Freedom Project
Encyclopedia
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 and designed by Katsuhiro Otomo
(of the anime film Steamboy
and the manga Akira
and its film adaptation
) serving as the character and mecha
designer. The series is directed by Shuhei Morita, creator of the award-winning animation short Kakurenbo
, and is authored by celebrated writer Dai Sato
, Katsuhiko Chiba and Yuuichi Nomura. The series openly displays its sponsor's product placement
in numerous scenes in which characters are shown consuming Nissin Cup Noodles.
The OVA is animated and produced by Sunrise
and distributed by Bandai Visual
. It is being distributed in North America by Bandai Visual USA. "Freedom Committee" is the collective term used for the entire creative team behind Freedom, which includes animators and production staff members who have previously worked on Steamboy
.
The theme song for the series, titled "This is Love", is performed by popular Japanese pop singer Utada Hikaru
. A second song, Kiss & Cry, Utada Hikaru
's 19th Japanese single, was used for Nissin's 5th television commercial for Freedom, which began airing in Japan from 20 April 2007.
Civilization
on the Earth was destroyed by a permanent abnormal climate shift. Cities with millions of people had been built on the far side of the Moon and became the only place where humanity still survived. The remaining population declared the foundation of Republic Eden, then set forth expanding those lunar colonies that loved peace and freedom.
More than 160 years have passed since then. In Eden
, children complete their compulsory education program when they are 15-years-old. They are then integrated into the society as citizens. During their brief moratorium they are granted freedom. Like other boys, Takeru decides to take part in a race with his friends using machines particular to the moon, called “Vehicle”. But what distinguishes Takeru is that he has constructed his own vehicle. When his vehicle catches fire on a public road he is sentenced to 10 hours of "volunteer" work outside the dome, where he discovers the remains of a small crashed capsule bearing photographs and articles seemingly sent from Earth. Structures visible in the background identify the location they were taken as the Kennedy launch facility in Florida.
Infatuated with a young woman in the photograph, Takeru attempts to research conditions on Earth and finds that the library's information on the home planet is heavily censored. Furthermore, nobody is permitted to travel far enough from the dome over the lunar surface to get within visual range. He discovers a small enclave of people living in a facility outside of Eden's centralized control, and after befriending the enclave's leader is given access to a moon rover with sufficient range to get a view of Earth. He sees that the Earth is blue; it has recovered from the disaster that befell it and is now habitable again. The authorities of Eden pursue Takeru, attempting to suppress this discovery, but Takeru and his friend Bismack manage to commandeer an old 'escape' rocket and leave Eden to explore Earth first hand.
The escape rocket's capsule comes down slightly off course, landing in the ruins of Las Vegas, and Takeru and Bismarck use Takeru's vehicle to make the overland trek across the United States.
that came free with the purchase of Freedom 1, among tie-ins with other retailers. Although Freedom Project is a direct-to-video (DVD) animation, it stands apart from conventional OVA series first by the involvement of Otomo, and also from the collaboration with Nissin Cup Noodles resulting in extensive TV advertising scheduled to run through the duration of the series until its conclusion with Freedom 6.
Publicity for the series began April 11, 2006, with large banners and posters featuring concept sketches of the lead characters Takeru, Kazuma and their vehicles lining Tokyo's busiest train stations, such as Shibuya
and Shinjuku
— the latter being the busiest railway station in the world with 3 million transiting passengers every day. These initial pencil-work posters were later replaced by fully coloured, CG created versions with finished background art, giving the effect of a work-in-progress animation piece being completed.
At the same time, 30-second television spots were shown on TV — short trailers providing a glimpse of the story to unfold in Freedom 1. The 5th advertising spot is currently being shown on Japanese television[April 20th, 2007] , and reveals major plot advances from Freedom 3. Some of these spots were made available on the limited-edition Freedom Previsited DVD (see release notes below).
A special Freedom Project page, a collaboration between Yahoo! Japan
and Nissin, will also stream every episode of the series one week before its DVD release date.
Print ads showcasing Katsuhiro Otomo's sketches for the OVA were also released in magazines nation-wide. Shortly before the Freedom 1 DVD release, many popular media, manga and animation magazines ran articles for the OVA, featuring mecha design descriptions and interviews with staff members.
The largely successful publicity campaign for Freedom Project was very well-received by fans of Katsuhiro Otomo and animation fans in Japan, who saw him returning to his strengths of designing stylish mecha and memorable characters.
It seemed that Otomo was concerned with the production of this work overall and was the director at first, but was over for participation only for character and mechanic design after all.
