20https://bestanimations.com/SignsShapes/Arrows/Right/rightarrow29.gif https://anilist.co/review/10290 This review contains major spoilers for Gundam SEED 500https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/GundamSeed.jpg Gundam SEED is a bit of an oddball in the Gundam franchise. As of this writing there are at least thirty Gundam shows/movies. The only thing bigger than the franchise itself is its fandom with its disparate tastes. With so many entries and universes theres a lot for viewers to latch onto. Conversely theres a lot for viewers to dislike.For this reason its somewhat hard to get a consensus regarding Gundam entries. For example I absolutely loathe Mobile Suit Gundam ZZhttps://anilist.co/anime/86/MobileSuitGundamZZ/ as a sequel to Mobile Suit Zeta Gundamhttps://anilist.co/anime/85/KidouSenshiZetaGundam and many agree that its an odd show but its not hard at all to find those who not only like ZZ but prefer it to Zeta. People often cite Victory Gundamhttps://anilist.co/anime/89/MobileSuitVictoryGundam/ as one of the worst entries but it has a sizable number of fans including myself. The Gundam SEED duology is such an odd case because at least in the Anglosphere theres a clear consensus that its the worst Gundam series. People will scramble out of the woodwork to defend ZZ and Victory. People will give nostalgia cushions to Gundam Winghttps://anilist.co/anime/90/MobileSuitGundamWing/. Gundam SEED and its sequel are given no such concessions. To be clear Im not saying that no one on this side of the pond likes Gundam SEED. Given how big the franchise and fandom are that would be a ridiculous claim. However it cannot be denied that revulsion for this series is more widespread and accepted than other entries. Early into my journey with Gundam I knew that people thought this show was bad. The reason always seemed to escape me but the disdain for this show was palpable. For me the reception became bigger than the show itself and as I completed Gundam shows onebyone dread set in as Gundam SEED the Terrible loomed closer and closer. Judgement Day arrived and I took the plunge. 350https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/4/40/Archangel.png/revision/latest?cb=20130405223740 What I found however was not the coldness of the abyss but the warmth of Cloud Nine. I was pleasantly surprised and then some. I really enjoyed my time with Gundam SEED. Im really unsure what all the fuss is about but Im prepared to defend this show from the legion of haters its accrued over the years. While Gundam SEED has its problems theyre not glaring enough to make it a bad show. I found Gundam SEED engaging from start to finish. And to make this hot take completely nuclear Im willing to go so far as saying that the original Mobile Suit Gundamhttps://anilist.co/anime/80/KidouSenshiGundam which people often accuse SEED of ripping off is inferior to SEED. Gundam SEED follows Kira Yamato and his group of friends who all live in the colony of Heliopolis. It is year 70 of the Cosmic Era and the war between the Naturals normal humans Earth Alliance and Coordinators genetically modified humans that live in space ZAFT is in fullforce. Heliopolis is a neutral colony but it finds itself under attack by ZAFT operatives. Their goal is to steal the five prototype mobile suits that the Earth Alliance has transported to Heliopolis in secret. The mobile suits are the GWeapons or Gundams. While ZAFT manages to steal four of the Gundams Kira manages to commandeer one the Strike. In it he faces off against his former friend Athrun Zala and it is revealed that Kira himself is a Coordinator. Despite this fact he finds himself serving with the Earth Alliance. One of the first things I praise Gundam SEED for is how realized the coordinators are. The Coordinators serve as the Cosmic Eras analogue for the Universal Centurys Newtypes. At Gundams advent Newtypes were illdefined and virtually invisible. Amuroshttps://gundam.fandom.com/wiki/AmuroRay aptitude at piloting the Gundam was originally not attributed to his status as a Newtype but the mobile suits Learning Computer. Here the divide between Naturals and Coordinators is very clear. Intrinsically we know why Naturals dislike Coordinators as genetically modified beings its obvious that they serve as the haves to Naturals havenots. And of course later on we get a more indepth look at the attitudes regarding the Coordinators making this world feel quite real. I think Kiras status as a Coordinator breeds interesting drama as hes essentially pulled between two worlds constantly having to ask himself who hes fighting for and why. We also get to see the bias and racism towards Coordinators and Naturals firsthand contributing to this realness. Most importantly Coordinators dont dominate the cast in terms of competence and importance. In the Universal Century Newtype status starts to be handed out like candy giving the feeling that only Newtypes matter. Here while Coordinators are still strong Naturals get their own time to shine as indicated by the presence of Naturals such as Cagalli and Mu La Flaga. 