Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny | |
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| | Alternate title : Kidou Senshi Gundam SEED DESTINY
Studio : Sunrise
Licenced by : Bandai Entertainment
Length : 50 Episodes
Year : 2004
Genre : Action - Drama - Science-Fiction - Mecha
Synopsis :
The year is Cosmic Era 71. During the critical stage of the war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, the EA high commands made the decision to invade the neutral nation, Orb. During their attack on Orb, a young civilian, Shinn Asuka, loses his parents and younger sister right before his eyes. Filled with grief and sorrow, and realizing that he needs to get stronger, Shinn leaves Earth for PLANT and decides to join ZAFT.
Two years have passed. The war has since ended, and the Junius Treaty, signed between the EA and ZAFT, made significant provisions to avoid any future wars between the two fractions. Weapons of both sides are being scrapped due to a quota on mobile suits and a ban on nuclear and Mirage Colloid weapons. ZAFT is now managed by a moderate council headed by Gilbert Dullindal, who wishes for peace between Naturals and Coordinators at last.
Shinn Asuka meanwhile is now an elite pilot for ZAFT serving under Dullindal. During a visit from new Orb Union leader Cagalli Yula Athha, the base Shinn and Dullindal are on is attacked by an unknown enemy. Three of ZAFT's new mobile suit protoypes are stolen, and they proceed to wreak havoc on the base. To defend the base from this enemy, Shinn pilots the new Impulse Gundam. And he can only wonder why people would want to once again bring the grief that is war.
Other Notes: This is the sequel to Gundam Seed. The Special Episode comes on the last volume of the DVDs.
Added : 2005-10-30
Synopsis by : darkhunger
Last update : 2010-02-27
Last update details : Image modified
Score : 7.14
Number of reviews : 42
Link(s) :
Official #1 : Official Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny Website (Japanese)
Song(s) :
Opening #1 : T.M. Revolution - Ignited
Opening #2 : High and Mighty Color - Pride
Opening #3 : Takahashi Hitomi - Bokutachi no Yukue / Our Whereabouts
Opening #4 : Chemistry - Wings Of Words
Opening #5 : T.M Revolution - Vestige
Ending #1 : Nami Tamaki - Reason
Ending #2 : Mika Arisaka - Life Goes On
Ending #3 : Rie Fu - I Wanna Go To A Place...
Ending #4 : See-Saw - Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru / You are Similar to Me
Release(s) :
2007-06-09 -- Episode(s) 4 by Zeonic-Corps. BT Link
2007-01-15 -- Episode(s) 3 by Zeonic-Corps. BT Link
2006-12-13 -- Episode(s) 1 by AnimeOne & Haro^2. BT Link
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Posted by : leoxjm 
Posted on : 2007-12-22 
There are shows that, from the beginning, you can tell are going to suck. This isn't the case for Gundam SEED Destiny. That is probably the worst part of it, since GSD opens with a bang. Once again the series is introduced with the theft of a bunch of Gundams, but this time the series moves on to ponder on the senselessness of hate, distrust, and "eye for an eye" thinking. Sadly, pretty much everything is cut short by a sudden and drastic change of pace, in which mobile suit battles have to happen often, the characters behave erratically, their thinking is stupid, and, even given the somewhat fantastic futuristic setting, the show pushes the boundaries of what is believable in it quite a bit. The end result is an inconsistent show that starts well and ends badly. I don't typically do this, but I really think that it is worth it considering the show in 3 sections as it spirals downward:
Part 1 (eps 1-25)
At first GSD is very attractive. The familiar characters form the original Gundam SEED are back, with more to add something new to the mix. Shinn starts off with excellent potential, having lived a very tragic past as a result of the war that was the centerpiece of SEED. We also get some interesting material from the pseudo-telepathic link between Neo and Rey, which also seemed quite an interesting starting point for character development. The whole thing with the EAF's Extended program is very reminiscent of one of the themes of the old Zeta gundam, although it seemed to gain even more prominence here. Athrun gets a neat mentor role for Shinn, which served to cast him in a different light as a more mature and centered person, instead of the doubting kid of the first series. Finally, the fully developed and exploited Kira takes a backseat to the others, although it is clear from the start that he'd have a more active role later on and, even though the EAF's Extended guys didn't seem as threatening as those of the first series, they too had some potential for development. Even secondary characters, like Heine, seemed interesting and rather cool. The social commentary, though thinly veiled, was interesting (if not particularly compelling). Everything looked good, and things pointed at this being the Zeta Gundam of the SEED franchise.
Part 2 (eps 26-35~36)
Unfortunately things didn't go that well. From what I heard, the director gave in to outside pressure and changed the way the series was supposed to go; it seems that the first changes began around the middle of the series (eps 26 or so) and ended in an early climax around episodes 34-35. At that point the characters get stubbornly stuck in their ways, character development comes to a slow stop, and the storyline turns into a rehash of the original SEED. The oh-so-righteous Archangel and crew, in a plot turn that seems to have been taken directly from the absurd Gundam Wing, suddenly are always right, perfect, nigh invincible and, eventually, the protagonists of the show; stealing the spotlight from the original protagonists of the show.
Shinn, still the main character there, becomes a more and more unlikeable. That as probably part of the original plan, since it becomes increasingly evident that he needs to grow up. This may seem like a turn off, but with competent character management this could have been more a strength than a weakness. Unfortunately the mine remained untapped.
