Anime: Freedom

Freedom is an easy going sci-fi teen adventure around ecology and propaganda. The basic story is ok but the overall presentation is too easy going to matter.

With designs by Katsuhiro Otomo of the Akira movie fame, the entire movie is made to look as much like that movie as possible as a cheap attempt at making the retro fans to like Freedom as much as they did Akira. It is otherwise not close to the context of the movie and hardly has interesting characters.

The story is about a moon colony in the future being isolated from Earth for centuries, believing it is now uninhabited because of an ecological disaster. A team of teenagers find evidence of life on Earth and despite the opposition from the authorities, they create a ship and head there.

It sounds interesting at first but in reality it is nothing but a naive fairy tale. The boys don’t want to go to Earth to see if it has life but just to meet a pretty chick they saw on photographs. The entire show is driven by hormones and the need to have sex and not by true curiousness to reveal the truth or go against the status quo. Or do you think the boys would want to go to Earth if there was a fat 50 year old guy on those photos? And anyways, the entire story could easily be told in half the time as the other half is just aimless goofing around, having motorbike races, being akward around pretty girls and being chased by the authorities.

The artwork is all done in cell shade 3D and for its time it is very detailed and eye captivating. As usual, the motorbikes and the spaceship designs steal the show as Otomo has a talent for those. I can’t say it was too smooth or realistic since it felt too plastic and artificial in overall. I would be more artistic and unique if the Earth portion of the show was done in traditional hand drawn animation or something like that. But even as such, the contrast between the mechanized moon colony and the green pastures of Earth is making it all too polarized. You clearly see this is just an environmental pro story and it is good Earth vs evil moon. That way you again see it all as superficial and childishly conceived.

The soundtrack is interesting but not memorable, while voice acting is mediocre and the dialogues are nothing much because of the simplistic story that never seems to require too much thought.

The characters are all stock material. We have the archetypical hot blooded male, the kind frail girl, the sinister old folk leaders, and they all play as much expected as possible. They are occasionally colourful and funny but overall nothing special for you to remember them.

In all, Freedom is a sillier retelling of Logan’s Run, with Akira aesthetics to full you to think it is better than it appears to be. It is nothing but an average fairy tale with a fancy hard cover with the best part being the action scenes and not the struggle to reveal the truth of score with Earth chicks. It is an easily digestible title but can make a fun ride if you don’t expect too much.

Freedom enjoys a poor rating from those who are familiar with Akira, and Planetes, not because of the quality of the program, but because of misplaced importance and interpretation on the series that comes from people who tend to enjoy these types of shows (action, and emotion based respectively). They perceive the show as a "mediocre story" with "fast pacing" rather than a quick critique and commentary on sociopolitical and racial divides as well as pseudo-totalitarian control and with-holding of information. With the swarm of moeblob SHIT that plagues cartoons, it's not surprising that the average anime fan cannot observe subtext, which probably explains why emotion, plot and action based anime (Clannad After Story, Code Geass and Claymore) vastly overwhelm, in popularity MOST anime that seek to explore the profound (texhnolyze, Kaiba, LOGH, Rose of Versailles and to a much lesser extent, Haibane Renmei).

Animation

The animation is fantastic, and although highly reminiscent of the very well animated Akira, doesn't fail to deliver a "modern feel". Although some are (foolishly) put-off by the CGI figures which look undeniably fantastic, they blend in with still frames flawlessly and provide a somewhat unique and polished presentation. The backgrounds, by contrast to the figures which are crisp and clear, are brushed, and reflect perhaps an older school of drawing. Regardless, the backgrounds are still fantastic for the most part. Unfortunately, some of the 3D animation on the characters is choppy or seems poorly executed at times, particularly around the fingers.

8/10. Two points were deducted for some of the background sketches and the sometimes awkward movement of characters. The animation in the OP in particular is FANTASTIC.

