This Week in Anime
Where There's a Will, There's Hathaway
by Monique Thomas & Steve Jones,
The newest Gundam spectacle is now streaming on Netflix and with pure Tomino flare, it includes back-biting, politics, a love triangle, and of course mechas.
This movie is streaming on Netflix.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the participants in this chatlog are not the views of Anime News Network.
Spoiler Warning for discussion of the series ahead.
@Lossthief
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@mouse_inhouse
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@NickyEnchilada
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@vestenet
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Nicky
Hey Steve! Hope you and all of our dear readers had a good "America Day" weekend cuz today we're looking at some real fireworks with Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway!
Hey Steve! Hope you and all of our dear readers had a good "America Day" weekend cuz today we're looking at some real fireworks with Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway!
Steve
Ah, I know that sound all too well. It's the Gundam Alarm, and it's beckoning the two of us back to the Universal Century for some authentic Filipino cuisine.
That's right, in case you haven't heard, there's a new Gundam film on the market, and much like the Fourth of July, it's full of politics.
Ah, I know that sound all too well. It's the Gundam Alarm, and it's beckoning the two of us back to the Universal Century for some authentic Filipino cuisine.
That's right, in case you haven't heard, there's a new Gundam film on the market, and much like the Fourth of July, it's full of politics.
And I can't think of an anime more "American" than Gundam, lol.
Those of you with good memory may remember that Steve and myself covered the first compilation movie of the original series around the same time last year.
At the time I was somewhat of a Gundam fledging, but now I have watched all three compilation movies of the original UC Mobile Suit Gundam and its sequel film Char's Counterattack. All of which you can now watch on your very own Netflix!
And it's kind of Netflix to provide those movies, because some familiarity with the original series will definitely aid your Hathaway experience (and you should also watch them because the original series is one of the most important and influential anime of all time, yadda yadda). I mean, you can probably go into Hathaway cold and still enjoy most of it, but it helps to understand who Char is and why he wanted a counterattack in the first place.
Long story short: government bad.
Long story short: government bad.
While the plot can pretty much be taken as its own, I think where knowledge of the original MSG and even more importantly, Char's Counterattack (CCA for short) come into play has a lot to do with the political themes. More importantly, the film assumes you know how the events of CCA affect the motivations our main character, Hathaway Noa.
Hathaway features as a minor character in CCA, more or less fulfilling the obligatory Gundam role of a precocious kid who gets roped into being a child soldier due to a lot of complicated and tragic (and stupid) factors. In Hathaway's case, it means he bumbles into a robot in the middle of the climactic battle, sees his crush explode, and sorta accidentally kills his mentor's girlfriend in retaliation. The point is, he's seen some shit.
Ah, they grow up so fast. And buy better suits. And grow less green hair.
Ah, they grow up so fast. And buy better suits. And grow less green hair.
Hathaway is also the son of two prominent characters of the original series, Captain Bright and Mirai, AKA the one who thought he was running the ship and the woman who was actually running the ship. But here, 12 years later after the rebellion and now an adult, he really really looks more like Amuro the Second rather than his own father.
And more so than physically, ideologically, he's about as close to a cross between Amuro and Char as you're going to get without the two of them actually copulating—which, incidentally, pretty much happens in CCA.
Yes, even from his excellent design by Haruhiko Mikimoto, you can inform so much about his character in relationship to the previous series. On the outside he's wearing Amuro's blue-boy look but underneath is a striking bit of color that emulates that of a former Red Comet, Char. But also totally inverse of his completely cherry look as a kid. I have more ideas about what this implies but I'll hold onto that.
Also, everything about this movie looks damn good, not just the character designs. But I wouldn't expect anything less than top billing for Sunrise's cash cow.
Most of my Gundam experience is with the series that Tomino personally helmed, so for me, it's really novel to see his characters and ideas (the film is an adaptation of a series of novels he wrote) look so slick and polished and modern.
We also get another great score from Hiroyuki Sawano, which always slaps so goddamn hard. I guess that is also a historical facet of Gundam.
Sawano and very big robots. A pairing for the ages.
Really, Hathaway as a film is most interesting to me as an attempt to turn the Universal Century conflict into a moody political thriller, ditching the kid-oriented aspects of the original series for more blood and grit.
Except that's not anywhere near a straightforward transition, because at its heart, this is still something Tomino wrote, and he's such a singularly bizarre writer.
I was admittedly a bit apprehensive about this because of that. For those of you unaware, MSG Hathaway is actually based on a trilogy of light novels written by Tomino himself in 1989, and many fans don't really seem to regard them well. Raw, undiluted Tomino is not really something a lot of people can vibe with and for many it risked this first film coming out totally dated, among other things.
