Gundam Seed Recommended

Publisher
BEEZ
Director
Mitsuo Fukuda
Production
Sotsu Agency, Sunrise
Country of origin
Japan
Format
Series
Running time
50 Episodes/25 Minutes Each
Year
2002

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Volume 9

By Joseph (Joe) Wood
17th Feb 06

Gundam Seed has provided laughs, tears and a great number of philosophical questions about war (just like almost every other Gundam series). As the show moves in onto its last ten episodes though it is easy to see that, the conclusion to the series should be as spectacular as the rest.

Having escaped from Orb into space the Archangel and Kusanagi decide to head towards the old abandoned space colonies at L4. Athrun borrows a shuttle to return to the PLANTs and confront his father about his intentions of the war. However, having not returned with either the Freedom or Justice Athrun is imprisoned by his father, only to be freed by members of the Clyne faction a group who oppose the war led by Lacus. Escaping the PLANTs with a new experimental warship the Athrun and Lacus head to L4 to meet up with the others. It isn’t long before both the Earth Forces and ZAFT figure out where the group is hiding. ZAFT sends out the Le Creuset team, whilst the Earth forces launch second ship of the Archangel class, which not only contains the Earth Force’s three new mobile suits, but and old crew member of the Archangel itself at the helm. However even this won’t prepare you for some of the shocking revelations in volume nine.

The plot of the series has been twisting and turning ever since episode one so it’s no surprise to learn that it still has a number of aces up it’s selves. Some of these may be expected if you’re a seasoned Gundam fan. Le Creuset certainly has ulterior motives, and his mask does hold an incredible secret (although we still don’t get a chance to see him without it!), in the same way that Char’s did in the original Gundam. Of course, I doubt anyone really is prepared for more Star Wars-esq. revelations in this volume (bearing in mind that we’ve already had some in previous volumes).

The action really heats up, and it seems that when the final battle takes place in the last volume it is going to be something spectacular.

The penultimate volume of SEED, certainly lives up to expectations if not surpassing them. Offering a great viewing experience for both Gundam fans and anyone new to Gundam sit on the edge of there seat waiting to see what happens next. If you’ve ever wanted an excuse to see what all the fuss is about the Gundam franchise then you certainly don’t need a better reason than SEED.

R2 DVD Notes

Features: Production Sketches, Mecha/Character Files.

Release information: Publisher: Beez Released: February 16th 2006 Classification: 12 Running Time: 125mins

Notes: There's nothing to shout out about on the extras. Although the DVD box does also claim trailers the couldn't be found (at least not from the English menu)

-- Joseph (Joe) Wood 17th Feb 06

Gundam Seed Images