Spoilers for all previous Gundam entries in the Cosmic Era continuity, including Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny and its related spin-offs, will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
A decided destiny... or freedom to resist.
I don't want to lose desire!
I don't want to lose my fire!
It's time to countdown the fighting!
Just one way to... Freedom!
I don't want to lose my fire!
It's time to countdown the fighting!
Just one way to... Freedom!
— Freedom (by Takanori Nishikawa & t.komuro)
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom is a Japanese animation film from the Gundam franchise, released on January 26, 2024. This film serves as a sequel to both Mobile Suit Gundam SEED and Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny as well as the first animated entry of the Cosmic Era since Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE.73: Stargazer in 2006. The film is directed by Mitsuo Fukuda, who also directed both SEED and SEED Destiny. Writing credits are shared by Fukuda, the late Chiaki Morosawa, and Liu Goto.
Almost a year after the Second Alliance-PLANT War, a new multi-national peacekeeping force, Compass, has been formed under Lacus Clyne's leadership with the task of maintaining the fragile peace between the PLANT colonies and Earth's nations, as well as stamping out the remnants of the anti-Coordinator organization Blue Cosmos. As Kira and Lacus struggle to balance both their feelings for each other and their professional duties and responsibilities with Compass, an emerging state known as the Foundation proposes a military alliance between them and Compass against Blue Cosmos in order to end the threat posed by the terrorist organization for good.
However, not everything is as it seems. And sure enough, Kira and his friends soon find themselves caught in a conspiracy related to the late Gilbert Durandal's Destiny Plan that threatens to plunge the Earth into yet another destructive conflict.
Previews: 1st Trailer
, 2nd Trailer, 3rd Trailer, 4th Trailer, 5th Trailer
Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom provides examples of:
- Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: Aura attempts to take cover behind her throne as the Milennium rams her ship.
- Adaptation Expansion: The novels provide more POV moments for the characters to expand on their thoughts and feelings during the scenes.
- The novel goes into great detail on Aura's past and how she got turned into her child form. The POV moments of the Accords reveal more about their past.
- The Duel and Buster from SEED were officially decommissioned and collected by the Clyne Faction. The dialogue in the novel implies that the Duel Blitz and Lightning Buster are upgraded versions of the exact models Yzak and Dearka used in SEED.
- Adaptational Sympathy: The novel reveals more about the Accords and how they were created with a specific purpose in mind. Ingrid especially is given more sympathetic moments while Shura and Orphee receive a bit more sympathy to an extent. Averted for the four Rud-ro pilots as they are not given any more backstory unique to them compared to the other Accords and if anything, were shown to be more arrogant and less sympathetic.
- Alertness Blink: Becomes a bit more common to other characters, particularly happening for Shinn.
- All for Nothing: Agnes' defection to the Foundation becomes completely meaningless at the end of the film when all of the Black Knight Squad, including Shura, the object of her affection, are killed during the Final Battle against Compass, leaving Agnes all alone, reduced into a sobbing wreck.
- Ambiguous Situation: It's stated that Kira isn't an "Ultimate Coordinator", but a failed Accord. It's unclear if it means he's a failed attempted Ultimate Coordinator, a failed attempted/Flawed Prototype Accord, or unworthy of "Ultimate Coordinator" compared to the superior Accords. Moreover the source of this may have just been taunting him and was definitely biased, the novelization showing Aura had grudge and jealousy against the Ultimate Coordinator creator Hibiki who rejected her ideals.
- A Taste of Their Own Medicine: Blue Cosmos has a knack for using nuclear missiles on PLANT colonies, which led to countless of Coordinator deaths, which ultimately transpired the First Bloody Valentine War. Here The Foundation, a kingdom ruled by Coordinators, fired a nuclear missile at a Blue Cosmos headquarters at the end of the film's second act.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice are massive powerhouses based off of the original Freedom and Justice with the ability to take up a Mobile Armor mode for high-speed flights. However, since they're adhering to the Junius Treaty once more, they're powered by batteries this time, meaning they need to watch what they do.
- Batman Gambit: Used and pointed out in this movie.
- When the Millennium gets "hijacked" by pirates, Cagalli tries the "fire on the ships, but deliberately miss" tactic to get Kira and the others out into space." However, the Foundation knew that trick has been done by ORB multiple times and calls them out on it, knowing this is something that ORB would do.
- Kira then pulls one on his own, contacting Aura, the queen of the Foundation, and proceeds to taunt her on air. This gets Aura distracted enough that she opens fire on him with the Requiem. Orphee even tries playing the Only Sane Man and points out to Aura that it's clearly a diversion and not to take such an obvious bait.
- Battle Couple: Three of them are present in the Final Battle.
- Shinn and Lunamaria are working and fighting alongside each other in Compass, making them a direct example and the most obvious one. They have good moments together in the final battle with Shinn's Destiny Spec II recharging Luna's Impulse Spec II with the Destiny's Deuterion Beam and by wreking the Requiem together.
