Gundam SEED Destiny

[Rurouni H]

Heh, I though Stellar waltzing off the cliff was pretty funny (but not as funny as Athrun discovering Meer in his bed :lol:. I'm a little suprised Shinn forgot when he met her back on the PLANT. At least Athrun was a little sharper and remembered seeing her, Auel and Sting there. Ah well.

I've been following the specualtion on animeondvd, <a href="http://www.aeug.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Gunota</a> and <a href="http://www.gundamwatch.net/invision/" target="_blank">Gundam Watch</a>. If I may...

1) Neo = Mwu. Evidence: They have the same VA and Murrue looks majorly shocked in Opening Video 2 to see the face behind Neo's mask... at the very least, this guy has to be another Clone, but I reckon it's Mwu himself.

Highly probable, although the Strike Gundam getting totalled by the Dominion's Lohengrins dents this theory slightly. Although Mu's helmet was shown floating in space, which might account for loss of memory (Oxygen deprivation made Tem Ray in First Gundam insane, so its possible I guess), this was apparently removed in the SEED Special Edition Movies. Rey Za Burrel is probably a clone or something as well, judging by the way he acts around Gibert Dullandil (hugging?), who was revealed to be a DNA specialist a while back. Hes outright crafty anyway.

2) Stellar is Shinn's Sister. Evidence: The theme of the Destiny series, seems to be loss of memory. Stellar also looks quite like Shinn's sister. Aside from this, there isn't really anything concrete, but it seems a possibility to me

Slightly less feasible, on account of her getting blown to pieces by stray MS fire. The clone theory is more likely here. You've probably heard the other speculations about her name being an anagram of Allster, or the comparison of her turning out like Rosamia Badam from Zeta Gundam. Shinn finds a cheerful little reasearch facility in episode 25 apparently, so we'll probably get some sort of answer then...

3) Haine (Not sure if that name is right. Anyway, the orange haired FAITH member voiced by TM Revolution) will be the first character (though only minor really) to die, possibly killed by Kira.

Given that Nishikawa's last character was Miguel who was dead by episode 3 of SEED, it wouldn't be surprising. Isn't he supposed to get killed in the confusion of Kira intervening in the Orb/Phantom Pain vs Minerva fight?

4) Dearka and Yzak are lovers. Well, it'll never be in the series, but I always get the vibe that there is something between those two ^^

Wasn't Yzak supposed to have a girlfriend or fiancee in this series? I thought she was the girl sitting next to Yzak in the first ending... Yzak's clothes in episode 11 made me laugh. He has zero dress sense. Makes you feel kind of sorry for Dearka having to hang around with him .

I'm so looking foward to the Destiny Gundam...

 

[kupocake]

Given that Nishikawa's last character was Miguel who was dead by episode 3 of SEED, it wouldn't be surprising. Isn't he supposed to get killed in the confusion of Kira intervening in the Orb/Phantom Pain vs Minerva fight?

Word is that he was only contracted until Episode Episode 23 or possibly 24. It seems extremely likely he cops it. Judging from the Synopses I've seen, this episode is where the Phantom Pain+Orb vs Minerva vs Archangel battle is. It's a bit sad really - they've not given us enough time to particuarly form an opinion on the character and... splat!

 

[Rurouni H]

Yep, with Heine biting the dust pretty quickly, I have to start wondering if Mitsuo Fukuda is Yoshiyuki tomino in disguise...

I wonder how bad his death will be, considering SEED has some of the most grusome (and bizarre) Gundam death scenes I've seen (Nichol, Tolle, Shinn's family, and that nameless Dagger L pilot who got it in the neck in episode 18 spring to mind).

 

[Rurouni H]

Dude! Heine got a totally wicked death - sliced through the back with Stellar's 'Griffon 2' beam blades! And so Takanori Nishikawa died... again.

 

[Rurouni H]

Oh WOW. Episode 25 was amazing. And forgive me for acting like a fanboy, but DOMs!! In the new intro! Heh, I guess with the way we've seen the ZAKU and GOUF it was only a matter of time. Anyone for a GELGOOG or ZEONG?

