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Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

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Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny
File:Gundam seed destiny.jpeg
Title of the series
GenreMecha, Action, Drama
Anime
Directed byMitsuo Fukuda
StudioSunrise

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny is the second TV series set in the Cosmic Era universe of Gundam. Set two years after the original Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Gundam SEED Destiny features many new characters and some returning ones, most prominently Cagalli Yula Athha, Athrun Zala, Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne.

Gundam SEED Destiny had its premiere broadcast in Japan on October 9, 2004 at 6:00 PM on the JNN TV stations (Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS TV), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS TV, producing TV station), etc.) and ended October 1, 2005. Bandai Entertainment has announced that Gundam SEED Destiny is licensed for the North American market.

On Christmas 2005 a special episode ("Final Plus") aired, called "The Chosen Future". The episode is mainly a remake of the Final Phase (Ep 50), with a few storyline changes, a lengthened battle, and an epilogue to the series.

Overview

Template:Spoiler Gundam SEED Destiny is the sequel to Gundam SEED and both are set in the Cosmic Era timeline. For background information see Factions of the Cosmic Era, for the events in the first series see Bloody Valentine War, for the events in Gundam SEED Destiny see Second Bloody Valentine War.

Cast & Crew

Japanese Cast

Staff

  • Director: Fukuda Mitsuo
  • Series Writer: Morosawa Chiaki
  • Character Designer: Hirai Hisashi
  • Mechanical Designer: Okawara Kunio, Yamane Kimitoshi
  • Design Works: Fujioka Kenki
  • Art Director: Ikeda Shigemi
  • Sound Director: Fujino Sadayoshi
  • Music: Sahashi Toshihiko
  • Producer: Takeda Seiji (MBS), Sato Hiroyuki (Sunrise)

English-language Cast (Tenative)

Openings & Endings & Insert Songs

Openings:

Endings:

  • Reason by Nami Tamaki (ep. 1-13)
  • Life Goes On by Mika Arisaka (ep. 14-25)
  • I Wanna Go to a Place... by Rie Fu (ep. 26-36)
  • Kimi wa boku ni niteiru (You Resemble Me) by See-Saw (ep. 37-50, Final Plus)

Insert Songs:

Trivia

There is a strong resemblance between the Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam series in Universal Century and Gundam SEED Destiny in many aspects. This is apparent in the mobile suit designs (for example the similarity between Psyco Gundam and Destroy Gundam, Hyaku Shiki and Akatsuki, etc), and also the character developments and plots, such as the return of the protagonists from the previous series (Amuro Ray/Kira Yamato), the manipulations of body and mind of the Cyber Newtypes/Extended, and the doomed romantic relationships between the protagonists and female mobile suit pilots of the enemy. But it lacks the death rate of characters seen in Zeta Gundam. Another major difference is that while both feature the protagonists from the previous series, the former protagonist (Kira) seems to be shown even more than the new protagonist (Shinn). This is especially true in the last ten to twelve episodes, when Shinn is more or less completely overshadowed by Kira. In a post-series interview, Fukuda confirmed that Shinn was the protagonist from beginning to end. If going by the original Episode 50, this would have made Gundam SEED Destiny arguably the first full-length Gundam television series in which the minor character (may even be antagonist, seeing as it goes against protagonist's poor ideal) was "victorious"—but in that light, it was no different from Star Wars Prequel Trilogy (In fact, Gundam SEED Destiny also share much similarly in between). In terms of Final plus, however, Shinn would be seen as victorious, as he emerged as a matured young man.

Gundam-to-Gundam voice actors

Criticism

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny has been criticized by a number of people for being far too liberal in its homages to Zeta Gundam's storyline, endless uses of recycled animation (without the correct mobile suits being substituted in some cases), and the gradual "shafting" of the new ZAFT characters and complete elimination of the Earth Alliance characters in favor of the old cast in order to address perceived fan demand. Ironically, there has also been criticism of the old cast's portrayal, as some fans feel they were reduced to dull caricatures, lacking many of the traits that made them popular in the first place.

