Summary:
With pieces of Junius Seven raining down on Earth, the planet is in a state of chaos. Two members of the DSSD (Deep Space Survey and Development Organization), Selene McGriff and Edmond Du Clos, are contacting Sol Ryuune L’ange at mission control because Selene is worried about the launch schedule of the “401” (aka. the GSX-401FW Stargazer). Unfortunately, their conversation is cut short by a huge tidal wave approaching Selene and Edmond’s position. The two flee to higher ground, though many others are not so fortunate. Watching the pieces of Junius Seven coming down from another location, two members of Phantom Pain – Sven Cal Bayan and Shams Coza – are listening to the radio when a third member, Mudie Holcroft, comes by and tells them that they’re on mobilization standby.
Across the world, various cities are now under water or have been completely decimated. Rescue and humanitarian efforts are underway everywhere. Edmond and Selene find refuge in a large building where Earth Alliance forces have taken up positions. One of the soldiers recognizes Edmond, who used to be a tank platoon commander. Unfortunately, a GINN soon attacks and starts to destroy everything around it. Edmond and Selene are able to secure a single boat on which only Selene rides to the DSSD launch pad. Edmond instead goes back and boards a tank driven by the friend who recognized him. Edmond has the tank get pretty close to the GINN before it turns around and aims it’s bazooka at the tank. The tank and the GINN trade shots; the tank’s multiple shells topple the GINN, but the GINN’s bazooka shredded the tank. From the wreck of the tank, a dying Edmond sees the space shuttle flying towards space. Selene had arrived at the launch pad earlier and boarded the shuttle along with Sol.
With the battle over, the Earth Alliance forces open up the GINN and are surprised to find three children pilots inside. Meanwhile, the Phantom Pain group is sent out to help a base that’s under attack by ZAFT mobile suits. Mudie Holcroft pilots the Blu Duel, Shams Coza pilots the Verde Buster, and Sven Cal Bayan pilots the Strike Noir. The first two mobile suits are lifted out by helicopter, but Sven launches in the Strike Noir through the base’s catapult.

Ah the fresh carnage of a Gundam series. They did a lot to emphasize in this episode the human toll that took place because of the dropping of Junius Seven, something that maybe wasn’t quite as noticeable in GSD story. And partly because of that, the Earth Alliance/OMNI forces seemed to be presented in a pretty positive light with the humanitarian efforts and also because they’re fighting the faceless GINN wreaking destruction across the city like Godzilla. That is, until that faceless GINN is revealed to have children for pilots.
Along those lines, I’m not sure if the Phantom Pain group is going to be portrayed as bad guys (like they usually are) or what. Since this series doesn’t have a God-Kira-esque figure (thankfully), there’s not yet a clear good guy/bad guy line. Perhaps Sven will start off in Phantom Pain and eventually join Selene and the DSSD or something. We know that Sven and Selene are the two main characters, but how their fates become entwined is left up to the remaining two episodes.
Overall, I thought this was a good start, though maybe not enough stuff happened for this to be the first of only three episodes. Then again, I don’t know the scope of this series so it’s hard to comment. The animation quality was very good, though different from the GS and GSD style – character designs were by Oonuki Kenichi instead of Hirai Hisashi. I really like the ending theme song, 「STARGAZER ~ 星の扉」 (STARGAZER ~ Hoshi no Tobira) sung by Negishi Satori. It’s accompanied by just credits, though I didn’t really expect them to make an OP or ED animation for a short series like this.
Episode two airs in a little over a month, on August 18th. The third and final episode will be another month after that, on September 22nd.
As a final thought, I miss the pink explosions 🙂

62 Comments

  1. Yay, back to realistic character designs! OMG, this reminds me of 08th MS Team (from the screencaps anyway). I hope it is nothing like Seed Destiny…I was in shock at how bad that turned out to be. Can’t wait to leech this one!

    jamsy
  2. yes it’s taking place right after J. 7 falls to earth, from the prospective of people we never met in GSD.

    And I agree that it seems good so far, hopefully will be as good as 8th MS team, that was the best Gundam Series in my opinion.

    Anza
  3. This IS happening during Destiny, and since the summary stated, that pieces of Junius Seven was raining on Earth, the plot between the main characters and anyone else who is later on mention in the series will be easy to grasp, unless you didn’t see Destiny.

    Sotel Kiseki
  4. YES! NO KIRA! HAH!

    I hope he won’t appear. God I hate that little punk.
    Stay away Kira, you goddamn n00b! *Hides from Kira fanboys*

    On the side note, it’s not directed by Fukuda. Probably the main reason why this episode was actually good. XD

    Rasmiel
  5. If I recall correctly, neither the EF nor ZAFT were saints.