Athrun becomes confused by the fact that he is on one side of the conflict and his old pals are in another and his confusion (and uselessness) last almost up until the end of the series. Along with his sense of determination he also loses his piloting abilities, since he becomes fairly mediocre in action. With Kira and his buddies still in the backseat, the show lacks compelling characters around here, but at least the storyline is interesting and, as evidenced by Shinn and Rey's behavior while Stellar is aboard the Minerva, the characters can still be interesting at times and aren't all that static.
Unfortunately, the weak character management don't stop there. This can be seen in the main love story. Or what should have been it, anyway. Shinn's love story with Stellar, though well managed at the end, feels forced and stupid, especially since Stellar is unable to hold a half-decent conversation. Her only lines throughout the entire series are pretty much "Neo", "No", "I don't want to die", or some variant of these. Yes, and I mean it. Admittedly, she managed to get some touching scenes near at the end, but that doesn't justify her worthlessness throughout her entire appearance. By the way Kuwashima Houko's performance in the role is so good that it is a waste using it in such a poor character.
There are still some good things in this middle part, however. The characters do retain some freshness from the first part and, even though they either don't develop or even degenerate, are still interesting to watch. There are a few battles worth watching, not only because they look good, but also because by that point the story isn't yet entirely worthless. It is actually in this "middle section" that the real climax of GSD happens, starting in episodes 31-32 and ending in 34-35. But it's downhill from there.
Part 3 (Eps 36~37-end)
Here is where things go badly, although it really is the result of the not-so-bad middle part.
Kira and his friends get consolidated as the show's real protagonists, and they are joined by Athrun who, predictably, suddenly becomes good, secure and nigh-invincible, which is a very clear indicator that the food for thought factor that the show was supposed to provide went down the drain at some point. Just go back to your old friends and suddenly you're alright and the real voice of reason? Give me a break.
Shinn, who at that point was probably supposed to have been a rather unlikeable character to be developed later, simply turns into a brainless puppet with no opinion who can eat EAF forces for breakfast but can't put a dent on Kira or Athrun. His character, instead of maturing or growing up, simply becomes static as the angry kid with an attitude without even token respect for the rules even though he is a soldier, part of an institution where discipline is prime. The fact that Athrun stopped acting as a mentor for him early on doesn't help either, and since Athrun is now a good guy, it gives off the idea that Shinn was hopeless pretty much from the start... which he wasn't.
The link between Neo and Rey is conveniently forgotten because of the serious need to turn anyone into the series antagonist and, since Neo can't be the fall guy anymore, it has to be Rey and the Chairman (both of which had been little more than side characters up to that point). Along with new bad guys comes a new theme: Your fate isn't determined by your genes. Even the most stupid of viewers would already know this, why the hell bring it up? Or change from the other stuff, which was much more interesting? Yes, the Chairman seemed two-faced from the beginning, but having shim become the bad guy in such a stupid and straightforward manner is almost insulting; I would have expected some more scheming before things went like that. Same for Rey's role in the ending of the show, who suddenly comes around pretty much just because Kira says so.
To wrap up on the series' love angle, Shinn's involvement with Lunamaria really seems to come out of nowhere, while Meyrin and Athrun's, only suggested as a one-sided thing and kind of used for comic relief early on, suddenly becomes important. Surprising, since Meyrin was only a minor character and was never a real part of Athrun's harem. Athrun's original love interest, Cagalli, degenerates into a whining idiot who can (literally) make a room full of though military men cry along with her, and they eventually seem to just stop caring for each other for no reason whatsoever. The only romance that seems to go well and make sense is Kira's with Lacus... but the last word on that was said in SEED already, so it doesn't really have any merit.
The story at that point is a rehash of the last 20 or so episodes of the original SEED: Orb gets attacked, Kira fights, they go to space, big battle against a super weapon, Archangel is saved from a positron cannon, Kira spouts righteousness... the end. All we get are recycled plot devices with new characters, faces, and mobile suits... but nothing that really matters or makes a difference. Since neither the bad guys or the good guys are interesting, the whole thing loses significance. The ending for this series has been done three times (the original ending, the special Final Plus and the one for the Special Editions), but it is so bad in its very essence that neither version will satisfy. Gundam SEED Destiny will go out leaving a bad taste in your mouth, no matter which way you see it.
Technically, GSD is a mixed bag. It is great in terms of design; it looks cool. But the animation is pretty bad. Stock footage is plentiful; there are even recycled scenes form the first SEED (including a very obvious one that the editors missed in the last episode). The animation is typically smooth, but horribly repetitive thanks to this. I didn't appreciate all of the recycling going on, but the few sequences that were original or that I saw for the first time where nice and likable. There are a few screw-ups here and there though, including one in which Neo seems to have a very large, very deformed head somewhere around episode 40. There re also quite a few images that look rather rough or not very detailed here and there, but that's nothing next to the reused footage.
The music, however, is great. The show's musical score is excellent. There are plenty of insert songs and character themes, which also do a bit to add some variety to the show. The background music was good and likable, and never, ever loses the sense of grandiosity the entire show was supposed to have, even well after the plot and animation drop the ball. My one complaint here would be the 4th OP, which is dissonantly slow and mellow; unsuited for an action show. I didn't like the song and I didn't like how it was used. On the side, I think that the animated sequence used with it was somewhat dumb as well, since it displayed mobile suits that were long gone, apparently to avoid spoiling the cool upcoming ones... which makes no sense because some had already been shown in the previous sequences. Oh well.
The beginning of GSD can be quite a rewarding watch... but the way the show ends is appalling. Although watching the downward spiral is not bad either, it takes the series in a direction that is hardly forgivable. Despite the good start, the whole show gets a 6/10. In fact, if the beginning of the show weren't so good, I'd rate it even lower. If you take the chance with this one, I suggest stopping at episode 35 and watching the last part of the original SEED instead. Same message, none of the crap.
