Learning from the Past: Gundam Seed Destiny HD Remaster Collection One Blu-ray Review
Product Provided by Right Stuf and Nozomi Entertainment
When given the opportunity to check out the first half of Gundam Seed’s HD Remaster, I was excited to look past its critical history and figure out exactly how I felt about the series. In short, I had a good time with Seed despite its shortcomings (more on that here).
Gundam Seed Destiny is a different situation.
During the summer of 2020, I found myself in a weekly discord call with friends to shoot the breeze and watch some anime. The original version of Seed Destiny was one of the shows we watched together. Hopping in at the last third of the series’ run, I saw Seed Destiny to have a lot of action going on while not much actually progresses in the story. Though, we all did get a chuckle out of how often it flashed back to Nicol. He loved the piano after all.
Checking out Seed Destiny a few years later with an open mind and a new HD remaster, I wanted to look out for the good ideas in a show I knew wouldn’t quite stick the landing.
Story & Characters
Picking up a few years following the conclusion of Gundam Seed, its sequel makes an admirable first leap with some solid footing to push off of. Grounding itself in the immediate aftermath of the previous war, the description provided by Right Stuf paints a fragile picture of the current Cosmic Era.
The year is Cosmic Era 73. The Bloody Valentine War, fought between the PLANTS space colonies and the nations of the Atlantic Federation, has ended and an uneasy truce has settled upon the Earth sphere. With the signing of the Junius Seven Treaty, the world’s soldiers have left the battlefield and the grizzly sights of war behind. Many who fought now seek peace and refuge in the shelter of civilian life.
But one boy, Shin Asuka, is finding that incredibly hard. A coordinator who lost his entire family during the Battle of Orb, he now fights with ZAFT in one of their newest machines, the Impulse Gundam. Of course, ZAFT is only developing these machines for defensive applications — or so they claim — but when a group of Federation operatives steal some of these prototype machines, the world is once again plunged towards war.
Shin’s introduction is gut wrenching, superbly showing viewers the unseen consequences of the war that now haunts the entire cast. Athrun is especially torn over how to proceed forward as a new conflict escalates. It hits him incredibly hard in the form of Shin, as he often represents the failures of the original cast coming back to explosively confront them. The original cast shines in this respect, the internal conflict over the blood on their hands pushing that drama further. Speaking of the Seed cast, the inclusion of old favorites like Andrew Waltfeld and Murrue Ramius never failed to put a smile on my face. They’re both still very tired and Andy still loves his coffee.
Aside from the random bone thrown to Shin or the crew of the Minerva, the new cast is largely sidelined. It‘s a shame, as both casts work so well together when holding each other accountable for their actions. Unfortunately, those moments are less frequent in the series’ opening salvo of episodes. After the first episode concludes with the introduction of the Impulse, Seed Destiny feels as if it is spinning its wheels with action while figuring out exactly where it wants to go. This results in the series kind of restarting itself a few times before everything gets going around the episode ten mark. Once it does get in a groove, I did find myself having the same kind of fun I had Seed, but it’s on shaky footing.
Seed Destiny reportedly had its fair share of issues while in production, so I can empathize with the team behind it. I applaud director Mitsuo Fukuda for doing the best he could despite the difficult and personally painful situation he found himself in. In his included interview with Anime Scholar Jonathan Clements, Fukuda’s candid candor shows a passion for his work that shouldn’t be disregarded just because of one troubled project.
Technical Nuts & Bolts
Visually, the series is on par with Seed’s HD Remaster, if not a bit better on the whole. There is still some visual noise from upscaling the original animation to a higher resolution, but I noticed it far less often in comparison to Seed. The new cuts of animation continue to look amazing.
NYAV Post returns to provide a new dub for Seed Destiny. Their work on Seed went a long way to elevate the material. In the case of Seed Destiny, I feel they could only do so much. Though I do appreciate the awareness of the material’s shortcomings in the occasional line read. The performances from new and returning cast members alike continue to be rock solid. As he did in Seed, Chris Hackney kills it as Athrun.
The opening and ending credits songs to grabbed me a little less this time around. However, I eventually warmed up to “Ignited” and starting bopping little to “Life Goes On”. Oddly enough, I was most excited by the occasional inclusion of instrumental arrangements of the pop music from Seed. Their use amplifying scenes just as they did in the original series. As with his work on Seed, Kamen Rider Kuuga, and The Big O, Toshihiko Sahashi hits another home run with his work on Seed Destiny. The composer’s work never fails to impress me.
Wrapping it up
As always, Nozomi & Right Stuf have produced an excellent set in line with their other superb releases. However, if you’re looking for a more premium package with extra bonus features (including the Ocean Dub), Right Stuf additionally offers an Ultra Edition Set.
Gundam Seed Destiny may be a series I can only comfortably recommend from an academic perspective. It may provide an intriguing watch for folks like myself, who dig into series for what they are in hopes to maybe learn something from it. For a more general audience, it is difficult for me to recommend outside of Gundam fans who are building out their collection.
Thanks again to Nozomi Entertainment & Right Stuf for providing this set for review. You can find this release for sale in the link below.
