Mobile Suit Gundam Seed - Grim Reality (Vol. 1)

Story
Bloody Valentine. The name of the tragic attack that ignited all out war between the Naturals and Coordinators. During this attack the Earth Forces destroyed a colony with a nuclear missile. This was seen as a hate crime against the genetically modified Coordinators, shortly afterwards, ZAFT Mobile Suits descended to Earth. Initially it was believed that the Earth Forces, with their superior numbers, would quickly bring an end to the war. However, that assessment proved to be false, and now, eleven months have passed...

Heliopolis, part of the neutral nation of Orb, is attacked by ZAFT. Kira Yamato, a teenager who moved there to escape the war, finds himself caught up in the attack and is forced to board the Earth's new Mobile Weapon, X105 Strike Gundam.

This one follows the Original Gundam series pretty closely, sometimes its feels familiar but at other times you can tell that its trying to become its own series. For instance, Newtypes are replaced by Coordinators, Genetically Modified Humans. The thing is, there are hate groups that would like nothing more than to wipe Coordinators out of existence. I like the fact that the show brings that sort of prejudism into the plot. It's enhanced with Kira, the young Gundam pilot who is, in fact, a coordinator. But he's fighting against his own people, for a nation that hates his kind so much that they nuked one of their colonies. But there lies another question, did the Earth Alliance really destroy that colony? Was there something bigger behind it?

I find Kira's character interesting, he says he fighting to protect his friends and that he feels a certain responsibility towards them. But he's fighting against his best friend, Athrun Zalla. Its situations like these that keeps Gundam Seed from becoming just another Gundam series.

Animation
The series showcases some nice CG effects, but they seem to stand out a bit. Luckily its nothing that hurt's the series. Character movements are fluid and Mobile Suit movements are very believeable. I think the team did a great job with the animation here, its definately the best I've ever seen in a Gundam series. The Phase Shift effect looks pretty cool as well, although it is one of the more "far out" aspects of the series.

Sound
I didn't like some of the gun sound effects, the machine gun effects are great but theres this one sound that just doesn't seem to fit. Explosions are loud and believable. I'm also impressed with the sound that went into the actual Mobile Suit movements, very nicely done.
On a final note.
Best.
Soundtrack.
Ever.

Extras
Trailers
Mechanical Files
Gundam Seed textless opening # 1

But is there a Box Set?
Yes!
And it's a darn good one at that. The box is nice and sturdy, and you also get the series soundtrack (remember what I said earlier)! The soundtrack has 12 songs from mulitple artists, most of them are Opening themes I think but they are all at least 4 minutes in duration! Be sure not to miss TM Revolution's Invoke and Meteor.

Overall
What can I say? I love it. They've taken a proven concept, expanded on it, and made it into something fresh yet familiar but still quite enjoyable. There will be 10 DVDs and I can't wait until I have them all.
If you like Gundam, give this one a shot.
never watched Gundam? Give this one a shot.
It's a perfect place to start, you won't regret it.

I give it 5 stars (10 out of 10)

Added: September 1st 2004
Reviewer: XenoSabre
Score:
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