And I should clarify, I don't think this is necessarily a bad thing. Tomino's bizarre, but he can be fascinating in that bizarreness. Like, one of the things the film does is reveal that Hathaway is Mafty before the first act is even over. It's done in such a nonchalant way, too. Another writer would have kept that card hidden until the third act at least, but that's not how Tomino rolls.
But I should also say, this is another good reason why you should have some familiarity with the original series before diving into Hathaway, because it will acclimate you to Gundam's weirdness. You will be stronger for it. Trust me.
But I should also say, this is another good reason why you should have some familiarity with the original series before diving into Hathaway, because it will acclimate you to Gundam's weirdness. You will be stronger for it. Trust me.
Mafty, full name Mafty Navue Erin, the most Tomino name that has ever Tomino'd, is the alias of our main character, Hathaway Noa. It's also the name of a terrorist organization that deems to kill the world's corrupt government leaders and force everyone to evacuate into space in order to give the now weathered earth time to recover. Like any rebel, he is considered a hero of the people and a threat alike. But despite all this, not everything goes just as planned, starting when the plane Hathaway is on gets overtaken by a group of imposters who raided a Spirit Halloween Store.
Like yeah, it really wouldn't be a "This Week in Anime Netflix Original" without ANOTHER VILLAINOUS CLOWN!
Like yeah, it really wouldn't be a "This Week in Anime Netflix Original" without ANOTHER VILLAINOUS CLOWN!
Mercifully, the clowns are all dead by the 15 minute mark, so I can't dock Hathaway points for that.
Unless you count Kenneth Sleg as a clown, which would be fair.
He's voiced by Junichi Sawabe in the original Japanese dub, so he's at least a fucky clown.
One Tomino quirk I'm considerably less enthusiastic about is his propensity to turn everything into a dumb love triangle. So our main trio of terrorist leader Hathaway, roguish military commander Kenneth, and eccentric debutante Gigi filter every one of their interactions through a lens of messy feelings. This doesn't really benefit anyone, least of whom the audience.
I at least appreciate Gigi's incredibly good fashion sense. Hathaway spends quite a bit of the movie ogling her before and after she pressures him into sharing her two-bedroom hotel suite, and you bet your ass this movie full of sensory detail to accompany all the dialogue. But her questionable ideals, bubbly attitude, and possible super-brain remind me, and Hathaway, of another character we once knew, albeit brief.
Don't worry, if this scene is too obtuse for you, the film is happy to spell out the parallel in a later scene by straight-up quoting CCA.
Someone was smart to put that one in the trailer.
https://youtu.be/MzxnPP5TLeU
https://youtu.be/MzxnPP5TLeU
So those aquamarine pigtails belong to Quess, Hathaway's aforementioned crush who blew up towards the end of CCA. Getting into her whole deal would be another column in itself, but in short, she was used by Char and she paid the price for it. Hathaway surely resents Char for that as much as he idolizes him for other reasons, and now he finds himself in a similar position with another woman. I'm definitely engaged enough to want to see how their relationship develops over the full trilogy, even though I don't trust Tomino with his female characters at all.
Tomino's female characters are both interesting and utilized pretty poorly. Gigi seems to have motivations of her own, being the sugar-baby of a particular Count who doesn't want anyone to touch her. Regardless, she pretty much spends the whole movie flirting with Hathaway, who says he wants nothing to do with her, most likely because of his own baggage. However, there is definitely a spark there and Hathaway starts to reprioritize his whole terrorism deal.
Oh, did I mention that she's certainly a NewType? Can't have a Tomino Gundam without that.
Oh, did I mention that she's certainly a NewType? Can't have a Tomino Gundam without that.
Also can't have Gundam without the Gundams.
Which is funny cuz the Mobile Suits are like only 15% of this movie. They're definitely a larger-than-life presence whenever they're on screen, whether seen from the ground or in the air.
The first of the film's two centerpiece mecha action scenes is probably my favorite part of the film. Mafty's combination assault/distraction on Davao meets resistance from the Federation troops. That's par for the course for a Gundam fight, but what sets this battle apart is we experience it through Hathaway's POV on the ground. That, combined with the film's glossy production values, makes for a really novel and gripping way of experiencing how powerful and scary these big machines can be.
The spectacle also works thematically, since earlier in the day, we saw Hathaway grapple with the human cost/perspective of the conflict and idealism he and the rest of the Mafty group are propagating. It's good stuff.
