hontou ni » Gundam

Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition IV

Zyl — Mon, 22 Jan 2007 15:20:09 +0000

Scrapping the bottom of the barrel here for new Lunamaria footage. In the background, Meyrin wonders whether to ask her oneechan why she's still going out with Shinn when he *did* try to kill both of them. But then again, though love-love rivals for Athrun may be down by one permanently (Operation Meer Shieldo!) and another possibly ("The ring is evil and must destroyed!"), her question might just bring Big Sis back to her senses. Better to keep quiet.

First person EVAR to hold officer rank in the EAF, Orb military and ZAFT. Either that or Lacus just luuurves military cosplay. In other news, Lunamaria needs MOAR pink miniskirt and black thigh-highs. Or else let us see what you look like with the cap on!

Deakka has been kicked upstairs to Ship's Captain.

Running in the hallways is prohibited!

Hisashiburi-buri~~~

Arthur: Everything surprises me!
Unnamed flunky: Oooh puuuh-leeeazeee!
Yzak & Deakka: Awwww... so sweet. We must definitely invite them to our wedding.
Shiho: Heh, I'm still going to continue my Kira slash Athrun Y4L fanfiction series. :3

Athrun: As long as Lacus and her underaged minions continue cockblocking Kira, I still have a chance-suuu~~~

Meyrin: Yes! Another rival for Athrun-san bites the dust!

Hilda, Herbert & Mars: Oh crap, our oh-so-strong, oh-so-wise, oh-so-brilliant and oh-so-hawt- in-her-battle-kimono Lacus-sama is actually a love-sick teenager who is going to take over the supreme political power of PLANT and the military power of ZAFT! Dom dom dom!

Shinn: I think it was soooo much hawter when Cagalli hugged Kira in SEED and her dad and Kira's foster parents went, "OMFG SISCON!" *strokes pink mobile phone in pocket*

Lunamaria: Am I going to get treated less shittily in the third SEED season or what?!

GSD Final Plus

Zyl — Tue, 27 Dec 2005 10:29:07 +0000

I am just a sucker for punishment - downloading that humongous raw and then sitting through more than half an hour of recycled footage. *shakes fist at SUNRISE* But the lure of more Lunamaria Hawke proved too much even to wait for a downsized raw or sub. Luuunamariaaaaa!!! The screenie seems to imply that Lunamaria will have a hard time competing with Mayu. See Random Curiosity for the "Kira is not gay" screenie and Kurogane loves Lunamaria too.

The major additions include (1) Cags seeing the Archangel crew off and Athrun giving her a great big fat hug. I'm sure Lacus wished that Kira hugged like that. (2) Dullindal's internal monologue and chess game with a ghostly Rau Le Crueset. (3) Athrun being inserted into the Kira-Dullindal confrontation scene. Not much difference except perhaps to bid Talia goodbye. (4) Peace treaty between PLANT and ORB and Lacus' grand return.

Not too sure about some of these as I can't be bothered to rewatch Ep 50. Minor additions include (1) Kira lamely trying to give an order to Athrun and the Archangel to head for Requiem base. I thought it was hilarous how he said it: "??...????" The least assertive "It's an order" I've ever heard and it sounds like he has trouble even spitting the word "order" out. Of course it took Lacus' reassurances and extended reasoning session before Athrun and Murrue compiled. (2) Athrun saying: "There's no time!" after he tries to brush off another of Lunamaria's attempts ~~to ask him out on a date~~ to attack Justice. (3) Shinn responding to Athrun's lecturing by saying that ZAFT has no choice but to attack ORB in order to change the world for the better. I think this is important as it shows that Shinn is still fighting based on Dullindal-Rey beliefs. (4) Shinn screams "Mayu! Stellar!" and sees them floating before a warped image of Impulse when Lunamaria interposes herself between her boyfriend and her former crush. This helps to mitigate one of the things which I could not understand about Shinn at all i.e. why did he attack Lunamaria who is really the one who has given him unconditional (and undeserved) love? This additional seems to suggest that Shinn has basically lost it at that point, especially when seeing Impulse which was the unit he piloted and shared in responsibility for Stellar's death. (5) They took out Athrun going SEED to protect Lunamaria from her murderously abusive boyfriend. This was surprising as this was Athrun's only SEED burst in the whole series. For that one act, I completely absolve Athrun for being a more or less useless character for most of GSD. (6) Athrun flashes back on his dealings with Gladys before he takes out the Minerva's main thrusters. Helps to build up to closure with the Captain I think. (7) Though the battle is nowhere as destructive as the finale of GS, we are shown Deakka's Blaze Zaku Phantom and the lead DOM being damaged.

Also I've been meaning to say this for a while - I suspect that SUNRISE has a radical feminist take on war termination and conflict resolution i.e. boys with our fancy toys start wars and women have to clean up after them. At least in the GS franchise. If this applies to other Gundam series or SUNRISE works, I would greatly appreciate a comment. The examples in this OVA include:

Meyrin stopping Lunamaria from attacking the Eternal
Gladys giving Dullindal and Rey the comfort they sought but never had before all dying together
Lunamaria stopping Athrun and Shinn's fight
Lacus' broadcast for an immediate ceasefire after the destructioin of the Messiah
At the PLANT Supreme Council, the men look conspiratorial while the closing shot of the lady council member looks thoughtful
PLANT-ORB peace treaty shows Cagalli and another female PLANT councillor shaking hands
Cagalli with her retinue looking important
Lacus, being escorted to the PLANT Supreme Council chambers, looking like some kind of saint

Well, the expectation is Kira offering his hand to Shinn at the end but he's ~~gay~~ Zen and Athrun adds (more) fighting talk to the mix while the girls all look on and give moral support.