Sound

The sound is vibrant, has a large dynamic range and is very clearly recorded all around. If I could offer one critique on the quality of the audio, it is that there is, occasionally some clips during action sequences. At times the dynamic range is irritating, as seems the norm for action films on bluray these days, and I find myself irritated at sudden jumps in volume from quiet dialog to loud bangs; although realistic (save for the obvious notion that there is no sound in space), I feel that the dialog could have been bumped-up relative to a number of sound effects.

The OP, which I am previously familar with from Utada's album "Ultra Blue", is a nice piece and fits the animation well, and seems to hold resemblance to the thematic intentions of the anime, particularly in the realm of embracing neighbours, however it never truly explores the anime deeply and remains "just a nice song" to listen to.

The ED, by stark contrast does not particularly match the series, and seems to instigate a sense of foreboding, which never truly comes to fruition in the anime, particularly due to what appears to be an electronic sample based on the kalimba used outside the natural range of the instrument. The piece itself is interesting and I found myself listening to it intently to it while watching those pipes go along, however the piece, after some time feels a little copy-paste happy, and leaving something a little more to be desired.

Outside of these, however, FREEDOM is a musical wasteland, and thus I can only award 6/10 for Sound.

Story

The story of FREEDOM represents a point where this OVA triumphs or fails for most people - and it is my contention that those who consider it a failure are placing too much emphasis on the incidental aspects of story. The story itself, involves reuniting Moon and Earth "post-apocalypse" via an ostentatious trio of boys. In many senses, the story lends the characters too many favours, such as numerous successes on exit and reentry by amateurs, finding a V5 rocket 300 years after the moon-landing and launching successfully with it. An overarching optimism to the show at times taints the realism, however reinforces the value. Without spoiling much, the story is simple, predictable and touching, but not overly so.

From a thematic standpoint, however, FREEDOM dominates all but the upper echelon of anime, presenting expert juxtaposition of the "whiter" elite on the moon with the "darker" plebs suffering on earth to explore current life issues relating to capitalism and racial divides. What is used at times as a catch cry by one of the characters reinforces the theme, particularly in episode 6 (by far the strongest of the series), and presents the notion of humanity which is explored further through the characters, particularly through their endeavors, and perhaps incidentally also the characteristic of luck.

The separation of technologies, the poor outdated V5 rocket on Earth with the futuristic motor races "in the heavens", presents and explores aspects of class divides, and puts forth challenges to capitalism and suggests perhaps a more left-wing approach to government. I say more left wing, naturally, because a pure leftist nation would become, like Eden, virtually totalitarian, and would suggest that the series proposes to maintain free market or perhaps even result in a minarchist approach to politics, although it clearly makes critiques on such a large social divide, through specific images and dialog of the suffering on those on the "scorched Earth".

The totalitarian aspects of Eden place critique on government control of information, particularly due to the confronting and alarming response of the supposed governing body directly against the protagonists with whom we naturally sympathize with. The specific naming of the larger figureheads behind this "Garden" on the moon, puts a large religious emphasis on the OVA, and furthermore allows a large critique on the practise of the Catholic Church which sees many, particularly in Papal City enjoy wealth why many followers and believers are suffering. The people entering "Freedom" and evacuating this dome with religious connotations suggests a preference for irreligion or secularist politics.

The "feel good" aspect of the film, as portrayed in Planetes via the rather effective comment on borders being "invisible", involves, naturally given the aforementioned themes, embracing your fellow men. So much so, that the entire plot centers around "bridging the gap" between moon and earth, black and white, rich and poor, heaven and earth. Although completely overdone by most anime (HELLO FLCL I AM TALKING TO YOU), the OVA also touches on coming of age, particularly reflected in the main protagonists immature actions during the prologue and early episodes, which are contrasted by his mature decision to "stay behind and make things right on Eden" at the conclusion.

The weakest aspect of the thematic content is indeed the title of the OVA - freedom, which at times is a giant American flag to the face for Western Audiences, particularly when coupled with the glorification of the "Apollo Spirit". Although the 'giant American flag to the face' is probably my interpretation as a westerner, rather than the intention of those involved in the creation of FREEDOM, at times the anime comes across as though it was directed by Michael Bay. Still, if Michael Bay could use some of the thematic material present in this anime, he'd be making much better movies- even if it was about a small earth girl falling in love with Optimus Prime on the largest American aircraft carrier with explosions coming out of the ocean.

