First Impressions / Gundam

OP Sequence

OP4: Wings of Words by CHEMISTRY

So yea, the song I put up a week and a half ago was indeed the right song. I thought the OP was done alright. Definately not as fast paced as the previous openings, but it’s not that bad. As for the sequence, we see that Luna does indeed inherit Impulse and is now Shinn’s girl. I’m willing to bet that the gold mecha behind Cagalli is the Akatsuki. Oh yea, Athrun in an ORB uniform is good. Also glad to see that Shinn is getting slightly more airtime (at least in the OP it seems).

As both sides speed to war, we see Lunamaria getting prepped in the Core Splendor and Sting getting ready to board the Destroy Gundam. Djibril and his crew of old farts are holed up in Heaven’s base preparing for the assault.

Lunamaria talks with Shinn in the ready room about her sister and Athrun; she blames LOGOS for their deaths. As she puts her hand on the side of his head, Shinn breaks down crying and embraces her. The two then kiss and part before Rey walks in.

The battle is broadcast everywhere, and everyone, including Meer, is watching. At ORB, Kisaka has brought Meyrin and Athrun onto the ArchAngel.

The battle begins as the LOGOS rolls out its forces and fires its missiles. Meanwhile, Athrun wakes up and, after seeing Kira, thinks of how Shinn destroyed Freedom. Kira calms him down and puts him back to bed.

LOGOS has launched a ton of Destroy Gundams along with their regular forces. Gilbert orders the launch of the space reinforcements, but it seems Djibril is ready for them. The mountain parts to reveal a giant reflector array. It fires and destroys ZAFT’s incoming forces, much to everyone’s surprise. Having seen this, Shinn asks for and recieves clearance to launch, with Rey and Lunamaria.

As the battle rages on, the tables start to turn as our three aces destroy wave after waves of grunts. Shinn ends up having to block a shot aimed at Lunamaria. He then squares off against Sting’s Destroy. He goes into SEED mode and really kicks it up a notch, cutting off part of it’s upper disk and then blowing up its head using his God Finger hand. At ORB, Cagalli arrives to see Athrun awake. As she cries by his bedside, he struggles out some words telling everyone about what Gilbert is doing.

The tables have turned and now ZAFT is overrunning Heaven’s Base. Shinn kills Sting with a sword through the cockpit, while Luna and Rey mop up the other Destroys. Inside the base, the old farts turn around to find that Djibril is gone, escaped to his own waiting ship. As the battle ends, we see a very worried Lacus and Kira and a very happy Gilbert.

ED Sequence

ED4: 君は僕に似ている by See-Saw
I don’t really see any pattern in this ED like there was for Find the Way back in GS. I rather like the ending song, sounds just like See-Saw. In a way, I kinda wish T.M. Revolution did the OP too, so we could come full circle, but I’ll be content with the insert song vestige (which played during the next episode preview). The sequence shows most of our major characters and then some. What I assume is the Akatsuki seems to be pretty prominent in the background behind Andy. The parallel of Lacus and Meer is also cute.

And from the preview, this image. Strike Freedom will be making an appearance next episode, yay! *crosses fingers for Infinite Justice too*

So, this episode was all kinds of awesome. GSD remains probably my favorite ongoing series, beating out everything new so far. I hadn’t expected the new OP or ED this episode (was thinking 39), but they are a welcome addition.
When Luna put her hand on Shinn’s head in the beginning, all I could think was “Holy crap, she’s become Fllay.” Hopefully that doesn’t happen as I kind of like Lunamaria as a character, even as Fukuda is pushing her towards Shinn. The kiss scene made me shout obscenities at my screen, as I think their relationship occurred just a bit too fast, but I’ll get used to it. I do admit that she’s become a lot better of a pilot now, as she worked very well with Shinn and Rey during the battle.
I rather liked the battle scenes from this episode. Granted, they reused a lot of footage (as they always do), but it was really fun watching Djibril catch even Gilbert off-guard with his preparations. And of course, it was Shinn and company that made the difference in this battle. Kinda wish they showed a bit more of Legend’s capabilities, but we can’t have everything.
I’m fearful for Cagalli and Athrun’s relationship because even as she was crying, he seemed to look distant. Still, it’s very salvageable I think. Adding to my worry though, is the fact that she’s not really featured with Athrun in the OP or ED the same way Kira and Lacus are. Fukuda might try to kill her off…
Actually, on that thought, the new OP and ED made me realize the friendship theme of the original Gundam SEED seems to be returning. We’re getting a lot of shots now of Athrun + Kira, so I like the fact that they’re trying to come full circle with that.