- An indirect example since they are not physically together: Athrun has Cagalli remote controlling his Infinite Justice Type II from Earth in his duel against Shura to fend off his mind reading abilities, preventing him to predict the Justice's moves, the distance prevented Shura from reaching her. This tactic effectively made Athrun and Cagalli fighting and defeating the Accord together.
- Kira and Lacus by piloting the Mighty Strike Freedom together against the Foundation's fleet and against Orphée and Ingrid's Cal-re.A, resulting in the destruction of their fleet and their defeat. Lacus even states that she wanted to be with Kira on the battlefield on her own free will.
- Beach Kiss: Kira and Lacus were a borderline Chastity Couple throughout SEED and Destiny, but they finally share an onscreen kiss with one another at the end of this movie. It’s also heavily implied they had or are about to engage in Victory Sex.
- Beta Couple: Shinn and Lunamaria's relationship remains stable with (mostly) good communication throughout the movie, unlike Athrun and Cagalli still mainly being on break with one another due to professional obligations (there's still plenty of spark between them) and Kira and Lacus' relationship being threatened by the Foundation.
- Bittersweet Ending: Albeit more on the sweet side of things: Kira, Lacus and their allies are able to put a stop to the Foundation's plans, and Blue Cosmos appears to have been dissolved for good this time. Kira and Lacus affirm their love for each other in the biggest way possible, Athrun and Cagalli appear to have gotten their relationship back on track, and Shinn and Luna likewise have found a place for them to belong with Compass and with each other. On the other hand, millions perished at the hands of the Foundation, among them Herbert and Mars, and Lacus confides that there may be more conflict in the future despite their best efforts. Nevertheless, she, Kira and their friends and allies will strive to maintain the peace whenever possible for as long as they can.
- Break Out the Museum Piece: Though they've been retrofitted with nuclear reactors, ZAKU cockpits, all new weapons, and METEOR compatibility, the Duel and Buster, the two oldest surviving members of the G Project Gundams (and with the loss of the Archangel, the G Project in general), return as Yzak and Dearka's machines for the final battle. The same with the Strike Rouge which aside from the Cavalier unit attached, is still the same old Strike Rouge from SEED with no known upgrades to its internal systems.
- Breaking Old Trends:
- In the previous CE entries, Houko Kuwashima-voiced characters end up being killed off (Natarle pulling a Taking You with Me on Azrael, Rau killing Flay, and Kira killing Stella in a desperate attempt to stop the Destroy)note . This is not the case with Agnes, who survived the entire film due to Luna sparing her at the end of their fight. Agnes is also not romantically linked with the protagonist in any way (Flay was Kira's Romantic False Lead, Stella was Shinn's), though she attempted to seduce Kira but fails.
- This is the first Cosmic Era show without the involvement of mainstays Naomi Shindonote , Toshihiko Seki, Ryōtarō Okiayu, the late Toshihiko Nakajimanote , and Hideyuki Hori. Despite still contributing for the soundtrack, Takanori Nishikawa is also not a Celebrity Voice Actor for a Dead Star Walking character this time around.
- First time Rie Tanaka doesn't contribute to the soundtrack.
- First time Athrun doesn't pilot a Transforming Mecha, and conversely the first time Kira pilots one. Athrun's Infinite Justice Spec II is hidden beneath his Z'Gok so technically a "transformation" still occurs, just not in the traditional sense.
- First time an Al Da Flaga clone is absent in the story, fan-theories about Toyah Mashima (who is a very young Identical Stranger to SEED-era Mu) withstanding. On a related note, this is the first Cosmic Era work without a masked rival, though Athrun is briefly shown wearing sunglasses to emulate his "Alex Dino" disguise from SEED Destiny.
- The Gunpla line based on the movie is also the first entry not to have a dedicated line, instead is part of the "High Grade Cosmic Era" subline of Gunpla (mostly because the line had went on hiatus for dedicated lines for Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury and Gundam Build Metaverse)
- Call-Back:
- Shinn at one point makes a Troubled Fetal Position, nearly identically to how he did so after losing his family and getting rescued.
- During the battle with the Foundation and COMPASS, the Archangel is attacked in a similar way to how it was when it Freedom saved it in it's first appearance. Evidently Murrue learned from the experience and installed an escape mechanism for her chair.
- Lacus's Haro collection make their return, with Mr. Red, Meer Campbell's red Haro, added to her collection, as a tribute to Meer. Lacus's Haros played a role during her rescue.
- Mu asked Erica in Seed whether he would be able to pilot one of the M1 Astrays with the new OS Kira developed. Here, Mu gets to pilot a Murasame Kai which is can be considered the "grandchild" of the M1 Astray note .
- The Duel Blitz incorporates some of the original Blitz's weapons, such as an arm-mounted Lancer Dart launcher and a variant of the Gleipnir, while the Lightning Buster has previously MSV-only Lightning Strike parts as its backpack. That, and they're also capable of wielding METEOR units like the Freedom and Justice series did.
- Like the Justice and Infinite Justice, The Infinite Justice Spec II, abeit in a Z'Gok disguise, debuts in its first battle when Athrun bails out Kira in the Justice right when Kira is about to be killed. It also has a more "traditional" reveal as well when Athrun bails out Kira and purges the armor, showing the Infinite Justice Spec II underneath the Z'Gok disguise.
