Wildly Corny Words of Encouragement, GUNDAM!

Gundam Seed is the latest incarnation of the Gundam universe. Although my exposure to the original Gundam series is limited to the first five episodes, it is clear to me that this series is much closer to the original Gundam than Gundam Wing. In Gundam Seed, a war has broken out between genetically engineered super-humans known as Coordinators and un-enhanced humans known as Naturals. The war began when the Naturals attacked one of the Coordinator's home space colonies, known as the PLANTs, with a nuclear weapon. In retaliation, the Coordinator's developed Neutron Jammers that prevent nuclear fission (both in weapons and in power plants) and deployed them on Earth. With their arsenals and energy supplies crippled, the Earth forces have been drawn into an elongated war of attrition. The story of the series follows the tortuous experiences of a young coordinator named Kira Yamatoe. He is unexpectedly drawn into the conflict on the side of the Earth forces, and must fight against his fellow coordinators to protect his friends.

Since Gundam Wing is my only previous experience with the Gundam universe, I fear that I will inevitably be making many comparisons between it and Gundam Seed. In just about all respects, this series is an enormous leap over Gundam Wing. The animation is slick, colorful, and in all but a few instances, seamlessly incorporates some slick CGI into the visual presentation. The dubbing and lip synching are top notch, and I can honestly say that I don't have a preference between the Japanese and English language versions; both are well done. The pacing of Gundam Seed is a bit more methodical than it was in Gundam Wing, which allows for better development of the characters and a better understanding of the plot in my opinion. Musically, Gundam Seed is very polished. While Gundam Wing relied on a lot of melodramatic compositions, Gundam Seed goes for a more fully orchestrated score. Thematically, Gundam Seed is a bit more sophisticated that Gundam Wing is. Gundam Wing focused mainly on the conflict between peace and war, and while Gundam Seed also addresses this topic it also tackles issues such as genetic engineering and racism. Because of this, Gundam Seed is both very contemporary and thought provoking. It is also much more graphic during its violent action sequences, and as a result it is clear that Gundam Seed is targeted towards a bit older audience than Gundam Wing was.

The DVD release is pretty well done. The video translation is good with little to no artifacting, and the sound is very nice as well. About the only weak area is the extras, which consist of picture galleries and technical info for the mechs as well as the music video for the opening theme song. For some reason, Bandai felt the need to include the same music video on each of the last 4 or 5 volumes of the set! Oh well, at 5 episodes per disc, I can't really complain.

Overall, Gundam Seed is a timely, beautifully executed, and thought provoking series. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I have little hesitation recommending this one to sci-fi fans everywhere. By the way, the subtitle is a tip of the hat to the episode previews. You'll know what I mean when you see them!

By Andy Rucker