Wednesday, May 6, 2020

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Part 3 Episodes 11-15


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.

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