Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

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Mobile Suit Gundam SEED
File:Gundam Seed 4.JPG
Title screen
GenreMecha, Science Fiction, Action, Drama
Anime
Directed byMitsuo Fukuda
StudioSunrise
Anime
After Phase: In the Valley of Stars
Directed byMitsuo Fukuda
StudioSunrise

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (or "Gundam SEED") is an anime television series from Japan. It is a part of the Gundam franchise that started in 1979, but takes place in an alternate universe called the Cosmic Era. The series has 50 episodes, aired in Japan from October 52002 to September 272003 at 6:00 p.m. on the JNN TV stations (Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS TV), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS TV, producing TV station), etc.).

Overview

Template:Spoiler Directed by Mitsuo Fukuda (Future GPX Cyber Formula and Gear Fighter Dendoh), the series is the first set in the Cosmic Era universe. This series begins with a war between Earth and the colonies that is similar to the One Year War of the original Gundam series with certain traditional elements from New Mobile Report Gundam Wing and After War Gundam X. On one side is the Earth Alliance, and on the opposite is the space colonies that form ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty). Mankind has evolved into new forms through genetic engineering, with normal humans known as 'Naturals' and the genetically altered known as 'Coordinators'. Like the original series, ZAFT has a head start on mobile suit design, the Earth Alliance quickly catches up with its five prototype Gundams. With ZAFT having stolen four of the prototypes, young pilot Kira Yamato takes the Strike Gundam and is forced to fight his old friend Athrun Zala. Little do they know that there are sinister forces at work that go far beyond anything that they could ever imagine...

Themes and reactions

The series was widely acclaimed upon release, and has left a lasting legacy upon the anime community of Japan and abroad. The characters consistently top the favourite character lists of Newtype magazine, and the merchandise sold in the thousands across the globe.

The series was intended to be Universal Century updated for a new generation of fans, and the similarities between the original Mobile Suit Gundam and this series are numerous. To fit the tastes of 21st century teenagers, the series focussed heavily on the interpersonal relationships between the characters, resulting in well-crafted and many layered romantic friendships. The traumatic friendship between Kira and Athrun guides the series, but the old-school romance between ace pilot Mu and captain Murrue won the hearts of many.

The inclusion of issues such as racism, with desires of genocide, further updated the series and provided food for thought as well as social commentary. The genetically altered Coordinators provide a vision for the future in a world fraught with talk of GM food and cloning.

Similarities with World War II

Despite its Sci-Fi setting, there are some similarties between the First Bloody Valentine War and the Second World War.

  • Nuclear weapons were brandished (and used) at the end of both wars as an attempt to end the conflict.
  • The persecution of Coordinators in the Cosmic Era can be compared to the persecution of Jews and other "non-Aryans" by the Nazis, and the ill-treatment of citizens whose homelands became the Axis Powers by the Allied governments, during WWII. The same can be seen in the heart of warfare. The aftermath scenes of the Battles of Porta Panama and Victoria cites vengefully frequent summary executions purged against surrendering and incapacitated enemy soldiers in the Pacific and also the life of Dearka Elsman in captivity aboard the Archangel could be compared to the degenerating and reckless mis-treatment of Prisoners of War by the Japanese Army.
  • The young ages of the Gundam pilots can be compared to the youthful pilots during WWII. Both groups, coincidently, were trying out new developments in technology. (Planes were first used widely in warfare during WWII, while the Gundams were also new technology in the Cosmic Era.) To a lesser extent, both groups were also envied by the rest of their militaries due to their supposed "elite" status.
  • There was desert warfare in both wars, along with distinguished commanders (Erwin Rommel "The Desert Fox" in WWII, and Andrew Waltfeld "The Desert Tiger" in the Cosmic Era).
  • Both wars were large scale ones involving entire continents (WWII was the first war in human history to be fought on multiple continents whereas the Bloody Valentine War saw fighting in space as well as on Earth.).
  • At the end of both wars, the leaders and populace realised for the first time that they possess the ability to render Humanity extinct (a possible "doomsday" scenario).
  • Besides their racism and leadership of their factions, another chilling similarity between Muruta Azrael, Patrick Zala and Adolf Hitler is their refusal to give up in spite of inevitable defeat. This also applies to Emperor Hirohito during the end of WWII, when the Japanese finally surrendered to the Americans after two strategic nuking. (Azrael made one last ditch effort to destroy the Archangel before he was killed; Zala wanted his son to fire GENESIS to destroy all Naturals, while Hitler committed suicide rather than surrender.)
  • During WWII, the attack on Pearl Harbor had a dramatic effect on the American people, and the USA used the slogan "Remember Pearl Harbor" to rally the populace for war; In the Cosmic Era, the Junius 7 incident had a similar effect which saw Coordinator sentiment boiling over and "Remember Junius 7" became a slogan for the pro-war Coordinator factions. Coincidently, the attack on Pearl Harbor occured on 7 Dec.