I have awarded 9 for thematic content and 7 for story (so I will award 8 overall).

Character

Character development in this anime is largely secondary to thematic development, and the characters are used to facilitate exploring the more profound messages of the show. However, with that said, there is a definite progression with the main protagonist towards maturity in order to explore coming of age, there are definite shifts in overall character however at times there are quick regressions back to their initial point. The strength for many of the characters is not in how they develop, but in their values and attitudes and general (if you'll pardon the expression) CHARACTER.

Actually, just as an aside relating to that last statement, I would like to see the rating for "Character Development" renamed to "Character". Episodic anime (which does not apply here), for example, often feature ZERO character development, but have VERY strong characters (Kino no Tabi being a PRIME example) and thus "Character Development" does not capture the essence of what this REALLY should be grading

I have awarded 6 for Character. The characters are strong and definite and greatly assist thematic development, if a tad reminiscient of Akira with some archetypal copies thrown in. However, there is no major growth throughout the series in the majority of the cast.

Value

This series is highly valuable to all viewers, and will prompt reader thought about the nature of society, class and racial divisions, the nature of religion, maturity, luck, humanity and indeed even value for Earth and "home", as reflected in saving Earth before going to Mars, and the protagonists decision to stay behind on Eden to fix things.

Enjoyment

The series was very enjoyable overall, however it was at time marred by some "as if" moments, predictability, and large changes in volume.

Please note that this series deserves higher than 7.5 overall and have no problem awarding it 9/10

Similar Anime Comparison: LOGH > Freedom > Planetes
^ I will contemplate adding non-space series with similar thematic exploration at a later date ^

Note: This review is based on THORA fansubs which offer both awesome quality and great translation, giving full justice to Freedom's animation quality.



Composed by Dai Satou (Eureka 7) and directed by a barely known director Morita Shuuhei, Freedom[/b] is a short show light on politics and high on environment friendship. No surprise - humans destroyed themselves yet again, though this time they've lucked out and had some space colonies on moon ready for evacuation. Earth is done for and a new page of history of humanity is about to turn... Or at least that is what the colonies on moon are led to believe. Is the earth truly destroyed to the point where no ways of revivification are possible? Or is it just a propaganda by the leaders of the moon trying to gain independence from the earth? Well, one person finds out the truth, and it's your job to keep an eye on his journey.

Freedom's story is quite well made for a show as short as it is - only eight standard episodes. Nonetheless, it packs an idea, an interesting world and enough adventures to keep anyone watching entertained. Characters aren't that bad either, even though the majority of depth is put into the story, the guys in this anime manage to remain somewhat entertaining, if not too original. The most peculiar thing about this show, however, is its 'out of the box' animation, which had definitely cost a lot of money. Much detail is put into the gimmicks of the people faces and their, err, idle movements. Unlike most of anime - characters never stop moving in this show. When one is talking others are moving, fixating their eyes on different things, scratching and so on... It certainly adds a great deal of realism to the show (and lots of maintenance costs I bet). I guess that's why they rushed to pack up a story which spans for three or so years in eight episodes.

Animation: 8/10

Peculiar and costly... It is certainly cool to see characters behave realistically in the background, while some detailed scenery pictures from earth's surface can definitely pass for works of art. However, it is still far from perfect, I've found characters, even though well detailed to be, err, too short, in some scenes it kind of looks as if they are lilliputians, original designs are also quite generic and easy to forget. Some reactions are overblown and there is something wrong with eye coordination, as sometimes they don't focus on target. Lighting effects leave much to be desired as well, there is virtually no shadowing when it comes to character faces. Furthermore, thanks to the fact that it looks like 'anime style went 3D', the animation loses much of its artistic appeal. Motion fluidity, on the other hand, is close to perfect, be it character movement or the races. All in all, great animation, but it makes you wish it was more polished. Heh, though I certainly wouldn't mind if they used such graphics in games, it's like an evolved version of Dragon Quest VIII.

