Gundam Seed - The latest Gundam series to come out of Japan and hit North American television stations, and hit them hard it has. In Japan, Gundam Seed was the top-rated anime for it's entire length, from episode 1 through 50. That's gotta say something, with all the other anime that is shown over there. It held the prime time slot for anime on Saturday evening, and Gundam Seed mania was swept over the masses. Even the characters were popular; Kira and Rakusu, the main male and female from the series, were popular well after the series was finished running. What does this say about our fine anime? That it was obviously really, really good.

Gundam Seed isn't an original series, technically. It follows the path of all the Gundam series before it, with war raging between two groups of people that takes to space in the mobile suits called Gundams. Of course, the storyline is much deeper than just that. In Gundam Seed, there was an introduction of a new species of humans, called "Coordinators", who were basically an enhanced version of the original model. While not many people may know this, the Coordinator theme isn't an original addition to the Gundam series either, it was similar to that of Gundam X's "Newtypes", the less popular Gundam series of a few years back. Obviously, this time they did it right though, because when Gundam X was airing, it was cut short due to lack of interest. Meanwhile, Gundam Seed has been forced into a second season - the first time any Gundam series has done this.

If anyone hasn't seen this anime just because they hate Mecha-based anime, or because they hated the other Gundam series - all I have to say is "don't judge the anime by it's genre, or by its predecessors". Indeed, Gundam Seed is a mecha anime, and also undeniably part of the Gundam series, but it stands alone from the rest of them. It has a much more in-depth storyline than most other mech anime, focusing more on character relations and plot than on the fighting and dynamics. Of course, this doesn't mean that the graphics and battle scenes were slack either.. It took a magnificent balance of both to bring this anime to the top!

The story is set around two young men - Kira and Asuran - and their battle against each other, against the racial pressures of the "Coordinator vs Natural" battle, and against their own minds. They have to decide what it "right" for themselves, whether to follow orders and destroy each other, or to follow their hearts, and turn against their allies. Of course, it's not that easy to define, since there are other deciding factors. Asuran's father is the head of ZAFT - the Coordinator's main army fighting the battle against the Naturals. Kira is a Coordinator on the side of the Earth Alliance, the fighting force of the Naturals, because he must protect his other Natural friends. Kinda makes decision making rather difficult, don't it?

Other characters make the anime much more fun to follow, just because of how they interact with one another. Characters like Frey and Yzak, who are hateful and vengeful, like Rakusu, who believe everyone to be a friend no matter what their lineage, or like Mwu La Fraga, who have confusing pasts, and even clones of themselves? Pretty crazy. It's not hard to see why Gundam Seed has some of the most popular characters of any anime series. The key to a great anime, is to have both a great character set, and to have those characters interact in interesting and intriguing ways with each other. Tense relationships, tight bonds of friendship, and deep hatred between enemies - these are all things that any great storyline has, and they're all found in Gundam Seed.

Even the animation itself is awesome. It's a step above that of any of the past Gundam series, in battle animation, scenery, and character design. The animation is crisp and clean, and it flows nicely. The character design is very well done, the characters being both original and really cute! The scenery is always beautiful, whether it's natural Earth (or PLANT) scenery, the inside of a ship, or in the depths of space, it's always beautiful to see. The final aspect of the animation is the one that all mecha fans focus on in Gundam Seed - the battle scenes. Gundam Seed has, by far, the best battle scenes out of any Gundam series so far. The Gundams and other mobile suits all have their own abilities and purpose in battle, it's not just a stand-and-shoot faceoff, it's an actual hand-to-hand battle, using beamed weapons, sharp objects, and other such Mecha-type weaponry. The animation isn't used over and over, which in some past Gundam battles, the animation of certain parts of battles was recycled to save time. (As it is with almost any animated series, the difference lies in how often it's reused and how well it's blended in so that you can't really notice it.)

The thing that really got me about this series, as with most Gundam series, is the soundtrack. Pretty much every Gundam series I've ever watched has had a wonderful soundtrack - from the opening and ending themes, to the background music during the episodes. Gundam Seed has most likely the best one I've heard, even better than that of Gundam Wing, which I also loved quite alot. I find that the Gundam series has a trend of getting very popular J-pop bands to do their themes, and the songs are always catchy and usually fast-paced. The difference in Gundam Seed, as compared to past Gundam series was that it even featured a "pop idol" of sorts, which resulted in more insert songs right in the episodes themselves. Rakusu, the main female character of the series, is a popular idol among Coordinators, so of course she has to make her cameo appearances, singing her ever-popular songs. (There are two different ones in the series.) Her songs add even more of a fine-tuning to the anime's already great soundtrack, and also gives more of a feel to the anime itself. Not to mention, the songs are just plain beautiful.

All in all, Gundam Seed is definitely one of the top anime of all time, and it recieves Anime Hallow's first A+! I would definitely reccommend this series to anyone, whether they like mech anime and Gundam or not. It's just too beautiful a series to pass up! I can't wait to watch it again... And am eagerly awaiting the sequel's release - Gundam Seed Destiny.

~Reviewed By Lunaki