Kidô senshi Gundam Seed

Gundam SEED is the latest series in the long-living Gundam franchise, directed by long-time Sunrise staff member Mitsuo Fukuda. While many tout it the be either the best ever, or the worst ever, I would have to say it falls squarely in the realm of mediocrity with Gundam ZZ. While the second half of the series is rather good, the first half is more or less a rehash of the early portion of its predecessor, Mobile Suit Gundam. While most sequels and spinoffs have used the original series as a building point, SEED tells one of the most blatant copies of the plot of "First Gundam" in Alternate Universe proper. While it is understandable to a degree-- SEED is aimed at those who have not watched anything from the Universal Century-- it is bound to anger the core fanbase that Bandai and Sunrise have pleased for 20 years...

Which is the main problem with the show: In its attempt to garner a new generation of fans, it alienates the older generation's tastes with a rather generic plot and character designs. Even after the second half, when the writers move Gundam SEED into a completely different direction, the damage has been done in the eyes of the adults who watched Gundam as a child.

The saving graces of Gundam SEED are the interesting fight scenes-- there is even a Mobile Suit which resembles another popular mecha franchise in the U.S., "Zoids"-- and the catchy Japanese pop openings and endings. Even the improved writing seems to be pointless for the story in the long run, as 21+ episodes of absolutely high-quality story are ruined by probably one of the worst cop-out endings I've seen, a total rush job that answers none of the questions people wanted to know. And, judging by the fact that Bandai seems to have scrapped any plans for a SEED sequel next year, the continuation people longed for may never come....

Overall: A run-of-the-mill mecha anime with the Gundam title slapped on it, great fighting scenes and music, a mediocre plot, and atrocious character designs: 6/10.

Gundam SEED isn't terrible. It's actually quite good and I do recommend people to watch it. Like any show, there are a couple of flaws and annoying things about it, but I'd rather not pick at them.

I do agree with some of the complaints that the battles drag out for too long. But hey, they have 50 episodes to fill. So it's a bit of a downfall if you're not into the whole Gundam fighting scenes. The thing that I enjoy most about this show is the characters and plot. The ending is phenomenal. The series is packed with twists and turns. Character development doesn't just focus on the few main characters, but also the supporting characters as well. The music is also an A+. And I'm not just talking about the catchy J-Pop openings and endings, but the score itself is so well done.

Kira Yamato is your stereotypical, invincible television hero. That's to be expected, isn't it? He's very kind and likable. I'm really REALLY glad he's not one of those angry, violent characters who spends half the show swearing and being moody for no apparent reason. Le Creuset, the antagonist, is rather one-dimensional. His whole history and motives are crammed into one episode near the end, and you're like, "OHH now I get it... too bad the series is going to end soon."

(And props to the team for perfecting Flay as "the character everyone hates".)

The English dub is very well done. There are a few awkward dubbing moments, but it's better than a lot of other anime. If you don't want to read subtitles, watch the dub. You're not going to miss a lot.

In a few final words, Gundam SEED is not flawless, nor the "best Gundam show ever", but it is definitely watchable and enjoyable.

Well first of all many people said that some of the episodes were dragging on. To clarify this,this series contains all emotion including Drama. So some of the episodes were made exactly for those who enjoy Drama. Anyway almost of the series was sad , however , it was gripping too! I must say 40% was Drama and the rest 60% was Action/Adventure/Thriller/Sci-Fi. The story was very excellent. (More reasonable than GundamW--and based on the truth that could possibly happen). The musics are very well-composed. The drawing was the greatest from all Gundam series. You'll get full enjoyment if you watch this one in Japanese,cuz Im not sure about the English Dub. Oh yeah,and the characters are interesting and attractive too. Finally,hope you guys enjoy watching this BEST GUNDAM EVER!!

For some people this show is the "best Gundam series ever!", for some it's the worst. But for everyone who has a split decision, that's who I am here to talk to.

I have never seen any Gundam series before, but I have read all my history to know that the franchise started in the late 70's (about 1979). It is a very popular series, but with the same storyline throughout every show. It always starts out about some type of war.

For me this show was the show that got me into the world of anime. The storyline, (which was new to me) got me hooked, I had never heard of such an idea for an animated show. The characters had an interesting way about them, you could easily pick out who you liked, and who you didn't. The animation is good, but not outstanding. Some shots of the ship look faker than fake mountains. There is not a lot of humor, but it has its good points. Tons of memorable quotes. This is an easy show to say, I like it, I don't.

