It is a time of uncertainty for all. Cagali desperately tries to keep Orb from
siding with the Earth Alliance in this new war though she finds herself
outmaneuvered and forced into an uncomfortable compromise. Athrun returns to ZAFT, intent on making sure
the crimes once committed are not repeated.
And Kira and Lacus find themselves targets for assassination by an
unknown group. Shinn, however, finds his
star on the rise after a battle sees him showcasing skills that rival those of
Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala. The time
may come for those who wished to avoid battle to return to the front lines,
where newer and deadlier foes await.
It looks like I might’ve been right about this series
peaking so early. Not that good things
haven’t happened but Gundam Seed Destiny is having a little bit of a balancing
problem with its cast. New characters
aren’t getting their time to shine or grow and old favorites are being treated
kind of unfairly. Much like the world
after the Junius Seven drop, things are a little chaotic all over the place
right now.
So Orb has decided to join the Atlantic Federation and,
as a result, side against ZAFT. Cagalli
is dead on determined to prevent this but she is constantly being stonewalled
and belittled by the fat Elvis looking Prime Minister and his sleezy son who
she is engaged too. Cagalli has spent
most of this series played as either incompetent or highly emotional in all the
wrong ways. This girl should be laying
the smackdown on everyone or anyone dumb enough to question her ideals, much
like her father. It is a difficult
position she’s been put in but Cagalli could always stand firm in her
beliefs. But between Shinn and her
advisors, Cagalli’s been left in the cold without support of her friends or the
writers who misplaced the awesome spine she had in Seed. And Kira…jeez he has like one monotone
emotion now. It’s like he’s closed
himself off from having any kind of feeling other than “eh”. I’m happy he got back into the Freedom at
last because a guy can only stand on a beach looking at whatever while the
world goes to hell and he doesn’t want to do anything to stop it. I mean did we forget Kira is the one who gets
worked up and Cagalli is the one who is there to be the voice of reason?
Youd think this was all being done to make the new
characters look better. But the crew of
the Minerva hasn’t really had a lot of time to be explored outside of the
combat zone. Sure we get glimpses of
conversations between the pilots and their mechanics but nothing in depth and
nothing that makes them all stand out.
Who is this new crew we’re supposed to be following in this series? Besides Shinn we don’t know anything special
about his shipmates. What little we do
know is that Captain Talia has a thing with Durandal on the side, apparently. Also Lunamaria is super into Athrun and is
the recipient of a major fan service shot.
What sucks is that I want to know more about characters like Talia,
Lunamaria and even the ever silent Rey.
Instead, Shinn gets most of his crew screentime and it only hurts my
liking of his character. It’s like the
series is demanding I like him…and then he basically says he’ll destroy Orb if
they do fire on them after Orb joins the Atlantic Federation (he also blames
Cagalli when she had zero say in the matter but he wont care about that). And THEN he unlocks his Seed Ability (cause
why not) and proceeds to ruthlessly butcher an AF fleet which looking like he
is “Death, Destroyer of Worlds”. Even
the Impulse seemed to look as demonic as it’s pilot. Seed Destiny, you’re main character sucks and
I doubt you’re going to change my mind.
It's amazing that with all the uncertainty of what the
writers want to do with their army of characters, Athrun is still getting some
solid scenes and is proving this should have been his show from the get go, not
Shinn’s. I loved his reunion with Yzak
and Dearka, in person this time. The
trio took a moment to pay tribute to their fallen comrades from Seed, including
fellow Gundam pilot Nicol. But it was
Yzak who stole the moment when he flat out asked Athrun to return to ZAFT cause
it might be a major step to making things better. You wouldn’t see this kind of admission from
the bloodthirsty pilot he was previously.
Well he got his wish: Athrun’s back with ZAFT and officially a member of
FAITH, elite soldiers who don’t really have to answer to anyone (so yes Shinn
you have to salute someone higher ranked than you who isn’t the Captain), and
he’s been assigned to the Minerva, which means he’ll probably be taking more
spotlight from the rest of the crew…and so long as this diminishes Shinn’s
screentime im fine with that but I doubt that’ll be the case.
Kira also finally got off his ass to get in on the action
in a couple of fun sequences. The first
was the apparent assassination attempt on Lacus. While Kira got to show his skills in the
Freedom haven’t dulled, it was Murrue kicking all the ass that was my favorite
part (and Waltfeld got to help out too…btw are her and Murrue a thing now, or
are they just roommates). This finally
prompted Kira and Murrue to assemble their old Archangel crew, dig the
Archangel out from underground…then go and crash Cagalli’s wedding cause
someone had to tear her from that terrible plotline. Kira even managed to be a bit funny…dry
funny, but funny nonetheless when he commented on Cagalli’s nice wedding
dress. So the Archangel crew is back,
most of them anyway. No sign of Miriallia,
Sai or Kuzzy. But we do have Murrue back
in a nice uniform and Lacus has a sexy new bridge look too. It’s good to see the gang back together
again, even if this isn’t really supposed to be their series anymore.
Couple side notes.
Based on what Talia said about Shinn’s abilities with the Impulse, it’s
almost implied that Rey was originally supposed to pilot the Gundam. This makes sense because he has a clear
connection with Durandal and would be a shoo in favorite to get such an
honor. Just how much does Durandal know
about everything? Did he know Shinn had
a Seed Ability? Also, Neo Roanoke and
his posy of crazy teens show up again after a lengthy time off the show, so
they’ll probably be back in action in the next set of episodes. What’s disappointing is that the new series
OP all but confirms who Neo might be: a moment where a distressed Murrue is
pointing a gun at the long haired Char Clone, his mask on the ground and his
face obscured by his hair. This plus the
guys penchant for piloting a fighter that looks like a machine once piloted by
a certain former Archangel officer clinches that Neo is probably Mu La
Flaga…how the hell that’s possible will probably be revealed much later on for
me to rant about. Lastly, pairings. So Lunamaria is quickly trying to put the
moves on Athrun; using her cute uniform and panty shots to lower his
defenses…sooo she isn’t kind of aware that Athrun’s in love with Cagalli? And yeah I’ll point out again, Murrue and
Waltfeld. I guess they’ve been living
together since the end of Seed but are they together? Waltfeld did make the move to invite her to
come with him, Kira and Lacus back to the PLANTs if things get too serious for
Coordinators on Earth. Whatever the
case, it’s nice they have a mantle for pictures and military hats of their lost
loved ones at their place.
So Athruns gonna be hanging with the “cool kids” now
eh? Now that he’s sharing a ship with a
volatile powder keg, can Athrun get Shinn to get his head on straight? I hold out no hope for that or that Seed
Destiny is going to make me like Shinn in the slightest. This is becoming a task but I will
continue. See you for more Mobile Suit
Gundam Seed Destiny tomorrow everyone.
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