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Gundam SEED FREEDOM Film Gets Novel in January

The January 2024 issue of Kadokawa's Gundam Ace magazine revealed on Saturday that the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film project will have a novelization. The numbering on the novelization indicates it will run for two to three volumes, with the first volume shipping on January 30. Liu Goto, who penned the novelizations for Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny and is also penning the script for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film, is penning the new novelization. Tomofumi Ogasawara, who drew illustrations for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed novelization, is drawing the illustrations.

The film will open in Japan on January 26, 2024. The story is chronologically set in C.E. (Cosmic Era) 75.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed director Mitsuo Fukuda is directing the film at Bandai Namco Filmworks. Fukuda also co-wrote the script along with his late wife Chiaki Morosawa and Liu Goto. Hisashi Hirai (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed) is designing the characters.

The film project is part of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Project ignited initiative, which was announced in 2021. The initiative commemorates the 20th anniversary of the original Mobile Suit Gundam Seed anime in 2022, and it has several parts. The initiative also includes a new Mobile Suit Gundam Seed game and the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Eclipse side-story manga.

Mobile Suit Gundam Seed director Mitsuo Fukuda confirmed that the film is a sequel to the second Gundam Seed television anime, Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny.

The first Mobile Suit Gundam Seed television anime aired from 2002 to 2003, followed by Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny from 2004 to 2005. The three-part Mobile Suit Gundam Seed C.E.73: Stargazer anime project followed in 2006. Sony Music Anime Festival '06 announced the planned film project in May 2006.

Chiaki Morosawa, the head scriptwriter for the two Gundam Seed series, passed away at the age of 56 in 2016. She had been collaborating with her husband, who directed both Gundam Seed television series, on the planned Gundam Seed film project. Morosawa had explained in 2008 that the plot for the project was completed, but that she had been ill since the end of the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny sequel in 2005.

Source: Gundam Ace January 2024 issue

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Disclosure: Bandai Namco Filmworks Inc. (Sunrise) is a non-controlling, minority shareholder in Anime News Network Inc.

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