Freedom

[RavenHawk]

Apparently it's been out for a good year now, but I had never heard of it. Anyone here familiar with "Freedom?"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rEGMe-uniU...player_embedded

Here is what I found about it:

Anime: Freedom.

picts via: Neotype

Freedom Project is a Japanese promotional project by Nissin Cup Noodles for their 35th anniversary in 2006. As part of the project, the 7-part OVA series, titled Freedom, was commissioned with Katsuhiro Otomo of Akira serving as the character and mecha designer. The series openly flaunts product placement of the corporate sponsor in numerous scenes where characters are shown consuming Nissin Cup Noodles.

In the year 2041, mankind created their first space colony on the moon. But after a freak cataclysm devastated human civilisation on Earth, the republic of the moon built a domed megalopolis known as Eden. Now in the year 2267, a boy called Takeru spends his time engaging in illegal motorcycle races against rival street gangs, unaware that he is about to embark in the journey of unearthing Eden's origin.

[Vostok 7]

Sounds like someone mixed Mospeada and Megazone and maybe a tiny bit of Gundam in to one show

Vostok 7

[Keith]

Haven't seen it, but right now rightstuf has the bluray box for 79.99, which is insanely cheap for what iti s.

[miles316]

Sounds cool.

[RavenHawk]

Soon as I free up some space on my laptop, I'm going to download an episode or two. See if it's any good before I go buying a boxed set.

EDIT:

Considering the Akira lineage, I'm surprised more people haven't heard of it.

Edited April 9, 2009 by RavenHawk

[Ignacio Ocamica]

It's great, you should definitely check it out!!!!

It's a 6 Part OVA, and yes, the story is set 300 years in the future, when Earth has become uninhabitable (that's what everybody is told) and humanity is restricted to the lunar megalopolis of Eden.

I have the box set and it's totally awesome.

Edited April 9, 2009 by Ignacio Ocamica

[RavenHawk]

It's great, you should definitely check it out!!!!

It's a 6 Part OVA, and yes, the story is set 300 years in the future, when Earth has become uninhabitable (that's what everybody is told) and humanity is restricted to the lunar megalopolis of Eden.

I have the box set and it's totally awesome.

Almost have enough space freed up to start downloading... so close...

So, from what you said, this is sounding more and more like Megazone 23.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Mini review (not mine), it doesn't say much but I hope you get hooked up :

Episode 1 introduces us to the characters and life within the city on the moon. It ends with a our main character finding a photo on the surface of the moon. That's all it took really. From there I was hooked. Who was the girl in the photo? Why was it there?

Episode 2 investigates more into possible sources of the photo and gives a better look into how this moon society is is managed by the people in charge.

Episode 3 I can not say more without giving too much away!!!

Give it a try!! The visuals for Freedom are amazing. Don't expect transformable mecha scenes, a lot of the bike scenes were created as if they were paying homage to “Akira". The futuristic backgrounds are really top notch and extremely detailed!!!

Will see it again tonight after my surfing session (the waves are great today in the south atlantic ). Can't remeber if it's 6 or 7 parts

[the white drew carey]

Why yes, yes I have.

I got the blu-ray set for Christmas and begged my wife to let me at least watch the first episode. She got so hooked we ended up watching the whole thing.

The ending is a bit too abrupt and cliche, but its still pretty damn fun. We made a drinking game where you drank whenever Cup Noodles were on the screen, and chugged when someone holds up the cup noodles like a chalice or something. Awesome.

[RavenHawk]

Ok, I REALLY can't wait to see this.

[Renato]

I have wondered why this never got any attention on these boards ever since it was released. I would have thought it was a no-brainer.

Yeah, I saw the whole thing ages ago and it's pretty cool, has a nice funky Hikaru Utada song, too (she manages to make one good kickass song for every three hundred crappy ballads she churns out, and it's great that this is one of the goodies).

As with a lot of shows, though, the middle drags on and then ending just seems rushed.

Not Megazone by any means, and no real "memorable" moments, but definitely worth checking out. Also, try to watch the "making of" documentary stuff, that's probably even more interesting!

[jwinges]

When I was at the Tokyo anime festival they had a full scale racer from Freedom there. Was cool as all heck. The series is pretty good. Personally I like it better then megazone 23.

[drifand]

Read somewhere that the series turned out at least respectable because it was handed over to the young creative duo who made the award winning short KAKURENBO (Hide & Seek). Otomo only provided the designs and story premise. I think after Steam Boy, Otomo is spent as a director.

[wolfx]

Read somewhere that the series turned out at least respectable because it was handed over to the young creative duo who made the award winning short KAKURENBO (Hide & Seek). Otomo only provided the designs and story premise. I think after Steam Boy, Otomo is spent as a director.

I didn't even liked his Steam Boy, apart from the eye candy of course.

[REbirth]

If I enjoy Akira (the anime movie, not the manga), will I enjoy this?

