YMMV / Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom

• Alternative Character Interpretation: Was Orphee's attraction to Lacus his own twisted version of genuine affection or was it because they are both Accords made for that purpose? The novel confirms that Lacus's attraction to Orphee was because they were literally made for each other, being attracted to him on a cellular level where it was only because of her feelings for Kira that she could snap out of it. Further muddying the waters is that Shura states that the Accords' loyalty to Aura has been ingrained into them but it is unknown whether this is emotional manipulation or their bodies doing so on a cellular level as well. If Orphee also experienced the same cellular attraction, this may make him Unintentionally Sympathetic as he has no biological control over his feelings where Lacus had her feelings for Kira to snap her out.
  • Relatedly is whether he recognizes Ingrid's feelings for him in their final moments together. It's hinted he does, as his face is said to soften considerably and is stated that he "truly saw her for the first time".
• And You Thought It Would Fail: Upon announcement, several fans were rather skeptical of the movie. Not only would it be a follow-up to a rather divided Gundam timeline (not to mention one of the most divided Gundam series with a similarly contested cast), the Cosmic Era had zero animated projects in almost 20 years. In addition, it would be following up right after Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, one of the most highly successful installments in the franchise, meaning it had huge shoes to fill. In spite of all that was against it, Freedom proved to be a smashing success, breaking records for the franchise and becoming the highest grossing Gundam movie ever and even putting the possibility of more Cosmic Era entries on the table in spite of its Grand Finale nature.
• Awesome Music: Several iconic names from Cosmic Era Gundam's OST return for this film, with all new songs that only add to the stellar soundtrack. All listed here.
• Badass Decay: The Destroy Gundam went from a serious threat in Seed Destiny that only top of the line MS's could actually take it on without much issue to it being defeated without much by a Non-Nuclear powered Freedom and Justice. By the 2nd and last Blue Cosmos battle, they use a damaged Destroy that's missing its backpack weapons/cannons and an arm.
• Catharsis Factor: All the scenes in the latter half of the film that involves how Compass gives the Foundation their just desserts.
  • Agnes finally getting a reality check by Lunamaria of all people was extremely satisfying to watch. The prequel "Moonlight Valkyrie" novel revealed that Agnes stole Lunamaria's then-boyfriend and now considers Lunamaria a "loser" for dating Shinn, making the fight even more personal. The most satisfying part is Agnes getting defeated by one of the "losers" she looked down upon. The result made it clear that if she could not defeat Lunamaria, there is no chance she would be able to defeat Shinn, the one she berated and looked down upon the most.
  • For all of Shura's talk about being honorable in combat while relying on technological advantages and mind powers, it was very satisfying to see Athrun use every dirty and dishonorable trick in the book to knock him down a few pegs. It is as though Athrun intentionally did this to not give Shura what he wanted.
  • After watching the Black Knights act cocky, rude, and villainous, they get their just desserts when they get all brutally killed by Shinn Asuka, who gets his redemption from SEED Destiny.
• Crosses the Line Twice:
  • The (in)famous "Naked Cagalli" scene is already obscene in and of itself best shown with Shura's shocked expression, allowing Athrun to throw Shura off-balance. Despite Cagalli's obvious dismay, Athrun getting away with it only makes the scene even funnier.
  • The very last scene of the movie, where Kira and Lacus decided to strip naked and make out on some random beach. The kissing would be just heartwarming, but the fact that it's implied that Kira and Lacus decided to do this immediately after killing Orphee and Ingrid (The Mighty Strike Freedom still has its damage) AND the fact that at one point, the last scene of the Cosmic Era is Kira and Lacus flashing their asses to the audience crosses a lot of lines that make it go from, "That's romantic", to "That's corny!"
• Fandom Rivalry: Coming directly off the heels of The Witch from Mercury, it was perhaps natural that the two fandoms would come into conflict. It also seems to be somewhat of a generational conflict between fans of anime from the early-2000's and those from the 2020's.^note Which is hilarious in itself, as Mitsuo Fukuda (SEED Freedom director) and Ichiro Okouchi (The Witch from Mercury writer) are collaborating on the Grendizer U TV show for 2024. This seems to only be a temporary conflict sprouted from the wait period for the film.
• Fan Nickname: Some have come to refer to the movie as Gundam SEED Vaporware, since it was first announced in 2006, and did not officially enter production until 2021.
• Fanon:
  • While the location of where the Foundation is based off of isn't stated a few fans believe that it's the breakaway nation within the Eurasian Federation mentioned briefly in the middle of Destiny.
  • Fans who read the prequel novel believe that Agnes's then-boyfriend, Leonard Valway was the one who stole the Strike Freedom before the events of Freedom. The novel implies that he is up to no good and it is stated that he always wanted to pilot the Freedom and that he betrays Agnes but nothing is thoroughly confirmed with who stole the Strike Freedom.