Sound: 5/10

Surprisingly, OP "This Is Love" by Hikaru Utada is a pretty good song, matching the near-future, heavier-on-feelings-than-sci-fi mood of the anime. ED on the other hand, as most of the ending songs, gets old very quick. Moreover background music by Ike Yoshihiru is barely noticeable... There are a few pleasant themes here and there, but it's unlikely any of them will touch you.

It doesn't help that the voice-acting is quite generic with the only notable voice being that of Ao by Kobayashi Sanae who seems to be quite skilled at delivering the voice of intuitive females in space (like Physis in Towards the Terra). Yamaguchi Kappei, on the other hand, though a skilled voice-actor is forced to voice the exceptionally lame voice of a forgettable side character producing mixed results.

Story: 6/10

Despite being short and slightly rushed, the plot remains coherent and interesting for the whole eight episodes this show spawns, though I must admit some twists were pretty lame. Either way, the best part of the story is that it successfully delivers both the feeling of adventure and a believable conception of space colonization. It certainly makes one think about the future of humanity... For some reason I kind of remembered the USA colonization history and independence war when I was watching those moon colonies, but I digress.

Characters: 5/10

Most of the characters simply don't have the time to unfold their personalities, however, the ones who do, while not groundbreaking and emotionally scarring, are likable to some extent. It's too bad that the main lead is so generic you can see Akira's main character in him. Either way, the only character I, myself, grew to genuinely care about was the female lead Ao, though mainly due to the part she had to play in the story, rather than her "profound" personality.

Miyers-Briggs personality type indicator:

Ao - ENFJ (C)
Biz - ISFP (D)
Allan - ESTJ (E)
Taira - ESTP (E)
Takeru - ISTP (D)
Kazuma - ISTJ (D)

Show Spoiler

Value: 5/10

A really short show, though it's certainly not an anime which begs for a second watch. It's neither confusing, nor complex, nor it packs lots of cool action scenes. It's just a story about one of the possible futures for humanity, you've watched it - you know it. Peculiar animation is the only aspect which sets this show apart from the rest and as long as you are not an animation-phile it's likely you'll neither remember, nor will show any interest in re-watching this show after a few years.

1. Conclusion[/u]:[/b] If you're up for a quick watch and want to see some original, peculiar animation, accompanied by a simple idea and a simple story - go for Freedom. It's not a masterpiece, it's not great, but it's a good change of pace if you are tired from brain-exhausting shows, or simply don't have anything good to watch. This show, though fundamentally different, shows many similarities in character personalities and design to Akira, which is not one of my favourite shows either.

[/ol]

From some of the makers behind Akira, we get a small sci-fi series with themes concerning a controlled utopia that questions its freedom.

Visuals
I'm always uncontrollably expecting a good visual standard from any of the Akira team, no matter how small or large their involvement with an anime. In Freedom they definitely try something a little bit off-centre from the norm, whilst still keeping their traditional trademark character model style. Does it work? Well in my opinion not really.

The general technique applied to the visuals is a mixture of 2D and 3D. 2D is used for backgrounds, and any foreground props that aren't animated to move. 3D is used for anything that is to be shown in motion, including vehicles, stairlifts, rockets, and sadly... characters. I'll say right off the bat that if the characters were animated in 2D I would have probably given the Visuals a higher overall rating. But they're not.

Time and time again, I've seen this 3D character animation used and each time it has the same flaws. I've said this about the new Appleseed movies too. The characters just have this highly dis-believable tone to their expressions. Their actions and emotions have a sub-par look to them that comes across as being amateur, even though you know the developers tried hard to try and make it work. I am very much of the opinion that Full Motion Video animation, like the one seen in FF7 Advent Children shows a more realistic portrayal of human movement and expression. In Freedom this looks horrendously contrived, with the lack of texturing on the characters themselves just making it repeatedly irritating to see.