Posted by : 4ZakeN
Posted on : 2007-08-26 
First time doing a review at this site but reading many of the reviews of the serie made me really annyoed and got a dire need to write my own.
Lots of the reviews complain about using same scenes several times over and over again, truth be told I didn't even notice it untill ppl started complaning about it, and thats because it's totally unrelavent to the serie. The series is about the complexity of politics, human realtions, philosofhical problems and the danger/problem with technogical devolpment and lots of other moral dilemmas.
Another stament from the earlier reviews that really bothers me is "This serie is kind of bad but if u are really in to gundam it might be worth watching". I would say exactly the opposite if you really like the earlier Gundam series you most probably don't like Destiny! I have watched "Gundam Wing" which I think was like 4/10 and also began to look at "Gundam X" but it was so freaking bad I just dropped the series halfway.
I was really skeptical about the series at first but now I think it's probaly the best anime I ever watched, definitly top3.
Gundam Seed Destiny has lots of moral dillemmas, simualar to "death note", right and wrong is pretty much up to the viewer. "Is there a limit how far can you go in order to avoid war" and "And why does war exist despite that almost all people on earth desire peace" is example of two of the many moral questions that is brought up in the serie.
If you should mention something bad about the series, it would be that the ending aint 100% satisfying, on the other hand, at least it has an end whereas many other series are killing themselves by lacking one (Bleach for example). Another bad thing about this series is you really have to watch "Gundam SEED" first in order to make sense of anything, and well SEED ain't bad either but it aint near as good as Destiny and particualry the first 20 episodes of the SEED is kind of bad.
Characters 10/10
Lots of intruging characters in the series, their isn't really one main character, their is really 3 protaganist (= heroes =) ) Kira, Asuran and Shinn.
They all got incompetent that they had great personal loses to earlier wars and they are willing to go as far as they possibly can in order to stop another war. The three "heroes" have diffrent ways to decided what is wrong or right and they sort of represent diffrent moral etic decision making.
Kira has this absolut belief that it's never right to kill and there is never right to toture etc, And despite this he ends up in several situations which forces him to take such action which brings him great agony.
Shinn is at heart really a good person and tries to stop war but the many unjustices in life has maded him driven by anger and fear. All his loses in life has made him afraid of binding himself to another persons and when the people he care for are i danger their is not telling how far is prepared to go to protect them.
Asuran is pretty much a utilitarist, meaning he thinks that nothing is always bad, he doesn't want to kill people but if he can save 2 people by killing one he is willing to.
There are many other intressting characters that are sort of hard not to like for example Luna-Maria and Cagalli and another very good charater in this serie is Stellar.
Stellar is pretty much a child in an adults body and what is worse is that she also have great power. Se doesnt really think if what she´s doing is right or wrong but simular to a child she is very afraid of death and will sort of do anything to survive. Stellar is like the raw model of innocence and naivety and seeing her story and she killing thousands of people in order stay alive in this harsh world which she is so afraid of really ripped my heart apart.
Music 10/10
I think that this is music is the best so far produced in a anime serie, and I honestly dont understand much of the critics from the earlier reviews. First yes on a few occations they have taken a piece from SEED but sense the music in SEED (same person done the music in both SEED/Destiny) are like the best thing with the entire serie it would really be waste not to use it. And the Destiny all ready have like one of largest amount of music ever for a series 50 episodes long. Totally their is 4 Gundam Seed Destiny OST and not one of those tracks are from SEED. The music is all from great orchestra piece to piano sonats. Their is 2 "real" songs in the series which both are also really good and same goes for the intros and the utros which are some of my favorits all anime as well.
If there is one thing that is really bad it's the fourth and final intro which kind made me thinking if I should make it a 9 instead. Dont know what happened, if the producer got hit by a elevator in the head that day or something but the fact is that the final intro suck.
Graphics 8.5/10
The graphics are real good and but it's nothing ground breaking. Some scenese are borrowed from SEED which doesnt look as good as destiny normally does. If you happened have watched Heroic Age if find it quite simualar will admit that the computer made 3D effects in Heroic Age is something that doesnt occur in Destiny.
Story 9/10
The story is real good and goes from good to freaking amazing. The story does take place 2 years after SEED ends but aint like a direct "second season" of SEED. At first ur following seed and simular to SEED is does take a couple of chapters to get all the lose pieces toghter. Dont want to make any spoilers but I think the story was really good and for the last 20 episodes of Destiny I was closed to possesed by the serie. The end is not perfect but the rest of the serie is bloody close =)
Overall: 10/10
Posted by : Kaiser
Posted on : 2007-07-26
Two characters: Lunamaria and Meyrin Hawke make this series worth watching, atleast for me, heh.
Gundam Seed Destiny starts out strong with huge world wide impact of a colony drop (remember those threats in the old gundam series of dropping a huge mass on earth would do? It actually happens in Destiny). With the drop, the short lived peace is suddenly shattered and the world and PLANT is engulfed in war and suffering again.
New characters make it more interesting and different loyalties add for a very limited character development. Music being sponsored by Sony was top notch and some of my favorite anime songs are from the Gundam Seed series.
Its definitely worth a look if you're a mecha fan. 6/10 above average overall.
Posted by : MoBoss79
Posted on : 2007-03-31 
What can I say, I love the Gundam sereis!! I have a tendency to read reviews before I put mine up and I do have to say that the feeling is 50/50 on the love/hate for the series!
