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Gundam SEED FREEDOM Film Reveals Ending Theme's Music Video, Bonus Text Stories
posted on by Anita Tai
The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film project unveiled a new music video on Wednesday for the ending theme song "Sarigiwa no Romantics" (Romantics Upon Parting) by pop duo See-Saw. The staff also announced the first batch of gifts for those who see the film in theaters.
Viewers will receive one of two exclusive text short stories penned by scriptwriter Liu Goto as well as one of two promotional cards that can be used in the Mobile Suit Gundam: Arsenal Base game.
The story "Futari no Tōuhikō" (Escape for Two) follows a rare moment of rest between Athrun and Cagalli, while "Gekkō no Walküre" (Valkyrie in the Moonlight) follows Agnes, Shin, and Lunamaria's school days at the military academy.
There are two promotional card designs, which will be distributed at random: Rising Freedom Gundam and Immortal Justice Gundam.
The film will open in Japan on January 26, 2024. The story is chronologically set in C.E. (Cosmic Era) 75.
The cast, which features returning and new members, includes:
- Sōichiro Hoshi as Kira Yamato
- Rie Tanaka as Lacus Clyne
- Akira Ishida as Athrun Zala
- Nanako Mori as Cagalli Yula Athha (replacing Naomi Shindoh)
- Kenichi Suzumura as Shinn Asuka
- Maaya Sakamoto as Lunamaria Hawke
- Fumiko Orikasa as Meyrin Hawke
- Kotono Mitsuishi as Murrue Ramius
- Takehito Koyasu as Mu La Flaga
- Tomokazu Seki as Yzak Jule (or Joule)
- Akira Sasanuma as Dearka Elsman
- Houko Kuwashima as Agnes Giebenrath
- Ayane Sakura as Toyah Mashima
- Houchu Ohtsuka as Alexei Konoe
- Jun Fukuyama as Albert Heinlein
- Michiko Neya as Hilda Haken
- Taiten Kusunoki as Herbert von Reinhard
- Junichi Suwabe as Maas Symeon
From the left to right in the image above, the additional cast members and their characters are:
- Kentarō Tone as Liu Shenqiang
- Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Daniel Harper
- Win Morisaki as Griffin Arbalest
- Hiro Shimono as Orphee Lam Tao
- Yukari Tamura as Aura Maha Khyber
- Sumire Uesaka as Ingrid Tradoll
- Misato Fukuen as Redelard Tradoll
- Yūichi Nakamura as Shura Serpentine
Other staff members include:
- Mechanical Design: Kunio Okawara, Kimitoshi Yamane, Kazutaka Miyatake, Junichi Akutsu, Manabu Shintani, Shiba Zen, Takuya Io, Hiroyuki Taiga
- Mechanical Animation Director: Satoshi Shigeta
- Color Key Artist: Akemi Nagao
- Art Directors: Shigemi Ikeda, Yukiko Maruyama
- CG Directors: Mitsuhiro Satō, Kensuke Kujida, Tomohiro Fujie
- Monitor Works: Azusa Tamura, Jirō Kageyama
- Compositing Director of Photography: Takeshi Katsurayama, Shigenori Toyooka
- Editing: Yukiko Nojiri
- Sound Director: Sadayoshi Fujino
- Music: Toshihiko Sahashi
Takanori Nishikawa (the artist also known as T.M. Revolution) is performing the film's theme song "Freedom" with producer t.komuro (Tetsuya Komuro). See-Saw will return to the franchise to perform the ending song "Sarigiwa no Romantics" (Romantics Upon Parting), the first new music from the duo in two decades.
The film project is part of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Project ignited initiative, which was announced in 2021. The initiative commemorates the 20th anniversary of the original Mobile Suit Gundam Seed anime in 2022, and it has several parts. The initiative also includes a new Mobile Suit Gundam Seed game and the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Eclipse side-story manga.
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed director Mitsuo Fukuda confirmed that the film is a sequel to the second Gundam Seed television anime, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny.
The first Mobile Suit Gundam Seed television anime aired from 2002 to 2003, followed by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny from 2004 to 2005. The three-part Mobile Suit Gundam Seed C.E.73: Stargazer anime project followed in 2006. Sony Music Anime Festival '06 announced the planned film project in May 2006.
Chiaki Morosawa, the head scriptwriter for the two Gundam Seed series, passed away at the age of 56 in 2016. She had been collaborating with her husband, who directed both Gundam Seed television series, on the planned Gundam Seed film project. Morosawa had explained in 2008 that the plot for the project was completed, but that she had been ill since the end of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny sequel in 2005.
Sources: FlyingDog's YouTube channel, Comic Natalie
Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.
