The focus on Universal Century’s timeline changed in 2002 with the release of Gundam Seed, which gave birth to its own continuity and various follow-ups.
The Mobile Suit Gundam The franchise has consistently been one of the largest and most popular in Japanese pop culture, spanning decades of print and animated material. Many of these venerable versions of the Bandai franchise occur in the Universal Century timeline and continuity, which began in 1979 with the release of the original. Mobile Suit Gundam anime.
The focus on the Universal Century timeline changed in 2002 with the release of Gundam Seed, which gave birth to its own continuity and various follow-ups. This trend continues, with a new movie, video game, and manga. planned for release soon, continuing the story of Gundam Seed. This all follows the 2020 release of a new English dub to commemorate the series. In anticipation of new Gundam Seed content, let’s take a look at what the series was all about and why it continues to be a huge hit with the fandom.
Gundam Seed’s history and place in the franchise
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED, Or simply Gundam Seed, was the ninth major anime series in the franchise and the beginning of the Cosmic Age continuity. The series shows the growing hostility between normal humans residing on Earth and the genetically enhanced Coordinators, who have moved to the stars and live in space colonies. There are different factions between each group, such as the Earth-based humans who want peace with the Coordinators and the human supremacists who openly hate them.
The protagonist is Kira Yamato, a coordinator who works for the Earth Alliance to oppose the ZAFT of the space colonies. Kira does so in her Strike Gundam mobile suit, which she steals from ZAFT, who had previously exclusively owned Gundams that were far more advanced than the Earth Alliance mobile suits. Part of ZAFT is Kira’s old friend Athrun Zala, making the battle increasingly personal.
Why is the Gundam seed still so popular?
Part of the appeal of Gundam Seed it was his conscious break with the continuity of the well trodden Universal Century. Of course, older shows like Gundam Wing Y G Gundam they were in new continuities, but these were individual shows whose timelines were dropped once they ended. However, Gundam SeedCosmic Era was a full subseries of the franchise, receiving a sequel to anime, movies, and spinoff manga in the form of Gundam Seed Astray books.
Gundam SeedIt would, in a way, also adapt and utilize some themes and concepts that the original series featured, but modernizing them for a new audience and in doing so, reinvigorating the franchise for a new generation. A prominent example of this is the Coordinators, updating the original ‘Newtypes. Equally, Gundam 00 later he would do the same with the concepts seen in Gundam Wing – what, how Gundam Seed, It also drew more female fans than ever to the franchise due in part to its revamped art style and “pretty boy” cast. While moments of fan service still surrounded the female characters, thankfully they were also brought to the forefront, benefiting from stronger character development.
The impressive soundtrack also had solid Japanese pop songs for the intros and an equally fantastic soundtrack. Still, while many Western fans dislike dominated main characters like Kira Yamato, they are still quite popular in Japan, probably for the same reasons that isekai heroes continue to be a trend. The new entries in the Cosmic Age, that is, the new movie, will likely see a resurgence in Seedpopularity, which may plant more seeds for future deliveries.
Reference-www.cbr.com
