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Gundam SEED
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Animation - 8.8 |
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Sound - 9.3 |
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Story - 8.7 |
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Character - 8.9 |
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Value - 8.9 |
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Enjoyment - 9.3 |
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Average - 9.0 |
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| Average |
5.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
3 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| The battles were epic, but the story and characters were not. Some parts of the story to me weren't realistic and very very predictable. The main character was to emo for me. Also, coming from a military background, the military portrayed in the story seemed just like a group of friends playing with guns rather than a well maintained efficient military force. In short: Fights good / story bad
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| Average |
9.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Uno de los mejores animes que he visto. Lo tiene todo. Tanto una excelente banda sonora (creo que de las mejores que se pueden encontrar), como una buena historia y personajes carismaticos.
Lo unico que se le puede echar en cara tal vez, es la animacion, aunque para el año en el que fue realizada son francamente buenas.
Al principio puede parecer lenta, pero es muy frenetica y activa. Yo no pude parar de verla durante 4 dias que me duro.
Eso si, esta parte es mucho mejor que su continuacion Gundam Seed Destiny.
Recomiendo a todo aquel que no la haya visto, que lo haga cuanto antes.
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
4.8 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
4 |
| Character |
4 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
5 |
| Not really a big Gundam fan, ever since sitting through what I thought was going to be an excellent anime in Wing, I just couldn't bear watching another cookie cutter action scene with horrible political struggles. I gave Gundam another try though with SEED since it was the most recent, perhaps it doesn't suffer from the same deficiencies as Wing? Nope, it does, Wing and SEED are similar in so many bad ways; the reptitive and overused action scenes and a horrible story with disoriented political views on each opposing side, though SEED felt a bit more organized and had a pretty climatic and hotblooded ending compared to Wing outside of Endless Waltz. However the cast is infinitely inferior and way too melodramatic that really bars SEED from being a distinguished mecha anime besides having the label Gundam next to it.
The premise of young boys and girls having the task of leading an entire country's military force may seem a little to cliche, but it works and offers some pretty unique situations in its comical relief moments. Where the problem lies is the immaturity and naiveness they bring onto the battlefield. Countless idiotic decisions one after another listening to their emotions instead of their logic, a lot of pondering about life, etc. Even worse is that just about every main and minor character along with the villains are around 16 years of age.
Story revolves around the voyage of the Arcangel ship on the side of the Earth Forces who are being chased by their bioligically superior enemies ZAFT and PLANTS. Gundam SEED is unique in that we rarely see these types of adventures anymore with ships traveling around trying to escape from the grasp of an enemy force. Last I've seen is probably Last EXILE. The journey gets a bit underwhelming when the crewmembers start going through these emotional moments, crying and wishing they were home away from the conflict. You just get sick of these melodramatic sessions you tell yourself "Don't frikkin fight if you don't even know why you're fighting," which is sadly, common sense and a common theme in this anime. Was this supposed to be aimed at 7 year olds?
The worst victims of the shows lacking themes are the lead male and female characters. In particular Fllay is what I would call a spoiled ex girlfriend; whines whines and whines, complains all the frikkin time and forgetting how fortunate she really is. It just makes you want to punch her in the face and smoke a cigarette after. Kira Yamato, the main character, is only slightly better but dislikable in the opposite sense. Being a coordinater, the genetically enhanced humans that the "naturals", the Earth Forces are fighting against, he is in a real bind battling and killing against his own kind. There was a lot of potential for some great character development, instead we just get all of this melodrama with Kira who likes to relieve himself by letting out the most pathetic cry my ears have ever heard. Never have there been two lead characters that are so uninspirational, annoying, and pathetic all in one package.
While the story is more organized than Wing, it still lacks direction and realism. Following the Arcangel in its excavation for a safe haven out of the clutches of the ZAFT forces was actually a very unique concept. From time to time the Earth Forces would send their help but as soon as those reinforcements do arrive, ZAFT Gundams would swoop in and destroy them. This rinse and repeat process is so ridiculous to watch in just about every sense. First of all I have a hard time believing that just four machines can destroy entire, literally ENTIRE fleets in just about twenty minutes. The lack of congruency in the Gundams makes you hate to watch most of the fights. Secondly the same exact scenes are always always always repeated! Cookie cutter to its finest, embarrassing that this anime made in 2002 uses techniques that were somewhat acceptable in 1960.
