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[ambientmystic]

Especially when Kira slept with her and then Kira beat up his best friend.

Truly a great moment in Gundam history. That particular scene has been captured for posterity and immortalized via the countless spoof gifs that spawned from it courtesy of some of our talented Japanese friends. That the implied sex scene could occur on a daytime Japanese TV anime without drawing the ire of the censors was amazing. Probably a first for a broadcasted Gundam series at the time.

Also, while we're on the topic of SEED characters, Kira and Lacus(Kira in particular) were never really idealized/deified in the series until the end of SEED/the entirety of Destiny. As noted above, Kira himself was kinda a dick and extremely emotionally immature like any other teen his age was expected to be.

 

[Megalosaro]

Actually from what I hear, the Japanese threw a bitch fit over the implied sex. According to Gundam Wiki, the creators were punished, though it doesn't say how.

 

[Ezalc]

Actually from what I hear, the Japanese threw a bitch fit over the implied sex. According to Gundam Wiki, the creators were punished, though it doesn't say how.

God forbid people actually have sex, ffs Japan.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Gratuitous shower scenes are awesome though!

There was technically implied sex in 08th MS team, though. I mean, at some point there was sex, although we don't actually see the prelude to the magic happening. Unless it was in the hot bath scene.

 

[CorvoSol]

Everyone else is terrible!

tbh I hated her too until I rewatched SEED last year. I like that she has... character development? She genuinely seems to grow as a person.

As said above, Mu was a great dude. And I actually thought Athrun and Rau were just fine. Kira's Jesus levels have now paled compared to the absolute bullshit that was Setsuna and the genocidal pedophile that was Flit.

It's not like I was holding up AGE as the standard of getting it right.

No, I was just trying to justify why I think Destiny, bad as it was, was less awful than 00 and AGE. Because even though Destiny rehashes SEED, forces the godawful character of Shinn on us, and makes us sit through the silly Lord Djibril being a douchebag scenes, it doesn't end in a space flower or with Ghiren Zabi being absolved of his crimes and revered by the people he treated like dirt.

Actually from what I hear, the Japanese threw a bitch fit over the implied sex. According to Gundam Wiki, the creators were punished, though it doesn't say how.

But why? Mu and Ramius were implied to have had sex, too. Were they punished over that?

 

[ambientmystic]

God forbid people actually have sex, ffs Japan.

I think they're usually pretty chill about this; it was on a show for meant for older kids/teenagers, and also shown during a daytime slot on TBS(I believe?) which is a public access broadcasting network.

Anime with more mature elements (Queen's Blade, Girls Bravo, et. al) are usually slotted later on in day/night on networks like WOWOW or AT-X. They also have censored/uncensored broadcasts of such anime depending on the timeslot.

Gratuitous shower scenes are awesome though!

There was technically implied sex in 08th MS team, though. I mean, at some point there was sex, although we don't actually see the prelude to the magic happening. Unless it was in the hot bath scene.

Kinda comparing apples and oranges here. Gundam OVAs like 08th MS team are generally allowed to have more mature elements as they're often straight to video/DVD compilations and not usually meant to be aired on public access television (as compared to the serialized 50ish series counterparts). 08th MS team had quite a bit of animated nudity in it, but you could argue it was all contextual, and not gratuitous at all.

But why? Mu and Ramius were implied to have had sex, too. Were they punished over that?

Also, at the very first or second episode of Destiny, the captain of the ZAFT warship, Minerva (Talia) and the Chairman of PLANT (Dullindal) was also implied to have had intercourse too lol. Nothing controversial about that. I guess context and the age of the participants matter somewhat lol. (The one you mentioned and this one involved grown ass adults, as compared to the "controversy" of teenage sex.)

 

[CorvoSol]

Gratuitous shower scenes are awesome though!

There was technically implied sex in 08th MS team, though. I mean, at some point there was sex, although we don't actually see the prelude to the magic happening. Unless it was in the hot bath scene.

I'm pretty sure the hot bath is precisely when I decided the show had gone to pot.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Kinda comparing apples and oranges here. Gundam OVAs like 08th MS team are generally allowed to have more mature elements as they're often straight to video/DVD compilations and not usually meant to be aired on public access television (as compared to the serialized 50ish series counterparts). 08th MS team had quite a bit of animated nudity in it, but you could argue it was all contextual, and not gratuitous at all.

I actually thought about that after the fact, but really the OVAs don't seem much different than the others in terms of sexual content. The aforementioned bath scene was pretty coy. There was Kiki swimming that was somewhat sexualized, but that really wasn't too much more than the scenes with Mirai, Fraw, Fa, Rozamia, and Sayla from the movies.