According to the announcement of Nissin side, nonparticipation of Otomo is on schedule, Otomo confesses having resigned this work, or has refused the comment with some magazines.
Twin format, with each disc being single-sided with dual layers, one HD DVD layer and one DVD layer. The first episode, Freedom 1, was released on June 26, 2007, followed by Freedom 2 on September 25, 2007, Freedom 3 on December 11, 2007, Freedom 4 on February 26, 2008, Freedom 5 on April 22, 2008, and Freedom 6 on June 24, 2008.
Freedom 7 had been planned for an August 2008 release, but as a result of Toshiba
ceasing production of the HD DVD format in February 2008, the release was canceled. Freedom 6 was the final title to be released in HD DVD
.
and English subtitles.
has published several books related to the Freedom franchise under its Gagaga books line up.
is a series of 3 novels which follows Kazuma's, one of the main characters, side of the story. It is a side-story that runs parallel to the main storyline, and also introduces characters not seen in the anime (ISBN 9784094510072, ISBN 9784094510386, ISBN 9784094510676).
Freedom Scenarios delves into the making of the anime OVA series. It is written in Japanese and divided into 2 books, 0-3 and 4-7 respectively. Both books contain scenarios (the script for each episode), interviews with writers, production crew, voice actors, concept and production art, and a detailed encyclopedia for terms related to Freedom (ISBN 9784091064103, ISBN 9784091064172).
Cup noodles
Cup Noodles is a brand of instant ramen noodle snack manufactured by Nissin, packaged in a polyethylene foam, hard plastic or paper cup. The product is known for being inexpensive and easy to prepare...
for their 35th anniversary in 2006. As part of the project, the 7-part OVA
Original video animation
, abbreviated as media , are animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats. The term originated in relation to Japanese animation...
series, titled Freedom, was commissioned with and designed by Katsuhiro Otomo
Katsuhiro Otomo
is a Japanese comic book creator, screenwriter and film director. He is best known as the creator of the manga Akira and its animated film adaptation. Otomo has also directed several live-action films, such as the 2006 feature film adaptation of the manga Mushishi.-Biography:Katsuhiro Otomo was...
(of the anime film Steamboy
Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
and the manga Akira
Akira (manga)
is a manga series by Katsuhiro Otomo. Set in a post-apocalyptic Neo-Tokyo, the work uses conventions of the cyberpunk genre to detail a saga of turmoil. Initially serialized in the pages of Young Magazine from 1982 until 1990, the work was collected in six volumes by Japanese publisher Kodansha...
and its film adaptation
Akira (film)
is a 1988 Japanese animated cyberpunk science fiction film directed by Katsuhiro Otomo, written by Otomo and Izo Hashimoto, and starring the voices of Mitsuo Iwata, Nozomu Sasaki, Mami Koyama and Taro Ishida. The screenplay is based on Otomo's manga Akira....
) serving as the character and mecha
Mecha
A mech , is a science fiction term for a large walking bipedal tank or robot, including ones on treads and animal shapes.-Characteristics:...
designer. The series is directed by Shuhei Morita, creator of the award-winning animation short Kakurenbo
Kakurenbo
is a Japanese cel-shaded anime short film written and directed by Shuuhei Morita.The film is based around "Otokoyo", a game of hide and seek played by children, wearing fox masks, near the ruins of an abandoned old city. The children who play this disappear, believed to be spirited away by demons...
, and is authored by celebrated writer Dai Sato
Dai Sato
is a Japanese screenwriter and musician.Having begun scriptwriting at a young age and writing scripts for various companies, Satō later focused his attention on writing for anime series...
, Katsuhiko Chiba and Yuuichi Nomura. The series openly displays its sponsor's product placement
Product placement
Product placement, or embedded marketing, is a form of advertisement, where branded goods or services are placed in a context usually devoid of ads, such as movies, music videos, the story line of television shows, or news programs. The product placement is often not disclosed at the time that the...
in numerous scenes in which characters are shown consuming Nissin Cup Noodles.
The OVA is animated and produced by Sunrise
Sunrise (company)
is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise. It is a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings. Its former name was Nippon Sunrise, and prior to that, Sunrise Studios...
and distributed by Bandai Visual
Bandai Visual
, is a Japanese anime, film production and distribution enterprise, established by Bandai Co., Ltd. and a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Holdings, Inc., which is based in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Since the reorganisation of Namco Bandai Holdings in 2006, Bandai Visual now heads the group's Visual and...