Second half of the anime starts going downhill, then goes back up a little bit during its ending. There is a time when the crewmembers of the Arcangel question if fighting for the Earth Forces is the best thing to do, in the end they optioned to side with ORB, a collection of neutral countries that are friendly to both naturals and coordinators. The Arcangel and the Strike, which was the Earth Forces lone mobile suit, were the earth's strongest weapons. They leave and out of nowhere, earth comes up with their own mass produced Optimus Prime look a like mobile suits with three Gundams of there own piloted by hotblooded teenagers. You ask yourself, where in the hell was all of this before? It went from Earth getting their asses handed to them endlessly by ZAFT to Earth being equal to ZAFT. It is just absolutely ridiculous, even if it somehow made sense the timing just makes you facepalm yourself.
Ending was at least pretty climatic and exciting, unfortunately the battles still suffer from cookie cutter, save for the final episode that had original material. First half of Gundam SEED was pretty average that had a unique concept of survival, but the second half was just plain mediocre. It is saved by the final couple of episodes that was hotblooded to watch and exciting. Overall, Gundam SEED suffers from horrible cookie cutter fight scenes, underwhelming and melodramatic characters, overpowered Gundams that made the fighting boring to watch, and an atrociously timed plot. Other than its ending SEED isn't much better than Wing, which isn't saying much.
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1 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Yenno |
(2008-11-25 03:49:06) 2008-11-11 01:44:50 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Being the first Gundam series in the 21st century, I had high expectations. This series was overall, a huge disappointment compared to other animes. However, even that may be an understatement of how bad this series is-since this is coming from a long-time mecha/Gundam/Sunrise fan.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This anime, to me, was more than just an anime. I believe it serves as a foundation of all mecha anime since its debut on 2002.
First is the animation, the characters were beautifully drawn, each with its individual looks so that audience won;t mix the characters up like what they did to other anime. I applaud the effort of the writer the most in the drawing of various gundam. Each gundam, although similiar in outlines, are different in terms of looks, it also serve to obey the law of phyisc. The only drawback about its animation is that some fighting scenes are used over and over again.
The sound, the voice actors of this anime is very good, it matches their role or even their animated looks. The fighting effects were also well done. The opening songs and ending song plus the BGM was even more impressive.
The story has to be one of the most original one i had ever seen. Engaging storyline that kept me watching til then end and more(season 2). The setting were also logical, no magic no god or anything. it just display the flames of war and its effects on normal ppl and soldiers. It also mixed in abit of romance and even drama.
The characters each had their own problem and circumstances, not to mention personality. Although critics tends to critise that their hair doesn't grow, i think they are just crazy.
The value of this anime is that it shows the consequences of war and thus promoting peace in the real world, a noble value indeed.
This anime had sucked me in ever since i saw the first episode, definitely enjoyable.
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0 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Zaku88 |
(2008-05-28 20:57:44) 2008-01-10 23:44:14 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Gundam Seed strays from traditional "gundamness" by focusing less on the political intrigue and focusing more on character development and relationships. Yes, there is a LOT of mech in this but they are some of the best looking gundam models to date and the show in general was very enjoyable.
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
5 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| Whereas the Gundam anime series had gradually changed over the years, SEED has made a sudden and large leap away from stories about morale and humanity to a more action oriented series.
I do like the progress the artists have made in animating this series, and the visual / audio presentation leaves little to desire. This piece is outstanding in that regard.
But the storyline aspect of the Gundam series -which also used to include moralistic elements and rather deep philosophical questions- has been watered down to the point where I as an old fan find there's a real lack in outstanding qualities of Gundam SEED's storyline now. In my opinion, this Gundam Anime is a very average depiction of a fictional war, lacking realism and even failing to come up with cool and innovative weaponry.
The character design is pretty mindless as well, an extremely standard lineup of heroes and villains, with most character development being totally predictable... If I didn't have a flair for psychotic girls (there's one in this series), I even doubt I'd have bothered watching the series to the end.
All in all, I feel watching the older counterparts from this series at the time they appeared was way more worthwhile.
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0 of 3 people found this review helpful.
