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Phase
50: To A Future that Never Ends
Review by Chris September 29, 2003 As the fighting continues, Lacus asks ZAFT to not fire GENESIS because they are only repeating the mistakes from before. Rau flies through space and is surprised when he finds the wreckage of the Strike Gundam. Murrue cries because Mu promised her he'd come back. Kira pulls away from Athrun and tells him to look after Cagalli. Fires break out all over the Archangel, and Murrue sits in her chair and cries over Mu. Rau sees that Azrael was of no help to him, and he prepares to attack the Archangel. Dearka attacks him, but Rau deploys his DRAGOONs and overwhelms Dearka. Kira arrives and fires all of the Freedom Gundam's and METEOR's weapons, but Rau senses his presence and dodges the attack. His DRAGOONs then attack the Buster Gundam and severely damage it. Kira attacks with the METEOR's beam saber, and Rau tells him he shouldn't be alive because if people knew he existed they would want to be Coordinators like him. Rau uses his DRAGOONs against Kira, which forces Kira to eject damaged parts of the METEOR. As they fight, an insane Clotho attacks Yzak and Dearka. Yzak defends Dearka and uses the Buster Gundam's rifles to destroy the Raider Gundam and kill Clotho. Kira continues to attack Rau with the METEOR, but Rau dodges his attacks and uses the DRAGOONs to cause further damage to the METEOR. Kira tells Rau that he is what he is and there is more to him than just his strength. Kira sees Flay's shuttle and ejects from the METEOR just as it explodes. He flies towards her shuttle, and Rau directly targets the shuttle and fires. Kira blocks the shot with his shield and looks at Flay. One of Rau's DRAGOONs fires from above and destroys the shuttle. Kira cries out and suddenly finds himself in a void with Flay's spirit, although he can't see or hear her. She tells him that she is sorry and says she never understood anything because she was always in pain and afraid. She tells him she is free now and asks him not to cry anymore. Kira then goes into SEED mode and chases after Rau. The Kusanagi and Eternal fire all their weapons at GENESIS, but they have no effect due to GENESIS' powerful Phase Shift armor. Inside Jachin Due, Patrick sets the next target of GENESIS for Washington, D.C. on Earth. Athrun ejects his METEOR and asks Cagalli to help him destroy Jachin Due's control center because they have no time left. Kisaka sends several M1 Astrays out to help cover them. Rau then begins to attack the Eternal and Kusanagi. Kira fires at him, but Rau senses the attack and dodges. Athrun and Cagalli head for Jachin Due and break into the fortress. Kira and Rau continue to fight, and Rau says the destruction of humanity is something that is destined to happen. Yzak and Dearka return to the Archangel, and Murrue wonders how everyone else is doing. Kira tells Rau that he's perverting the truth and that humans aren't as he says they are. Rau continues attacking and blows off the Freedom Gundam's shield and right leg. Yuki disagrees with Patrick and tells them they've already won the war and there's no need to fire at Earth. Patrick shoots him with a gun and prepares to fire GENESIS despite the fact that ZAFT forces are in the line of fire. Yuki then pulls out his gun and shoots Patrick several times. Athrun and Cagalli then barge in, and all the officers run away. Patrick asks Athrun to fire GENESIS and dies from his wounds. Athrun runs over to a computer console and sees that GENESIS is set to fire when Jachin Due explodes. ZAFT forces begin to retreat from Jachin Due, and the Archangel joins up with the Eternal and Kusanagi under Yzak's protection. Athrun and Cagalli then return to their Gundams and head for GENESIS. Kira continues to fight Rau, and Rau says that it's pointless for Kira to fight because he'll lose when GENESIS fires. Cagalli asks Athrun what he plans to do, and he says he will self-detonate the Justice Gundam inside GENESIS to cause a nuclear explosion. He tells her to turn back and ejects his backpack to block her path. Rau blows off the Freedom Gundam's right arm, and Kira pulls out his double beam saber with his left arm. Athrun prepares to self-destruct, and Cagalli tells him what he's doing is escaping. She says that it's more of a fight to live on. Rau blows off the Freedom Gundam's head as Kira charges, but Kira rams his beam saber through the Providence Gundam's torso. Jachin Due self destructs, and GENESIS begins to fire. Kira barely manages to gets out of the path of GENESIS, and the Providence Gundam is destroyed. The Justice Gundam explodes, and GENESIS ceases firing and explodes. A cease fire is announced between ZAFT and the Alliance. Cagalli and Athrun come out of the Strike Rouge's cockpit and see Birdy fly by. Kira floats in space next to the ruined Freedom Gundam and wonders how everyone ended up in such a place. He looks up and sees Birdy flying towards him, followed by the Strike Rouge. Well, that's the end of Gundam SEED. As a series finale, I'm a bit disappointed by the end presented here. This series started out as a straight copy of the original series, but it eventually started to go down its own path with the story. With that in mind, I was expecting a different ending. Instead, what we get here is little more than a replay of the ending of the original series, Zeta Gundam and Gundam F91 all rolled together. There are of course some deaths here. First, Clotho is surprisingly killed by Yzak. Though Yzak could never fight well against Kira, he managed to score two Gundam kills and do pretty well. Next, in the tradition of Gundam pilot girlfriends, Flay is ruthlessly killed by Rau. It seems that her death could have been completely avoided had Kira not flown over to her. I've never cared much for Flay and found her to be a useless character that was never used properly, but she manages a bit of redemption here. Patrick dies in Gihren Zabi style, but personally Gihren had a better death. Finally there's Rau, who for the whole series was an enigma wrapped in a riddle until it was revealed he's just a psycho who wants everyone to die. The ending is also quite abrupt and has a rushed feel. This could have been avoided if more episodes concentrated on story rather than being pointless clip shows or poorly scripted character development. This series could have had an epic finale and done something new, but unfortunately it doesn't quite achieve that. Maybe the next Gundam series will do better. Overall Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
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