Will watch this when all the shows this season are over.

Edited April 11, 2009 by REbirth

[novaflo]

any variable bikes in this series??..or just bikes?

[RavenHawk]

Just finished this (7 parts, with part 7 being double length).

This was REALLY good. Very very well done.

Highly reminiscent of Akira due to the character designs and the heavy use of futuristic motorcycles and trikes and bike gangs, but totally different from Akira in tone. Throughout, there is a sense of hope and joy in being alive.

This, to me, is what scifi anime should be. A mature, well told story, that, by being animated, can show and tell the kind of things that live action can't afford to do special effects of.

[Ignacio Ocamica]

Glad you liked it

Freedom is a great OVA, nothing new or revolutionary but as you said, a well told story with great visuals!!!

[Keith]

Just watched the first 2 episodes earlier, also liking it so far, I suggest anyone interested pick up the bluray before its gone.

[peter]

Back from the dead, haha! Has anyone watch this recently? It's killing me to find eng subs for it. Yeah, I know, there's an eng dub version in BD, but I really just want to watch it in Japanese with Eng subs, anyone here point me in the right direction?

[Keith]

Back from the dead, haha! Has anyone watch this recently? It's killing me to find eng subs for it. Yeah, I know, there's an eng dub version in BD, but I really just want to watch it in Japanese with Eng subs, anyone here point me in the right direction?

Psst, the BD also has the oriignal Japanese with english subtitles. As does the R1 DVD release.

[Fly4victory]

119 in Canada, 99 in the US, and 19 in the UK????

Need to get a British PS3 so can get this and Doctor Who on the cheep.

[peter]

Psst, the BD also has the oriignal Japanese with english subtitles. As does the R1 DVD release.

Yeah, I suppose I'll have to buy the BD. I can't seem to get the subs to work with VLC with the version I acquired.

[ps99042]

Let me chime in as well and say this series was awesome! Animation was spectucular and story had me hooked. I was one of those that got duped into buying all 6 HD-DVD/DVD hybrids with the art cards back before blu-ray won out. They never released episode 7 since I guess they weren't selling well at $50 a disc or so. Thus, I ended up buying the blu-ray set. My only problem now is what to do with the HD-DVDs...

[Tober]

119 in Canada, 99 in the US, and 19 in the UK????

Need to get a British PS3 so can get this and Doctor Who on the cheep.

Looks like it's $40 down here. MADMAN

I thought blu-ray is region free... And most TVs are multi-synch...

[the white drew carey]

Yeah, i picked up the BR set when it came out. Watched it over a weekend with the missus who really enjoyed it.

My wife asks why more anime can't be like that... sigh.

[Fly4victory]

Looks like it's $40 down here. MADMAN

I thought blu-ray is region free... And most TVs are multi-synch...

Blu-ray may be region coded seems that not all are. You are in the Europe/Australia/Africa/Greenland region B. I am in the Asia/North America region A.

Sometimes it worth the risk trying it out to see if the maker region blocked the disk based on the different release date or prices.

I rolled the dice on a UK copy of Downton Abby and it didn't work on my North America PS3.

There are software work-arounds but I don't want to mess with my PS3.

[Keith]

bluray is still region coded, but the regions are a lot broader. North America & Japan for instance are region A, the UK/Franch/Australia are Region B (not sure where else that expands), and so forth. I'm sure maps of the region seperation are easily searchable. As for being multi-imput, that still depends on your hardware (not all bluray players do the conversion for you). Problems usually pop up there when European studio's use the older PAL framerates. As usual, it's always best to research a release before you purchase, but from my experience all Madman disc's are usually locked to region B.

[Tober]

Thanks for the info Fly4victory and Keith. I thought they did away with region-locking with blu-ray, evidently not...

[the white drew carey]

bluray is still region coded, but the regions are a lot broader. North America & Japan for instance are region A, the UK/Franch/Australia are Region B (not sure where else that expands), and so forth. I'm sure maps of the region seperation are easily searchable. As for being multi-imput, that still depends on your hardware (not all bluray players do the conversion for you). Problems usually pop up there when European studio's use the older PAL framerates. As usual, it's always best to research a release before you purchase, but from my experience all Madman disc's are usually locked to region B.

Yeah, some studios don't region code their BRs. My Freedom box set, purchased in the USA, runs just fine on my European PS3. Also, sometimes a movie is region-coded depending on where you buy it (example, the Game of Thrones Season 1 box set for France is region locked, but the box set for the UK is region-free.

[Keith]

Yeah, some studios don't region code their BRs. My Freedom box set, purchased in the USA, runs just fine on my European PS3. Also, sometimes a movie is region-coded depending on where you buy it (example, the Game of Thrones Season 1 box set for France is region locked, but the box set for the UK is region-free.

And sometimes releases aren't region locked at all but use funky PAL encoding just to f^ck with everyone, like the french release of Caprica.