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Pakxenon |
(2007-12-30 15:13:42) 2007-12-30 14:46:38 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I'm one of those anime fans that came around a few years after fansubs went digital, and had a childhood where I would be traumatized by any super/humanized robot shows because they defied the laws of physics. The second part is easy to relate to, but how is the first part relevant? It is a little hard to pin down yet alone believe it, but it was about this time (2004ish) when Sunrise started to produce a line of notable crappy shows with very few spectacular gems. While near-perfect shows like Planetes were made, bandwagon franchises like the Mai-series and the train wreck Code Geass really made their reputation take a diving; other shows were either not popular/notable or are currently running (and winning) series like Keroro Gunsou and Gintama. Because of the popularity of such shows, especially in a time when fansubs come out in less than a week for these series, it is easy to see what kinds of trends companies go through when compared to their glorious pasts. Sunrise has a very long history, but their recent history makes them not look very good.
How is this all related to Gundam SEED? While I should not start pointing fingers, there is enough evidence from watching these recent shows to see that Sunrise is currently going through a slump, mainly in their scriptwriting department. While SEED may not be the first one to put on plot armor for the sake of keeping up with its driving force, it does show that in a post-BONES Sunrise, the scriptwriters and storyboard directors begin to become very liberal with the usage of such plot devices. Thus, while the initial episodes and concepts may be great and all, the story gets progressively worse as strings are pulled in order to satisfy the audience's hunger for their favourite characters, even to go as far as bringing the dead back alive. SEED does have a little bit of this, and Sunrise continues to use this convenient gimmick in their future projects Mai-HiME, My-Otome, and most recently, Code Geass. It is fun to see how companies change over time!
I was also reluctant to even watch a Gundam series due to my fear of things that break the laws of physics as well as my disinterest in Gunpla and related merchandise in general. SEED is my first [completed] Gundam series, and hopefully is the start of more Gundam series to come for me.
SEED is supposedly the reboot of the Gundam universe (yet again) for the modern era. With new Gundam designs, character designs, and the advent of digital animation, can SEED really seek out new and regain interest in a very long toy franchise? I suppose it does, seeing as how Japan is still buying Destiny DVDs three years after it ended, and SEED has reran on my cartoon channel a couple of times now (and proceeding with Destiny). In times of turmoil in the real world, SEED, and war stories in general, remind us about the tragic side of warfare, that it is not all about going gun-ho against Vietnam and now Iraq, but that their side, too, has a reason to fight, and how sometimes some wars can escalate into a survival from annihilation, and to persuade us to seek for a peaceful solution instead. Distinctly post-Cold War, SEED looks into what could happen in a near-future world of genetics research, non-nuclear environments, and current-day politics.
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Largo |
2007-10-20 20:06:00 |
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| I had watched Gundam Wing prior to watching this series and was amazed to find better enjoyment.
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Haihaine |
(2007-08-14 17:17:52) 2007-08-14 17:17:03 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
4 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| As a non-fan to mecca, it took me some time to get around to actually watching this series. It's always been there high up on the list, taunting me, but my dislike for most mecca I've previously laid my eyes upon have simply been too strong. However, after watching Mai HiME -- an anime slightly inspired by Gundam SEED -- I thought I'd give SEED a shot as well. I'm quite glad I did.
Let's begin with the weakest point of the entire anime: the animation. It starts off pretty good, with nice artwork and decent fluency. There are cases of long, static scenes and budget-panoramas even then, but it's not disturbingly frequent. They occur more and more often, however, and by the series mid-point, it all takes a dive for the worse. Not only is static or near-static frames abundant, but as many others here have mentioned, the recycling of animation is IMMENSE. It's more than you can expect from the average Pokémon-episode. By the end of the series, 75 % of every battle consist of stuff you've seen before -- I kid you not. Luckily, it fails to ruin the series completely since the story has probably got you hooked enough to continue, but it's damn close.
The sound is pretty good, but in my book far from awesome. Openings and endings are all very... opening-and-ending-ish. Exactly what you can expect, and little more. The first ending was the only thing I guess I liked, since I noticed I missed it when they switched it away (bastards). Voice acting is generally good, with the exceptions being some of the dramatic scenes. Every time the voice actor of Kira tried to act crying, I felt a chill up my spine (of horror, not sympathy). And Kira's genius is surpassed only by his whine, so I had to suffer through his whimpering quite often. Actually, the most impressive thing I find about the sound was the ambient effects. Different parts of the ship's got different background hum from the engines. I guess being impressed by that could mean there wasn't much else to listen to, though...
