I didn't spot any major changes to the fourth and final Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition compliation movie. The biggest thing I noticed was an additional scene showing Cagalli taking off THE RING and stowing it in some random box in a desk, just in case the original scene was just TOO SUBTLE for some of y'all. I guess it also serves to eliminate any potential doubts such as fears that maybe Cagalli just lost it down a sink one day while washing dishes.

At least she didn't throw it into Mount Doom.

Oh, they did fix Meer's Engrish note from the double-date segment.

Help!! I'm trapped in an Idol Factory.

God damn, those really were shitty Soldats knockoffs.

The fourth movie also clearly showed that Shiho Hasenpfeffer is now one of Empress Lacus' goons. Oh, I guess the fourth movie also showed that Kira now apparently holds a ZAFT command position in the Clyne Empire, although Athrun had to settle for being an Orb flunky.

Empress-type Lacus greets ZAFT-type Kira.

Empress Lacus and her goons. So much better than Meer's goons.

Ha ha. It's ARTHUR!

I guess that's the biggest change right there: Remember how Gundam SEED Destiny screwed up by first being about Shinn Asuka, and then switched gears trying to be about Athrun Zala and his harem of girls with the bedroom-type eyes and the aerodynamic-type boobs, and then fucked everything royal by being about Kira's pacifistic moralizing and brush with omnipotence? Well, the movies basically said, "Forget all that, the series was really about Athrun Zala narrating the epic story of Lacus Clyne's sinister rise to power." It's quite an accomplishment for the "Ara? Ara?" airhead of yore.

Everything else was pretty much from the Final Plus version of the last episode, including Shinn finally being introduced to Kira.

"So sorry I accidentally killed your family."

Anyway, I hope there is a third SEED season that reveals Lacus was behind it all, and that the source of Kira's newfound strength arises from the ghost of Flay, whose regular Obi-Wan Kenobi-isms get him through the night when he's blueballed from his years of impenetrable celibacy with Lacus. And Meyrin and Athrun should go on more dates that get interrupted because people keep trying to kill them.

Lunamaria and Meyrin at a zafeteria.

I would have expected Meyrin's tray to have contained either a lot more or a lot less food than Lunamaria's. Opportunity wasted.

Meer barges into Athrun's room again.

Meyrin uses the Information Superhighway.

Athrun has a big honkin' workstation in his quarters, while Meyrin only has a notebook—proof that rank doth have its privileges. Either that or Athrun's just a GIANT NERD.

Athrun surprises Meyrin.

Natural couples utilize photo booths at amusement parks
and keep their memories in sticker albums. Coordinator
couples utilize security cameras at military installations
and keep their memories in their Permanent Records.

I want a third season of Gundam SEED that features, as a running gag, frequent attempts by Meyrin and Athrun to go on dates that inevitably result in perilous situations necessitating gunplay.

Shinn punches a woman in the gut.

Okay, first of all, I was wrong about one thing: There are four Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition movies, not three.

I find it rather appropriate that the third movie begins with (1) Athrun continuing his voice over, and (2) Shinn punching an innocent doctor (nurse?) in the gut. I mean, that's the series in a nutshell right there. Oh, and naturally Shinn's out of the brig in like five minutes. It's a bit blatant in compliation form.

I so don't rememember Shinn and Stellar having
astral plane nookie during the regular broadcast.

On the whole, it seems there is a lot less retconning in the third Destiny movie than in the first two parts. Most of it seems to be straight-up clip show—not like Gundam SEED Destiny needed another clip show. Sadly, this means no extended Athrun + Meyrin escape sequence, and no post-traumarama sickbed canoodling while Neo Mu the Invalid cheers raucously. It also seems rather rushed for some reason; the pacing is all kinds of off.

The perfect ruse.

Frankly, I'm shocked they didn't fool around with the Meyrin/Athrun/Cagalli sequences in the third compilation movie. Considering the changes in the first two parts, it seemed a sure thing.

Oh yeah? Well let's see you parallel park the sumbitch.

I don't remember Lacus landing Athrun's new ride onto Archangel by herself, though. Maybe my memory is just faulty.

The third Gundam SEED Destiny Special Edition movie is the weakest thus far. Like I said, it's basically just another clip show both insofar as content and pacing are concerned. But surely the fourth and final movie will be good! After all, it will feature Lacus' ascension to Empress of PLANT and appointment as Supreme Commander of ZAFT. And it will reveal that she's actually an evil mastermind soon to become the primary villain during the third and final Gundam SEED season.

P.S. Spoilers.

