Video:

This is obviously some sort of TV rip as it was out so soon after the show finished airing on Japanese TV. So considering the source the video is excellent. No pixallation or ghosting or anything! I was really impressed at how clear the video looked. It wasn't even grainy, and the chapter breaks were spot on. This only adds to the enjoyment of this series. The title menu on the first disc in in Japanese, but in English on the rest of the discs.

Audio:

Again perfect stereo soundtrack with great definition. All the battle scenes sound great and the sound is consistant all the way the 6 discs. The music is awesome some of the best I've ever heard in any anime series, I am defineately going to buy the OST CDs from Gundam Seed.

Subtitle:

The only letdown! You can tell that several people have subbed the video as the names can change from one episode to the next and things that are repeated during flashback scenes are completely different, but things are sometimes really different, for a few episodes later in the series somedoby changes the name for the newtypes and it took me a while to work out what they were talking about. Also there the odd moments wehere the Subtitles make absolutely no sense what so ever leaving thinking WHAT?!? But I'm glad to say that these moments are very few and far between. But I am very happy to say is that you always know whats going on and all the key plot devices are well translated which helps you really get into the story and characters. I easily put up with descrepencies just to be able to watch this series and it doesn't detracyt from it at all.

Comment:

Gundam Seed is an awesome series, absolutely fantastic. I was totally hooked and watched it all in a few weeks. The plot and character development was amazing and drew you deeper and deeper into the story and you really felt for the characters as well, my 10 year old cried when Fllay got killed at the end. A really good boxset that far surpasseded my expections, as I was happy to watch the series so soon after it finished in Japan as I was hoocked on snipets I had watched on the internet. I highly recommend this boxset and this series, you won't be dissapointed. It will be interesting to see what happens after all the R1 DVDs are released (starting in Sept 2004) and what boxsets we get then, hopefully FX will do another dual gatefold release like their excellent G Gundam and Gundam Wing releases.

Video:

This is just a TV rip but definitely one that does not involve any ghosting...This is definitely a good thing because this show is full of mecha-battle scenes in which I didn't notice any pixelation at all..I think this was taken from either an online site www.gundam-seed.net and converted to dvd format but I could be wrong and it could just be a regular TV rip..The MI logo appears about 10 times which is good compared to the older sets when MI used to just put their logo all over the place...Usually, the logo would appear with the commercial break and disappear about 8 secs later...The quality of the video vaires IMO from disc to disc...The first three discs the video remains pretty consistant...Then the fourth disc it drop and somewhere in between picks up..It's not that its a bad feed just you can notice the video looks slightly grainier..Then the remaing two discs look as clear as a TV rip could possibly look...To sum it up it looks like a VHS you buy in store and that is pretty much it.

Audio:

Since it isn't a DVD rip I knocked down from a 5 to 4 because you do hear at times BUT rarely like these scratching noises..Other than that to noise is fine and you hear all the explosions in the show pretty clearly and won't have to raise the volume up too high...

Subtitle:

OK...First, I have to say I did not watch the digisubs first and then the HK set afterwards so I would be completely clueless to what the show is about..Anyway...The subs are understandable..I'm not going to say they are flawless because that would be stretching the truth...By now some of you are wondering why give it a 4 then..Well..The first disc the names are off but you can understand the plot..There arent that many instances where I scratched my head and was like umm ok...On the bottom I will list the name changes and the correnct names...Disc 2 the font changes and we get the bigger MI font which was used for the Kenshin sets when they first came out and somwhere in between the font shrinks back again...No timing issues that I can recall...The translator is definitely fired or changed because the sentences begin to sound more like a native English speaker...At this point in the time the story is just developing and it isn't a pretty much straight forward good vs bad..At this point I opened up my digisubs to see if the subs are accurate or not..To my suprise they were but according to my firend the subs are the "lower" quality subs...I checked out the "Seed" digisubs and pretty much the HK were saying the same thing and in some cases word for word..Also, through Disc 2 the characters are always mentioning the specifications of the Gundams and always throwing out phrases like "Orange 17"...so the numbers are accurate because I speak Japanese...Another weird thing was that they kept interchanging mutant and coordinator..I don't wanna ruin it for anyone..So just when you are watching it, just know that mutant=coordinator...Disc 3 the name changes still kept occuring but the names are easily understood like Jilla= Kira..Little annoying things like that but the main dialougue is accurate as confirmed by the digisubs, espeically when they are talking about the specs. of the Gundams..Disc 4 was fine but only thing I had to complain was when they recapped the episodes they would sometimes change the subtitling when refering to what happened in the previous episodes...It's not that they were inaccurate it just would have been easier and more consistent if they used the subtitles form the previous episode other than that I didn't have any problems what was going on..Disc 5 and Disc 6 are understandable as well BUT the quality of the subtitles takes a hit when we are introduced to these new annoying characters that pretty yell and curse throughout the show...i dont know any curses in Japanese so can't really comment on that..Also, the last episode Kira's name changes to Yamato which I thought was dumb..Here the names changes HK name = Correct Name Yamato/Jilla = Kira Yamato Aslan Sara = Athrun Zara Kagari = Cagalli Yula Athha ??? = Dearka Elthman Frey = Fllay Allster Racus Kleine = Lacus Clyne ??? = Murrure Ramius Florida ( yes I meant Florida)/Mu = Mwu La Fllaga Kreuz = Raww Le Klueze Issac = Yzak Jule Nicole = Nicol Amarfi So as you can see the name changes are that bad at all to pick up who is who..The ship names I couldn't find online sorry -_-..Sorry none of the opening songs are subbed..So if you don't wanna get the R1s to this I would say this set can last you until 2005..Just have patiece with the first disc and the subs will get better trust me ;)

Comment:

I like the show and really wish it were longer...The OST to this show rocks!! There are some really sappy momments in this but good sappy moments...The characaters grow on you...Some are more intersting than others but some are just out there lol..By out there I'm refering to the three new characters that are introduced later on..I did not like them at all and wish Olba and his brother were in this Gundam Timeline :)...Then this show would really really rule...Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the new villian but I just couldn't get to hate them like if I was a little kid like I did Olba/his brother...The Gundam designs are cool..I havent seen the older Gundam shows like Gundam ZZ/Z/0079 but I have seen the more recent shows and have to say this is slightly better than Gundam X and way way better in my opinion then Wing..Only reason why I say slightly better than X because I think the characters are more intresting in X than they are in Seed but I have to give the plot and animation of course to Seed...Just do yourself a favor and get this show!

Video:

VThe video of this set you can pretty much deal with but I wouldn't say its real DVD quality. More like TV/VHS quality. They are pretty much the TV rips because you see some stuff there that showed during its airing in Japan. Other than that, nothing really wrong with it.

Audio:

Sounds is just like the video, pretty much TV/VHS quality but a little better, not close to DVD though. Like said earlier, TV rips put onto DVD.

Subtitle:

Like most anime dvd sets that havent been released in the states, this set has its problems with subtitles. You have some timing issues, little grammer errors and so forth. The main thing that will get you if youre a SEED fan is the NAMES! For example: Kira=Jillia. I dont want to get any more into it because its so damn embarrasing to the anime.

Comment:

This set is okay. If you cant wait for its release in the USA, go for this set but if you are a DIE-HARD SEED fan and are really picky and stuff, you might want to reconsider. Not a bad set but not a great set either.