| 1 | %% |
| 2 | %% |
| 3 | %% |
| 4 | %% Note: Before you think to add an example under ShoutOut, ask yourself a question: |
| 5 | %% Does your example contain words like "similar," "resembles," "seems to/appears to/may/could be," or "Some viewers"? |
| 6 | %% If it does, then it's not a ShoutOut. A ShoutOut must be explicit and intentional. |
| 7 | %% Bearing a passing resemblance or anything that's in any way YMMV does not belong here. |
| 8 | %% |
| 9 | %% Please follow Administrivia/ExampleIndentation when adding examples. |
| 10 | %% |
| 11 | %% |
| 12 | %%[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Gundam_Seed.jpg]] |
| 13 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gundam_seed_poster.jpg]] |
| 14 | [[caption-width-right:350:''Each generation plants a seed. Will it ever yield more than violence and greed?'']] |
| 15 | ->''"You have the power to make a difference, don't you? Then why not put it to good use?"'' |
| 16 | -->-- '''Mu La Flaga''', "[[Recap/GundamSeedEp04SilentRun Phase 04: Silent Run]]" |
| 17 | |
| 18 | ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'', which aired from 2002 to 2003, is the ninth television installment of the long-running ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise and the first to be set in the Cosmic Era AlternateUniverse. Occasionally considered a {{Remake}} of the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' adapted for modern audiences due to the similarities of the first half of the plot, it none the less manages to stand on its own due to the vastly different nature of the setting and its primary conflict, as well as the completely original second half of the storyline. The series is created and produced by Creator/{{Sunrise}}, and directed by Creator/MitsuoFukuda. |
| 19 | |
| 20 | The story premise matches the standard ''Gundam'' fare by featuring a conflict between Earth and Space, but introduces an original twist in the form of widespread use of LegoGenetics. Genetic modification of humans is illegal on Earth, but the space colonies are populated almost exclusively by an artificially enhanced breed of humanity known as Coordinators, who are much more competent and gifted than a regular human. Most of Earth falls under the authority of the Earth Alliance, which funded the construction of the [=PLANTs=] (huge, hourglass-shaped space colonies meant for use as orbital manufacturing and R&D centers); however, the Coordinators now living on the [=PLANTs=] seek independence from the Earth Alliance via the formation of a militia group called ZAFT. This basic conflict of interest, combined with the FantasticRacism between the genetically engineered [[BornWinner Coordinators]] and the unenhanced [[PunyEarthling Naturals]], eventually sparks a war between the Earth Alliance and ZAFT, that opens with a nuclear assault on a PLANT and only gets worse from thereon out. Meanwhile, the nations on Earth not falling under the umbrella of the Earth Alliance are forced to take sides or else risk the ire of both opposing factions. |
| 21 | |
| 22 | Enter TheHero; Kira Yamato, a young Coordinator attending a technical college on Heliopolis, a space colony of the neutral nation Orb. Inevitably drawn into the conflict [[RefusalOfTheCall against his will]], he [[FallingIntoTheCockpit Falls Into The Cockpit]] during an attempted [[GrandTheftPrototype Gundamjacking]] and ends up being the only thing standing between his friends and a messy death at the hands of ZAFT. Complicating things is Kira's ForgottenChildhoodFriend Athrun Zala, a fellow Coordinator who joined ZAFT and now finds himself on the opposite side of the battlefield as his old friend. While the story may appear a bit monotonous at the beginning (due largely to {{Recap Episode}}s and StockFootage), after the WhamEpisode halfway through the series, the show turns into a kaleidoscope of battles, [[TheReveal revelations]], and [[KilledOffForReal deaths]], skyrocketing the intensity all the way into the stratosphere. A full recap is under construction [[Recap/MobileSuitGundamSeed here]]. |
| 23 | |
| 24 | Thanks to its powerful directing, an all-star voice cast, and the never-dwindling emotional tension, ''SEED'' easily became a smash hit in Japan, getting the second highest ratings in Gundam history only behind ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' and spawning a televised sequel, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', and a manga spinoff, ''[[Manga/MobileSuitGundamSeedAstray Gundam SEED Astray]]''. A [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDFreedom movie]], announced in 2006, is expected to be a GrandFinale of the saga, though it was stuck in DevelopmentHell for fifteen years before resuming production and finally releasing in 2024. ''SEED'''s success and the announcement of ''Destiny'', the first-ever full-length television sequel to a ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' show outside of the original Universal Century timeline, spawned speculation that CE would become the new UC. However, ''Destiny'' failing to be as successful as ''SEED'', the movie's production stalling (due to, among other things, illness and subsequent passing away of the head writer Chiaki Morosawa in 2016) and the subsequent release and success of non-CE series ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Gundam 00]]'' have since dashed those hopes. The 48-episode run of the HD remaster of the series aired in 2012.[[note]]If you're wondering why it's two episodes shorter, the remaster cut out two recap episodes, which were the original 14th & 26th episodes.[[/note]] In 2017, it was announced that the HD Remaster of both ''SEED'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny SEED Destiny]]'' would be receiving English dubs from NYAV Post. The Remaster of ''SEED'' was released in December 2020. |
| 25 | |
| 26 | During the opening ceremony for the life-size Freedom Gundam statue in UsefulNotes/{{Shanghai}}, Creator/BandaiNamco announced the ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED PROJECT ignited'' initiative for ''SEED''[='s=] [[MilestoneCelebration 20th Anniversary]], which consists of the previously mentioned movie, titled ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDFreedom'' as of July 2, 2023 (which premiered on January 26, 2024), a manga ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ECLIPSE'' which began in 2021 and a currently untitled video game project. |
| 27 | |
| 28 | The list below includes all of the tie-in media that comprises the ''SEED'' sub-franchise: |
| 29 | [[folder: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Franchise]] |
| 30 | [[index]] |
| 31 | * ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' (2002-2003 TV anime) |
| 32 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED'' (2002–2004 manga): [[ComicBookAdaptation Comicalization]] of the TV series, by Masatsugu Iwase. |
| 33 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Re:'' (2012-2013 manga): The second retelling of the events of ''Gundam SEED'', by Juu Ishiguchi. Placed on indefinite hiatus. |
| 34 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'' (2004-2005 TV series) |
| 35 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny'' (2004-2006): Comicalization of the sequel series, also by Masatsugu Iwase. |
| 36 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge'' (2005-2006 manga): Tells the events of ''Destiny'' from Athrun Zala's point of view. By Chimaki Kuori. |
| 37 | * ''Anime/GundamSEEDCharacterTheater'' (2007): An omake series featuring super deformed versions of the ''Gundam SEED'' and ''Gundam SEED Destiny'' cast |
| 38 | * ''Manga/MobileSuitGundamSEEDAstray'' (2002-2004 manga): Set alongside the events of ''SEED'', ''Astray'' focuses primarily on junk tech Lowe Guele and mercenary Gai Murakumo, who discover two prototype Gundams in the ruins of Heliopolis and battle Orb aristocrat Rondo Gina Sahaku, who possesses the third. Notable for intersecting with the events of the series to close several {{Plot Hole}}s without resorting to actual {{RetCon}}s. ''Astray'' is a series unto itself, with an ever-expanding number of manga and photonovels that continue even as the primary ''SEED'' story has stalled.[[/index]] |
| 39 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV Astray'' (2004 ONA): An two episode promotional ONA based on ''Seed Astray'' |
| 40 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Astray R'' (2002-2004 manga): a sidestory for a sidestory, ''Astray R'' fills in other holes the original manga couldn't. |
| 41 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED X Astray'' (2003-2004 manga): Set during the last days of the First EA-PLANT War, Lowe and Gai deal with a mysterious barrier-producing Mobile Suit and a stolen prototype ZAFT Mobile Suit. |
| 42 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray'' (2004–2006 manga): Follows the story of a young photojournalist who comes into possession of one of the prototype nuclear mobile suits developed by ZAFT during the events of ''SEED''. Written by Tomohiro Chiba and illustrated by Koichi Tokita. |
| 43 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED C.E. 73 Δ Astray'' (2006–2007 manga): Follows group of soldiers from a forgotten Martian space colony who are dispatched to Earth. Acts as a follow up to ''SEED Destiny Astray'' as well as ''Stargazer''. Written by Tomohiro Chiba and illustrated by Koichi Tokita. |
| 44 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray R'' (2014 serialized novel): Follows Lowe Guele's adventures after returning to Earth from the Mars space colony. |
| 45 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Astray B'' (2013-2014 serialized novel): Follows Gai Murakumo's latest adventures with his PrivateMilitaryContractor, Serpent Tail. |
| 46 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ASTRAY Princess of the Sky'' (2016-2019 manga) |
| 47 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDCE73Stargazer'' (2006 ONA) |
| 48 | * ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge'' (2004-2006 manga by Chimaki Kuori) |
| 49 | ** ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny: The Edge Desire'' (2007-2008 manga) |
| 50 | * ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ECLIPSE'' (2021-present manga): Set in Cosmic Era 72. An interquel between ''SEED'' and ''Destiny'' about the members of ODR, a secret ORB task force. By Atsushi Soga.[[index]] |
| 51 | * ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDFreedom'' (2024 movie): An animated theatrical sequel to ''SEED Destiny''. |
| 52 | [[/folder]] |
| 53 | [[/index]] |
| 54 | ---- |
| 55 | !!''Gundam SEED'' provides examples of: |
| 56 | |
| 57 | * TwoDVisualsThreeDEffects: The Archangel and [=BuCUEs=] are [=CGI=] in several scenes, but have cell-shading so that they don't stand out. Lacus' Haros in their appearances in the openings and eyecatches and the exteriors of the [=PLANTS=] on the other hand are rendered in traditional [=CGI=] that stand out considerably. |
