The war rages on as Kira returns to Earth with his new mobile suit, the Freedom Gundam. After the Archangel and her crew escaped the Federation’s trap at JOSH-A, they are branded deserters and are forced to again seek refuge at the neutral country of Orb. Naturally enough, they arrive just as the Federation launches an attack on the island nation, declaring all countries not with them are against them. Kira and the rest of the crew must now choose sides in a war that continues to spread, becoming bloodier by the day.

As the gears of war shift direction, the various characters find themselves beginning to question what it is they’re really fighting for. Athrun has a particularly tough time, as he returns to space to find PLANT has changed considerably, and an encounter with Lacus leaves him wondering what it means to be a soldier. With the Federation acting ever more aggressively, and ZAFT’s leaders spouting their own rhetoric, it’s no longer clear who the real enemy is. SEED manages to throw the perspective around a bit, and the people you assume were the good guys at the start of the series now don’t look quite so good.

It seems as though everyone’s getting new toys in this volume. Athrun finally gets his new Gundam, Justice, while Mu finally gets in on the mobile suit action with the newly rebuilt Strike. The Federation deploys their new mass-produced mobile suits for the first time, while Orb’s Astray corps gets another taste of action while fending off the invading forces. There’s a few new characters introduced in this volume too, the most interesting of which are three new pilots controlling the Federation’s newest Gundams. It’s soon clear that they’re not your average Gundam boys when they have to take drugs to control their machines effectively, which have some nasty side-effects when they wear off. Of course, with all the new names, places and technical jargon being bandied about, it can prove difficult to keep track of them all.

As the root cause of the war becomes increasingly apparent, the racial theme is delved into a little deeper, and is uncomfortably relevant. Although depicted here as Nature Vs Genetics, it can be applied not only to current affairs, but many other wars and skirmishes across time. It’s not the most philosophical thing you’ll ever come across, but it does attempt to get the viewer to think a bit. At its heart, Gundam SEED does have a real message to deliver, even if it’s sometimes delivered in a somewhat clumsy manner.

It’s not without its faults, though. The constant use of flashbacks to reiterate plot points is becoming increasingly irritating, as it reeks of laziness and insults the audience’s intelligence (we really don’t need a flashback for something that happened two whole minutes ago, thanks). The recycling of animation is also growing more blatant, with several instances of déjà vu occurring over the course of an episode or two. For a flagship series such as this, one would expect the budget be large enough to hire a few more animators.

Sound-wise, it’s something of a mixed bag. The dubbing is generally of a good standard, but the dogged attempts to lip synch results in some uneven and awkward sounding lines. The dubbed Lacus disappoints as well, sounding a bit too squeaky and not quite nailing the tone of the original seiyuu in a rather important scene. The music also has its ups and downs, and while in some case it works perfectly (the song during the escape to space is a fine example), in others it’s just plain forgettable.

In Summary

At its best, Gundam SEED is an exciting and emotional rollercoaster of a ride; at its worst, it’s a dull slog of melodrama and teen angst. Although it starts off fairly slowly, this volume does pick up pace with each episode, and ends on quite a dramatic and emotional note. In between, there are plenty of intense battles full of giant robots beating the crap out of each other. Which, at the end of the day, is really what it’s all about.