Mobile 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 the Cosmic Era. The series has 50 episodes, aired in Japan from October 52002 to September 272003 at 6:00 PM on the JNN TV stations (Tokyo Broadcasting System (TBS TV), Mainichi Broadcasting System (MBS TV, producing TV station), etc.).

Overview

Directed by Mitsuo Fukuda (Future GPX Cyber Formula and Gear Fighter Dendoh), the series is set in an alternate universe to the previous 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. Gundam SEED started with similar 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 Entertainment, and was released on DVD in North America in uncut bilingual format. An edited version of the English dub is currently being broadcast on Cartoon Network at 1am on Friday nights. Things that were edited out on Cartoon Network include mature content (ex. most references to the sexual relationship between Kira and Flay -- though the initial scene presenting this was left partially intact); scenes of intense combat violence (ex. almost all shots of pilots, including main characters, in their cockpits before having their machines destroyed); cold-blooded or brutal murders that are non-mobile suit related (ex. Siegel 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, handguns being sloppily and inconsistently transformed into neon-colored lasers, dubbed "Disco Guns" by fans, for the majority of the show's run. Also, there was little to no use of the words "kill" or "die" in the middle of the series airing.

Although the series premiered during the Toonami block at 10:30pm on Saturday nights, it was pushed back to 1:00 am on Friday nights starting with Phase 27 due to below average ratings. Since most of the series had been pre-edited, very little changed in terms of content allowance. However, the airings of the final two episodes were left mostly unedited, with only a few elements being affected -- namely the guns used by Azrael, Patrick Zala, and one of the ZAFT soldiers (which was given neon-colored lights in certain but not all of the image frames), airbrushing the naked Flay's body in the final episode to avoid showing her cleavage, reducing the amount of blood shown, editing the character's lines; to remove either some inapproprite language or to alter any lines that are controversial, and the removal or altering of flashbacks to graphic assassinations. The majority of the series was aired with a TV-Y7, apparently, at the insistence of Bandai who were desperately trying to push the new Gundam SEED toy line. However, since most retailers had stopped carrying the Gundam line due to oversaturation from the G Gundam series, this soon became a lost cause. Only the final episode was given the TV-PG-SV 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 better reception and aired comparatively uncut, with almost all of the material listed above intact. Reruns are now airing Tuesdays at 11:30pm on YTV and the 10:00 pm Bionix block.

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. This series though, has been critised by many fans for poor directing, mediocre CGI, and unecessary fanservice. Furthermore, many fans, especially those familiar with the other more action oriented alternate universe series, disliked the the over played teenage relationships and melodrama that take place in this series.

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 ran until October 12005.

Cast & Crew

Japanese Cast

• Athrun Zala - Akira Ishida
• Cagalli Yula Athha - Shindou Naomi
• Dearka Elthman - Akira Sasanuma
• Flay Allster - Houko Kuwashima
• Kira Yamato - Souichirou Hoshi
• Lacus Clyne - Rie Tanaka
• Miguel Aiman - Takanori Nishikawa (T.M. Revolution)
• Murrue Ramius - Kotono Mitsuishi
• Mwu La Flaga - Takehito Koyasu
• Natarle Badgiruel - Houko Kuwashima
• Nicol Amarfi - Mami Matsui
• Raww Le Klueze - Toshihiko Seki
• Yzak Jule - Tomokazu Seki

Staff

• Director - Mitsuo Fukuda
• Series Writer - Chiaki Morosawa
• Character Design - Hisashi Hirai
• Mecha Designer - Kunio Okawara & Kimitoshi Yamane
• Music Composer - Toshihiko Sahashi

