Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny Volume 8

“We live our lives at the mercy of the times.” Gilbert Durandal

New Gundams for Shinn and Athrun have been delivered from Chairman Durandal: the Destiny and the Legend. But Athrun, having seen his friend Kira and the Freedom shot down, is in no mood to accept. Rey za Burrell voices his doubts about Athrun’s allegiance to the Chairman. However Meer Campbell, in her guise as Lacus Clyne, overhears, and warns Athrun. Athrun knows his time with the Minerva is over and urges her to flee with him. She refuses, too attached to her new life as Lacus to want to return to obscurity. 

Athrun makes a dash for freedom, taking the faithful Meyrin with him. But as they escape, Durandal tells Shinn and Rey, “You may shoot them down.” Shinn obeys the Chairman’s orders and Athrun’s mobile suit crashes into the sea, vanishing beneath the waves. Afterwards, on meeting his fellow pilot Lunamaria, Meyrin’s sister, Shinn is filled with remorse at what he has done. Even when Rey reassures him, “You did the right thing. They were traitors,” he still feels wretched.

The forces of the Earth Alliance link up with Zaft to attack the LOGOS stronghold at Heaven’s Base. LOGOS reveals their lethal Nibelung anti-air cannon which destroys the attacking mobile suits. A tense battle ensues, Operation Ragnarok, in which Shinn, Luna and Rey distinguish themselves. Durandal rewards Shinn and Rey by making them members of FAITH.

Meanwhile, Lacus Clyne is still up in space with the Eternal crew. Investigating the abandoned Mendel colony, they come upon Durandal’s notes for a ‘Destiny Plan’.  Could it be, Lacus wonders, that Durandal is trying to create a new world order – and that everything that he has done so far is just laying the foundations for his plan? Before she can speculate any further, they are discovered and attacked. Will they get away unscathed with their discovery? Things really don’t look too good for the Eternal.

Meanwhile on earth, Djibril has fled to Orb, drawing the Zaft forces after him, Cagalli realizes that her country is in terrible danger. But there is an unexpected legacy from her dead father: the Akatsuki, a unique golden Gundam, which boasts an Anti-Beam Reflection Defensive System. If she pilots its, will she be able to get to Orb in time to stave off a disaster?

With the members of LOGOS arrested, the conflict has been reduced to a battle of wills between Djibril and his nemesis, Durandal. Unfortunately – as the makers of the Gundam Seed series are so adept at showing – the lives of countless innocent people have been threatened by this power duel. And Djibril’s ominous words hinting at retribution on the grand scale to come, “The Requiem will begin to play – and everything will end,” haunt the closing scenes of Phase 40.

There’s much action to keep the viewer engaged in these episodes as the repercussions of Djibril’s actions bring the war against LOGOS to Orb. But the tendency to lapse into flashback, even at moments of extreme crisis, is becoming tiresome. And as the flashbacks don’t show us any new insights but merely recycle old footage, there’s way too much déja vu. By now the audience know the reasons why Shinn is so conflicted! 

For me, the most interesting moments in Gundam Seed Destiny come whenever Neo Roanoke and Captain Murrue Ramius meet. There’s real tension between Neo (who insists that he is not and has never been this Mu La Flaga) and Murrue (who sees a man who resembles her lost love, even down to his DNA). Can he really be Mu? And if he is, why doesn’t he recognize her?  

The stirring orchestral soundtrack by Toshihiko Sahashi continues to enhance the action sequences. A pity, then, that the new opening song in Phase 38, ‘Wings of Words’ by Chemistry  is so disappointingly bland. The new ending song ‘Kimi wa Boku ni Niteiru (You are Similar to Me)’ by See-Saw is, by contrast, an attractive and poignant accompaniment to the final credits.   

In Summary
An exciting sequence of episodes in which the stakes are raised yet again and uncomfortable questions are raised as to Chairman Durandal’s true intentions. A pity, however, that the tendency to employ flashbacks is becoming a real irritation.