The world’s premier Mecha Franchise is back, and it has a lot to prove. So how does Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway improve upon the success of its fantastic prequel? Let’s find out.
Releasing 33 years after the seminal Char’s counterattack, Mobile suit Gundam Hathaway has had a troubled development. After first being announced in 2018, the movie was delayed three times before releasing in June. The first time was due to Covid, and who can fault it for that? However, the second and third times were due to something entirely separate, and we aren’t really sure why those happened. So, was the delay worth it? Let’s find out!
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway – The Plot and Characters
“Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char’s Rebellion). Even after “the Axis Shock,” which seemed to indicate the future of humanity and the Universal Century, the world is still in a chaotic situation where intermittent military conflicts continue to break out. The Earth Federation government is more corrupt than ever…”
The first question anyone will ask while watching this movie is- “Should I know what’s going on here”? Of course, the movie fills in many details from the previous movies, so the first time viewers don’t get confused that much. It works in some cases but not in others.
Noah Bright’s son Noa Hathaway is back after 12 years of Char’s Rebellion. Unfortunately, the Earth Federation is still as corrupt as ever, and following Amuro and Char’s ideals and philosophies, Noa plans to get rid of the corrupt government officers from Earth. He does that as the Leader of the eponymous “Mafty” as Mafty Navue Erin. New Captain of the Gundam Armada Kenneth Sleg is there to stop him, but there’s a catch. No one knows Noa is Mefty, except one girl.
That girl is Gigi Andalusia, a 19-year-old bombshell who can instantly tell if people are lying and what’s in their minds. She becomes the McGuffin the plot revolves around as Kenneth tries to woo her, while Noa grows weary of her as she seems to be the only one who knows his actual identity.
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Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is basically all plot, and that is not a bad thing (unless you don’t understand the plot, which is certainly an issue one might have). However, the movie’s pacing is all off, as action scenes are followed with seemingly endless dialogue and moments that don’t make sense until later on in the series. In addition, the movie suffers from too much exposition. However, once you realise it happens because the movie is the first in a planned Trilogy, it starts making a smidgen more sense.
The ending of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway sets up the trilogy but doesn’t quite deliver a satisfactory conclusion to this particular movie. It comes out of nowhere, and things get resolved a bit too easily. But hey, at least we get to see the Valiant back, so all’s not lost, I guess. The franchise’s future does look bright, though, as the story and characters are well written and adapted properly from the original Manga. A few characters from the past also return, apart from Noa. Watch out for them! We might get a good series from this after all.
An issue I have with the plot is that there are just too few Gundams. All of us need some more Gundam in our lives in these trying times. So I demand some more Gundams, damn it!
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway- The Animation and Music
The art style of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway takes a while to get used to. It is mostly CGI animated and suffers all the same problems as many others, which are also CGI animated. The action scenes look a touch too generic and don’t carry the same feeling as previous entries in the franchise. The Gundams look great, precious few that we get to see. The new Gundam Penelope is a sight to behold.
The music is decent, although unremarkable. The voice acting is great, as we have come to expect from modern anime. The background music composed by Kasamatsu Kouji sounds good and has the classic Gundam feel to it. Always a plus!
Verdict
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is excellent! The movie is a joy to watch but does suffer from some pacing issues here and there. However, the next two movies in the trilogy have a challenging task to follow in this one’s footsteps, for it has set an excellent precedent for the rest of the series. So check out this one on Netflix. It comes highly recommended!
Okies start with some shooting/blood and stuff, but then after that, i takes something that feels like a loooooooooong houer without nothing happening again, NOT a fan of to much talking, the gundams was looking bad and boring, even ROBOTECH in the 80 was better, the people and the two guys and other in this movie HAVE PUNCHEBLE FACES, hates this kinda animations ugly dirty/weird looking one, i only watched the action scenes and thats its, (watched like 35% of it), thumbs down, deleted from list, my score: a weak 1.5, im kinda like animes like black lagoon, gurren lagann, fairy tale, seven deadly sins, cyberpunk 2077, high-rise invasion and so on.
I, for one, don’t think you should rate something that you didn’t finish, but maybe that’s just me. Thanks for the comment!