I did love the Dr. offering to give Emma a check-up in Zeta, though.


edit: Oh, on a side note, ZZ is managing to get not good. Beecha and Mondo are shits, this two part Moon-Moon episode is dumb, and Chara Soon is a fucking miserable piece of shit character. Seriously, what the fuck. I hope she gets killed quick. Please come back Mashymre!

 

[Megalosaro]

Also, at the very first or second episode of Destiny, the captain of the ZAFT warship, Minerva (Talia) and the Chairman of PLANT (Dullindal) was also implied to have had intercourse too lol. Nothing controversial about that. I guess context and the age of the participants matter somewhat lol. (The one you mentioned and this one involved grown ass adults, as compared to the "controversy" of teenage sex.)

If you ask me, Japan could use a spike in teen pregnancy. But that's neither here nor there.

 

[CorvoSol]

I always forget about Talia x Gilbert. Mostly because I kinda think there are only four good episodes in Destiny anyway:

Spoiler

The one where Durandal tries to kill Lacus, the one where Neo does not recognize Murrue, the one where Athrun escapes the ZAFT base, and the one where Meer dies.

There are also two decent moments in other episodes that were worth it to me, at least.

Spoiler

When Lacus exposes Meer as a fake, and when Shinn sees Kira and Athrun alive again, because the look on his face when he realizes that all that time he spent jizzing himself over killing them was a waste, as they're both totally alive.

 

[Blader]

No, I was just trying to justify why I think Destiny, bad as it was, was less awful than 00 and AGE. Because even though Destiny rehashes SEED, forces the godawful character of Shinn on us, and makes us sit through the silly Lord Djibril being a douchebag scenes, it doesn't end in a space flower or with Ghiren Zabi being absolved of his crimes and revered by the people he treated like dirt.

But the giant ELS flower and Flit being absolved of war crimes, as shitty and hamfisted examples of writing that they are, don't really betray their series. 00 and AGE were both on that "fighting can be resolved through understanding" bandwagon, and their endings end up serving that theme. Destiny, on the other hand, was supposed to be more ambiguous and shades of grey from the start, which is why things like Shinn being replaced with Kira (the former being turned into a dumb asshole and the latter turning into the embodiment of all that is right in the world) and Durandal becoming Gundam's Emperor Palpatine totally undermine what the show was supposed to be about.

00 and AGE have plenty of flaws, and AGE's ending in particular is disappointingly awful, but of the three shows, only Destiny ends up completely failing its whole premise.

0083 is the only other show I'd consider a failure in that regard, but it's much prettier than AGE or either SEED show so I'm not as harsh about it. :lol

 

[PhiLonius]

I always forget about Talia x Gilbert. Mostly because I kinda think there are only four good episodes in Destiny anyway:

Spoiler

The one where Durandal tries to kill Lacus, the one where Neo does not recognize Murrue, the one where Athrun escapes the ZAFT base, and the one where Meer dies.

There are also two decent moments in other episodes that were worth it to me, at least.

Spoiler

When Lacus exposes Meer as a fake, and when Shinn sees Kira and Athrun alive again, because the look on his face when he realizes that all that time he spent jizzing himself over killing them was a waste, as they're both totally alive.

Wasn't that scene not shown in the US version? The show just ends after the final battle.

Destiny's few saving moments (ep34 especially) keep me from hating it completely. It's mostly Shinn that gets to me.

 

[CorvoSol]

But the giant ELS flower and Flit being absolved of war crimes, as shitty and hamfisted examples of writing that they are, don't really betray their series. 00 and AGE were both on that "fighting can be resolved through understanding" bandwagon, and their endings end up serving that theme. Destiny, on the other hand, was supposed to be more ambiguous and shades of grey from the start, which is why things like Shinn being replaced with Kira (the former being turned into a dumb asshole and the latter turning into the embodiment of all that is right in the world) and Durandal becoming Gundam's Emperor Palpatine totally undermine what the show was supposed to be about.

00 and AGE have plenty of flaws, and AGE's ending in particular is disappointingly awful, but of the three shows, only Destiny ends up completely failing its whole premise.

0083 is the only other show I'd consider a failure in that regard, but it's much prettier than AGE or either SEED show so I'm not as harsh about it. :lol

00 only avoids betraying its premise by not having one. What a giant ass flower has to do with world peace is beyond me. As to "fighting can be resolved through understanding" that didn't show up until the end of the series. Before that it was "fighting can be solved with more fighting!"

