[Lights]

Oh how I remember watching this as a kid on adult swim, basically the anime that got me into anime.

I still have yet to find a series that I enjoyed as much as I did this one, although this may be because it holds good memories of my childhood

I've watched some other Gundam series & think the franchise seems to be underrated by people who judge it just as "another mecha anime". Although I found Gundam 00 to be very enjoyable as well, SEED just did EVERYTHING right in my opinion.

I find character development to be the most important factor in most anime series, and is lacking in well... most anime series. The thing I hate the MOST about many series is when they go out of the way to develop a romantic/flirtsy relationship between two characters but never take it any further. I Just recently watched Full Metal Panic, where they take time out of the story to show how the two main characters care and feel for eachother in a loving way, but just has you guessing to the point where it's stupid. Suspense is also important, but with absolutely no closure or pointers in the slightest it just makes the series unrealistic and frustrating.

Now I haven't watched SEED in quiet some time, but I remember the relationship between Kira and Fllay to be a key element. It was so mysterious, yet it was clear that Kira depended on her & their relationship actually had meaning in the series. & also at the end when she dies, I found it to be incredibly surprising in the best way. You just don't find series that can create and maintain good character development and relationships, as well as not driving the storyline astray.

Just wondering if it's just me or if others find this to be true

[Siendra]

Personally I think Mitsuo Fukuda (SEED, SEED Destiny) is the worst thing to ever happen to the franchise. Thematically the first series is a poorly realized retread of Mobile Suit Gundam . The pacing is all over the place, as is the character development, the series is aesthetically bland, and most if not all the homages it tries to play up completely misfire and seem like pointless nostalgia grabs. Beyond all that, the degree to which the animation was recycled is ridiculous and the battle choreography is non-existent.

The only solace I take from Seed is that it resulted in the Astray Red/Blue/Gold Frame variations which made for a couple of nice models.

I suppose I can see it playing well to people who had little or no prior engagement with the franchise, but that wasn't me. :/

[liamtyler]

Yeah it was ok, i thought the berserker abilty was somewhat cool, but if i had to say my favorite mech anime would be the macross series, oh and the 1st anime i watched which got me into watching anime would have been akira.

[ComradeHX]

Zeta > Seed.

Kamille is more emo.

Kamille has funny relationships with Fa(does not even end in ZZ).

Kamille goes Stephen Hawkings after Zeta.

Don't even mention Destiny...so much ripped contents from Zeta...

[Lights]

@Siendra when I first got into a series that's exactly what an old friend said to me, that SEED was just a bad remake of the original. Of course being new to the franchise & anime in general I just thought he was one of those dedicated close-minded fanboys that feel as if any sequel to a show is inferior to the original. I guess I can see how some people would be agitated if they are long time fans of Gundam, personally it was SEED that got me into Gundam in the first place, as I was only 14~ around the time. I heard about Wing but never watched it, is it worth looking into?

@ComradeHX I heard of Zeta a while back but never watched that series either, although I don't think it's fair to say that SEED / Destiny "ripped" content from Zeta. There is only so many story lines and situations that can be made out and take place within a series, being that Gundam has a numerous amount of movies, shows, & spinoffs it seems likely that some situations or characters would be similar. Mecha/action animes in general all seem to follow a similar character arc, with the main character starting off as a commoner and developing to realize his/her "true potential" if you must, exceeding both his/her expectations of their own abilities and also the expectations of their comrades/enemies.

This is not saying ALL series are like this, but I found a significant amount follow that general path. Although I don't know much if anything about Zeta, I would assume that some encounters and situations in the series would be similar in future series of Gundam just because of the shows nature. Then again, if I was originally a fan of Zeta I would probably compare the two as well. I thought Destiny was okay, I enjoyed both SEED and 00 much better though.

[Siendra]

Wing is a bit of a mixed bag. It's not terrible. If there's nothing in else on your to-watch list there's worse ways you could spend your time.

On one hand there's some great design work in the series and the closing episodes and movie are pretty good and tie things up nicely. On the other hand the characterizations of some characters (Heero and Relena principally) are really poorly handled and the plot takes a long, long time to actually come together.

What series in the franchise have you watched?

[bakaneko]

ok, i think i'm like Lights, i watched seed and seed destiny first and for the next few years i thought they were kinda the best in gundam series at the time.. the other one i watched was Gundam Wing, both eps and movie and i even bought the manga.. but wing was kinda a bit forgetable... like siendra said, if i don't have anything else to watch then i'd watch wing..

*stares at her Wing VCD collection collecting dust*

but, a few years after that, as i was researching info on gundam seed i found some interesting stuff about Gundam 0079 and Zeta Gundam so i started watching them too... ok, so i am not really crazy about the graphics and the hair (i'm superficial, so shoot me) but the story itself is much more interesting and the emotional depth of each characters and how they are related to each other are much more profound than that of what i've seen in Gundam Seed & Seed Destiny...

and i have to agree with ComradeHX about the rip off thing.. despite it being painful i have to admit there were quite a few ripped off theme/stuff from Zeta... stuff that makes you feel like, "hhhmmmm, i've seen that before", you know...

[blueskyy]

I'm somewhat different. I like Seed. Don't exactly like Destiny. And I dropped 00 after a couple of episodes. I've also watched a couple of Wing movies. And that's is all.

So for me, when I watch Seed, I just watch it for what it is... If you were to ask me for a rating, I would still give it a 7 or 8 out of 10. Destiny however, has too much similarities with Seed (just with a different set of characters). And for some unknown reasons, I really hated 00.

[Quirriff]

SEED introduced me to gundam, and I liked it, the tragedy reeled me in, even if the mecha did not.
DESTINY was a fair enough sequel however they reused so much footage and animation it just pissed me off.

[ComradeHX]

Originally Posted by Lights

@ComradeHX I heard of Zeta a while back but never watched that series either, although I don't think it's fair to say that SEED / Destiny "ripped" content from Zeta. There is only so many story lines and situations that can be made out and take place within a series, being that Gundam has a numerous amount of movies, shows, & spinoffs it seems likely that some situations or characters would be similar.

I think it is kind of obvious when you see the "enhanced humans"(Four Murasame in Zeta and that blond girl in Destiny) piloting GIANT gundams(Psycho gundam vs. Destroy) that makes them go crazy...while almost killing the main guy in the process...
Pretty much everything related to those two events in different gundam series are the same...

I mean, it's not like you see this every day in every other gundam series/mecha shows...