Besides being a copy of seed, it Destiny is also just another copy of UC. We have since then been exposed to Hyaku Shiki and Psycho Gundam look-alike.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny tv Review
The year is CE 73. Two years after the battle of Jachin Due, tensions still run high between naturals and coordinators. ZAFT has developed several new mobile suits, including several new gundams, and is preparing to unveil them to the world.
However, three of the gundams are hijacked by three of the EAF's Extendeds: Sting Oakley, Auel Neider, and Stellar Loussier. To recover the stolen mobile suits, the new ZAFT battleship Minerva heads out, with Shinn Asuka piloting the new Impulse Gundam. Once again, the world is plunged into a state of war between ZAFT and the EAF. Where will this new war lead? And how will the heroes of the previous war, Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato, react?
Credits: destati
Story & Characters
Gundam Seed Destiny, the sequel to Gundam Seed, was much anticipated among the Gundam fans of the internet world. It continues the story of Kira Yamato and Athrun Zala (Asuran Zara for sub followers) from the series Gundam Seed.
Gundam Seed Destiny started fairly nicely, with a conniving chairman and a razed space colony crashing down onto earth, killing many and devastating countries. But from there, the plot went downhill, oftentimes closely mirroring events that happened in Gundam Seed. For instance, Athrun went back to ZAFT, even though that seems completely out of character for him, and he and Kira fought against each other once again.
Unfortunately, inconsistancies abound in Destiny. For instance, although not particuarly important to the series, at one point the Archangel, a perfectly functioning spacecraft capable of atmospheric flight, is backed up against an island by water-bound ships. I am curious as to why the ship didn't fly away, leaving the warships behind, or at the very least moving to a more favorable position before fighting.
As for the characters, because the series isn't finished yet, I can't give final judgement on characters, but in particular the character of Stellar Loussier seemed to be pointless, except to give Shinn Asuka one more thing to be angry about. And, in the case of Shinn, I think we were all glad to see the cell phone go.
The old characters were carried over very poorly, in my opinion. I already mentioned how Athrun was out of character, but the worst of all was Cagalli. She turned from a strong woman in the previous series, to a whiny brat who cried when people wouldn't do as she said.
And also, bringing back Mwu la Flaga, although it hasn't been completely explained yet, seems like it is a blatant plot trick, which is also notable in Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz. Mwu la Flaga, unless he has heretofore undiscovered powers to make telepathic barriers against energy cannons and survive without oxygen, could not possibly have survived the blast from the Dominion at the end of Seed.
Overall, the story was a blatant copy of Gundam Seed's, and the plot twists are either completely predictable or bizarre beyond reason. For this reason, I rate the storyline a five out of ten.
Rating:
Art
The first thing I would like to mention is that the art in Gundam Seed Destiny is clean, bright, colorful, and wonderfully drawn. Off-model character moments are rare, considering that the cheekbone is fairly prominent on almost all of the characters. Almost all of the time, the animation is done wonderfully. In especially important or intense moments, the quality of the art steps up a notch. I would like to say, however, that the moment anyone puts on a flight suit helmet, the quality of the picture goes down by about half.
Character designs are for the most part very good - expressive, beautiful, and with original clothing to top them off. However, Shinn Asuka looks notoriously like Kira, as if the animator had run out of ideas. And also, the aging of some of the characters seemed to me to go a bit wrong - Dearka (Deakka) for instance. He looked much better in the original if you ask me, but that's minor pickiness.
The movements of the mobile suits are usually clean, and sometimes I'm struck by how nicely it flows. However, during the battles, I once caught the same footage of a mobile suit being blown up being used four times.
Great character design, but occasionally the battle pics are slightly grainy or badly drawn, and reused footage. Great expressiveness, great color, too. For this reason, I rate the art a seven point five out of ten, even though I can only select a seven on the list.
Rating:
Sound
Background music:
Excellent, through and through. Although not as good as Seed's, it is thouroughly enjoyable and
listenable.
Opening and ending themes:
Excellent also. Nami Tamaki, Rie Fu, TM Revolution, and SeeSaw all did wonderful jobs on the ending themes. The only one I really had a problem with was the third opening theme, as it didn't seem to fit the series at all.
Voiceacting (sub, as it's the only one applicable):
All of the voiceacting seemed good to my English-speaking ear, except Tanaka Rie, or Rie Tanaka, who was excellent as
Lacus. She brings just the right amount of grace and strength to a character who could have been horribly miscast. If
you've never hears of Tanaka Rie, please check out her various other roles, such as Chii from Chobits. She is an
excellent seiyuu, and she gave a wonderful performance as Lacus, both in Destiny and in the original series.
