Thursday, May 7, 2020

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Part 4 Episodes 16-20


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 fiancĂ©e, 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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