    However, they introduced a third faction, Archangel their cohorts which was, unfortunately, an I can do no wrong faction.

    T_I
  6. the money that goes into this is alot more than GS or GSD , if you do the per episode math
    so comparing quality and what not is just unfair to all they have already achieved thus far , like comparing 0079 and 0083 series ( lol )

    calling this a Gunpla commercial , hmm , interesting mindset ( lol )

    but the sequence with the children at the Jinn’s pilot compartment reveals the sinister nature of the whole thing – remember where Stellar and co. were brought up in ? that facility with all the dead children and ( failed ) brains ? heh , interesting setup indeed , Phantom Pain
    my only conclusion is those kids ran amock and prolly contributed to some of the deaths at the facility to begin with ( if not , some counterparts did )

    tonbo
  7. sorry for dal posting but i must add –

    those who sound ignorant in one way or another , pls throw away your biases and watch Destiny for what it is , the series during which time this Stargazer storyline also occurs

    & yes , Meer had not debuted yet , at the time .

    tonbo
  8. it’s quite touching the thing with the children in trhe pilot’s cabin (man I stil dazed after Stellar death, that’s one of the few things that were god in Destiny)
    this series looks promising for three things:
    1 NO KIRA HERE KICKING ASS IN MILISECONDS
    2 NO CHEESY OR CORNY THINGS BUT HEAD ON WITH DESTRUCTION!!!
    3 THE REALISM IT HAS.

    people I’m starting to feel sad that it’s only 3 ep…. now I wonder….
    will this be the prolouge of another SEED sequel?…. Blood+ is almost ending in the month the las ep airs…. (if not sooner I dunno)

    RickaZ
  9. Well, Blood+ is ending in late Sept/early October (remember, GS, FMA, GSD, and Blood+ all aired in the now-coveted 6:00PM TBS timeslot). Ayakashi Ayashi (a BONES animation) looks like it is going to take that timeslot once Blood+ ends, so no new Gundam show (at least not in that timeslot that both GS and GSD had).

  10. Oh, thank God, there’s another possible Gundam series which may be following in the tradition of “War in the Pocket” or “MS 08 Team” instead of Gundam Wing (aka: Gundam SEED/SEED Destiny). I might actually be able to look forward to this series, now.

    Haesslich
  11. Why the heck are ZAFT and EA fighting? Aren’t they still under the Junius 7 Act(Peace Treaty whatever crap)?

    It was after the Junius 7 incident that EAF declared war on ZAFT.

    Gil
  12. the graph doesnt feel like gundam. i don’t know why , but i don’t like this . it’s too colored i guess.
    and what’s with one GINN owning a city ? where are the Daggers ? makes me wonder what would have happened if Athrun and freind din’t stop Junius 7 . Char’s( aznable ) theory is that with an Axis size alike asteroid , you’d create a nuclear winter on earth . wonder if that apply for the Cosmic Era universe since there are no Minovsky particule and all .
    so i guess next ep is SN and the other guys Pwning Zaft MS.
    i guess Sven and the Strike noir will die by the end..since…When Neo attacked the Minverva ( around ep 18 ) , there was no strike noir with him. if there was , why did he took a Windam then ?
    or maybe , the SN is one of those “forgottten of the battlefield ” like the Red frame, the Blue Frame .
    Damn, they need to make an Astray Serie .
    anyway , Stargazer is out . anyone know when CE 73 Delta Astray ( it’s a manga ) comes out ?

    oh btw , RickaZ , haven’t you heard ? Gundam Seed is going theatrical . There is an Original Gundam Seed Movie comming out ( we don’t know when yet ) . its the 1st gundam movie since F91 Gundam .

    kurotsuki
  13. I really liked this first episode, the less heroic and more realistic approach reminded me a bit of Gundam 08th MS Team. So far there’s potential for a decent short story, I just hope they don’t ruin it in the coming episodes.

    I really like the animation, although it’s completely unlike Gundam SEED & Destiny. Stargazer appears to be largely drawn, whereas SEED & Destiny were obviously CG-enhanced. So far, Stargazer is also significantly less colorful, which gives it a far more serious look. The actual animations are also significantly smoother than in SEED & Destiny… And the very best thing about the animation: all of it was fresh, absolutely no re-use from Gundam SEED & Destiny.

    As for why the GINN could decimate the city… maybe they don’t have their own Mobile Suits, or they were decimated/made inaccessible in the tidal wave earlier in the episode? I wonder why they were using a Space Shuttle, those things will be taken out of service in 4 years… seems like a major inconsistency to me.

