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Mobile Suit Gundam Seed - Grim Reality (Vol. 1) + Limited Edition Art Box w/CD

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed - Grim Reality (Vol. 1) + Limited Edition Art Box w/CD

List Price: $49.98
Your Price: $44.98
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: plain bad
Review: animation isnt the same, whatever happened to the good old days when people drew the damn series instead of using some crapy digital stuff. the main character is to clueless to pilot a gundam. u want real gundam story, animation, and characters, check out gundam wing, g gundam and 8 ms team. on second thought, any gundam series that is drawn out, not some digital work.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Great Anime
Review: Anyone who says Gundam SEED sucks obviously either watched a bad fan dub or is just not a great anime fan. I have not watched many of the Gundam line- just G Gundam and Gundam Wing, which is one of the best animes out there- but I still know a good anime when I see one.
The characters develop a whole lot during the series. There's a ton of angst and emotion going on, but enough battle scenes to keep a fight fan happy.
I wholly recommend this to ANYONE of any age and any gender.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: GREAT ANIMATION
Review: Great animation, but it has nudity.It doesn't say it does but in the begining sequence it does.Only buy if you're a pervert. The best anime is the anime without the nudity.And yes there are some.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Better than Wing
Review: Gundam SEED is the Deepest of all the gundam's i've seen to date, It has a slow plot but once one sees all of it you knowtice that it's a very well done plot with a solid backround. The slower over all plot allows the relationships between the wonderfuly designed charaters to grow in many ways, and finaly the mech battles rock
<yes i know my spelling sucks>

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Gundam Seed = A awesome show
Review: Hi I've watched both the english subtitled and the english versions of Gundam Seed and have seen all the episodes thus far up to episode 18 and I think that this Gundam series is by far the best one of probably all of the past Gundam shows. I think the animation in that show is awesome, I like the characters in the show as well.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Obviously there are no true fans to Gundam Seed
Review: I have been a gundam fan for years I first started out with Gundam Wing and found myself searching for various other gundam titles. What i liked most about gundam seed is the artists evolution of the gundam series. no longer are gundams invulnerable to attacks but they take damage unlike gundam wing, no longer is the protagonist a strong steroid enhanced muscle with no fear of danger of his life. Gundam seed pushes further down showing the true feelings and motives for a pilot of a gundam. And for the first time we are able to see the pilot get a girl, no not just by using our imagination. to me that is a great improvement. True gundam fans realize that this nature is new and refreshing, rookies need to dig deeper and do their homework.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mobile Suit Gundam Seed - Grim Reality (Vol. 1)
Review: It's a really good cartoon, I would say it fits with the other Gundam series shows. I love every episode on the dvd and can't wait to get the rest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The Seed Grew To Be A Beautiful Masterpiece.
Review: Mobile Suit Gundam Seed is not just any anime. People should not really compare it to other Gundam animes, but compare it to other titles. Gundam Seed is not about its battle scenes like Gundam Wing and Gundam G emphasizes, but it is about the drama, hardships, and tragedy brought by war.

The story is mainly about two friends parted from each other just to end up fighting each other in a seemly meaningless war, although most of wars are meaningless. War is such a terrible thing, that is if you were in the shoes of Kira Yamato, the main character in the series, but to us it is just another war story, this time in color.

My summary on this is, yes, Gundam Seed is worth keeping. You might find most of the episodes quite short, this is perhaps to keep the series long. If you like sci-fi animes, you will probably like this series. It has a lot to offer, mentioning twisty storylines and excellent battle sequence. But I must say you should not expect much of this, especially if you are a Gundam fan. I would recommend this to someone who prefers an alternative theme of animes, or someone who has not seen any Gundam series.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: an inderect remake
Review: Not bad at all but compared to the original MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM it sucks. It is basically a remake of the original trying to apeal to a new generation of fans. long time fans of this glorious franchise may find this new adition interesting as earlyer stated it isnt a bad show. The voice overs were done really well and feature good talents sorry cant think of any names. Good diologue great sound track not enough violance and absolutely no nudety. I enjoyed it and will probably by the entire set after I compleat mobile fighter G gundam.






Rating: 3 stars
Summary: SEEDy Affairs
Review: The collector's box is nice and sturdy, able to contain all 10 DVDs that will make up the series. The front has a shot of our two main characters, Athrun and Kira, along with the Aile Strike Gundam. The sides show each of them with the respective standard mid-series upgrade Gundam. The top has a small group shot.
The soundtrack is from Tofu Records, one of the many labels cashing in on the success of anime and manga by releasing soundtracks. The CD is titled SEED Complete Best and is a compilation of the openings and endings for the series, along with some remixes. SEED has some great songs so there should be just about something for everyone here (truth be told, there are a few which have me reaching for the "Next Track" button). Sadly, one key song is missing. In Japan, there were two versions of Complete Best- a standard and a limited edition. The limited edition contained one extra song, the first ending. This is undoubtedly the most popular song from the series, but the group behind it (See-Saw) are signed to a different record label. It's not the greatest loss but without it, Complete Best doesn't feel so complete. The CD is in a standard case, with a pull out booklet. The booklet has a new cover of a POV shot of the Strike Gundam looming over you, whilst the other side of the case has the original Japanese cover of Kira and Athrun looking grim and angsty. The booklet contains the romanised lyrics for all the songs found on the album, as well as photos of the artists...quite a freaky bunch. The last page is a track listing with a group shot of the big four characters.
Bandai are using the Japanese cover art for the series, so the cover for volume 1 is Kira and his Strike Gundam. The insert gives a brief glossary of important terms used in the story.

