hontou ni sou omou?

The main highlight of my Xmas (online) shopping was Gundam SEED Destiny DVD Vol.2. I was bitterly disappointed by the conclusion of this series, especially the brain-melting way in which Lunamaria was paired up with Shinn. But Kabitzin was absolutely right, fanboys like myself can shout and scream for all we like but we’ll still buy their merchandise. orz I did feel rather less shitty about it though because it was on 25% discount at the time I bought it.

Rewatching those episodes with the benefit of hindsight, I realized that there were two main reasons why Lunamaria was my favourite character of the series. Firstly, it was sort of by default. I hated how some of my favourite characters from GS were being mauled especially Cagalli and, to a lesser extent, Athrun. Secondly, Lunamaria was clearly the most attractive of the new characters. The fact that Shinn and Rey are guys already minus marks, on top of that, the former being a brat and the latter being an Itsuki character didn’t help. Lunamaria has got great character design (love that pink miniskirt and thighhighs especially how she incorporates them into her military uniform!) and, during her Zaku (pre-Impulse) phase, a sparkling feisty personality that delivered almost all of the comedic relief that gave the series its modicum of charm. It was great to see her teasing Athrun before they headed out to Junius 7, her attempts to flirt with him - including right in front of Cagalli after splashdown on the Pacific.

Anyway, I’ll in the midst of winding down my acquisition of Lunamaria merchandise in anticipation of the forthcoming flood of Yuki Nagato merchandise and getting this DVD gives things a nice sense of a chapter being closed.

The other anime-supporting purchase was the black ELECOM Universal MP3 speakers flanking my recently resurrected laptop. There was an Altec Lansing alternative for a slightly cheaper price that came with a sub-woofer but I just don’t have space for that. Had patriotically considered some Creative models but the light (and cheaper) versions were all AA battery powered. In the end, the marketing spiel about ELECOM doing decently in Japan won the day. Even more distantly related is the 14 CD Wagner Der Ring des Nibelungen boxed set (behind the left speaker) which I learnt about after reading The Lord of the Rings. Names from Wagner’s operas seem to feature quite heavily in the GSD universe, e.g. Archangel’s Lohengrin positron cannon, almost all of Minerva’s armanents (Tannhäuser, Tristan & Isolde) as well as the anti-air cannon of Heaven’s Base, Nibelung. Besides LOTR and GSD, the Siegmund x Sieglinde part of the Ring cycle should also be of interest to siscon drama fiends. LOL