Mobile Suit Gundam SEED was a smash hit throughout the early and mid-2000s. This series was a much-needed revitalization for the Gundam franchise. It generated hype and a massive following across Japan and America. All this was supposed to culminate in one big movie, but that day never came. The unnamed Gundam SEED movie was placed on an indefinite hiatus as Sunrise moved on to other projects. Disappointed fans were worried this grand finale would never see the light of day.
Now, Gundam SEED Freedom is officially premiering on Jan. 26, 2024. It’s over 15 years late to the party, but fans who grew up with this series should welcome it all the same; that said, new and old fans alike deserve context for the film’s storyline and its excessive delay.
What Is Gundam SEED About and Why Is It So Popular?
The original Gundam SEED (2002-2003) was set in the Cosmic Era. There is an ongoing war between the Natural humans of Earth and the genetically enhanced Coordinators living in space colonies. The three main factions are the Earth Forces led by Blue Cosmos, the ZAFT military of the PLANT space colonies and the strictly neutral Orb Union.
The series revolves around Kira Yamato. He and his friends are dragged into the war when ZAFT forces invade their Orb space colony Heliopolis. They spend much of the series aboard the experimental carrier battleship Archangel fighting whoever would threaten their lives. They eventually fight for their own beliefs to stop the factions from rendering humanity extinct.
The series was popular enough to warrant a sequel, Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny (2004-2005). This series reignites the war between the Naturals and Coordinators. Kira and his friends come back to break things up again, but this series introduces ZAFT pilot Shinn Asuka as a new protagonist. This series isn’t as beloved as the first one, but its existence still speaks to the popularity of its predecessor, which reworked story elements and themes from the Universal Century content for a modern audience. In doing so, it reignited interest in the franchise and made it more popular than ever.
The SEED timeline was one of the most successful Gundam series since the original, especially in Japan (it was also one of the few Gundam series to air on Toonami in the 2000s, which spread its popularity among Americans). Besides the full 50-episode sequel and film, it’s also resulted in an impressive amount of Gunpla sets and even a life-sized statue of the Freedom Gundam in China. Few other Gundam series have achieved this amount of international notoriety.
Why Did The Gundam Seed Movie Take So Long to Come Out?
The SEED movie was intended to build off the hype of the series while it was fresh. Reports of it being in the works date as far back as May 2006. In other words, hopeful fans will have waited nearly 17 years for the day of its release.
Unfortunately, a tragic complication prevented the movie from coming out on schedule. Chiaki Morosawa, the screenwriter for the Cosmic Era anime media, suffered from an illness related to an ovarian cyst and uterine fibroid. Understandably, her treatment resulted in the movie’s indefinite postponement. She would often apologize for the delay to fans, but she was determined to complete the project and had the plot finished by 2008. Since the project was incomplete, however, the movie was given to Gundam 00, which was promptly released in 2010. Morosawa sadly passed away in 2006 from an aortic dissection — no updates on the movie’s status had been given in years, nor would there be one for years more.
Still, Sunrise wasn’t ready to give up. In 2019, songwriter Takanori Nishikawa mentioned talks with a staff member about the movie being in pre-production. An official statement was provided in May 2021; the production phase had begun. These updates gave fans hope they hadn’t felt in years.
The recent preview finally put all doubts about the movie’s future to rest once and for all. It features brief footage of Kira, his friends, some Mobile Suits, and various Cosmic Era imagery drawn with modern animation techniques. Come 2024, Japanese fans will get to see this story 17 years in the making come to life on the big screen. Other regions should follow soon after. Not only is seeing this project emerge from development limbo satisfying, but the prospect of a new story surrounding this beloved Gundam series is thrilling.
What to Expect from Gundam Seed Freedom
The details of Gundam SEED Freedom aren’t confirmed, though small pieces of information have been given out over time. It should be possible to speculate on how the story will go with this information.
In 2007, Houko Kuwashima, the voice actress for Stella Loussiere, used her “SEED Club blog” to update fans on which characters would be doing what. Lacus Clyne, Yzak Joule, and Dearka Elsman would return as members of the PLANT Supreme Council. At the same time, Kira, Shinn, and Lunamaria Hawke would all be part of the ZAFT military. Athrun Zala and Cagalli Yula Attha would also appear, according to a preview from Sony Music Anime Fes’ 06. Hopefully, this information remains virtually unchanged.
Freedom’s plot could also borrow from other Gundam movies. It could be like Char’s Counterattack, where it takes the themes and stories of its parent series and wraps them up in a neat bow. This might be tricky since, unlike the Universal Century, the Cosmic Era was given a relatively happy ending. A conclusion could be written for some plot threads, and Freedom may cover them, but it’s largely unnecessary.
The movie could also borrow from Endless Waltz or Awakening of the Trailblazer. A new military faction could form and disrupt the Cosmic Era’s hard-won peace. They could threaten to start a new war between the Naturals and the Coordinators. The pilots united under ZAFT would then have to stop the coming conflict as they have in the past. Awakening of the Trailblazer took Freedom’s spot at the end of the 2000s, so the two could have even more in common.