Mobile Suit Gundam SEED My expectations were rock bottom for this show, and yet I was still curious. At first I was enjoying it but I thought it was "kind of bad". Before I knew it I was invested and came to really like the characters. Then by the end I loved it. Gundam SEED was an awesome series that recaptured the thrill of my first anime series and had me engaged in it's drama for the whole ride. Not once did I feel the show dipped in quality or had a rough patch. It only got better the more it went on until it's fantastic emotional ending.
SEED is plainly a teen demographic show, more so than the original. It's full of soap opera drama which if I'll be honest...I love. I was really into the dynamics between the characters and I ended up liking the whole cast. It's one of those series with an overpowered main character who you know can't lose, and yet I still had a sense of excitement and suspense in the battles. SEED had a very strong cast, I even liked characters such as Flay who was the one that caused most of the drama on the ship. Kira and Athrun were the friends forced to fight which made for something interesting. Captain Ramius was great and so was Mu La Flaga. Cagalli was a good character...I just really liked them!
The story was good and very competent in SEED. It was easy to follow and had all the elements you expect in a Gundam series. While SEED heavily mirrors the original show it has themes of it's own such as genetic modification. It has recognizable elements but then it does it's own thing with them. There were plenty of emotional moments that really worked for me. The combination of soap opera drama and military, which was a big thing in the first part of the show, was good. Then it ends in an awesome space battle for the last 8 episodes, all of which were top notch. SEED really payed off and was a very enjoyable watch.
The soundtrack was brilliant and high quality. The songs were beautifully dated to the early 2000's with the Nightcore ready arcade racer beats. I really liked the first opening "Invoke", a song so catchy you can't forget it. Mika Nakashima's "Find The Way" was used to amazing effect in the last episode. I watched the HD remaster and it looked pretty good! The artstyle is heavily dated and I had to get used to it. At first I found it off putting but then I came to like it. The Gundams are so cool in this show. The Strike, Freedom, Justice, Providence, M1 Astrays, these are fantastic designs that have bulky and great aesthetics. Everything is very colourful and outside of some CGI shots of the ships it still looks pretty good thanks to the remaster.
I found SEED to be a great series and I had a fantastic time watching it. In some ways it reminded me of when I first watched Full Metal Panic! in 2008. It's a very different show (FMP is not Sci-Fi) but since it was made around the same time there are familiar elements. I was expecting a really dumb series but I came away really liking it! We'll see about SEED Destiny, my expectations are rock bottom with that show. So if I like it, cool, and if not I won't be disappointed. SEED is a certain 8/10 for me.