Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Destiny is a complete trainwreck. Of the minimal redeeming values the original SEED TV anime had, Destiny inherits none of them and entrenches itself further in shallow melodrama, insane character turns, and completely nonsensical plotlines. It attempts at every instance to completely undercut any potential development a given character may have, it will go from Cagalli piloting a Gundam as a symbol of her own empowerment, to her back to the status quo, the symbol of her empowerment taken away.
It's a baffling affair to consume, consider, and then criticize. It leaves myself feeling I must have missed a point along the way, but I can never figure out what the point is. The conclusion of the work, something to be a capstone to the themes it wished to elaborate on, is essentially a non-sequitur that leaves the work feeling hollow, a worthless platitude and commitment that does little to solve the issues plaguing the Cosmic Era of Gundam.
But, it is to be expected. SEED is a work birthed from the ethos of Gundam, it prefers to languish in reminiscing on the past, neither commenting on or elaborating on. It takes a reductive approach to past ideas and motifs to fulfill delivering the idea of the "Classic Universal Century", while lacking any of the merit behind it. It has attempts at human romance, but they overpower true human drama and invariably turn into farcical side shows where no female characters feels properly realized, all just toys to be played with by their respective man of the hour, their characters falling and morphing upon engaging with Kira, Athrun, or La Flaga. This concept is almost parodied towards the end of the original SEED when Le Creuset takes Flay and she falls under his "spell", but there is a distinct lack of self awareness here.
The reductive nature of SEED goes beyond just the human drama and into the usage of the mecha in the anime. SEED Destiny reintroduces the Zaku units, but they ultimately have no meaning. Their existence is to be commodified, to sell gunpla units, and this meta meaning to them is the only meaning they truly have. Their existence within the series is hollow, and the fights of SEED Destiny only serve to drag us back to the Universal Century, with GMs fighting Zakus.
The height of this though, is the usage of the Gundam. G Gundam, After War, and Wing all utilized multiple Gundam units, but each held a central meaning. Within G, each unit is representative of the nation competing, a play on the original RX78-2 unit which held significance in its design as being distinctly Japanese, a nuclear equipped mechanical samurai. After War plays on the idea of the wandering samurai, drawing further on that initial idea. Wing is where the series falters, clearly just utilizing the Gundam units to denote the "main cast", but that's still of some significance.
In SEED and Destiny, Gundam units are disposable. They hold very little meaning outside of their insultingly blunt names, that allude to base level themes and ideas that hold very little merit in the series. It is a series that commodifies the very idea of Gundam, that this strong symbol, a symbol that supports a titanic franchise, can be cheapened into marketability. Mobile Suit Gundam was always a marketable series, it was always meant to sell toys, but the Gundam itself meant something, it was real in a sense that it held a significant meaning in the show. The SEED series merely see this symbol as a tool for marketing, casually wasting away any merit the franchise has.
It leaves me wondering whether or not Gundam should be a franchise. It is obviously not a decision I am one to make, but watching Wing, the Universal Century OVAs, SEED, and now watching 00 only sours my opinion more and more. While the saga of Char and Amuro continues to remain fresh and relevant in my mind, while the struggles of the characters in F91 and Victory leave me continually wondering, the content outside that is only brought down the more that is added onto it. It's an irrational idea, that some bad eggs can bring down the non-Tomino sections of the franchise, but I feel soured. I loved my time with After War and deeply appreciate G Gundam, but the likes of SEED Destiny make me question if it was all worth it.
But, SEED was birthed of the ethos of Gundam. A desire to revive, that desire ultimately being completely shallow, leaving a bad taste in the mouth of someone like me who feels the deep passion that used to radiate throughout this series.
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