I have to say the last 10 episodes were the best, and I wish the series was more like that, but it was still enjoyable. The two recap episodes, -can get annoying after seeing them twice- are a bit uncalled for especially when you've been watching every week and know the story off by heart, but can be helpful if you missed some episodes. But there only 12 episodes apart!

For a show that started in 2002, and only had 50 episodes (which is a lot for some animes), it is still highly talked about. Seed in Canada is in high demand, people just can't get enough. When on Adult Swim, ratings weren't good for it's run. But in Canada, the uncut version skyrocketed and was the 6th most popular show on YTV,Canada. Even more shocking was that the reruns were still holding strong, proving, everybody loved Seed.

I haven't seen the sequel Gundam Seed Destiny, so I can't compare. But again it seems to be another show that has mixed reviews. And the music, is some of my favourite anime music ever, and some of the most popular!

If I were to watch it again -for the 3rd time- I would consider watching the Japanese version, to see it uncut and to get the ultimate Seed feeling. But the dubbed version is just as good, and I was fortunate to see it uncut.

This show always keeps you busy thinking what will happen next. It's exciting, emotional, thrilling, and just plain fun. It has a good message. It is my personal favourite anime. I can't say this is the best of the Gundam series, but I think it helped save the Gundam series by bringing it back into the world of anime. So check it out!

It's fantastic that people like to throw around phrases like "best Gundam series ever" in reference to one of the worst, and many -- but, granted, not all -- admit to having seen very few other Gundam shows.

Nothing in Gundam SEED is new or original. The Natural vs. Coordinator conflict may be a bit closer to real life, but at its base it's not much different from Oldtype vs. Newtype. Everything in this show, right down to some minor details, can be traced back to some past Gundam series. It's one thing to reference old shows here and there, to pay them homage like that, but it's something else entirely to just build a new show completely out of old ideas. Actually, I should clarify. There was one original idea in this show, but it was promptly dropped after episode 20 and never acknowledged again; according to interviews with the show's director, there were *never* any plans to take it anywhere, it was just thrown in for no real reason.

The characters aren't very good. There was one character in the show I liked, and -- surprise, surprise -- he bit the dust. Other characters ranged from underdeveloped to boring personalities to downright irritating, and all things in between. Furthermore, the show's masked villain, Raww Le Klueze, is easily one of the worst Gundam villains ever. He's just a psychotic nihilist and nothing more. At least past villains had some sort of motive in whatever they were trying to accomplish, but this guy just wants to destroy for the sake of destroying.

The character designs are absolutely awful. Character designer Hisashi Hirai should put out a book on resourcefulness, because that's about the only way I can see that he still has a job. He can only draw one or two different faces and two or three different hairstyles, and he puts them together in various combinations with various different colors to create an entire cast. No joke here, Japanese fansites were actually taking screen captures from the show and replacing the hair of characters in the scene with that of other characters, with hilarious consequences. After all, they all looked exactly the same, so you couldn't even tell the difference if the hair was replaced.

The show hosts some of the worst mecha designs ever to grace the Gundam franchise. There are four in particular, Gundams which appear late in the show, which are just horrendous. The rest of the designs in the show range from decent to bad, and many of them are just taken from old shows and given some extra junk on the backpack (anyone else have the feeling they'd seen the Freedom Gundam before? Yeah, that's because it was originally known as the Gundam Double X back in 1996).

The animation is pretty bad too. Ship and mecha movements are all done with computers, and they look terrible. Character animation isn't quite so bad, but people could stand to move a little more. They float down corridors stiff as a board, not moving their limbs at all. This problem isn't unique to SEED, though, as it occurs in several other Gundam shows as well.

With the exception of one track which was only played twice, the background music in the series is pretty bad until the last ten episodes. At that point, they suddenly introduced a few new tracks which were actually pretty decent. So the music is a mixed bag -- most of it's not very good, but some of it is all right. The openings and endings were much the same; early songs were bad, later songs were a little better. The second and third endings (known as River and Find the Way, respectively) were both quite good. The third and fourth openings, Believe and Realize, were decent. However, the first and second openings, Invoke and Moment, and the first ending, Annani Isshodattanoni, are terrible, bad, and below average, respectively.

Overall, SEED wasn't the worst Gundam series ever. It is, however, nowhere close to the best. If you want to see a good Gundam series, a real contender for the "best Gundam series" title, check out First Gundam, Victory Gundam, or Turn A Gundam, but steer clear of Gundam SEED.