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August 26, 2005

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 44 (review) - "The Two Lacuses"

Kind of a misleading title. Not in that there weren't two Lacuses, but rather because it's not really the focus of the episode. Lacus (real)'s speech turns out to be surprising weak and lacking focus. Her most effective move seems to be just showing that she doesn't agree with the Chairman.

Meanwhile, Djibril continues home decorating at Daedalus Base, complete with his surprise for ZAFT...

The world is thrown into surprise and disbelief at the two Lacuses. I'm not fully sure why... it wasn't THAT good of a speech. Meanwhile, the Chairman asks Meer to go into hiding, with her own bodyguard. Note to Meer: when you have no purpose to your side, and your leader assigns a bodyguard to "keep you safe and hidden", that usually means they find your body in the back of mob boss's car many years later. I suspect Meer won't be in the land of the living much longer. The Chairman heads for the mysterious Space Station Messiah, which I can only assume is his version of the Death Star.

Shinn and Luna have their "chat" with Rey about the speech while Minerva is ordered to proceed to space. Rey points out the survival to a previously oblivious Lunamaria, who realizes that means her sister may be alive and on Archangel. I'm sure that will NEVER come to any sort of plot point where Luna is about to shoot at Archangel and thinks about her sister. Nope, nope, I'm sure no dilemma like that will ever occur.

Djibril readies his little surprise as ZAFT engages an EA fleet near a suppossedly abandoned colony. Turns out the surprise is a large particle beam, which uses the colonies as reflectors to angle around the moon and hit some of PLANT's stations. The interesting thing was the Chairman's reaction... he seems to not be totally surprised, then he feigns anger. Yzak and Dearka lead the charge to take out one of the reflectors, but there are too many to be effectively destroyed. At last, we have a true moment of menace in GSD... one of the few times where the EA has ZAFT over a barrel. Course, it seems to me this would be a rather easy weapon to take out... you just need to take out the first critical deflector to it can't angle at the others.

Near the end of the episode occurs one of the scenes I had the most problems with. The Archangel crew, knowing of the events occuring in space, seem more concerned with Dullindal's plan than the firing of Requiem (the particle cannon). I have no problem with them assuming that ZAFT will attack the cannon in full force and knowing that they couldn't add much to such a struggle, but it does seem a bit odd for them to have such a one track mind. Many many people died in the PLANT stations that were destroyed. It would have been nice if they had clarified it in the conversation.

Archangel decides to launch to stop the Chairman, who seems to be doing his best Emperor Palpatine impression aboard Messiah. I hope that next episode will explain the Archangel's reactions a bit better. I also hope that Athrun explains why Shinn is so ticked at Freedom. They're doing a decent job eliminating plot threads, but they still have a lot to go with six episodes left.

Next episode - a battle to stop Requiem. Will it get to fire again? Will more of PLANT be destroyed? And perhaps the most important question, what will become of Athrun and Cagalli????!?!?!? OH NOES!!! Tune in next week to see!

Posted by Drylnn at 04:41 AM | Comments (0)

August 20, 2005

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 43 (review) - "The Counterattacking Voice"

Athrun launches to save the day!

It would have been difficult to only pick six images worthy of mention from this episode, so I expanded to eight this time. This was an EXCELLENT episode that has been building for a while.

Prior to the intro, we get our traditional bit of overlap with the previous episode to explain what is going on in the intervening time period. Athrun is still badly injured, but knows he is needed, and launches in Infinite Justice.

After the introduction, we find the Orb forces searching for Djibril. Meanwhile, Minerva and Archangel continue their battle, while Neo-Mwu fiercely attacks before he is hit by Minerva's guns. When he tries to land on Archangel, he has a flashback to doing a similar thing (as Mwu) in SEED. They keep not explaining that angle.

Kira keeps up the battle with Shinn and Rey. He is holding his own fairly well (he would have gotten the best of Shinn had not Rey been there this time). When Rey fires, Kira is in trouble... but as with last episode, a plot device intervention saves the day. Athrun comes in on Justice, and Shinn gets to have his second heart attack for the day. I'm not complaining, but that kid needs to do a lot of Gundam Target Practice to make sure he can actually DESTROY his targets and kill their pilots.

Anyways, Athrun tries to convince Shinn that he should not be attacking Orb. Of course, Rey agrees with Athrun, and everyone goes home happy. No... not quite. As you can guess, Shinn's conflict in his heart turns back to memories of death, and he attacks. Rey fights Kira, while Athrun tries to stop Shinn.

Alas poor Jona, we knew him not so well at all.

Destiny and Justice go at it, and Shinn goes seed to stop Athrun. Since Athrun hadn't gone seed for this whole series, I figured he'd be in trouble, but surprise surprise, Athrun goes seed and hands (no pun intended) Destiny a sting it won't forget soon. Archangel gets the best of Minerva and the ZAFT fleet, while Djibril heads for space. Neither Orb nor Lunamaria in Impulse can stop him. On that note, I'd like to wonder why the writers even bothered to use Lunamaria to miss so badly. They could have just had grunts take potshots and miss.