The DVD menus use animation from the show eg a clip will play of Strike Gundam swinging a sword and then freeze, with the options appearing on the sword. It's reminiscent of what Bandai did with Endless Waltz and slightly confusing to navigate. Hopefully it will improve with later discs. From the main menu you can choose to play all 5 episodes, select a specific part of one of the episodes, change the settings or go to the extras.
The extras are the norm for this kind of release. We get a textless opening, mecha files (compiled by two very cool members of the fandom), three trailers (Ghost in the Shell : Stand Alone Complex, Infinite Ryvius and Dragon Drive) and credits.
Sound and video here is fine. Everything looks and sounds crisp and is helped by the casts of both languages doing a pretty solid job.

Starting in late 2002 in Japan, SEED is yet another of Bandai's attempts to draw in new fans with a series unconnected to those of the franchise's past. The last series to air was 1999's Turn A Gundam. Helmed by Gundam creator Tomino, the show took a very different approach and was only really successful with long time fans. With SEED, Bandai is clearly aiming for a younger demographic (especially females, which make up most of the show's fanbase). Whilst the AU series of the mid-90s had been piled out with little space or life, SEED was the result of alot of careful planning. The original series remains ever popular in Japan, so Bandai decided to see it lightning would strike twice. SEED takes the story of Mobile Suit Gundam and rewrites it for the modern generation. Gone are the goofy 1970s music, mecha and character designs replaced by catchy J-pop tunes, attractive bishounen and mecha which draw on the franchise's 25 years of experience.

The result is a series which, in this reviewer's opinion, is Gundam Wing done right. The story sticks to the tried and true formula- in the distant future, Earth is at war with the inhabitants of its orbiting space colonies. However the conflict here is not one of rights but race. Genetic engineering, an issue which in the real world is becoming more and more a complicated issue, is a reality. Parents willingly take advantage of this to 'improve' their children as they see fit, from anything as simple to a change of eye colour to enhanced strength and intelligence. This has split humanity in two- the Coordinators (the name given to those who have been altered) and the Naturals (the name for those who have remained untampered). The two sides each have their own share of loathing for the other for varying reasons, so war has broken out. The war had been expected to end quickly but after a massive loss of their own civillains to nuclear warheads, ZAFT (the name of the Coordinator army) developed the N-Jammer to disable any sort of nuclear power.
Both sides are forced to rely on non-nuclear power as a result. Another invention of the Coordinator's high intellect are mobile suits. Combined with the super fast reflexes of their pilots, these new weapons are giving ZAFT the advantage.
Not to be outdone, the Earth forces commence plans to build their own advanced MS. The 5 prototypes are nearly complete on the 'neutral' colony where they've been constructed when ZAFT make their play to steal them. A devistating attack is launched on the colony, forcing the civillains into shelters. It's here that our central character, Kira Yamato, gets involved. A 16 year old Coordinator, Kira and his family moved to the colony to escape the war. After saving the life of an Earth officer, Kira is forced into the cockpit with her of the the last remaining prototype. When the Natural officer struggles to control the thing, Kira is forced to step in and use his abilities to pilot. As the situation worsens, it's clear Kira is the only one who can pilot this Strike Gundam, a task he is forced into to protect himself and his friends as they flee with the Earth forces. Whilst this is frustrating enough for the peace loving Kira, he also has to deal with the fact that one of the Gundam thiefs is his childhood friend Athrun Zala. Can he kill one friend to protect others?


The characters are a likeable bunch but as should be expected we don't get to know them completly in these first 5 episodes. Kira is joined by his friends/fellow students, as well as a kind hearted rookie captain, a by-the-book second officer and a cool ace pilot who serves as his mentor. ZAFT also has some diversity, with the now-standard Char-clone (a mysterious masked blonde who's a capable commander and fearsome fighter) and their own Gundam pilots who at least partly fall into bishounen stereotypes (the quiet peacemaker, the moody gloryhog, etc).
Both casts do a fine job. In general I prefer the Japanese cast, but the English cast also have talent. There is the odd moment of flatness and silly "we need to fit the flaps" dialogue, but it never reaches the levels that have hampered my enjoyment of the Ocean Group's previous works. The Japanese version's major ace is Seki Tomokazu. The guy who played one of my favourite characters from past series (Domon Kasshu), Seki steps up to play Yzak Joule, a dedicated ZAFT Gundam pilot. Whilst alot of VAs restrain themselves, Seki becomes his character. He does a great job of channeling Yzak's arrogance and anger, as well as providing screaming battle cries like no one can
The animation is of a fine standard, but there is one annoying flaw- a high use of CGI. Computer screens are rendered this way and so ocassionly is the main ship of the show, the Archangel. Whilst it can work in small doses at times it just sticks out too much, especially for the ship animation. Archangel moves within the same physics as everything else, then becomes incredibly floaty and moveable once it switches to CGI (thankfully, this flaw seems to have been corrected for the sequel).

In general, I'd say this is the best series for someone who wants to give Gundam a shot to hop on with. It can appeal to both existing fans and new ones, especially females who may not be interested in the style of previous series. The show has some bishounen but doesn't over do it (in fact, the first episode has a scene that slightly parodies those kind of shows), instead trying to give us characters with...well, character. The mecha designs are appealing, the battles are well handled and the story is intriguing, offering the possibility of further discussion on the real world of the heart of the war (the morals of genetic engineering). Reccomended


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