Flay Alstar’s decision to fully enlist with the Earth
Alliance, following her fathers tragic death, spurs Kira Yamato and the others
to follow suit. As the Archangel
descends to Earth, Rau Le Cruset is more determined than ever to capture them
and his hot headed team of Mobile Suit pilots are tired of constant defeat at Kira’s
hands. The trials of Kira Yamato
continue to burden the tired Gundam pilot as the battlefield moves from the
distant stars to the unpredictable sands of the Sahara desert. Little does Kira know, there are those
willing to take advantage of his pain and desire to protect…and they may be more
dangerous than any Mobile Suit pilot he has faced so far.
In Star War: The Last Jedi, Luke Skywalker infamously
said “This is not going to go the way you think.” Anyone who thought that The Last Jedi would
be a near carbon copy of The Empire Strikes back just as many thought The Force
Awakens was that for A New Hope, were proven very wrong. The same could be said of Gundam Seed. While it looks like it will again retread
familiar ground akin to Gundam 0079, it takes a sharp turn and ups the ante in
some unexpected and occasionally twisted ways.
I’ll agree with the general fan consensus that Kira
Yamato is the most weepy of the Gundam protagonists. In a way, I do feel for him. Kira is a very different protagonist from
Amuro Ray in Gundam 0079. Kira isn’t
piloting the Gundam to survive. He’s
doing so to protect the friends he has left on the Archangel and he isn’t
lording it over everyones heads that he’s the only one who can pilot the
Gundam…that’s everyone elses job apparently.
There was a bit of a tug of war being played with Kira by his superiors
on the Archangel: Murrue wanted him to disembark when he had the chance so he
could go live and be free; Natarle and many others see Kira as a valuable asset
that shouldn’t be cut loose when he’s the only one qualified to pilot the
Strike; and Mu is the odd balance of the two-treating Kira like a human being
while mentoring him in the ways of war. But when the pressure mounts and Kira
is overwhelmed, he isn’t afraid to go someplace alone and wail a little
bit. It’s a natural, human reaction…one
that gets taken advantage of but trust me, I’ll go more into detail about that
later. One thing is for sure, whatever
mysterious “berserker” ability Kira has is bad ass and he was able to go triple
toe to toe with Yzak, Dearka and Nicol all at once…that’s impressive kid.
We reached the point where the Archangel would change
battle stages from space to Earth. As I
said above, this didn’t go quite as…smoothly, as the White Base’s descent. The battle in Earth’s gravity was
vicious. Athrun, Yzak, Dearka and Nicol
laid waste to the Earth Alliance 8th Fleet almost single
handidly. It makes me wonder why the
hell ZAFT hasn’t won this war already if their pilots are this good. Sure they didn’t have Gundams but I don’t
recall any kind of Antarctic Treaty being signed between the Earth Alliance and
ZAFT. What’s holding the Coordinators
back from ending this sooner rather than later?
They certainly aren’t beyond monstrous tactics. Loose cannon Yzak proved that by blowing up a
civilian shuttle (believing it was full of soldiers) in a fit of rage because
Kira messed up his face. Screw you
A-Hole, and you’re one man back up dancer Dearka while you’re at it (seriously,
the only reason Dearka is in this show is to give us a 5 man Gundam crew like
in Gundam Wing and agree with Yzak without question).
But if anyone deserves true scorn in this set of
episodes, it’s Flay Alster once again. I
think I’m going to have to start a section for each review dedicating to
bashing on Flay because she is that despicable.
She’s gone from mourning to psychopathic manipulator. Let’s see: Flay uses a kid to inspire Kira to
fight; then joins the military to partly convince Kira to stay; THEN kisses him
and breaks up with Sai just to make sure she is the sole thing on his mind in
battle; THEN she outright says she’s going to make sure Kira keeps fighting
until the day he dies as punishment for not protecting her father. Flay…I don’t often use swears like this in
reviews but I have to invoke one of my best friends favorite Chris Tucker
lines, “You are one CRAZY ASS BITCH!!!”
This show isn’t without characters to hate on but Flay jumped to the top
of the list in an instant and I don’t think she’s being dethroned anytime
soon. So yeah, further rants to follow
I’m sure.
A few other odds and ends to cover in this set. Rau Le Crueset continues to be a poor mans
Char. He’s just standing around and
doing very little besides snickering cause…well I don’t know yet, I guess just
to look cool. By this point in Gundam
0079, Char was a major antagonist and rival for Amuro, having faced him and the
White Base in battle several times. Rau
hasn’t done squat, leaving the dirty work to Athrun who…uhhh, ok I’m gonna get
hate for this but I’m not a big Athrun fan right now. He just seems so…blank and emotionless right
now. Maybe its because we haven’t spent
a lot of time with him but there’s little to like about him at the moment. And speaking of characters I want to like:
Natarle. I get that she’s supposed to be
Murrue’s foil, the one who will not hesitate to make the hard call she thinks
is right when her Captain hesitates. But
I cant get a true read on her. Is
Natarle looking to take over completely? Is she all about the promotion or is she
really just trying to do “whatever it takes” to make sure the Archangel and
Strike make it to Alaska? I want to like
Natarle and I want her to get along with Murrue, who really shined playing the
supportive big sister to Kira (rightfully so since it is kind of her fault hes
piloting the Gundam anyway). I just cant
get a proper read of her motivations.
Lastly, the animation continues to bug me. More so this time around, it’s because as
intense as the Earth Atmo battle was, I still feel like we were watching a lot
of ships and Mobile Suits slide across the screen rather than moving. I know that makes little sense but again, you
compare this to another Gundam show like Gundam 00 after this era and you can
tell how much better Gundam looks compared to Seed, no contest.
So, where are we now?
Kira’s being mentally manipulated by Flay. The Archangel landed in Africa, right in the
middle of ZAFT territory. And Cagalli’s
ready to enter the fray…and so’s a guy who I guess is going to be our Ramba Ral
of the series. Some of the characters
might be testing me. But Gundam Seed is
continuing to be an interesting experience to say the least. Keep it up Gundam Seed. I’ll see ya next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment