[SILVER] Gundam SEED Destiny (Episode 17) "The Soldier's Life"

I hope these notes aren't too late. My notes are divided into two halves (1) response to the comments response section and (2) episode specific notes section: Comments Response Notes: -the guy with the orange hair was Rusty who was the Zaft pilot who was supposed to steal the Strike but got shot in the face by an Earth Forces soldier before Athrun and Kira saw each other. -All other Coordinators, except for Kira, are born from their mother "naturally" after having their genes operated on. -possessing the SEED factor is completely independent of being a Coordinator. -Kira rescued Cagalli after learning from Cagalli's servant about how the Seirans were pressuring her and that Cagalli did not have anyone around to support her or speak on her behalf, so whether her decision to get married to Yuna was truly "hers" or the product of manipulation and emotional coercion should be taken into account when discussing whether Kira was "right" in rescuing her. -Orb was founded on the specific principles which included a position of neutrality and non-intervention in the conflicts of other nations and allowed anyone to live their regardless of their status as a Coordinator or Natural. In the world of Gundam Seed having a nation that has such principles and is willing to fight for them is something that is very important and should be fought for. In response to Theta's argument that the Atha's should have given in to the Atlantic Federation in Season 1 to protect their citizens I have two responses: 1. Uzumi clearly states that if they side with the Atlantic Federation then ZAFT would invade and attempt to destroy Orb and their citizens would suffer regardless. 2. I apologize ahead of time if this second point comes off as especially harsh, but it was the clearest example I could think of. The idea that a nation should be willing to sacrifice any/all of its principles if a powerful neighbor threatens just to protect as many of its citizens as possible would be analogous to telling Britain in World War 2 before the US entered the war that they should have given in to the Nazis and stopped fighting/resisting to ensure the general well being of its citizens. -when Athrun joined the ZAFT special forces in season 1, that was technically FAITH but they did not call it that in Season 1 and he never received that special badge. -Eurasia is technically at war with ZAFT now as part of the Earth Alliance. Episode Response Notes: -Meer's performance style is very different from Lacus's original performance style and is more pop/rock. -One thing I don't believe both of you have really picked up on is how Shinn is driven more by emotion than logic and that how his personality is interacting with his trauma is influencing his actions. Remember, although Shinn says the Atha's "killed his family" and constantly was angry at Cagalli for being so idealistic and not seeing how the world really was, Shinn was also extremely angry that Orb effectively joined the Earth Alliance and in response to that threatened to destroy it as a country even though if Shinn was being "logical" that would be the better to choice to protect Orb's citizens from suffering the same fate as his family. Shinn's rage and anger at the Athas is an irrational response driven by the grief and anger of the loss of his family and he has not really tried to work through his grief and try and understand how and why it happened, but is instead lashing out and trying to prevent something like that from repeating. Even if you disagree with my conclusion, I believe you will agree after seeing more of Shinn in future episodes you will agree. -I recommend putting a pin in Athrun's conversation with Shinn at the end of this episode, especially the part about Shinn's self-righteousness and Athrun's statement "But at the moment you get that power you become the one who makes others cry." and use that as a lense to examine Shinn's actions in the future to see if this is an accurate assessment and whether Shinn actually listened to what Athrun was saying and processed it. It could make for a very useful discussion topic in multiple future episodes.

Fenrir756