Freedom: 2 is the second episode in the Freedom OVA series (Original Video Animaton – a series specifically released on DVD and perhaps later to theaters or television). In Japan, the series is already heading into its sixth episode, and we’re only now getting the second one here on HD DVD. It’s actually part of an advertising campaign for Nissin Cup Noodles, but this aspect is subtle enough to not be a distraction.
Aside from the fact that Freedom was the first HD DVD anime in North America, it’s also notable because these are also the first TWIN format discs released here. A TWIN disc has both the HD DVD and DVD layers on the same side. Whereas a traditional combo disc requires you to flip the disc to select formats, on a TWIN disc, you just pop it in, and your HD DVD or DVD player automatically reads the appropriate format.
The last review here was for the venerated Royal Space Force, a classic hand-drawn anime. Freedom is a bit more modern, not only in that its story takes place in the 23rd century, but also in that the artwork is a combination of handmade and computer-generated items. The backgrounds are usually 2D drawings and paintings, but the characters and most objects they interact with are rendered by computer. It all blends together nicely, and you’ve probably already seen this technique used in non-anime movies by now.
The Freedom: 2 story picks up where the last episode left off. Humans established the Moon community of Eden after the Earth became uninhabitable. Fifteen year old Takeru finds a photograph of a girl while venturing out on the lunar surface, and he’s immediately smitten, vowing to find her. Takeru enlists the help of his buddies, but she’s nowhere to be found anywhere on Eden.
They turn to Alan, an old-school astronaut from the space program days on Earth. Alan identifies the launch pad in the picture’s background and suggests
that this girl is from Earth and the photograph was sent from there. It turns out that Eden’s governing council has been keeping Earth’s status a secret from its citizens, and thus begins the major storyline in the Freedom series… to be continued in episodes 3 and beyond of course.
Like the episode before it, this one’s also pretty short at under 30 minutes. The 1080p VC-1 encoding is pretty darned good and picture quality is really nice. I had mentioned that Royal Space Force had some issues with a dirty film print in a few spots, but that’s not even a concern with Freedom which appears to have been a digital production all the way.
Audio is Dolby Digital Plus, in Japanese only with English subtitles. The other option is 2-channel PCM (also in Japanese), which sounds more powerful, but lacks the surround aspect. Sound design is great in the action footage of vehicles buzzing around, although I think there’s less action in this episode than others.
This is a fully HDi-compliant disc featuring the expected live menus, and a pretty cool “how it’s made” picture-in-picture presentation where you can see the computer rendered artwork before it was overlaid on the 2D backgrounds. Sort of like in 300 where you can see the movie against a blue-screen before the effects went in. There are numerous options for the PIP window, including size and transparency, as well as a side-by-side view.
Going online allows you to download a trailer for the previous episode and also a short TV commercial for this one. There’s an additional online bonus to be made available on the disc’s street date of September 25 which I’ll report on once it’s out.
Here’s a high-resolution trailer for the series with English subtitles. It should give you a good idea about the art and graphics to expect in the series:
- Series Trailer at Bandai Visual
And a YouTube video of something similar:
(click here if the video is not visible above)
I watched this episode a couple of times, and my kids enjoyed it a lot. The problem with joining this series is that I’m hooked now and curious to see where the story goes. HD DVD anime titles are few (this is the third available in North America), and I’m not savoring the wait for the next episode. Commercials for the next few episodes over at the Japanese Freedom site look promising:
- Freedom: 3 commercial
- Freedom: 4 commercial
YouTube video of an Episode 4 promo:
(click here if the video is not visible above)
Note: these future episodes have not yet been announced for HD DVD release here, and the links above are only provided to give you a feel for the series.
- Freedom Volume 2 at Amazon
