Cosmic Era 73. The
Junius Seven colony falls to Earth, plunging the planet into disaster and ZAFT
and the Earth Alliance into another war.
As many struggle to recover from the chaos, a black ops Alliance unit
known as Phantom Pain is dispatched to capture data regarding an AI meant for a
long in development deep space exploration experiment, codenamed
Stargazer. One beautiful Coordinator
scientist is determined to see this project through, taking on the role of pilot
of the projects Gundam Stargazer. In the
end it will take her efforts and those of a Phantom Pain pilot bred for combat
since childhood to see it through.
While technically our time in the Cosmic Era should be
through, I decided to throw in one more review to officially close out Gundam
Month Mark IV-THE GAUNTLET. You don’t
hear too much about Stargazer in most circles and after watching it, it’s easy
to see why. This three part Original Net
Animation (ONA) is incredibly short, each episode clocking in at about 15
minutes each, and, in the end, has nothing to do with the events of Gundam Seed
Destiny (the show during which this little side story happens). That’s not to say there aren’t any good
things about Stargazer, it’s just not enough to justify its existence in the
end.
Some of Stargazer’s best moments are from the very
beginning and that makes sense given the area it covers. The Junius Seven drop was easily the high
point of Gundam Seed Destiny, the game changer that took the conflict to the
next level before squandering it’s promise with everything else. We get to see more of the aftermath of that
disaster and it is rough with cities flooded and citizens in terror. Honestly, this ONA could have been about a
group of survivors dealing with the aftermath in their own way…and we kind of
do, it just isn’t a very interesting tale.
I get wanting to save a very important deep space project when there’s a
risk it will be destroyed in this disaster.
But after getting it into space, is now really the time to keep focusing
on it? There is a war that comes after
the Junius Seven drop and yet Selene and the DSSD are content to just tweak
their new Gundam which could’ve been a game changer given what it could do in
battle. That plus the development of an
AI, which we see none of in Seed or Seed Destiny, makes me think this ONA was
reaching a bit with its premise and got ahead of itself.
Between the two lead characters, Sven and Selene, Sven
has the more detailed and interesting backstory. He’s the protagonist I wish Shinn Asuka could
have been in Seed Destiny: he’s suffered a tremendous loss and was trained to
be a soldier since he was at a young age.
He’s forced to commit heinous acts of violence for a corrupt branch of
the military but he takes zero joy out of it and would probably not smile if he
was patted on the back for his job like Shinn was. I felt bad for Sven and his story couldve
provided a deeper look into the Phantom Pain unit which barely got a lot of
attention in Seed Destiny outside of Neo and his Extended kids (who all make
cameos to show theyre all in the same unit).
Selene is beautiful and idealistic and a brilliant scientist…but her
story isn’t that interesting compared to Svens.
Considering we get most of Sven’s life story in the second episode,
Selene barely gets equal amounts time dedicated to her story beyond her bonding
with the Stargazer AI and reminiscing about her would be love interest who dies
heroically early on in the story. Were
this show bigger and more thought out, maybe she and Sven couldve become a
couple and she couldve helped heal Sven’s wounds while being a strong female
character capable of holding her own.
And actually, that’s the biggest problem with
Stargazer. Three fifteen minute episodes
is hardly enough time to do this story proper justice. Characters are introduced and killed off
without a lot of emotional connection (though I was happy to see Sven’s murder
happy Shinn equivalent mowed down after his little genocidal frenzy). The true intent of the Stargazer project
remains a bit of a mystery and the final fate of Sven and Selene is equally
ambivalent. And what effect does the
Stargazer project have in the larger scope of the Cosmic Era and the Second
Bloody Valentine War? The answer to that
last question is none. When you look at
other Gundam side stories like Gundam 0080, 08th MS Team and
Thunderbolt, you can see why they were made and how they organically fit not
just into the Universal Century timeline, but the One Year War, and why they
were stories that needed to be told.
Stargazer starts off on the right track with the fallout of Junius
Seven. But the deep space project has no
bearing on any aspect of Seed Destiny and in the end…just feels sadly
pointless.
I wonder what this ONA could have been if it had been
three full 30-45 minute episodes, or maybe even six 30 minute episodes. The extra time couldve given it a chance to
open up, develop underdeveloped plot points and even provide an interesting
direction the Seed franchise couldve taken post Seed Destiny. Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73: Stargazer is
getting a low score but oddly enough, I don’t hate this ONA. It has some good ideas and a good beginning
point but ultimately feels incredibly incomplete. Which is a shame because I liked more of what
I saw here than I saw in the whole of Gundam Seed Destiny (further emphasizing
how sad that travesty is). The action is
brutal and gut wrenching. There’s a main
character who actually got some solid character development and backstory and
didn’t feel like an absolute douche like Shinn Asuka or half the cast of Seed
Destiny. The Stargazer Gundam is a thing
of beauty. This story had some potential
if it could just focus on which side of the side story it really wanted to
tell. I’m really not mad, I’m just
sad…this couldve been something special, a true win that the Cosmic Era needed
after Seed Destiny. I guess I’ll now
think of Stargazer like I think of Gundam F91: a poorly executed story that one
day deserves to have it’s story told in full properly…one day.
5/10
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