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Gundam Seed Destiny anime Series

Story Details  |  Characters  |  Review

The Review

Overall Impression

So far, as it is still coming out, I have found the series to be rather enjoyable. However, right now I am in a bit of a bind at the newest cliffhanger of Phase 28 ^^; so I'll be hunting around for the next episode xD. There were many conflicts that seemed to migrate from Gundam Seed to Gundam Seed Destiny - so not too many new ideas, except for Shinn's past. During the first episode, I had the impression that Shinn would be the main character, but so far, he has been acting more of a sub-character than anything else. The story has become centered, once again, around Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala as their fury blinds them again. Cagalli's immature character also seems to have potential this time - perhaps a session of maturity. In the prequel series, Cagalli had the right ideas, but the wrong method of doing things. Too naive.

[Special Episode]
A far more satisfying ending than they had before, however slapdash it may be. The entire last episode of the series was cut up and remade with little details added in - not all, in my opinion, absolutely necessary. The meaningless parts were the grunts and curses added in - I really saw no point in that. It seemed like they were just trying to kill time...to make it longer?
There were, however, som nice changes. The best part of all was the much-anticipated meeting between the pilots of Strike Freedom and Destiny, Kira Yamato and Shinn Asuka, respectively. This was probably the juiciest piece they could've played with. Also, the way they left one of the leading protagonists, Shinn, abandoned on the moon in Phase 50...was just ridiculous. Shinn was the star of the series to begin with, whether we like it or not, yet they failed to finish his journey in the story. The last scene in the OVA cleared this up, portraying a calm Shinn reflecting over the past with a more enlightened mindset.
All in all, definitely worth watching...if only to satisfy any disappointment left over from Phase 50.

The Artwork

Excellent. I think it's actually gotten a lot better than the artwork in Gundam Seed - proportions are only a tiny bit noticeable when the character walk (sometimes they mysteriously become shorter while walking down a hallway...>.>).

Breaking It Down

The Good Points Beautiful graphics Excellent music Deep conflicts A really deep history Excellent blend of technology

The Bad Points Bad planning - the storyline didn't seem to be getting anywhere at many points throughout the series Horrible "ending" - there really was no ending. In fact, they had to create a make-up episde 51 to fix their mistake Character development of the older characters, which was awesome in the previous series, was butchered in this series (for Athrun, though, it was acceptable but not great) Character development for the main character (Shinn) was...Really Bad Characters' heights are inconsistent Conflicts may sometimes get way too entangled