Mobile Suit Gundam SEED (Episode 1)




Gundam SEED (airing on Cartoon Network, Saturdays at 10:30) is the most recent series in the long running Gundam franchise. Though made with modern animation techniques and set in yet another alternate timeline (Cosmic Era to be exact), the first episode of Seed is a complete throwback to the original Gundam series back in 1979. Our main character is Kira, a 16-year-old engineering student living on a space colony. Some space colonies, known as ZAFT, are at war with Earth Alliance. When war was declared 11 months ago it was expected to be over quickly because the Aliiance had more resources, but the war has actually been a stalemate. Kira lives on a neutral colony, but the Alliance is apparently building a new generation of “mobile suits,” or giant human-piloted robots, in the colony, which attracts a ZAFT attack. The attack is two prong, with some ZAFT soldiers infiltrating the colony and another group in spaceships and mobile suits engaging the colony’s exterior defenses. Pretty much all Kira gets to do this episode is dodge bullets and artillery blasts from both sides until he ends up in the cockpit of one of the new generation mobile suits, known as a Gundam.



What always set Gundam apart from all the other giant robot shows were the well developed characters, but we get precious little of those in the first episode of SEED. I hope that isn't because the series is what it appears to be from the first episode -- a glossy remake of the original Gundam series. All the elements are there, from the feckless main character to the enemy attempt to steal the Gundam to a mysterious blond pilot who wears a mask. The only real difference is that there are five Gundams to start out with in Gundam SEED, so the enemy actually gets to steal a few of them. Perhaps I'm being too harsh, as only one episode has aired. I hope the scenario becomes more complicated that what we've seen so far.

Posted: Mon - April 19, 2004 at      

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