Gundam Seed Volume 3: No Retreat (DVD) - Anime Reviews


	Number of Episodes 5 Language Options English/Japanese/English Subtitles Released by Bandai Entertainment Extras - Textless Ending - Gundam Seed Mechanical File #3
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Gundam Seed Volume 3: No Retreat (DVD)

Kira is disciplined for helping Lacus escape; meanwhile, the entire Federation 8^th Fleet moves to rendezvous with the Archangel. But Le Creuset has reinforcements as well, and he launches a new attack.

When the Archangel joins the 8^th Fleet, Le Creuset attacks, and they must make an emergency escape. But on the descent to Earth, in an attempt to reunite with Kira in the Strike, they land in the wrong location. Kira, meanwhile, is in sick bay from injuries sustained during re-entry. Athrun, Dearka, and Yzak are sent to Earth to pursue the Archangel and the Strike. And back at the PLANTS, the militant ZAFT forces now have all the reason they need to escalate the war.

The second volume of Gundam Seed ended on a strong note – Kira has shown that he has standards that he will not break, and that even the docile Lacus shows that she can be a particularly strong personality. Let’s start it up.

Episode 11: The Awakening Sword

The return to the Archangel isn’t the nicest reception that Kira could have imagined. Surrendering Lacus has taken away an important piece that could have safeguarded their survival until Earth, and so he is facing a court-martial review – with La Flaga serving as his defense, Ensign Natarle as Prosecutor, and Captain Murrue as Judge. Despite La Flaga’s argument, the Captain believes that Kira is guilty and if he were an enlisted man – he would be executed. However, as a civilian combatant, he is not subject to a court martial and will not be punished. The crew is a little off put by the latest scuttlebutt – most know that Athrun is actually a friend of Kira. For his closest friends, most believe this to not change their opinion of his effort as he has been fighting hard and did return after helping Lacus escape. But for Flay, she is upset with the revelation especially after she accused Kira of not fighting his hardest because he fights against his own kind. Her decision is to support Kira and keep him fighting against the coordinators by any means necessary – even if it means that she’s going to support him emotionally.

The ZAFT forward group of Blitz, Duel, and Buster Gundams are going to make a last chance attack against the Archangel before it can link up with the 8^th Fleet. The three suits are going to try and keep the defenders busy while the open attacker engages the ship. So as La Flaga and Kira engage Buster and Duel, Blitz is going to attack the Archangel – as the fight drags on Kira fights Duel evenly but the Archangel cannot stop the attack of Blitz and is taking serious damage. Just as the ship is about

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to take crippling damage, the cries for help from the comm. officer raise up Kira and he seriously damages Duel then rushes to engage Blitz. As Yzak tries to force the damaged Duel to proceed, its’ control panel explodes cutting his face; and Kira is able to damage Blitz. With an injured pilot, the three are forced to retreat before things become dangerous. As the battle ends, the Archangel links up with the 8^th Fleet.

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Episode 12: Flay’s Decision

The presence of the 8^th Fleet has brought some much needed support to the ship. Repairs and resupplying have begun, and the civilians are being shuttled to the flagship for their eventual transport to the surface of Earth. For the time being, it appears as though the Fleet intends for the Archangel to descend into Alaskan airspace and head for the base there. But there remains an important question for Earth Fleet: what to do with Kira Yamato? As a civilian, he holds no position in the armed forces and should be allowed to leave; but he knows intimate knowledge about the new generation suits and is probably the only person capable of piloting the Strike with any level of proficiency. Despite the value that his presence would undoubtedly have for the military, he and all of the “enlisted” students are given their discharge papers and given the chance to return to Earth as civilians on the shuttle.

Most are unsure of what to do, until they see Flay enlist. She wants to fight against the coordinators, and he speech about wanting to be important causes the others to remain on board the Archangel. Kira on the other hand, struggles with the decision and is torn between becoming a civilian or rejoining the fight until his friends tell him that they are staying and he hears the alarm for an incoming attack – he then destroys his discharge papers and runs back to the Archangel.