| 58 | * TheAce: Mu La Flaga, the [[RedBaron Hawk of Endymion]]. |
| 59 | * AcePilot: Lots of 'em, as is normal for a Gundam series. |
| 60 | * ActionGirl: [[RebelliousPrincess Cagalli Yula Athha]], of course, and [[IdolSinger Lacus Clyne]] becomes one later in the series. Pretty much all of the female cast (except for [[TheOjou Flay Allster]]). |
| 61 | * AdaptationalSelfDefense: In the HD remaster, [[spoiler:Nicol Amalfi]]'s death was reanimated to make it appear largely accidental. |
| 62 | ** In the original, [[spoiler:Nicol attacks Kira and the Strike to stop him from attacking Athrun and his depowered Aegis Gundam. As he lunges at him, Kira counters and swings the Anti-Ship Sword at the Blitz Gundam's midriff, and Nicol is killed when the LaserBlade cuts into the cockpit and shears him in half.]] |
| 63 | ** In the remake, [[spoiler:Kira instead tries to ''dodge'' with the Anti-Ship Sword outstretched as Nicol and the Blitz lunge at him. As a result, his attack carries him ''into'' the Anti-Ship Sword, which leads to the exact same result.]] |
| 64 | ** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fhpmGzNK0aI Here's a comparison video.]] |
| 65 | * AerithAndBob: Peculiar names like Rau Le Creuset, Mu La Flaga, Flay Allster, Cagalli Yula Athha and Murrue Ramius exist alongside more conventional ones such as Patrick, Miguel and Andrew. |
| 66 | * AffablyEvil: Rau Le Creuset is rather soft-spoken and pleasant for the most part, and speaks to his subordinates with a calm, respectful tone. [[spoiler:This trait is less evident when his SanitySlippage kicks in and he goes LargeHam, as that's when he's more forward about his desire to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy humanity completely]].]] |
| 67 | * AllThereInTheManual: ''[[Manga/MobileSuitGundamSeedAstray Gundam SEED Astray]]'' fills in many gaps in the story. |
| 68 | * AllYourPowersCombined: The IWSP and Perfect Striker packs for the Strike Gundam and Strike Rouge count, which house all the weapons and features of the Aile, Launcher, and Sword packs in different manners. |
| 69 | * AlternateUniverse: Cosmic Era is the fifth "alternate calendar" other than the original [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Universal Century]] (after the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Future Century]], [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing After Colony]], [[Anime/AfterWarGundamX After War]] and [[Anime/TurnAGundam Correct Century]]), and the first besides UC to feature a full-length television sequel. |
| 70 | * AmbiguouslyBrown: Dearka Elsman, who has dark skin and blonde hair, and a Caucasian father. |
| 71 | * AnimalMecha: A rarity for the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' franchise, ZAFT has two: the [=BuCUE=] and [=LaGOWE=] models. |
| 72 | * AnimationBump: The series was known for this at times, especially with the Special Editions. The HD Remaster goes even further with several reanimated scenes from not only the Special Editions, but also entirely new ones. Compare Episode 3 of the standard edition to the remaster on [=YouTube=] and you'll notice them immediately, most notably the part where Kira [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe slices Miguel's GINN in half]] at the end. |
| 73 | * AnyoneCanDie: It ''is'' a Gundam series, after all. |
| 74 | * ArmorIsUseless: Averted; Phase Shift Armor renders a unit practically invincible to kinetic attacks, and laminated shields are capable of taking multiple hits even from beam weapons. The Archangel also features laminate armor which can take several direct hits from mobile suit grade beam weapons before being compromised. |
| 75 | * ArtisticLicensePhysics: The [=PLANT=] space colonies. Unlike the fairly practical [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Island_Three O'Neill cylinder]] and [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanford_torus Stanford torus]] designs that are standard for the franchise, [=PLANTs=] seem designed around RuleOfCool -- and as a result are both horribly inefficient and much less safe in comparison. In particular, the sun will sometimes shine through the [=PLANTs'=] windows as they spin, which would expose the habitats to radiation in case of a solar flare. |
| 76 | * AttackDrone: The Earth Alliance's gunbarrels are wired versions, while ZAFT's [=DRAGOON=]s are wireless. |
| 77 | * AwesomeButImpractical: Averted with the Freedom and Justice's weaponry. The battery powered [=GuAIZ=] Experimental Firearms Type in ''SEED MSV'' is equipped with Phase Shift Armor, the Justice's backpack, the Freedom's railguns and their shared beam saber and rifle but can only fight for 5 minutes. This is why the nuclear reactor is required so that both Gundams can use their energy intensive weapon to its fullest potential alongside its Phase Shift Armor. |
| 78 | * BackToBackBadasses: [[spoiler:Kira in the Freedom and Athrun in the Justice make a good pair.]] |
| 79 | * BadassNormal: Mu La Flaga, undoubtedly the best Natural pilot in the series, has a considerable reputation already established at the beginning of the series and repeatedly holds his own against cutting-edge mobile suits while himself piloting a mobile armor or fighter jet. Cagalli is a borderline example; she's a Natural, and puts up a good fight both as LaResistance (attacking mobile suits with jeeps and [=RPGs=]!) and with the Strike Rouge, but never reaches the same level as other characters. [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] is a strange case; his backstory means it wouldn't make any ''sense'' for him to be a Coordinator, but he acts like one and it's never questioned, so he may or may not be an example. |
| 80 | * BashBrothers: [[spoiler:Kira and Athrun starting in Episode 39, in the Freedom and Justice.]] |
| 81 | * BattleCouple: [[spoiler:Athrun and Cagalli.]] |
| 82 | * BeamSpam: The Freedom and Providence are the biggest examples, though Calamity gives them a run for their money. The METEOR units used by Freedom and Justice take it up a notch. |
| 83 | * BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: For various reasons like prejudice, stress, and flat-out trauma, Flay openly expresses her belief a few times that all Coordinators should die, including [[spoiler:when she tries murdering Dearka. After then spending a period of time around Coordinators in ZAFT and subsequently]] meeting [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Muruta Azrael]], who is actually trying a FinalSolution, she's completely horrified [[spoiler:and tries to stop him by warning the ''Archangel'']]. |
| 84 | * {{BFG}}: The main feature of the Launcher Striker pack. The Buster and later, the Calamity, are also armed with more of them due to being specialized ranged attack Mobile Suits. |
| 85 | * {{BFS}}: The main feature of the Sword Striker pack. The METEOR units also pack Beam Swords big enough to bisect a 300-meter Agamemnon-class carrier ''length-wise''. |
| 86 | * {{Bifauxnen}}: Cagalli, although not entirely deliberately on her part. [[RunningGag Keeps coming up again later]]. |
| 87 | * BigBad: [[spoiler:While [[KnightTemplar Patrick Zala]] and [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Muruta Azrael]] both lead the warring factions (ZAFT and the Earth Alliance), it is [[AcePilot Rau Le Creuset]] who is the true main villain, being an OmnicidalManiac bent on orchestrating both sides into wiping each other out on the premise that all HumansAreBastards.]] |
| 88 | * BigBadEnsemble: Subverted. It appears that the war between Muruta Azrael and Patrick Zala will define the second half of the series, but in reality they're both {{Unwitting Pawn}}s of [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]], the real BigBad. |
| 89 | * BigBrotherMentor: Mu, to the Heliopolis crew in general, but Kira especially. |
| 90 | * BigDamnHero: Kira, repeatedly. Also subverted with Nicol Amalfi and Tolle Koenig in episodes 29 and 30, respectively. Both of them try to pull this off and [[spoiler:get ''[[FamilyUnfriendlyDeath brutally]]'' killed for their trouble]]. |
| 91 | * BioAugmentation: The Coordinators are genetically augmented humans. |
| 92 | * BirdsOfAFeather: Kira and Athrun's friendship could qualify as this with their views on war and want of peace. Kira and Lacus' relationship as well for the same reason. |
| 93 | * BitchSlap: A very rare male-on-female example -- Kira slaps Cagalli after she continually pesters him for not rescuing enough people. |
| 94 | * BittersweetEnding: Though they did manage to avert ''complete'' disaster, the body count was high on all sides, and there was no decisive end to the conflict -- despite all its death and destruction, the war ultimately changed little. |
| 95 | * BlackAndWhiteMorality: In the final stages of the series, the GreyAndGrayMorality turns to BlackAndWhiteMorality as both ZAFT and the EA become completely evil, and the Three Ships Alliance becomes completely white, with every sympathetic character from either side effectively joining the TSA (including ones thought dead). |
| 96 | * BladeOnARope: The [=GuAIZ=]'s Extensional Arrestors are waist-mounted rocket anchors with beam spikes that connect to the mobile suit with wires to reel in a grappled enemy. The beam spikes are actually the shots of very short-ranged beam guns. The odd nature of the weapons make them unpopular among all but the most skilled pilots who are able to use them effectively. |
| 97 | * BloodierAndGorier: Said to be even more so than V Gundam, and with the [=WMDs=] lurking around each corner, it's easy to believe. Averted in the Creator/{{Toonami}} edit, however, as Bandai wanted to sell SEED toys to a wider audience. |
| 98 | %% |
| 99 | %%BookEnds are matching scenes from the beginning and end that specifically highlight a character's arc, a significant change in the plot, or meaningful relationships. Scenes which are merely a symbolic parallel to each other can be MeaningfulEcho, CallBack, or ContinuityNod depending on their use. |
| 100 | %% |
| 101 | * BornWinner: Coordinators, which must be created in vitro, though the offspring of a pair of Coordinators is also a Coordinator. The second-generation Coordinators are considered this compared to first-generation ones. |
| 102 | * BreatherEpisode: Episode 19, which provides some of the few light-hearted moments in the show courtesy of [[NobleDemon Andrew Waltfeld]]. |
| 103 | * TheBrigadier: Admiral Lewis Halberton, Siegel Clyne, and Andrew Waltfeld. |
| 104 | * BrokenAce: Kira. He almost singlehandedly carries the Archangel through all its battles and the crew praise him endlessly for it, but he's still a teenager struggling to handle the trauma and responsibility that comes with war. |
