Hogan Reviews

The next chunk of SEED Destiny pulls the trigger on several bubbling plot-threads, most notably the Shinn-Stella / Kamile-Four homage as well as the Neo Reonoke reveal (that… yeah, I’ll get to that…) and puts a greater share of the spotlight on Rey as well. Let’s take a look!

The first two episodes of this batch focus on two things: Athrun meeting with Kira and Cagalli and despite being told the blatant truth that Durandal is clearly not so saintly and tried to have Lacus assassinated he refuses to believe his life-long friend and future wife respectively are right and heads back to ZAFT (sigh… come on, Athrun!) while at the same time Shinn and Rey check out an abandoned Earth Alliance facility that turns out to be the lab where they make “Extended” like the stolen Gundam trio and Rey freaks out, having something akin to a mental breakdown with flashes of a child Rey at the facility with Durandal and the previous series’ antagonist Rau Le Creuset. A short while later and the Extended trio hear about it and Auel freaks out which causes Stella to freak out and head to the lab in her stolen Gundam, only to lose to Athrun and Shinn and showing the latter the truth that he innocent young girl he helped a short while ago was actually an Earth Alliance experiment and rival pilot.

Kira and Athrun have a calm discussion… What? Oh I talk about it in the paragraph below. Sorry, all the good stuff happened in the latter half of this chunk, screenshot-wise…

Due to her unique physiology the Minerva heads to a ZAFT lab but is assaulted on the way by a fleet of both Earth Alliance and Orb vessels, which then leads to the Archangel crashing the party as well, causing another three-way battle. Athrun and Kira have a clash for old times’ sake which sees Athrun losing and his suit destroyed, while Auel is killed by Shinn who then goes on a killing spree against the Orb ships and ends up killing the friendly captain who once helped him a few years ago (a fact he tragically never finds out about). Sadly this great sequence is followed by an episode that recaps the original Gundam SEED series, but it does include a few bits of new footage and plot, including the revelation that Durandal and Minerva captain Talia were once romantically involved but had to end their relationship due to ZAFT politics.

Shinn overhears that Stella is going to be experimented on by ZAFT if she makes it at all and so breaks her out of the medical wing and escapes with her with the help of Rey. He contacts Neo and gives her back to him and makes him promise he won’t send her to war again… which he almost immediately does, and in a new powerful mobile armour no less. Shinn’s naivety showing in the extreme, right there! Durandal makes sure no punishment is handed out to Shinn or Rey while Stella starts levelling cities so both the Minerva and the Archangel show up to stop her. In the chaos not only does Neo end up knocked to the floor and arrested by the Archangel but Kira destroys the Destroy, leaving Shinn to cradle the dying Stella in his hands and curse Kira’s name. A nice little twist on the Zeta storyline.

The Destroy lives up to its name!

I’ll get to the last few episodes in the spoilers but I want to talk about the Neo Roanoke reveal, not that it hasn’t be obvious vocally, but yes: Neo turns out to be Mu La Flaga from SEED, Archangel captain Ramius’ love interest and the man who threw himself and his machine in front of a massive laser and EXPLODED right in front of Ramius’ view. It was tragic sacrifice and a great moment, now completely ruined by him somehow surviving and being mind-controlled into doing evil for the Earth Alliance. How someone survives exploding in the vacuum of space I have no idea, but there you go… he did always say he makes the impossible possible I guess! It’s Andrew Waltfeld all over again, a “cool” character is killed off in a satisfying plot moment only for it to be undone with little explanation just to keep him around, no doubt because he proved popular. *sigh*! I’ve been waiting to get that off my chest since talking about La Flaga’s “death” in the original SEED reviews…

Overall Thoughts:

“… but how?!” “I don’t have my memory of those events back yet.” “… When you do, can you tell me how?” “… No.”

SEED Destiny gives us some great action, plenty of drama (both legitimately created with Shinn and Stella, and poorly conceived with Ramius and La Flaga/Neo…) and sets up a new status quo as ZAFT and Durandal start to become the new villainous focus and Shinn is still too naïve to notice. His days as lead protagonist end with this batch, and a familiar duo take over the final chunk of the series…

Durandal declares war on Logos, revealing their members and calling them out as solely responsible for the Destroy’s attack on innocent civilians. He also tasks the Minerva with the job of destroying the Archangel, something Shinn is happy to take on as he begins to view footage of Kira and plan a way to win with Rey, much to Athrun’s distress. He doesn’t have long to wait as the two ships engage in battle soon after and during the fight Shinn manages to best and seemingly kill Kira, destroying the Freedom in the process in one of the only times Kira is shown to have any weakness. I mean, he’s alive and well in the next episode and later claims he heart wasn’t in it causing him to hold back, but hey-ho! Durandal shows two new suits to Shinn and Athrun: the Destiny and the Legend, the latter looking extremely close to Le Creuset’s Providence Gundam from the end of SEED. Shinn is thrilled with his new Destiny but after seeing his old friend seemingly killed by Durandal’s orders Athrun is FINALLY having doubts.

Gundam on Gundam action! … Wait, that happens all the time in the SEED shows… Old protagonist vs. new protagonist! … No, wait, that doesn’t work either, sadly…

Athrun does indeed decide to ditch ZAFT and goes on the run, being hunted down by a motivated Rey and a confused Shinn. Athrun survives thanks to side-character and Lunamaria’s sister Meyrin Hawke and takes her with him as he tries to find the Archangel, but as he departs in a random Gouf Shinn and Rey follows in the Destiny and the Legend. Despite hesitating Rey convinces Shinn to do his job as a solider and he, once again, seemingly kills one of the protagonists of the original series. They return to ZAFT and Shinn has a bit of a cry with Lunamaria, both due to his having seemingly killed her sister but also because Shinn knew she liked Athrun. It’s here we get the first real hints of a stronger bond between the two, while Rey is unhappy that it might be distracting Shinn from his duty. In other words, after half a series of being bit players Rey and Lunamaria actually get character development! Hooray!