Lets set the record straight!!! This is a continuation of the first Gundam Seed series!! There isn't going to be too much character development because half the people from the original is in the second. To me the series focused a little more on Athrun then it did on Shin. They both seem to have issues that they needed to deal with and Athrun acted like an older brother to Shin. Shin was definitely like the little brother that is trying to outshine his older sibling and goes astray along the way.
In the 2 years that the original Gundam Seed ended, a significant change can not be expected in the world. Everything will be sketchy at best. I do like that Seed Destiny hits more of emotional chords than the original and I also like the new Gundam units in this series. They also made the Zakus and other mobile units useful in the right hands!
What I didn't like was that Dearka and Yzak wasn't used more in this series. They were definitely cool characters that could have been used more.
The animation was flawless as well as the action sequence. I would have loved if they made two hour finale to the Seed Universe by have Kira, Athrun, and Shin fight together against some made up villain. Man, would that be a sight better than Endless Waltz!
Posted by : kingchess
Posted on : 2007-03-21
Sequel to Gundam Seed. Not as good as the original Gundam Seed.
Plot/Story- 6/10
Once again war is waged between Plant and Orb and Zaft. Same as Gundam Seed. Again something like Genesis from Gundam Seed appears. Gundams are stolen again. Pretty much a slightly changed version of the Gundam Seed
Characters=6/10
Mechs= 8/10
Characters low score due to a lot of new characters are very (VERY) simliar. Shinn...One of the rare series where he is still popular, but with very many people disliking him. Also a lack of use of Shinn in the final battle. Also a lot of people was disappointed by the amount of time Yzak and Dearka recieved.
Mechs had a high score because I like the use of Zakus and Goufs. Impulse was great, Doms were used. Some new gundams such as Destiny, Strike Freedom, Infinte Justice, Savior, Akatsuki. Lost a point due in my opinion because Strike Freedom and Destiny was a bit too similar and because the Minerva shouldn't look so much like the Archangel and being a black ship it was the same as the Black Archangel from Gundam Seed.
Graphic= 8/10
Good scences, despite the reuse of many scences and some scenes actuallt were the same just replacing the gundam that did the move originally. Nice Battles.
Music= 9/10
Great music which many people love, but lost a bit because some of them sounded similar to the other ones.
Overall=7.4/10
I recommend Gundam Seed fans to watch this, but those who have not seen Gundam Seed yet, watch that first, because this is a sequel not a seperate series.
Posted by : NatureDragon
Posted on : 2007-01-26
Gundam Seed destiny happens 2 years after the war had ended in Gundam Seed.
Storyline/Plot: 5/10
A mere copy of the original Gundam SEED plot with a change of characters. The story got very boring in the middle and got worse near the end as the anime ended with a conclusion that does not make much sense. There were extremely a lot of recap episodes showing lots of scenes from the original Gundam SEED series which was a waste of time. There were also a lot of fillers in between, which make me feel that it should be a 26-episode long anime. (THE FILLERS ARE REALLY A WASTE OF TIME!!!!!). Luckily, there were certain episodes which were still good, for example: Kira re-piloting Freedom to save Lacus; Athrun and Meyrin's escape and the beginning few episodes. Shinn's memory of his dead sister was very annoying as it got shown so many times!!!
Character development:1/10
Shinn is such a bad main character that the anime decided to focus on Kira and Athrun once again from the middle of the anime. (I guess Kira and Athrun are still more popular.) There were many new characters, as in the original series. However, Gundam SEED Destiny was worse as I couldn't figure out any depth in any of the characters well enough, as a lot of time is wasted on fillers. Character development could have been much, much better if more effort had been put in.
Animation/Graphics:2/10
Wow, at first glance people may think that there were so many cool fighting scenes and cool Gundams and ZAKUs. On second look you would notice that they reused many scenes from Gundam SEED (example: last few episodes->Strike Freedom = Freedom). Anyway, the fighting scenes were also too typical and boring and thus reduces its appeal.
Music/Songs: 5/10
Quite OK opening songs and ending songs. However, the opening and ending scenes look soo similar to the ones in Gundam SEED. (Come on, why can't they make something new?) The songs were also having the same tempo as the songs from Gundam SEED. Good effort though if you don't compare it with the original series.
Overall: 3/10
I was expecting a better story based on the lives of Kira and Athrun. Shinn is such an idiot and jerk that spoils the anime as a whole. No originality in the main storyline and the endless number of fillers make this anime not worth the time for watching. If you really like Gundam, maybe you wouldn't mind watching this. If not, you can look for better anime to watch.
Posted by : GRC
Posted on : 2006-12-28
Overall - 9.2
Animation - 9.0
Sound - 10.0
Story - 9.0
Character - 10.0
Value - 9.0
Enjoyment - 8.0
While Gundam Seed excels in portraying the various aspects of human nature, Gundam Seed Destiny brilliantly excels in the politics. Taking an extremely daring decision to step out of the usual Gundam territory, Destiny will either disappoint viewers who expect it to be another brainless action-packed Gundam flick or be regarded as an outstanding political anime by viewers whose expectation is otherwise. As a viewer who expects a good story over mindless mecha battles any day, I invariably belong to the latter category. As a result, I am fortunate to enjoy Destiny the way it is meant to be : an excellent political irony in finest form.
Observe the meaning of its title. What is Seed ? What is destiny ? If you have seen Seed, you will remember that President Uzumi has said that he refers people who believe in his ideology as his 'seed'. Though one day he will pass away, but his seeds will grow. These people will pass on his beliefs to the next generation. Gundam Seed Destiny is also about destiny. Who is in charge of one's destiny ? What do you want to do ? Who do you want to be ? What would you do to achieve your goal ? Do you believe that you are doing the right thing ? And finally, if you suddenly realize that you are in the wrong side, would you dare to give up everything you have accumulated and step out of it, or you will persevere in order to retain what you have gained and be ready for the consequences ?