0083 was just crazy, though. The last episode was one extended WTF for me.

Wasn't that scene not shown in the US version? The show just ends after the final battle.

Destiny's few saving moments (ep34 especially) keep me from hating it completely. It's mostly Shinn that gets to me.

Shinn drags Destiny down several tiers. Stella drags it the rest of the way down.

 

[ambientmystic]

There are also two decent moments in other episodes that were worth it to me, at least.

Spoiler

When Lacus exposes Meer as a fake, and when Shinn sees Kira and Athrun alive again, because the look on his face when he realizes that all that time he spent jizzing himself over killing them was a waste, as they're both totally alive.

Dat Lacus x Meer scene,

Spoiler

accompanied by that particular ED song ("You are similar to me") is just awesome. Can't hate on it no matter how you slice it.

So good.gif

 

[frye]

Wasn't that scene not shown in the US version? The show just ends after the final battle.

Destiny's few saving moments (ep34 especially) keep me from hating it completely. It's mostly Shinn that gets to me.

Shinn is a great starting point for a rounded character, I think. He's got a good hook (kid whose family gets blown up by FREEDOM ends up joining the military to prevent something like that from ever happening again) but, for various reasons, he never progresses beyond that. Hell, you could even say he regresses in some ways.

Before that it was "fighting can be solved with more fighting!"

Eh, this idea gets undermined fairly quickly once the show reveals that Celestial Being were supposed to get wrecked by the unification of the three superpowers the entire time.

 

[PhiLonius]

I was so confused watching Destiny for the first time.

I couldn't tell whether they wanted us to like or hate Shinn, or even whether he was meant to be looked at as good or bad. He was just sort of there doing stuff, being angry, and checking out his sister's phone. I kept expecting some sort of turn for him and Lunamaria at some point.

Shinn is a great starting point for a rounded character, I think. He's got a good hook (kid whose family gets blown up by FREEDOM ends up joining the military to prevent something like that from ever happening again) but, for various reasons, he never progresses beyond that. Hell, you could even say he regresses in some ways..

Yes. I felt like Ray (who I don't think even had lines for the first 20 episodes) and Meer had more of an arc than Shinn.

 

[CorvoSol]

Dat Lacus x Meer scene,

Spoiler

accompanied by that particular ED song ("You are similar to me") is just awesome. Can't hate on it no matter how you slice it.

So good.gif

Right? Redeemed Meer as a character for me.

Eh, this idea gets undermined fairly quickly once the show reveals that Celestial Being were supposed to get wrecked by the unification of the three superpowers the entire time.

I never know. Aeolia Schenberg's plan was kinda obviously made up as the show went along.

I was so confused watching Destiny for the first time.

I couldn't tell whether they wanted us to like or hate Shinn, or even whether he was meant to be looked at as good or bad. He was just sort of there doing stuff, being angry, and checking out his sister's phone. I kept expecting some sort of turn for him and Lunamaria at some point.

What I hated about Shinn was the way the show acted like he was right to criticize the Athhas. I mean, it'd be one thing if we'd no knowledge of what actually happening, but seeing SEED and knowing that there was literally no other choice unless it was to be forced into warfare anyway, it made all his criticism make no sense at all.

 

[Ezalc]

If you ask me, Japan could use a spike in teen pregnancy. But that's neither here nor there.

Hahahaha.

 

[Blader]

I never know. Aeolia Schenberg's plan was kinda obviously made up as the show went along.

No, I think they did actually had it planned out from the start, what changed was how they were going to structure the series. iirc, the plan was to write it as a 50-episode series, and then Sunrise/Bandai changed it to a two-season show, which was changed further by adding a movie. I don't know if that was ever confirmed but it would exactly why the pacing is so erratic in the back half of S1 and most of S2.

 

[Beth Cyra]

MG Tallgeese II and RG Zeta 3 White Unicorn both arrived in the mail on Friday. Really shocked at White Unicorn's Box, it's much larger then Zeta's and the exact same size as TG II's box, thing is just a recolor so the box really tripped me out.

Got to say though, I really enjoy the fact they matched the LM MG White Zeta with the RG's pose.

 

[Droog]

edit: Oh, on a side note, ZZ is managing to get not good. Beecha and Mondo are shits, this two part Moon-Moon episode is dumb, and Chara Soon is a fucking miserable piece of shit character. Seriously, what the fuck. I hope she gets killed quick. Please come back Mashymre!

Endure just a little bit longer, you're almost out of the wilderness!

