« Gundam Seed Destiny episode 37 (review) | Main | Gundam Seed Destiny episode 39 (review) - "Kira of the Heavens" »

August 05, 2005

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 38 (review) - "A New Flag"

The Battle of Heaven's Base begins in this episode of GSD, but its not the most shocking development of this episode.

We begin the episode with a new introduction and song by Chemistry. I have nothing against Chemistry as a group, but this song really didn't synch up well with the series. At the time of writing this, I've listened to it a few times and I've gotten used to it, but it was really jarring the first few times.

Once into the episode, we see the preparations of the Earth Alliance as their base gets ready for an attack by ZAFT. There were two problems: #1, they really don't explain very well why one of the main Alliance bases would house Djibril and his ilk. The Alliance doesn't seem to have much in common with LOGOS. #2, I really wonder what good it does for the Alliance to prepare. Although they're suppossed to be a powerful force oppossing ZAFT, since about midway through SEED, they've always gotten thoroughly thrashed.

Luna and Shinn continue to discuss the events of the previous episode as Luna tries to rationalize why her sister and Athrun would "betray" ZAFT (from her perspective). This part of the episode makes a lot of sense, although the later portion with Luna and Shinn does not. Luna seems awfully willing to forget that it was Shinn that took down her sister and Athrun, although perhaps she just easily accepts that they were indeed traitors. The whole scene has sort of a Fllayish quality to it, even with twisted music in the background (by Fllayish, I mean "not real love", not that Luna is like Fllay). As the scene ends, Shinn promises to protect Luna, no matter what. That worked out REALLY well for Stellar the last time...

Shockingly, the EA shows it has a backbone, and some actual effective weapons! Not only do they unleash new technology on the battlefield, they also offer up a patrol of Destroys! Unfortunately for the EA, Shinn and company have their own super-Gundams (Legend and Destiny), as well as a newly repaired Impulse piloted by Luna. The Destroys devastate a large portion of the ZAFT fleet, and the new Gundams launch to meet them. I note that Destiny still has that evil, Imperial march-ish/Sepheroth-ish theme. I still wonder whether Shinn is pulling an Anakin or not. They seem to be setting him up for tragic death after a noble sacrifice.

Meanwhile, Athrun awakens to Kira's voice. You can pretty much figure out what kind of reunion they'll have. Cagalli shows up later to cry, and it was good (IMO) to see some forgiveness there. It's hard to tell sometimes which way GSD will drag some characters in terms of relationships.

Shinn does end up protecting Luna in battle, which I guess indicates who that will go. I wonder what Luna will think when she find out her sister and Athrun are still alive and with the Archangel. It's kind of depressing how easily the new Gundams take down all those Destroys... like I said, I wonder why the Alliance bothers sometimes. They'd probably be better off to mass produce as many normal units as they can and just mad rush ZAFT forces rather than jump up the tech tree.

It was amusing to see Djibril slip out to his shuttle during the battle once he realized it was a lost cause. I guess he's on to Orb, where the series should become VERY interesting. The battle for Heaven's Base is over, the battle for Orb will begin soon. Kind of funny how these things have come full circle...

Posted by Drylnn at August 5, 2005 03:05 PM

Comments

Posted by: Janus at April 6, 2006 02:18 AM

Posted by: Drylnn at May 24, 2006 05:07 AM