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Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny review by Rebel
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Gundam Seed isn't over yet, and continues with Gundam Seed Destiny. If you agree that Gundam Seed was the Mobile Suit Gundam of the 21st century, then Gundam Seed Destiny is the Zeta Gundam of the 21st century. As before, if you didn't particularly enjoy Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequel Zeta Gundam, then you probably won't enjoy this, but if you did enjoy Gundam Seed, then I suggest you watch Gundam Seed Destiny as well.
Much to my enjoyment, the last half of Gundam Seed Destiny was littered with tributes to the original Gundam series, including a new team like the Black Tri Stars and "new" mobile suits that closely resembled old Mobile Seed Gundam mobile suits. Fortunately, while this series does focus somewhat more on the battles, it goes a little deeper into the psychology of the battles. I'm not saying you need to take Psychology 101 to understand, but this isn't your "Rock 'em, Sock 'em Robots" Gundam series. If you dislike series with heavy doses of plot, please turn back now.
Since I just mentioned it, I'll start with the plot, which even had me going for a while, which makes any show excellent for me. While much of the plot is again handed to you in rhetorical questions during 3 main recap episodes, each episode is narrated by different characters, which gives you a very weird, yet cool, set of different perspectives of the battlefield. The major characters from Gundam Seed are on opposing sides once again and you get a view from each of them of the battlefield, emphasising the multitude of angles. So you will be thinking, a lot, while watching this. Who is planning what and what will happen next? While some questions are easily answered, others keep your mind working but avoid overwhelming you.
The characters in this series are some of the best I've seen in a long time. While our old heroes and heroines from the previous series change little, they are less important in this series. The new characters are not simply cardboard cutouts of soldiers or pacifists, they are very dynamic and very powerful. You want to believe everything that the ZAFT Chairman says, you want to smack the new hero when he develops an attitude. While we do have some stereotypical comedy and some cardboard characters in the background, their roles are largely filler. They can be ignored easily as they don't interfere with the primary cast and don't affect the plot much. The good characters will get under your skin and into your head, and those are the best kind of characters you can make.
~ Rebel