Although starting out as a normal mecha anime, Destiny reveals its true nature as a political irony in episode nine. Instead of focusing on the heroes, Destiny brings the villain into the spotlight. No, it's not Kira who is the main character. It's not Athrun or even Shinn. It's President Dullindal of Zaft who is a major character in Destiny. Seemingly understanding and kind-hearted, Dullindal could persuade his whole nation to believe that his ideology is righteous. One great scene to show his personality is the scene when Dullindal persuaded Athrun to be on his side. He listened to Athrun's opinion and pretended that he agreed with everything Athrun said. Afterwards, he made Athrun a 'Faith' member, telling him that he believed Athrun will use this position to do what he deems right. Though Athrun became an elite, he also automatically became a member of Zaft army. In short, Dullindal turned his potential enemy to become a person under his control. And if Athrun decides to betray him, Dullindal will be the first person to know and will get rid of Athrun before he can make any move.
Though Dullindal knew that he is the most powerful man, but he also realized that the hearts of his people still belong to the former princess of Zaft, Lacus. Wanting to convince his people to believe in his actions, Meer Campbell became another victim of his malicious scheme. Borned with a dream to become a famous singer, Meer wished day in and day out to become a superstar. Thus, when Dullindal approached Meer and asked her to 'sing for the world's peace', it is like her dream comes true. Not knowing Dullindal's true intention, Meer sings her heart out to the whole world, believing that she is a symbol of peace. One of the best scenes in Destiny is the scene when Meer realized that she is in a wrong side and the character who was about to escape from Zaft asked her to go with him. That event is a big shock for Meer and she is left to a difficult dilemma : What would she choose ? To continue being in a wrong side to retain the stardom she has dreamed for all her life, or leave everything behind and go back to become a nobody ? Obviously, Meer made a wrong decision, but I completely understand her. And I'm sure that had I been in the same situation with her, I would have done the same.
Shinn Asuka is another immensely interesting character and his development is unquestionably the most profound in the series. Having lost his entire family in war, Shinn joined the army wishing to fight for peace. Stubborn, egoistic, and downright credulous, Shinn ended up becoming Dullindal's major victim who got manipulated by Rey and Dullindal to pilot the Mobile Suit, believing that he is fighting for peace. The event of Eunius Seven, Heine's incident, and most importantly, Stella's incident, blindfolded him to figure out who is right and who is wrong. Praised by his colleagues for his piloting abilities, Shinn's ego skyrocketed and he stopped listening to anyone but Rey and Dullindal. Therefore, by the time he realized and regretted that he is in the wrong, it was too late. Though I understand him, but I have no sympathy whatsoever for his fate. Stubborn people learn their lessons the hard way, so to speak.
The final battle of Destiny may seem unconvincing for some people who find it unsuitable to have that character being the person who resolved the event. If Destiny is not an irony, I would also be complaining about that event like I have complained about how the final battle in Escaflowne : Girl in Gaea Movie was resolved. But because Destiny is an irony, it is most appropriate for that character to make such attempt because he is the biggest victim of the whole scheme. Having him realized and regretted his actions, then proceeding to resolve the event that way is the most reasonable resolution for an ironic story.
It is seldom that I agree with the opinions of Japanese audiences. When I heard that Onegai Twins and Nadesico are both outrageously popular in Japan, I was rolling my eyes in disbelief. However, when I heard that Destiny is rated #1 in Japan at the moment, I couldn't agree more. It's understandable that audiences outside Japan who got exposed to mecha from crap such as Gundam Wing would label Destiny as 'boring'. Take the word 'Gundam' out of its title, Destiny will immediately lose 80% of its non-Japanese audiences. But at the same time, it would immediately be regarded as the 'best political anime of the year'. Off compared this with other great titles of 2004, only Monster and Zipang are of similar standard in terms of story. But if one also takes animation and music into account, Destiny is unrivalled. Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny is unquestionably the most prestigious addition to the Gundam Dynasty and, in my opinion, it is definitely one of the best political anime ever created.
Animation
A big improvement from its predecessor Gundam Seed. The major characters in Seed look more mature and less cartoon-ish. Outstanding animation for 2004 standard.
Sound
Like Gundam Seed, I have no hesitation to give ten points in sound category for Destiny. Its numerous OPs/EDs all range from good to excellent. BGM is also outstanding. Excellent tunes performed by full orchestra. Voice acting is top notch.
The faster version of Lacus' song which Meer sang is catchy, and the song played in the 33rd episode (Stella's scene) is absolutely beautiful. I had tears on the edge of my eyes when that song was played during that scene. Its tragic melody and beautiful accompaniment of violin and cello in the background really touched me.
Story
I complained and deducted one point in this category from Seed for having four flashback episodes. However, Destiny's flashbacks are another story. Although its first two flashback episodes are not worth watching, its last two flashback episodes are very good. The third flashback episode focused on Dullindal, his son, and their relationship with General Le Kluzze. The fourth flashback episode, however, is excellent. It focused on Meer and her backstory. I found that episode to be one of the best episodes in Destiny.