• Friendly Fandoms: Aside from the initial squabbling mentioned above, G-Witch fans tend to enjoy watching SEED and SEED Destiny due to how character-driven they are, with a lot of fans favoring the idea of Suletta and co. becoming friends with Kira, Shinn, Athrun and the others, as seen in a special crossover skit in an official New Years stream where Suletta and Miorine get to meet and befriend Kira, and are hoping that Ad Stella and Cosmic Era can properly meet in Super Robot Wars.^note In addition, Miorine's Japanese VA Lynn is a big fan of the SEED series, and expressed her excitement for SEED Freedom.
• Fountain of Memes:
  • Athrun. Mostly because of all the scenes he gets out of the movie, from piloting the Z'Gok, punching the tar out of Kira, trolling the hell out of Shura, or even thinking of a naked Cagalli in the middle of the battlefield, there's a lot of meme material to make out of Athrun.
  • Similar to Athrun's situation is Shinn, as Shinn being happier, getting the funniest moments in the movie, and even having the highest killcount and beating several Black Knights on his own without taking a hit, a lot of memes have been made because of how much focus Shinn got in this movie.
  • Not as big as Athrun and Shinn but Shiho is receiving more attention from fans when Ezalia hints that Yzak and her should get into a relationship. Artists like depicting an embarrassed Shiho dealing with Ezalia who is pushing for her to marry her son.
• Genius Bonus: The spirit of Stella turning completely demonic actually has its roots deep in Japanese culture, as being a woman with unresolved grievances after death has turned her into a hannya, basically a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl on crack.
• Harsher in Hindsight: The Seed Freedom prefecture tour with Lacus and Orphee will make movie viewers feel uncomfortable to see them sharing a moment in the Iwate Prefecture image◊, given what Orphee does to Lacus.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: Agnes. Big Bad Creuset of SEED and Durandal of Destiny were plotting world-scale plans that would affect humanity but they still had Pet the Dog moments, impressive strategies and interesting philosophical moments to challenge the heroes physically and mentally. Comparatively, Agnes is little more than a bully who only joined Compass for her own benefit while taking every opportunity to demean and bully Shinn and occasionally Lunamaria. Even the Foundation has some redeeming qualities as they genuinely cared for each other compared to what Agnes does to boyfriends who don't meet her standards. The novelization made her worse where her one redeeming trait of treating the technicians well is confirmed to be an act she puts on to give a "good girl" image. Later in the film, Agnes becomes a villain herself but is still considered this trope as she retains her unpleasant attitude.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Surprisingly, many fans and detractors alike are here for Shinn, one of the most contested characters in all of Gundam. After seeing potential versions of him getting the emotional support he needs in games like Super Robot Wars, many were excited and glad to see it finally brought into reality and bring Shinn's character arc full circle. This also extends to Super Robot Wars series producer Takanobu Terada, as the series has done this for Shinn several times before.
• Memetic Badass: Athrun Zala gained one after Trolling Shura with his naked Cagalli fantasy. The fandom had a time spinning this to the point where it is said that if Athrun Zala has an erection, or is thinking perverted thoughts, he is literally unbeatable. Also, the fact that he beats the tar out of Kira, without even taking a hit once also earns him badass points.
  • Shinn, in a surprising turn of events in this movie and an inverse on how he was viewed during Destiny. Moviegoers say that despite the name being Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Freedom, Shinn got the best moments, whether he is much happier, hogging all the funny moments, and unlike Kira, he delivers a massive Curb-Stomp Battle against the Foundation Black Knights without taking damage.
  • Mu still keeps his reputation as one by casually tanking the Requiem laser. Unlike the other two times he did this, this time Mu does this intentionally, which adds even more badass points.
• Memetic Loser: The moment when Agnes Giebenrath is announced by promotional materials, fans were to quick to assume that she would die at some point int the movie, due to her voice actress having voiced more than two characters in the Cosmic Era franchise that ended up getting killed. She managed to survive the entirety of the movie in spite of turning against her allies, to the surprise of the theatergoers.
  • Orphee is also seen by one by the fandom. Compared to most of the characters getting their merchandise sold out, Orphee has had merchandise still in stock, and it also doesn't help that his entire goal is to steal Lacus from Kira, only to not only fail to do so, but he loses everything in the process. The novel adds more to the fire in that Orphee's failure to score with Lacus, who was literally created to be his "perfect wife", makes him appear even more of a loser.
  • Interestingly, Kira, the Memetic Badass of SEED and SEED Destiny himself, is seen as this in regards to this movie. His girl, Lacus, gets stolen by Orphee temporarily, both his fights with the Rising Freedom and Strike Freedom Type II had Kira struggling badly against the Black Knights, and he nearly gets killed by Shura twice before Athrun had to bail him out both times. There was also the scene where after the fight where the Rising Freedom gets trashed, Athrun had to beat Kira up to get him out of his loss. In spite of being the protagonist, and getting the most focus in the film, both Shinn and Athrun ended up having more fan-favorite memorable moments in comparison.
• Memetic Molester: Orphee, abeit in a loser way. Being based off Embryo and trying to rape Lacus, but stopping when she tells him on how it won't work would instantly place him on this list.
  • A bit more of a Memetic Pervert, but Athrun, after imagining a naked Cagalli. Everyone had a laugh on how Athrun could think of something like that during a serious moment.