500https://64.media.tumblr.com/3497ccd755248c1437af172e6e56aff5/tumblrngclg6n1WS1rzkxhio6500.gifv Gundam SEEDs biggest strength is in its characters. Ive heard SEED once described as melodramatic. The emotional intercharacter drama certainly is front and center so if thats absolutely not your thing Id advise you to steer clear of SEED. The characters are loud theyre emotional and theyre dramatic. If drama isnt a hard no for you however Id urge you to stick around. After all mecha more often and not isnt just an excuse to watch cool robots fight one another but also a vehicle to explore political themes. Why not use it to explore character themes as well? More importantly as criticism melodrama is often used to describe characters whos characterization doesnt match the level of drama theyre thrust into: cardboard cutouts emoting essentially. Id hesitate calling Gundam SEED melodramatic because I was enthralled by the characters and I was legitimately engaged with their struggles. 500https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/2/22/Providence.png/revision/latest?cb=20120105222217 Former friends Kira and Athrun have a history together making their rivalry feel a lot more personal and poignant than a lot of other Gundam rivalries. Theres an element of tragedy to their relationship from the outset that really makes me want to know how everything will shake out. Rau Le Creuset is among the most compelling Char Cloneshttps://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CharClone Ive encountered and I tip my hat to Kevin T. Collins voicework. Creuset has both Chars charisma and his menace the latter played to a chilling effect as he comes into his own during the final arc. It is there where hes revealed to be an unhinged product of mans greed the shows themes spectacularly coming together in the form of its villain. Its a testament to how good SEEDs characterization is that I ended up empathizing with characters I initially didnt care for. At the end of the day Rau Le Creuset is a murderous nutjob but his backstory is tragic enough that you cant help but feel sorry for him even if his actions are heinous. I wasnt a fan of Liteunant Natarle Badjiruels cold logical attitude but her sacrifice borne from her character development still got to me. Finally while Flay Allsters flagrant racism made me initially dislike her I saw how the war matured her saw how her relationship with Kira changed her. I desperately wanted her to reunite with him so she could reveal her true feelings. Early on I wouldnt have expected Flays death to hit me as hard as it did. While I like Amuro and Char thats mostly due to their various appearances over the years compounding on one another. When I had finished the original Mobile Suit Gundam they hadnt left that much of an impression unlike the characters of Gundam SEED which managed to grab my attention in one one show. Characters are seldom onenote I thought Lacus would be a very shallow onedimensional character that espoused peace to the point of absurdity but I was very pleasantly surprised to see the singer take on a commander role at the series end. 500https://images.fancaps.net/images/anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedS1/ep10/MobileSuitGundamSeedS1Screenshot0445.jpg Its often an unsung praise in regards to media but momentum is a vital component of enjoyable stories and Gundam SEED has this in spades. Each episode ends in a way that simply begs you to watch the next leading to a very kinetic viewing experience as episodes link seamlessly to one another if not chronologically then in tone and situation. As much as I love Turn A Gundam its format doesnt do much to actively retain viewers unlike Gundam SEED which positively grabbed me and refused to let go until I finished the show. Like most Gundam shows Gundam SEED showcases the horrors of warhttps://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/WarIsHell. Its not really cited as a dark Gundam show but SEED can get pretty gruesome from the somewhat graphic deaths of soldiers to the losses the characters will face SEED can be a taxing show for viewers and characters alike. In Gundam the horrors of war are often conveyed via the enemy body count that the pilots accumulate over the course of the series. I think SEED takes it a step further by having the cast consistently lose loved ones once again making things feel more personal. Pretty much everyone gets a turn in the trauma conga line and it really sells how horrible war is. What sells it even more are the perpetrators of the conflict ZAFT and the Earth Alliance. Neither side is noble with both committing atrocities due