So apparently Stargazer's big secret is that it's powered by bad HTML.

This HTML is not standards compliant, yo.

I can only hope this is a semi-sly wink at the fact that Gundam SEED Stargazer is an Internet-distributed OAV.

Alas, the "Meyrin thinks she's fat," the Hawke shower gossip-o-rama, the "waking up with Meer," and the Meer concert scenes were all cut from the second Gundam SEED Destiny compilation movie. Well, parts of the Meer concert made it into the high-speed Meer montage and Athrun voiceover segment. On the one hand, it's kind of a pity because those bits were TOP FUEL HILARITY.

Meyrin misses her chance.

On the other hand, it makes sense that those cut scenes were omitted because nearly everything that could be construed as filler (and there was a damn lot of filler mid-season) was dropped from the second compilation movie. The second "Special Edition" movie is mostly aggression and fighting (the final 30 minutes consist almost entirely of fight scenes), and briskly moves through the most laggard part of Gundam SEED Destiny.

If the term "Special Edition" evokes images of Lucas-esque revisionist filmmaking, it should. There is some hard core retconning in the second movie—substantially more than there was in the first one. For example, as expected, the wedding/kidnapping bit was edited to make it look like the whole mess was Cagalli's fault. (Well, it really was, but the series at least tried not to make it appear that way.) You almost feel sorry for Jona, who doesn't even look like a douchebag or a coward.

Anger leads to hate.

The most substantive changes were clearly orchestrated to hilight the Shinn + Lunamaria and Athrun + Meyrin end games. The scene where Lunamaria creams her panties over Athrun's new Gundam is gone, naturally. (Athrun just blows by Lunamaria, ignoring her completely, and she gives a small frown.) But most significantly, Shinn's wild night with Stellar was largely redone to remove Athrun from their rescue entirely. Now, it is Lunamaria that comes to retrieve them from the cave. Stellar's reunion with Sting and Auel is much the same, except Athrun has been replaced with Lunamaria. There's even a bit where Lunamaria displays jealousy over Shinn's attention to Stellar.

Athrun is surprised by Shinn's predicament.

Lunamaria is surprised by Shinn's sexy predicament.

Athrun checks on the rescued couple.

Lunamaria checks on the rescued couple with suspicion.

Stellar, Athrun, and Shinn.

Stellar, Lunamaria, and Shinn.

Athrun waits for Shinn to say his goodbyes to Stellar.

Lunamaria waits for Shinn to say his goodbyes to Stellar...

...impatiently.

The few Athrun-mentoring-Shinn scenes are also gone. Their relationship is almost entirely adversarial, now, although Athrun is shown protecting Impulse in a number of fight scenes.

Most welcome are the changes that make Kira appear less heroic. Freedom's intro music in the Big Meddlin' Battle sounds much less heroic, and the editing makes Kira and Cagalli look like jackasses—Cagalli particularly, since the cuts give the impression that Kira's intervention came at her direction instead of the Archangel crew's mutual agreement. It was tough to pull off, but Jona even manages to retain most of his dignity in the sequence.

Oh, and there are new bits showing Kira working on a Haro, and a shot of Lacus' bare ass. And new dogfighting scenes for Saviour. (Thank God it's not all just stock footage anymore.)

Meyrin's shameless flirting...gone.

There aren't any new Athrun + Meyrin bonding scenes, but the second movie does retain some of Meyrin's shy stalking scenes—they weren't all cut. It's a pity her playacting from the Meer concert is gone, though.

Overall, there is not enough to fully establish an Athrun + Meyrin romance, but the retconning sets a better foundation for potential exploration (and exploitation) in a possible sequel.

I love Gundam SEED Destiny. Wait, that's not true. I love railing on Gundam SEED Destiny because it's so flawed. And yet I still find it endlessly entertaining to watch.

Athrun shelters Cagalli in a Zaku, now with more fire!

I think most people will agree that Gundam SEED Destiny has a lot of great parts, but is a terrible show as a whole. I certainly feel this way, and I've heard others express similar opinions regarding the series. There is a school of thought that speculates the SEED Destiny compliation movies will actually be good, since they'll cut out all the stupid parts, leaving only the good stuff. To some extent, it appears this theory is accurate. It turns out that the first of the (eventually) three four compilations movies is pretty good.

The ring scene from episode eight.

I credit the improvement to liberal editing and unrepentant retconning. For example, it appears Sunrise is packing the compilation movies with Meyrin scenes. Perhaps I just don't remember these early-episode scenes very well because Meyrin was a fairly minor character during these episodes, but I get the feeling that every single second of Meyrin screentime was preserved—and that perhaps a number of new bits were added. I'd have to do a scene-by-scene comparision to be sure, but I did notice an unusually high number of Meyrin scenes in the first Destiny movie. Some of them seemed designed to enhance her importance to the show.