With Djibril gone, Captain Talia figures there is no reason to continue battling ORB, and orders a withdrawal. Athrun succumbs to his wounds and falls unconscious, leaving Justice to be caught by Freedom in another laws-of-physics defying move. In the aftermath of the battle, ORB begins cleanup and Athrun is unconscious... with Meyrin at his side. I wonder how they'll resolve this little love triangle thing.

After a little touching scene with Murrue and Neo, Athrun awakens. Kira, Lacus, Meyrin, and Athrun begin to watch a worldwide broadcast by Cagalli, who is attempting to explain what has gone on at Orb. However, it seems the Chairman has his own ideas and orders his faux Lacus (Meer) to give her own counter-broadcast (with jamming). Lacus has the final laugh though, as she goes to Orb to join Cagalli's broadcast. The episode ends with Lacus about to begin her speech to the world - "I am Lacus Clyne", and everyone watching with surprise on their faces.

Incidently, the jamming scenes are very amusing. If only it were that easy. I'm amused by the image in my mind of ZAFT and ORB technicians, each trying to outdo each other.

I'm still confused about the Chairman's plan. They don't have a lot of time to wrap this whole thing up.

Posted by Drylnn at 04:25 AM | Comments (0)

August 18, 2005

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 42 (review) - "With Freedom and Justice"

The Battle of Orb continues...

This episode had a lot of nice character development from the crew of Archangel, and some interesting developments with Meyrin and Athrun, Murrue and Mwu.

At the beginning of the episode, we get some catchup that is occuring during the events of last episode. Neo-Mwu is given a Sky Grasper by a tearful Murrue. Athrun tries to tell Meyrin to stay at a safe location, but her tears and plea not to leave her behind changes his mind. Archangel launches at the same time as Cagalli in Atkatsuki goes to engage Shinn in Destiny. And that's JUST before the intro...

The Cagalli-Shinn battle goes about as expected. Naturals just can't keep up longterm with Coordinators in Gundam battles. As that battle goes on, Archangel arrives at the battlefield and Minerva moves to engage them. I wonder why ZAFT bothers to build non-Minerva class ships, since it seems the only effective ship IS the Minerva and the others exist only to be sliced and diced.

Anyways, Cagalli is about to eat it against Destiny when the plot device arrives --- down comes Strike Freedom and Kira, towing Lacus in Infinite Justice. The odd part is that it takes Kira about 30 seconds to get there... I'm guessing there's some sort of time overlap with previous scenes.

Shinn of course is none too pleased to see a resurgent Freedom, and the *real* battle begins. Shinn is starting to lose his touch. First, he fails to kill both Kira and Athrun in Gundam battles, and he doesn't fare too well in this battle. He doesn't lose, but he does manage to get disarmed of his weapon. Archangel and Minerva engage, to no real result.

The battle between Destiny and Freedom ends in a stalemate as Destiny is running low on power and is forced to retreat. Again, why does ZAFT bother with non-nuclear reactors on their signature Gundams. They don't seem to mind breaking the nuke stalemate when it suits them.

The rest of the episode somewhat follows some of the patterns from SEED:

Lacus and Athrun (with Meyrin watching) have a philosophical discussion on motivation.

Mwu (Neo) saves Archangel (he continues to have a lot of memories of Archangel... I wonder if they'll ever explain that, or just gloss over it)

Kira is in a fierce battle (in this case, with a recharged Destiny and Legend).

Athrun launches in Justice to help Kira in the battle for Orb.

In any case, this is an excellent episode, and we have some more interesting continuation to follow in the next episode.

Posted by Drylnn at 04:10 AM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2005

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 41 (review) - "Refrain"

I HATE CLIP RECAP EPISODES WITH NO PURPOSE.

This late in the show, it seems pointless to have clip episodes to explain the "plot" up to this point. On top of that, they had coloring contest results for the end credits.

I refuse to dignify this episode with pictures. At least I was out of town and wasn't waiting on this episode to come on.

Next week - the return of Kira, and the rematch between him and Shinn. I can't wait.

Posted by Drylnn at 04:34 PM | Comments (0)

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 40 (review) - "The Golden Will"

OMG! Cagalli does something besides cry!

I'm sorry, I'm getting ahead of myself. It was just hard to get over the shock. Although, to be fair, she does cry in this episode too.

One of the most abused characters in GSD has been Cagalli. She morphed from the tough, tomboyish figure in SEED into a character who cries at the drop of a hat in GSD. I guess some people really do hit puberty late.

In any case, as expected, ZAFT moves towards Orb in order to ostensibly capture Djibril. Yuna (God, how I hate that character) announces that in spite of the photos that ZAFT has, Djibril is not in Orb. The Chairman rejects this, and we have the next major conflict for GSD. At least Orb has always put up a better fight than the EA, so I expect their forces should be well prepared. Shinn, Rey, and Luna receive awards for valor in the battle of Heaven's Base, and Shinn and Rey are promoted to FAITH. Captain Talia seems uneasy about this and about other events... it seems that she and the Chairman have some disagreements to work out. The Chairman announces that Orb must be crushed, because it has the ability to reach space, and they cannot allow Djibril to link up with the EA in space at Moon Base. I'm still not sure why the EA, or at least parts of it, are working with LOGOS still. That would seem to be a beacon to ZAFT to attack, and the EA doesn't do well in those events.