• Memetic Troll: Athrun, again. Spending most of the movie disrespecting Shura to the point of thinking of a naked fantasy just to troll the man gave him instant troll status to the fandom.
• Nightmare Fuel:
  • The film opens with Blue Cosmos forces, including a Destroy Gundam, attacking an African city in pro-PLANT territory, causing much death and destruction in their wake before Kira and company's arrival and giving audiences a firm reminder of the terrifying power of the Destroy Gundams. Despite being a shadow of its former self compared to the previous Bloody Valentine wars, Blue Cosmos is still dedicated to the goal of exterminating all Coordinators along with anyone who opposes their genocidal aims.
  • As is typical in Gundam, Convection, Schmonvection is fully averted here. The beam rifle and nuclear warfare deaths in this movie are brutal, as people get set on fire before the beam hits, giving you a sense on how hot and scary beam weaponry are. It gets even worse when the villains bring out nukes, as we watch Blue Cosmos members look at the explosion in horror and are all of a sudden on fire, and once they bring out the Requiem, as we see the effects of Requiem being used directly on civilians and the Earth Forces. It's so bad that Kira, combined with losing Lacus and being betrayed, seeing all the work he did in SEED and SEED Destiny seemingly just literally burns in vain, snaps in despair.
  • The attraction Lacus felt for Orphee was exposed in a new light in the novelization. Orphee and Lacus's genes were designed so that they were meant to be with each other on a cellular level. Lacus's dazed look was not just because she was being mentally attacked by Orphee almost every time he had the chance, but rather, her body on a cellular level felt itself falling for him. If it weren't for her already strong feelings for Kira, Orphee relentless brainwashing would likely have let him obtain complete control over her.
  • Stella's ghost was unexpected to see but not enough to be a complete surprise since ghosts appear a bit in the Gundam series. What was very unexpected was Stella transforming into a monstrous apparition to psychologically attack the Black Knights.
  • When Hilda kills Redelard, the three other Black Knights fighting Shinn all share the shock and pain Redelard goes through when she dies.
• Realism-Induced Horror: The tie-in novel explores the Foundation having no compunctions of suppressing any dissidents who oppose the Destiny Plan is basically how authoritarian regimes function; persecuting any opposition before sentencing them to prison, or worse, execution. On paper, the Foundation as a kingdom may look like a safe haven for Coordinators and Naturals like Orb, but looking at the true nature of its queen and her servants shows it is anything but.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
  • Shinn Asuka, one of the most controversial Gundam characters of all time, gets his rescue in his movie. Many fans say that Shinn was by far one of the most entertaining aspects of this movie, as seeing him generally happier, hogging all the funniest moments, and getting to defeat the Black Knight Squadron made Shinn beloved in this movie.
  • Hilda of the DOM Trooper trio in SEED Destiny was a one-dimensional character whose only known traits were being a reference to the Black Tri-Stars and attack dog along with her group for anyone who disagrees with Lacus where even fans of Kira, Athrun and Lacus might have found them one-dimensional. Freedom expands Hilda's characterization to a Cool Big Sis to Shinn and Lunamaria and provides her with more likeable personality traits, frequently looking out for Shinn like saving him when the Immortal Justice gets destroyed and stopping him from participating in the fist fight between Kira and Athrun when he tried to break them up.
• Spiritual Successor: In an inverse of the running joke about it being a SEED Destiny sequel, many fans have noted the movie takes a lot of cues from Cross Ange and could easily work as a movie sequel if they reworked several elements. Perhaps it wasn't coincidental that this movie released during Cross Ange's 10th anniversary.
• Tainted by the Preview:
  • The Rising Freedom and Immortal Justice's transformations have been decried as uninspired/lazy (given how they just added a conical part to their backpacks and just have them plank forward in MA mode), the Gelgoog Menace resembles the ZAKU Warrior too much, and the Gyan Strom's CE debut strays too far from its knight motif.
  • Like with the previous two series, when it was announced that NYAV would dub the series again over Ocean, fans were upset.
• Unexpected Character: It comes off as a surprise when Stella's spirit reappearing during the tail end of the film to help Shinn and somehow gives the Black Knights Squad a taste of a Mook Horror Show when she even transforms into something that's ripped out of Ju-on.
  • Not a character example, but a mobile suit example, but no one expected that the Next ZAFT machine they would take from the Universal Century is the Z'Gok. Nor did anyone expect that the Z'Gok of all things was a disguise for the Infinite Justice.
• Visual Effects of Awesome: The graphics of the Mobile Suits in the movie are nothing short of spectacular. There are plenty of amazing CGI designs in the movie along with well detailed 2D animations to reference how the units appeared back in SEED and Destiny, particularly the Destiny Spec II using the Palma Fiocina, Arondight and Wings of Light the same way the original Destiny did.
• WTH, Costuming Department?: One of the biggest complaints by fans is the arbitrary decision to give all the female characters a changed art style of smaller, noticeably fuller lips, with or without makeup, making it appear off-putting and jarring to many.