Additions: ORB actually doing something during the battle.

Lunamaria not getting killed by the DOMs again.

Athrun offering a lift.

Star struck Hawke sisters: Good to see them reunited and reconciled.

Ath-Cag fans probably all going: "Buuu! Buuuu!" But as Cagalli has been totally ruined as a character, Meyrin should at least get a shot after she helped Athrun to escape from Gilbraltar in Ep 36.

Well, more closure and I hate to admit it but this OVA certainly helped to ease the yucky feelings of being taken for a ride that I was overwhelmed with in Ep 50. Particularly important to me were some attempt to explain why Shinn attacked Lunamaria and the reunion of the Hawke sisters. The peace negotations and mediation was good too. I'm not entirely sure if I'll really welcome GS3 but if Lunamaria's in it, I don't think I'll be able to stand not watching it. -_-;;

Gundam SEED Destiny 50

Zyl — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 17:34:03 +0000

Lunamaria Hawke: I faced off Athrun who was in Justice but lost Impulse's right hand and leg. Shinn came to my rescue but he and Athrun seemed evenly matched. Without Rey the Political Commissar around, Athrun managed to get me to consider that Team Minerva wasn't really protecting anything but power. I tried to stop the two from fighting by putting Impulse in front of Justice but it looked like Shinn was going to kill me until Athrun stopped him and then disabled Destiny. Shinn was ok and cried a lot when he woke up, calling for Stellar. Team Archangel succeeded in destroying the Requeim, stopping the attack on Orb and also brought down the Messiah. Shinn and I are now stuck on the moon but at least we're together.

Think Lunamaria's jealousy over Athrun running off with Meyrin got the better of her here.

Of course, Lunamaria is nowhere as skilled a pilot as Athrun. Even with a better non-grunt mech, it's still a hand-me-down.

Shinn in SEED mode, loses to Athrun who is not in SEED mode. So who's your daddy now, Shinn-boy?

Like Chinese martial arts movie, he who wins the rhetorical arguments about righteousness and justice and all that crap, usually wins the fight against the opponent who loses the argument and his temper first.

OMGWTFBBQ! Shinn has given in to his hatred, his anger makes his powerful! Lunamaria has been the *only* unambiguously good thing in his life for this whole series. And what about his promise, in GSD 38, to always protect her!?

Athrun finally goes SEED - nb: in order to protect Lunamaria - and gives Shinn the slapdown.

Lunamaria, after nearly being killed by her psycho boyfriend, still wants to work things out. A lot of people will ask if she's lost her marbles too but as a Lunamaria fan, I'd like to think more generously of her. That she understands that he is in a lot of pain and that he needs her lovin' - well, don't we always see loads of examples in real life where we think that this guy or gal doesn't deserve their partner?

So Shinn, where's your apology to Lunamaria for trying to kill her? I think maybe Lunamaria needs a Defence Force to protect her from her own boyfriend. But then again, Athrun already seems to be doing a fine job of that.

And it seems like Rey got better character development and series closure than Shinn and Lunamaria. It was actually quite touching how Rey turned against Gil (again, the rhetoric argument thing which Kira won hands down), how Talia came to comfort both the silly misguided men and then they had a nice family moment together before going down in flames. I felt most sorry for Talia but also for all three of them as the potential for them as a family was revealed at last for such a fleeting moment. Felt a lot more sympathy for Rey when he got stunned by Kira's line about how his life was his own and it did not belong to Rau Le Crueset. And even more sympathetic when he started sobbing after shooting his beloved father figure and then finally finally finding some comfort in Mother Talia's embrace. On Rey's account, I thought this episode was worth it. Though as an ending, it still is pretty inadequate.

Now all we need is a lake of tang, a huge Rey head and red hair clips for Lunamaria and we'll have the End of Evangelion. Now that movie made more sense than GSD, dammit!

And this is almost like gloating...

So many unanswered questions. So was Gilbert behind the Junius 7 drop? Will Team Archangel be able to prove that Gilbert was a Bad Guy afterall? How did Gilbert get his hands on the X-1 Destroy data before it was launched? He also seemed to know about Requiem before it was fired. Did he have some inside source in Blue Cosmos / Logos? Did he have some kind of control over Djibril whom he seemed to be able to anticipate flawlessly? About Shinn, has he really realised that he's been piloting and fighting for the wrong reasons? That while no one can fault him for feeling pain, that he used his power for rage and revenge? That he killed his benefactor, Todoka? That he was truly responsible for Stellar's death in the Destroy? That he really owes Lunamaria a big apology, a thousand roses and anything else that she wants?

Sigh! But Big Consolation - Lunamaria has survived! Despite being the girlfriend of Shinn He Whose Girl He Loves Will Surely Die (like Mayu and Stellar) and despite getting the hand-me-down Impulse. So here's a sigh of relief. Still like Zaku Warrior Lunamaria better than Impulse Lunamaria though. Sigh!