Synopsis: "Heliopolis, a so-called neutral space colony was holding a top-secret weapons research facility, producing Gundams for the Earth Alliance. ZAFT, which is composed of Coordinators (genetically modified/upgraded humans), attacks Heliopolis, stealing 4 out of the Alliance's 5 Gundams. In the battlefield, civilian Kira Yamato stumbles upon the Strike, the last remaining Gundam of the alliance, and is forced to pilot it. In the midst of battle he encounters his best friend, Athrun Zala, as one of the hijackers of the 5 Gundams, who sides with ZAFT. Being a Coordinator, he is the only one who can pilot the Gundam. But Kira is not with ZAFT, even though they're his own kind, nor the Alliance. Since the Alliance is the only place he could turn to at the time, he sides with them. He pilots the Gundam to protect his friends, and to fight his best friend, which pains both of them. It's a war between individual beliefs." Source
I originally wrote a tribute to Gundam SEED and how much I love it as a reader response over on the "Hey Answerman!" column on Anime News Network. If you want to read it just go here and do a find on Ryan. This review will be an expansion of that to discuss in more depth what I love about SEED and perhaps some counters to common criticisms against it. I won't be discussing SEED Destiny in this post, SEED's inferior sequel that has its really good moments, but has a horde of problems in plotting.
Where to start on the reasons I like SEED? First off, the initial hook for me and SEED was the concept of the two friends on the opposite side of a war fighting each other. I had a similar short story idea (now a concept for a novel) before I ever saw SEED, and I was instantly interested to see how they chose to execute the idea. For a large part of SEED, the emotional heart of the story centers around the conflict between Kira and Athrun. It works quite well. Although Athrun's side ends up looking more like the "bad guys" because the writers chose Kira as protagonist, both Kira and Athrun have completely understandable reasons they are in the war between the Earth and ZAFT forces. What we get are two characters who are what I like to call "thoughtfully righteous." Each character strives to do the right thing, but each suffers a lot of angst and confusion as they are both thoughtful enough to see the other character's side. If you are like me, you practically thrive on this sort of moral grayness in fiction.
However, I think this sort of "thoughtful righteousness" is where SEED fails for SEED's detractors. I have seen Kira and Athrun called "emo," "gay," or "whiny." Does Kira cry and brood after he is forced into combat with Athrun? Yes. But the question shouldn't be whether this is unmanly or whiny, the proper question is "Is this realistic?" Let's see. Kira is a 16 year old civilian who suddenly finds himself forced to fight his childhood friend and to become a killer. Assuming you can swallow the circumstances that lead to this (and if you want to like anime you had better get used to this kind of setup), I don't find Kira's reactions unrealistic at all. If Kira simply embraced the combat and gave no second thought to battling Athrun, he would seem almost inhuman. If Athrun the more experienced soldier gave no thought to his conflict with Kira, he would just seem like the stereotypical military robot soldier that simply follows orders. From a good writing standpoint that would be a failure and it would completely destroy the emotional core and theme of the story.
I think in the end, Kira and Athrun are characters that some viewers would not want as friends due to their constant angst over whether they are doing the right thing. However, they'd probably be glad to have their daughters date someone like them. I personally think the world could use more thoughtful people like them, even if they don't always agree. My ability to relate to Kira and Athrun is one of the major reasons I like them, and by extension, their show so much.
Aside from the "concept" of Gundam SEED, I also really enjoy its main theme, that being that war causes people to kill because those they care about are killed by the other side resulting in an endless spiral of hatred, conflict, and death. SEED proposes that we all need to take a step back and try to understand our enemy and see us as he sees us if we are ever to achieve peace. You can quickly see how Kira and Athrun's conflict ties into this theme along with the events of the larger war that is occurring around theme. As anyone casually familiar with Gundam knows, a Gundam show always has an anti-war theme while being immersed in the middle of it.
You perhaps may be saying right now, "But Ryan! Are concept and theme really the only reasons Gundam SEED is your favorite anime?" Why no! Perhaps the most important part of Gundam SEED is its ability to achieve an emotional intensity that most animes can't hope to follow. As anyone who has SEED can tell you, Kira and Athrun's final duel is unforgettable. There is a scene between Cagalli and Athrun where they argue about the continual escalation of the war that is perhaps the best voice acting I have ever heard. Also, many of the scenes involving Kira and Fllay will get your feelings roiling if you are the type who gets as emotionally invested in fiction as I do. There are various other scenes, but you'll just have to watch SEED for yourself. SEED has a LOT of scenes that will have your heart racing, and I can't really convey the awesomeness of this in a simple review.