Airing information

The series is licensed by Bandai Entertainment, and was released on DVD in North America in uncut bilingual format. An edited version of the English dub premiered during the Toonami block at 10:30 p.m. on Saturday nights, it was pushed back to 1:00 am on Friday nights starting with Phase 27 due to below average ratings.

The majority of the series was aired with a TV-Y7, apparently, at the insistence of Bandai who were desperately trying to push the new Gundam SEED toy line. However, since most retailers had stopped carrying the Gundam line due to oversaturation from the G Gundam series, this soon became a lost cause. Only the final episode was given the TV-PG-SV rating rather than the usual TV-Y7 rating.

Things that were edited out on Cartoon Network include mature content (ex. most references to the sexual relationship between Kira and Flay -- though the initial scene presenting this was left partially intact); scenes of intense combat violence (ex. almost all shots of pilots, including main characters, in their cockpits before having their machines destroyed); cold-blooded or brutal murders that are non-mobile suit related (ex. Siegel Clyne getting shot by ZAFT soldiers loyal to Patrick Zala); all references to the fact that the Living CPUs need to take performance enhancing drugs; and most notoriously, handguns being sloppily and inconsistently transformed into neon-colored lasers, dubbed "Disco Guns" by fans, for the majority of the show's run. Also, there was little to no use of the words "kill" or "die" in the middle of the series airing.

Since most of the series had been edited by Williams Street before broadcast, Cartoon Network changed very little in terms of content allowance. However, the airings of the final two episodes were left mostly unedited, with only a few elements being affected -- namely the guns used by Azrael, Patrick Zala, and one of the ZAFT soldiers (which was given neon-colored lights in certain but not all of the image frames), airbrushing the naked Flay's body in the final episode to avoid showing her cleavage, reducing the amount of blood shown, editing the character's lines; to remove either inapproprite language or controversial lines, and the removal or altering of flashbacks of graphic assassinations.

The Canadian version debuted on YTV's Bionix block in September 2004 at 9:30 p.m. where it got a better reception and aired comparatively uncut, with almost all of the material listed above intact. Reruns are now airing Fridays at 9:30 p.m. on YTV's Bionix block.

In Japan, it occupied the Saturday 6 p.m. timeslot on MBS and TBS, widely considered a prime timeslot; the anime and its subsequent successor to the timeslot (Full Metal Alchemist) went on to do very well.

Adaptations

A three-part compilation of the TV series has been released as Gundam SEED: Special Edition. The English manga, authored by Masatsugu Iwase, is published in North America by Del Rey Manga and in Singapore by Chuang Yi, while Gundam SEED Astray, a spinoff of Gundam SEED, is published in North America by TOKYOPOP.

An adaptation of the TV series, authored by Mizuho Takayama, was originally as supplement of Comic BomBom. This version comes with folding colour posters of the Mobile Suits, and a bonus Gundam Seed Destiny episode 0 comic. The stories were eventually published into 2 volumes by Kodansha. The 2-volume version is available in Chinese, published by Rightman Publishing Ltd. in Hong Kong.

The TV series was also turned into a series of novels by Riu Koto, published by Kadokawa Shoten.

Also running with the series was a series of manga called Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray that told a side-story to the anime series. This proved popular enough to generate two more side-stories: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray R and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X Astray.

On July 62004 the sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, was announced after over a month of rumors. It started airing in Japan on October 2004 on the network Mainichi Broadcasting System and ran until October 12005. A third Gundam SEED production is in the works under the title Gundam Seed C.E. 73: Stargazer, an OVA meant to serve as a side-story to Destiny. A film was recently announced to complete the trilogy.

Cast & Crew

One striking fact of the series is that the voices of characters, both major and minor, were done by many veteran seiyu. The cast list reads like a Who's Who of Japanese voice actors and actresses. This is also carried over to the sequel, Gundam Seed Destiny.

Japanese Cast

English-language Cast

Openings, Endings & Insert Songs

Openings:

Endings:

  • Anna ni Issho Datta no ni (あんなに一緒だったのに; We were so together, but) by See-Saw (ep. 1-26)
  • RIVER by Tatsuya Ishii (ep. 27-39)
  • FIND THE WAY by Mika Nakashima (ep. 40-50)

Insert Songs:

See also

External links


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