Pop Duo See-Saw Return to Gundam SEED for Freedom Film’s Ending Song

The members of the pop duo See-Saw are contributing “Sarigiwa no Romantics” (Romantics Upon Parting), their first new song in about two decades, as the ending theme song for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film.

See-Saw, composed of vocalist Chiaki Ishikawa and keyboardist/composer Yuki Kajiura, had previously performed ending theme songs for both the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed television anime and the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny television anime. The new song’s single will go on sale on January 24.

The single will also include the “Ann ni Issho Datta noni live in 2019 @ Inu Fes” — the Gundam Seed television anime’s ending theme song as performed at Flying Dog‘s 10th anniversary concert in 2019. Flying Dog is also streaming this rendition for one week only to commemorate the single’s announcement:

The film’s fourth promotional video previewed the theme song “Freedom” by Takanori Nishikawa (the artist also known as T.M. Revolution) with producer t.komuro (Tetsuya Komuro).

The cast, which features returning and new members, includes:

• Sōichiro Hoshi as Kira Yamato
• Rie Tanaka as Lacus Clyne
• Akira Ishida as Athrun Zala
• Nanako Mori as Cagalli Yula Athha (replacing Naomi Shindoh)
• Kenichi Suzumura as Shinn Asuka
• Maaya Sakamoto as Lunamaria Hawke
• Fumiko Orikasa as Meyrin Hawke
• Kotono Mitsuishi as Murrue Ramius
• Takehito Koyasu as Mu La Flaga
• Tomokazu Seki as Yzak Jule (or Joule)
• Akira Sasanuma as Dearka Elsman
• Houko Kuwashima as Agnes Giebenrath
• Ayane Sakura as Toyah Mashima
• Houchu Ohtsuka as Alexei Konoe
• Jun Fukuyama as Albert Heinlein
• Michiko Neya as Hilda Haken
• Taiten Kusunoki as Herbert von Reinhard
• Junichi Suwabe as Maas Symeon
• Win Morisaki as Griffin Arbalest

From the left to right in the image above, the additional cast members and their characters are:

• Kentarō Tone as Liu Shenqiang
• Yoshitsugu Matsuoka as Daniel Harper
• Win Morisaki as Griffin Arbalest
• Hiro Shimono as Orphee Lam Tao
• Yukari Tamura as Aura Maha Khyber
• Sumire Uesaka as Ingrid Tradoll
• Misato Fukuen as Redelard Tradoll
• Yūichi Nakamura as Shura Serpentine

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.

Other staff members include:

• Mechanical Design: Kunio Okawara, Kimitoshi Yamane, Kazutaka Miyatake, Junichi Akutsu, Manabu Shintani, Shiba Zen, Takuya Io, Hiroyuki Taiga
• Mechanical Animation Director: Satoshi Shigeta
• Color Key Artist: Akemi Nagao
• Art Directors: Shigemi Ikeda, Yukiko Maruyama
• CG Directors: Mitsuhiro Sato, Kensuke Kujida, Tomohiro Fujie
• Monitor Works: Azusa Tamura, Jirō Kageyama
• Compositing Director of Photography: Takeshi Katsurayama, Shigenori Toyooka
• Editing: Yukiko Nojiri
• Sound Director: Sadayoshi Fujino
• Music: Toshihiko Sahashi

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.info