Onto the show's best part: the story. Involving themes like racism, revenge, loyalties, nuclear weapons and many more, the setting pits a young "coordinator" against the rest of his kind -- most notably his childhood friend. While this is a pretty basic conflict, the plot unfolds in a very satisfying manner. The pacing is one of the best I've experienced in anime, actually. Granted, there aren't really any deep mysteries to ponder upon, but Gundam SEED doesn't need any. Its story is straight forward and that's just fine -- it gets the anti-war anti-nuclear message across well and is entertaining at the same time. My only complaint with the story is that it's stretched. About 40 episodes would truly have sufficed (we probably got less than 40 eps if you take frame recycling into consideration anyway).
The characters are also very well made, with a varied and quite deep cast. A common flaw in much anime is unfounded motivation -- something that's virtually non-existant in Gundam SEED. Everyone has got a reason for being where he or she is, which I find very satisfying. And it's not only the consistent main cast that's well-made, but the villains and semi-villains that represent different aspects of war is also impressive -- the characterisation of neo-nazism in the late series being my personal favourite.
While I did enjoy watching the show, I probably won't watch it again. Why, you ask? Because I've watched it five times already! With the god-awful reusal of old animations, I've seen dozens of scenes dozens of times even in one run. I have no intention of doubling that. The fact that one of those scenes features Ramius' full, bouncing breasts (to beautifully portray the violent rocking each time the Archangel gets hit) is not reason enough to give it a second run through.
You should, however, watch this show once. Go do it.
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2 of 2 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
4 |
| Enjoyment |
6 |
| I decided to watch Gundam Seed after hearing that it was just about the best Gundam Series. I was sorely disappointed. The plot was incredibly simple, and there wasn't enough information being presented to keep my interest. All things considered, this anime is below average.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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Avalanche |
(2007-06-02 23:51:10) 2007-05-27 20:57:56 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Arguably the best Gundam series in recent years (at least that is what the critics say; I have not seen any Gundam series except this and Destiny). Destiny begins how mecha series normally start – with a bang and without much explanation. The first episode itself introduces a whole host of characters and starts off at a fiery pace.
The lead, Kira, is a 17 year old quiet boy who is living on a colony called Heliopolis. Without any warning the entire colony is attacked by the forces of ZAFT (aka PLANT) and his entire world along with his friends are thrown into utter confusion. And thus Gundam Seed begins with Kira and a host of other characters along with Atrun Zala who forms the better half of Gundam Seed.
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Summoner |
(2009-01-24 11:04:32) 2007-05-17 07:18:36 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Anger. Greed. Envy. Misunderstandings. Racism. Religion. Politics. Fear. There are countless of reasons why somebody could start a war. Imagine that whenever you got angry, or come to want something from someone, you could start a war and take whatever you want. That's how it was in the past, when the world was ruled under monarchies. But even now, it's not like everyone decides to start a war, the ones in the government, politics do. It's not like soldiers themselves are so keen to fight, it's not like they get much out of fighting, at least not as much as they are risking. Yet even though it's pretty easy to start it, ending a war is extremely hard. People whose relatives have perished, people who were hurt in wars, all of them will want revenge, but after they get it, the other side, which was hurt by their revenge, wants their own one. In turn it creates a neverending circle and unless something critical happens the war might never end until one side wins. Winning wasn't that bad in the past, but now, when nuclear weapons are abound what winning actually means? Extermination of the entire race?
Gundam Seed proved to be much better than I had expected, while I thought it will concentrate on never ending mecha fights, it actually was all about an anti-war message. Ironically, the main weakness of this show is that it is Gundam, were this show not Gundam it might've been even better. The main thing what dragged otherwise semi-perfect story down was a huge load of unnecessary and useless mecha fights. It's fortunate that even though story was slow paced and slightly boring at the beginning, character's weren't. For longer than 30 episodes characters solely by themselves carried the story and covered its weaknesses. All in all, while slightly dragged down Gundam Seed's story is a great one, never before I've seen war protrayed so realisticly.
If you're a fan of mecha then this show is a must watch, though even if you dislike mecha, you shouldn't overlook this show. While I myself am not keen on mecha fights I enjoyed this show a great lot thanks to its profound, innovative characters and complex story.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Cataphract |
(2007-05-23 22:44:53) 2007-05-12 05:01:28 |
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
6 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I finally got a chance to rewatch Gundam Seed and thus correct this review. I'm still perplexed at how my Hoshi no Koe review ended up finding its way here, but who knows. Ultimately it led me to a second time through Seed, and I must say that the majority of it lived up to my prior expectations...