Character
I must admit that at first, I really hated Stella and Jona. To my surprise, my impression of Stella changed halfway into the series .. and at one point, she almost made me cried =( With Jona, however, my hatred to him remained high until the end of the series. I was so satisfied at the scene when Cagalli kicked Jona's ass XD
Value
Unlike other excellent anime which I rated at 8.0 and above, I am actually very reluctant to recommend Gundam Seed Destiny. No, I am not reluctant because this anime is not good. In my opinion, this is an outstanding anime, but I am reluctant to recommend because viewers are likely to expect that Destiny will be another brainless mecha anime like other Gundam series, and they will be disappointed. People who expect to see Kira and Athrun in the spotlight will not like Destiny, and people who think that Shinn is a hero will hate this anime once they finished the 37th episode. My highest recommendation goes to people who like Gundam Seed for its politics (not because of the action scenes, for god's sake =p) or people who want a gateway anime to those niche political anime such as Zipang. Forget the fact that this is Gundam. Instead, expect this show to be a political irony, and the brilliance of Gundam Seed Destiny will truly shine.
Posted by : Den8383
Posted on : 2006-10-01
Story - 5/10
The story picks up where the original ended after 2 years. It basically re-used the original's plot and modify it by abit. Originality is lost.
Character - 5/10
Shin is probably one of the worst character to be made in the history of Gundam. He's a Kira clone (not a very good one) and all they ever showed is his determination to remember his dead sister (in every other episodes...seessh). I like Athrun's character in the original but here, he is side tracked and not much is actually described about him beside from what we already knew, so are Kira, Lacus, Cagali etc.
Animation - 6/10
A lot of re-used scenes from the original, you would think they had more budget than that.
Music/Songs - 7/10
Not bad actually, but alot of re-used battle themes, the openings and endings are quite alright.
Overall - 23/40 (57.5%)
Give this a miss unless you had watched the original and do not mind spending time on a really bad story plot.
Posted by : Akalee
Posted on : 2006-10-01
One of the best anime that I've ever seen. From the start to the end, the movie and song gave me such inspiration.
Even though the beginning episode of GSD and the beginning episode of GS was very similar, it had a good plot.
It's CE 73, Shinn Asuka and his family are leaving the warzone of Orb. As they are heading off and Shinn got separated from his family momentarily, his family dies from an explosion. Then the story shared the main characters with Kira Yamato and Lacus Clyne and a few other characters in GS.
Fighting 9.5/10
Scenes were very nicely timed. Lots of saving people scenes. A few redrawn scenes but overall it has very little of showing the same scenes.
Characters 10/10
At first I didn't really like the way the characters were drawn, but over time I really appreciate the artwork and I found the artwork to be very marvelous. Uniforms were very nice upgrade looking.
Song 10/10
What can I say but Yuki Kajiura just rocks. This anime has a lot of songs that I still play on my playlist. Very inspirational, powerful, and yet gentle. Songs went very well with the anime scene. Timing was very good.
Plot 9.5/10
I watched a lot of episodes over and over again. It gives me much encouragement and fires me up when I have stress or when I have a hard time dealing with things.
Overall 10/10
Combine with Lacus Clyne and Kira Yamato, this anime make me watch this over and over again with much pride and joy. Characters showing development is always a plus and one of the most important things I look for. With most of the anime, the ending was very rushed, perhaps I just wanted more and more of it. Even with the extra special episode it wasn't enough and was rushed. I can only hope for a 3rd sequel, and with Lacus a must in it.
Posted by : johends
Posted on : 2006-09-26
Gundam Seed destiny...Hmmm this anime kinda leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Although new characters were portrayed(Shin), nothing was really new or original as far as story goes.
Story/Plot (5/10)
Hmmm, I guess it starts off from where Gundam Seed left. The only thing different is a new main character (Shin) vowing revenge for the death of his family. I thought this was a good premise, but towards the middle of the season, it shifted back to the old main characters (Kira and Athrun). Towards the end, the emphasis of the show on Shin was completely overshadowed by the old Gundam Seed characters. It seemed the new characters were there just for filler episodes or something. They really had no real importance to the plot. Oh yeah the plot is one hell of a bummer too. It's so confusing and redundant that I just skip it and watch the action scenes. The ending was also terrible.
Animation: (4/10)
A lot of rehashed scenes from the first Gundam Seed. Also, they made so many recap episodes it wasn't even funny. Instead of doing the recap episodes, they should have fleshed out more of the new characters or focused on more fight scenes (that were not rehashed Gundam Seed footage).
Sound (3/10)
Can we say rehashed and redundant once again. Hmm some of the opening and ending scenes were good but other than that, it's recycled material from GS.
Reviewers Tilt (5/10)
Since I'm a Gundam fan i still leaned towards a 5 instead of a 4. I like anime based on mecha genre and this is one of them so yeah hahahha.
Final score: 4 Hmm supposed to be a 3 but oh well. Anyway, the new Gundams can't save this anime since even they were recycled from GS as well . Come on, Gundam Seed Destiny is basically gundam Freedom with more thrusters/verniers (which gives it that butterfly effect). Also that combining thing doesn't work anymore. It only works on Amuro's Gundam series. Be original!!!!! Well, I think the directors and staff just wanted to milk the GS franchise that's why they made this lame anime...There, I said it ..
Posted by : Yuun
Posted on : 2006-09-09
Yay~!! 2nd Season, More Gundams, More Colorful Lasers~!! More Steel wasted~!! More death~!! Well how should I say this? In Gundam Seed Destiny (GSD) our previous Hero Kira Yamato and his beloved childhood turn enemy then turn comrade, Athrun Zala once again shown the world what does an Undead means. Ok they are tougher then any anime character out there and yup they love to cry for some unknown reason.
It seems like history repeats themselves again, human never learn do they? Well we got a new mastermind with an even ridiculous ambition. So we see a new Hero, Shinn on the kick after losing his beloved family and yup we got a new heroine as well~!! Hail to the slightly psycho cat girl named Stellar.
