the scene especially the battle scene… I’m fed up with it… It seems that they want to cut down their budget on the production… but using this tactic is a bad idea…
I’ll have it rated: 20/30
Audio
Music Production:
- Antinos Records (OP 1)
- Sony Music Entertainment (OP 2-4)
- Victor Entertainment
Opening Themes:
- “INVOKE” by T.M.Revolution
- “moment” by Vivian or Kazuma
- “Believe” by Tamaki Nami
- “Realize” by Tamaki Nami
Ending Themes:
- “Anna ni Issho Datta no ni” by See-Saw
- “River” by Isshi Tatsuya
- “Find The Way” by Nakashima Mika
Insert Themes:
- “Shizukana Yoru ni” by Tanaka Rie
- “Akatsuki no Kuruma” by See-Saw
- “Meteor” by T.M.Revolution
- “Mizu no Akashi” by Tanaka Rie
Loads of opening, ending and insert songs… and 4 CDs of Original Soundtrack…
Overall, the music is very nice and suits the show, especially the Ending and Insert songs. Good job
I’ll have it rated: 16/20
Personal Rating
7/10
OVERALL POINTS
33 + 20 + 16 + 7 = 76points
76pts, GREAT anime [22/06/2008]