- The final battle of the movie begins with Murrue discarding missiles, only to be revealed that they were remote-timed to attack the Foundation fleet from an unexpected angle, just like how Natarle fought Murrue in Seed.
- The heavily shielded Artemis Fortress from ''SEED'' is back, now used by the Foundation as a base of operations. The same tactic used in SEED is also employed here: sneaking a unit piloted by Athrun's friend (Nicol in SEED and Meyrin here) which can use a Mirage Colloid system when the shield was down. Athrun even cites the late Nicol when the tactic was established. The Artemis Fortress was crippled again, forcing the Foundation to abandon it.
- Yzak killing Jagannath by destroying his battleship's bridge mirrors the way he kills Captain Sutherland in Seed and an OMNI battleship in Seed Destiny.
- Luna's fight with Agnes ends with her disabling her GYAN Strom by cutting off its limbs and sending it crashing to the Moon before coolly holstering her sabers and flying off, similarly to how Athrun ended his fight with Shinn back at the end of Destiny. Equally, Luna flies down to pick up her fallen friend at the end of the movie, just like Athrun.
- Shinn's entire performance in the film is reminiscent of Kira in Destiny. Shinn takes down a Destroy Gundam and disables enemies the same way Kira did but loses the Immortal Justice halfway through the film while the ship he is with gets shot down. Once he gets the Destiny Spec. II, Shinn does not take a single hit for the rest of the movie, mirroring how the Strike Freedom does not take any damage in Destiny. When he defeats the Black Knights, he even has "Meteor" by T.M.Revolution play which is usually used when Kira gets back in action.
- The final scene of the film has Kira and Lacus standing without any clothes on and in front of a Freedom variant like in the opening sequences of SEED and Destiny except this this time, they're sharing a kiss at the beach.
- Central Theme: As with the previous SEED entries, the film has the usual themes of Fantastic Racism, Dehumanization, and fighting against fate. The Power of Love is also added to the mix.
- Chekhov's Hobby: A picture earlier in the film shows Lacus being comfortable riding motorcycles. Guess how the cockpit and operating system of the Proud Defender, the Strike Freedom Spec II's Mecha Expansion Pack, is designed like?
- Cool Starship: The Archangel returns as part of Compass, but it's also working alongside the brand new top of the line Millennium a huge all range Super Minerva-class ship. The Millennium makes Archangel look tiny in comparison and notably has its Mobile Suits lifted to the exterior on an elevator to take off from the deck aircraft carrier style.
- The Gullveig which is the Mothership of the Foundation Fleet is even larger than the Millennium and has it's own royal throne room.
- Continuity Cameo: Many characters from both SEED and Destiny can be seen throughout the movie:
- It was stated before the initial release that Kuzzey Buskirk, one of Kira's friends from Heliopolis, would make an "blink-and-you'll-miss-it" appearance, with Director Fukuda encouraging viewers to try and spot it.
- A brief scene of Lunamaria's GELGOOG Menace undergoing maintenance confirms that the Millenium's mechanic crew includes Madd Aves (the head mechanic of ZAFT's Minerva) and Vino Dupre (who attended the ZAFT military academy alongside Shinn and Lunamaria).
- Sai Argyle, another one of Kira's friends, is seen with Cagalli in one scene.
- Counter-Attack: The Mighty Strike Freedom's ability to destroy all surrounding enemy fire works by absorbing electromagnetic waves, converting the waves into heat which is turned into an electric field and generates a current through electric movement. This turns attacks received into attacks against the enemy.
- Crapsaccharine World: The Kingdom of Foundation is this: While it seems that the kingdom has Coordinators and Naturals living in peace, in actuality, Coordinators run the kingdom. In the novel, Athrun and Meyrin discover the bodies of protestors and the reason why - a sign demanding an end to the Destiny Plan, proving everyone’s misgivings about it back in Destiny.
- Credits Gag: The final scene of the movie is Kira and Lacus standing naked in front of a Freedom variant, much like the openings of SEED and Destiny.
- Dances and Balls: A ball is held when Compass and Foundation first convene with one another.
- Dark Reprise: At several points, the innocuous melody of "In This Quiet Night", Lacus' leitmotif, is played ominously. It then receives a Triumphant Reprise after she has been rescued from the Foundation.
- Darkest Hour: Following the Foundation's true color reveal, Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice are easily defeated and destroyed. Archangel, the legendary ship that survived two wars is reduced to a smoldering wreck. All of Mu's Murasame team and Hilda's subordinates Mars and Herbert were killed, along with every Compass mobile suit except Lunamaria's GELGOOG either destroyed or rendered inoperable, and Lacus has seemingly joined with the Foundation with Compass being framed as a rogue organization due to Kira attacking Eurasian Federation troops while being under Orphee's mind control. And then the Foundation reveals they are planning to reinstate the Destiny Plan but with Coordinators ruling over Naturals and the Earth instead of as equal partners, with a significant number of people in ZAFT joining them in an attempted coup against the pro-peace PLANT government. To top it all off, the Foundation unveils the rebuilt Requiem superweapon and demonstrate their intentions to rule the Earth Sphere by blowing up Moscow. Meanwhile Kira starts having a nervous breakdown because of how badly things went and Lacus's seeming betrayal, causing him and Athrun to come to blows.
