Trivia / Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

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• Acting for Two:
  • As usual, Murrue Ramius, Haro, The Narrator and Ezalia Joule are voiced by Kotono Mitsuishi.
  • Arnold Neumann and Ledonir Kisaka are played by Isshin Chiba.
  • In addition to voicing new character Agnes, Houko Kuwashima also briefly reprises her role as Stella.
  • Mu and the Navy Haro are voiced by Takehito Koyasu.
  • In addition to reprising his role as Mars Simeon, Bill Butts also takes over as the voice as Arnold Neumann.
• Approval of God:
  • Takunobu Terada (the supervisor for Super Robot Wars) had Kira, Shinn and Athrun all working together in several installments of the franchise, but seeing it done in-series proper had him "filled with emotion" once he saw it happen. Fukuda thanked Terada in return, saying it's an honor for the SEED series to be in Super Robot Wars. (Presumably debunking the rumor of him despising the portrayal of the SEED Destiny cast in Super Robot Wars Z, or at least implying there's no bad blood.)
  • Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of Gundam and main writer of Universal Century works complimented the film, something Fukuda says he will keep forever.
• Character Outlives Actor: Toshihiko Nakajima passed away on September 2017, necessitating Kojiro Murdoch to be recast with Mio Tanaka.
• Celebrity Voice Actor: J-Pop singer and actor Win Morisaki voices Griffin Arbalest. This reveal was not done until a while after the other Black Knights had their casting confirmed.
• Colbert Bump: Much like what happened with the HGUC Dom after the premiere episode of Gundam Build Fighters Try, while there's no Z'GOK or Infinite Justice Type-II Gunpla yet (Until the latter was confirmed to get one later in July 2024), sales for the HGUC Z'Gok (Char Custom) went through the roof because of this movie so modelers could mimic the Z'GOK hiding the IJType-II.
• Creator Backlash: A December 2023 post on X (formerly known as Twitter) revealed that Fukuda absolutely hated a then-recent cast image that infamously has Cagalli blushing bashfully, stating she would not do such a thing in the movie. He wasn't technically wrong. Cagalli herself didn't, but the one Athrun imagined to counter Shura did. It's also believed now Fukuda was actually mostly upset that someone had correctly guessed an actual bit from the movie and/or suspected they'd been spoiled by a member of the staff (if not were one themselves) that something like that would happen.
• Milestone Celebration: The film was part of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED PROJECT ignited, which celebrated Gundam SEED's 20th anniversary, and was released on the 20th airing year of Destiny.
• The Original Darrin: For the English release, Trevor Devall reprises his role as Mu La Flaga, after being replaced with Tom Wayland for the dubs of the HD Remasters.
• The Other Darrin:
  • Nanako Mori voices Cagalli Yula Athha instead of Naomi Shindo.
  • Mio Tanaka succeeds the late Toshihiko Nakajima as the voice of Kojiro Murdoch.
  • Despite Michiko Neya reprising her role as Hilda Harken, she doesn't do the same for Abbey Windsor, who is instead voiced by Haruka Tomatsu.
  • While the English dub retains the NYAV Post cast for the SEED and SEED Destiny HD remasters, Kieran Regan voices Shinn Asuka instead of Aaron Phillips.
  • Bill Butts voices Arnold Neumann instead of Ben Pronsky.
• Playing Against Type: Yukari Tamura, perhaps the voice of Token Mini-Moe characters in anime, voices the villainous Aura Maha Khyber in this movie. While this is not the first time Tamura has been cast as a villain, this is the first role of hers where she voices the main antagonist. A closer instance where Tamura can be considered a Big Bad was Rika Furude in Higurashi Rei during Saikoroshi-hen, although all the villainy was Offstage Villainy and Rika being considered a main villain of that arc depends on the perspective of the viewer and the characters of the arc. More hilariously, after a decade or so of Nanoha being compared to a Gundam, she's finally in the franchise proper...as a character who is so far removed from Nanoha as can be. If anything, she's more of a mix of Precia and, ironically enough, Quattro.
• Posthumous Credit: Screenwriter Chiaki Morosawa suffered a fatal aortic dissection less than eight years before the release of Freedom, which is consequently one of the last works she contributed to.
• Promoted Fanboy: Ingrid Tradoll's English VA AmaLee had performed several covers of SEED and SEED Destiny's soundtrack on Youtube, with her citing the original show in particular as one of her inspirations for creating anime song covers.
• Real-Life Relative: Kenichi Suzumura and Maaya Sakamoto, who had been married since 2011, reprised their roles as Shinn and Lunamaria, respectively.
• Recast as a Regular: Jun Fukuyama first started out in the Cosmic Era as Sol Ryunne L'Ange in STARGAZER. Here, he's Albert Heinlein, who supports our heroes in Compass.
• Role Reprise:
  • With the exception of Naomi Shindo (Cagalli) and the late Toshihiko Nakajima (Murdoch), the returning characters from SEED and SEED Destiny have their respective voice actors reprising their roles.
  • After voicing her in the video games, Makiko Ohmoto finally voices Shiho Hahnefuss in the main series.
  • For the English dub, Trevor Devall reprises his role as Mu La Flaga for the first time in 17 years.
• Saved from Development Hell: A SEED Movie was first announced in 2006, but did not enter production until 2021, and didn't premiere until 2024.
• Sequel Gap: Thanks to being in Development Hell, the movie was first released more than 18 years after SEED Destiny finished its initial airing.
• Troubled Production: A main reason why Gundam SEED FREEDOM took so long to make was because Fukuda, Morosawa, and Goto had to write, and sift through over a hundred drafts for the script alone. Chiaki Morosawa's declining health since SEED Destiny's conclusion and her passing in 2016 didn't help either.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Fukuda has stated that there were close to over a hundred drafts that were on the cutting floor, before eventually settling on the current plot, according to various interviews, compiled by Zeonic Scanlations.
  • One such draft was that Kira would face off against twenty of his clones as enemies.
  • The Infinite Justice Type-II was meant to be hidden under a Acguy-inspired Mobile Suit, but Gundam Build Fighters used the Acguy first.
  • Agnes' GYAN Strom was originally meant for Yzak as an upgrade to his GOUF Ignited.
  • Shiho Hahnefuss finally speaks voiced by Makiko Ohmoto, her video game voice actress. Fukuda originally wanted Nami Tamaki to voice her in Destiny.
  • The Strike Freedom and Infinite Justice were meant to show up in the beginning and be destroyed by the Black Knights, but Fukuda was convinced that the trope had been done to death.
  • The Destiny Silhouette for the Impulse was suppose to appear, but Fukuda decided to go with the original three Silhouette Packs since the Destiny (Spec II) was going to return.
  • A tweet by Fukuda reveals an unused scenario where Cagalli and Meyrin would take turns remote controlling the Infinite Justice Type-II on Athrun's command to confuse the Black Knights with their mind reading tactics. In the movie, this was partially used with only Cagalli taking control of the Justice.
• You Sound Familiar: Houko Kuwashima, who voiced Agnes Giebenrath, previously appeared as Flay Allster and Natarle Badgiruel in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED as well as Stella Loussier in Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Destiny.

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