Gundam Seed Destiny

Gundam SEED Destiny takes place in Cosmic Era 73. By now, the war that had taken place in Gundam SEED has been long ended and new characters are appearing taking the role of the nemesis. Athrun has left ZAFT and a new counterpart appears. His name is Shin Asuka, and he is one of the leading characters in the series. Athrun is now a part of Orb along with Cagalli. Fighting with revenge for his family's deaths, Shin Asuka strikes his foes believing that it is justice.

 

 Yes this is the continuation of Gundam SEED series! Peace has come to both Earth Alliance and ZAFT after Gundam SEED's incident (final episode), everything went fine where both colony were concentrating in rebuilding their economy. However, there is one man that thinks that war will unite peoples, so he planned a terrorist attack on Earth Alliance's colony and blaming ZAFT for it.


At the beginning, Kira Yamato will have no appearance! this is frustrating to Gundam SEED's fan because he is our favourite character... But, this is compensated with Athrun Zala's appearance where he acted as Cagalli's bodyguard.

Gundam SEED Destiny series shows that the old-timer are way better than the newbies, this is proved at the beginning where Athrun only piloted the antic Zaku Gundam (very old model) and managed to do considerable damage to the new enemies which are new models. While our new hero Shin Asuka, also riding a new Gundam model, only managed to only drive the enemy off.

Athrun have to pilot the old-fashioned Zaku to save Cagalli!

Even with ancient Zaku, the enemy piloting new Gundam only managed to cut his arm! (where the new enemy's Gundam totaly own any other mobile suit with one-hit)

The story is focused more on Shin Asuka's life and how another war broke off. With new improved stunning graphic designs and for me, beautiful new Gundams... Gundam SEED Destiny is another masterpiece!

The new enemies in Gundam SEED Destiny were some kids that lack skills, this is quite frustrating because Shin alone can fought them three at once and still win! So, it will be child-play if Kira or Athrun actually take actions...

From the left, Abyss / Chaos / Gaia that were stolen. The Gundam's name were awesome but too bad, the pilots not really experienced. Still, they put up a good fight with Shin. The capturing plan was very intelligent, a squad to clear outer-space in-case there's pursuer while they running back to their base, and another squad to steal and cause uproar in the surface before running away.

Shin Asuka and his team attempt to chase the enemy, but only half-way as it will be too dangerous to go into enemy territory with such hasty way.

the story later continue with Shin's development and what our old characters from Gundam SEED has been doing. Do you remember the three people that hijacked the Gundam? Gaia Gundam was piloted by a girl that Shin liked, but the one responsible in the attack brainwashed her and make her to be a "Destroyer", as i said... to bring war.

Gundam that the girl piloted was called "Destroy Gundam", a fitting name.

This leads to Kira's action to shop the girl from killing everyone! But Shin will not allow it, he will not allow Kira to kill anymore of his beloved peoples (Kira killed his family when fighting enemy gundam on Gundam SEED series). This is where Shin's Impulse Gundam defeated Kira's Freedom Gundam (from Gundam SEED, quite old already hahah). Shin with some help from his friend on the plan, execute a rapid-attack plan to get Kira, i think it was called "Angel Down Operation". Kira with his soft heart only damages his enemy's important parts and disables it, but not killing it. Taking this as advantage, Shin dodges all his attack knowing where he will hits and... and Kira's Gundam do a "Nuclear Explosion" because Gundams used Nuclear Reactor for endless activation-time.

 Vengeful Shin VS Soft-Hearted Kira

The Final-Battle of Gundam SEED Destiny not really interesting, Kira and Athrun kills off the enemy easily, which are only Destiny and Legend Gundam. The last boss which are the one responsible for all the tragedy doesnt even have a Gundam, so the series ended very peacefully.

Another thing is that i have heard rumours about next Gundam SEED's sequel... some said Gundam SEED Fortune / Gundam SEED Eternity, but no confirmation have been made. But theres alot of pictures you can find in the internet that shows Athrun already have few childrens, i wonder hows Kira.

Where to watch? : anilinkz.com

Gundam SEED

Are you reading this while listening to the music in this blog? if not, do raise up your computer's volume!

One of my favorite series of all time, Gundam SEED! Though half the reason is that i am a huge fan of mecha/robots, it doesn't mean this series mainly about those things, it is more than meets the eyes! Produced on 2002, Gundam SEED still popular even today! Any anime-lover should already watched this series, it is also a good start for those that just about to get interested in animes just like how it did to me. You can say that i grow up watching this series because it was shown in television at the place i live (Internet pretty rare that time). Yes, i must admit that 50 episodes are a hell of a number... so you will need dedication if you really want to have a good time!

A conflict which started between the Earth Alliance [aka Naturals] and ZAFT [aka Coordinators], which started because of economic troubles was clearly undecided. The two sides had no other choice, and war broke out. 11 months after this war started is when the time-line of Gundam SEED all begins. Heliopolis; a colony which is a 'neutral' colony was dragged into the war while Earth hid their secret mobile suits here. ZAFT mobile suit force raids Heliopolis and thus capturing all but 1 of the Gundam. That is where the hero Kira Yamato appears to save his hometown which is Heliopolis, the story later continued with his unexpected ability to pilot a mobile suit and revealing his blurry pasts which is a mystery to him since childhood.