- A Day in the Limelight: While Kira is still the main character, Lacus' role in this film is much bigger than in SEED and Destiny.
- Defeating the Undefeatable: The Archangel, which survived both Bloody Valentine wars in both SEED and Destiny, goes down for good this movie, and as if to assure that it cannot be salvaged or rebuilt, the Foundation nukes what's left of the wreckage.
- Demoted to Extra: Despite having a decently big role in both of the TV series, Andrew Waltfeld only makes a brief silent cameo here.
- Designated Girl Fight: While skirmish against different characters did happen, ultimately the female antagonist pilots have their fateful showdown against the heroic female pilots. Specifically, Lunamaria beats Agnes, Hilda was the one who kills Redelard after Shinn disables her machine, and Ingrid is co-piloting the Cal-re.A with Orphee against Kira and Lacus in the Mighty Strike Freedom.
- Did They or Didn't They?:
- The fact that Athrun can visualize a nude and erotic Cagalli so clairvoyantly in his mind indicate that the two may have consummated their relationship at one point.
- Kira and Lacus are last seen during the end credits on a beach and sharing a kiss while nude.
- Due to the Dead: Shinn and Yzak implement designs of their respective fallen comrades Rey and Nicol's Gundams into their own. Yzak's Duel Blitz Gundam is self-explanatory, while the Destiny Gundam Spec II's beam rifle design and color scheme is patterned over Rey's Legend Gundam.
- Evil Plan: The Foundation wants to implement the Destiny Plan like Durandal. However, unlike him, they want to use it to have Coordinators completely rule over Naturals, with themselves at the top and destroy them if they refuse.
- Expository Hairstyle Change: Mu has cut his hair shorter to better resemble its style in SEED, representing a return to his true identity. Meyrin also appears to no longer wear her Girlish Pigtails and noticeably sports a shorter, more backswept hairstyle with braids. In a downplayed instance, Dearka's hair also appears shorter than it did in Destiny.
- False Flag Operation: Orphee is able to take control of Kira when COMPASS and Foundation are attempting to root out Blue Cosmos remnants, allowing Foundation to attack COMPASS.
- Food Porn: Lacus's cooking gets a dedicated scene where there are plenty of close-shots of what she is cooking and the finished products. There are a few shots of the food served at the ball.
- Gentle Touch vs. Firm Hand: When mentoring and commanding Shinn, Kira is the Gentle in the film while Athrun was the Firm in Destiny. Their main difference was their communication skills. Kira treats Shinn very well and considerate of his feelings while Athrun tried but his own issues caused a rift between him and Shinn that all he really did was hit Shinn for disobeying orders and then hitting him again for following orders with little to no explanation on his part.
- Heel–Face Turn: The Atlantic Federation, after serving as one of the main antagonistic factions for both Seed and Destiny, is one of the major powers supporting Compass alongside Orb and ZAFT, having finally purged Blue Cosmos' influence and their LOGOS backers following the Second Bloody Valentine War.
- Surprisingly, Ezalia Joule, now a Clyne loyalist. The last time we saw her was at the end of the first war, arrested by Eileen Canaver. Now, despite being dressed in a purple uniform like her old boss, she stands alongside Canaver, as well as her son and his comrades among the heroes, and on the Eternal, no less.
- Hope Spot: After Archangel loses its main engines and crashes, Mu and Herbert and Mars of the Harken squad rush towards it to try to prevent the Black Knight squad from finishing it off but Herbert and Mars are quickly killed before even getting close and Mu not only doesn't make it in time but also gets cut down by the squad though unlike the former two, his psychic sense allows him to escape a fatal hit and he at least manages to retrieve Murrue before the whole ship blows.
- Hourglass Plot: In Destiny, Athrun's character problems from SEED were never truly resolved, and thus they flare right back up after a certain triggering event to cause more grief and drama for everyone around them until he finally flushes them out of system, and turn the tide to save the day. This time, it's Kira's turn, showing that his worse character traits while wrapped around Flay's finger are still there, and only being a Shell-Shocked Veteran kept them suppressed. And in both cases, the other delivers a serious beating to the other to get them to wake the hell up, although here, they do it with their fists than in Gundams.
- Imperial Stormtrooper Marksmanship Academy: Hilariously played straight. When Compass "hijacks" the Millennium, Orb's military was ordered to take it out as they release their navy to shoot down the ship. The ship's commander gives out the order to shoot them down..... Before he reveals that he learned from the late admiral Todaka how to miss all their shots on purpose to allow the heroes to escape.
- Internal Reveal: Agnes betraying Compass for the Foundation happens quite early in the film but Lunamaria does not learn this until the final battle as the ones who knew this were all thought to be dead. When she reunites with Compass, they did not tell her this betrayal either.
