CD Review: MS Gundam Seed Destiny: Theme Song Insert Song and Character Song Selection

Okay, let me start off by saying that one of the main reasons I was drawn to both animated Seed series was the music. It is, in my opinion, a truly emotional aspect to the story line. I can still remember the first time I saw Episode One of Seed and See-Saw's Hauntingly Tranquil An nani isshoo taata no ni begins as the Strike Gundam stands amidst the fire and destruction of Heliopolis.

Music has always been a strong aspect to the Gundam Series.

That being said, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny: Theme Song, Insert Song and Character Song Selection (I know, long title) is by far, the best sound track CD I have ever bought. This includes the other Seed Soundtracks, Both the instrumental and theme song CDs, but also any other sound track to any other series. Biased? Maybe, but in my opinion its just an amazing, emotional and powerful collection. The track list is as follows:

Disc 1.

1. Ignited - TM Revolution - Great song, gets you fired up, TM is a pretty amazing artist. Ignited to me is better than Invoke and Meteor, but only because it has a bit more "umph" to it.

2. Reason - Don't know the artist..can't read Kanji that well. Regardless its still a great ending theme. It drives fast at first but hints at a little sadness, which works well for Seed Destiny.

3. Pride - High and Mighty Colors- Meh. I know, odd reaction. But I have issues with Pride. Its a major theme song, but to me it conflicts with itself. The female vocals are unbelievable, but then they throw in this odd, Heavy Metal sound bit, that to me, has no place in the song. Honestly, it brings the whole thing down.

4. Life Goes On - again, can't make out the artist. (If anyone knows them, please drop me a line!) - I love this song. It's a pretty powerful idea for a series that is criticized for it's "Emo" characters.

5. Bokutachi no Yukue - Kanji Artist, sorry - Good song all around. Catchy. Has a fast drive and a slow refrain.

6. I Wanna Go To A Place - Rie Fu - Love it. Rie's vocals almost sound natural in both the English and Japanese lines. That's impressive. Its a pretty little song and breaks up Disk 1 nicely.

7. Wings of words - Chemestry - Listening to it again right now, its pretty decent. I'm pretty neutral on it but it has a nice R&B bass line if that's your thing.

8. Boku wa kimi ni Niteiru - See-Saw- Love it. See-Saw is an amazing duo, and this is right in line with An nani issho. One of my favorites.

9. Vestige - TM Revolution- Meh. He's got better songs on the CD. Its not bad, but it has a very familiar beat that has Invoke hidden in there somewhere, I'm sure of it.

10. Honoo no Tobira - Fiction Junction YUUKA - Easily one of the best songs of both series and honestly one of my favorite songs of all time. I love Fiction Junction, they're just amazing in how they can make a song both beautiful and powerful at the same time.

11. Hoonoo No Tobira Hearty Edition- Just a remix, but slower, a nice version worth listening to, but probably not right after the original.

12. Hoonoo No Tobira Instrumental- Same as above. Very nice to just hear the music.

13. Wings of Words ReMIX- Alas de palabras -Chemistry: Very classic Spanish acoustic sounding.

14. Pride Nu School ReMix - High and Might Colors: Meh again. They sell Pride a lot on this CD, this remix isn't that great.

15. Pride R&B Mix- I actually like this better than the original, but again, they throw in the heavy metal bit. Heavy Metal and R&B don't mix.

16. Pride HAL's MiX 2005- Of the various versions I like this the best. Kinda Techno-ish, but the Space Odyssey Hal reference is kinda nice.

Disc 2

1. Pride DDINORe Mix:- Meh. 'nuff said.

2. Pride Real Latin Player's Mix- Kinda interesting. Kinda not.

3. Pride Phantom Pain Mix- See above. The gave Pride 7 tries and I still can't get on board. Oh well.

4. Now Instant Everything - Souichiro Hoshi - Very unique. Not bad and its a nice come back from 6 Prides.

5. Precious Rose - Naomi Shindou - Kinda classic 80's rock meets classic 50's Japanese vocals. I could take it or leave it.

6. Mizu No Akashi - Rei Tanaka - Very lovely. Ms. Tanaka has a beautiful voice and at No.6, you really hear it after the first 5 of the CD.

7. Shoot (For the Future) - Tomokazu Seki - I really like this song. It has a classic Gundam feel to it with a more updated spin. I can't help but sing along to this.

8. Primal Innocence - Kenichi Suzumura - I'm giving this another try. On another round of listening, its actually pretty awesome. It starts off very Castlevania Sympathy of the Night-ish, but picks up right away.

9. Eden of Necessity - Suwabe Junichi - I just love the title. Its a good song, but the title takes it for me.

10. Pale Repetition - Morita Masakazu - Slow song. Not bad, but not great. I left it off my iPod.

11. Quiet Night - Rei Tanaka - Tanaka-san comes back again and for a song called "Quiet Night" it is anything but. Very cutsie (But its from the Concert episode with Lucas' twin/look-a-like). Its okay, but...

12. Emotion - Rei Tanaka - Emotion is a total guilty pleasure. Its so very cutsie that its almost embarrassing but the beat is entirely addictive. Gah! I have this on my iPod. There. I said it.
....
13. Akatsuki no Kuruma - Fiction Junction YUUKA - Okay...remember how I said that Honoo No Tibira was one of my all time favorite songs? Well Akatuski no Kuruma tops it. I spent a long time looking for this song. I honestly can't listen to it enough. And for the 9,000 versions of Pride on this CD (okay, only 7) we get 4, count 'em 4 awesome version of Akatsuki, starting with 13, the original.

14. Akatsuki - Piano Version - Yeah. Piano. Its just that good. The piano version stands out strong among the 3 alt versions.

15. Akatusk - Acoustic version - I love this, and I know there's a You Tube video out there of this as well. Just a nice emphasis on the vocals here. Beautiful.

16. Akatsuki - No Vocal version - There are vocals actually, the back ground vocals. Very mellow. Very awesome-sauce.

So there we go. 2 CDs chalk full of great and memorable music. Like I said, easily this is one of the best CDs I've ever bought. There are other Sound Tracks to Gundam Seed out there, and I'll cover the ones I own in time, but if you can find this, I'd highly suggest you pick it up if you have the chance. If you end up liking Pride by High and Might Colors, you'll love it even more!

My DX V2 Gundam came today, I'll post on that tomorrow I think.

Jaa~