. It is being distributed in North America by Bandai Visual USA. "Freedom Committee" is the collective term used for the entire creative team behind Freedom, which includes animators and production staff members who have previously worked on Steamboy
Steamboy
is a 2004 Japanese animated steampunk film, produced by Sunrise, and directed and co-written by Katsuhiro Otomo, his second major anime release, following Akira. The film was released in Japan on July 17, 2004. Steamboy is the most expensive full length Japanese animated movie made to date...
.
The theme song for the series, titled "This is Love", is performed by popular Japanese pop singer Utada Hikaru
Utada Hikaru
, known by her stage name Utada in America and Europe, is a Japanese-American singer, song writer, arranger, and producer. Since the release of her Japanese debut album First Love, which went on to become the best-selling album in Oricon history, Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums...
. A second song, Kiss & Cry, Utada Hikaru
Utada Hikaru
, known by her stage name Utada in America and Europe, is a Japanese-American singer, song writer, arranger, and producer. Since the release of her Japanese debut album First Love, which went on to become the best-selling album in Oricon history, Utada has had three of her Japanese studio albums...
's 19th Japanese single, was used for Nissin's 5th television commercial for Freedom, which began airing in Japan from 20 April 2007.
Plot
Freedom Project is about a child, Takeru, discovering a secret that could change the very society he depends upon.Civilization
Civilization
Civilization is a sometimes controversial term that has been used in several related ways. Primarily, the term has been used to refer to the material and instrumental side of human cultures that are complex in terms of technology, science, and division of labor. Such civilizations are generally...
on the Earth was destroyed by a permanent abnormal climate shift. Cities with millions of people had been built on the far side of the Moon and became the only place where humanity still survived. The remaining population declared the foundation of Republic Eden, then set forth expanding those lunar colonies that loved peace and freedom.
More than 160 years have passed since then. In Eden
Eden
Eden may refer to:* Garden of Eden, a place described in the biblical book of Genesis-Film and television:* Eden , a character from the Aladdin television series...
, children complete their compulsory education program when they are 15-years-old. They are then integrated into the society as citizens. During their brief moratorium they are granted freedom. Like other boys, Takeru decides to take part in a race with his friends using machines particular to the moon, called “Vehicle”. But what distinguishes Takeru is that he has constructed his own vehicle. When his vehicle catches fire on a public road he is sentenced to 10 hours of "volunteer" work outside the dome, where he discovers the remains of a small crashed capsule bearing photographs and articles seemingly sent from Earth. Structures visible in the background identify the location they were taken as the Kennedy launch facility in Florida.
Infatuated with a young woman in the photograph, Takeru attempts to research conditions on Earth and finds that the library's information on the home planet is heavily censored. Furthermore, nobody is permitted to travel far enough from the dome over the lunar surface to get within visual range. He discovers a small enclave of people living in a facility outside of Eden's centralized control, and after befriending the enclave's leader is given access to a moon rover with sufficient range to get a view of Earth. He sees that the Earth is blue; it has recovered from the disaster that befell it and is now habitable again. The authorities of Eden pursue Takeru, attempting to suppress this discovery, but Takeru and his friend Bismack manage to commandeer an old 'escape' rocket and leave Eden to explore Earth first hand.
The escape rocket's capsule comes down slightly off course, landing in the ruins of Las Vegas, and Takeru and Bismarck use Takeru's vehicle to make the overland trek across the United States.
Characters
- Takeru — Age: 15 Height: 170 cm A third-generation moon-dweller with a big appetite for Cup Noodles, Takeru has a warm and cheerful personality but is somewhat shy with girls. Takeru has a fascination for visiting the Earth. (Voiced by Daisuke NamikawaDaisuke Namikawais a Japanese voice actor who is affiliated with Across Entertainment.He started acting in 1984. He is sometimes mistaken for fellow voice actor Daisuke Hirakawa, as their names only differ by one character when written in kanji. Despite his wide range of voice casting, he is usually cast as young,...
(Japanese) and Mike Sinterniklaas (English))
- Kazuma — Age: 15 Height: 175 cm A close friend of Takeru, Kazuma is the quiet and cool type. He has a younger sister Chiyo. (Voiced by Morikubo Shotaro (Japanese) and Johnny Yong BoschJohnny Yong BoschJohnny Yong Bosch is an American actor, voice actor, martial artist, and musician.He may be best known for portraying Adam Park in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, and being the English voice of Ichigo Kurosaki in the hit anime series Bleach, Vash the Stampede in Trigun and Lelouch Lamperouge in Code...