- Kinetic Weapons Are Just Better: The Strike Freedom Type II and Destiny Spec II are given new railguns to counter the Foundation's Femto technology which gives them an immunity to beam weaponry.
- Lighter and Softer: At least when compared to the previous SEED entries, the film is slightly lighter in tone, since both the Earth and PLANTs are not against each others' throats this time around and Blue Cosmos is already running out of resources thanks to Compass' presence. That is until the Foundation made their move against the heroes.
- Character-wise, Shinn is a lot less mean-spirited and reckless, and his hostility towards his Unknown Rival Kira is instead replaced with a senpai-kouhai dynamic. Unlike Destiny, Athrun has the best of his SEED and Destiny traits where he has his leadership qualities as the Zala Team leader from SEED, his experience of Destiny and has newfound skills for handling an angst-ridden Kira.
- Logo Joke: The film opens with Sunrise's 2006 Haro logo, but is colored pink, much like Lacus's pink Haro, AKA Pink-Chan/Mr. Pink.
- Meaningful Name: The Proud Defender gives the Mighty Strike freedom immense defensive capabilities. Kira and Lacus even lampshade the trope In-Universe with the Proud Defender in the novel.
- Mid-Season Upgrade: With Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice wrecked, Herbert and Mars killed off, and the Archangel blown to scrap in the previous confrontation against the Black Knights, Cagalli busted out upgraded variants of the Strike Freedom, Destiny, Impulse, and Akatsuki as a contingency measure. Averted with Athrun, who already had the Infinite Justice Type II (though it's disguised as a red Z'GOK at first) before sortieing to bail out Kira.
- Midfight Weapon Exchange: Happens between Mu and Shinn where the Akatsuki starts with the Zeus Silhouette and passes it to the Destiny Gundam Spec. II. Athrun and Kira do a Mobile Suit version of this when they swap the Z'Gok and Strike Freedom Type II.
- Mook Horror Show: The Black Knight Squad find themselves at the receiving end of one when they attempt to attack Shinn's mind, only for to them to encounter Stella's spirit taking form of a monstrous being that's ripped straight out of Ju-on before Shinn mows them down one by one.
- Mythology Gag:
- Both the Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice transform into a plane-like form, lack vents on their mouthpiece and their chin is gray or white-colored instead of the standard red, mirroring some features of the Zeta Gundam. Both of them are also equipped with shields that functions similar to the Gundam Deathscythe's Buster Shield. They also reference the Re-GZ by being the first main Mobile Suit used by the heroes that has a waverider mode and is a downgraded version of a protagonist suit from a previous anime, the Re-GZ being a mass-produced Zeta Gundam while the Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice are battery-powered and weaker versions of both variants of the Freedom and Justice. Like the Re-GZ, the Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice get replaced by a better units for the final battle. In the Rising Freedom's case, it is a reverse of the Re-GZ when dealing with the Quess-equivalent of Seed Freedom, Agnes. The Alpha Azieru is destroyed by the Re-GZ but the Rising Freedom gets destroyed by Agnes's GYAN Strom.
- The wing design in Lacus's headgear and space suit not only recalls the Freedom series of mobile suits, but also other Gundams with a similar wing motif, including the Wing Gundam Zero Custom and Hi-Nu Gundam (from the Beltorchika's Children novelization), as well as Ange's Villkiss.
- With the Alertness Blink characteristic of Newtypes present in this setting, the Foundation's Psychic Powers pretty much border on full on Universal Century-style Newtypes, between their telepathy and Mind Rape powers, which also involve psychedelic backgrounds. Aside from the obvious Embryo comparisons, Orphee's mental seduction of Lacus also bring to mind Papmitus Scirocco.
- In the scene where Kira is reading about the Destiny Plan, Lacus’s different colored Haros are on his desk, including Mr. Red (Meer Campbell’s Haro), Navy-Chan (with ∀ Gundam's mustache drawn on it), and Amuro Ray's green Haro. Navy-Chan even yells out Gym's famous 'Gekkochou!' line in his voice no less!
- Luna's new unit, the Gelgoog Menace, finally has Char's command antenna. The Impulse Spec 2's Sword pack gives the mecha a red and black color scheme, looking a lot like the Sinanju that succeeded his Sazabi.
- Promotional art and previews show Shinn using a sword outside of his Mobile Suit and fencing with Shura, a semi-frequent tradition shown in the past with Amuro and Char, Domon, Wufei and Treize, Loran and Gym and Suletta and Guel.
- This is not the first time a Gundam is hidden under a Cyber Cyclops MS. In this case, it's the Infinite Justice Type II disguising itself as a Z'GOK.
- Foundation's use of unmanned GINNs and DINNs recall Mobile Suit Gundam Wing's Mobile Dolls.
- Stella's empowering and protecting Shinn is similarly done to Kamille receiving the same for his fallen loved ones.
- The Mighty Strike Freedom is a threefold: It has a beefed-up version of ZZ Gundam's head-mounted energy cannon, is armed with a katana (which the Astray Red Frame is known for), and is a WMD-level MS like the Turn A.
