REVIEW - GUNDAM SEED DESTINY

Story & Characters

After seeing and reviewing the original Gundam SEED series, it felt only right that I did the same for the sequel.

Let's begin with the story... Like in the first series, the story in GSD clearly doesn't stand out through originality. Many events are strikingly similar to those in the prequel. Another batch of new-and-insanely-powerful units is stolen. Another soldier who was living a nice and peaceful life is dragged to the war after losing everything he had. Once again, Athrun and Kira are forced to fight each other. There's a new bad guy who wants to destroy PLANT and exterminate the Coordinator race forever, and there's a new seemingly good guy who claims he can save the world and the human race from itself and offer everyone a better future. Even if you haven't seen too many anime series yet, you'll most likely have a bitter sense of deja-vu once again. But all these flaws can be overlooked, because the story in itself is dynamic and well-written, although you'll probably be disturbed by corny speeches and OOC-ness (for reference, OOC - Out Of Character) from time to time. Another negative point is the 'good-guy-gone-bad' and 'bad-guy-gone-good' routine. Again, been there, done that.

Most of the recurring characters, like Kira or Athrun, are portrayed nicely. Both Kira and Athrun have become more mature (although they still have their own dilemmas to sort out). So did Lacus, although her next to total dependence on Kira may seem annoying for some fans (to me, it certainly did). Cagalli has a somewhat wild temper, going from crying brat to strong-willed woman in the blink of an eye, which seems somewhat normal if we consider that she lost her father, took part in a decisive battle and was then propelled in a crucial position which involved plenty of responsability and pressure, and all this while she was still in her teens.

On the other hand, the new characters aren't always that well developed. If characters like Rey, Shinn or Meer are deeply characterized, Lunamaria, Meyrin, Arthur and a few others are simply "there" to spice up the plot. PLANT's chairman, Gilbert Dullindal, and Lord Djibril, head of the Logos organization, are both convincing in their parts as opposed antagonists.

Rating: 8 (good)

Art

For short, Gundam SEED Destiny is eye-candy. Fron stunning sunset / sunrise scenes, to ship and mobile suit design and even character design, GSD couldn't look any better. There are also a few CG effects, used for the Minerva and the shots taken outside of PLANT. The characters aren't too different from each other essentially (again, the artists resorted to flashy hair / eye color to make a difference between various characters, which isn't entirely bad).

The amount of recycled footage has been lowered, but on the other hand there are plenty - and I mean *plenty* of annoying flashbacks from both Gundam SEED and Gundam SEED Destiny. Personally, I would've stuck with the recycled footage... it's definitely better than seeing Shinn's family die over and over again or going through the battle of Junius Seven a bajillion times over.

Rating: 9 (very good)

Sound

The music was somewhat disappointing to me. The last two intros were a poor choice, at least in my view, in oposition to the first one, which was rather catchy. The endings were good enough. On the other hand, the background music was certainly of a lower value than in Gundam SEED. There were hardly any remarkable tunes, and at one point during one of the final episodes, they stuck in some opera bit which left me baffled. Why the heck would they use *opera* in an anime like that? I think the best themes were those sang by Lacus and Meer - especially Meer's version of 'Silent Night' (Shizukana Yoru Ni).

The voices were nicely done (again, I'm talking about the Japanese version) - with a few notable exceptions for a few characters whose voices took some time to get used to and were fairly annoying at first.

Rating: 6 (average)

Presentation

Like any anime, Gundam SEED Destiny has its good points and its bad points. The question is which ones prime overall. Let's take a look...

On the good side, the story is nicely developed and is well linked to that in the first series. We finally get to find out what Earth Alliance's 'extended' pilots really are (a side story which spreads some light on the behavior of the first three extended pilots in Gundam SEED - Shani, Orga and Crot). We finally get to see Raw Le Klueze's face for once (I just had to point that out XP). Also, the questions and problems raised by this series are quite deep and sometimes they leave you pondering. And finally, Gundam SEED Destiny contains a few bits of humour, which are pretty enjoyable, even though there's not that many of them.

On the bad side... *sigh* Unfortunately, there are plenty of negative aspects that need to be pointed out. From the disturbing amount of flashbacks (and believe me, there are a LOT of them, and plenty of recap episodes as well), to illogic behavior and occurances (how did Shinn get so strong and so suddenly, anyway?) and to OOC-ness and striking similarities to the first series (it would take me at least half a screen to make a complete list of them), these points dramatically lower the quality of the series to the point where you find yourself shaking your fist at the screen and growling in anger ("What, yet *another* flashback?" "Why did he DO that? Wasn't he supposed to be a GOOD guy?!" "Oh no, here we go with the old good-guy-gone-bad routine...").

But all in all, this anime is a good series and is worth watching. Please do so if you have the chance. Unless you're not an extremely critic spirit (like me), you'll most likely enjoy it.

Rating: 7 (above average)

Final Verdict: 7.50 (good)