Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny (TV)

Continuing on the story of the conflict between Naturals and Coordinators, Gundam Seed Destiny is the first TV sequel series to an alternate universe (non-Universal Century) Gundam show.

Broadcast of the third episode was cut off approximately halfway through when three earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 5.9 to 6.8 struck Japan's Niigata prefecture. The episode was rescheduled for the show's regular timeslot at 6 PM Saturday the following week.

T.M. Revolution's character, Westenfluss, is the German translation of his last name (Nishikawa, which translates to "western river").

Sporting Zakus, Goufs, and now Doms, Gundam Seed Destiny marks the first time in the franchise's history that vintage Universal Century mobile suits have appeared in an alternate-universe Gundam series. Though Zakus and Kapools also appeared in Turn A Gundam, the belief that said series is intended to tie all of the alternative Gundam timelines up until that point together suggests a valid connection back to the Universal Century.

The character King T@KED@, Meer Campbell's kansai-dialect speaking agent, is actually voiced by and modeled on the looks of Gundam Seed Destiny's executive producer, Seiji Takeda.

The name for Athrun Zala's new Mobile Suit, "Infinite Justice" comes from "Operation Infinite Justice" which was the original name for President Bush's counterattack against the 9/11 terrorist attacks. (The final name was Operation Lasting 'Freedom')

The name for Kira Yamato's new Mobile Suit, "Strike Freedom" pays homage to the Mobile Suits he piloted in the first Gundam SEED, the Strike Gundam and the Freedom Gundam.

Minerva's main weapon systems the Tristan, Isolde, and Tanhausser are named for Wagner's operas

The (ORB-01) Akatsuki mobile-suit translates as 'Dawn'; Morgenroete, the makers of the Akatsuki is also the German word for 'Dawn'.

'Yata no Kagami', the special Anti-Beam coating of the ORB-01 is also the name of a legendary mirror, known as one of the three Sacred Treasures of Japan.

The ORB-01 Akatsuki resembles the MSN-00100 Hyaku Shiki (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam). Further to their physical appearance, they both are covered in reflective gold, beam-resistant armour.

There are several Seiyuu who have voiced previous Gundam series (Roles are separated with '//'): Yzak Joule - Domon Kasshu (G Gundam), Tomache Massarik (Mobile Suit V Gundam) // Talia Gladys - Kycillia Zabi (Mobile Suit Gundam), Karen Joshua (08th MS Team) // Gilbert Dullindal - Char Aznable (MSG, MSZG, MSG:CCA) // Neo Lornoke/Mu La Flaga - Zechs Merquise (Gundam Wing), Gym Ghingham (Turn A Gundam) // Heine Westenfluss - Miguel Aiman (Gundam Seed) // Andrew Waltfeld - Treize Khusrenada (Gundam Wing) // Rey Za Burrel - Rau Le Creuset (Gundam Seed), Duo Maxwell (Gundam Wing)

During the 3rd Opening of GSD, the head crest of the Strike Freedom reads "Liberta Modifica", which translates as 'Modified Freedom'. It is then changed to "X-20A VENTI", which is the Italian for 'Twenty', the model designation of the Strike Freedom.

The GFAS-X1 Destroy bears a conceptual and physical resemblance to the MRX-009 Psyco Gundam (Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam). Also, while in its Mobile Armour mode, it is almost identical to the MA-08 Big Zam (Mobile Suit Gundam).

The Clyne Faction (Terminal) ZGMF-XX09T DOM Trooper units perform the 'Jet Stream Attack', the trademark manoeuvre of the Black Tri-Stars from Mobile Suit Gundam. (The original attack also featured 3 DOM type units).

Athrun Zala's brief adoption of an alternate identity is another riff on an older Gundam series. The bogus name and wraparound sunglasses he sports in the first few episodes of the series are a nod to Char Aznable's turn as "Quattro Bajeena" in Zeta Gundam. Char kept up his front a little longer than Athrun, though.

At the end of episode 15, Shinn reads a book (manga probably) with the title "High and Mighty Color," which also happens to be the name of the band who played "Pride" (second opening)

A character played by Japanese voice actress (seiyuu) Rie Tanaka has been voted the NO.1 favorite female character in Newtype Japan magazine's annual poll for at least five straight years: Chii (Chi) from Chobits in 2002; and Lacus Clyne from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY in 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006...