to being led by racist powerhungry maniacs. You could argue that its unrealistic but it certainly gets the point across that war brings out the worst in us. https://www..com/watch?v=exRl44csqpk The music is topnotch really helping in setting the sad yet epic tone of the series through sorrowful strings and boisterous brass. Like any good Gundam show the music gets you pumped. SEED also has the nice distinction of having very very good EDs. I knew and loved Anna ni Isshodattanoni months prior to watching SEED to the point where it quickly became one of my favorite EDshttps://anilist.co/activity/67771971. I was sad to see it go in episode 27 but its successor RIVER also became a favorite. I wish I could say I loved the final ED FIND THE WAY as much as the other two but its much too sad for me and I think it seldom fits the show. Unfortunately I cant say I particularly cared for any of the OPs. Finally whats a Gundam show without its titular mobile suits? The Strike is pretty cool albeit somewhat basic as per standard protagonist suit fare. Not to worry however because SEED has Gundams in droves. While the amount of Gundams is pretty conservative in the first half I say that but there are still five theyre handed out like candy in the second half. The amount of Gundams consistently sortied would make even Gundam Wing blush. But I dont care I was so giddy to see these cool powerful suits duke it out. You might not care for SEED if youre more into grunt suits. As someone who prefers Gundams anyway I welcomed the excess. Part of the beauty of having more Gundams is that the designs can be a bit more out there. With only a few Gundams youre stuck with the relatively milquetoast Americanacolored suits such as the Strike though I do like those wings. With more suits you can have more out there designs such as the Providence. As fair as Gundam suits from the show go the Aegis is my favorite. Its quite elegant and the red goes a long way in making it stand out. SEED certainly has its fair share of grunt suits as well including a doggyhttps://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/gundam/images/2/2d/Tmfa802.jpg/revision/latest/scaletowidthdown/310?cb=20200215160625 500https://i.stack.ur.com/agNn3.jpg While Ive praised the characters at length theyre certainly not perfect however. True while I found the characterization compelling the characters themselves could have been a bit more realized and fleshed out. SEED does a good job of showing us who the characters are in this very lifechanging situation they find themselves in but I grasp at straws defining who they were before their normal as backstory takes a backseat. While Athrun and Kira are friends I couldnt tell you what their friendship was characterized by or how they became friends in the first place. Athrun and Lacus are engaged at the start of the show but I couldnt tell you the first thing about their relationship because we hardly see them interact. Lacus talks about how Athruns changed but this rings a bit hollow to my ears because I only have a sense of the after without the before to compare and contrast. Similarly Kira is defined by his bond to his friends but a lot of the time we only see this relationships strain. It might have taken away from the tone but an episode where theyre all having fun together could have really helped in this regard. These are but a few examples of characters being somewhat unrealized. Id say SEED has a problem of telling not showing but honestly SEED tends to tell little too leaving viewers to fill in the blanks in regards to character backstories and relationships: potentially great for fanfiction readers and writers bad for everyone else. It certainly wasnt a dealbreaker for me but be aware that if you scrutinize these exciting characters they may come up lacking. In regards to the Rau Le Creuset it may be a case of liking him as a concept more than the character himself. He certainly could have been handled better his rivalry with Mu La Flaga certainly makes sense thematically as hes a clone of Mus father but Mu has a burning hatred for Creuset far prior to this revelation. Going back to my previous point these two clearly have a history but its never adequately explained. Furthermore Creusets exciting traits were pretty backloaded prior to the final arc he comes across as your standard mysterious Char Clone nothing more nothing less. Fresh from the ending its easy to say hes among my favorite Char Clones but looking at the series as a whole he can come across as a somewhat milquetoast villain. His true intentions could have been seeded a bit more throughout the series. As is his grandiose status feels unearned albeit entertaining. 