REVIEW - GUNDAM SEED

Story & Characters

I know what you think... blah, yet another Gundam SEED review, don't these people have something better to do? However, after having seen the series and having read some of the reviews and opinions here, I really feel like stating my point of view as well... so read if you like and comment if you feel like it. On with the review! 

In my view, the story is the main weak point of the series. I haven't seen any of the other Gundam series (except for Gundam SEED Destiny), but even so I couldn't help but notice the acute lack of originality. Basically, it's just 'another' war story, with the hero who doesn't want to fight, but has to do so in order to protect those he care for, the other hero who knows what he fights for, but after encountering his friend on the battlefield begins to question the reasons he fights for, the innocent people that suffer because of the war and so on. Basically everything in the story left me with a strong 'been there, seen that' impression'.

Rating: 5 (moderate)

Art

There's no arguing that the art is one of the strong points of Gundam SEED. The characters are pleasant enough, even though one might think they look a bit *too* similar at times and the only way to distinguish between them is the unusual hair & eye color. Also, throughout the series their looks and their expressions fit well with their personality and their feelings at a given time. However, the 'extra cast' - random Earth Alliance or ZAFT military, or, in other words, the people who show up in order to be killed to heighten the dramatic effect of the series - are strikingly similar... but since they usually die after five to ten seconds from being seen in the first place, I guess it doesn't matter much. The ships and the gundams are drawn with a remarcable attention to the details and I don't think I'm mistaken when I say that they're the best-looking... erm... things from the entire series.

One disturbing thing though is the large amount of footage that's being 'recycled', so to speak. There are many sequences that are being re-played, from the launching sequences to ships or units being blown up during battle. That can be quite annoying at times and gives a nasty impression of deja-vu.

Rating: 9 (very good)

Sound

I liked the opening and ending themes, even though the opening themes were quite similar to each other. The ending themes, on the other hand, were quite remarcable, especially the last one. The voice acting was good (I'm talking about the Japanese voices here - I've only gotten to see the first five episodes of the dubbed version and I was sadly disappointed, especially by the part sung by Lacus) and even remarkable for some characters like Cagalli and Natal Badgeroule (<--I don't know if I spelled that right... I never knew how to spell that name ). The only voice that didn't quite fit was Raw le Klueze's voice, which seemed like a total ripoff of the voices of villiains from other series.

Rating: 8 (good)

Presentation

There are a few points that lower the quality of this series. First, certain scenes seem fake and artificial, and the way certain characters just 'happen' to be at the right place and at the right time for the right thing to happen becomes quite irritating at one point. Also, I've never been able to understand how did soldiers belonging to different factions manage to communicate through radio. I mean, it would seem logical for them to use separate channels, right? That didn't make sense. Some characters were characterized in detail, while others were not characterized at all, like the three pilots of the Earth Alliance's new units. I truly think there was more to them than those "Annihilate! Obliterate! Kill!" sort of lines. Same goes for Orb's pilots (the three girls). Finally, there were certain points that weren't explained properly in the end, which left the impression that the story was patched up together and the writers didn't mind that some things didn't fit in.

All in all, this series is enjoyable enough, but I've seen better ones. You should watch it if you have the chance though ;)

Rating: 7 (above average)

Final Verdict: 6.83 (good)