...save the animation. Holy scene repetition, Batman! Not only are the mini-recaps chock full of repeated scenes, but they abound in battles as well. I would be more tolerable were it not overly apparent in many places -- ie the black and red mobile suit in the latter quarter of the series. Though the overall character, gundam, and background designs were all typical of all its predecessors, the huge abundance of repetition became an increasing annoyance as things progressed. This act of half-assing seemed out of place in an overall above average production. Aside from Seed's ending, this was probably its only other major flaw.
Ironically, the best part of Seed is its musical score. It has four outstanding opening themes and three superb ending themes sandwiched on either side of a high quality OST. There also happens to be a very nice instrumental remix of the first ending theme played occasionally throughout the series, certainly on a level you wouldn't expect from a typical mecha anime. Such high quality tracks are actually standard and definitely are very well placed throughout the series, especially during the many dramatic sequences.
Yes, that's right, a Gundam series with good drama! Fortunately Seed's characters don't suffer from retardation syndrome and definitely establish bonds with the viewer. Though not quite on the level of 08th MS Team's character development, they definitely sit on some of the better developed castes in the Gundam franchise. There are a good few scenes that are quite emotional, and Seed doesn't go down an overly happy path. People die that you really don't want to die and the good guys don't always come out ahead. Though Seed's ending sequence left me somewhat disappointed, all the events leading up to it are very captivating and involving; it's like a really good book that you just can't put down. Aside from being slightly predictable, there are a number of twists and turns that keep the story interesting from start to finish.
As I hinted at already, the characters are above average for a Gundam series as well. Though Kira is a bit of a crybaby, he overall makes for a good lead. His relationship with Athrun climaxes in very dramatic fashion and certainly displays a great deal of depth to his character. Even though he strives for peace, he is not naive enough to understand that bloodshed happens in war and that he is fighting in a war. The side characters, and there are a lot, also are definitely beneficial to the overall mood of the series. From Nicol to Sai to Lacus, I don't think there was a single prominent side character with whom I have a complaint.
All in all, Seed ranks number two on my favorites in the Gundam series. Keeping in mind that most Gundams are generally subpar, Seed is surprisingly well done and ranks especially high on its own merits. Definitely don't prejudge Seed solely on its Gundam title; it's not a series to be missed.
Recommended.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| pure ecstasy!! i was appalled by how good this series was. the gundam series wasn't particularily on the top of my list, but i think i reassessed my list after finishing this. when a series is more than 50 episodes long, it usually takes a while to finish them, but i think it went faster than some of the 13 episode series i've watched. and needless to say i'm heading straight to gundam seed destiny next!
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0 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Pantha |
(2007-05-06 12:09:38) 2007-05-06 10:59:18 |
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| Average |
7.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Whoa, whoa, whoa. Hold up just a minute. A Gundam….with kissing? Like nearly all mecha, Gundam Seed takes pride in its robots. The show gives them corny, smirk-worthy names (i.e., “Buster” and “Striker") and spends a great deal of time enumerating their abilities. Unlike most mecha, however, the show never gets boring. Having almost as much melodrama as Kimi ga Nozoumu Eien, Gundam Seed is as appealing as it is joyfully theatric. Having an engrossing storyline but shallow characterization, Gundam Seed is a mecha for anyone to enjoy, fans of Gundam or no.
The first few episodes reminded me of Infinite Ryvius in that you get a glimpse of normal teenage life (gossip, crushes, etc.) before all hell breaks loose. And hell continues to break loose from episode one and beyond. One of the best things about Gundam Seed is that it never lingers too long in one place; the show has excellent pacing and moves quite quickly and this is further exacerbated by the fact that the Archangel can be found in about a dozen locations throughout the series. Secondly, the traditional Gundam idea of pacifism amidst war is a lot more successful than, say, Gundam Wing. In Gundam Wing, the characters irritatingly paraded the unrealistic notion that wars should not exist and mankind is capable of friendly negotiations and negotiations only….without ever realizing the consequences of such ideas. In Gundam Seed, however, a picture is painted of not only the effects of war, but of the result of blind benevolence, as well. If there’s one thing that brought the plot down, however, it’s the fact that there are way too many coincidences and convenient plot devices. All in all, though, Gundam Seed is almost merciless at times (it even gets a little gory in its final half) and I applaud its ability to paint gray pictures on both conflicting sides, all while giving fangirls/boys something to squeal at.