Revisionist ring scene from the movie.

Naturally, along with the Meyrin boost, there's obvious intent to diminish Cagalli's importance. For example, the infamous ring scene of episode eight was altered so that instead of a warm embrace and tender kiss, Cagalli gets a chaste peck on the cheek. She also laughs at him a little more.

Cagalli cries. In other news, fire burns.

They also made sure to include the bit where Cagalli bawls her eyes out after Shinn rips into her, only now Athrun's attempt to console her seems half-assed. It seems he immediately runs out into the hall, and gives Lunamaria the brush-off before heading off to do something more important. Speaking of Lunamaria, the entire plot line about propping Athrun up to be Lunamaria's love interest is gone. I'm pretty sure there's a new scene with Lunamaria and Shinn together, though.

"Not this again. Can I skip ahead to my shower adventure with Meyrin?"

I have no doubt that Sunrise intends to prop up the Athrun + Meyrin "romance" that they discovered lying in the middle of left field towards the end of the series. To that end, there are little edits and new cuts underscoring Meyrin's character and her low-key interest in Athrun. For example, during the Junius-7 arc, there's new chatter among the other pilots and the mechanics where they mention that "Meyrin says he used to be in ZAFT," and they learn that ol' Alex Dino is really Athrun Zala

There's always time for gossip.

Perhaps the final nail in Cagalli's coffin is the surprising change to Jona's character. All the scenes of Jona being a craven little bitch are gone. Going strictly from his scenes in the first compliation movie, Jona is the cool voice of reason who is acting purely in Orb's best interests while an indecisive, worthless Cagalli at the reigns almost steers the Orb chuck wagon off a cliff. Revisionist Jona is a decisive, take-charge sort of guy instead of a manipulative doucebag. I wouldn't be surprised if the compilation movies omit all of his scenes of cowardice and idiocy in order to make the viewer less sympathetic of Cagalli. Such are the machinations of the Athun + Meyrin Illuminati.

Jona and Cagalli.

Most significantly, Shinn is no longer the focus of the show. In fact, you have to get about an hour into the first Destiny movie before you see the full "Shinn's family dies" sequence. Instead, they've shifted the primary focus onto Athrun, where it should have been in the first place. The story is much more from his point of view, and Athrun has frequent voice overs during the movie (and will narrate the next two three, I've heard). Moreover, he flatly states the Gundam SEED Destiny thesis statement. (It sure took the writers a while to come up with one.)

They still kept the entire Impulse launch sequence, though. At original speed, no less.

It's a damn shame the writers hadn't mapped all this out before the start of the series and referred to it before making any creative decisions. Had they set out these themes and remained loyal to them, Gundam SEED Destiny could have been a really good show. Why they tried to make us care about Shinn and then careen back and forth going nowhere instead of just making the series about Athrun all along (the way the first SEED series was about Kira), I have no idea. It sure would have worked a lot better than trying to do it retroactively now via the compilation movies.

Expect to see a lot more Meyrin.

Anyway, the first Destiny movie is quite good, and I remain optimistic that the next two three will also be good. Then again, the first third of the series was the strongest and most cohesive, so maybe I'm unjustified in thinking that the next two three movies won't be train wrecks. I can tell you this, though: If things keep going the way they've been going, we're going to see a bare-chested Jona wrestle alligators to save Cagalli's stupid ass in Part II, and Meyrin is going to ball Athrun's lights out in Part III. (This will be right after a comic sequence featuring Athrun struggling to peel off Meyrin's LCL-soaked plug suit—don't ask—as that funny-type music plays. You know which one I mean.)

Oh, and don't expect that bit about Meyrin thinking she's fat to make it into the second movie. That's going to be cut for sure, unless the "Include All Meyrin Scenes" motion carries. P.S. "Join."

Kannaduki no Miko (also romanized Kannazuki no Miko) is a pretty good 12-episode series, although it does take six or seven episodes to really get going. I would have given up on the show except it featured Ayako Kawasumi doing a serious, evil-sounding voice (which is always top notch), and I already saw spoilers about the later episodes which gave me hope that the show was going to get interesting later.

Opening credits. Yup, it's a shrine, all right. On the frickin' MOON.