Character animation aside, the 3D work is impressive when applied to non-organic objects and scenery. Some of the action scenes are littered with set pieces that will make you marvel at the screen. The environment for the most part is also similarly reflected in a high standard. On the downside, the entire anime is never quite fluid enough for 3D visuals - in "gaming" terms, it doesn't run at a smooth 60 frames per second. To a certain degree I would say this may actually go towards helping the anime feel a little bit more gritty and less disconnected, but it comes across as being just a bit off the mark.

Sound
I wasn't particularly impressed with any bit of music in the anime - that's just my personal taste. However all the score was kept to a high degree, although most of the time within the anime is kept void of music. The sound effects are really where it's at, which have a very epic feel to them concerning the action scenes and space travel segments. The voice acting isn't bad, although some of the actual characters can be a bit annoying with voices to match them a bit too well.

Story
The anime is set in the future, where some unfortunate global events have made the Earth uninhabitable, so the last few thousands of survivors migrate to a utopian colony on the moon. However, the colony is on the OTHER side of the moon, facing away from Earth. After many years, the people in the utopia (aptly known as "Eden") even forget what the actual image of the earth looks like, settling instead for the pictures and images they have on their computer databases. One free-spirited teenage boy decides to go against authority and drive around the peak of the moon to get a glimpse, wanting to see if it really is still as "uninhabitable" as people keep assuming.

I could go on an on - and on - to set the story, but watch the first episode and you'll get the idea. This theme of what appears to be a utopia but is actually a strict government controlled society without certain freedoms, is not really a new concept. Aeon Flux comes to mind personally, amongst other things. I've always found it an interesting idea and was quite engrossed with the series at the start to see where exactly it would lead.

Unfortunately, apart from the usual case of the unlikely heroes battling through restricted protocols and government agents, I was often quite bored with the story, never having something interesting to really hook myself onto about the world in which is was set, or a particular sub plot. The struggle for "freedom" was always interesting to watch, but when there was a bit of peace afterwards, I was constantly thinking "I don't really care about these characters or this society". There wasn't much to drive me into the stories of the characters, and nothing really that I hadn't seen before in a better or more intriguing environment.

There were a few periods of long dull environment examinations. When moving from one setting to the next, I could see that the developers were trying to get across to the viewer how the characters were discovering the new environments with wonder and curiosity, but the actual environments were just a bit dull to begin with so I wasn't quite as interested as the protagonists onscreen.

The plot "surprise" in the final episode, making you believe one thing when actually something else is taking place all along, is vastly obvious.

Characters
I'm actually trying to think why I don't rate the characters any lower and to be honest, I can't think of anything particularly positive about them. There really isn't anything here that we haven't seen before in some degree or other in any other countless anime. The protagonist is a driven male called Takeru, who together with his reluctant Geek sidekick Biz, and best friend Kazuma, try to escape the colony of Eden and take a shuttle to Earth.

Takeru is a rather irritating lead, who's quite reckless and quite self centred, despite his ideals of loyalty to his friends. He is also quite naive, and to me was never very convincing to play the role of somebody who is the key to progressing the state of society. To some degree, getting a society to break free of its stern routine would indeed require some amount of recklessness, but other than his drive to find out "more" about the truth of his society's situation, he possesses no particular skill and there is no reason for him to really ever succeed apart from the plot route. I was more interested in the geeky sidekick Biz, who was only ever annoying due to his overly cowardly nature. Obviously Takeru provides the drive and motivation to achieve something, whilst Biz provided the means to do it.

The character Ao was too timid to really have any lasting appeal. Her bond with Takeru doesn't seem very strong in once sense or another. Both characters always seemed like "acquaintances" than anything more. Takeru's affection was obvious, but Ao was just a bit too bland. The bond between best friends Takeru and Kazuma was by far the most interesting and engrossing to watch, but again didn't quite express itself in a more articulate manner.