| 105 | * TheCameo: In the manga version of the drama CD "Mobile Suit Gundam SEED suit CD volume 01 Strike x Kira Yamato", [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Domon and Master Asia]] makes cameos in the fighting game Kira and Athrun play. |
| 106 | * CanonForeigner: In the HD Remaster, when Mu gets the Strike, it's upgraded into the Perfect Strike (basically the Strike with all three Striker Packs attached at once), which was never seen in the original run. Just not in the final battle though... |
| 107 | ** Justified: In the only battle the Perfect Strike was used, it used up ''five'' batteries over the course of the fight, and it's doubtful the Archangel can so easily spare that many batteries each time. Short of the impossible task of completely replacing the Strike's power source, [[AwesomeButImpractical relying on the Perfect Strike just seems like a wasteful resource]]. |
| 108 | * TheCaptain: Murrue Ramius. |
| 109 | * CaptainSmoothAndSergeantRough: Despite both being commissioned officers, Murrue Ramius is the Captain Smooth and Natarle Badgiruel is the Sergeant Rough on the ''Archangel''. Rather than playing to the strengths of their respective command styles, however, the pair are often sometimes at odds with ''each other'', Natarle considering Murrue too soft to make hard choices and Murrue considering Natarle too uncompromising to see alternative options. The crew of the Archangel are well aware of this dynamic. |
| 110 | ** ZAFT: [[RememberTheAlamo "Remember Junius Seven."]] |
| 111 | * CentralTheme: {{Dehumanization}}. Aside from the usual kind that comes from the FantasticRacism that fuels the war, it's all primarily seen by how this affects Kira, who stands at a complete crossroads where he has to face ''multiple' forms of discrimination from both [[CategoryTraitor enemies]], [[YouAreACreditToYourRace supposed allies]], and even unintentionally, [[GreenEyedMonster his friends]]. His ultimate enemy and {{Foil}}, [[spoiler: Rau Le Creuset]], has experienced even worse forms of {{Dehumanization}} to the point that it's made him believe humanity will only continue killing. Worse, when he [[spoiler: reveals Kira's origin as the Ultimate Coordinator, a prime example of scientific hubris, BewareTheSuperman, and walking potential AppleOfDiscord worse than George Glenn]], Kira starts to believe IAmAMonster, until Lacus calms him down and effectively assures him that he has as any right as anyone to live as a human and be loved and wanted, and that he makes her "much happier". |
| 112 | * ChanceMeetingBetweenAntagonists: |
| 113 | ** Kira and Athrun while Athrun's on the Heliopolis mission; Athrun recognizing Kira makes him hesitate just enough to not knife Kira and Murrue to death. |
| 114 | ** Although she's not technically an antagonist, being the daughter of the leader of PLANT means Lacus can't be treated normally by anyone on the ''Archangel'' after Kira's rescue of her lifepod, either. It also leads to a brief encounter for Kira and Athrun when the latter, her fiance, comes looking specifically for her. |
| 115 | ** Kira and Cagalli accidentally meet the enemy commander Andrew Waltfeld and his lover/partner Aisha while scouting an enemy town for supplies. That meeting ends rather amicably: even though Waltfeld immediately realizes he is dealing with enemy aces, he likes them well enough to let them go in order to face them properly on the battlefield. |
| 116 | ** Cagalli and Athrun end up stranded overnight on a small uninhabited island; the episode is called "War For Two", given the emotions and level of violence between them go all over the place. |
| 117 | ** Kira and Athrun have an incredibly tense one when Athrun's team infiltrates Orb, mainly because Athrun's teammates are standing within earshot and he and Kira have to pretend not to know each other. |
| 118 | * CharClone: A different approach in this series then the rest. There are ''three'' main Char clones, each one representing a different incarnation of the original Char Aznable: Athrun Zala as TheRival, Mu La Flaga as the BigBrotherMentor, and Rau Le Creuset as the MalevolentMaskedMan. |
| 119 | * ChastityCouple: Kira and Lacus are presented this way, [[spoiler:contrasting Kira's previous, far more sexual "relationship" with Flay.]] |
| 120 | * ClipShow: Notable for being both many in number and poor in timing. ''SEED'''s director is occasionally called "Flashback 'Em All" in contrast to Creator/YoshiyukiTomino's "Kill 'Em All". |
| 121 | * ComboRifle: The Buster Gundam is equipped with a beam rifle and a railgun, either of which can be powered up by plugging the other gun into its back - the beam rifle becoming a beam SniperRifle and the railgun becoming an [[ShotgunsAreJustBetter anti-armor shotgun]]. |
| 122 | * CompilationMovie: ''The Empty Battlefield'', ''The Far-Away Dawn'', and ''The Rumbling Sky''. The [=GundamInfo=] [=YouTube=] channel also had another "movie" in early March 2022, but that was simply the first 5 episodes played one after another, complete with opening, ending, eyecatchers, and episode previews. |
| 123 | * {{Conscription}}: In an odd way. The Earth Fleet gets around the fact that the Heliopolis kids technically should be arrested and locked up for the duration for seeing classified tech that civilians aren't cleared to know about by retroactively claiming that they had been conscripted into the Navy the moment they boarded the Archangel, making their knowledge of the ship legal. They are then handed documentation declaring that they were now honorably discharged and could now leave. Every single one of them chooses to rip the documents up and return to duty. |
| 124 | * ContrivedCoincidence: The events at Heliopolis become more contrived as the story goes on. Okay, Kira just happens to [[FallingIntoTheCockpit fall into the cockpit of the Strike]] when he's likely the only person on Heliopolis who can pilot it. A little contrived, but acceptable since otherwise there's no story. Oh, he just happens to be childhood friends with the leader of the ZAFT thieves? And also [[spoiler:runs into his LongLostSibling who is a princess of Orb during the scuffle? Okay, that's a bit much. Wait, the CharClone commanding the attack on Heliopolis is from the cloning project that eventually led to Kira's creation]] Really? |
| 125 | * CoolShip: The ''Archangel'' (and it's later sister ship, the ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Dominion]]''), which owes not a little to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'''s ''White Base''. Orb's ''Kusanagi'' and ZAFT's ''Eternal'' are also examples. |
| 126 | * CourtMartialed: Kira is court martialed after disobeying orders on the ''Archangel'', but let off without punishment because he's [[LoopholeAbuse technically a civilian]]. |
| 127 | * CustomUniform: Andy's tiger-striped flightsuit was apparently tailored to match his [=LaGOWE=]. |
| 128 | * DarkerAndEdgier: ''Very'' dark for an AlternateUniverse series and you get to watch the atrocities done close up. There is also notably little to no comic relief within the entire series even when compared to ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]]'' which had a couple of lighthearted moments and humorous expressions to somewhat offset the dark tone of the series. As such, it is a large contender for the title of not just the darkest AU Gundam series, but also the darkest series in the ''Gundam'' franchise, period. |
| 129 | ** ''Gundam SEED'' is actually an interesting case in that ''it was the very first'' AU Gundam show that had a tone even remotely resembling that of the Universal Century shows. Before then, the AU Gundam shows were all on the LighterAndSofter scale of things (though they all still had some dark themes throughout), to the point of some even having outright [[HappyEnding happy endings]]. |
| 130 | * DeadStarWalking: In the original Japanese Dub, T.M. Revolution, who performs the first [=OP=], also voices Miguel Aiman, who is killed early in the story. |
| 131 | * DesignerBabies: Coordinators are genetically enhanced early in their development; [[spoiler:Kira Yamato]] is a true designer baby in the "grown in a test tube" sense. |
| 132 | * DieLaughing: [[spoiler:Mu La Flaga]], who laughs ''during'' a HeroicSacrifice, and his Strike Gundam ''explodes''. |
| 133 | * DissensionRemorse: Kira and Athrun share a moment like this after the Battle of JOSH-A, which is the first time in the series that they meet on the same side of the barricades, not knowing how to apologize for directly or indirectly causing the deaths of each other's friends earlier on. The moment is then "ruined" by Cagalli, [[spoiler:Kira's sister and Athrun's then-love interest]], who runs up and hugs them, happy from seeing the two of them reconcile. |
| 134 | * DivingSave: Subverted ''twice'', both scenes involving Kira. |
| 135 | ** The first time is when he tries to stop Yzak from shooting a shuttle full of civilians, which Yzak thought were fleeing soldiers. Kira doesn't even get close before the Duel's blasts hit the shuttle and blow it up. |
| 136 | ** The second time is particularly harsh, providing a HopeSpot where [[spoiler:he actually successfully blocks a shot from Rau Le Creuset's Providence Gundam, saving Flay Allster and the Dominion crew in their shuttle... only for Rau to use one of his [[AttackDrone DRAGOONs]] to circle around and blast the shuttle from above anyways, killing everyone aboard]]. |
| 137 | * DoomMagnet: Disaster follows in the wake of the Archangel for the entire first space arc, because Le Creuset is never far behind and Kira at that stage is barely good enough to keep himself and his ship alive without being able to seize any greater victory from the battles beyond mere survival. The Heliopolis colony is destroyed by collateral damage from a mobile suit battle inside the station, Artemis Station is attacked and wiped out when Nicol is able to sneak past and disable their shields, the advance force from 8th Fleet is intercepted and shot down while trying to hook up with Archangel, all of 8th Fleet is destroyed covering Archangel's descent to Earth, and then, as a cruel encore, the escape pod containing the civilian refugees from Heliopolis that Archangel had picked up earlier is shot down by Yzak because [[KickTheDog he's peeved that they briefly obscured his line of fire by accident while fleeing the battlefield]]. Though in his defense, he ''thought'' it was a shuttle full of soldiers trying to escape, not unarmed civilians. |
| 138 | * DoomedHometown: The Heliopolis space colony is destroyed by ZAFT at the beginning of the series. |
| 139 | * DoUntoOthersBeforeTheyDoUntoUs: The warring sides use this trope as justification for their deeds; both leaders aim for nothing less than the complete annihilation of the other side down to the last man, woman and child. Therefore, backing down and depending on MutuallyAssuredDestruction is equivalent to surrender. |