For me, Gundam SEED has it all. The emotional core of the story sucks you in. The theme is poignant. The scenes are unforgettable. One detail I'm sort of leaving it out is that all this is occurring during the middle of a war where we also get scenes with side characters engaged in politics. In short, if you are looking for a good war story that has something to say, you could do far worse than Gundam SEED. If you need an emotionally dead protagonist who is simply a killing machine, go back to playing Gears of War or Doom or something.
I originally wrote a tribute to Gundam SEED and how much I love it as a reader response over on the "Hey Answerman!" column on Anime News Network. If you want to read it just go here and do a find on Ryan. This review will be an expansion of that to discuss in more depth what I love about SEED and perhaps some counters to common criticisms against it. I won't be discussing SEED Destiny in this post, SEED's inferior sequel that has its really good moments, but has a horde of problems in plotting.
Where to start on the reasons I like SEED? First off, the initial hook for me and SEED was the concept of the two friends on the opposite side of a war fighting each other. I had a similar short story idea (now a concept for a novel) before I ever saw SEED, and I was instantly interested to see how they chose to execute the idea. For a large part of SEED, the emotional heart of the story centers around the conflict between Kira and Athrun. It works quite well. Although Athrun's side ends up looking more like the "bad guys" because the writers chose Kira as protagonist, both Kira and Athrun have completely understandable reasons they are in the war between the Earth and ZAFT forces. What we get are two characters who are what I like to call "thoughtfully righteous." Each character strives to do the right thing, but each suffers a lot of angst and confusion as they are both thoughtful enough to see the other character's side. If you are like me, you practically thrive on this sort of moral grayness in fiction.
However, I think this sort of "thoughtful righteousness" is where SEED fails for SEED's detractors. I have seen Kira and Athrun called "emo," "gay," or "whiny." Does Kira cry and brood after he is forced into combat with Athrun? Yes. But the question shouldn't be whether this is unmanly or whiny, the proper question is "Is this realistic?" Let's see. Kira is a 16 year old civilian who suddenly finds himself forced to fight his childhood friend and to become a killer. Assuming you can swallow the circumstances that lead to this (and if you want to like anime you had better get used to this kind of setup), I don't find Kira's reactions unrealistic at all. If Kira simply embraced the combat and gave no second thought to battling Athrun, he would seem almost inhuman. If Athrun the more experienced soldier gave no thought to his conflict with Kira, he would just seem like the stereotypical military robot soldier that simply follows orders. From a good writing standpoint that would be a failure and it would completely destroy the emotional core and theme of the story.
I think in the end, Kira and Athrun are characters that some viewers would not want as friends due to their constant angst over whether they are doing the right thing. However, they'd probably be glad to have their daughters date someone like them. I personally think the world could use more thoughtful people like them, even if they don't always agree. My ability to relate to Kira and Athrun is one of the major reasons I like them, and by extension, their show so much.
Aside from the "concept" of Gundam SEED, I also really enjoy its main theme, that being that war causes people to kill because those they care about are killed by the other side resulting in an endless spiral of hatred, conflict, and death. SEED proposes that we all need to take a step back and try to understand our enemy and see us as he sees us if we are ever to achieve peace. You can quickly see how Kira and Athrun's conflict ties into this theme along with the events of the larger war that is occurring around theme. As anyone casually familiar with Gundam knows, a Gundam show always has an anti-war theme while being immersed in the middle of it.
You perhaps may be saying right now, "But Ryan! Are concept and theme really the only reasons Gundam SEED is your favorite anime?" Why no! Perhaps the most important part of Gundam SEED is its ability to achieve an emotional intensity that most animes can't hope to follow. As anyone who has SEED can tell you, Kira and Athrun's final duel is unforgettable. There is a scene between Cagalli and Athrun where they argue about the continual escalation of the war that is perhaps the best voice acting I have ever heard. Also, many of the scenes involving Kira and Fllay will get your feelings roiling if you are the type who gets as emotionally invested in fiction as I do. There are various other scenes, but you'll just have to watch SEED for yourself. SEED has a LOT of scenes that will have your heart racing, and I can't really convey the awesomeness of this in a simple review.
For me, Gundam SEED has it all. The emotional core of the story sucks you in. The theme is poignant. The scenes are unforgettable. One detail I'm sort of leaving it out is that all this is occurring during the middle of a war where we also get scenes with side characters engaged in politics. In short, if you are looking for a good war story that has something to say, you could do far worse than Gundam SEED. If you need an emotionally dead protagonist who is simply a killing machine, go back to playing Gears of War or Doom or something.
No comments:
Post a Comment