(English))
- Bismarck — Age: 15 Height: 160 cm Close friends with Takeru and Kazuma, Bismarck has an introverted nature. He is called Biz by his friends. Although not an accomplished rider, he is an ace with vehicle mechanics. (Voiced by Kappei YamaguchiKappei Yamaguchi, better known by his stage name of , is a Japanese voice actor and actor from Fukuoka, affiliated with Gokū and 21st Century Fox.He is best known for the roles of Ranma Saotome , Jackson Neil , Tombo , Yattaro , InuYasha , Ryuichi Sakuma , L , Usopp...
(Japanese) and Robby Sharpe (English))
- Taira — Age: 15 Height: 171 cm A Tube Race rival that Takeru met and lost out to in Freedom 1. Taira is an extremely accomplished rider and leader of the Tube Racers group called Moon Shine. (Voiced by Takuya KirimotoTakuya Kirimotois a Japanese voice actor and actor. He is a graduate of Meijo University.-Anime:* Bleach as Saito Eikichiro* Darker than Black as Amagiri* Death Note as Aiber* Eyeshield 21 as Agon Kongo* Kamisama Dolls as Kyousuke Karahari...
(Japanese) and Greg Abbey (English))
- Junk — The owner of Moonraker, a garage found in Eden. This was where Takeru's vehicle was repaired and modified in preparation for the Tube Race in Freedom 1.
- Alan — A senior member of Freedom living in the subterranean levels of Eden's domes. He provides the high-powered engine for Takeru's damaged vehicle after his disastrous challenge with Taira. Alan also dons an Apollo jacket similar to the one worn by Takeru. His name is likely a reference to US Astronaut Alan ShepardAlan ShepardAlan Bartlett Shepard, Jr. was an American naval aviator, test pilot, flag officer, and NASA astronaut who in 1961 became the second person, and the first American, in space. This Mercury flight was designed to enter space, but not to achieve orbit...
. (Voiced by Seizō Katō (Japanese) and William Frederick KnightWilliam Frederick KnightWilliam Frederick Knight, sometimes credited as William Knight, William Frederick, or Frederick Knight, is a voice actor who has lent his voice to the English dubs of many anime series and several video games...
(English))
- Ao - The woman in the photo that Takeru is trying to find. (Voiced by Sanae KobayashiSanae Kobayashiis a voice actress who was born in Shizuoka Prefecture. She is affiliated with Production Baobab.-Television Animation:*.hack//Liminality as Mai Minase*.hack//Roots as Ender*.hack//Roots as Pi...
(Japanese) and Stephanie ShehStephanie ShehStephanie Ru-Phan Sheh is a Chinese-American voice actress, a writer, and a story editor who has worked for Geneon Entertainment, Bang Zoom! Entertainment, Bandai Entertainment, Media Blasters, NYAV Post, FUNimation Entertainment, and Viz Media...
(English))
- Chiyo — Kazuma's younger sister.
- Gosshu — A member of Moon Shine.
- Naomi — A member of Moon Shine.
Marketing
As with most other major film and animation releases in Japan, a wide array of promotional merchandise was marketed before and during the OVA's release, including Nissin Cup Noodles with lead character Takeru printed on the lid, small desktop figurines, a 4 flavours Nissin Cup Noodles bundled Freedom DVD gift set, a limited Nissin Cup Noodle container and badges designed by video rental outlet TsutayaTsutaya
Tsutaya is a Japanese word referring to a number of people and businesses. It is usually written 蔦屋, meaning "ivy shop".people*Tsutaya Jūzaburō , woodblock publisher of ukiyo-e and popular illustrated books.companies...
that came free with the purchase of Freedom 1, among tie-ins with other retailers. Although Freedom Project is a direct-to-video (DVD) animation, it stands apart from conventional OVA series first by the involvement of Otomo, and also from the collaboration with Nissin Cup Noodles resulting in extensive TV advertising scheduled to run through the duration of the series until its conclusion with Freedom 6.
Publicity for the series began April 11, 2006, with large banners and posters featuring concept sketches of the lead characters Takeru, Kazuma and their vehicles lining Tokyo's busiest train stations, such as Shibuya
Shibuya Station
is a train station located in Shibuya, Tokyo, Japan. With 2.4 million passengers on an average weekday in 2004, it is the fourth-busiest commuter rail station in Japan handling a large amount of commuter traffic between the center city and suburbs to the south and west.-JR East:*Saikyō Line /...
and Shinjuku
Shinjuku Station
is a train station located in Shinjuku and Shibuya wards in Tokyo, Japan.Serving as the main connecting hub for rail traffic between central Tokyo and its western suburbs on inter-city rail, commuter rail and metro lines, the station was used by an average of 3.64 million people per day in 2007,...
