(no subject)

 rinrinhime  said: "(unpopular opinion: shinn asuka had potential as a character before GSD became The Kira Yamato Show pt II)" MAN YES THOUGH i mean he was being very "reckless protag" at the start but imo he was on the brink of actually learning from his actions. SORRY JUST HAD TO SEND A MESSAGE CAUSE i have so many feelings on GSD (most of them negative - ) don't even get me started on rey

 

Sending an ask is fine!! I still have a lot of feelings about GSD, as it was my Very First Gundam, so even though I’m not actively in the fandom, nor was I ever really other than, like, two really subpar fanfics, I like the opportunity to talk about it.  My love for Gundam Seed Destiny is the love of nostalgia–it wasn’t actually that good, but it meant a heck of a lot to me at the time.  Besides getting me into Gundam, it presented a fundamentally different narrative about war than anything else I’d been exposed to up to that point, and it was in some ways formative for me in that sense.  Narratively and as a piece of writing, though…it was not great.  

 

Shinn’s arc was a trainwreck and it didn’t have to be.  He wasn’t some sort of irredeemable villain from the get-go, he was a hurting kid with PTSD and an impulsive streak.  Athrun was trying to get him to make better choices, but Athrun was affiliated with Orb, Shinn had trauma, and Durandal was playing everyone.  Shinn was manipulated by Durandal, but also took reprehensible actions on his own.  So it’s more complicated than him just being a victim of Durandal, but it’s also false to say he wasn’t one.  I know from an Anime Insider interview from when the show was released that someone on the production staff (head writer or director, I think?  It’s been years and my hard copy’s not here)  basically said that Shinn was a portrait of the problems with modern Japanese youth, that he was “entitled” and craved “acceptance” and “approval.” I remember being annoyed by that when I read it and it still annoys me.  If they were trying to portray Shinn as entitled, I’m not sure they did a good job.  Traumatized war orphans who live on their combat ship just don’t read as entitled to me.  His tendency to seek approval constantly and especially from the wrong people is among his tragic flaws, but it’s also among Athrun’s, and yet things turn out very differently for those two characters.

 

Personally, I find Shinn most interesting as a counterpoint to both Athrun and Kira, in the sense of this is how their arcs could have gone wrong.  I am not certain this is what the show was trying to convey, but I’m a former English major and texts are sometimes more fun when you read for what’s actually in them rather than authorial intent.  Kira’s arc in GS is plagued by the threat of the Earth Forces wanting to turn him into a glorified tool.  Shinn’s arc, in an indirect way, is that made real in the form of Durandal’s manipulations (and Rey’s, though Rey is also simultaneously complicit and a victim).  The difference between them is the allies Kira had with him (vs. Shinn’s allies, who aren’t all truly his allies, aren’t close to begin with and are picked off one by one through the show, until only Luna and Meyrin survive the series, and only Luna stays with Shinn).    Athrun, meanwhile, makes poor decisions about who to follow, but also is ultimately able to realize when his side has morally gone beyond the pale, and to use the connections he had from childhood (Kira and Lacus) with the other side to reorient himself to a side that matches his moral convictions (vs. Shinn, whose only remaining childhood connection, the cell phone recording of his younger sister, is a tool that Durandal uses to manipulate him toward further morally questionable decisions).  Shinn is a testament to the chaotic nature of war, a reminder that our faves, while good people, also got lucky.  If they’d ended up in the wrong places at the wrong times, they could have ended up like him, or at least in similar situations.

 

REEEEEEY.  My feelings about him are so complicated and at the same time boil down to screw Ulen Hibiki.  A lot of my GS and GSD feelings boil down to that honestly.  Rey deserved better.  Rey also did some very, very screwed-up things and the fact that he was actively aiding Durandal in turning Shinn into a human UXB shouldn’t be overlooked, but he was also one of the only people who was really kind to Shinn. The fact that he helped Shinn rescue Stellar makes me think that under all the manipulation and pain and screwed up things that never should have happened to either of them, Shinn and Rey’s friendship was real, to some extent.  In an environment with no Durandal, it could have been good for them both.

 

It’s been like 10 years since I watched this show why on earth do I still have this many emotions about it???

 

(Disclaimer to anyone who comes across this in the tag: I am not an active participant in the GS or GSD fandoms, and know nothing about the current discourse trends. I’m not really interested in fighting anyone on this, it is just my opinion.  Lemme be wrong on the internet in peace if that is what you feel I am.)