Kannaduki no Miko is about a love triangle with a lesbian slant. Souma (male) and Chikane (female) both love Himeko (female). The problem is Chikane and Himeko are the Moon Priestess and Solar Priestess, respectively, and Souma is one of the Orochi—one of the so-called "Eight Necks"—and is supposed to be trying to kill them instead of trying to screw one of them. Since Souma is in love with Himeko, he spends most of his time protecting Chikane and Himeko from the other seven Orochi. Protecting them with his GIANT ROBOT. Oh, I forgot to mention that part, didn't I?

Himeko and Chikane

Most of the time Souma, Chikane, and Himeko are high school students at an upscale academy. Souma is the "prince" of the school. He is handsome and athletic and popular and everyone assumes he's dating Chikane, the beautiful well-bred girl and undisputed queen of the campus—the girl everyone loves. Himeko, on the other hand, is just some blah, worthless, nothing of a girl.

Souma and Himeko on a date

It's not at all clear at the beginning why Chikane is in love with Himeko. Like I said, she's kinda worthless. Pretty much the only thing she has going for her is her genuine, unassuming, sincere nature. Everyone else we see in the school appears to be catty and coniving and mean. But c'mon, it's a big school. There has to be someone else decent on campus.

But Himeko is the Solar Priestess, while Chikane is the Moon Priestess. Chikane has to love her, because it's destiny and all that. It took me about eight episodes to fully accept this, though.

Oh, I was going to talk about the GIANT ROBOTS. Yes, apparently the world is in peril, and the Solar Priestess and the Moon Priestess have to save it by chanting. The Orochi try to kill them using giant, monstrous robots. Normally, this would be pretty easy to do, but Souma is in love with Himeko, turns traitor, and keeps the other seven Necks at bay. Let's ignore for now that Himeko is kinda worthless. Souma is in love with her, and that's that. Souma is also fortunate in that the Orochi are mostly content to go after our story's two helpless priestesses one at a time. They're pretty half-assed about it too, which is good for Souma, and good for Himeko, and good for Chikane, too, even though it royally pisses her off that she gets her ass bailed out of trouble by Souma all the time.

It's kinda hard to describe the other seven Necks. They form a rather absurd ensemble of caricatures including a manga artist, a pop idol, and a kid who alternates between acting like a cat and pursuing her obsession with administering medication. Most of the time they stand around bitching at each other until one of them goes and tries to kill Himeko and Chikane.

Corona the pop idol villain demonstrating a defining idol pose.

If Kannaduki no Miko sounds kinda mediocre right now, that's because it is—during the first half of the series. The second half of the series is pretty awesome, and is somewhat twisted.

The turning point of the series involves a substantial spoiler, so just stop reading if you're already at all interested in watching Kannaduki no Miko. Personally, I wouldn't have watched it all the way through if I didn't know all the spoilers already, but once I got past episode six or so, it got pretty captivating.

Being stuck in the losing corner of the love triangle, and constantly being rescued by the odious Souma, whom she loathes, and constantly being unable to protect her dear Himeko herself, Chikane snaps.

Yeah, Chikane kinda turns evil. Not SUPER evil, just kinda evil, and she already seemed kinda evil to begin with. And then she starts kicking ass wholesale.

Chikane stops fooling around. You're all screwed. So, so screwed.

I should probably mention the sexual assaults at some point. I'm too lazy to craft an adequate segue, so I'm just going to come right out and say that there are a few sexual assaults depicted in Kannaduki no Miko. They come in the "I'LL RAPE YOU UNTIL YOU LOVE ME" variety, the "Hey, do you wanna get ahead in this business or what?" variety, the "Shut up, I need this" variety, and also the "Oh, lighten up already, you know you could use a good fuck" variety.

I guess it all sounds kinda twisted, but that's mostly what makes Kannaduki no Miko so good once you get past the boring first half. Ayako's evil voice is always welcome, and everyone pretty much gets what's coming to them, so the payoff is good.

From the closing credits of Kannaduki no Miko

Plus it has KOTOKO singing the OP and ED. The ED, "Agony," is a particularly good way to end most of the episodes. It captures the thematic nuances of the show well.

Nagamine Mikako from Hoshi no Koe

One of the best pieces of anime I've seen in recent memory is Hoshi no Koe, also known by its English name as Voices of a Distant Star. I don't know if I can really do it justice in a brief review through an anime blog, but I'll give it a shot.

Terao Noboru from Hoshi no Koe

Voices of a Distant Star is a 30-minute short film by Makoto Shinkai. It is an earnest love story set in 2046, during an interstellar war. Two young friends separate when one of them becomes a mecha pilot with the Earth's expeditionary force sent out to bring the war to the invading aliens.