For all its promise, Gundam Seed holds a few shortcomings. For one, I didn’t really care for any of its characters. Admittedly, Kira is a different person in the final episode than he was in the first, but he has very little personality outside of his, uh, suffering, pain, etc., etc. The same goes for Athrun. In fact, Athrun is worse because he actually has very little screen time in the first half of the series. Furthermore, between you and me, the interaction between Kira and Athrun was a bit too faggoty at times. I wince to think of the sort of fan-fiction...oh, anyways, surprisingly enough, the best characters are women: Cagalli, Flay, and Lacus. Cagalli is great when she is first introduced, but it doesn’t take long for her to transform into a crying gag. How disappointing. Flay (the biggest crybaby in the series) is very entertaining. I’m telling ya, the scenes were her in it are among the best Gundam Seed has to offer. Lacus turns out to be a surprise, but (although having her moments) even she doesn’t have enough screen time to really shine. . In any case, what one makes of the characters probably depends on whether or not the drama that surrounds them can outshine their half-baked characterization. In my case, it does.
You know, I didn’t fall asleep while watching Gundam Seed. Not once. Even Eureka Seven (the least sleep-inducing mecha I watched prior to this) had its tedium. Gundam Seed doesn't know the meaning of tedium, however, and its fast-paced melodrama makes it something that even non-mecha fans won't yawn through. And it even has a satisfying ending. Definitely recommended.
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eyeresist |
(2007-08-13 20:02:42) 2007-04-02 00:06:54 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| SEED is the first Gundam show I saw, and it made a big impression. I've read opinions that it's not as good as previous shows, but I find that hard to believe. I've seen Gundam Wing since watching SEED, and although it has lots of good points, there is no category in which SEED does not exceed it (exSEED - geddit?). (Actually, even compared to an old show like the original Macross, Wing was a step backwards.)
Visually, SEED is stunning for the most part, although things do get a bit crude and drab on Earth, especially in the desert. On the other hand, in space and in the colonies, the visuals have great purity of design, and brilliant colours. I loved the way the characters' eyes looked like beautiful jewels.
Sound and music were also first class, and added greatly to the enjoyment. When the music was played by a symphony orchestra, it had quite an impressive epic feel.
The characters were mostly interesting and believable, and interactions didn't have much of that fake anime drama that some shows rely on - it was all realistic emotions generated by intense situations.
The story is a retelling of the standard Gundam epic, and I was impressed by the believability of the characters and the ongoing dramatic narrative. I guess the story was padded a bit to make it longer, but it wasn't too bad, and helped to make the show feel bigger and more immersive.
If you like science fiction "space opera" epics, and especially want to see that kind of show in a really top-class production, Gundam SEED is the way to go. I'm not hugely into action or mecha shows, but this is definitely in my top 10 as a classic.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Generally, gundam seed is a pretty good anime. I find that it's better than any other gundam series. Gundam Seed was the only series where I had to watch all the episodes, whereas I never could stand watching more than 10 episode of the other gundam series. The best part I found about gundam seed was that it wasn't just all boring talk, there is actually good action along with it, making it much more interesting.
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ceeceexox |
(2007-08-07 18:10:56) 2006-11-03 16:50:10 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Many of the other Gundam animes were boring and not very appealing. I agree wholeheartedly as I felt the same way also. I watched this anime mainly because some of my friends watched it, and I wanted to be able to see why they were so hooked on it.
I do not think that Gundam SEED would appeal to any of the younger viewers as many of the concepts that they mention are harder for younger ones to grasp.
Personally, I don't like anything taking place in the future as to me, it seems very unrealistic. I won't lie and say that Gundam SEED was realistic because logically speaking, it wasnt. Wouldn't it be cool to pilot a gundam though? But as for the characters and the conflicts they struggle, it was real enough for me. The actions of the characters whether main or side were pretty much believable.
Gundam SEED successfully showed us the meaning of war and what it may or may not lead to. They showed the audience the message that they wanted to send with the many fight sequences and conflicts between the two sides.
Although this anime contains much combat, this anime is not revolved around combat only. It shows the romance between the characters and the conflicts each person feels due to the war.
Gundam SEED shows reasons for the characters actions, and words. It shows us what friendship truly is and why we cherish it.
The pace for this anime was not bad. The creators were wise not to turn this into a 100 episode anime as most of the happenings were quite repetitive. I was glad for the 5 minute intros to what happened before because I was watching it on tv once a week. Due to school, friends and such it would have been hard to have to remember what happened in the last episode of Gundam SEED on top of everything else.
