With the guy behind Kakurenbou as director and the director of Akira behind the screenplay and character-designs comes the ambitious project called FREEDOM, one of the few anime to be totally rendered in 3D cell-shaded CG. It’s obviously a technique that has its pros and cons, and most people will probably need to get used to the style, but once you can look beyond this, you’ll be rewarded by a charming little science-fiction series.
The big strength of this series is its cast of characters. Even though they’re a bunch of hot-headed 14-year-old guys, this series somehow makes them worthwhile. The stereotypes are there, and yet the antics of the main protagonists turn out very charming. The flaws in this series mostly pop up in the final episode, where the creators try to be a bit too epic for their own good.
Ah crap, this review is rubbish. Apologies, I’m having a blackout right now. A tip for all you reviewers out there: do not write a review if it’s been half a year or more since you saw the majority of it… If you want to get a better idea of this series, then read the rest of the posts I’ve written about it. It’s a very nice OVA to watch with great characters and it’s got a soundtrack that’s among Ike Yoshihiro’s best work. Period.
| Storytelling: | 8/10 |
| Characters: | 9/10 |
| Production-Values: | 9/10 |
| Setting: | 8/10 |
Overall, this was a fairly good mini-series. I wasn’t really expecting much beyond a bunch of teenage rebel angst and some futuristic pod racing initially, but the trip to earth and meeting/bonding with its “backwards” inhabitants felt nostalgic in some way. The humor was a nice added touch too, without dwelling too much on the brooding violence and disaffection of Akira. The dancing in moonsuits of the old hippies was particularly hilarious.
My only real complaint about Freedom is the blatant product placement (I’m looking at you Nissin).
Yeah, Freedom indeed wins the award of most blatant product-placement easily, even when compared to Pizza hut and Code Geass (although that one may have been blown out of proportions by the fans, but that’s a different story ^^).
It’s indeed a story you don’t expect when looking at Akira and Kakurenbou.
Personally, I’d’ve kept Freedom to 6 episodes. The last shot from episode 6 with Takeru and Ao going to the moon would have been a good way to end it. Then they could have done a second season and stretched out what happens in the seventh episode.
It was a good show though, and I enjoyed seeing America featured in it.
code geass pizza hut was way worse!