Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom
Japanese poster of the movie
Directed by	Mitsuo Fukuda
Screenplay by	Chiaki Morosawa Mitsuo Fukuda
Based on	Mobile Suit Gundam SEED by Mitsuo Fukuda & Chiaki Morosawa Gundam by Yoshiyuki Tomino & Hajime Yatate
Starring	Sōichirō Hoshi Rie Tanaka Akira Ishida Nanako Mori Kenichi Suzumura Maaya Sakamoto
Music by	Toshihiko Sahashi
Production company	Bandai Namco Filmworks[a]
Distributed by	Shochiku
Release date	January 26, 2024 (2024-01-26)
Running time	124 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese
Box office	$35 million[1]

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom (Japanese: 機動戦士ガンダムSEED(シード) FREEDOM(フリーダム), Hepburn: Kidō Senshi Gandamu Shīdo Furīdamu) is a 2024 Japanese animated military science fiction action film produced by Bandai Namco Filmworks and directed by Mitsuo Fukuda. The film is a sequel to both Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny, taking place one year after the events of SEED Destiny. The film features the talents of Sōichirō Hoshi, Rie Tanaka, Akira Ishida, Nanako Mori, Kenichi Suzumura, and Maaya Sakamoto, among others. In 75 C.E., the battle was still on. Independence movements, invasion by Blue Cosmos. In order to calm down the situation, a world peace monitoring organization, Compass, is established with Lacus Clyne as the first president. Soldiers involving Kira Yamato and his friends join the Compass and intervene in battles in various places as members. At that time, the Emerging Countries Foundation proposed a joint operation with Compass against Blue Cosmos headquarters.^[2]

The film had been in development since 2006, but production was postponed due to main writer Chiaki Morosawa's health condition. A few years after Morosawa's death in 2016, the film's production started, and it was released on January 26, 2024. Director Mitsuo Fukuda expressed hardships in animating the mobile suits and battle ships due to the usage of CGI and the large amount of mechas the cast uses. In regards to the characters, Fukuda had several ideas in regards to expand Kira's story alongside the supporting characters Shinn Asuka and Athrun Zala with the first being the least prominent in Destiny and the ending of the Destiny storyline gave new sides of each character to be explored. Besides English screenings, the film also made it to Western regions through Netflix. A expanded version titled Special Edition is also in development.

The film grossed over US$35 million, becoming the highest-grossing film in the Gundam franchise. Critical response to the movie has been positive thanks to the focus on the love stories featured in the narrative, most notably Kira and Lacus' which are explored far deeper than in the TV series. While the amount of fight sequences have also been praised due to the focus on animation and music used, the fanservice provided in the film was criticized as it might bother sensitive viewers. A prequel titled Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom Zero is currently in development.

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