| 140 | * DramaticSpaceDrifting: Phase 7 of Gundam SEED had Archangel's crews discovering a corpse of a mother and her infant floating inside the ruin of Junius Seven, which was destroyed a year before the show's present timeline. |
| 141 | * DropPod: At the start of the ZAFT invasion. GINN Mobile Suits are delivered in groups of four by way of these. Also, the delivery method for the Gungnir electromagnetic flare weapons. |
| 142 | * DualWield: Several of the suits come equipped with two swords. The Freedom and Justice carry these as a [[BifurcatedWeapon bifurcating Beam Saber pike]]. |
| 143 | * DuringTheWar: Referred to as the Bloody Valentine War, since it escalated with the death of roughly 250,000 PLANT civilians when their colony was destroyed on February 14th, Valentine's Day, CE 70. |
| 144 | * EarlyBirdCameo: |
| 145 | ** A seemingly random woman carrying two babies in Phase 14 turns out to be [[spoiler:Caridad Yamato, Kira's adoptive mother, carrying baby Kira and baby Cagalli.]] |
| 146 | ** Shinn Asuka of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny'', the sequel, appears in Phases 35 and 39 of the HD Remaster. Fellow characters Lunamaria Hawke, her sister Meyrin, and Rey Za Burrel also make appearances in Phase 39. Shiho Hahnenfuss replaced a female ZAFT soldier in Phase 41, when she originally only appeared after Yzak was given his own command. |
| 147 | * EleventhHourRanger: [[spoiler:Yzak Joule]], who doesn't join up until most of the way through the FinalBattle. |
| 148 | * TheEnemyWeaponsAreBetter: Zigzagged. The Strike Gundam's beam rifle does not have the grenade launcher present on the Duel Gundam's. What zigzags this trope is that both Gundams belonged to the Earth Alliance before the Duel got stolen. |
| 149 | * EnergyWeapons: Similarly to ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', they've been in use on ships for some time, but versions usable by mobile suits are a new development as of the beginning of the series. |
| 150 | * EverybodyDiesEnding: Not exactly, but ''SEED'' holds the record for the most character deaths in all of Gundam. |
| 151 | * EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether: Maybe. A flashback to Muruta Azrael's childhood when he was bullied by Coordinator children, he had two school friends that bear a strong resemblance to Romero Pal and Dalida Lolaha Chandra II, both of whom would later become officers aboard the ''Archangel.'' |
| 152 | * EvilCounterpart: ''Dominion'', the ''Archangel'''s sister ship. |
| 153 | * EvilRedhead: Flay Allster, though not so purely ''evil'' as much as ''horribly screwed up.'' |
| 154 | ** Clotho Buer fits this trope more, being one of the AxCrazy [[SuperSoldier Bio-CPUs]] working for [[FaceOfAnAngelMindOfADemon Muruta Azrael]]. |
| 155 | * EvilutionaryBiologist: Dr. Ulen Hibiki, who dreams of creating the perfect human. [[spoiler:Even if it means stealing his own son from his mother's womb.]] |
| 156 | * EvilVersusEvil: By the end of the series, neither the Earth Alliance nor ZAFT are particularly sympathetic. Probably why [[spoiler:the protagonists decide to TakeAThirdOption and form the Three Ships Alliance]]. |
| 157 | * EvolvingCredits: |
| 158 | ** Doubles as {{Spoiler Opening}}s when characters are removed from new opening credits before they have been killed off or new characters and mobile suits are added before they have been introduced. They are also guilty of implying encounters or relationships between characters long before they occur; for instance, in the first opening, it is hinted that Kira and Lacus will end up together and that Cagalli and Athrun will meet one another. |
| 159 | ** [[spoiler:Following the episode in which Tolle dies, he is replaced by Cagalli in the group shot of the Archangel crew in the opening credits (the page image above). In the fourth opening, Natarle and Kuzzey are removed, Cagalli takes Natarle's spot, and Dearka and Erica Simmons are added next to Miriallia. Flay remains in her place despite leaving the Archangel at the same time as Natarle.]] |
| 160 | ** [[spoiler:Also in the fourth opening, the captain's seat of the Eternal is empty until Andrew Waltfeld is revealed to be alive.]] |
| 161 | ** [[spoiler:After Lacus gives Kira the Freedom, he replaces Athrun in the Haro EyeCatch.]] |
| 162 | * ExactWords: Rau Le Creuset, during the time he held Flay Allster captive, gave her a "key" that had the potential to finally end the war... [[spoiler:by wiping each other out and driving humanity to extinction.]] |
| 163 | * FallingIntoTheCockpit: Kira falls into the cockpit of the Strike Gundam. Or rather, he was shoved into it by Murrue as she looked to get the Strike away from ZAFT's forces. |
| 164 | * FamilyFriendlyFirearms: The Creator/{{Toonami}} edit was notorious for this. |
| 165 | * FantasticRacism: Naturals vs. Coordinators. |
| 166 | * FauxAffablyEvil: Muruta Azrael, at least until he starts suffering from VillainousBreakdown. |
| 167 | * FauxlosophicNarration: Lacus and Le Creuset at some times. |
| 168 | * FictionalCurrency: There's the Earth Dollar. |
| 169 | * FinalSolution: Advocated by both Patrick Zala (who believes Coordinators are a SuperiorSpecies and that the Naturals all need to die) and Muruta Azrael (who believes Coordinators are an abomination and thus all of them need to die). [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac Rau Le Creuset]] agrees with both of them, hoping that as a result of the war, ''all'' humanity will be wiped out]]. |
| 170 | * FixedForwardFacingWeapon: The ''Archangel'' is equipped with massive ''[[WaveMotionGun anti-matter cannons]]'' in its two pylons. |
| 171 | * FlawedPrototype: The G-Project Series Gundams, mainly because their operating systems were incomplete and were hard to learn for Naturals. Kira, as well as the Le Creuset Team, had to rewrite the [=OSes=] on the fly, and in Kira’s case, even during battle. |
| 172 | * ForcedAddiction: The Boosted Men are "Biological [=CPUs=]", Earth Alliance soldiers who are forced to undergo intense training, psychological manipulation, and use stimulants to increase their aggression and reaction times to levels comparable to ZAFT's Coordinators. However, these same drugs have crippling withdrawal effects that cause agonizing pain, ensuring that the Boosted Men will never defect to another organization. |
| 173 | * FreudianTrio: Murrue, Mu, and Natarle, as id, ego, and superego respectively. Murrue and Mu also function as {{The McCoy}} and TheKirk respectively, although Natarle doesn't ''quite'' qualify as TheSpock to round out the trifecta. |
| 174 | * FunWithAcronyms: It's a series trend; Gundams are called such because their OS spells out the acronym G.U.N.D.A.M. in varying ways, all of them full of GratuitousEnglish and typically entirely nonsensical. SEED itself is an acronym, as is ZAFT, and numerous ZAFT Mobile Suits have names consisting of a series of capitalized and lower cased letters (like GINN, [=BuCUE=], [=GOOhN=], [=GuAIZ=]) that make it ''seem'' like they're acronyms, but no explanation is ever given. |
| 175 | * ForgottenChildhoodFriend: Athrun and Kira towards each other. |
| 176 | * FreezeFrameBonus: Episode 47 features a cameo appearance of the ''Re H.O.M.E.'', from ''[[Manga/MobileSuitGundamSEEDAstray SEED Astray]]''. |
| 177 | * GenericanEmpire: '''P'''eople '''L'''iberation '''A'''cting '''N'''ation of '''T'''echnology. |
| 178 | * GeoEffects: Played a large role in battle during Kira's time in the Strike Gundam, as he would fight numerous enemies in Mobile Suits designed for specific environments, and Kira would have to adjust the Strike's operating systems to compete. The two biggest examples are the fights against the [=BuCUE=]s in the desert and the [=GOOhN=]s underwater. |
| 179 | * TheGlovesComeOff: Kira and Athrun do it to each other ''simultaneously'' in the WhamEpisode. The result is one of the most brutal fight scenes in the series. |
| 180 | * TheGoodTheBadAndTheEvil: Towards the end of the series, the [[spoiler:Three Ships Alliance]] is the Good, '''both''' ZAFT and the Earth Alliance are the Bad, while OmnicidalManiac [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] is the Evil. |
| 181 | * TheGoodKingdom: Orb... sort of. Their government is complicated. It involves actual royalty sharing power with both noble houses and elected officials. Thankfully, for the most part, it's relegated to AllThereInTheManual. |
| 182 | * GoodVersusGood: The initial conflict between Kira, who just wants to help protect his friends, and Athrun, who wants to destroy the ''Archangel'' (a warship belonging to the country that nuked his mother) without hurting Kira. |
| 183 | * GoOutWithASmile: Several: [[spoiler:Uzumi, Cagalli's adoptive father, Natarle, who [[HeroicSacrifice ensures the death of Azrael with her own]]]], and [[spoiler:Le Creuset, who dies smiling for his own reasons]]. |
| 184 | ** Subverted with [[spoiler:Flay. Seconds before she dies, she thought Kira had just saved her and was [[TearfulSmile tearing up with a smile]]... only for one of the Providence Gundam's [[AttackDrone DRAGOONs]] to blow up the shuttle she was on. The last we see of her (alive) is her disappearing into the flaming explosion with a look of blank shock on her face.]] |
| 185 | * {{Gorn}}: The Cyclops system and GENESIS essentially flash-boil people, causing them to ''pop''. The scenes involving them do ''[[AvertedTrope not]]'' make use of the GoryDiscretionShot. |
| 186 | * GrandTheftPrototype: Happens twice; in the first episode, when Athrun & co. steal the Earth Alliance prototypes from Heliopolis, and later when [[spoiler:Kira, with Lacus's help]] returns the favor by stealing the Freedom Gundam from a ZAFT base. |
| 187 | * GrayAndGreyMorality: For the majority of the series, neither the EA nor ZAFT is shown to be either entirely in the right or in the wrong, and both sides have terrible people and good people in their ranks. Even the crew of the Archangel wasn't purely white, with Natarle being morally ambiguous and several characters being bigoted against Coordinators. By the end of the series, every sympathetic character is either dead or opts to TakeAThirdOption and join the Three Ships Alliance, altering [[BlackAndWhiteMorality the morality of the series]]. |
| 188 | * GrayIsUseless: Mobile Suits with Phase Shift Armor depend on the color of their activated armor to determine its strength and power consumption. If the armor is deactivated from the suit being on standby in a hangar or the battery running low on power, the only color the armor will have is gray and leave the machine vulnerable. |
| 189 | * GunsAkimbo: Actually, Freedom can shoot all ''five'' of its guns at once... and hit five targets, too. Then hit five more targets about every tenth of a second. The Freedom Gundam is a master of BeamSpam. |
| 190 | * HateSink: |