The "overpowered" one-sidedness of many fights has also suffered frequent complaints, causing the series to suffer from unrealistic shifts in warfare believability in all but a few cases which created a distinct contrast to the battle choreography from the first series. This is particularly evident during the last battle, as Kira's Strike Freedom and Athrun's Infinite Justice remain almost untouched, while Shinn's Destiny and Rey's Legend are almost completely destroyed. Another evidence of the "one-sidedness" is the "downpower" of Destroy Gundam. While the original Destroy destroyed half of Berlin and annihilated at least two major ZAFT task forces before being defeated with great difficulty by the combined efforts of Kira and Shinn, the five Destroy units defending Heaven's Base and the three defending the Daedalus lunar base are destroyed in short order as if they're grunt mobile suits.

Much criticism is concentrated at director Mitsuo Fukuda for giving his wife, Chiaki Morosawa, too much creative control with the script, and caving into fan demand too easily, resulting in rocky and inconsistent storytelling. Animation director Yousuke Kabashima also critized Morosawa in his blog, for shifting the storyline on the fly and habitually turning in scripts late, and also implied that she only had her job as chief writer because she was Fukuda's wife (a suggestion echoed by many fans). Morosawa has also received heavy criticism from fans for abruptly writing Cagalli, previously a very important character, out of the story and ending her relationship with Athrun with no on-screen explanation and little reaction by any of the characters. This criticism was exacerbated by a post-series interview in which she gave explanations that many fans felt to be dubious at best. A target of particular scorn is her assertion that Athrun would need to be the leader of his own nation for their romance to resume, even though logically that would make a relationship more difficult (nations inherently have differing agendas, making a romance between their leaders an obvious conflict of interest). The final OVA (sort of) addresses the relationship by showing them together in the revised opening credits but there is no new footage one way or another. Further angering fans, she has also suggested that the near-last minute relationship formed between Shinn and Lunamaria under questionable circumstances is the truest form of romance seen in the show.

In terms of mecha, focus was placed on newer units such as Strike Freedom, Infinite Justice, and Legend Gundams which are often cited as being little more than upgrades of their respective counterparts in the original Gundam SEED (Freedom, Justice, Providence) used as an excuse to reuse old animations. Some of the more traditional Gundam fans, many of whom favor Universal Century series, also complained that there are too much derivative of old designs: ZAKU series, GOUF Ignited and DOM Trooper are derivative of MS-06 Zaku II, MS-07 Gouf, and MS-09 Dom from the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The "overuse" of accronyms sent these fans into a rage, while ignoring the fact that these are no different from the use of Gundam designs, which is to pay homages to their Unversal Century counterparts. Also, while the Akatsuki strongly resembles the Hyaku Shiki from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, it also utlize the "Fin Funnel Barrier" used by Amuro's Nu Gundam in Char's Counterattack. In story terms, devoting one episode to establishing its importance to Cagalli as a gift from her father and then suddenly giving it up to another character after she was written out of the story also didn't sit well with some fans. Strike Freedom has also been criticized by some as little more than a rehash of Amuro Ray's Hi-Nu Gundam. Impulse is almost identical to Strike in the original Gundam SEED in terms of the Striker packs vs. the Silhouette packs, combined with a core block system very similar to V Gundam from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam. The Destiny itself is known for a "mix" of everything - with its "Hikari no Tsubasa" (Wings of Light) taken from V2 Gundam from Mobile Suit Victory Gundam, the Palm Cannon being a derivative of "Shining Finger" from Mobile Fighter G Gundam; the 'Wings of Light' create afterimages, similar to the Gundam F91's ability when it dispenses built-up heat, from the movie of the same name; the Destiny also has the main weapons of the Sword Strike Gundam/Sword Impulse Gundam, and the Launcher Strike Gundam/Blast Impulse Gundam. Another aspect of Destiny that some fans objected to was that the writers forgot their own ideas. A number of units (namely the Windam) feature a number of pieces of equipment that were never actually used in the show. Of course, many Gundam fans, who are thinking in reasonable sense, also realized these complains are no different than complaining about the use of Gundam moniker, and thus the complains of the mobile suit are more focused about how it affect the plot.