On board Archangel, the ship is still completing repairs. Athrun is trying to get up to help out, but he's still too injured. Meyrin is also up and walking.

Cagalli hears Orb's announcement and is filled with rage. You'd think Orb would learn that Djibril really isn't much of a military tactician so far.... he's lost every major encounter with ZAFT. Orb makes one foolish move, refusing to evacuate its citizens to shelters...

ZAFT launches its attack on Orb, and the Orb Defense Force fights back under Yuna's command. Cagalli is about to launch in a Murasame with the forces on board AA when she is informed by Kisaka and Erica that Cagalli's father (the former leader of Orb) left a "will" (why they didn't mention this earlier, when the ship and people were in trouble, I'll never know).

Anyways, the "will" seems to be a golden Gundam, called Akatsuki. I have to wonder how well a 3 year old (approx.) Gundam will hold up against the newest ZAFT can offer, especially with a Natural like Cagalli at the controls, but after a tearful voice message by Cagalli's father, she takes off. I don't understand why its golden... I guess it must have something to do with the reflective technology it uses.

Orb is in danger of falling when the forces from the Archangel arrive. Cagalli quickly communicates with Yuna at Defense Headquarters, and after several amusing scenes (Yuna is always good for a laugh), Cagalli is in command and is fully in battle. She even gets her own special song for this section.

Of course, ZAFT has an ace in the hole (or three), but Shinn decides to launch on his own (Why? They never thought about not needing to launch all the Gundams before!) Cagalli is warned about Destiny's arrival on the battlefield. She remembers that suit taking down the Destroys, but she decides that regardless of that, she is going to take on Destiny. The end of the episode comes with Akatsuki engaging Destiny.... who will emerge the victor?

Next week looks like a recap clip episode. I really hate those.

Posted by Drylnn at 04:14 PM | Comments (0)

Gundam Seed Destiny episode 39 (review) - "Kira of the Heavens"

I've seen the title translated as "Kira of the Heavens" and "Kira of the Skies". I think that "Heavens" is the closer translation, but I'm not entirely certain.

Lacus and the Eternal are still hanging around in orbit, and now we find out a bit about what they've been trying to find out. It seems they've been doing research into the Mendel Genetics Lab (where Kira was born) and trying to find out what Chairman Dullindal is up to. This uncovers some references to the "Destiny Plan", which isn't described in any detail. As of yet, I'm not sure what the Chairman is doing wrong. Lacus indicates that Dullindal will attack Orb regardless of what goes on, but we'll never actually know if that's true since Djibril goes to Orb, giving Dullindal a perfect excuse to attack.

Meanwhile, Cagalli and Athrun have a bit of a heart-to-heart chat, playing the "No, *I* was more wrong" game. I'm not sure how Meyrin fits into this, as Athrun and Cagalli seem to have forgiven each other for their actions and harsh words. They both seem to realize that they wanted to keep the peace, but had they worked together, perhaps they could have done a better job than working seperately towards that goal. It's not clear, but I think that Athrun believes that Shinn might be a key to the "solution".

Unfortunately for our heroes, the Eternal is discovered by ZAFT while they discuss the "Destiny Plan". Eternal launches to protect the Gundam factory, and Andy launches in his new Gundam, Gaia. It seems the plan is to get as near to Earth as possible and launch the "2 new units and information" towards Archangel. However, on Earth, Athrun calls the bridge (via Neo, who it seems somehow knows how to use the controls to contact the bridge... is there anyone out there who doubts that he really is Mwu?) and informs Kira that Lacus is key to stopping Dullindal. This forces Kira to launch in Strike Rouge (based off of his original Strike unit) on a booster to get into orbit.

In space, Andy is holding his own, but then things start to not go so well. But Kira arrives on the scene and quickly uses Strike Rogue, repainted in original Strike colors - guess Kira can't fight in a pink Gundam. At this point, I was wondering how well an old Gundam could really hold up against more modern suits... luckily, the show answered that pretty quickly. Kira proceeds to Eternal to get his new unit.

Meeting up with Lacus in a tearful/joyous reunion, Kira is taken to Eternal's launch bay to receive his new unit. Along with the angellic chorus music, it was good to hear "Kira Yamato.... Freedom.... launching!" again. Needless to say, I'll let you guess who wins between a sparkling new Strike Freedom with its own special theme song and a wave of ZAFT grunts in generic suits. The grunts, right?

Anyways, Eternal and Strike Freedom are off towards Earth.... I wonder if they'll make it in time to save Orb? (this is Gundam, if they didn't make it, I'd probably have a heart attack) Still no real information on what the Destiny Plan is, but I'll guess we'll find out all too soon.

Posted by Drylnn at 03:35 PM | Comments (0)

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 03:05 PM | Comments (2)