    Well, I hope the subsequent episodes will be similarly enjoyable…

  14. YAYYYY.

    No angsty Shinn!

    Even though I was a fan of Kira’s, it was more when he was a Strike pilot and not with Freedom.

    Strike Noir looks cool, and I look forward to seeing it in action. This is starting out better than I hoped(even though it’s too short).

  15. I’ve been wondering this for a while now. When the mobile suits explode in space, it’s pink and when it’s on earth or inside of the atmosphere, it’s the normal color. Why is that?

    Ragnarok164
  16. @GIL

    Those ZAFT MS are insurgents, the same people who dropped Junius 7 onto Earth. That’s what the EAF commanders are talking about.

    If anything, Stargazer reveals that the EAF was hardpressed all over the place compared to what GSD showed.

    Soldierofdarkness
  17. I think the story is not as interest as the Seed/Destiny, because the character is like a copy of the three Gundam pilot(Calamity,……..)in Seed and Stella, Sting and Auel in Destiny.

    Shincus
  18. I thought this episode was pretty good. The explosions were lookin wierd ( yea, im stilla ddicted to the pink explosion ). The character designs are distinctly different, easily told, but it looks more realistic, nomore huge-eyes. I still think the original junius 7 explosion looked better, but thats my own opinion. The new yellow explosion just brings YIKES to me mind -,-

    h0f5
  19. The darker realism makes it so much more enjoyable than Destiny though it feels too short with only three episodes of half an hour each. I just hope that the plot doesn’t jump really bad ’cause of this.

    Anyone know when the “ending” single comes out?

    Bit
  20. Wow, I can’t believe how good this first episode was…I wish Susumu Nishizawa could have directed Destiny, it’s amazing how he added depth and a sense of humanity to the EA, which Fukuda totally left out and portrayed as mouth-foaming baby killing demons after the J7 drop. It’ll be hard waiting a whole week for the next episode!

    CasualFan
  21. Wow i really did like this episode, though i wish the first episode was actually a lil bit longer, it wasn’t even 20 minutes! And I wish I could have at least seen Strike Noir Gundam in action, i was waiting for soooooo long for Strike Noir to appear when that Ginn was destroying buildings like Godzilla! Anyways Has anyone else though of this???? Dont read it if you havn’t watched GSD

    Show Spoiler ▼

  22. @ShadowFox

    You know, its very possible…

    Show Spoiler ▼

    ignited
  23. Interesting theory…

    Show Spoiler ▼

    Haesslich
  24. =/ Hm..I guess I’m not such a big fan of Stargazer…i’m more of a Gundam Seed person. I think it’s because I’m more of a romance person so this series isn’t for me. And I actually miss Kira’s pwning. Though it could be less godly, I still think it’s cool…and his relationship with Lacus was so cute to me =)

    mango
  25. @mango – At least the two could have kissed; they didn’t even kiss in GSD and in GS it was a freaking peck on the cheek! ARGH! GSD should have had more relationship development… and at least we don’t get to hear Kira cry. (God, that was horrible, the sound.)

    Back to Stargazer, it’s looks really interesting and I laugh heartily at the Godzilla reference, but is it really possible to end this new series in 3 eps considering how complex Gundam plots can be? I hope Nishizawa knows what he’s doing not seriously not f**k up this series or I’ll only like Gundam solely for the model kits.

    g-money
  26. Well i browsed on some forums and people mentioned that Stargazer is an OVA, not another series. Can i get a confirmation on that? And does anyone have the full song for the EP? Thanks (:

    Chavenz
  27. I’ve read from other sites that Stargazer is like a sort of “prequel” of a new GS series. If Stargazer is successful, they might continue a new GS series. And Stargazer is somehow related to Gundam Seed Delta Astray manga, a direct sequel to Gundam Seed Destiny Astray.

    Chikinyx
  28. ok to my knowlage i believe the old characters will be in this seris i mean theres only 3 episods out right now and when i first saw seed it was pretty sweet when i started destiny i really hopeed alot of the characters would be in this sereis when and athrn and caggalie where in the first episod of destiny. then i thought that kira a nd lacus wernt in it at all but did show glimps of them through the episode so i belive that that characters will come up in this serise but not tell alot later because as it seems to me that this serise is still appear on earth and stuff and stargazer is a big ship or somthing blus ZAFT is still in this serise and we left lacus going into the suprem councel as somthing big so we will have to see a glimps of the characters would be amazing i really hope thay are in this one but i could be all worng but dont think i am HOPE TO SEE more of kira and lacus and mabye a finaly a KISS

    mikess88

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