Many fans were also disappointed with the ending of Destiny, as two clip shows in the final ten episodes hurt the pacing and led to the final episodes being more rushed then they would have been otherwise. Some have suggested that this ties in with Kabashima's report of Morosawa submitting scripts past their deadlines, and that the clip shows were used not to save money (the usual purpose of such episodes) but to make up for Morosawa's tardiness. Some have also suggested that the excessive number of clip shows (as well as the overuse of recycled animation) was a result of the show's budget being squandered on a total of four openings, four endings, and two insert songs, all by highly-paid musicians, and on hiring famous seiyuu even for minor roles. In contrast, previous full-length Gundam television series had only one or two opening and ending themes, and no insert song at all.

Perhaps the largest source of controversy the series has to offer is who, exactly, the protagonist supposed to be. It was made fairly clear from the beginning that Shinn Asuka was supposed to be the main character, with Athrun Zala playing a large supporting role. However some feel the inclusion of Kira Yamato and members of the old Archangel crew from Gundam SEED limited the character development that Shinn and Athrun should have seen in an attempt to balance the series between three characters. Despite claims by the director, some fans treat his comments as nonsense (as they treated the comments by the writer on romance), especially since it was clear near the end that Kira was portrayed as the good guy (despite his alleged "straying from justice") while Shinn was portrayed as someone who had become a fanatic for a wrong cause (though some fans insist that Dullindal's cause was only portrayed as "wrong" because Lacus personally opposed it). Some fans feel that it is due to this division of attention that Shinn Asuka's character did not dramatically change. Others, however, complained that Fukada's directing does show that Kira is the one on the right side, with the reedit of Shinn's family's death. Many feel this is in poor contrast to previous Gundam protagonists such as Amuro Ray and Kamille Bidan, who were solo protagonists that started as less than desirable characters but matured into better people as their stories progressed.

Ultimately, it seems that the main source of discontent with the series is that it squandered its own potential. Many small factors were brought into the series which could have been capitalized on to increase the depth and quality of the storyline, which were later more or less ignored. Shinn Asuka's development as a character is one major example, but there were others. For instance, the connection between Neo Lorrnoke and Rey Za Burrel was more or less ignored after the first third of the series. The pasts of both of these characters largely went unexplained, although small scenes were included which scratched the surface of these mysteries. The philosophical debate of "nature vs. nurture" was hinted at with the conflict between Coordinator (genetics) and Extended (environment), but never pursued deeply. The relationship between Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Athha, still one of the more popular among the fanfiction community, was brought into question and then basically shunted aside, with no real resolution being reached between these characters. Likewise, many both potential and "canon" pairings were given almost no time to develop. Certain mobile armors and mobile suits, such as the Exass, Chaos, Saviour, and Akatsuki, were not given enough time to be used properly. The "Break The World" event which led to the start of the war was quickly forgotten, although it's consequences SHOULD have led to a few good moral discussions, especially had it later been confirmed whether or not the terrorists had received any official ZAFT assistance. Early episodes promised a somewhat hectic four way storyline following ZAFT, the Earth Alliance, the Orb Union, and the independent actions of the crew of the Archangel. The second half of the series drastically reduced this complexity by killing off many significant characters on all sides until the story became a simple two-way battle. Even the Destiny Plan itself, which lends its name to the series, was left unexamined until the very end of the series. Lastly, although SEED Destiny promised a chance to reexamine many of the remaining questions from the first series, such as the nature of the relationship between Rau Le Creuset and Flay Allster, or what had happened to Andrew Waltfeld after he was defeated, or the ultimate fate of Ezaria Jule, who was arrested in the final episode. The irony is that, with a cast as large as Destiny's, neither the new characters nor the old received enough screen time or character development.

See also

Preceded by (in production and chronological order): Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

It has been confirmed that a third SEED series has been given green light by Sunrise.

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