This one has been a long time coming, and I’m not just talking about the two decades it took to get made, I mean the year or so it’s taken for it to get a legal release here in the UK… The second Hathaway film made it to UK streaming in just a few months! (more on that next time…) Well, anyway, here it is at last, and on 4K Blu-ray no less, so I can finally say… it was alright. Definitely felt like an epilogue rather than a continuation, which is fine as a final movie to cap things off, like Gundam Wing Endless Waltz (technically an OVA but still…) rather than a weird but still enjoyable third act like 00: Awakening of a Trailblazer. So let’s take a look at it and cap off the Cosmic Era timeline, which is an odd thing to say after all this time…
The story is set just one year after the end of SEED Destiny, and as per usual with these large armies that get defeated there are still remnants hanging around trying to restart the fire. Due to this a peacekeeping force called Compass was created and in the opening scenes Kira, Shinn, Lunamaria and a new character called Agnes all head down to save a pro-Earth Federation ZAFT base from being destroyed and nearby innocents from being harmed. Kira takes it upon himself to take out the main threat and then takes out ZAFT troops who try to push back against the Blue Cosmos remnants once they were weakened. Back on their main ship afterwards it’s clear the fighting never ending is having a mental toll on Kira, who thinks back on Durandal’s Destiny Plan and his last words asking if really thought humans with free will wouldn’t just go back to killing each other. Meanwhile we find out that Agnes is a classic SEED era crazy woman who berates Shinn for not being good enough and then later tries to seduce Kira and gets angry when she turns him down… There’s always one… Anyway, Lacus is part of the higher ups of Compass and is worried about Kira’s mental health as well, wishing to bring true peace for the one she loves as much as just for peace’s sake.
Kira taking part in an Intervention straight from the 00 timeline, when you think about it…
This leads to a join mission with the free European country of, um, “Foundation” to eliminate the head of the Blue Cosmos remnants but it’s EXTREMELY obvious as soon as we see Foundation welcome everyone off their planes that they’re the bad guys here, I literally laughed when they were first introduced and they were every anime villain stereotype lined up in the row. So to the surprise of nobody watching during the joint exercise Foundation betrays everyone, mentally controls Kira to break the treaty with Europe, and then nukes a few places, their own city included, to cover their tracks and give themselves a “valid reason” to head back to space and declare war on the people who “just nuked them”. The Prime Minister of Foundation, Orphee, seemingly has the power to sway Lacus’s mind and convinces her to join them, breaking Kira’s heart and causing him to have something of a meltdown until Athrun (who rejoined everyone during Foundation’s attack) to beat some sense into him. Oh and Agnes was easily persuaded to swap sides by hunky Foundation “Knight” Shura purely because she praised her once. Great.
Oh yeah, these guys are clearly trust worthy! Yep… especially the guy with grey hair and a lower face mask. Definitely.
Due to there apparently only being so many plots with Gundam shows Foundation reveals they’ve repaired the Requiem space laser cannon and they fire it on Moscow before giving everyone an ultimatum: accept Durandal’s Destiny Plan or be wiped out, because as it turns out the Orphee, Shura and the rest of the Black Knights are “Accords”, further evolved Coordinators that Durandal and the Foundation Queen Aura created to lead humanity once the Destiny Plan was put in place, and Orphee was created to rule alongside another Accord: Lacus herself! The only issue is despite it being the literal reason she was created her love for Kira is too strong for the programming, leading to Orphee freaking out with rage. As Compass heads to Requiem the main cast all get upgraded versions of their classic Gundams for the final showdown…
Overall Thoughts:
Wouldn’t be SEED without a woman not able to control her emotions, I guess? At least Shinn is good this time!
Overall SEED Freedom is fine, and really well animated. It brings back the Destiny Plan and the Requiem cannon so it’s not exactly full to the brim with originality but instead brings them back to give us these fan favourite characters in action one more time, and that’s fine for a movie finale like this. Just don’t go in expecting any kind of shakeup with the status quo.
In the final battle Kira faces off with Orphee (with a woman called Ingrid co-piloting, she is in love with Orphee but can’t act on it due to him being destined to be with Lacus, leading to her confusion upon seeing Lacus deny him…), while Athrun eventually fights Shura, and believe it or not Shinn actually shows how good he is as a pilot and wipes out all the other Black Knights by himself! Justice for Shinn at last, I guess. Oh and Lunamaria takes down but doesn’t kill Agnes, leading to a scene of her crying on the moon next to her downed mobile suit and Shinn offering a hand of help, mirroring his and Lunamaria’s ending from Destiny, which was nice… I guess? I’ll also mention that Mu La Flaga helps destroy Requiem with assistance from Murrue Ramius in her capital ship, and Yzak Joule and Dearka Elsman appear to take down a rogue ZAFT general who doesn’t agree with allying with the Earth Federation to stop Foundation, so gets offed for it. Basically everyone who played a part in Destiny and who was still alive at least got a few moments!
So shiny!
Speaking of which Athrun defeats Shura, who has the power to read minds, by having his Gundam be piloted by his love Cagalli remotely therefore making him unable to read the suit’s moves (and see suggestive imagery in his mind instead, which made me chuckle) Finally then Kira struggles against Orphee so Lacus is sent in her own mobile suit that connects to Kira’s in a big moment that was completely ruined by several hanging shots on her arse in tight Lycra and a few boob shots / jiggles taking me out of the moment… I mean jeez, talk about a lack of subtly and at the complete wrong time thematically. Well, anyway, she docks with Kira and together they create the “Mighty Strike Freedom” and win the day with classic Kira beam spam, now in gold! As everyone celebrates Kira and Lacus get naked on a beach (in silhouette, naturally!) and kiss to close us out.