— the latter being the busiest railway station in the world with 3 million transiting passengers every day. These initial pencil-work posters were later replaced by fully coloured, CG created versions with finished background art, giving the effect of a work-in-progress animation piece being completed.
At the same time, 30-second television spots were shown on TV — short trailers providing a glimpse of the story to unfold in Freedom 1. The 5th advertising spot is currently being shown on Japanese television
A special Freedom Project page, a collaboration between Yahoo! Japan
Yahoo! Japan
is a Japanese internet company formed as a joint venture between the American internet company Yahoo! and the Japanese internet company SoftBank. It is headquartered at Midtown Tower in the Tokyo Midtown complex in Akasaka, Minato, Tokyo.-History:...
and Nissin, will also stream every episode of the series one week before its DVD release date.
Print ads showcasing Katsuhiro Otomo's sketches for the OVA were also released in magazines nation-wide. Shortly before the Freedom 1 DVD release, many popular media, manga and animation magazines ran articles for the OVA, featuring mecha design descriptions and interviews with staff members.
The largely successful publicity campaign for Freedom Project was very well-received by fans of Katsuhiro Otomo and animation fans in Japan, who saw him returning to his strengths of designing stylish mecha and memorable characters.
It seemed that Otomo was concerned with the production of this work overall and was the director at first, but was over for participation only for character and mechanic design after all.
According to the announcement of Nissin side, nonparticipation of Otomo is on schedule, Otomo confesses having resigned this work, or has refused the comment with some magazines.
DVD
Freedom Previsited, a special limited-edition DVD, was released on October 27, 2006, features a 6-minute prologue of Freedom as well as various staff interviews. Freedom 1, the first episode from the series, was released on DVD on November 24, 2006, followed by Freedom 2 on February 23, 2007, Freedom 3 on April 25, 2007, Freedom 4 on July 27, 2007, Freedom 5 on October 26, 2007, Freedom 6 on January 25, 2008, and Freedom 7 on May 23, 2008.HD DVD release
On January 9, 2007, Bandai Visual announced Freedom Project as a title in its first wave of sub-only releases on the HD DVDHD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
Twin format, with each disc being single-sided with dual layers, one HD DVD layer and one DVD layer. The first episode, Freedom 1, was released on June 26, 2007, followed by Freedom 2 on September 25, 2007, Freedom 3 on December 11, 2007, Freedom 4 on February 26, 2008, Freedom 5 on April 22, 2008, and Freedom 6 on June 24, 2008.
Freedom 7 had been planned for an August 2008 release, but as a result of Toshiba
Toshiba
is a multinational electronics and electrical equipment corporation headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. It is a diversified manufacturer and marketer of electrical products, spanning information & communications equipment and systems, Internet-based solutions and services, electronic components and...
ceasing production of the HD DVD format in February 2008, the release was canceled. Freedom 6 was the final title to be released in HD DVD
HD DVD
HD DVD is a discontinued high-density optical disc format for storing data and high-definition video.Supported principally by Toshiba, HD DVD was envisioned to be the successor to the standard DVD format...
.
Blu-Ray release
Bandai Visual released a Blu-Ray box set of all 7 episodes on November 11, 2008, complete with English DubDubbing (filmmaking)
Dubbing is the post-production process of recording and replacing voices on a motion picture or television soundtrack subsequent to the original shooting. The term most commonly refers to the substitution of the voices of the actors shown on the screen by those of different performers, who may be...
and English subtitles.
Books
ShogakukanShogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, manga, non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan.Shogakukan founded Shueisha which founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hitotsubashi Group, one of the largest publishing groups in Japan...
has published several books related to the Freedom franchise under its Gagaga books line up.
is a series of 3 novels which follows Kazuma's, one of the main characters, side of the story. It is a side-story that runs parallel to the main storyline, and also introduces characters not seen in the anime (ISBN 9784094510072, ISBN 9784094510386, ISBN 9784094510676).
Freedom Scenarios delves into the making of the anime OVA series. It is written in Japanese and divided into 2 books, 0-3 and 4-7 respectively. Both books contain scenarios (the script for each episode), interviews with writers, production crew, voice actors, concept and production art, and a detailed encyclopedia for terms related to Freedom (ISBN 9784091064103, ISBN 9784091064172).