| 191 | ** Muruta Azrael is the leader of the terrorist hate group Blue Cosmos. Motivated for [[FantasticRacism hatred against the Coordinators]], Azrael uses his influences to ensure control over the Atlantic Federation and the Earth Alliance Forces. Having used Blue Cosmos to cause an accident that kills thousands of Coordinator civilians, Azrael embraces the radicalization of the war, intending to end the war with a [[FinalSolution genocidal attack]] towards the homeland of the Coordinators, without care for any of his allies and constantly abusing them, leading to his own death once the Captain of his ship betrays him. A genocidal bigot that used children and teenagers in experiments to enchance their combat skills, Azrael's actions continued haunting the Cosmic Era. |
| 192 | ** Al Da Flaga [[spoiler:was an {{abusive parent|s}} that disinherited his own son, Mu La Flaga, seeing Mu as "a fool" and tainted for not being 100% himself. A narcissist that saw himself as a superior human, Al contacted the amoral scientist Ulen Hibiki and funded his investigation to clone himself. Subjecting his clone to emotional abuse and traumatizing him, Al lost any interest again and neglected him after discovering about the genetic defects of his clone. While Al died in a mysterious fire, said clone -- Rau Le Creuset -- grew up as a misanthrope manipulator that saw himself as the embodiment of the failures of the world]]. |
| 193 | ** Ulen Hibiki [[spoiler:is the biological father of Kira Yamato and Cagalli Yula Athha. A [[MadScientist amoral scientist]] that wanted to create the Ultimate Coordinator, Ulen forced his own wife to use her own embryos for the experiments without concern for her mental health, showing no interest in her ordinary pregnancy. Having accepted funds from the above-mentioned Al Da Flaga, Ulen created rational clones to fulfill the wishes of a narcissist and realize more illegal experiments]]. |
| 194 | * HeWhoFightsMonsters: The Earth Alliance and ZAFT fall prey to this as the ReasonableAuthorityFigure in charge are killed and more extreme, less scrupulous leaders take up the reins. |
| 195 | * HeroicSacrifice: Multiple, occasionally happening in ''chains'': [[spoiler:Tolle's and Nicol's, for example, as well as Mu's and Natarle's]]. |
| 196 | * HopeSpot: [[spoiler: In the final episode, Kira pulls a DivingSave to block the Providence's shot and save Flay... and then one of the Providence's [[AttackDrone DRAGOONs]] fires from a different angle and kills her anyway.]] |
| 197 | * HumansArePsychicInTheFuture: Mu La Flaga and Rau Le Creuset can sense each other psychically. Towards the end, Kira begins to do so as well. |
| 198 | * HumongousMecha: Does it even need to be mentioned? |
| 199 | * IdolSinger: Lacus Clyne. |
| 200 | * ILetGwenStacyDie: [[spoiler:Kira goes into a HeroicBSOD after Rau kills Flay in front of him]]. |
| 201 | * IllKillYou: Yzak to Kira, though he refers to him as "the pilot of the Strike" since he didn't know who Kira was specifically. |
| 202 | ** [[spoiler:Kira and Athrun scream variations of this at each other in their final climactic duel, both looking to murder one another after each of them killed a close friend to the other.]] |
| 203 | ** At least as a BilingualBonus, Athrun and Kira tend not to use the word "kill" with each other in Japanese; it's usually "defeat" or another synonym. However, when Athrun meets Cagalli [[spoiler:and she eventually steals his gun trying to take the Aegis]], he flashes his knife and tells her this word-for-word ''("omae wo korosu!")'', as a MythologyGag reference to ''Gundam Wing''. |
| 204 | * ItGetsEasier: Andrew Waltfield, an experienced soldier and commander, tells the young and still-somewhat-naive Kira this point blank. |
| 205 | * ItMeantSomethingToMe: [[DoubleSubversion Double Subverted]] with [[spoiler:Kira and Flay]]. At first she's just using him and his feelings are sincere; when he gets over her, ''she'' realizes that she actually ''does'' have feelings for him, but before she can act on it and apologize for her past actions, [[spoiler:[[HeelFaceDoorSlam she's cruelly killed off by Rau Le Creuset]], ''specifically'' to mess with Kira]]. |
| 206 | * ItsPersonal: Kira and Athrun get this about each other after [[spoiler:Kira kills Nicol and Athrun kills Tolle]] in back-to-back incidents. |
| 207 | * KarmicDeath: At the end of the series, Patrick gets [[spoiler:shot in the back by a wounded man he's just tried to murder]]. |
| 208 | * KickTheDog: |
| 209 | ** The way that Flay reveals to Sai that she's been cheating on him with Kira. That was just cold. |
| 210 | ** [[spoiler:Flay herself dies as a result of being the "dog" in question, when Rau Le Creuset shoots down the escape shuttle she was on specifically to hurt Kira.]] |
| 211 | * KillSat: GENESIS, an enormous orbital installation that fires bomb-pumped gamma radiation lasers. |
| 212 | * LargeHam: Rau Le Creuset reveals himself as this by the end of the series. Not so much at first, but when his SanitySlippage kicks in, he chews the scenery. |
| 213 | * LatexSpaceSuit: The pilot suits. |
| 214 | * ALighterShadeOfBlack: [[spoiler:Aside of the protagonists on the Archangel, the Earth Alliance is almost always portrayed less favorably than ZAFT. After both organizations are completely taken over by the villains and the defection of the Archangel, this trope is in effect.]] |
| 215 | * LonelyRichKid: Mu and Flay as children. And seemingly Rau and Azrael, too. |
| 216 | * TheLostLenore: Patrick Zala's wife, who died in the Bloody Valentine Incident. She gets bonus points for actually being named Lenore, too. |
| 217 | * LoveHurts: |
| 218 | ** Watching Miriallia [[spoiler:grieve after Tolle dies]] is pretty heartwrenching. |
| 219 | ** Flay has an extremely unhealthy and DestructiveRomance as TheVamp with Kira, and [[spoiler:when she actually develops feelings for him, she never gets to tell him, dying ''solely'' because he's still trying to protect her. Kira is so traumatized by all of this that he rejects Lacus's attempts to get any closer to him, settling for wishing her safe and politely returning a cheek kiss]]. |
| 220 | * LudicrousGibs: Those caught in the effective radius of the Cyclops System or the [[KillSat GENESIS]] are shown exploding into clouds of red mist. Actually {{Justified|Trope}}, given that said unlucky people are basically being ''microwaved'' to death[[note]] This literally boils their blood (along with all their other bodily fluids); the resulting steam pressure causes all the soft tissues in their body to burst[[/note]]. |
| 221 | * MadScientist: Dr. Ulen Hibiki, [[spoiler:Kira and Cagalli's birth father]]. |
| 222 | * MaskPower: Rau Le Creuset, as befitting a CharClone. |
| 223 | * MechaExpansionPack: The major gimmick of the series. The Strike has three: The highly mobile Aile (Wing), melee-focused Sword, and heavy assault Launcher. Duel has one, the Assault Shroud, which it uses at all times after the first storyline. And in the last few episodes the Freedom and Justice get the METEOR units, which are less like conventional packs and more like small warships that dock with the Gundams so they can provide power. |
| 224 | * MeleeATrois: ZAFT vs. Earth Alliance vs. the Three Ships Alliance. |
| 225 | * MerchandiseDriven: As with every other Gundam franchises. The MechaExpansionPack gimmick in particular is pretty blatantly designed to sell more model kits. |
| 226 | * MildlyMilitary: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], since some of the ''Archangel'' crew are civilians, but Murrue and Mu are not big believers in clinging to regulations to begin with. Murrue owns up to it when she lays out the crew's options just prior to ''Archangel'' joining in the defense of ORB. |
| 227 | * MilitaryBrat: Athrun, Nicol, Dearka, Yzak and Natarle. |
| 228 | * MidfightWeaponExchange: [[spoiler:After losing its beam rifle, Yzak has the Duel Gundam use the Buster Gundam's combined sniper rifle to destroy the Raider Gundam at the cost of using up both their batteries. The Duel Gundam later uses a spare shield and beam rifle from the Strike Gundam]]. |
| 229 | * MidSeasonUpgrade: Freedom and Justice. Strike also gets to stick around as a hand-me-down version for Mu, and Duel gets its Assault Shroud, though well before mid-season. In the Remaster edition, the Perfect Strike is an upgrade that combines all three striker packs into one unit, though this is subverted as it's only used for one battle before the Strike goes back to using just one pack, due to the AwesomeButImpractical nature of using all three at once. |
| 230 | * MythologyGag: To several ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' works, including the following: |
| 231 | ** Lacus [[http://imgur.com/WiaqN6c painting a mustache on one of her Haros]] is a clear one to ''Anime/TurnAGundam'', which Fukuda has noted is one of his favorite series by Tomino. Also, her exit from her escape pod is an homage to [[http://imgur.com/m6Zzm0u Lalah Sune's exit from Char's shuttle]] in Episode 39 of ''Mobile Suit Gundam.'' |
| 232 | ** Erica Simmons is named after Mark Simmons, one of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'''s {{Fandom VIP}}s in America, and possibly elsewhere too. It's not the first nod he's received, either. |
| 233 | ** ZAFT continues the Gundam tradition of having the rival faction with a "Z" in their name, which includes the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Principality of Zeon]] (as well as [[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Axis Zeon]] and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Neo Zeon]]), the [[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Zanscare Empire]], and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing OZ]]. Similarly, ZAFT's full name, Zodiac Alliance Freedom Treaty, was also a reference to ''Gundam Wing'''s "Organization of Zodiac". |
| 234 | ** In the episode "War for Two", Athrun tells Cagalli, "[[IllKillYou I will kill you]]", a la [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Heero Yuy]]. |
| 235 | ** Rau intentionally leaking the Neutron Jammer Canceller technology to the Earth Alliance is similar to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char Aznable intentionally leaking the Psycoframe tech to Anaheim Electronics for Amuro Ray's use]]. |
| 236 | ** In the NYAV dub, Lacus' pink Haro frequently sprouts random phrases alluding to other ''Gundam'' series, such as "[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn The Beast of Possibilities]]" and "[[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Shining Finger!]]". |
| 237 | * NamedAfterSomebodyFamous: By way of HistoricalInJoke, the three Earth Alliance warships that are sent to escort the Archangel are named [[UsefulNotes/BernardLawMontgomery Bernard, Montgomery and Law]] |
| 238 | * {{Narrator}}: Creator/KotonoMitsuishi narrates the series. |
| 239 | * NGOSuperpower: Blue Cosmos, a radical anti-Coordinator terrorist group. It has enough influence to control the policies of the Earth Alliance. [[spoiler:Lacus leads the Three Ships Alliance/Clyne Faction which serves this role... and winds up winning the war.]] |
