Gundam Seed Vol. 1: Mobile Suit Gundam

In the begining it's hard to unerstand who the characters are becouse there are so flippin' many. But eventually you get it then you can finaly enjoy the book...

Man, am I glad I had the chance to delete all that stuff I wrote before. Anyway, now that I can write a new review, all I basically have to say is this: Confusing at times, not so good on artwork, but I love Gundam SEED so I give it 5 stars. But if you like the show, I recommend this. Just be patient with it; it'll get better. (Oh, and thanks for the comment. I hate Neo!)

Most people who would be inclined to read the Gundam Seed manga have probably already watched at least some of the anime series that it's based on. If not, I highly advise that you DO watch some of the anime first, otherwise you might get a little confused. Events move quite a bit faster and with less explanation in the manga, kind of like a compressed version of the anime - almost more like a summary of the events of the anime in some areas. That's not to say that the storytelling is bad, because it isn't. I really enjoyed reading the first volume of the manga, but I think the way the story is told, it doesn't stand up real well on its own. It looks much better if you view it as a complement to the anime rather than a standalone work. There are some differences in the manga that I was a bit surprised by. The look of the characters is quite different from in the anime. They are drawn in a more stylized way, and some of the characters actually look significantly different from their anime counterparts, though they're all still recognizable. There's nothing at all wrong with the art, though; in fact, in some cases, I liked the way the characters were drawn in the manga better than the anime. Another difference that surprised me slightly is some of the plot changes that were made to the manga version - the Artemis segment was cut out completely, for instance, Miguel was killed much earlier than in the anime, and numerous minor scenes were either cut out or switched around. But of course, some revision is necessary to make an anime story work well as a manga, so changes are to be expected, and none of them are terrible. Some of them did seem a bit awkward, though. But with all that said, the important thing is that it's still the same Gundam Seed story and characters, and it's still being done very well. The artwork seems a little spare in some parts, but it's still drawn very well. The highly stylized character art might not be to everyone's taste, but I certainly warmed up to it nicely once I got used to it. And most importantly, it's an exciting, interesting story that keeps you turning the pages and wanting more. And there are enough changes from the anime that even if you've seen it, you can't always predict exactly what's going to happen next (though all the real important events are still kept intact). Also worth mentioning are the extras at the end, including an explanation of the Gundam franchise and a surprisingly meaty amount of information on all the characters, including design notes from the artist. Seems that the publisher went to a fair bit of trouble to spruce the volume up, and the effort shows. Although it's not perfect, and I thought some of the story changes were a bit awkward and the pace seemed rather rushed at times, it's still a very enjoyable read with more than enough good points to counteract the bad. Certainly a winner in my book, and I would think most fans of the anime and manga fans in general would probably enjo

This manga is awsome, the storyline is great, the pics are great, and it's Gundam!!!

very good book pretty much like the anime exept a little more story and you cool extras like battleship diagrams and character discriptions. ITs just like the origanl exept with a modern touch.a must have for any gundam fan.