“What are you fighting for?” One could say that’s a
question asked in every single Gundam series.
And it was about time Gundam Seed took a step back and took a look at
that same question while also gearing up for the beginning of the end. I’m happy to say this set of episodes was
both reflective and action packed. It
leaves a little to be desired with a few characters, old and new, but the show
hasn’t let up on the momentum of the last ten or so episodes and I’m very happy
for that.
That question above was on everyones mind. The Archangel and her crew were officially
deserters. Athrun was tasked with
capturing Lacus, now a fugitive, and recapturing the Freedom, now in the hands
of Kira. And a couple of ZAFT faces had
their own minds to make up too. For nation
and duty? For the safety of the Earth or
the PLANTS? Or is it for something more near and dear like a best friend or the
one you love? What are you fighting for,
indeed. Well everyone got their
answer. Kira and Athrun finally met
again, this time to bury the hatchet and begin to repair their fractured
friendship, complete with Cagalli giving them a group hug and calling them
idiots for putting her through so much.
Dearka made up his mind to stay with the Archangel crew. I’d say it’s because he’s grown a bit since
his stay, and he definitely has. But I
wonder if it’s because he has a newfound fondness for Miriallia. I doubt he’s gonna make a move anytime soon
cause he should no better than to make a pass at a girl still grieving her lost
boyfriend. And, at long last, Mu La
Flagga finally kissed Murrue Ramius…it’s about damn time. Oh and Mu got to pilot a rebuilt Strike
Gundam…but that seems small compared to him winning the beautiful Captains
heart.
That does leave this united, merry band caught in the
middle of a war of the worlds. Most of the pressure came from the Earth
Alliance, desperate to get into Space to take the fight to ZAFT. It’s here we got introduced to Muruta Azrael
aka the Head of Blue Cosmos and sitting in some key position on the Earth
Alliance Board of Power. He’s a slimy little jerk and is more than happy to
watch Orb burn in order to get his way: get to space and kill all the
Coordinators, tis the racist way of Blue Cosmos after all. I don’t get how or why the Earth Alliance
flat our supports such bigotry in their ranks but then again they also sacrificed
their own forces to eliminate more than half of ZAFTs back at Alaska, I should
just say screw them all and hope they get their just rewards. Azrael also brings with him three psychotic,
pill popping hot shots, each with a Gundam unit of their own. These three were pretty annoying, prone to
violent outburst against the enemy…and each other, yeah these guys are loose
cannons who could even turn on their master…yeah I’m ok with that.
Much like the Sanc Kingdom it was inspired by, Orb was
forced into a corner and made one last epic stand against the Earth
Alliance. It was pretty cool to see
Kira, Athrun and even Dearka fighting side by side at last and doing an awesome
job too. I will say, I’ve had my issues
with how the animation treated some of the earlier battles of Gundam Seed, but
things have improved. Alaska, Panama and
Orb all have had brutally excellent action sequences that make good use of this
Digi Paint Era of Anime. It’s not
holding back on the gruesome violence that’s for sure. It’s not gory but it’s not clean either, it’s
an appropriate level (and trust me, I’ve seen far worse amounts of blood in
Gundam). Poor Cagalli though. Not only did the cute, blonde spitfire lose
her country and her father (WHO WENT OUT LIKE A BOSS) but he also left her with
one mega level bombshell. Yes, Cagalli
and Kira are brother and sister…we already knew that.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a lot of my favorite disaster
artist Flay this time around. She’s
currently freaking out in Rau Le Crueset’s hands and man is he reveling in
knowing she cant do squat to escape, lest Flay end up killed in the process. As funny as it is to laugh at Flay now in her
personal Coordinator surrounding Hell, ive gotta ask…just what the heck is Rau
Le Crueset’s endgame or reason for being in this series besides being the Char
Clone? He’s been chuckling at everything
happening in the background, like he has some secret plan that hasn’t been
revealed yet. Well, there’s only ten
episodes left and there’s plenty of bad guy fodder to go around for Kira and
company. Le Crueset hasn’t done anything
of merit since the start of the series so he’s gonna have to make big waves
before I write him off as a more forgettable would be Char than Gundam
Unicorn’s Full Frontal.
I guess all anyone needs to figure out is what the heck
the plan is, once everyone is safe in space.
Whatever the destination or goal may be, “We’re in the endgame
now”. See ya right back here for more
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and let’s see if the show can pull off an original
ending or make some last minute omages to other series of Gundams past
(there’ve been like 4 shows at least touched on so far).
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