- The Zeus Silhouette is similar to the Mega Bazooka Launcher where it is a giant cannon sent to the user's Mobile Suit and even used by the Akatsuki first which is considered the Cosmic Era equivalent of the Hyaku Shiki. Slightly subverted later on as the Destiny Gundam Spec. II is the intended user of the weapon.
- Destiny Gundam Spec II's afterimage attack is similar to the F91 Gundam's Limiter Override MEPE attack and the God Gundam's God Shadow.
- During Kira and Orphee's final battle, Kira states how the performance of a Mobile Suit does not determine the outcome of a battle. That quote and its variations have been said in many Gundam series such as by Graham in Gundam 00, frequently in Witch from Mercury and originated from Char Aznable
- Much like Mobile Fighter G Gundam, The Power of Love plays a major role during the final battle.
- Agnes suffers a similar fate to the Frost Brothers, particularly Olba rather than Shagia who becomes crippled from After War Gundam X. Like the Frost Brothers, Agnes backstabbed her allies for personal gain with her ultimate goal to prove that she is special. In the end, she loses a battle against someone she considered was a "loser" in the past, similar to how the Newtype Frost Brothers lost against the Oldtype Garrod and are left alive but powerless. Their fates are that they are forced to see the world flourish and people care and help each other unconditionally while she remains alone.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Kira, Athrun and Shinn take different roles compared to SEED and Destiny. Shinn becomes the Nice as he is extremely cheerful and nicer. The few times he shows aggression is against Shura for badmouthing Kira and to Athrun and Kira when he tries to break up their fight. Kira becomes the In-Between when Lacus gets kidnapped. He does not become as bad-tempered as Destiny Shinn but is not as rational as Athrun either, becoming despondent and pessimistic. Athrun is the Mean in comparison but more out of Tough Love rather than maliciousness. He hits Kira and yells at him the same way he did with Shinn except this time, he is a lot better about it and is able to get his point across more effectively.
- A villainous example is present of the Foundation's leadership between Ingrid, Shura and Orphee. Ingrid is the Nice as she is the least malicious and never goes out of her way to demean or condescend Compass while the novel makes her more sympathetic as a Token Good Teammate. Shura is the In-Between with his arrogance but also has a sense of honor and standards and is capable of caring for people such as Agnes. Orphee initially appears as the Nice with his refined mannerisms and chivalry. He all three where he becomes the In-Between where he talks down on Kira like how Shura does to Shinn but still maintains relative grace. Once he kidnaps Lacus, he devolves into being the Mean where he hits Ingrid for failing to keep Lacus confined and drops the gentlemanly façade to reveal a depraved and power-hungry megalomaniac. He stoops as low as to forcing himself onto Lacus to try and get her to love him and failing because she wounds his ego before he could do anything.
- Never Trust a Trailer: The trailers implied that Athrun pilots the Immortal Justice and Mu gets killed in the movie while Kira becomes evil, the trailer ending with Murrue and Lacus begging a red-eyed Kira to stop fighting. Shinn is the pilot for the Immortal Justice, Mu survives the entire movie and Kira's red-eyes was because of the Black Knights making him see hallucinations. The orders Lacus gave out were real but were out of extreme reluctance as orchestrated by the Black Knights.
- No Budget: In-Universe. Blue Cosmos's resources are dwindling where their main units are the outdated 105 Daggers from SEED's MSV alongside the Windams and the Destroy Gundam from SEED Destiny. The second Blue Cosmos battle involves reusing a Destroy Gundam that is missing an entire arm.
- Noodle Incident: Sometime between Destiny and Freedom, the original Strike Freedom suffered a Grand Theft Prototype, leading to its transformation into the Spec. II.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: The Foundation imply this about COMPASS's elite pilots, thinking of them as slightly better than normal Coordinators and Naturals while their Psychic Powers make them the true pinnacle of humanity. In the end they are the real big fish, resting on the laurels of their powers which allows the heroes to exploit the chinks in their abilities to defeat them.
- Not So Invincible After All: Defense-wise, the novel reveals that the Akatsuki is unable to completely deflect beams that are extremely powerful such as a colony laser from Requiem. It still managed to deflect the lasers but at the cost of destroying a large portion of its armor.
- Obviously Evil: The Foundation and especially its characters' aesthetics and demeanor reek so much nefariousness that the synopsis and trailers didn't even bother hiding their true nature.
- Official Couple:
- The film ends with Kira and Lacus standing naked together at a beach and sharing a kiss, meaning they've upgraded from a Chastity Couple to a full on physical relationship.
- Moreover, right before this scene, there's a shot of Athrun showing Cagalli that he's still wearing the Haumea pendant she gave him in SEED, while she smiles and reveals that's she's started wearing the engagement ring he gave her in SEED Destiny as a necklace after initially taking it off to focus on leading Orb.
- And of course, Shinn and Lunamaria. Best examples include their reunion in the Millennium and their MS holding hands during the final act of the film (though this is due to Luna's Impulse Spec II running out of energy and Shinn recharges it through the Destiny Spec II's built-in Deuterion Beam System).