 

[Megalosaro]

Yeah, Beecha and Mondo are two-timing assholes, but they get better.

Once they get to Axis the show gets really good. Once they land on Earth, it becomes great.

 

[zoku88]

I never understood the love for Turn A. Outside the awesome unique mecha, I thought the show meandered way too much. It was a unique take for Gundam, but it just seems people go ga ga over it because it tried to be different. Corrin Nander was only awesome thing that I really appreciated to come out of it, I wanted to slap all the other characters.

II thought the whole thing was kinda silly.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Endure just a little bit longer, you're almost out of the wilderness!

Yeah, Beecha and Mondo are two-timing assholes, but they get better.

Once they get to Axis the show gets really good. Once they land on Earth, it becomes great.

That is encouraging at least. Because <Walken Voice> This show is all wrong. It's the wrong tone.

 

[donkey show]

Oh good 'ol Moon Moon. Like everyone else says, it gets better so slug it out just a bit longer. It's pretty high level when they get to Earth.

 

[Enron]

Moon Moon is both terrible and awesome, at the same time.

brightnoamoonmoon.jpg

 

[Lostconfused]

Moon Moon is both terrible and awesome, at the same time.

brightnoamoonmoon.jpg

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Emaly!

it was all terrible.

Was this the wandering eyes of Bright mentioned earlier in the thread, or is there more/ something else later. Not too bad if this is it.

 

[Megalosaro]

As far as I remember...

Spoiler

Bright stays faithful to Mirai. I'd be pretty pissed if he cheated. Mirai is awesome.

 

[Leezard]

As far as I remember...

Spoiler

Bright stays faithful to Mirai. I'd be pretty pissed if he cheated. Mirai is awesome.

Yeah, I think you remember correctly

 

[distantmantra]

Actually from what I hear, the Japanese threw a bitch fit over the implied sex. According to Gundam Wiki, the creators were punished, though it doesn't say how.

It was because it aired at 5pm on Sundays in a family friendly time slot.

 

[Jubern]

Just watched the first episode of Gundam SEED Destiny HD Remaster on Tokyo MX.

It looked quite a bit better than the first episode of SEED HD (at least the TV version, that I got to see again a few weeks ago), it was notably waaaaay less blurry. As in, basically not at all.
There weren't any changes as far AFAIK, except maybe two or three cuts of Kira and Lacus on that beach, inserted during the narration after the opening.

The first cour of SEED Destiny is probably the less offensive of the four and I remember liking it quite a bit, but I realized I had a bad memory and thought this first episode was actually pretty terrible. The whole reason behind Cagalli's secret (and rather dangerous, from a political standpoint) visit to PLANT is to ask for them not to use (willing) Orb's refugees and technology from the last war for military purposes? Like, what? Did she thought there was any way they would swallow something like that? lol

I had also completely forgot about that gratuitous shot of Shinn grabbing Stellar by the boobs, that was pretty lolzy too ahah.
I'll probably watch this every week for no good reason other than hating myself and having low standards.

Oh yeah, there was a commercial for Stargazer during the CM break... And as far as I can see it's just a fucking upscale, wonderful.
They're doing a lot of work on two 50 episodes-long series but couldn't be bothered to touch up a 45 minutes-long OAV, figures. I really shouldn't have been expecting otherwise, but it still hurts

 

[sixteen-bit]

Origin Vol. 2 got pushed back to June 25 according to this Amazon message.

 

[Megalosaro]

Yep. Just came here to post this myself. I wonder why it happened. Volume 1 got pushed back because they were late finalizing the cover. Could the same be said of Volume 2?

 

[distantmantra]

Oh yeah, there was a commercial for Stargazer during the CM break... And as far as I can see it's just a fucking upscale, wonderful.
They're doing a lot of work on two 50 episodes-long series but couldn't be bothered to touch up a 45 minutes-long OAV, figures. I really shouldn't have been expecting otherwise, but it still hurts

It's probably the same commercial on the UC vol. 6 Blu-ray. Looks nice enough, I'd consider picking it up since I never bought the DVD import as I was hoping Bandai would license it back in the day. I actually like Stargazer.

 

[Megalosaro]

Yeah, if all CE was similar in style and tone as Stargazer, it'd rival UC hard. Part 1 was particularly memorable.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

What was the original release date for volume 2?

Stargazer available with an official translation or not?

 

[distantmantra]

Stargazer available with an official translation or not?

Stargazer never had an official release outside Japan. There's a good fansub out there, though. Internet OVA from 2006.

 

[Jubern]

Actually the DVD version was also subtitled.