Mikako in the cockpit of her mecha

The fifteen-year-old mecha pilot, Nagamine Mikako, and her Earth-bound friend, Terao Noboru, can only communicate with each other through cell phone text messages. As the expeditionary force travels farther and farther through space, the lag between their communications grows longer. Messages that once arrived nearly instantaneously eventually take months to arrive, then years.

Despite its short length, Hoshi no Koe is very successful in conveying the longing and despair of the separated couple. It invokes something of a Flowers for Algernon effect as the story unfolds. We see Mikako's excitement. We see her anxiety. And we see her trepidation grow as she travels farther and farther from Noboru, knowing that it will be years before he receives her messages.

Mikako

The communication medium that director Makoto Shinkai uses in Voices of a Distant Star, cell phone text messages, is well chosen. The pervasiveness of electronic communication today has created a world where people take communication for granted. We can be separated by thousands of miles, yet still be able to reach our loved ones with essentially no effort. Voices of a Distant Star acknowledges that not so long ago, such distances could only be closed after months of perilous travel; messages that were sent were often never received at all.

Mikako's mecha in battle

By showing the extraordinary wait required between each text message, Hoshi no Koe forces the viewer to consider how valuable each message—each word—is to the young couple. Likewise, the relativistic effects make each message more poignant.

Noboru

Back on earth, Noboru's anxiety comes in a different form. He is trapped by The World, and by time. He feels the burden of the years between them, whereas Mikako feels the burden of the distance between them. Noboru has to live his life, joylessly meet other people, and stoically grow old, all without knowing if he'll ever get another message from Mikako—without knowing her ultimate fate—even whether or not she died in battle over a decade ago.

Despite its somewhat depressing theme, Voices of a Distant Star is buoyed by its equally powerful theme of hope. This is Voices of a Distant Star's great triumph. Despite all the years and despite the countless miles, Mikako and Noboru maintain sparks of hope. They understand that each message may be the last, but they never quite give up, and the messages themselves are not goodbyes.

An alien planet

Even from only a purely technical perspective, Hoshi no Koe is excellent. The artwork and visuals are striking, and the music is beautiful. The animation is captivating, with excellent CGI battles that succeeds in this 2002 production in ways VanDread cannot match. The voice acting in Hoshi no Koe is also good, although further explanation is necessary regarding this point.

Earth mecha on an alien planet

There are two Japanese audio tracks, and one English one. One Japanese track is performed by professional voice actors, and is polished and skilled. The second Japanese track is voiced by the director, Makoto Shinkai, and his fiancee, Mika Shinohara. The acting is different, but not at all unskilled. The director gives Noboru a younger sounding voice, and has the advantage over the professional voice in that it sounds less, well, professional, if that makes any sense. He sounds more like a kid than a seiyuu, even though the professional's acting is better.

Mikako, as played by the director's fiancee, sounds similar to the professional, but is also a bit more subdued. One line in particular, "I don't understand," is more heartfelt coming from the professional voice actress, whereas the line as spoken by the director's fiancee is more level—almost matter-of-factly.

Mikako

I am generally disinclined to like English anime dubs, for a myriad of reasons, but people who usually watch dubs instead of subtitled works will probably like the English dub of Voices of a Distant Star well enough.

Personally, I felt that the English voice for Noboru sounded too mature for the part, but I suppose that's a relatively minor complaint given the broad age range demanded by the role.

An older Noboru

The English-language Mikako has kind of a raspy, smart alec, "tough grrl" voice. This changes the character a bit from the original vision, and I don't like it, but the acting is otherwise good.

As with most English dubs, they pronounce the Japanese names incorrectly. I don't know why. It's not as if they sound any more western this way.

The older Noboru's cell phone

I am disappointed that the English dub took creative liberties with the script. The changes are subtle, but I think the deviations change the characters and the distort the overall feel of the story. For example, in the original version, Mikako is a bit evasive and has some difficulty telling Noboru that she has joined the expeditionary force. Someone watching it for the first time with no knowledge of the story could easy miss the subtle inferences that reveal Mikako's intentions. In the English script, she pretty much just comes right out and says it. It makes the English-language Mikako more assertive, and the viewer readily accepts her role as a mecha pilot, whereas in the original script, the viewer is left wondering about her motivation for embracing these sacrifices, particularly in the version voiced by the director's fiancee.

Noboru and Mikako

Voices of a Distant Star is available on DVD in North America from ADV Films with about 75 minutes of extras, including the short film, She and Her Cat. It can be easily found for less than $20, and I highly recommend it.