I can’t say much about GSD but as far as I am concern, GSD works slightly better than GS to me. At least Stellar is cute and unlike that freaky Freyr in GS. With more Mobile Suits being mass produce, is sad to see Mobile Armor going near extinct in GSD. So the story and politics got a major boost here, and we can see more affairs and dramas. (And we seems to be able to see how “First Love never workout" in this series…)
GS’s songs seems to be much pleasant to me comparing to GSD. However, there were some songs in GSD which I really adore. Meer Campbell who stole Lacus’s position on the stage sang her personal song named “Emotion". You have no idea how much I felt like dancing whenever I heard that song. Oh! she also increase Lacus’s original Silent Night aka Shizukani Yoruni tempo turning it into the song for the dance ground. Yeehaa~!!!
Anyways, the ending really leaves me hanging. Luckily Sunrise Studio makes another release of the GSD with the Alternate ending. Gundam Seed put the previous Gundam series to shame for it’s HIGH QUALITY production. So I recommend this series to everyone out there, for starter I would recommend you to watch the first season Gundam Seed before setting your eyes on GUNDAM SEED DESTINY~!
Posted by : NeL
Posted on : 2006-08-22
I'd say that Gundam Seed Destiny is one of those mech animes that could really get attention. I’m rating it 7 because of some downfalls. Here's why:
Story plot is a bit repeated
- Scenes like stealing other side's Gundams and those stranded scenes are just some of them.
Unnecessary prologues
- those things have doubled compared to the previous series, in which I considered a waste of time.
Disappointing ending
- The ending looks liked it was rushed or something. It could not give a true and concrete conclusion.
But despite of the downfalls, here are my accounts on why this Gundam series is so cool:
New Gundams
- The new Gundams are so cool, especially the Impulse, The Destiny, and the new Strike Freedom.
Fighting Scenes
- The fighting scenes here are breathtaking! You can clearly see Mobile Suits fighting each other in such great detail
Encore Mobile Suits
-Examples are the ZAKU and the Windam.
Characters
-The characters are well drawn, and in terms of their significance in the story, each of them clearly showed their role.
Posted by : mangaddict
Posted on : 2006-08-03
For those who haven't seen Gundam SEED, this anime would be a 9. For those who have seen Gundam SEED, this anime would be a 6. I suppose a 7 should suffice only because I have high expectations by nature. No matter what way you look at it, if you seen Gundam SEED, this anime is disappointing by comparison.
The plot is pretty much the same as Gundam SEED. It starts the same way. Gundams are stolen from a base. The Gundams wreak havoc. A coordinator boy jumps into a mobile suit and takes a natural girl into the cockpit. Fighting, fighting, the PLANT is destroyed. The coordinator boy docks onto a ship with the girl and becomes a temporary soldier. We've seen it all before. It's not original.
There are new characters. Truth be told, we don't care about new characters. We want to know what happened to the old characters. We want to know what happens to Kira and Lacus, Athrun and Cagalli, Mariella and Dearcha, and whatever happened to Mu La Flaga (in the enhanced version of Gundam SEED, his helmet floating in outer space is edited out so one would assume he is still alive). Most of those questions are answered (what happens with Kira and Lacus is still up for debate).
Shinn Asuka, the main new character develops over time. We watch him become stronger, we watch him question his beliefs. He's pretty much Athrun one year ago. We're not interested in Shinn because he's nostalgic. We've seen it all before.
Just as a Gundam SEED fan would expect, the plot becomes more interesting as time moves on. After you've seen nine discs/disks, you would just be waiting in anticipation for the tenth final disc/disk. Boy would you be disappointed. Instead of a five episode miraculous ending, you get three episodes of flashbacks and wasted time and the entire climactic confrontation crunched into the last two episodes.
There is nothing original about the ending. The ultimate bad guy is defeated in a way that was done countless times in movies before. You'd have to see it to understand. Also, every relationship at the end was on the verge of breaking (except Kira and Lacus, if there even is a relationship). The story ends without us knowing anything once again. This is perhaps the most disappointing ending in the history of anime.
I'm not sure what to think of the Destiny Plan. That didn't make much sense to me.
If you're looking for an interesting anime with great visual, audio effects, brilliant artwork, and an interesting plot with interesting characters (if you haven't seen Gundam SEED) then this is the anime you should see. If you are looking for a Gundam SEED completed experience, then don't hold your breath.
Posted by : DukeBOX_zero
Posted on : 2006-05-18
DEJA VU
I always wonder why Sunrise Inc. repeatedly series after series recycles their scenes. There's Escaflowne, Outlaw Star, Mai HiME, Gundam, S.C.R.Y.E.D. and amongst others. Their relentless time-saving ploy either annoys the viewers seeing the same scene again and again or just too lazy using the protractor and the T-square.
Gundam SEED Destiny, the sequel to Gundam SEED in opinion is the worst sequel in anime history. My suggestion to you is watch this just to finish the G-Saga or ignore it since the story is basically the same.
There's no need to write a synopsis here since this page has one (look up).
The story is still short and the same, opposing forces still can't accept one another even the war was put to a halt. An unknown force infiltrates a Coordinator facility and stole their latest Mobile Suits, escapes, pursued, fights and escapes again. The only difference is that the antagonist is the ZAFT and a manipulating Chairman who doesn't know the word "comb". To reach their standard 50 episode mark GSDestiny contains lots of action and mech battles to fill each episode. Nearly 75% of the total story is a cliché of all clichés and 25% is at least kept me intrigued, you'll wonder until the last part on what the Chairman's real motive is. The ending is very bad and rushed. They tried to wrap things up within the final two episodes. I heard rumors that GSDestiny's story was revised due to fan requests. No wonder the story is predictable (you'd better run Kudou-san).
