1> You're welcome man. toy_brain offered some up too, so don't forget him.
Oh, and you don't want the Kite Director's Cut, you want Kite: Uncut.
2> It's not really different from most Japanimation, however, the character designs are extremely flawed (OK, so some shows have the been there done that feel in character designs, but compare the charas from this to Infinite Ryvius and S-Cry-Ed. Different clothes different hair color and style, but the characters themselves are so close to being the same, it's like watching the same characters performing a play!) and the action sequences are only so-so. When my brother says he's confused by the action on screen, I know something is wrong. He's usually an action WHORE.
I guess the biggest difference between this and other shows is that, I for one, don't LIKE (or I find them only bareable) the characters on this one, which leaves me only the action and the Gundams, both of which are highly uninspired.
SEED is different from most Gundam shows because, IMO, it's only an OK series, not good or great.
As for Wing fucking with the time line, it's set in a different "universe" so I can look past it. Harping on the Gundam time line swapping inconsistencies is like thinking all of Tenchi is part of the same universe. Hell, my all time favorite Gundam, G Gundam, is so far removed from what "regular" Gundam series are that the only reason it could be considered Gundam is the robot designs!
I'll admit, my first exposure to Gundam was Wing on CN. Even still, I bought the DVDs and actually enjoyed the show. I will give you that the male charas seem to all have a "flare" to them, but I can look past it because the story is good and the Gundams look good as well.
Your assesment of SEED being the 90210 is spot on.
As for Bandai being a toy company, with shows like Mazinger Z, Great Mazinger, UFO Robo Grendizer and Koutetsu Jeeg (don't think Bandai had these licenses at the time of airing, but you see where I'm going I'm sure), even though they had toy execs breathing down their backs to make robots and shit marketable and salable, the shows still turned out to be some of the best in Anime history, IMO. SEED fails in that it's not even close to these in terms of greatness, again IMO.
Mercenary X99 said:
#1> First off, thanks for the links above about Mezzo Forte and KITE Director's Cut.
#2> Commenting on your above post ^ about GUNDAM SEED. *How is this different from a good deal of the GUNDAM shows, or even other Japanimation shows for that matter? This is one of the main reasons {and you knew I can't resist the urge to pimp the show} that AT: VOTOMS and it's OVA prequels, sequels and spin offs freaking rule. As you know that show is VERY character orientated, but there's still pleanty of mass destruction going on, and the mecha aren't gimmicky. You'd have to be a masochist to truly love the endless Scopedog variations in all honesty since they're ugly as sin... but this last reason along with the fact the animation is old {at least the TV series} is what keeps the show from ever being a "Mainstream Series". ---But you are right in that GUNDAM SEED does kind of feel like a 90210 in the Gundam Universe, you didn't say that actually but it was implied.
I think it's sad that there is indeed so much more out there to be had, but yet ppl just fall prey to all of the gimmicky marketing in these shows. But BANDAI was always a big model/toy company, this doesn't surprise me in the slightest that they would have a "Gundam of the week" type thing going on. Though I will say I like SEED much better than WING, just for the fact it isn't screwing {at least IMO} with the original story as much, I mean it is, but not to the point that WING did. And the only reason WING was such a hit in the states was because it was even more gimmicky than the source material {the original 0079 series} was, but the pilots all looked like faggots. Best thing about WING was the Hentai that came out of it all with the bitches. Looking back at it, I suppose if the GUNDAM series would have had the seriously dark overtones of the novelizations Tomino did, then the franchise would have died somewhere around Char's Counterattack and gone the route of VOTOMS, where only the "Cult" followers revere it. In order to stay a float, you gotta' give some candy. I'm not saying I agree with it, it just seems to be the order of the day. To me ZETA GUNDAM is as dark as we'll ever see again.
MERCENARY X99