| 240 | * NiceMeanAndInBetween: Especially for Kira, AllLovingHero Lacus is the nicest person in the series, spoiled and disturbed Flay is one of the worst for much of it, and Cagalli is in-between, supporting him and caring about him but also yelling at him, arguing with him, and accidentally backhanding him. |
| 241 | ** In the ZAFT Le Creuset team, it starts off with the pleasant Nicol and cynical but well-mannered Athrun (who leans borderline Nice and In-Between). Rusty is considered the firm In-Between according to the novel where he is considered the one that holds the team together, sharing similar thinking to Nicol and Athrun but has a personality like Dearka and Yzak while the manga indicates his views are Naturals are a bit foolish. Dearka and Yzak are definitely on the Mean end with their supremacist's views. [[spoiler:After Nicol's death]], Athrun at his lowest becomes the In-Between (and leaning to be on the Mean end) and Yzak retains being the Mean one while Dearka becomes the Nice one (in the short time the three were together) as he is forced to be the peacemaker. |
| 242 | ** Out of the Archangel's chain of command, Murrue is the Nice as she is more gentle and willing to break the military rules if it means helping out others in need. Natarle is the Mean although this is more because that she is very by the book rather than malicious as she has plenty of PetTheDog moments. Mu La Flaga is definitely the Nice too as a BigBrotherMentor but is also the In-Between as he is the most aware of the realities of war being the most senior and experienced member onboard. |
| 243 | * NonIndicativeName: Given the title of the series, you might expect it to feature a mobile suit named the Seed Gundam. There is no such mobile suit, and strictly speaking this installment of the series features no mobile suits called Gundam ''period''. [[FunWithAcronyms GUNDAM]] is actually the name of the operating system that runs some mobile suits. See also, the name of the second episode ("Its Name Is Gundam"). |
| 244 | * NoOneCouldSurviveThat: [[spoiler:Andrew Waltfeld]] survives his [=LaGOWE=] blowing up around him, though [[spoiler:his co-pilot and lover Aisha doesn't, and]] he earns some permanent injuries in the process. Kira Yamato survives [[spoiler:Aegis' SelfDestructMechanism to the face]] with only several severe burns, though he's out of commission for some time afterward. In both cases, survival is written off by other characters as an impossibility |
| 245 | * NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Kira pulls one with Athrun when returning to space. It involves a TakeMyHand between ''Gundams''. [[NarmCharm Awwww]]... |
| 246 | * NoPowerNoColor: Mobile Suits with Phase Shift Armor depend on the color of their activated armor to determine its strength and power consumption. If the armor is deactivated from the suit being on standby in a hangar or the battery running low on power, the only color the armor will have is gray and leave the machine vulnerable. |
| 247 | * NotUsingTheZedWord: The word "Gundam" is coined by Kira as an acronym for the operating system of certain BiggerStick Mobile Suits, and is only used a handful of times. None of the HumongousMecha officially have Gundam in their names. However, the term Gundam starts its spreading through the universe in the second half of the show, and is used much, much more in the Cosmic Era's expanded universe installments. |
| 248 | ** Lampshaded by Lacus when she's giving Kira the Freedom. He calls it a Gundam and she's got no idea what he's talking about, explains the name of the Mobile Suit, but says she thinks the term "Gundam" sounds better. |
| 249 | ** In a similar way, it's "enhanced spatial awareness". Never "Newtype powers". |
| 250 | * NukeEm: Both the Earth Forces and ZAFT race against each other to end the war this way. |
| 251 | * OddlySmallOrganization: The rebels in the desert. Despite their much smaller size, and weaker equipment, they get by... quite well. |
| 252 | * {{Omake}}: Gundam Seed Supernova. Featuring chibi-Kira and monster Tori. |
| 253 | * OmnicidalManiac: [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] wants to escalate the war until both sides annihilate each other, being a firm believer that [[HumansAreBastards humans are all envious, hateful, and always try to destroy each other]]. |
| 254 | * OneManArmy: Kira, Athrun, and Le Creuset. |
| 255 | * OneProductPlanet: ZAFT's space colonies were arranged in this manner, with one group focusing on Farming, another on Information Science, another on Chemistry, and so on. |
| 256 | * OneWorldOrder: Averted. Unlike the Universal Century's Earth Federation, the Earth Alliance is a coalition of powerful blocs that's a cross of sorts between NATO and the UN. Countries outside of the Alliance either side with ZAFT or attempt to go neutral in an attempt to escape the ire of both factions. |
| 257 | * TheOnlyOne: Kira is the only person who can handle the Strike Gundam because when he optimized the OS, he modified the control system to something that made sense to him, but doesn't line up with the manual, and nobody has the time to learn how he rearranged everything. |
| 258 | * TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Rau Le Creuset believes he and he alone can [[spoiler:kill off all of humanity]], especially Kira. |
| 259 | * PacifismBreakingPoint: PlayedWith. Kira Yamato is a MartialPacifist through and through, preferring to use his words to talk down his enemies as opposed to killing them, just wanting peace in the world. But being a ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' anime where people are more willing to kill than he ever will, this rarely works in his favor, if at all. By the time he receives the Freedom Gundam and re-evaluates himself, he TakesAThirdOption where he chooses to fight in order to prevent more tragedies in his life ''and'' maintain his pacifist nature at the same time, by opting to disable the enemy Mobile Suits without harming the pilot instead of outright killing. [[spoiler:This is later PlayedStraight when Rau Le Creuset kills Flay Allster [[ForTheEvulz just to make him suffer]], [[RageBreakingPoint enraging Kira enough to temporarily abandon his pacifist nature]] in their final duel and straight up kill him, ensuring that someone like him cannot threaten mankind again]]. |
| 260 | * PhotoprotoneutronTorpedo: ZAFT's amphibious Mobile Suits use phonon maser cannons, sonic weapons that look and function exactly like beam cannons for some reason. [[AllThereInTheManual One of the sourcebooks]] handwaved it by saying that while phonon maser is invisible, the cannons also emit a visible targeting laser. |
| 261 | * PhysicalScarsPsychologicalScars: Yzak gets a nasty facial scar while fighting Kira, which is symbolic of his [[UnknownRival one-sided hatred]]. By [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSeedDestiny the sequel]], he's [[spoiler:gotten it removed, signifying that he no longer holds a grudge]]. |
| 262 | * PlayingBothSides: [[spoiler:[[OmnicidalManiac Rau Le Creuset]] is doing this to prove that [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves it is in humanity's nature to destroy itself]].]] |
| 263 | * PowerMakeover: People in SEED mode lose the "light" of their eyes, resulting in ReflectionlessUselessEyes. |
| 264 | * ProductPlacement: Clotho is seen playing a Platform/{{Wonderswan}}, called the "Great Wonder Swan XXX". |
| 265 | * RageBreakingPoint: |
| 266 | ** Flay finally becomes frustrated with Kira after thinking he's showing pity to her, because she's convinced herself that he's evil, and yet has slowly fallen in love with him. Kira showing her kindness both unsettles the illusion and forces her to face the cruelty of what she's doing, which just makes her feel guilty. |
| 267 | ** At the end of the series, the usually pacifistic Kira snaps upon witnessing [[spoiler:Le Creuset killing Flay and threatening to do the same thing to Lacus]]. As a result, Kira snaps into something beyond ordinary [[SuperMode SEED Mode]] and [[spoiler:goes after Le Creuset, [[TheGlovesComeOff fully intent on killing him]]]]. |
| 268 | * RapidFireTyping: Lots of it; Kira is especially guilty and uses this technique to upgrade the Strike's original OS. |
| 269 | * RealRobot: ''SEED'' continues the proud Gundam tradition of semi-realistic giant robots. |
| 270 | * RebelliousPrincess: Although she's considered a princess as the heiress to one of its Five Noble Families, [[spoiler:after a BrokenPedestal moment with her father due to the GAT-X project on Heliopolis, Cagalli ran away from Orb to join guerrilla rebels in North Africa fighting ZAFT and later assisted the ''Archangel'', violating her country's strict neutral and isolationist principles in the process]]. |
| 271 | * RecapEpisode: Episodes 14 and 26, both of which are removed in the HD Remaster. |
| 272 | * RedOniBlueOni: Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman, respectively. Yzak is [[HotBlooded loud, hot-tempered and violent on occasion]]. Dearka is more reserved and a DeadpanSnarker. |
| 273 | * ReliablyUnreliableGuns: Type 1 is played straight: Cagalli[[note]]whose experience with firearms may amount to a crash-course in the desert about a month before[[/note]] throws a pistol in frustration, causing it to discharge. Athrun, who very nearly gets hit by the stray round, immediately chastises her for being stupid enough to throw a loaded and cocked pistol. |
| 274 | * ReluctantWarrior: Kira Yamato in the first half of the show. |
| 275 | * TheRemake: Of the original ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', no less... for the first half or so, anyway. |
| 276 | * RenegadeSplinterFaction: Two major examples: |
| 277 | ** Blue Cosmos for the Earth Alliance [[spoiler:until they take de facto control of the coalition]]. |
| 278 | ** Inverted with the Clyne Faction –- once they go “renegade” by remaining moderate in the face of [=ZAFT=]'s increasing fanaticism. |
| 279 | * ReReleaseSoundtrack: The American versions of several ''Gundam'' games, including ''Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Never-Ending Tomorrow'' and ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriorsGundam'', removes the songs from the anime and replaces them with generic tracks composed exclusively for other games like ''Zeonic Front''. |
| 280 | * LaResistance: The Desert Dawn in North Africa and the Three Ships Alliance. |
| 281 | * TheReveal: Several. |
| 282 | ** Cagalli is not only [[spoiler:the princess of Orb]], she's also [[spoiler:Kira Yamato's twin sister]]. |
| 283 | ** Kira is [[spoiler:Cagalli's twin brother]], and also [[spoiler:the Ultimate Coordinator.]] |
| 284 | ** Rau Le Creuset is [[spoiler:a clone of Mu La Flaga's father, and TheManBehindTheMan to both the Earth Alliance ''and'' ZAFT]]. |