- Only I Can Make It Go: The Disruptor of the Mighty Strike Freedom requires permission from Lacus to activate. The film has this appear as a symbolic trust but the novel confirms that Kira put this usage restriction on himself because of the sheer power in the weapon.
- Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure: Due to their roles in COMPASS, Kira and Lacus' relationship is on the rocks. Not helping matters is Lacus catching Agnes trying to jump Kira and Kira catching Orphee talking to Lacus and Orphee later telling Kira he isn't worthy of Lacus. This leads to Kira's Heroic BSoD.
- Posthumous Collaboration: Gundam SEED Freedom was written by Fukuda, his late wife Chiaki Morosawa (who died in 2016), and Liu Goto.
- The Power of Love: Appears differently between each of the three main Gundam pilots.
- After a Plot Mandated Relationship Failure, Kira and Lacus working together again is what allows them to defeat Orphee and Ingrid. Unlike SEED and Destiny, Lacus comes aboard the Mighty Strike Freedom to assist Kira first-hand.
- Stella's love for Shinn manifests where her spirit protects Shinn from the Black Knights mind control by transforming into a demon and scaring them. A Shinn and Lunamaria example is that when the Impulse runs low in energy, Shinn uses the Destiny Spec II's Deuterion Beam System to recharge the Impulse. The novel expands that when Shinn uses the Deuterion Beam, he feels Lunamaria's warmth when their mobile suits join hands.
- Athrun's is better describe as the "power of lust" which may give Orphee a run for his money but in a far more subdued and humorous way. Out of everything he can imagine, he thinks of a giant naked Cagalli which not only shocked Shura, it scared him. A straighter example is that Athrun trusts Cagalli ability to control the Infinite Justice Type II from a distance so that Shura can't use his mind control powers against him to predict his moves. The novel of the movie plays it straighter as Athrun recalls all the happy moments he shared with Cagalli, clinging to them, including the aformentioned moment.
- A villainous example. Agnes fighting for the Foundation is hinted in the novels to be partially out of her love for Shura.
- Protagonist Title: As the pilot of Freedom and Strike Freedom, Kira takes the center stage as the overall main character of the film after spending most of his screentime in Destiny either as a Hero Antagonist to Shinn or as a Supporting Protagonist to Athrun.
- Ramming Always Works: During the final battle, Murrue orders the Millenium to ram Aura's flagship before unloading its entire arsenal on it.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: When Lacus continues refusing Orphee's advances, he pins her down, pulls down her top and gropes her breasts. Her steely resolve eventually convinces him to back off, but Lacus is clearly traumatized by this.
- Red Eyes, Take Warning: During the second trailer, there's a shot of Kira with glowing red eyes as he's locking onto a bunch of different targets at once.
- The Remnant: Blue Cosmos has been reduced to this after losing the support of the Atlantic Federation and the collapse of LOGOS following the Second Bloody Valentine War, with part of the first act focused on Compass suppressing their remaining forces. They're seen using the older generation 105 Daggers from SEED's MSV alongside the Windams and the Destroy Gundam from SEED Destiny.
- The Reveal: Aura is, in a sense, Lacus’ mother, having created her as a means to control the governments, which has apparently been going on since even during the time of Siegel Clyne.
- Romantic Ride Sharing: Kira and Lacus have one when they go on their picnic together.
- Sequel Escalation: Can't get any bigger and better than having a Gundam disguised as a mono-eye MS (Infinite Justice Type II), a Gundam clad in gold tanking a superweapon beam attack and coming out unscathed (Akatsuki), a Gundam moving so fast that it creates self-acting afterimages (Destiny Spec II), and a Gundam who is basically a miniature WMD with a katana mounted on its back (Mighty Strike Freedom). At this point, the Cosmic Era has reached levels of insanity you would expect from a Super Robot show.
- Series Fauxnale: The film was touted as a Finale Movie
for nearly two decades and it did tie up many loose ends, but Word of God says the Cosmic Era continuity being a Cash-Cow Franchise (with this film becoming the highest grossing Gundam film in under three weeks) may lead to future movies and OVAs being produced. - Shout-Out: Kira's final MS, the Mighty Strike Freedom, heavily resembles Ange's Ragna-Mail Villkiss. Not really surprising though, since Fukuda also wrote Cross Ange. In addition, the Proud Defender (that becomes the backpack for the Strike Freedom) has an overall profile similar to the Para-Mails, including the motorbike-style seat and interface. The silhouette and the use of a katana hails towards GEAR Fighter Dendoh with the titular mecha and its former rival mech Ogre's final forms. Name-wise it's a reference to Mighty Jack, an old tokusatsu show from the 60's that Fukuda adored as a child and has frequently bemoaned newer generations who are unfamiliar withnote .
- Albert's ability to devise high-level strategies with precise measurements is like a certain commander from another Sunrise show. It helps that he is also voiced by the same actor, Jun Fukuyama.