Canada's broadcast of Gundam Seed Destiny used the second Opening Theme (Pride, by High and Mighty Color) for the first 13 episodes, which meant that the first Opening Theme was not used during the broadcast. This was done to promote the High and Mighty Color CD that was recently released at the time.

One of the longest running ideas in the Gundam Universe is the "masked character" or "the Char-type." In Seed Destiny, a few of the voice actors played "masked characters" in previous Gundam outings. Toshihiko Seki (Rey Za Burrel) played Rau La Creusset in Gundam Seed. Takehito Koyasu (Neo Roanoke) played Zechs Marquis in Gundam Wing. Hideyuki Hori (Lord Djibril) played Schwarz Bruder in G Gundam. Mami Koyama (Talia Gladys) played Kycilia Zabi in the original Mobile Suit Gundam. And voice actor for the archetypal Char Aznable himself, Shuichi Ikeda, played Chairman Gilbert Dullindal.

In an interesting reference to the 1999 show, Turn A Gundam, which hints that the various alternate Gundam timelines all connect together, the lunar city Copernicus (seen in Episode 45 of Gundam Seed Destiny) is visually identical to the capital city of the Moonrace, Gaingnham (seen in Episode 40 of Turn A), leading to the belief that GSD's Cosmic Era may also be connected to the Turn A timeline.

Gundam Seed Destiny's staff placed in the show many references to another of Director Mitsuo Fukuda's series, Future GPX Cyber Formula. Most notable is the convertible that Athrun drives in Episode 8, which is a civilian-use version of the Asurada, the protagonist Hayato Kazami's racing machine from Cyber Formula. Other references include the Orb house that Kira & co. were in, which look exactly the same as Hayato's New Jersey residence in Cyber Formula Sin; the motorcycle that Shinn rides on in Ep 21, which is the same motorcycle that Hayato rides on in the beginning of the Cyber Formula TV series; the part of the third OP where Lacus turns her head to look at Kira, which is reminiscent of a scene from the Cyber Formula Saga OP; and the scene in the fourth OP with Gilbert and Talia is almost an exact duplicate of a scene with Kyoshiro Nagumo and Kyoko Aoi in the Cyber Formula Sin OP.

In Episode 23, character Heine Westenfluss' dialogue and choreography as he battles Stellar Loussier's Gaia Gundam pay a very clever homage to Mobile Suit Gundam character Ramba Ral. Both Westenfluss and Ral—piloting Gouf mobile suits—speak the line "This is no Zaku...no Zaku!" when in combat, and one shot in particular where Westenfluss ensnares Stellar's Gundam in the Gouf's whip-like heat rod weapon is identical to Ral trapping Amuro in the original series (complete with a long vertical pan in front of a pink background).

Most of the motherships' weapons were named after operas by Richard Wagner : the Minerva had the Tristan, Isolde, Parsifal and Tanhausser, while the Archangel had the Lohengrin. In Episode 38, the weapon system activated at Heaven's Base is called Nibelung, also a play by Wagner (Ring of the Nibelungs). Other weapons are related to a degree. The Gottfried on the Archangel might have been from Gottfried von Strassburg, author of Tristan, the basis of one of Wagner's plays. The Minerva's Niedhart has a farther connection to Wagner, and is probably from Neidhart von Reuental, a German minnesinger (courtly opera love singer) during the same era.

In episode 39, Destiny once again pays homage to the original Mobile Suit Gundam, or more specifically, Char Aznable. Kira has a Newtype flash and then fires his funnels at an enemy ship, screaming "Hit them!" There is an identical scene at the end of Mobile Suit Gundam, when Char is fighting in the Zeong. He also has a Newtype flash and screams "Hit them!" as he fires at the enemy.

Yet another homage to the original Mobile Suit Gundam series can be found in Episode 39. Kira's battle against the 25 Zakus and Goufs is extremely similar to Amuro's battle against the 12 Rick Doms in Episode 33. Also, the now-famous line "He destroyed 12 Rick Doms in two minutes?!" by the Zeon commander Conskon is uttered by the ZAFT commander in similar fashion.