 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
Mobile Suit Gundam SEEDMobile Suit Gundam SEED (or "Gundam SEED") is an anime television series from Japan. It is a part of the Gundam franchise that started in 1979, but takes place in an alternate universe called Cosmic Era. The series has 50 episodes, aired in Japan from October 52002 to September 272003.
OverviewDirected by Mitsuo Fukuda (Future GPX Cyber Formula and Gear Fighter Dendoh ), the series is set in an alternate universe to the original series, the Cosmic Era universe. This series begins with a war between Earth and the colonies that is similar to the One Year War of the original Gundam series with elements from New Mobile Report Gundam Wing and After War Gundam X. On one side is the Earth Alliance, and on the opposite is the space colonies that form ZAFT (Zodiac Alliance of Freedom Treaty). Mankind has evolved into new forms through genetic engineering, with normal humans known as 'Naturals' and the genetically altered known as 'Coordinators'. Like the original series, ZAFT has a head start on mobile suit design, the Earth Alliance quickly catches up with its five prototype Gundams. With ZAFT having stolen four of the prototypes, young pilot Kira Yamato takes the Strike Gundam and is forced to fight his old friend Athrun Zala. Like Gundam Wing, Gundam SEED also started with simaliar plot lines to the first Gundam series. But later on in the series Gundam SEED took off into its own original plotline. The series is licensed by Bandai Visual. The American edition is currently being broadcast on Cartoon Network as of April 2004 at 10:30 pm on Toonami. Although things that were edited out on Cartoon Network are violent images (ex. all references to the sexual relationship between Kira and Flay); almost all shots of pilots, including main characters, in their cockpits before having their machines destroyed as well as cold-blooded or brutal murders that are non-mobile suit related (ex. Signel Clyne getting shot by ZAFT soldiers loyal to Patrick Zala); all references to the facts that the Living CPUs need to take performance enhanching drugs; and most notoriously, all handguns being transformed into neon-colored lasers, dubbed "Disco Guns" by fans, for the majority of the show's run. Due to its mediocre performance, it was pushed back to 1:00 am on Friday nights. Starting with Phase 27. However, During the airing of the final two episodes, they were left mostly unedited however and all the original material with the exception of a few characters guns such as Azraels from Phase-49 and Patrick Zalas and one of the ZAFT soliders (which was given neon-colored lights in certain but not all of the image frames) was not edited out. As a result both episodes were PG rating rather than the usual TV-Y7 rating. The Canadian version debuted on YTV's Bionix block in September 2004 at 9:30 pm where it got a slightly better reception and aired comparitively uncut. An abridged, six part version of the TV series is also being released as Gundam SEED: Special Edition. The English manga is published in North America by Del Rey Manga and in Singapore by Chuang Yi, while Gundam SEED Astray, a spinoff of Gundam SEED, is published in North America by TokyoPop. Another element left over from the most popular recent Gundam series (1995-6's Gundam Wing) was the presence of five color-coded Gundams piloted by angst-ridden bishonen. This made the series quite attractive to female fans, though to date unofficial SEED slash fiction is primarily concentrated among the ZAFT adversary characters, rather than among the Archangel crew members. One characteristic of this Gundam series is that it focused on character development in addition to fighting. As in The Super Dimension Fortress Macross and Neon Genesis Evangelion, this resulted in several episodes without any fighting. Also running with the series was a series of manga called Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray that told a side-story to the anime series. This proved popular enough to generate two more side-stories: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray R and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X Astray. On July 62004 the sequel to Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, was announced after over a month of rumors. It started airing in Japan on October 2004 on the network Mainichi Broadcasting System and continues to do so today. Cast & CrewJapanese Cast
Staff
English-language Cast
Openings & Endings & Insert SongsOpenings:
Endings:
Insert Songs:
SEED TheoryThe word SEED in the title is an acronym for a scientific theory concerning the destiny of people. This designation, when properly applied to certain parts of the plot, makes sense (When Malchio informs Kira that he has "a seed" within him, he is referring to Kira's innate purpose in life). This term is widely confused with Berserker, which is characterized in the show by a pilot in an extremely stressed situation (usually on the brink of collapse) who sees the personification of a balled up flower which shatters. Their eyes dilate, and usually where the pupil might maintain a hint of humanity, theirs do not. This is to demonstrate their temporary "insanity", much as the Berserkers of ancient myth, plagued by high amounts of concentration, visual acuity, and spatial prowess. See alsoPreceded by (in production order): ∀ Gundam Followed by (in production and cronological order): Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny External links
The contents of this article are licensed from Wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License.
How to see transparent copy 01-04-2007 01:21:04 |
|