All in All this was a great anime lacking in hardly anything. I loved the music. The characters were unforgettable. The plot wasn't too original, but Gundam Seed still was able to capture the audience. The animation was great during fight scenes. Although I would not rewatch it, I do recommend this to any anime fan even if you were discouraged by the other gundam anime series.
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AxioM |
2006-10-02 16:34:13 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Gundam has always been a series that I`ve known of, watched randomly, but could never imagine myself becoming attached to. Gundam disappointed me quite badly with its latest incarnation: (the one preceding SEED) Wing. I was always bored, or unmoved by whatever it was that was going on, despite my best efforts to give it a legitamate try.
Gundam SEED sucked me in almost immediately, meaning that it took a few episodes to get a real handle on the pace of the show, but once that happened, it became apparent to me that I`d be very addicted to this program.
Animation:
In 2002, new age animation was just coming into its own, and SEED takes a step in the right direction for that era. Very detailed facial expressions, and alot of slight changes from frame to frame made the physical reactions of characters alot more realistic. The Gundam`s themselves were pretty impressive (especially the feeling you get from seeing the pilot view from the cockpit, example: The first time Kira pilots the Strike)
Combat sequences were of course the highlight of this show as far as animation, but also, its greatest achilles heel. For being a 50 episode long show, the desire to rehash certain animation sequences must be strong, but it is done a LOT in this show.
Sound:
The Opening sequences:
Invoke by T.M. Revolution is the opening theme song in episodes 01-13.
Moment by Vivian is the opening theme song in episodes 14-26.
Believe by Nami Tamaki is the opening theme song in episodes 27-40.
Realize by Nami Tamaki is the opening theme song in episodes 41-50.
The Ending sequences:
Annani Isshodattanoni by See-Saw is the ending theme song in episodes 01-26.
River by Tatsuya Ishii is the ending theme song in episodes 27-39.
Find the Way by Mika Nakashima is the ending theme song in episodes 40-50.
The voice acting in this show is dramatic and over emotional at times, but then again, the main characters are made up of teenage characters, making it completely appropriate. It`s also easy to appreciate the performance that is done by the all star cast in SEED.
The fantastic OST of SEED alone is reason enough to warrant a high mark.
Story:
A complex story with many twists and turns. Fantastic pacing, and alot of backstory for all events and characters make it very easy to integrate one chain of events to the next. SEED may not exceed at telling an original story, but it certainly retells a very compelling one with its great pacing.
The love stories in the show are very believable, and strongly rival other romantic interactions from other animes as relationships you truly wish to see through to the end.
There is entirely too many flashbacks and way too much recapping though. The creators act as though the viewers will forget what has happened a couple episodes prior. More on this later...
A few loose ends to be hopefully tied up in its next season, but a very satisfying climax to a well paced, well put together story.
Character:
The cast of this show has one thing above all other things going for it: Attachment. It is much easier to be drawn into the plight of your characters when the attachment is strong. The storytelling was done so well, that when things would effect the characters in a dramatic way, it was a moving experience, simply because you felt like you knew them all so well.
The development of the characters was easily the most impressive part. You could see the effects of the war, and the politics that underlined it, visibly changing the mentalities of the main characters as the story progressed.
Character relationships and personalities are also very important to the strength this show possesses. There is blatant reference to sexual situations, intense, thoroughly provoked violence and situations where friends viciously try to kill one another in desperation.
While the story itself is above average, the unforgetable characters are what set the mood for this show, and are the biggest reason to tune in for the next episode.
Value:
Let`s face it, Gundam series` have a history of being long. In SEED`s case, it`s ok, because of the great storytelling. The first 5-6 minutes of every episode (including intro) is total recap, with rarely a bit of something you haven`t seen before. That`s over 25% of every episode dedicated to footage or events you have previously seen. Add in the fact that there is quite alot of flashback storytelling of events you`ve also already seen, maybe even more than once.
Taking these things into consideration, somewhere around 30-40% of this series is rehashing the same things you`ve already seen.
War is horrible, and some people are willing to put aside anything, including friendship and family ties, for their ideals. SEED illustrates this feeling beautifully.
I was truly impressed, and surprised by this series. Going into it with high expectations due to the Japanese hype, but low personal expectations due to past exposure to Gundam programs, I was not a bit disappointed.
Gundam SEED gives new life to a timeless franchise, with fantastic storytelling, nearly perfect character development, and fun action.
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