Character growth and development was always painfully obvious from the start. All the characters relaxed into a not-so-extreme version of themselves by the end of the series, apart from Takeru and Ao who appeared pretty-much unchanged from their initial mindsets.

Value and Enjoyment
This isn't really something I'll be watching again, especially with this review up to remind me. I could perhaps be persuaded if nothing else is around, but that's about it really. The premise of the story is basically what kept me watching the series, rather than the actual content. The lead character is somewhat annoying - making me kind of want to punch him - and the object of his desire and his goals aren't always as easily supported as perhaps they were supposed to be. Overall I kept plodding along with the anime out of curiosity to see where it would end up, but ultimately it wasn't as unpredictable as I would have hoped.

Rate me! This review is based on the Blu-ray fansubs by THORA, and are considered better than the DVDs for transfer and sound. I do not rate any extras that may be found in the production discs. It is considered fair and final.

Quick Take: Freedom is a short 7-OVA series about a utopian but controlled life on the moon, and the three friends who want more life out of the life under a dome.

The title is both the name of what they seek as well as the final answer to the needs of all earth, but to tell you why would be a slight spoiler. There is romance, action, and thrills. It is a masterful work of animation (with some exceptions under character) and the sound is exceptional in 5.1 DTS. The story is strong (though plotholes exist), and the characters are interesting if somewhat stereotyped.

It's an outstanding outing by director Shuhei Morita (Kakurenbo - movie and anime), in that he did the CG effects also, and shows an incremental improvement from his one earlier outing. As a director, he's showing promise for the future of CGI. Freedom has slight violence warnings but should be appropriate for all ages, but ages 13+ might benefit due to adult themes. I highly recommend this award-nominated OVA series.

Animation: I found the animation for this series to be exceptional, with a few exceptions in the action modeling. 3D CGI is used extensively and it's true that there is a lot of interaction between foreground and background. It's evident that 3D models were used throughout, but MOCAP is not as fluid as I would have hoped, and the character actions are cartoonish. It's look and feel is largely like Shrek, but anime-colored. The main complaint I have is the exaggerated movements by main characters Takeru and Biz, and the lack of real-world physics when on the moon (gravity is much less there, yet only once is it evident). For example, when Takeru reacts to something, it's so large a movement as to qualify as overacting. Additionally, the eye coordination is not correct, leading to a slight unease when trying to invest yourself in the character's feeling.

There are extensive mechanicals, and they are very interesting if totally unrealistic. The backgrounds are indeed breathtaking, and so is the transition from foreground to background. Cinematics are inserted occasionally, and there is a moderate attempt to create atmosphere. However, light and shadow (especially on faces) is not handled well at all, again causing a level of unease. I liked the crispness of the animation, and think on the whole it's exceptional, but those areas caused a deduction of 2 points from the 10 it otherwise deserves.

8 points: 9 for technicals plus 1 point for wow factor, and deducting 2 points for overacting character animation, eye coordination, unreal physics and lighting.

Sound: Stellar effort on technicals, soundstage and foley, with a great background music and score for OP/ED. The seiyuu were technically excellent and even moving at parts, and the english voicecast were only a small notch less in energy and dramatic range. In particular, Daisuke Namikawa (Tsubasa Tokyo Revelations as Fay, Black Lagoon as Rock) voices Takeru, and there is a terrific depth to the character voicing that is mostly lacking in the English dub, voiced by Michael Sinterniklaas (Urusei Yatsura as Ataru, Kakurenbo as Hikora). That was the main difference in the two tracks.

Music is indeed interesting, and I liked the techno feel of parts as well as the use of classics. You get a lot of music in the episodes, and the variety is wide. Music Director Yoshihiro Ike (Blood The Last Vampire, Karas, Reideen, Ergo Proxy) does a great job in bringing feelings to the front for every character, and I was quite impressed. The ED is untitled, but the OP is "This Is Love" by Hikaru Utada, and it's done to a nice opening montage.

