T5W#461-Top 5 Moments Shinn Asuka gets Absolutely Wrecked in Gundam SEED Freedom

Oh Shinn Asuka.  While he may have been sided with the good guys at the end of SEED Destiny, he is still a top tier jerk in my book.  The dude did a lot in SEED Destiny that just pissed me off from always being openly hostile towards Cagalli to committing freaking war crimes and getting a pat on the back for them.  Thankfully, he’s moved past this “ahem” troubled history in Gundam SEED Freedom but something tells me many of the complaints I’ve lobbied against him actually got heard.  While there are plenty of crowd pleasing moment in the film, some of my favorites came from seeing Shinn finally get some sort of comupence for all the blood cells he caused to burst in my brain from so many rants in my review of Gundam SEED Destiny back in 2020.  Now that I’ve finally gotten around to reviewing the long awaited SEED sequel, it’s time to do a little of a Spoiler themed Top 5 Wednesday as I relish in delivering the Top 5 Moments Shinn Asuka gets Absolutely Wrecked in Gundam SEED Freedom.

 
#5-Losing to the Black Knights

This is the scene where the movie really gets going and things start going bad for just about everybody, especially Kira and Lacus and the Archangel.  Among the chaos, the Black Knights commence a multi team takedown of the entire Compass Mobile Suit squad.  While Kira sadly doesn’t fare well in battle, for me, seeing Shinn get wrecked in Mobile Suit combat never gets old.  Plus he gets ruined in the Infinite Justice, an update of one of Athrun’s old Gundams.  How dare he ruin the suit of one of his mentors.  NOW HEAR ME OUT!!!! Shinn does get to pay the Black Knights back in full in the movies climax and it is admittedly an awesome scene, especially since he gets to use the Destiny Gundam again.  So while there’s a lot of Shinn bashing in this list, I wont way I’m being 100% unfair towards him…just 90%.
 

#4-Since when is Shinn good with Swords?

During Lacus’ first visit to Foundation, she brings Kira and his Mobile Suit Team with her as security.  The group eventually crosses paths with The Black Knights, who are instantly rude towards Kira and his friends, believing theyre all talk and little else.  Shinn, ever eager to prove to Kira that he can be depended on, volunteers to get into a duel with one of the Black Knights during their training exercises.  First off, what the hell is Shinn thinking?  Did we ever see him fight with a sword during Destiny?  Judging from how he flails around, he doesn’t and his opponent easily schools him in under a minute.  The look on Shinn’s face is priceless.  Finally, the idiot has met people more bloodthirsty and despicable than even he is.  No points to the villains but still, any chance Shinn gets one upped is always a personal win for me in my book.
 

#3-Remember all the stuff you pulled back in Destiny, Shinn?

After the awesome opening fight scene, Shinn laments to Lunamaria that he thinks Kira doesn’t trust him since his Commander prefers to handle fights alone despite having his own Mobile Suit team.  It’s a nice indicator of where Kira’s head is at the films beginning.  But then their newest team member, Agnes Giebenrath, almost happily reminds Shinn of all the stunts he pulled back during SEED Destiny.  And you know what?  She’s right.  I still think Kira taking him on as an ally at the end of that series didn’t feel warranted considering Shinn was basically an easily manipulated pawn who was a firm believer in the Destiny Plan.  Just because Shinn is on the side of the Angels doesn’t mean many have overlooked his very bloody past and while Agnes ends up getting one of the worst character arcs in the movie, she does get points for reminding Shinn he was a douche back in the day and it’s about time he actually listened.
 

#2-Lunamaria Beatdown

While it seems ultimately unnecessary, the former crew of the Archangel stages a takeover of the Compass battleship Millenium.  I say it’s unnecessary because the crew knows what’s up and doesn’t mind handing over command to Murrue Ramius.  Where’s Shinn in all of this?  Well when Lunamaria believes her ship is under attack, she grabs a gun to defend it.  For some stupid reason, rather than just saying “Hi”, Shinn gets the bright idea to sneak up behind Luna with a gun at her back and pretend to capture her.  However, Shinn is an idiot and Luna promptly kicks the crap out of him right up until Shinn takes off his mask to reveal himself.  Luna smacks him around more a bit lightly because she thought Shinn was dead and was happy to see he was ok.  Seriously though, cant he just say “Hello” like a normal person?
 

#1-Double Punch from Kira and Athrun

So this is actually a pretty powerful scene.  Kira finally breaks down worse than we’ve ever seen before and it’s up to Athrun to sort him out the only way he can: by getting into yet another brawl with his best friend.  It’s a great scene and it’s a good reminder why Kira and Athrun’s friendship is the backbone of the Cosmic Era.  However, no moment in the movie made me laugh and cheer more than when Shinn tried to step in and stop the fight…only to get a double dose of ITS ABOUT FREAKING TIME punches from Kira and Athrun.  What’s funnier is that they don’t even register it even happened.  They just continue going at it til Kira is seeing things clearer and takes Athrun’s hand once again.  Shinn doesn’t even get an apology…and God it is so satisfying.