And while it look "ok", it really doesn't seem to look much better than if you just watched the DVD with a good upscaler
Considering how much work they put in Gundam SEED and Destiny HD I was kind of hoping they'd do the same here. Stargazer would look even better than those since there's no need to crop or expand anything, it's already in 16/9.

 

[KillerMan91]

Ending theme of Stargazer was damn beautiful.

 

[distantmantra]

Actually the DVD version was also subtitled.

The R2 DVD of Stargazer had English subtitles? Are you sure? Huh, learn something new every day.

 

[CorvoSol]

Man, why do Wing Zero Custom figures from the Bandai Spirits line cost so much? Maybe I'll just get the Tallgeese III instead.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Man, why do Wing Zero Custom figures from the Bandai Spirits line cost so much? Maybe I'll just get the Tallgeese III instead.

Well Zero was well over a year ago, and the RD's don't always get Reprints all that often.

That said, Zero EW usually goes for a decent price unless you are seeing the Pearl Coating Version that came out last fall.

How much are you looking to get him for?

Wow. Just looked him up, over a hundred. Honeslty I would just wait a few months and it's likely that Zero EW will get a reprint and be around for a more normal price.

Wing Zero TV and Unicorn are both getting Reprints very soon so I'm fairly sure Zero EW will see one not to long after.

 

[CorvoSol]

Well Zero was well over a year ago, and the RD's don't always get Reprints all that often.

That said, Zero EW usually goes for a decent price unless you are seeing the Pearl Coating Version that came out last fall.

How much are you looking to get him for?

Wow. Just looked him up, over a hundred. Honeslty I would just wait a few months and it's likely that Zero EW will get a reprint and be around for a more normal price.

Wing Zero TV and Unicorn are both getting Reprints very soon so I'm fairly sure Zero EW will see one not to long after.

Yeah, I don't want Pearl Coating, just a regular one. I'll have to wait around that long anyway. The real trick will be seeing if I can get the ARX8 for less than 60 bucks. But I got ARX7 so I'll be okay waiting on that. Just can't believe that all EW W0 sell for 100 plus.

 

[Beth Cyra]

Yeah, I don't want Pearl Coating, just a regular one. I'll have to wait around that long anyway. The real trick will be seeing if I can get the ARX8 for less than 60 bucks. But I got ARX7 so I'll be okay waiting on that. Just can't believe that all EW W0 sell for 100 plus.

Yeah, I was a bit shocked. However it is Zero EW and it's easily the most popular suit from Wing so aside from Tallgeese II and Wing EW being limited releases it doesn't surprise me that it's a bit higher then the others, just not a hundred dollars more.

Nice figure though, really glad I got mine as Model Zero EW's and their wings can be such a pain the ass.

 

[SerArthurDayne]

Speaking of figures/models, I just got a 1/48 Mega size RX-78. Poseability is mediocre, but it is fantastic and awesome. Just going to get a gundam marker to finish him off. Want to get a 1/48 red Zaku to go with him, but trying to find it on the cheap. What color marker goes best with red? I was thinking grey on white, black on red maybe. Also getting a perfect grade MK II Titans (MG is too small for me man!). Don't have the skill or confidence to paint the armor, and I dont know that straight spray would improve the look much, so I'm probably going to just spray paint and detail the innerframe, cameras, and then give it a flat coat.

 

[ambientmystic]

Also getting a perfect grade MK II Titans (MG is too small for me man!). Don't have the skill or confidence to paint the armor, and I dont know that straight spray would improve the look much, so I'm probably going to just spray paint and detail the innerframe, cameras, and then give it a flat coat.

Share some of that dough around, those things really cost an arm and a leg where I currently live lol.

 

[Megalosaro]

A 1/60 is too small for you

What. That would be like a foot tall dude. Pics of the RX-78? I love how ridiculously huge those 1/48s are, even if they're not the most detailed or pose-able

 

[SerArthurDayne]

It wasnt a top want of mine, so I actually just found it on eBay for a good price and will disassemble and rebuild myself. Saving for a Zeta that I want to do from scratch, and the move on from there depending on results.

Not rich. Do spend money recklessly.

A 1/60 is too small for you

What. That would be like a foot tall dude. Pics of the RX-78? I love how ridiculously huge those 1/48s are, even if they're not the most detailed or pose-able

No the 1/100 MG is too small. Meant in jest anyways. I'll try some pics later.

 

[distantmantra]

I've got a Perfect Grade Zeta Gundam. It's cool and all, but they feel more like toys than models as they get bigger.