| 285 | * RevisedEnding: |
| 286 | ** The CompilationMovie and HD Remaster edited out [[spoiler:Mu La Flaga]]'s helmet floating in space in the final shots, due to the PlotHole this causes with the sequel. |
| 287 | ** In the ''After-Phase'' OVA, [[spoiler:Yzak originally wore PLANT council robes, implying he had become a member of the Supreme Council, but after the airing of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', in which Yzak had been promoted to ZAFT commander following the first war, the OVA changed his clothes to the white coat uniform.]] |
| 288 | * RichBitch: Flay, though her wealth is downplayed compared to her FantasticRacism and being a [[ManipulativeBastard Manipulative Bitch]]. |
| 289 | * TheRival: Mu and Rau are old, bitter rivals, and Kira and Athrun become this during their times with the Strike and Aegis respectively. Later, in the final leg of the story, Kira and Rau become this with their [[AllLovingHero conflicting]] [[OmnicidalManiac ideologies]]. |
| 290 | * RobotBuddy: Athrun loves making them; he gave Kira a robot bird named Torii (Birdy in the dub), and Lacus has a couple dozen Haros rolling around her estate. In the Platform/GameBoyAdvance game ''Tomo to Kimi to Senjou de'', he decides to make one for Cagalli and ends up settling on a hamster design; unfortunately, when she first sees it [[EekAMouse she mistakes it for a rat and smashes it]], but after Kira explains things she's quite touched by the gesture. |
| 291 | * RocketlessReentry: The ''[[CoolStarship Archangel]]'' is attacked by ZAFT just as she starts her re-entry, so a number of [[HumongousMecha Mobile Suits]] scramble to defend her. Afterwards, Kira's Strike cannot make it back to the ship, so he instead uses his shield for a manual re-entry. |
| 292 | * RomanticFakeRealTurn: Flay Allster initially seduces Kira to manipulate him into killing the people who murdered her father, but when they are separated by circumstances later on, she realizes that she has fallen in love with him for real. |
| 293 | * RunningGag: Kira, despite being an ace Mobile Suit pilot, does not know how to fire a gun outside a cockpit. The first time he uses a gun, he throws it at his target and then kicks the guy rather than shoot him; the second time, Mu quickly notes that Kira's gun [[NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont still has the safety on]]. |
| 294 | * SacrificialLamb: Rusty Mackenzie, Miguel Aiman and [[spoiler:George Allster]] all die shortly after being introduced. Their deaths are mainly events for characterization other characters. |
| 295 | * SacrificialLion: The series isn't sunshine and rainbows to start with, but it's after the deaths of [[spoiler:Tolle and Nicol]] that the series gets progressively darker. |
| 296 | * SageLoveInterest: Subverted. Lacus Clyne is seemingly this for both Athrun (her fiance) and Kira, someone she becomes close to. While not a fighter like them, she has an incredibly sharp and resourceful mind and knowledge of human nature, which allows her to guide both of them on to better paths...except that her relationship with Athrun is arranged, shows little mutual romantic feeling overall, and ultimately disintegrates, and her relationship with a traumatized Kira in this series is tentative and ImpliedLoveInterest at best. |
| 297 | * SchizoTech: Relative to other Gundam series. The Cosmic Era ''starts'' with antimatter weaponry, BrainUploading, genetic engineering, and other such far-future technologies well beyond most other Gundam timelines. ''Programming'', in contrast, is woefully far behind, as it takes the enhanced reflexes and intellect of a Coordinator to pilot a mobile suit, even ones made by and for the faction with no Coordinators in it. Developing an operating system for a mobile suit simple enough that Naturals can use it takes roughly half the series. Nuclear fission is also the setting's pinnacle of power generation and storage despite their access to antimatter, while the default for most Gundam shows is nuclear fusion. |
| 298 | * ScrewThisImOuttaHere: Kuzzey bails from the ''Archangel'' for good after the ship [[spoiler:deserts the Earth Alliance and returns to Orb]]. |
| 299 | * SelfDestructMechanism: Everything seems to have it. But Athrun in particular seems fond of blowing up his own mobile suits. First with the Aegis to kill Kira, then with Justice to destroy GENESIS. |
| 300 | ** The Earth Alliance uses the Cyclops System to destroy JOSH-A in a trap to wipe out a huge chunk of ZAFT forces. In the expanded materials, it's revealed that the EA had done this before at the Battle of Endymion during the battle where Mu got his nickname. But the plan also destroyed the Alliance elite Moebius Zero corps, Mu being the only one left. |
| 301 | ** At the end of the series, Patrick sets Jachin Due to self destruct after he is fatally wounded. |
| 302 | * SergeantRock: Natarle Badgiruel. |
| 303 | * SeparatedAtBirth: [[spoiler:Kira and Cagalli]] are actually twins. |
| 304 | * ShoehornedAcronym: The [[MechaExpansionPack METEOR Units]] stand for "'''M'''obile Suit '''E'''mbedded '''T'''actical '''E'''nf'''or'''cer". |
| 305 | * ShoutOut: |
| 306 | ** Waltfeld's personal MS, the [=LaGOWE=], is a nod to Fukuda's earlier series ''Anime/GearFighterDendoh''. |
| 307 | ** More shoutouts and MythologyGags are given to Anime/MetalArmorDragonar, in which Fukuda is an assistant director. |
| 308 | *** Yzak, Dearka and Nicol are modeled after Kaine's Dragonar team. Their Gundams specifically reference the Dragonar units: Duel is a baseline model with an optional weapon pack given to a HotBlooded pilot, Buster is a long range fire support unit piloted by the dark skinned one with a mellow character, and Blitz is a special warfare machine piloted by the most refined out of the trio. |
| 309 | *** The Aile Striker is basically a Metal Armor Fixed Flying Unit, but made detachable. Jet Strikers used by Windams in Destiny are even more similar since they have detachable rocket pods. |
| 310 | *** Giganos and OMNI helmets share a similar raised forehead and stretched chin. |
| 311 | *** Combat space pods converted from construction pods with machine guns as weapon. |
| 312 | ** Murrue Ramius, captain of a ship who is out to defect is a shout out to ''Literature/TheHuntForRedOctober'', where the titular ship is captained by Marko Ramius, who spends the film trying to defect. |
| 313 | ** Kisaka's resistance outfit is based on Franchise/{{Rambo}}. |
| 314 | ** You can briefly spot Mu La Flaga pulling ''[[StockShoutOut the]]'' [[Anime/{{Akira}} Kaneda bike slide]] in Episode 33. |
| 315 | ** As for Lacus Clyne: |
| 316 | *** She's the daughter of the local leader, tends to explore and "float" around a lot, has a BeautifulSingingVoice, something permanently in her hair, dresses which feature "fins" (as seen above), a big dramatic moment sitting on a rock, and another one after which we see her legs. She has strong shades of ''Franchise/TheLittleMermaid'', and it continues in the sequel. She's a Franchise/DisneyPrincess in a Gundam show. |
| 317 | *** It should be pretty obvious that her status as an idol-singer is more or less inspired by Lynn Minmay from ''Anime/SuperDimensionFortressMacross'', something Fukuda attested to. |
| 318 | *** The specificity that her distant [[spoiler:and eventually-dead]] father is from the "Kingdom of Scandinavia" to go with her engagement, professional singing career, and an [[FoeRomanceSubtext ambiguous relationship]] dealing with a ruthless man in a mask all seem to be these to Christine Daäe of ''Franchise/ThePhantomOfTheOpera''. |
| 319 | ** In the original English dub, Cagalli responds to being called a princess with an "Excuuuuse me!" very reminiscent of Link's in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfZelda1989''. |
| 320 | ** In the HD Remaster English Dub, Shani screams "[[Film/TheShining Here's Shani!]]" while destroying ZAFT mobile suits. |
| 321 | * SignatureMove: The Freedom's [[BeamSpam Full Burst Mode]]. |
| 322 | * SignificantNameShift: Following their official defection from the Earth Alliance military, [[AcePilot Mu La Flaga]] refers to Murrue by her first name instead of her official rank. The two of them lay the {{UST}} to rest in the following episode and continue to call one another by name instead of by rank for the rest of the series. |
| 323 | * SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism: Somewhere in the middle of the scale initially. By the end, it's murky. The main crew champion their ideals [[spoiler: and "win" militarily]], but at the same time, [[spoiler: both ZAFT and the Earth Alliance go off the deep end in their philosophy, show that they are more than willing to use weapons of mass destruction on both their enemies and their allies alike, and the whole background of Coordinators and Naturals is revealed to be tainted with depraved science experiments.]] Seeing how the end of the series didn't actually change these facts, there's still a good amount of cynicism left in the Cosmic Era. |
| 324 | * SoundtrackDissonance: In Phase 41 (39 in the HD Remaster), while Lacus and Patrick were engaged in a propaganda war on the [=PLANTs=], [[spoiler: Siegel, Lacus's father, was assassinated by Patrick's soldiers]], with Lacus's image song, "Mizu no Akashi", playing in the background. |
| 325 | * SpoilerOpening: [[spoiler:Nicol]] is notably absent in the third opening, despite appearing in the first two. This is a war story, so it's not hard to guess what that means. |
| 326 | * TheSoCalledCoward: Nicol Amalfi. Yzak even straight up calls him a coward, but in reality he is a pretty decent pilot, especially considering he made it to the Red Coats. A more accurate description is that he's more naturally cautious than his wingmen, such as pointing out that a proposed operation has a narrow window of opportunity before their target is reinforced and therefore is risky, while Yzak cockily claims that ten minutes is more than enough time for them to shoot down the Archangel and Strike and be on their way (which it isn't). |
| 327 | * StandingBetweenTheEnemies: [[spoiler:The Three Ships Alliance]] does this to the Earth and ZAFT armies, but it soon devolves into a MeleeATrois. |
| 328 | * StockFootage: Used throughout the series, but it's most noticeable with the Archangel taking a hit and focusing on Murrue jolting in her seat. Also, whenever the Freedom lets loose in [[BeamSpam Full-Burst Mode]]. |
| 329 | * StrangeSalute: ZAFT military. |
| 330 | * StrawNihilist: [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset turns out to be this, to the point where he firmly believes that [[HumansAreBastards humanity is too sick to survive]].]] |
| 331 | * SuperMode: SEED Mode, which [[BornWinner only certain people]] can access, increases all the user's abilities. |
| 332 | * SuperPrototype: |