Both voice tracks are acceptable for viewing, and even though the translations are similar to each other, there are times when the translation is more dynamic than literal. I would rate the Japanese track as a 9 and the English as an 8.5.

Story: The setting is the moon, 100+ years after the space station has fallen to earth, decimating the population, causing environmental disaster, and cutting off the moonbase from earth. The moon has become a paradise, and in fact the main dome is called Eden, home to 3 million residents. It is a perfect society, but perfectly controlled. Three friends are part of the dissenting underclass, and they long for freedom: manic Takeru, competent Kazuma, and gearhead Biz, who is more meek than mild. Takeru races his motorcycle and generally gets himself and friends into trouble, because he's looking for something more than the moon offers. While doing community service for causing fire while racing the bike, he discovers two facts previously hidden: the Earth is not a wasteland, and they have been sending messages in a bottle (rocket) to the moon, complete with pictures. One picture of a girl captures his heart. He wants to find her.

Romance, yes, but not until episode 3. Action, yes, in almost every episode (though the slowest episode is in the middle, proving the adage that it's hard to bring energy to the middle of the story). But the minor difficulty is that it's a quite predictable story from episode 3 onward. The surprises are in the backstory you get for the side characters, and the wacky and unusual characters (some of which are reused, as if they ran out of money modeling). Additionally, some parts are hard to understand: Why create army robots, if you never need to kill anyone? If there is radio, why not just communicate between the moon and earth? Why send people, when electrons are cheaper and easier? And if the Earth is that poor, with no manufacturing base, how can they possibly use parts from a space shuttle that's over 100 years old? These and other plotholes are never shored up.

On the whole, it's a creative and evocative story, with points off for being somewhat predictable and for reusing character models. It's so obvious that Takeru points it out. In fact, if you look at crowd scenes, you'll find some character models are reused often. 8 points for narrative drive, 7 points for side stories, and 6 points for originality.

Character: The stereotyped characters bothered me the most. Takeru is taken wholesale from Akira, and it's a lift that almost looked intentional. However, there is a good amount of backstory given to side characters, yet curiously, not enough given to the main characters. I did not understand the character development/changes introduced to Kazuma, for example, and I didn't see Takeru's manic energy flag at all. What is the motivation of the enemy, and who is it, exactly? Is the enemy a controlled society, or is it the Admiral (introduced only in the last episode), or is it something else?

So, I'd give this a solid 7 for an excellent cast marred by lack of complete character development.

Value and Enjoyment: I thoroughly enjoyed this Blu-ray transfer of this excellent short OVA series. I think the value of the series on rewatch will largely depend on two factors: frustration with character animation, and the predictability of the story. It's a push to call this an exceptional series, but it's a very very good one, so I can say it's worth collecting and re-watching for both the average viewer and the collector. On enjoyment, it will be a while before I watch it again, as I learned only a little about the human condition and did not find any timeless themes to move me. So, I feel a 8 for value and a 8 for enjoyment is appropriate.

Conclusion: an excellent short series of OVAs that have good narrative drive, a strong plot, and some romance and sweetness that comes as a surprise in an action series. Good for the whole family.

Non-ugly 3D CG for a change, which also has a really enjoyable plot to boot.

The first thing one would notice is that the show is nothing like regular CG, like the latest Final Fantasy movies. Fortunately it's also nothing like Cybervenus Fei Fei, or worse – Run=Dim. This show seperates itself from the common crowd by applying an anime-look on the 3D models. If you're afraid of it being a second Platonic Chain, rest assured – things have progressed over the years.

Animation: One step for humanity, but one big leap for animators.

Interaction with other levels
People who've read more reviews from me will probably recognize my monologue whenever I start about how characters should be interacting with the objects in the show itself. A background which looks like it is displayed on a screen behind the character is really bad, for instance. I call that the 2-layer effect: One where the characters and objects are on the characters interact with, and a second layer where the background is displayed on. 3D shows often identify themselves by seperating them clearly, which in my opinion is a terrible decision.