- The Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice's combination attack to finish off the last Destroy Gundam is reminiscent of the Bradyon and Luxon's combo in Buddy Complex. This makes the reference go full circle as Buddy Complex itself has a lot of references to SEED and Destiny.
- The Cavalier Armor is a reference to the Cavalier-0 from Metal Armor Dragonar which Fukuda also directed. Kira revealing that he is alive is loosely similar to the Engineered Public Confession of Dorchenov from the same series.
- The names of the Rising Freedom, Amazing Z'Gok and Mighty Strike Freedom are all reference to the various forms of Kamen Rider Kuuga.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: The official site and second trailer shows that many characters have altered their wardrobe to fit with their new outlooks. In addition to many characters now wearing the uniform for Lacus's Compass faction, Luna now wears a grey skirtnote , Mu has an outfit that looks like his old clothes back in SEED, Cagalli apparently had her Chief Representative outfit tailored into a Custom Uniform, and Meyrin and Athrun are in completely civilian outfits, although Athrun has a Compass pilot suit.
- Sigil Spam: The new Compass organization has a prominent emblem of wings that is on all their ships, flight suits and the left shoulders of all their mobile suits, including the Gundam's.
- So Last Season: It's stated that the Strike Freedom and Destiny, some of the most powerful machines created less than two years ago, shouldn't be able to keep up with the Black Knight Squad's mobile suits, even after being updated into the Type II and Spec II respectively. Despite this, the four Ru.dro-As weren't able to do a thing against the Destiny Spec II.
- The Destroy Gundams used by Blue Cosmos were considerable threats in Gundam Seed Destiny, requiring at least one Nuclear Powered suit to take down, even after their first debut. Here, Kira solos one very quickly, and later both he and Shinn carve through another with little effort.
- Super Prototype: The Zeus Silhouette is a prototype positron cannon designed for the Destiny Gundam but never has seen any combat use prior to the film's events according to the novel.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Once "Meteor" by T.M.Revolution starts playing, the good guys' victory becomes assured.
- There's No Kill like Overkill: Not only are Archangel's engines destroyed forcing the ship to crash and then the bridge tower shot up and the ship bombarded with missiles for good measure, but the surviving hull is caught in a nuclear blast soon after. Safe to say they likely won't be salvaging her this time if anything is even left....
- Throwing Your Shield Always Works: The third preview trailer show that the Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice have shields designed to be launched at the enemy.
- Time Skip: The film takes place in Cosmic Era 75, less than two years after the Second Alliance-PLANT War.
- Trailers Always Spoil: The international trailer shows The Mighty Strike Freedom and the upgraded Infinite Justice, Destiny and Impulse Gundams in action during the Final Battle against the Foundation. Even moreso for the Impulse Gundam as it was prominently featured in promotional material alongside the Rising Freedom, Immortal Justice, GYAN Strom and GELGOOG Menace.
- Transforming Mecha: The new Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice have Mobile Armor flight modes which is a first for the Freedom and Justice series Mobile Suits. According to the website they're based on Orb's Murasame's transformable frame technology.
- Trash the Set: After surviving two wars, the Archangel is destroyed by the Foundation, its hull wrecked beyond repair or salvage. The Millennium steps in as the heroes' main flagship for the remainder of the film.
- Villainous Breakdown: All of Foundation for the most part, as their smug sense of superiority evaporates in an instant once Compass turns the tide in the finale. Orphee and Ingrid are the only ones who die with any semblance of dignity, with Shura screaming his disbelief as Athrun defeats him, Aura cowering behind her chair as Millennium rams her ship, and rest of the Black Knight squadron literally blubbering in panic as Shinn wipes the floor with them.
- Villainous Legacy: The actions of the previous PLANT Supreme Council Chairmen, Patrick Zala and Gilbert Durandal, are still felt in Gundam SEED Freedom in the following ways:
- The PLANT Supreme Council's radical wing, led by Hari Jagannath, ally themselves with Foundation and attempt to overthrow the current PLANT Supreme Council Chairman, Walter de Lament, who is loyal to Siegel Clyne and his philosophy.
- The Foundation attempt to implement their own version of Durandal's Destiny Plan, with Aura and her Accords ruling at the top; Aura was an associate of Durandal.
- Wham Line: Aura told Lacus that she's an Accord.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: The last time that Lio, Lacus secretary, was seen was when Lacus reluctantly gave the okay for the Black Knight Squad to stop an out-of-control Kira. Her fate afterwards is never mentioned for the rest of the movie.
- The Worf Effect:
- The Black Knights wrecked the heroes' MS (sans Athrun, who showed up much later), killed Herbert and Mars, and even destroyed the legendary Archangel just to show they're on a completely different level as major threats than the opponents they've previously fought.
- Despite Kira receiving the Strike Freedom Type II from Cagalli, the MS still gets bodied by Orphee's Cal-re.A, losing its Super DRAGOON wings in the process. That changes when Lacus shows up in the Proud Defender.
- During the final act of the film, Kira and Lacus, who are piloting the Mighty Strike Freedom, returned the favor by effortlessly wiping out the entire Foundation fleet as a demonstration of its destructive power.