| 333 | ** Mu's Moebius Zero, which is a SpaceFighter equipped with wired "gunbarrels" (essentially self-contained gun pods mounted with thrusters to allow them to move independently), is the forerunner of the various AttackDrone units used in the CE timeline. However, the Moebius Zero became downgraded to the Moebius as the few pilots that could use the gunbarrels all died in a battle prior to the series except for Mu. |
| 334 | ** At the beginning of the series, the Earth Alliance creates prototype Mobile Suits developed under the G-Project: The [[JackOfAllStats GAT-X102 Duel Gundam]], [[MightyGlacier GAT-X103 Buster Gundam]], [[MechaExpansionPack GAT-X105 Strike Gundam]], [[ChameleonCamouflage GAT-X207 Blitz Gundam]], and the [[TransformingMecha GAT-X303 Aegis Gundam]]. Four of them are stolen by the Le Creuset Team, and Kira winds up piloting the Strike. |
| 335 | ** For the last half of the show, ZAFT releases its own ZGMF-X series of Gundam units using technology derived from the four captured Alliance Gundams. After the Strike and the Aegis are destroyed, Kira acquires the [[LightningBruiser ZGMF-X10A Freedom Gundam]] and Athrun gets the [=ZGMF-X09A=] Justice Gundam. The [[DroneDeployer ZGMF-X13A Providence Gundam]] is piloted by [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]] in the final episodes. These Gundams are not only far more advanced than the originals, they're also nuclear powered thanks the N-Jammer Canceller, giving them virtually unlimited endurance compared to their battery-powered predecessors. |
| 336 | ** The second set of prototype mobile suits developed under the G-Project was developed solely by the Atlantic Federation: The [[MightyGlacier GAT-X131 Calamity Gundam]], [[DeflectorShields GAT-X252 Forbidden Gundam]],and the [[TransformingMecha GAT-X370 Raider Gundam]]. These Gundams are piloted by [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]] under the supervision of [[MugglePower Blue Cosmos]] leader [[BigBadWannabe Muruta Azrael]]. |
| 337 | * SuperSoldier: While the Coordinators' enhanced abilities are in no way limited to combat, they do make them far better fighters than Naturals, e.g. before Kira develops an MS operating system suitable for Naturals, only Coordinators can efficiently pilot mobile suits; also, "artificial Coordinators" a.k.a. "the Druggies" are literal super soldiers developed by the Atlantic Federation. |
| 338 | ** Inversely, while Rau Le Creuset's [[spoiler:genetic status has never been specified]], AllThereInTheManual says there are a handful of Naturals who are able to pilot Coordinator mobile suits with no adaptations to either suit or pilot. |
| 339 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: In the final episode, Kira's DivingSave to protect [[spoiler:Flay's shuttle from Providence Gundam's beam rifle shot by using his shield]] does indeed work. However, [[spoiler:because the Providence is equipped with [=DRAGOONs=] that can attack from any angle, there's no way for Kira to protect the shuttle from any follow-up shots that come from any direction his shield isn't pointed at, and the shuttle blows up anyway]]. |
| 340 | * SympathyForTheDevil: In the ending, the three Boosted Men Shani, Clotho and Orga are shown smiling among the cast, highlighting how they are sympathetic characters affected by the tragedies of war given their backstories. Almost all major characters are shown here aside from Mu [[spoiler:who is absent in all openings to foreshadow his death as Murrue is mourning on both endings]], the less-sympathetic Patrick and Azrael and the mysterious Rau Le Creuset (who appears in an ending in ''Destiny''). |
| 341 | * TakeAThirdOption: Instead of [[spoiler:siding with one of the two equally extremist factions of the war]], the ''Archangel'' crew eventually [[spoiler:forms their own side together with Orb remnants and the Clyne Faction.]] |
| 342 | * TakeMyHand: In Phases 40 and 50, we see Athrun being rescued. [[spoiler:First time by Kira and the Freedom, the second by Cagalli.]] |
| 343 | * TeamMom: Murrue, later Natarle. |
| 344 | * TechnoBabble: Lots of it, especially whenever Kira delves into reprogramming the Strike's operating system. |
| 345 | -->'''Kira:''' Take the calibrations and reset the zero moment point and CPG. The connect the control module directly to the molecular ion pump. Reconstruct the neural linkage network. Renew meta-active field, reactivate feed forward controls, convey function. Adjust Coriolis deviation, connect to motion routines! System online! Initiate bootstrap! |
| 346 | * ThemeNaming: |
| 347 | ** Of HumongousMecha, no less -- OMNI's Gundams tend to reflect their combat role (eg, Duel, Strike, Blitz, Raider) while ZAFT's are named after philosophical ideals (Freedom, Justice, Providence). In addition, [[WordOfGod Mitsuo Fukuda said]] in an early interview that "Strike" and "Aegis" were named for the unstoppable spear and the invincible shield from the Chinese version of the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irresistible_force_paradox irresistible force paradox]]. |
| 348 | ** The title of the series itself is an aversion, though. The lack of a "SEED Gundam" makes the show one of the only Gundam series that doesn't get at least part of its name from a specific mecha [[note]]others include Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans and Manga/MobileSuitGundamThunderbolt, which are named for the main cast and setting, respectively.[[/note]]-- instead, "SEED" refers to the series' SuperMode. |
| 349 | * ThirteenIsUnlucky: ZGMF-X'''13'''A Providence, which is also the FinalBoss Gundam of the series. |
| 350 | * ToBeLawfulOrGood: Many characters to a greater or lesser extent, but the two most prominent examples are [[spoiler:Athrun]] (who chooses "good" after much soul-searching) and [[spoiler:Natarle]] (who chooses "lawful", but [[spoiler:changes her mind and betrays her superior later, [[RedemptionEqualsDeath at the cost of her life]])]]. |
| 351 | * TragicKeepsake: Murrue's locket, which is a memento from her first love. Also, Kira's origami flower, which he got from a little girl he failed to save. |
| 352 | * TransformingMecha: Athrun's Aegis and Clotho's Raider can both transform into Mobile Armors. |
| 353 | * {{Tsundere}}: Cagalli, who bounces back and forth between being a brash and aggressive ActionGirl, and a meek, easily embarrassed ShrinkingViolet. Leans heavily on the tsun side, as her usual response to embarrassment is to flip back to aggressiveness. |
| 354 | * TyrantTakesTheHelm: As the war progresses, [[GeneralRipper Patrick Zala]] became more authoritarian after his election and [[MugglePower Muruta Azrael]] consolidated his authority after the deaths of more moderate members at JOSH-A. |
| 355 | * UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: While George Glenn expected everyone to aspire to him and the subsequent Coordinator "race" as an example to lead into a better future, instead people resented him and all Coordinators for having a leg up in life that they, by their literal births, were denied. |
| 356 | * ValentinesDayViolence: The "Bloody Valentine Incident" was a nuclear attack that destroyed the PLANT space colony of Junius 7 on Valentine's Day, triggering the first war between the [=PLANTs=] (and their militia, ZAFT) and the Earth Alliance. |
| 357 | * VillainousBreakdown: Many of the villains feature rather nasty ones. Muruta Azrael especially, who goes from angrily demanding a nuking of the PLANT colonies to [[BadBoss beating and even shooting his own subordinates]]. |
| 358 | * VillainWithGoodPublicity: Muruta Azrael is all-but-''worshipped'' by the EA generals, has the Earth's rulers in his pocket, and Natarle has heard of him. |
| 359 | * WarIsHell: People are dying left, right, and centre. Kira and the rest of the cast are going through [[HeroicBSOD trauma-induced mental breakdowns]]. ZAFT is run by a GeneralRipper and has no problem [[NoQuarter executing prisoners]] or firing a WaveMotionGun at Earth. The Earth Forces are controlled by a [[FantasticRacism fanatically anti-Coordinator]] psychopath who wants to [[NukeEm nuke ZAFT out of existence]] and considers his troops [[WeHaveReserves expendable cannon fodder]]. Out of ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'''s alternate universes, SEED's is easily one of the [[DarkerAndEdgier darkest]]. |
| 360 | * WarfareRegression: Neutron Jammers inhibit fission reactions and jam radio waves. This allows for all-out warfare without the risk of mutually-assured destruction, and prevents the use of long-range radio communication or radar, leading to the rise of close-range mobile suit combat. |
| 361 | * WaveMotionGun: The Lohengrin positron cannons mounted by the ''Archangel'', which (as the name implies) are a type of {{Antimatter}} weapon; there's also GENESIS, a KillSat that used [[NukeEm nuclear weapons]] to generate a gamma radiation laser capable of attacking Earth from high orbit. |
| 362 | * WeaponsOfMassDestruction: The nuclear weapons used by the Earth Forces, ZAFT's [[WaveMotionGun GENESIS]], and arguably the Gundams themselves. |
| 363 | * WeAreStrugglingTogether: Unlike any TheFederation examples, Earth Alliance suffer from frictions between its members states (particularly the Atlantic Federation and the Eurasian Federation). Examples can be seen with Gerard Garcia's attempt to confiscate Kira's Gundam for Eurasian Federation's cause, and UriahGambit against Eurasian Federation forces at JOSH-A. |
| 364 | * WhamEpisode: Episodes 29, 30, 35... and pretty much everything between 40 and 50. |
| 365 | * WhatMeasureIsANonSuper: Muruta Azrael to his mom in the movie compilation. |
| 366 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity: The "Druggies", whose use of performance-enhancing drugs that make them able to fight on even terms with [[BornWinner Coordinators]] has also made them... unstable. |
| 367 | * WithGreatPowerComesGreatOpposition: Coordinators are targeted by natural-born humans simply because every one of them is a BornWinner. |
| 368 | * AWorldHalfFull: The combination of FantasticRacism and good old fashioned human greed makes the world of Gundam SEED a less-than-pleasant place to live, but that doesn't stop the protagonists from improving things -- if only a little -- through properly applied violence. |
| 369 | * XanatosGambit: The BigBad, [[spoiler:Rau Le Creuset]], tries to set one up as part of his EvilPlan, so that regardless of who eventually won the war, both sides would end up wiping each other out with various [=WMDs=]. When one side gained the upper hand or calmed down, he gives technology to other to keep the fighting going. |
| 370 | * YouAreInCommandNow: Murrue in the beginning of the series. |
| 371 | * YouMonster: [[spoiler:During the Dominion's final moments, Natarle calls Azrael a monster and decides to make sure he dies like the dog he is... [[HeroicSacrifice even if she has to die to accomplish that]].]] |
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