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Gundam Seed Destiny Episodes

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Episode 34: Nightmare

Details

Original Air Date: June 11, 2005

The Synopsis

Everyone is in shock after listening to Dullindal's message. Dullindal has urged the people to fight the Logos - their true enemy. Meer adds her "Lacus" support to his words.
Dullindal convinces PLANT's ruling council to agree to go to battle against the Logos. It takes some convincing, but in the end he has everyone cheering for him.

Meanwhile, Kira onboard the Archangel listens to the Chairman's message with trepidation. He turns to Captain Ramius and asks that they return to Orb, explaining that there was something deeper going on behind the Chairman's actions.
It seems that Kira's words have some potential weight to them - as the Archangel launches, they are ambushed by the nearby ZAFT forces. The Archangel has been changed from an "unknown" status to "enemy" status in the ZAFT military database (technically this is a valid move, since the Archangel is listed as an Orb ship, which has joined the Earth Alliance Federation), and the ZAFT commanders have been ordered to attack.
Kira launches in the Freedom and battles with the ZAFT soldiers, coming in droves of mobile suits. Their numbers give Kira a harder time than usual.
The Minerva is ordered to join in on the attack on the Archangel. Shinn waits in anticipation after his session with Rey discussing tactics on how to defeat the Freedom. Athrun and Gladys exchange heated words, ending with Gladys informing Athrun that she doesn't like it either, but she doesn't have a choice - the Archangel was considered an enemy of ZAFT - and if Athrun didn't like it he should stay in his room.
When the Minerva gets to the scene of the battle, Captain Gladys sends a message to the Archangel, offering the option of surrender in return for their lives. Apparently this was against the orders given by the Chairman - the Archangel was not to be spared - but Captain Gladys held her ground and waited for a reply.
Captain Ramius is rather surprised at Gladys's message. The Archangel is in a bad fix, outnumbered by many, and chances of survival are slim. At that moment, Kira sends a text message to the Archangel, telling them to head for the ocean and to get Cagalli to Orb - that was their top prioity.
After Kira's message, Captain Ramius seems to gain resolve and tells Gladys that she appreciates the offer, but they absolutey cannot accept. They have a mission to complete, and they are not about to be defeated here, she says. When Ramius transferred the message over to the Minerva, her image appeared on the screen on Minerva's control base, giving the crew a clear view of who she was. The Minerva's crew are shocked that Ramius is the same "Maria Verns" who met with them while getting re-supplied at Morgenrate. Gladys had already guessed, and was somewhat grim when she made the order to attack the Archangel with their main cannons.
Shinn launches in Core Splendor and battles with Kira. After studying Kira's movement on camera, Shinn and Rey had realized that Kira's one weak point was that he never attacked the cockpit - only the four main points of the body that would not cause real life-endangering damage to the pilot. Using this as an opportunity, Shinn is able to dodge many of Kira's attacks, much to Kira's surprise.
Shinn uses a multitide of weapons other than his unit, each sent to him by the Minerva. Kira manages to chop Core Splendor's head off, but Shinn gets the Minerva to send out the necessary parts to replace it in midair.
Kira begins to follow the Archangel towards the ocean, but Shinn holds him back and continues to fight, shouting that Kira killed Stellar.
The battle wages on. The Minerva shoots the Archangel with its main cannons just as it disappears beneath the ocean's surface, and Shinn runs Kira's Freedom through with the longbeam sword "Excalibur."
A giant explosion follows after Shinn's attack, throwing everyone off-course and destroying half of Core Splendor. Shinn laughs humorlessly as he thinks of Stellar again.
Athrun screams Kira's name as we see footage of the destroyed pieces of the Freedom scattered across the ocean's waters.

The Review

This was probably the most shocking episode of the entire series - and a definite must-see.
At first, I was rather upset that Shinn had taken the victory, but then I remembered that Shinn had won the battle, not the war. Kira wasn't trying to kill, only to protect. Shinn was trying to kill for revenge.
Excellent fighting scenes - probably the best I've ever seen so far. The tactics aren't merely swinging the sword, but even glancing off shields and using more than one unit with one gundam. The extra effort was probably a salute to the beloved X-10A Freedom.

Screenshots