Director Fukuda’s Surprise Brings Rie Tanaka to Tears! Official Report from the Stage Greeting of Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM Celebrating Lacus' Birthday

An official report has arrived from the Mobile Suit Gundam SEED FREEDOM Lacus Clyne Birthday Celebration Stage Greeting" event, held on Sunday, February 4th at Shinjuku Piccadilly in Tokyo.

At the stage greeting, Rie Tanaka (Lacus' voice actress), Soichiro Hoshi (Kira's voice actor), and Hiro Shimono (Orphee' voice actor) appeared. Additionally, director Mitsuo Fukuda made a surprise appearance, bringing Tanaka to tears.

Let's dive into the official report.

In just nine days since its release, the film has attracted 1.12 million viewers and grossed over 1.8 billion yen, continuously breaking records. In the midst of this tremendous success, a stage greeting was held on Sunday, February 4th, at Shinjuku Piccadilly to celebrate Lacus Clyne's birthday, which falls on February 5th.

As the crowd, which had gathered to celebrate her birthday, filled the venue, Rie Tanaka (voice of Lacus Clyne), Soichiro Hoshi (voice of Kira Yamato), and Hiro Shimono (voice of Orphee Lam Tao) appeared on stage. Each of them gave a greeting, and the stage event began.

Rie Tanaka greeted the audience with, "I’m Rie Tanaka, the voice of Lacus Clyne. Thank you for being here," to which the crowd responded with cheers of "Happy Birthday, Lacus!"
Soichiro Hoshi followed with, "I’m Soichiro Hoshi, the voice of Kira Yamato, here for Lacus’ birthday celebration. Let’s celebrate today—spoiler alert incoming! Please enjoy!" He then joked about the relationship between Kira and Lacus. Hiro Shimono added humor, remarking, "Are we competing for Lacus today?" leading Hoshi to play along, saying, "Let's keep it peaceful today. Maybe next time we can have a brawl!"

Questions about Lacus were the main focus of the discussion. Tanaka, speaking about the relationship between Lacus and Kira in the film, emphasized, "They’re practically engaged, right? They’re old enough to get married, don’t you think?" Hoshi, feeling the pressure, responded nervously, "Well, maybe it wasn’t fully depicted in SEED DESTINY, but the director always said that nothing really happened between them!"

Regarding the new character in this film, Orphee Lam Tao, who was shrouded in mystery, Shimono revealed that Orphee was a character who was born alongside Lacus and strongly desired Lacus for himself. Reflecting on his role, Shimono admitted, “It became much easier for me to talk about him once I was allowed to reveal the love triangle between Lacus, Kira, and Orphee is a main focus. I was frustrated at the mystery surrounding my character, but I’m happy that Orphee brought the protagonists of SEED closer together. I think Orphee grew as a character due to the challenges presented by Kira and Lacus."

Tanaka reflected on the line "You don't love someone because they're needed, you need someone because you love them." from Lacus as a symbol of the film's theme of love. She said, "This line was moving, regardless of animation. I tried my best to convey it to Orphee while crying during recording sessions." Shimono also commented on Orphee' rejection by Lacus, saying he didn’t expect such a strong refusal and that it was quite shocking for his character. Tanaka added, "I was really surprised too! Orphee... was touching her, wasn’t he?" to which Shimono denied any inappropriate touching, though he joked about similar scenes in SEED. Hoshi played along, leading to laughter in the venue.
Regarding the recording of the scene, Tanaka remembered, "After Orphee left the room, Lacus cried. Although she appeared resolute, I think she was truly scared. I put my best effort into acting out that very sad scene."

A surprise letter from Director Fukuda to Tanaka was read aloud by the MC.

As Tanaka was moved to tears by the heartfelt letter, the audience was touched by the sight. Director Fukuda made a surprise appearance to directly celebrate Lacus and Orphee, presenting bouquets to Tanaka and Shimono. Fukuda commented, "The letter became longer as I got carried away while writing. I wondered if you’d cry reading it. But what’s written is true." Tanaka responded, "I was so moved that my tear ducts collapsed. I thought of the time with both Morosawa-san during recording, and I made sure to do my best so there would be no regrets."

During a break, Director Fukuda surprised the audience by answering questions from fans. Finally, a special cake decorated with a pink Haro for Lacus was presented, and Tanaka showed a smile saying, "It’s a pink Haro! So cute!" The venue was filled with a celebratory atmosphere with voices of "Happy Birthday, Lacus!" from Hoshi, Shimono, Fukuda, and the audience.

Tanaka closed the event with a message to the fans: "Starting February 9th (Friday), 4DX, MX4D, and Dolby Cinema will be available. The sound will be quite different, so I hope you bring your favorite character acrylic stands and come to see it. Please continue to support the Gundam SEED series and SEED FREEDOM. Thank you very much." The stage greeting for Lacus Clyne’s birthday ended with a grand applause.