English-language Cast

• Narrator, Ezaria Jule - Alison Matthews
• Kira Yamato - Matt Hill
• Raww Le Klueze - Mark Oliver
• Mu La Flaga - Trevor Devall
• Murrue Ramius, Eileen Canaver - Lisa Ann Beley
• Athrun Zala - Sam Vincent
• Cagalli Yula Athha - Vanessa Morley
• Dearka Elthman - Brad Swaile
• Miriallia Haww - Anna Cummer
• Tolle Koenig, Shani Andras - Richard Ian Cox
• Flay Allster, Birdy (Torii), Haro - Tabitha St. Germain
• Sai Argyle - Bill Switzer
• Kuzzey Buskirk - Keith Miller
• Natarle Badgiruel - Sarah Johns
• Yzak Jule - Michael Adamthwaite
• Clotho Buer, Yuri Amalfi - Ted Cole
• Arnold Neumann - Philip Pacaud
• Lacus Clyne - Chantal Strand
• Lacus' singing voice - Jillian Michaels
• Andrew Waltfeld, Reverend Malchio - Brian Drummond
• Martin DaCosta - Brian Dobson
• Nicol Amalfi - Gabe Khouth
• Dalida Lolaha Chandra II - Simon Hayama
• Jackie Tonomura - Matt Smith
• Romero Pal - Brendan Van Wijk
• Kojiro Murdoch - Ward Perry
• Erica Simmons - Sharon Alexander
• Asagi Caldwell - Jocelyne Loewen
• Mayura Labatt - Rebecca Shoicet
• Ledonir Kisaka - Adam Henderson
• Uzumi Nara Athha - John Novak
• Siegel Clyne - Don Brown
• Patrick Zala - Andrew Kavadas
• Muruta Azrael - Andrew Francis
• Aisha - Saffron Henderson
• Miguel Aiman - Tony Sampson
• Capt. Fredrik Ades - Michael Dobson
• Col. William Sutherland - Ron Halder
• Orga Sabnak - Andrew Toth

Openings, Endings & Insert Songs

Openings:

• Invoke by T.M. Revolution (ep. 1-13) (Toonami Broadcast: episode 1-26), (YTV Broadcast: 1-50)
• Moment by Vivian or Kazuma (ep. 14-26)
• Believe by Nami Tamaki (ep. 27-40)
• Realize by Nami Tamaki (ep. 41-50)

Endings:

• Anna ni Issho datta no ni (We were so together, but) by See-Saw (ep. 1-26)
• River by Tatsuya Ishii (ep. 27-39)
• Find The Way by Mika Nakashima (ep. 40-50)

Insert Songs:

• Akatsuki No Kuruma (Dawn's Carriage) by FictionJunction YUUKA (ep. 24, 32, 40)
• Anna ni Issho datta no ni (We were so together, but) by See-Saw (episode 28)
• METEOR by T.M. Revolution (ep. 26, 29, 35, 47)
• Mizu no Akashi by Rie Tanaka (English version by Jillian Michaels) (ep. 36 & 41)
• Shizuka na Yoru ni (In the Quiet Night) by Rie Tanaka (English version by Jillian Michaels) (episodes 7-9, 14, 20)

See also

Preceded by (in production order): ∀ Gundam

Followed by (in production and chronological order): Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny

External links

• Official page is at http://www.gundamofficial.com/worlds/ce/index.html
• Japanese site is at http://www.gundam-seed.net/
• Fan sites are located at:

• • Gundam Plus : For in depth information and large screenshot / gallery images on Gundam.
  • Ashitsuki
  • Seed Genesis : For in depth info, graphics, and media
  • http://www.mahq.net/
  • http://www.gundamseed.de/
  • http://www.gundamseednfo.tk/
  • http://www.thai-toku-v3.us/torpong/seed/
  • http://gundamseedhq.cjb.net/
  • http://www.oywq3.com/seed/
  • http://aeug.blogspot.com/
  • http://www.sutoraiku.net/
  • Gundam Seed Net : Offers information on large amount of information along with update and screenshots of recent episodes. This site also has pop-ups that give people viruses, so be wary.
  • Seed-Forum : A massive online community of avid Gundam fans from the AC to UC universes with active and helpful users. Like gundams.net, this site has virus-giving pop-ups

fr:Gundam seed it:Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ja:機動戦士ガンダムSEED tl:Mobile Suit Gundam SEED th:กันดั้มซี้ด zh:機動戰士鋼彈SEED