Gundam Seed Freedom, the review of the anime film

Difficult task to create a review for Gundam Seed Freedoman animated film that resumes and closes (?) one of the many series dedicated to the mythical White Mobile Suit created in 1979 by the Sunrise studio and Yoshiyuki Tomino.
Difficult because this film is closely linked to the two previous animated series, Gundam Seed And Gundam Seed Destinybroadcast in Japan since 2002, as well as a large amount of related products, including anime, spin-off series, video games, etc., etc.
All material strictly unpublished in Italy.
The first legitimate question, at this point, is therefore: “But what’s the point of bringing to Italy a film that is mostly incomprehensible to those who don’t know the original series (i.e. practically anyone who isn’t a die-hard fan of Gundam and anime), and who hasn’t had the chance to catch up, somehow (don’t ask ..), at least a hundred episodes, between Seed and Seed Destiny?”.
The second, equally legitimate, is: “Ok, so what is this Gundam Seed Freedom about?”.
Start from here.

The story (sort of) of Gundam Seed

Summarizing the plot and complexity of the narrative universe of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM in a few words to prepare the viewer for watching the film is practically impossible, and in fact the film doesn’t bother to do so at all, immediately catapulting the viewer into the midst of events.
Let’s try to give a minimum of context: the series is set in a hypothetical future of our world, in the year 70 of the so-called Cosmic Era. After a nuclear holocaust, reconstruction, expansion into space, the world is once again in the midst of a bloody war which pits various nations of the Earth, united in a Federation, and the PLANT space colonies. The trigger was the discovery of the existence of genetically modified humans, called Coordinatordesigned for the purpose of improving the human race and, presumably, leading it towards a better future.
Obviously this genetic disparity is frowned upon by various exponents of society and politics, led by the extremist group Blue Cosmos. Rancor that will ultimately lead to a conflict that is not only ideological, but warlike.

In the most excited phases of the fighting a boy, Kira Yamato, is involved in the clashes against his will and finds himself piloting the prototype of a particularly powerful Mobile Suit, a GUNDAM, in the ranks of the Earth Federation. Without the knowledge of his friends and companions Kira he is himself a Coordinator but, first of all, he is a kind and sensitive boy, who suffers the atrocities committed by both factions, especially considering that his best friend, Athrun Zala, is instead a talented pilot who militates in the armed forces of ZAFT, the alliance of space colonies.

The war rages and Kira is forced to suffer loss and trauma, until he meets the beautiful and charismatic Lacus Klineacclaimed idol and daughter of the Head of the Council of ZAFT.
It will be precisely her affection for Lacus, after the (at least apparent) end of the war, that will give Kira the strength to gather around her a group of friends and fighters, including Athrun himself, the young rebel and then President of the nation independent Orb, Cagalli Yula Athha, and the impulsive and tormented Shinn Asuka, former ZAFT pilot, to create the Compass autonomous militiaan organization capable of intervening and restoring peace when the sparks of hatred still not dormant between humans and Coordinators were to rekindle.

The return of Kira Yamato

The film begins in the year 75 of the Cosmic Era. Although a new treaty has been signed, humanity is still far from true peace. The Blue Cosmos, led by the elusive Commander Michael, continue to indiscriminately target innocent civilians.
Even on the PLANT colonies discontent spreads, and some Coordinators are unable to forgive the crimes committed in the past by the Earth Federation, still remaining tied to the distorted ideal of the late ZAFT commander, Gilbert Durandal, a convinced supporter of the Destiny plan.
This plan, foiled in the past by Kira Yamato, envisaged a social system based on the genetic predetermination of individuals, in which the freedom of choice of individuals was sacrificed in favor of absolute control by the Coordinators.

Kira is now a high-ranking officer of Compass and fights strenuously together with his companions to quell the attacks of the Blue Cosmos and, at the same time, to prevent the hatred of the various factions from taking over.
This is an enormous task, which in fact begins to weigh heavily on the boy, convinced that he is the only one, thanks to his extraordinary abilities, capable of stop the clashesbut increasingly aware of the limits of his utopian vision.
Unfortunately this weight is starting to crush him, and not even the reciprocated affection for his beloved Lacus seems to give him relief.

A new faction appears to offer support to Compass: it is the Foundation, representatives of a small but technologically advanced nation of the Euro-Asian bloc. Leading them is a charming prime minister, Orphee Lam Tao, alongside the young queen Aura.
When the Compass team reaches Foundation to forge an alliance, however, our heroes realize that not everything is as idyllic as it seems: The Queen’s royal guard is made up of aggressive and openly hostile young men, while Orphee seems far too interested in Lacus Kline.
During a joint operation between the Foundation and Compass against a Blue Cosmos outpost, a diabolical plan is put into action. A plan aimed not only at permanently separate Lacus and Kirabut also to bring the horror of war back to humanity.

All beautiful, but…

Gundam Seed Freedom was released in Japanese theaters in February 2024, preceded by a massive advertising campaign that focused on return with great fanfareafter decades of absence, of one of the most successful Gundamic sagas, not only in Japan but also in the rest of the world.
Or at least: in that part of the world where the series was officially distributed.
The result for the Sunrise house was more than rosy, with a enviable final gross at the Japanese box office. Strengthened by this success, and as part of a broader project to relaunch the Gundam brand on an international scale, it was therefore decided to launch the feature film also in theaters in other countries, before moving onto the streaming and home-video circuits.
Choice, it must be said, more than questionable, at least for us: the film is presented only in original language with subtitlesan element that already represents a problem (even if no longer as critical as in the past), with some censorship absent in the original version and, more than anything else, without any support for those who did not have the opportunity (legally, at least… .) to know and appreciate the series.

No additional materialsno special to introduce the story and the protagonists: we start from the assumption that, as happened in Japan (and, to a lesser extent, in the United States), who will take the trouble to reach the very few rooms of the The Space circuit who will screen (often in a single show) the feature film already know everything there is to know.
And everyone else, that is, even those who might also be potentially interested in a new anime on the big screen… make do.

A big, huge limit for a film which, we must say, at the end of the day it’s not bad at all.
Despite some obvious defects, including the villains that are only sketched out, some obvious naivety in the screenplay and the fan service that is at times annoying and superfluousGundam Seed Freedom is however well made, or at least perfectly consistent with the style of the previous series.
The direction of Mitsuo Fukuda, a central figure in the creation of Gundam Seed Destiny, carries out its task, limiting itself to accompanying the scenes in the tried and tested glossy style and constantly balanced between coolness and trash of the director. The technical realization is also more than discreet, even if some design choices, such as the lips of the female characters, are somewhat perplexing.

The story, however, proceeds with a good crescendo and maintains, even if with a bit of difficulty, thebalance between the action, the convoluted political plots and the more blatantly adolescent-romantic momentsuntil arriving at a spectacular final battle, in which the new and shiny (it must be said) Gundam protagonists show off their impressive abilities.
(And Lacus Kline in an impressive, and frankly kitsch, combat suit… but never mind)
The major limitation of this feature film is the fact that it is, in the end, a practically slavish reproduction of what had already been seen in Seed and Seed Destiny.
A “more of the same” that certainly made the fans of Kira Yamato & co. happy. (including, it must be said, myself), but which unfortunately is practically incomprehensible, to say the least, for anyone else.