The beginnings of the film we see Hathaway sitting in the seat of luxury, from the first-class flight to the skyrise hotel. And yet, the most real I felt was watching Hathaway have this random political argument with his cabbie. I was totally enraptured with the streets of the Philippines. It's here that Hathaway for once feels grounded from all the high-minded posturing. My favorite is when he sets out to the beach to reinact one of Amuro's famous moments; his shoes full of white sand.
Good place to note the team did actually scout locations in the Philippines during the film's pre-production, and that attention to detail pays off big time. And I don't just mean with the hilariously conspicuous Jollibee cameos.
The Spirit of Jollibee is both a blessing and a curse on this film.
But so is the spirit of Char, Amuro, and the overall events of CCA. Maybe even literally.
You can describe Shūkō Murase's depiction of the Ghost of Gundam past as beautifully haunting. They loom over Hathaway's psyche, not always visible but forever present. He can't exorcise them.
But so is the spirit of Char, Amuro, and the overall events of CCA. Maybe even literally.
You can describe Shūkō Murase's depiction of the Ghost of Gundam past as beautifully haunting. They loom over Hathaway's psyche, not always visible but forever present. He can't exorcise them.
It's a beautiful and tragic sentiment, and consistent with how specters of the past weighed down plenty of characters in the original continuity. Can Hathaway escape from that cycle of regret, or is he doomed to succumb to his predecessors' same weaknesses?
Also, speaking of things being "not always visible," despite how good this film can look, about half of it—including the big action set pieces—takes place at night, and Netflix's encoding really doesn't do it any favors there.
That's one unfortunate consequence of not seeing this on the Big Screen as intended. Every scene is well set, and I'm really glad to have Gundam be widely available in a way that wouldn't involve waiting YEARS for a Blu-ray release but it's still a step down from something like an actual widespread push to the theaters.
Yeah that on-the-ground robot fight would have slain me in a theater. But maybe we'll get lucky in the future, who knows.
Like yeah, technically I could play this on a decent TV at home and get a better experience over just my laptop, but that's the sacrifice we make for doing a service here at This Week in Anime.
And Gundam is all about sacrifices. Like how this film sacrifices all the time we might have spent getting to know the Mafty crew better.
Like I get this is just the first part of a trilogy, but I still would've liked to have seen more of these characters, because they all seem pretty fun/interesting.
Like I get this is just the first part of a trilogy, but I still would've liked to have seen more of these characters, because they all seem pretty fun/interesting.
And definitely more interesting than the arc that Lame Aim gets for some reason.
Sorry, Lane Aim. Can't imagine why I keep screwing that up.
Lane Aim is also another peak Tomino Name. He's puffed up as an important character because he was an excellent test pilot who is shit in a real fight, and he seems to have some lawfulness about him, handing over the Fed's Mafty Hostage over his captains orders out of his own sense of honor. But that's basically it. He's overall a pretty boring military dog.
That doesn't stop him from fighting opposite Hathaway's brand spanking new Xi Gundam in the film's climax, which I'm sure is a very exciting fight if you can tell what's going on.
As for the Xi Gundam itself, I'm no robot connoisseur, so I can't really comment on its design outside of its lack of a mustache. Therefore, Turn A remains the best Gundam to ever Gundam, imo.
While I couldn't get too many good shots of Aim's Gundam, the Penelope, other than from behind. It's interesting to have two Gundam models instead of just one. Mafty also tends to use models in stark red, again deepening their connection to Char's spirit.
But the reality and extent of that connection remains to be seen. Good intentions mean very little in the Universal Century, and Char didn't really even have good intentions in the first place. That's for the rest of the trilogy to explore, presumably. Unless they find some other Tomino cul-de-sacs to explore instead, which is always a possibility.
Yeah, they don't really mention anything about Char's Supremacy about NewTypes and instead adopt the surface message about the planet. The only mention of Newtypes is how officially they're not supposed to exist. But that also lines up with how a lot of people publicly assess history.
It's remarkable that, 30 years on, a lot of the story's political observations remain relevant (though to be fair I don't know how much was punched up in the adaptation). But another thing about Tomino's writing is he throws a million ideas and worldbuilding details out there, and it's anyone's guess which parts will be relevant to the plot or not. For now, though, I'd say I enjoyed this film enough to check out the next part. I'm intrigued, however cautiously.
I'm certainly invested just cuz I enjoy seeing the craftsmanship that goes into the pretty people and the pretty robots, and it really feels like the direction is trying its best to steer the ship into a story that is something consumable by today's humans, like this nice steak. No anime film is complete without a little food porn.
I just hope the sequels continue to follow this tack and add plenty of polish without completely buffing out the Tomino idiosyncrasies. That is to say, when Bright inevitably shows up, we had better see an exquisitely-rendered portrayal of Hath's dad's rad 'stache.
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