I was pleased some light was shed on the Alliance's Biological CPU experiments, since nothing was ever explained about about the Druggies from SEED (well, nothing of usefulness anyway).

Was it me, or did that opening give away far too much? I take it we're supposed to belive Mu is Neo, Stellar will pilot the Destroy Gundam, and that Athrun will drift away from Cagalli? At least two of those would make sense with the mass amount of MSG/Zeta homages being made. Hmmm...

I find it incredibly funny that the Freedom has replaced the Impulse as the opening screen mecha now. Farewell, Shinn Asuka, you were obviously not interesting enough to feature in your own show. Shame...

 

[Six]

Was it me, or did that opening give away far too much?

Seed has always done that...
Like what the couples are going to be in the end, ie the nude Kira/Lacus and Shinn/Stellar in the openings.
Unfortunately, it is what some fans only seem to care about, the who will get with who in the end.
And no matter how much you tell them 'it isn't supposed to be a romance!', they still have to come up with a list of which character should get with whichever character, and they leave not one living character out.
btb this is one of the most annoying things about some fans of GSD.

I find it incredibly funny that the Freedom has replaced the Impulse as the opening screen mecha now. Farewell, Shinn Asuka, you were obviously not interesting enough to feature in your own show. Shame...

I never liked Shinn Asuka anyway. Too much a whinging bitch to be the main character.

 

[kupocake]

I never liked Shinn Asuka anyway. Too much a whinging bitch to be the main character.

And there I was thinking that being a whinging bitch was a requirement of being a main character. That'll be why I like Loran over all other main character Gundam pilots - he just does what people tell him too and doesn't get all "I'm going to write about this in my livejournal and then you'll pay" about it all. "Loran; drive me here" "Yes Miss!" "Loran, go off and fight the enemy here" "Yes Sir!" "Loran, put on a dress and give the lieutenant of the royal guard something to fantasise about" "Right away Sir!"

Haven't seen episode 25 yet - waiting for the english subs to roll out. I can't watch it raw when I've no grasp of Japanese....

Edit: "I find it incredibly funny that the Freedom has replaced the Impulse"

Just seen screengrabs of the opening on Gunota. TBH, it occurs to me that they're waiting to play their trump card on this one. No-one particuarly cares about Impulse anymore, but as they haven't officially unveiled Destiny (except we do see it a bit more here), Freedom is the next best thing. TBH, after having watched a little bit of non-seed gundam, i'm thinking that Seed is far, far crapper than I ever realised. Well, at least it's not Gundam X, but it's deriative to the point of ridiculousness and the people behind the story seem a tad inept at actually steering events. Hence why Shinn was thought up and then neglected... for the time being...

Edit2: I like how Gunota put it actually: "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (guest-starring Shinn Asuka) "

 

[Rurouni H]

Well, at least it's not Gundam X, but it's deriative to the point of ridiculousness and the people behind the story seem a tad inept at actually steering events.

Um... how was X deriative?

 

[valha]

what dose everyone think about the new opening i like it least out of all the Gundam seed opening so far. I had to karkaoe for this one and i found it boring.

 

[kupocake]

Well, at least it's not Gundam X, but it's deriative to the point of ridiculousness and the people behind the story seem a tad inept at actually steering events.

Um... how was X deriative?

"at least it's not Gundam X, but it's deriative" <- "," + "but" indicates that i'm talking about Destiny, not X. X wasn't deriative in the least bit, well only on the terms that it's supposed to be a parallel universe but that's forgiveable. Frankly though, i'm glad that Gundam X isn't deriative. That would mean that there's another series as mind-numbingly below average out there...

 

[Rurouni H]

Ah right. The 'at least' sounded like you were making X to be more deriative than SEED.

In regard to SEED and Destiny, whats with the negativity all of a sudden?

 

[kupocake]

In regard to SEED and Destiny, whats with the negativity all of a sudden?

