An elite ZAFT unit led by Andrew Waltfeld, the Desert
Tiger, begins launching precision strikes against the wandering Archangel,
which finds its own assistance with a small resistance group. Among their members is a girl whose life Kira
saved on Heliopolis, Cagalli Yula.
Together, Kira and Cagalli come face to face with the enemy and must
decide if theyre truly as villainous as they’ve been led to believe. Meanwhile Athrun Zala is reunited with his
fiancée, Lacus Clyne. Will knowing Lacus
met Kira shake Athruns loyalty to Rau Le Cruset and ZAFT?
The moment Flay kissed Kira at the end of the last set of
episodes, it was only going to go downhill for Kira and yep it did in multiple
ways, big time. There was still some
good sprinkled throughout this set but considering much of it was spent on Kira
losing it and turning on one of his biggest supporters was unsettling. But if you look past that, we got some good
character progression and not so subtle setups for double crosses and larger
games being played, you know the stuff Gundam is really good at besides the
action part.
I never realized until we got to Africa that Gundam
really likes its desert battleground: Gundam 0079, 08th MS Team,
Gundam Wing, Hell Gundam 00’s Setsuna was born in the Middle East. So why not add Gundam Seed to the list. Much like the original series, Seed made good
use of the “Earth is a different battlefield than Space” trope. But Kira didn’t have to stammer about for too
long like Amuro as he used his Coordinator know-how to reprogram the Strike
almost on the fly to start kicking some ass.
It’s here we also got reunited with a familiar face: Cagalli, the girl
who Kira saved on Heliopolis. How she
made it back to Earth and has a bodyguard who looks suspiciously like Spirit
from G.I. Joe (minus the pet Hawk) is never explained. But Cagalli’s fiery, go get em attitude was a
nice change from the peace minded Lacus and the mega insane Flay. Sure her impulsiveness got some people killed
and Kira of all people had to slap some sense into her (not sure how I feel
about that). Cagalli is still a strong
female character needed at a time when most of the screentime for the female
side is with Flay and her continually deteriorating psyche.
I was excited to get to know the clear Ramba Ral
substitute for Gundam Seed. Andrew
“Andy” Waltfeld is a bit more laid back that the mustache “NO ZAKU” piloting
Zeon, but I still think he has a way to go before becoming as memorable. The one thing that stood out most is that the
dude loves his coffee…like a lot.
Seriously, I think Waltfeld spent more time critiquing and editing his
coffee mixes instead of giving orders.
But like Ral, Waltfeld isn’t the most malicious ZAFT commander. Even when he loses men in a battle with the
Resistance, he doesn’t seek blood in return.
Yes, it’s terrible that a village full of people have no home now but
considering Waltfeld took care to make sure no one was killed says something as
well. Natrually, Kira’s gonna have to
face him (and his hot girlfriend Aisha).
Is he doomed to suffer Ramba’s fate?
Considering how things have gone with Seed so far, the odds are 50/50.
Surprisingly, we got to spend some actual time with
Athrun in this set of episodes. Gundam
Seed’s biggest sell point was seeing the conflict between two childhood friends
on opposite sides of the war. Since Kira
is the main character, we’ve spent way more time with him than Athrun. As a result, I’ve found Athrun kind of dull
to be honest. His episode worked to
change that a bit. Athrun’s got good
reasons for wanting to be in the military but I can see he’s at odds with
himself listening to Lacus talk in her peace minded way. If we had more episodes like this, I would be
easier for me to gauge the kid, maybe even like him. But we’re 20 episodes into a 50 episode
series, Im willing to give a few more episodes to give Athrun the sorely needed
screentime he’s lacked. His father,
Patrick Zala, on the other hand, is now starting to sound like Ghiren
Zabi. His notion that Naturals and
Coordinators cant coexist and Coordinators are the destiny of mankind scream
mad man like intent. Patrick’s meeting
with Le Crueset to discuss the “true” Operation Spit Break has an ominous ring
to it and it clearly means bad things are coming for his chief rival, Lacus’
father. Speaking of Le Crueset, I’m not
sure what role Zala has for him but I’m glad he’ll hopefully be getting
something to do than just stand there in his Char Cosplay. The brief scene of the ZAFT Commander ill in
bed and in need of pills raises plenty of questions too. Just what the hell is Le Crueset.
Alright, it’s that time again. Just how did Flay frak up this time? Well for starters, she slept with Kira…I’m
not kidding. Interspersed during Kira’s
desert brawl we got to see him getting it on in the dark with his new…ew
lover. And now Kira’s need to defend his
friends has plummeted to near zero as a result.
He wants to protect Flay because she’s been there for him. Um, what about those four other people who haven’t
treated you like a plight on humanity and haven’t been using racist tones when
youre in the same room? This goes double
for poor Sai, who got his ass kicked by Kira when he tried to talk to Flay and
figure out why she dumped him. Flay
playing the victim while Kira defends her makes me wonder why she didn’t get
slapped in this set but Cagalli did. And
dammit, now Sai’s trying to pilot the Gundam for…idk reasons? Does he want to get back together with Flay?
WHY? The girl is freaking poison on the
ship and even Murrue and Mu are saying that her being with Kira is a bad idea. Cant we just dump Flay somewhere miserable and
get Kira and Sai back to being friends again?
On the plus side of all this bull, Murrue and Mu seem to
be getting along nice and friendly. They
are spending more and more screentime together and share similar concern for
Kira, being his big sister and brother figures respectively. I like that Murrue is equally concerned for
Kira in a sibling way as she is being his Captain, wondering if she’d paid more
attention to the kid beyond his piloting skills that she could’ve prevented
some of Kira’s recent bad choices. Mu’s
being a good supportive aid for her…while also letting his eyes wander to the
Captains ample bosom…oh yeah, he’s interested and he’d be an idiot not to be,
Murrue is gorgeous. Bonus points go to
Natarle too, for offering some food to a starving child villager…only to find
herself surrounded by equally hungry kids and trying to figure out how to divvy
them up. Looks like the Combat Captain
has a bit of a heart after all.
I feel like this is where Gundam Seed stumbled after a
good starting run. We need more time
with Athrun and need to squash the Flay drama ASAP. Big things are brewing in the background and
you know Kira Yamato, the Archangel and his Gundam are all going to be caught
in the middle. See you next time as we
reach the halfway mark of Mobile Suit Gundam Seed.
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