Next episode promises to be another thriller, with what appears to be the Eternal getting attacked, and Strike Freedom saving the day.

37 Comments

  1. Fearful for Asucaga ?
    I don’t understand why , that ep show clearly that they care for each other , more on Cag’s side okay , but Athrun really touched .
    And in next ep there will be the explanation about weding and Athrun will regret it said , so i’am happy . Finally they can be together , and if you look well the op shows no couples , only a second part about the past , so no really KxL , if we can call them a couple XD .

    Aiko
    Reply

  2. Call me a pessimist, but I think after some 25 episodes apart, it’s gonna take a lot to repair their relationship. Which doesn’t mean they can’t do, and I’m rooting for them. But we’ll see what happens….

    Omni
    Reply

  3. Yes , 25 episodes even more , I know it’s a lot ^^
    But I can almost assure you that in next ep , there will be their reconciliation . Don’t think it’s going to take a lot ( Fukuda doesn’t have time really lol ) , in my opinion next saturday you can even see a kiss or something between them ( I bet ) . It’s a strong couple who can go through all really , they were seperate okay , but we can be like that and always love the other and think about him , I think for them it’s that ( even if athrun didn’t show a lot ) , so next ep is the good one , for the single real couple in that serie .

    Aiko
    Reply

  5. Athrun x Cagalli. He could barely speak so I don’t think he was being intentionally cold to her. Also his eyes teared up a bit when he saw she was still wearing his ring.

    Meyrin. I’m worried about her. Although she was fine in this ep, she seemed to be having a fever in the GSD 39 preview. Plus she doesn’t feature in the OP except for the re-used Athrun’s Harem scene.

    Zyl
    Reply

  6. You’re right for Athrun and Cagalli .
    Meyrin ? Yeah and the fangirls scene , it’s in the “past” scenes .. so I don’t really know , she has a good place in the ending , but there is always everyone in . But I’am sure if she must “die” , it will not be soon , she needs to meet Lunamaria before .

    Aiko
    Reply

  7. Nice to see Strike Freedom in the next ep, and also Vestige playing during the preview of that next ep. Its a shame Vestige single got pushed back 7 days though for the 17th instead of coming out on the 10th as planned before, :'(

    Zimmer
    Reply

  19. destiny is best than strike freedom, shin is best than kira………….. luna should go to shin in earlier episodes…………… and do like wat in GSEP15……..

    Mr. xxx
    Reply

  21. i don’t like the ending in the GSD because it seems that athrun lives with meyrin not with cagalli and it’s sucks, seeing athrun sticks to meyrin it’s getting on my nerves….

    Hope there is another Episode that focus to athrunXcagalli.

    dhkahdkj
    Reply

  24. i like GSD so much even before GSD all sorts of gundam series!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    what a cool scene of athrun and cagalli!hope that they will not be apart!1111there love relationship must continue!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    MEYRIN STAY OUT FROM ATHRUN!!!!!!!!!!!
    ATHRUN ONLY BELONGS TO CAGALLI!!!!!!!11

    rassikk
    Reply

  25. DAMN!!! stop partnering luna to shinn…shinn is only for stellar thats final!!! and for meyrin just go to hell athrun is for cagalli only I said cagalli only!!!! who the hell made shinn and luna love team..who??!! who I said??!! whoever you are GO TO HELL!!!!

    jhack
    Reply

  26. I hate the way Gundam Seed Destiny ends! Especially the way Athrun and Cagalli broke up… I hate Meyrin!!!!!!! And i also hate Athrun for being such a JERK!!!!! Cagalli was always maltreated by some people in ORB and ZAFT, and that includes ATHRUN!

    AnnaMel(GSDfan!)
    Reply

  31. i really really luv shin,bout lunamaria well i dont like her but if she has i long hair i think i will like her…
    i think shin is just using luna to forget stellar(tats what i think;) its like luna is just a panakip-butas)

    ~hot pink
    Reply

  32. i think that athrun and cagalli will be together back.
    because athrun was so shock when he heard that cagali is going to marry.
    but then it seems like cagalli so sad when athrun ignore her
    and she didn’t even talk with athrun in the end and just let
    meyrin hold athrun. even kira and lacus shock to see cagalli
    ignore athrun.
    i wonder what she thinks…

    lolyta
    Reply

  37. If Logos guys are sooo great, why didn’t they just build a army of moble suit droids instead or super computer like Skynet in terminator.

    Making machine the superier than Coordinators and super computer do all the dirty work.

    THATS is great ideas for to win the war, but nooooooo! They have do it the hard way, wasting more live and resorts. I could do better than that Logos leader.

    Andrew
    Reply

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