A new key visual has been unveiled for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Freedom anime film, highlighting the main Gundam robots in the series. The film was released in Japanese theaters on January 26, 2024.
Gundam Seed Freedom has grossed over 3.48 billion yen (US$23.09 million) at the Japanese box office as of February 26, 2024, the highest gross of any Gundam film.
The film’s main voice cast is headlined by:
- • Soichiro Hoshi as Kira Yamato
- • Rie Tanaka as Lacus Clyne
- • Akira Ishida as Athrun Zala
- • Kenichi Suzumura as Shin Asuka
- • Maaya Sakamoto as Lunamaria Hawke
- • Nanako Mori as Cagalli Yula Athha
- • Yukari Tamura as Aura Maha Khyber
- • Hiro Shimono as Orphee Lam Tao
- • Yuuichi Nakamura as Shura Serpentine
- • Sumire Uesaka as Ingrid Tradoll
- • Misato Fukuen as Redelard Tradoll
- • Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Daniel Harper
- • Kentaro Tone as Liu Shenqiang
Several staff members from the TV series returned to work on the film, with Mitsuo Fukuda as director, Hisashi Hirai as character designer, Shigemi Ikeda and Yukiko Maruyama as art directors, Akemi Nagao as (Hinomaru Sumo) as color designer, Takeshi Katsurayama as compositing director, and Toshihiko Sahashi as music composer. Bandai Namco Filmworks is in charge of the animation production.
Other staff members involved in the film include:
- • Scriptwriter: the late Chiaki Morosawa (Seed and Seed Destiny series screenwriter)
- • Scriptwriter: Ryuu Goto (Seed Destiny novelization author)
- • Scriptwriter: Mitsuo Fukuda
- • Mechanical animation director: Satoshi Shigeta (credited as chief mechanical animation director for the series)
- • Mechanical designer: Kunio Ookawara (returning)
- • Mechanical designer: Kimitoshi Yamane (returning)
- • Mechanical designer: Kazutaka Miyatake (design assistance on the series)
- • Mechanical designer: Junichi Akutsu (design assistance on Seed)
- • Mechanical designer: Hiroyuki Taiga (design assistance on Seed)
- • Mechanical designer: Manabu Shintani (Mashin Eiyuuden Wataru: Shichi Kon no Ryuujinmaru)
- • Mechanical designer: Shiba Zen
- • Mechanical designer: Takuya Io
- • CG director: Shigenori Toyooka (Ayaka)
- • CG director: Matsuhiro Sato
- • CG director: Kensuke Kushida
- • CG director: Tomohiro Fujie (Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway co-CG director)
The sequel to 2002-2003’s Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and 2004-2005’s Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny follows the Kingdom of Foundation in the Cosmic Era setting. It follows the kingdom approaching the Lacus Clyne-led peacekeeping outfit C.OM.P.S. with a joint plan against the anti-Coordinator faction Blue Cosmos.
In 2021, an update revealed that the Gundam Seed Freedom film was in production, but the announcement of a Seed and Seed Destiny follow-up film was made way back in 2006. The film’s co-scriptwriter Chiaki Morosawa, who wrote the screenplay for two TV series, passed away from aortic dissection in 2016.
Gundam.info describes Mobile Suit Gundam Seed as:
In Cosmic Era (C.E.) 70…
The tensions mounted between the Earth Alliance and the ZAFT Forces caused by the ‘Bloody Valentine’ tragedy have erupted into an all-out war.” The Earth Alliance’s mobile armor forces and tanks launch…mobile suits are destroyed one after another…
“It seemed a foregone conclusion that the Earth Alliance, with its superior numbers, would be victorious. But this initial assessment proved to be false. Almost 11 months have passed since the conflict began, with no end in sight…