Gundam Seed Freedom Zero Prequel Anime Film Gets Novel
Goto penned the novelizations for Mobile Suit Gundam Seed and Mobile Suit Gundam Seed Destiny and also penned the script for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM film. Tomofumi Ogasawara, who drew illustrations for the Mobile Suit Gundam Seed novelization, is drawing the illustrations for the novels. The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM novel ended with its second volume, which shipped in March 2024.
The Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM ZERO film will open in theaters in Japan on January 15 and in North America in February 2027.
A teaser video had announced the prequel when it debuted during the second round of special edition screenings for Gundam Seed FREEDOM in Japanese theaters in November 2024.
Director Mitsuo Fukuda, producer Hisakazu Naka, and Sōichirō Hoshi, voice of Kira Yamato, appeared at a stage greeting during the first screening announcing the prequel. They revealed that screenwriter Chiaki Morosawa and Shigeru Morita wrote the prequel's scenario while planning for Gundam Seed Freedom itself. In addition, Fukuda stated that the script for Gundam Seed FREEDOM ZERO was completed 20 years ago.
Gundam Seed FREEDOM ZERO's storyboards were nearly half finished, and the oldest storyboards actually predate those of Gundam Seed Freedom itself. The dialogue recording has also already been completed. Fukuda added that 20 years ago, Gundam Seed FREEDOM ZERO was originally planned as an original video anime (OVA), but the staff has not yet decided how it will be presented now.
Mobile Suit Gundam Seed FREEDOM opened in Japan in January 2024. The film debuted at #1 in the Japanese box office. It sold 634,182 tickets for 1,065,983,130 yen (about US$7.20 million) in its first three days, marking the Gundam franchise's highest three-day opening in box office earnings. The film is the highest-earning Gundam film in Japan ever.
Bandai Namco Filmworks and Fathom Events screened the film in the United States and Canada in May 2024. Netflix is streaming the film.
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