500https://en.gundam.info/series/seed/wpcontent/uploads/sites/5/2014/12/storythumbSEED17.jpg Then we have Cagalli one of the only SEED characters I actively dislike theres also Azrael but hes designed for the express purpose of being a smarmy hatesink. Shes a tsundere who seems to scream at and berate each and every character she can find. Her knownothingknowitall attitude was very annoying and her tender scene with Athrun was a joke compared to Kiras own with Lacus because her interaction was simply her yelling at him. Dont leave thinking characters are SEEDs only blight though. I didnt quite care for the shows character designs. While I could ignore it after a while whenever the designs are focused on such as during closeups I cant help but think about how bad it looks. Not hideous mind you but Im certainly not clamoring for a SEED poster to slap on my wall. The eyes of the main characters are quite large and scream early 2000s anime and the lips are paradoxically toodefined and notdefinedenough making characters occasionally look odd when they talk. In general characters look somewhat soft like an amateur PlayDoh project. Production values can be lacking: most notably in the animation department. The most egregious example comes from Athrun and Kiras final fight which isnt actually animated: instead the action is conveyed via still images of various attacks. One of the emotional highs of the show is essentially a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation. If you thought this brand of cutting corners was bad just wait until you see the metric truckload of flashbacks and clip shows. Gundam SEED features at least three episodes that are primarily clip episodeshttps://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ClipShow some handled a lot better than others. This isnt too outoftheordinary in regards to anime. Its certainly annoying but you can just skip it and be on your way. The problem with SEED however is that clips and stock footage weasel their way into a great deal of episodes. It feels like the SEED showrunners think their audience has the memory of goldfish for theyll show flashbacks of very recent events multiple times in one episode. This ridiculousness quickly went from funny to frustrating. I hear the remastered edition fixes these problems but I watched the English dub of the original release so my rating is with these defects in mind. 500https://nefariousreviews.files.wordpress.com/2015/05/gundamseedaegisvsstrike.jpg Its not really anything I minded too much but this series is not at all subtle. While Im fine with the heightened emotion Im sure itll turn viewers off who want a more subdued show. Characters cry sparkly anime tears a lot declarations are sworn a lot theres wanton violence thats as graphic as you can get away with on a daytime slot Kiras sexual relationship with flay eschews subtext in favor of text philosophy is made quite bare thus relieving viewers of thinking. SEED is extra and while the characters backstories can be bare their personalities and what happens to them are anything but. Im sure this can lead SEED to feeling shallow and populist. SEED may not be deep but it certainly manages to show the horrors of war while not forgetting the humans that wage them all while being entertaining throughout. The more I think about it the more I see flaws start to show: the SEED factor is never adequately explained Kira can be a bit too powerful like Zeta the protagonists have a very clear moral high ground Lacus role as freedom fighter isnt seeded too well etc. None of these are dealbreakers for me but together they can prove too much for some. By no regard is SEED a perfect show and as I said before you can see the cracks quite clearly if you begin to scrutinize. But ultimately I struggled to find SEED particularly flawed in terms of Gundam shows. It might be a bit idealist it might be a bit dramatic but thats fine in my book. Gundam is massive so theres room for more than one type of show: they cant all be Turn A Gundams they cant all be Zetas they cant all be IronBlooded Orphanshttps://anilist.co/anime/21268/KidouSenshiGundamTekketsunoOrphans nor should they be because that would be redundant. Gundam SEED is a fun show that makes the ethos of Gundam salient while still being entertaining. I think new and old viewers alike can get something out of this show. Honestly Im really not sure what the hubbub is about. Its not the best Gundam show but its nowhere near the worst either. At worst Id say SEED is middling. Maybe Im just very easy to please or maybe the reception of the sequelhttps://anilist.co/anime/94/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny/ tarnishes the original. Either way Im hungry for more and Ill be starting Gundam SEED Destiny very soon expecting to find more of what I loved and hoping that my criticisms will be addressed. 8.4/10 B 500https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/7o97WLMmbSRws4Rw7F5zdLbWmJ3fxVjSQRV2AFNOmABWfcCObQdtVaR3kyLbq4KoKxiaX2SCrRy4LjaBfMblkEHfwr116ZkVAUM44vjje7sUhE8IRN6w