Worth: $15.00
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Cast:
(Voices) Soichiro Hoshi, Rie Tanaka, Akira Ishida, Nanako Mori, Kenichi Suzumura, Hiro Shimono, Sumire Uesaka, Win Morisaki
Intro:
… its curious blend of laser combat and adolescent-adjacent romance shenanigans makes for quite the fun experience.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED is an ultimate Marvel-esque side-step entry in the larger Gundam anime franchise. At once a remix and a streamlining of the franchise’s musings on war and those who wage it, its beginner-friendly clean slate continuity combined with a penchant for young-adult melodrama have garnered it a divisive reputation within the fandom (which is still more than can be said for the tired retread that is SEED Destiny). And after eight years of production and even longer in development (with the ill health and eventual passing of lead series writer Chiaki Morosawa in 2016 contributing to the delays), we now have a cinematic continuation of the Cosmic Era.
SEED Freedom furthers the dense political intrigue of its predecessors, with the world peacekeeping organisation Compass (helmed by the series’ main protags) entering negotiations with the Kingdom of Foundation on a way to jointly put an end to the continuing war between the Earth-borne Naturals and the genetically-engineered Coordinators.
When it gets to the intergalactic and even terrestrial mech fights between all these factions, director Mitsuo Fukuda and studio Sunrise strike a nice, if slightly unsteady balance between the bombastic spectacle of the fights themselves and a sober undercurrent that this is still war and devastation isn’t fun.
It’s a stance that both holds true to the metaseries’ moral compass, and chafes dramatically against what is going on with the characters. Amidst the oodles of fanservice on offer, of both the jiggly and non-jiggly varieties, the characters and the dialogue frequently enter the realm of high school hormonal histrionics. For all its gesturing at racial divisions, eugenics, and the warring axioms of what we choose vs. what is chosen for us, all the yelling about who is attracted to who/should be attracted to who and the misunderstandings thereupon, make the fights look less robotic and more like gigantic blue balls and blue vulvas are the ones duking it out. Or is that just us?! Suffice to say, the Foundation’s Black Knights embodying the ‘I Studied The Blade’ meme, series leads Kira and Shin teetering over the Shinji Ikari event horizon, and Agnes… being Agnes make the combat goofy enough as it is.
Not that this is an inherent issue, though. The frequent in-jokes to past events in the series come across less like addendums to a sacred text, and more like opportunities for the characters (and by extension their creators) to take the piss out of themselves and each other. And from that openness and vulnerability, he overwhelming sentimentality finds a certain campy sweet spot where it definitely smacks of the ridiculous, but not to the point of irritation. Not only does it read like the creators have taken the series’ general reception in stride (always a cool thing to see from legacy media), but considering the real-world love story at the heart of the production between husband-and-wife team Mitsuo Fukuda and Chiaki Morosawa, it even manages genuine poignancy with just how earnest it is about the ideal of romantic love. It somehow has its ridiculous cake and eats it too.
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom is unquestionably made for the fans, and they will absolutely get their fill of sixty-foot-tall soap opera antics, but with the character drama and space action dialled-up, there’s still a certain incredulous joy to be had out of it even from a casual perspective. Once you push past any semblance of a need to take things completely seriously, its curious blend of laser combat and adolescent-adjacent romance shenanigans makes for quite the fun experience.