Although We Were Always Together

The relationship between Kira and Athrun is a deep one, but they suffer being separated by a force they cannot control. A great part of the first series, Gundam SEED, is about them chasing each other and being hurt from having to fight each other. Their situation really reminds me of the one between Aina Saharin and Shiro Amada from The 08th MS Team, under the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam franchise. Like Athrun and Kira, Aina and Shiro were separated by opposite sides of war. But unlike Athrun and Kira, Aina and Shiro met on the battlefield and fell in love, despite their positions.

I guess I bring that up a lot because that was the first thing I thought of when I watched Gundam SEED and the interactions between Athrun and Kira. Unlike the one in The 08th MS Team, situation between Athrun and Kira seemed more painful, at least to me. Since Athrun and Kira knew each other prior to fighting each other, there's more pain involved when they were forced to collide with each other. And unlike the pair of lovers in The 08th MS Team, Athrun and Kira were forced to fight each other far more times.

Other than feeling the pain they must have felt, I've always been interested in enduring friendships that seem unbreakable. As it stands, the relationship between Athrun Zala and Kira Yamato will be one of my favorites (if not the favorite) of all time. Below are the points in the Gundam SEED story that have the greatest impact of their relationship.

Ⅰ From the moon  ·  their meeting and friendship
Ⅱ Separation and Reunion  ·  a bitter reality
Ⅲ Becoming enemies  ·  the scars of battle
Ⅳ Escalation to hate  ·  irreversible wounds
Ⅴ Reunion again  ·  coming together once more