Characterization is above average, you'll love and hate the characters, each has their own path to take, their own sense of justice and even how many shampoos to take in an operation (Lunamaria Hawke is one hot babe!). One of the few gripes is the main character Shinn Asuka. His rude personality and violent behavior makes him unlikable. Thus in the end, Kira Yamato takes the spotlight as the main and Shinn the bad guy. This is not fair to Shinn, watch GSDestiny and find out why. Too many new characters have been added and most of them have few air time, useless and SOOO predictable. This time around, the good guys are too abundant and have a higher survivability than the bad guys. Sunrise should've focus on the less-focused and old characters like Yzak Joule, Dearka Elsman, Miriallia Howe, the 3 Drugged Pilots and the Mystery Girl (who I've seen in several scenes and opening and ending themes. (Who and where the hell is this Shiho chick?!), fans are obviously disappointed. Some are predictable, take Rey Za Burrel and Neo Lorrnoke for example, by simply looking at them or listening to their Seiyuus, one can guess who they really are (there's no point wearing a mask).
Music is very good though some resembles Star Wars. Each track fits every situation almost perfectly, kind of reminds me of the old Escaflowne days. The BGMs are worth a thumb's up but a few thumbs down (I've got 5) to the vocal tracks. The first track "IGNITED" sounds too lame, good music mixed with bad vocals of T.M. Revolution. Nami Tamaki's "REASON" on the other side is very good. It provides a cool ambience and mood, you'll love to sit down and listen (just don't watch her MTV). Other artists like High and Mighty Color, Hitomi Takahashi, Rei Tanaka etc. produce good OST with the exception of Chemistry's "Wings of Words", "So-ra waa..." (GAH!) horrible to listen and not to mention it doesn't fit the total destruction theme of Gundam and "I Want to Go to a Place" by Rei Fu who sang the least decent "Life is Like a Boat" on Bleach. Her Engrish, urhm.. I mean English is bad, very bad.
Voice casting is above average. Some of the voices fit their character perfectly while some are downright annoying. Seiyuus like Kenichi Suzumura (Kamui Shirou of X Omen, Dietrich von Lohengrin of Trinity Blood) as Shinn Asuka, Souichiro Hoshi (Kei Kusanagi of Onegai Teacher, Nagi Souichirou of Tenjho Tenge) as Kira Yamato, Tomokazu Seki (Van Fanel of Escaflowne, Sousuke Sagara of Full Metal Panic!) as Yzak Joule and my personal fave is Maaya Sakamoto (Hitomi Kanzaki of Escaflowne, Reika Mishima of RahXephon) as the hot Lunamaria Hawke.
GUNDAM SEED v2.0
The art is above average. Character designs are not attractive and inconsistent, Kira, Shinn and others looks the same with different hair style and color. The Gundam designs are not original, they just recycle the designs from classic series since SEED was originally made to revive the Gundam, you'll get to see resemblance of WING Zero, Double X, Heavy Arms, the Zakus etc. not I really complain about it. The animation is bad. About 80% to 90% in every episode is either recycled or recycled from Gundam SEED. Yeah that's right... GSDestiny even recycles scenes from GSEED and so frequent to the fact that GSDestiny feels like Gundam SEED version 2. Sunrise must have produced it at a very low budget OR the Environmentalist guys are banging at their doorstep.
Overall Gundam SEED Destiny is an above average series with lots of action, decent characters and music. The only biggest praise I can give is probably the pacing of the series. You'll have this urge to watch it episode by episode. Curious of what will happen next.
There, I THINK I covered everything about GSDestiny in my review. It took me a long time creating this lousy review since in the first place, I have little interest in making a review on a bad anime. If you're not satisfied with my review, please read the reviews of others levels lower or higher of me.
SCORE BREAKDOWN
+ Good pacing
+ Good music
+ Decent characters
+ Cool Gundam designs
+ Tons of action
- More action less story
- Predictable
- Recycled scenes
- Some bad OSTs
- Shinn Asuka
- Rushed ending
- Average character designs
- Some BAD characters needs GOOD characterization
*Maybe I'll download a GSEED Patch v2.07 from Sunrise.com/gundamseed-destiny/patches.htm
Posted by : kenchi
Posted on : 2006-03-25
Gundam Seed Destiny (GSD) was a bit of disappointment for me, simply because the storyline is not really original. However, it still kept me entertained.
Characters 8/10
In addition to the original crew, several new characters are brought into the sequel. Characters themselves show some lively emotions and Kira as well as Athrun’s personality matured in an interesting way. However as for Stellar’s (GSD’s Heroine) case, it seemed to me that either the animators got lazy or there's a purpose of making her that way (Watch it to understand), who knows? The way the main character shifts (Shinn, Athrun, Kira) around is kind of risky. It's either really ingenious or just a retarded director, it's up to you to decide.
Plot, Settings, and etc. 6.5/10
It's so unoriginal that it's not even funny. Similar conflicts, mechs, the way the ending were... The way the anime started is like so similar to it’s prequel. The way how Shinn and Stellar meets is just pretty similar to how Kira and Lacus met in the prequel.
Music 8.5/10
Not much to comment about, animators did a good job on selections.
Overall 7.5/10
It's enjoyable and entertaining, filled with cool action scenes, as well as the episodes where you get to learn more about the characters, but the lack of originality in the storyline just hurt this title a lot. Thus, I guess the only thing that made this anime a bit disappointing to me was the storyline.
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