After having got round to watching other Gundam series, it just occurs to me that Seed and Destiny aren't as good as it gets. They're good enough, but they do serve a little too much as visual updates of the UC series' (and the alternates as well in a way). It frustrates me a bit that that goal isn't even consistant - there are far too many duplicate animation scenes and the plentiful recap episodes (I reckon the next one will be #29) aren't even restricted to just recap episodes - we're reminded far too much of events, just as if we'd forgotten them. It's a shame because the Seed animes have a fair bit of potential, even though Destiny wise, the people behind it don't seem to be clear on a direction...

edit: ooh... ep#25 sub will finish downloading in under 2hrs here... for all my bitching, it will be exciting to find out what happened after the last episode (which was pretty good really)

 

[Six]

I agree... there are way too many recap episodes. I mean there are enough 'flashbacks' of events in the standard episodes that there is no need for recaps.

I'm sure that there was two recap episodes back to back in Seed.

 

[Rurouni H]

Yeah, I'll agree with you there. God, I was bored stiff after seeing Nichol's demise replayed about 30 times over before the conclusion of SEED. Maybe Fukuda did it to make sure everybody knew he was dead, and there was no way he could come back. Actually, come to think about it, if anybody gets less than five flashback scenes to their 'death', they're probably alive. And yeah, there were far too many clip shows (3?), only one of which did it's job fairly well. Its not like clip shows are uncommon in Gundam, but SEED sets new records for pointless recaps. Doesn't make the overall show terrible though.

I'm not sure about forced direction though... Meh, I'll wait until the series finishes until I make my verdict on that one.

 

[Six]

According to the rumour mill (which has been VERY busy as of late, PM for details) Episode 28 or 29 is another recap.

 

[kupocake]

Episode 29 Seems most likely:

ep 29 "FATES" - Dullindal begins to talk about the past. Memories of those who have died and ones who continue to fight come across his mind.

 

[Six]

Episode 29 Seems most likely:

ep 29 "FATES" - Dullindal begins to talk about the past. Memories of those who have died and ones who continue to fight come across his mind.

that's the one.

*sigh* another recap...

 

[kupocake]

Episode 29 Seems most likely:

ep 29 "FATES" - Dullindal begins to talk about the past. Memories of those who have died and ones who continue to fight come across his mind.

that's the one.

*sigh* another recap...

"and just in case you've forgotten what has happened in the last 8 episodes... here's a new recap show!"

[truth detector]our budget is running a little low and we need to give the obsolete models a final sales push, so here's another lazy recap show![/truth detector]

Oh well, I suppose it means we get to hear a whole episode of Dullindal's sexy voice... I just hope they don't fill Episode 30 up with Flashbacks... "all of you who skipped the last episode - you thought you could escape didn't you!!! MUHAAHAHAHAHAH"

 

[Rurouni H]

[truth detector]our budget is running a little low and we need to give the obsolete models a final sales push, so here's another lazy recap show![/truth detector]

Ouch, scathing! (though you're probably right!) Its worth mentioning that Gundam has always had the models as part of it's selling scheme, its just a damn sight more blatent here. Bandai made sure that they were calling the shots on both of the SEED productions (heh, maybe they didn't trust Tomino after the Turn-A thing. Serves them right after what happened with V), and you have Fukuda as director (who always said his Gundam was about the robots more than the story) on top of that. Not that its worked out too badly, I'm still enjoying this at the moment, especially after the last phase which brought back some of the more Zeta-esque darkness.

Oh well, I suppose it means we get to hear a whole episode of Dullindal's sexy voice...

Useless Fact that-you-probably-knew-already-but-what-the-hell-I'm-going-to-tell-you-anyway: Shuuichi Ikeda is also the Seiyuu for Char Aznable.

 

[kupocake]

(heh, maybe they didn't trust Tomino after the Turn-A thing.)

Sometimes you feel like you're alone in something... this is one of those things. Why do so few people like the look of the Turn A? I think it's a great looking MS. Yes it has a Moustache, but that's just cute or something! Once you get other the inital shock factor of seeing a giant robot walking around with a massive metalic moustache, you realise that it actually looks quite cool. The other gundam series all look a little Samey to me, but Turn A really shook things up. Perhaps Turn-A as a series gets kudos from me simply because it isn't trying to ram merchandise down my throat... but I don't really understand the widespread dislike for it...