Del Rey to Publish Gundam SEED Destiny

Date: 2005 December 16 11:27

Posted by Jeremy

Del Rey Manga will publish the manga adaptation of Gundam SEED Destiny starting in 2006.

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Del Rey Manga, the manga imprint of science fiction and fantasy publisher Del Rey Books, itself an imprint of the Random House Publishing Group, announced that they will publishing the manga adaptation of the recent anime series Gundam SEED Destiny. The new series is the follow-up to the previous Gundam SEED five-volume manga series, also published in America by Del Rey.

Gundam SEED is the latest entry in the popular "Mobile Suit Gundam" franchise, continuing the tradition of "alternate universe" stories that differ from the original "Universal Century" storyline. In SEED, a war has been going on between Earth-born Naturals and the colony-dwelling, genetically enhanced Coordinators. The war heats up when ZAFT, the military force of the Coordinators, steals all but one of five robotic mobile suits called Gundams developed by the Earth Forces. The one that wasn’t stolen ends up being piloted by young Coordinator Kira Yamato, who finds himself not only fighting his own people but also his childhood friend Athrun Zala. In the meantime, political powers on both sides manipulate events in pursuit of various agendas.

Destiny picks up two years after the end of the first series. While the war is over and a peace treaty has been signed, tensions continue to run high between the Naturals and Coordinators. And at a ZAFT conference, history repeats itself as an Earth Forces team attacks and steals three new Gundam mobile suits. In pursuit are Shinn Asuka of ZAFT (who looks like a dead ringer for original hero Kira) and Athrun Zala of the neutral nation Orb. But even as they head off in the new space battleship Minerva, a greater catastrophe is in the works that could start a new war.

Like the first Gundam SEED manga adaptation, Gundam SEED Destiny is a property of Japanese trade book and magazine publisher Kodansha, who entered into a partnership with Del Rey in 2003 to publish its manga titles in America. The story was written by Hajime Yatate and Yoshiyuki Tomino, with art by Masatsugu Iwase, the same creative team for the previous series. The first volume goes on sale in July, 2006.