From left : Kira Yamato, Lacus Clyne & Athrun Zala

This series is truly one that has interesting twists and turns and seems to always have new things that will hit you out of no where. Character development is something that Gundam SEED seems to have plenty of.. the characters are involved in various relationships and seem to not care about 'fighting' in general compared to some other series.

The story is focused on the main character Kira Yamato and his nemesis/friend Athrun Zala, and how they lived their life in the age of war. Gundam SEED started with the element of 'Desperate Fighting' where Kira Yamato unconsciously piloted a Gundam to save his friends even though he never piloted one before and he was very good at it.You will find this kind of scene a lot at the beginning of the series because many desperate-moments happened, even i would do that if i have the ability to save peoples (the hero only have the super-ability when feeling desperate) because in the age of war, everyone trying their best to live!


The element of friendship in this series are quite strong, which people nowadays are lack of. This is proved from my personal experience, i am the leader of the house in my Hostel and my housemates doesn't cooperate in keeping the house clean, and i am put to blame when the Warden complained... friendship is beautiful, but if its only one-sided, the beauty really... lost.

Kira Yamato and his friends he wanted to protect.

Although the main character are quite the naive-type, he is quite loved by all Gundam SEED fan. There's a part where Kira Yamato gone berserk because the enemy killed his friend... and the enemy which is Athrun Zala also had the same reason to go berserk together and clashes; Kira killed his best friend too. The sense of reality shown are very effect that war only brings tragedy.

The battle are very tense as both character used their full-power. For your information, both Kira and Athrun (Red mobile suit) are the best soldier in their Colony, so you could expect how the fight would be. Even without head (which are required to have the monitor active and see surroundings), they still fighting with their mobile suit! The battle only ends when their Gundam almost depleted all its power supply, and who gave the final-strike wins.

Reality sure hurts... Athrun won because of Kira's lack of experience in battle. Every power supply Athrun's mobile suit have were used to blow the Gundam out! of course Athrun safely flee before that.

The story continues with the introduction of the heroines and their circumstance with the heroes. Gundam SEED series is pretty special where the heroines is the one gave "power" to the heroes, by giving them new Gundams (after their gundams exploded) and the heroes's "SEED" power expanded with the girls by their side.

Athrun & Cagalli

Kira & Lacus

Gundam SEED series is like a 'Hindustan' movie, where the hero loses at first, but totally turned the tide at the end. This is because at first, the main characters only using crappy Gundam that hardly even able to kill a single enemy, where later on they will change into new improved custom-made Gundams! just like how i said, it is made 'Custom' where the technology is rare and not everyone can have it, so by riding it, the main characters can even kill dozens of enemy in single hit! A bit unrealistic but hey, its something we watch for entertainment haha!

Kira Yamato's new Gundam, Strike-Freedom Gundam with his METEOR system that can break all hell to the enemy!

Although Kira & Athrun overpowering at the end of the series, the boss of the enemy at the end make things really exciting. Not like any other series where the boss easily defeated after some times, Gundam SEED series's boss are very powerful! Kira has a terribly hard time defeating him, resulting his Gundam only left Pilot's Chamber at the end, can you imagine how the fight goes on?

Rau (last bad-guy) and Providence Gudam (my favourite)

This guy is terribly expert and hard to beat, probably because Kira's lack of experience in battlefield, though he got skills.

Another thing i want to talk is about the OP and ED theme song found in Gundam SEED series! The songs played at the beginning and the end of episodes, its called OP/ED theme, it varies on each 10 to 15 episodes. Just like what my mother said, Japanese songs are really beautiful, just like the theme songs found in this series. It is so beautiful that i even have my own collection of the songs in my music playlist!

So i would recommend this series to everyone even if you're not exactly the greatest mecha/robot's fan, there's something for everyone to enjoy. Although it have as long as 50 episodes, i guarantee it will be worth of your time. You will be thrilled and amazed by the actions and suspense Gundam SEED offers!

Where to watch? : anilinkz.com

What is anime?

What is anime?  if you ask this to someone, they would answer that it is a cartoon. To be more specific, it is a japanese cartoon.The different between a anime and cartoon that it has more "slice of life", means the anime more resembles real life world and have quite heavy storyline while cartoon usually have very simple storyline made purely for entertainment. Famous example of anime in Malaysia is Shin Chan, Doraemon, Chibi Maruko and many more that usually showing at weekends, while famous cartoons are Spongebob Squarepants, Ben 10, Popeye etc. that is on TV all the time, means cartoons are for entertainment that people watch to release tension and such. Although anime have quqite heavy storyline, the graphic quality and content are much better, and alot morale values are there, while cartoons is for entertainment and morale values usually not found. Simple example of difference between anime and cartoon :

The first picture shows a cartoon samurai while the second picture shows a anime samurai. You can see the difference clearly. The graphic and mood are different, body parts are more specific and stable in anime while cartoon more simpler. However, people tend to compare an anime with 3D animation like Upin&Ipin. 3D animation are more realistic and very hard to made that only few been created til today.Upin&Ipin is our pride as it is a very first successful 3D animation made by Malaysian, though its still way behind if we want to compete with other country's 3D animation for example Resident Evil CGI and Final Fantasy VII CGI made by the japanese who have made alot of quality animes in their industry. Here another example of difference :

 The first picture shows a 3D movie made in Japan while the second picture shows a 3D movie by us. The different quite big, but we still new in the industry so nobody could really blame us for that, we will surely develop our technology to actually compete with them, which we will never know when.