Episode 50 of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny HD Remaster is now up at GundamInfo’s Youtube channel and with that, I suppose, Sunrise’s HD Remaster project is over. Despite being a commercial success for Sunrise (as well as Bandai’s Gunpla business), it still is a divisive factor in the non-Japanese fan community.
Much has been said about the second and final chapter in the Cosmic Era universe. Many of those comments, in my opinion, are unfair and one-sided.
Yes, SEED Destiny’s second half is the Gundam equivalent of taking a Ferrari for a ride and then crashing and burning on the final lap of a race. But I’ve always felt that changing the ending into one of the many other supposed “original endings”will be just as divisive as the one we actually got.
First off, I personally liked SEED and SEED Destiny. As a Gundam fan, I have no hang ups watching series that were not set in the Universal Century timeline. I take it for what it is, not because it’s UC. If the series is bad, then it’s bad. I don’t waste any time trolling Gundam blogs because honestly speaking, I have no right imposing my observations on other people. More often than not, even if I didn’t like a series (AGE for example), I still like the suit designs enough for me to consider investing on a Master Grade kit of one (provided it has an MG).
Second, a series that isn’t UC definitely isn’t UC, and people should stop comparing a series created for different audiences with different writers. I get it: everything Gundam will and always will be, judged on the basis of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s works, but they will always be different.
Sure, the Universal Century timeline is still tops when it comes to the story, with mature themes for an anime show that time. But the kicker is that it was made to be that way in the first place. Other series were made to target specific audiences. AGE was geared towards kids, Gundam 00 was targeted towards new audiences whose experience of mecha-anime were super robot ones. SEED was meant to be a reboot, a way of reinvigorating a stagnating franchise. When Gundam got its previous levels of fame back, Sunrise decided that it’s time for UC once again as Gundam Unicorn was released in Episodic OVA format. The last Unicorn Episode will be released this spring.
Still, a lot of people still love to hate on SEED. Sometimes, I think people just hate on it because it has become sort of cool to do so. Newsflash: Gundam SEED is an anime, so are the others. Getting emotionally caught up in a show just because it didn”t end up like you wish you did is a sure sign that you need to step out of your room, out of your house, and have a life.
Gundam SEED Destiny HD Remaster is done. Move on with your life folks.