Freedom hardly does that. It tries hard to let the characters interact with all objects in the screen, which gives you depth in the particular scene. It also shows me for the very first time characters who can pick up an object, or handle an object without making it seem like there is some unknown force at the top of their fingers which keeps the distance between fingers and the object at least a few millimeters. This show lets their characters actually grab and push objects as if it was real. It is not flawless, but most of the time it's going really well.

Character design
Above is already enough for me to give it a grand 100 points, for being groundbreaking, but there is much more to say about the animation. The character design, for instance, gives one a feeling of the classic Akira and the facial expressions are often done properly. I admit that their teeth are still shown as if they're having a fake set in – like boxers in the ring – but it's easy to live with it.
Hair is another of those nice things. You're actually seeing the hair flowing, rather than moving, which is really nice to see. But the fact that they wear clothes, which can stretch, wrinkle and bend made me really happy as well. Of course there are still flaws, like how the clothes sometimes seem to be a little too wide for the character inside, but it is still a headstart.

Sound: Good lipsync, fitting voices and fairly good voice actors.

OP/ED
The first thing you hear is the OP-song, which is showing you a mixture of real life scenes, 3D CG models and animated drawn manga-scenes, complete with SFX and all. It's a nice show by itself, which will probably catch the attention of most people when it's been displayed on a bigger screen in a mall or so, but for this show it's really nice. The song which comes with it is very nice too – perhaps a bit too nice, as I've gotten to love it for the pace it comes with.
The ED-song is a mysterious, nearly omnious song which indicates a real big revelation in the next episode and despite the animation being as similar as your Windows Screensaver with tubes, the music works well.

Voice Actors
The voice actors are often casted really well, with a few exceptions. Some voice actors also seem to have some trouble with their role, which is a pity, but most of them are doing a fairly good job. Note that I say fairly, as I don't consider any of them really outstanding.

BGM & SFX
BGM is often done properly, although sometimes it sounds a bit dull or uninspired. It doesn't annoy though, nor does it distract from the events in the show itself, which is good. The SFX are done really well, with motorcycles having really good sounds and even falling objects tend to sound really well. I might be a bit biased here, as I was impressed by a lot, but when a falling object makes you notice the sound, there is something about it as I usually never notice such sounds.

Story: Meager, but really entertaining.

The story is one of the least good aspects of this show, but that's often the case with OVA's and movies. There is not much to say about the story without spoiling much, but there are a few nice plot twists and a couple of nice events. But in general, there are plenty of shows which can do a lot better, like Planetes.

What vouches for the show is that despite having such a meager story, which involves jumps of years at a time between scenes, is that the show never becomes boring. There is always a steady pace and whenever it tends to get boring, it kicks off with another event which gives the pace another boost and keeps you watching again.

And that's what makes the show good: it keeps you watching, even despite the meager plot. The enjoyment factor it contains is simply very high and that makes a good watch, even when what happens isn't all that interesting.

Characters: Focused on the protagonist.

There are plenty of characters in the show, but the show focuses mostly on the protagonist, degrading everyone else to a mere side-character. It doesn't help to develop characters with all the jumps the story makes, which skips years of character development, which results in characters suddenly having been ‘developed’ during the gap. It is easy to say that when comparing the end to the start, all characters have developed, but when noticing that there is a gap of 4-8 years inbetween, it gives you an entirely different idea of them having developed.

The (side)characters aren't unlikeable in the least though and although there are plenty out there who have a small or big role, they are all solid characters with a distinct personality, whether round or flat. In my opinion it's mostly the characters who make the show enjoyable.

Value & Enjoyment: Recommended watch.

Freedom is one of those shows which come along every once in a while and it is a true recommendation. While animation – especially 3D CG – is easily branded as old, this is still a breathtaking accomplishment, which will be around for a few more years. Eventually there'll be plenty of other shows which can do much betteri n a few years, but for the time being, this is the top level.

It isn't worth buying for the sake of rewatching in the future, as there will be plenty of better animated shows by then, and the show simply doesn't have a good enough story to keep rewatching, but for a single watch this is a really nice show.