Episode 13: Stars Falling In Space

Both halves of the ZAFT Fleet are now converging on the 8^th Fleet and are going to make last chance to sink the Archangel before it enters Earth space. For this attack, all ships and mobile suits are being sortied, including a still recovering Yzak who is pissed off and wants blood. Aegis, Blitz, Buster, and Duel are making life miserable for the Fleet and are chewing up any defenses that are being put in their way. On board the Archangel, Kira runs to the ready room to put his flight suit on, but Flay is in the room. After a little “pep talk”, she kisses Kira and he puts on his suit and prepares to get into Strike. Both Kira and La Flaga are left sitting out as they have not been given permission to sortie, but with the level of damage that the Fleet is sustaining against the Suits leads Captain Murrue to ask permission to enter orbit ahead of the Fleet. This plan will not allow the Archangel to reach Alaska, but instead land in Earth Fleet space; so now the Fleet will try to cover their escape.

The battle to cover is turning dangerous, most of the capital ships are being sunk and with their proximity to the planet, they are being pulled into the atmosphere. Despite their best efforts, Dearka and Yzak manage to break from the fleet and move to engage the Archangel; and so La Flaga and Kira are deployed until the ship will reach the upper atmosphere. The final push of the ZAFT Fleet moves some forces deep against the flagship, and with the lead ship in danger, the shuttle containing the civilians is sent towards Earth. The battle between Strike and Duel quickly becomes ferocious, and dangerous with how they are being pulled into the planet. As Kira is able to get some separation from Duel, Yzak begins firing widely trying to hit Kira and when the shuttle passes his view he shoots it down out of anger. So the Archangel and 3 Mobile Suits (Strike, Buster, and Duel) are going to make the re-entry into the atmosphere.

Episode 14: Within Endless Time

Ugh. As soon as we have some awesome momentum going.. a buzz-kill episode. The first half is a re-cap of what we’ve seen so far, the second half is a history of the universe featuring the successes of the first coordinator: George Glenn. This man brought the space age forward (through the creation of new ship technology and his subsequent return with new advances) and led to the widespread usage of gene therapy to tailor superior humans (coordinators). The appearance of numerous genetically manipulated people led to the backlash against them and formation of groups like Blue Cosmos (fanatics against coordinators), the eventual nuclear attack on Junius Seven, the ZAFT retaliation which sent Neutron Jammers into Earth and surrounding space.

Episode 15: Respective Solitudes

The Archangel has survived its’ arrival to Earth, but Kira has become ill and is suffering from the effects of re-entering the atmosphere just in his mobile suit. The ship is now sitting in the middle of the desert near present-day Morocco but is not underway just yet. We get a little flash-back to what happened; Kira in Strike had a different entry angle than the Archangel and would have been separated on the surface so Captain Murrue ordered the ship to use thrusters to move underneath the Strike. On board the ZAFT flagship, we learn that Dearka and Yzak have survived their re-entries and have made way to the Gibraltar base. Athrun spends time rehashing all of the conflicts that he’s had against Kira since Heliopolis and he’s still quite troubled that his former friend would not join up with him.

Kira has already recovered from his fever by the morning, and Flay has spent the evening watching and taking care of him. At this point she is spending all of her energy taking care of him and bringing him food, so when she meets up with everyone in the mess hall, they are happy to hear that he’s already recovered. Now having a chance to talk to Sai, Flay breaks up with him and doesn’t give him a reason for it. Kira is reminded of his failure to save the shuttle by a memento that is brought to him by Flay – he then breaks down and starts crying. She smiles at the chance to ingratiate herself and then moves to comfort him. Outside the ship, a group of guerillas (led by the blonde girl from Heliopolis) see the Archangel and report that a group led by the Sand Tiger are approaching with their own mobile suits.

This disc of Gundam Seed would have flowed much better without the re-cap episode and the particularly slow ending episode, but after all of the intense action up to this point it is a small reprieve. Not a bad disc, but not a great series of episodes either.

- Tazman

(September 17, 2005)

"My bed has rails."

- Tardy the Turtle (Greg the Bunny)

Anime: Gundam Seed Movie (DVD)


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