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- English/Japanese/English Subtitles

Extras

- Textless Opening #1

- Gundam SEED Mechanical File #1

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Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Volume 1: Grim Reality (DVD)

In a future world, humanity is divided into genetically altered “Coordinators” and unmodified “Naturals”. Now tensions between the two sides have erupted into an all-out war between the Natural-dominated Earth Alliance and the Coordinator’s ZAFT militia. None of this matters to the people of Heliopolis, a neutral space colony, until a ZAFT commando team raids the colony to capture the Alliance’s new secret weapons.

During the ZAFT attack, young civilian Kira Yamato finds himself inside the cockpit of one the Alliance’s new “G-Weapons”. Now, as the only one able to pilot this prototype Gundam, he is pressured to help protect the Archangel, the Alliance ship where he and his friends have taken refuge. But Kira is a Coordinator, so in order to protect his friends, he must now fight against his own people – and, even worse, his best friend Athrun, who has become a ZAFT soldier!

The Gundam franchise is one of the most lucrative anime series of all times, not just in Japan, but worldwide (how else can you explain people shelling out $250+ for Char Aznable red sneakers?). Unlike most North American otaku, my favorite Gundam series is not Gundam Wing or the movie Endless Waltz… it’s 008 MS Team (mostly because it was the only Gundam series that treated these conflicts like actual war not the sort of ridiculous brinkmanship of throwing wave after wave of disposable enemies until the big leader goes out to fight and more importantly: no Gundams blew up after being shot in the foot, nor ships after the bridge was crippled). Like almost every recent Gundam series, this is going to be a frantic series with a whole lot of subplots. Let’s go.

Episode 01: False Peace

A neutral space colony quickly becomes a flash point for the greater war once the hidden weapons are discovered by the enemy (think Gundam 0083 but with more teenagers). The episode is a little rushed as it tries to introduce dozens of characters all at once, establish their lives as they are now, while moving the important events forward. The main character Kira, is your typical student – overworked but balances his friends well despite his heart being tugged by a

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beautiful girl (Flay – redhead, way too cute). While doing work for his research professor (apparently on some sort of Mobile Suit technology) the colony comes under fire. The attack is being led by ZAFT soldiers after 5 new Mobile Suits created by the Earth Alliance – 3 of the suits are being transferred, while the other 2 are still in storage. The units being transferred are trapped in the open, and the ZAFT forces quickly capture the Mobile Suits and head to the rendezvous point.

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The sudden confusion leads everyone to evacuate the research facility, but under the cover of smoke, one of the people that was waiting for the professor makes a run for it. Kira, being kind-hearted, follows the new-comer (a female, he was surprised to find that out, but I was more surprised that he didn’t know it was a girl… sigh… anime…) through the bowels of the facility until they come across a room with two new Mobile Suits in storage. This room is currently in the midst of a nasty firefight, which the pair avoid, and Kira quickly brings the girl to a shelter (they are full, but he makes them agree to take the girl) and he tries to run back into the main facility to find a new shelter. After saving one of the Alliance people from a sniper, Kira runs down to the officer to render aid but he comes under attack from a ZAFT soldier… his friend Athrun! Athrun does not attack once he sees that it is Kira, but is attacked by the officer and retreats to capture one of the remaining suits. The officer then grabs Kira and jumps into the remaining Mobile Suit.

Episode 02: It’s Name Is Gundam

The officer and Kira are trying to bring the Mobile Suit’s functions on-line, but they have drawn the attention of the remaining ZAFT forces who decide to try and capture the last unit. Making the situation more difficult is the presence of some of Kira’s friends who are caught in the open. Kira is forced to take control of the unit and fight off the leader of the ZAFT forces. Succeeding in turning away the enemy, Kira has his friends help the injured officer but once she regains consciousness, she takes the group into arrest (because they have seen the classified equipment up close). We now learn the name of the Gundam: Strike.

Meanwhile, Alliance officers have reached the test-bed carrier for the experimental Mobile Suits and most of the crew has been killed during the attack, however, the ship is mostly undamaged. The ranking officer is forced to make a rough call, launch the ship and try to aid turning away the ZAFT attack.

Episode 03: Collapsing Land

With the launching of the Archangel, all remaining Alliance forces regroup at the ship and things aren’t looking too good – the ship’s highest ranking flight officer is a lieutenant (the officer that Kira and company saved) as well as a pilot capable lieutenant, an ensign, and an uncomissioned crew. Kira’s adjustment to Strike’s OS (Operation System) have left the suit pretty much unusable to anyone but him, although according to simulation data, no other Alliance officer was having much success with the suits. Despite this, Kira is reluctant to pilot Strike any more… but he is going to have to make a decision quickly as the ZAFT forces have launched a second wave of suits and Athrun has joined in the attack with the “acquired” suit codenamed: Aegis.

Episode 04: Silent Run

The battle between the Archangel and the attacking ZAFT forces ended up destroying the Heliopolis colony, but not before the assault was repelled. As the damage to the colony was mounting, the automatic bunkers launched as life pods to safeguard the populace. As Kira was getting ready to return to the Archangel, he noticed one of the pods was damaged and decided to bring it with him back to the ship. After initial refusal, the (newly appointed) Captain was forced to let the pod on board and now the Archangel has a civilian populace. On board the pod was the girl of Kira’s affections, Flay, but she is currently in love with one of Kira’s friends. Seeing the problems that Kira is having fighting for the Alliance, his friends decide to try and join the effort… and begin helping the staff of the ship.

With few alternatives, the Archangel has to head for Alliance space as quickly as possible but without proper supplies they are forced to head for the nearest colony instead of headquarters. The ZAFT forces are intent on stopping the Strike suit from surviving as they continue to shadow the Archangel as they also made way to the nearest colony.

Episode 05: Phase Shift Down

The attempt to sneak by the enemy has failed as the ZAFT forces have surrounded the Archangel. With the losses of mobile suits, the ZAFT forces deploy all suits that were stolen: Duel, Buster, and Blitz with Aegis. The Captain’s plan is to have Kira try to defend the Archangel while the Lieutenant attacks the ship blocking their path. An intense fight which shows what happens when an inexperienced pilot comes up against 4 experienced ones, but the Captain is going to throw the Archangel into this fight to try and help the odds.

So far Gundam Seed has been a show that bounces around a lot to try and maintain all sub-plots simultaneously, which is good in that you get to be introduced to a bunch of interesting characters, but on the other hand, you aren’t getting much of a look at some people so you aren’t sure if you like them or not yet. The animation is good, the music decent if not repetitive, and the character designs are colorful (not to mention that the Gundams look cool).

- Tazman

(August 12, 2004)

“So. You ladies ever been penetrated?”

- Quagmire (The Family Guy)