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REVIEW: Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM Anime Film Review

Strangely enough, I don't remember Hirai doing this kinda work in previous series like Fafner, or the ones from Taniguchi.

Hirai is a character designer. He draws what he's asked to.

It's maybe worth noting that both SEED and Destiny were shows that aired at 6PM in Japan. While they weren't devoid of blood shed or titillation, a theatrical film released 15 years later is going to be allowed to do more.

Hmm, so pretty much another episode of Kira feeling bad the show. I will probably watch it eventually, but the focus always being on Kira and the situation always feeling the same does not make me excited.

smurky turkey wrote:

Hmm, so pretty much another episode of Kira feeling bad the show. I will probably watch it eventually, but the focus always being on Kira and the situation always feeling the same does not make me excited.

The title of the movie is FREEDOM, of course it's gonna be about Kira. Anyways the movie feels like the true sequel of original SEED instead of Destiny. It shows how Flay actually fucked up Kira making him doubting if Lacus truly loves him and how he lose it all when he thinks Lacus has left him for Orphee.

Gone the stoic Kira from Destiny, and we got back his emotional self from original SEED

Saying that fanservice feels out of place in Gundam Seed is a bit funny to me as a fan of other Gundam; the fact that Seed has breast bounce shots at all is one of the things that distinguishes it from any Gundam I've ever seen. (Not that breast animation is necessarily "fanservice" but in Seed it seems to be.)

――I was particularly interested in how Kira Yamato, our main character, would be depicted in this new work. In SEED, his struggles and growth were central, but in DESTINY, he seemed more enlightened, almost like a sage who had comprehended everything. This made me wonder if expressing emotions as a main character was challenging.

Fukuda: In DESTINY, there wasn’t much “drama” piled on Kira, unlike the protagonist, Shinn Asuka. Kira had already reached his conclusions about what needed to be done, so he didn’t have conflicts and seemed like he was taking the long view (seemed like he was enlightened). But more than enlightened, I’d say he was just emotionally exhausted by DESTINY. So, for FREEDOM, I wanted to walk Kira’s arc back. After all, he was originally just your average, non-political college student (laughs). So this time, I’ve created a “dramatic” situation for Kira that troubles him, and once again, I’ve depicted him as someone who frets and struggles through his conflicts.

―― We definitely seem to see a return to the Kira from his days in SEED. Despite being the main character in DESTINY, Shinn had some dark aspects, though he has a more positive demeanor in the film, and I thought, “This is the kind of Shinn’s performance I wanted to see!” so it was a pleasant surprise. (laughs)

Fukuda: With so many characters in the SEED series, it’s tough to give them all spotlight scenes. Obviously, a 2-hour movie can only show so much, and honestly, I didn’t want to cut anyone. But Shinn did sink into darkness in DESTINY, while initially he’s a sweet, straightforward kid brother character. So I’m glad we could show his brighter side this time.

Reviewer might want to do a rewatch of seed. Just finished one and it's not afraid of fanservice, with several nude shower scenes and nipples added onto characters for the HD release in Seed Destiny

Sexual fanservice that doesn't really mesh with the Gundam SEED world.

09jcg wrote:

Reviewer might want to do a rewatch of seed. Just finished one and it's not afraid of fanservice, with several nude shower scenes and nipples added onto characters for the HD release in Seed Destiny

Actually, I've never seen the HD release of Destiny (I rewatched the HD version of SEED and the Destiny compilation films a few years back though). I had no idea such things were added. Interesting.

All this talk of sexual fanservice in SEED has made me think about a few things:

The first is that I may be far more desensitized to it than I ever realized. Like it may have to be insanely egregious or out of place before it even starts to register in my mind. I have been watching entirely too much anime for over 30 years at this point, after all.

But more than that, I wonder if I think about sexual fanservice differently from most people. To me, there's an important difference between what is being shown and why it's being shown. For example, take a shower scene. Does the scene exist so the viewer can see them naked? Or is it used to show the character when they are at their most vulnerable physically (i.e., nude) and mentally--forced to confront their darkest thoughts head on? For another example, do a character's breasts bounce randomly to turn on the viewers or is it because the ship they're on is racked by explosions--and, you know, physics exists.

To bring it back around to SEED specifically. Are there sexualized characters in SEED? Without a doubt. Both Flay and Meer use their sexuality as a weapon. It's a vital part of both their characters and the stories centered around them don't work nearly as well without it.

Is it fanservice? I guess that depends on your own personal definition. Is all potentially sexual content inherently fanservice (every girl that has cleavage, every guy that goes shirtless when wearing a swim suit, etc.)? If you say yes, then you'd be hard pressed to find many anime without any fanservice to speak of--even including those made for kids. If not, it becomes a question of where the line is. For me, it's where the sexualization is done mainly to titillate the audience rather than in service of the plot and characters. However, I freely admit I may be in the minority when it comes to this definition.

Back to the main point, the issue I had with Freedom is that spoiler[a character who, up until now had been rarely if ever sexualized (namely Lacus), is put in a skintight plug suit and pilots a mecha with a cockpit straight out of Cross Ange--i.e., putting the character in the doggy-style position--with a camera that enjoys getting shots of her T&A.] The cockpit design, the flight suit design, and the camera work are all solely for titillation and feel completely at odds with the rest of the anime and its design.

I hope that clears up what I wrote in the review a bit.