I'm also fond of Athrun's voiceactor, who can portray emotion excellently. I am, also, a fan of his English
voice in Seed, so I'll be watching the dubbed Destiny so I can decide which one I like best for this
series.
Good voiceacting, great music. I rate sound a 9.
Rating:
Presentation
Despite the grade I gave the storyline, Gundam Seed Destiny is still a watchable show. I haven't been watching every episode, I can admit, but almost every song from that series is on my playlist that I listen to every day, and I still watch many of the episodes for entertainment when I don't want to have to think about anything.
The originality, however, went away slowly once Athrun started even considering rejoining Zaft. And on that same note, the plot twists are either too predictable or completely bizarre beyond the point of all reason.
But onto other points, there is humor laced in there between the constant angst, the out of character people and the 'Yamatownage', as I've seen Kira's invincivle power as a mobile suit pilot called. The moment when Athrun discovered Mia (also Meer) Campbell ( the fake Lacus) in his bed was hilarious, as was the next scene when she confronts a bewildered Luna at Athrun's door. Various moments with Mia were funny, like when Lacus steals her shuttle and her audience.
But, I do find myself incessantly mocking Cagalli and the overdone angst in many of the episodes when I watch it, and sometimes laughing at the unrealistic drama. Therefore, I give the series as a whole a six out of ten - watchable, amusing, even entertaining, but nothing special.
Rating:
Final Verdict
6.3333 (average)
Reviewed by Myaki, Aug 13, 2005
Comments
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Zeliard Aug 13, 2005
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s4bre Aug 13, 2005
i agree that it's kind of a copy, and bringing back the "dead" characters sucks alot
but...don't you have to see the whole show before judging it ^^;
i mean Destiny hasn't even finished yetbut nice review though
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dstorres Aug 18, 2005
While Seed & Seed Destiny do mirror the Gundam UC timeline it does an excellent job doing so (and in my opinion surpassing it). While it changed focus (just like UC Gundam did) it stayed within the time frame and didn't jump too far ahead (time wise). Also it makes good use of the previous cast while introducing pleanty of new characters and mecha.
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raiden55 Aug 18, 2005
i first see half of destiny before the first season of the series, and after saw the rest of episodes i found (now ep43) so my point of view is different,
it's true that when i see the begining of GS i think of what the sequel is the same, except for the side, but it did not prevent me to watch about 10 episodes a day at a moment.
i was not shock about cagalli cause she s in love, and i dont think she could do lots of thing about orb at the begining, but now she is strong again so ^^
athrun IS a soldier, and it's not long ago than i change my mind about what he choose.
and well... cagalli and athrun are my favorites characters, so i cant blame them easaly :p
i really like the story of this sequel, and i'm a fan, but i'm agree about Muu la Flagaa... and oh my god, i hate Shinn... what a kid -_-' always waiting he'll be killed or change his mind :p
(i'm enjoying when athrun win againgst him recently :p)in short, yes there are some similar elements with seed, but there is lots of news too.
I really think that if you have enjoy the first season you will enjoy destiny, perhaps not as much, but it's a good anime :) -
fir3rulz Aug 19, 2005
Gundam seed destiny..a anime really worth wathching....
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Collinxx Aug 21, 2005
Is there a OP5 or ED5 on Gundam Seed Destiny?????????????????????
is marvelous to have them come out and Shinn always think he is innocent.... but Kira well tell shinn he is not 100% innocent...........................................................
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blackwolf-akr22 Aug 26, 2005
gundam seed destiny is nice but i really didnt watch it yet it makes me mischievious in finding out wat happens..................seed i miss watching it XD
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Athrun Oct 28, 2005
Wow. Someone else who agrees with same points I have. Thank you.
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skywalker007 Nov 13, 2005
Oh yes! A great review for the WORST gundam ever!
I think if you watch the last episode, you will cause the director of this show.
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tommy333 Dec 22, 2005
I like gundam seed destiny...............
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prirky Apr 12, 2007
I wholeheartedly agree. GSD was inconsistent and full of flaws. I didn't like the new cast, but most of all, I'd say Athrun and Cagalli were out of character. A random guy he's fighting somehow gets him to question his ideals by just stating that "patrick zala made the right decision!" Did he not learn a very painful lesson in the first season? Didn't he fight against his father? Something was strong enough to get him to switch sides and he's not dumb enough to switch back. So why did he join the opposite side of the war again.... Why does he fight Kira again? Did we conveniently forget the first series?
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Sanisa Sep 21, 2009
Thanks for the review!
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