So, after completely missing any and all announcements of its release, I finally had the pleasure of enjoying the latest Universal Century (U.C.) Gundam film... Gundam: Hathaway.

I'll preface that I am an absolute fan of Gundam as a franchise, and I especially love the U.C. I started watching Gundam from time to time on Toonami, but the first that I really caught almost every episode of, was G Gundam.

About 10 years ago I decided to deep dive into watching Gundam, and I decided to start with the original 0079 Series. I absolutely fell in love with it, binging large swaths of episodes. I followed this up by watching Gundam Wing, which ranks 3rd as my favorite series in the franchise. Where things really clicked and took on a true foothold, is when I first watched Zeta Gundam.

I had been a fan of Anime for a while, and I clearly loved watching Gundam, but Zeta solidified it as not only my favorite Anime of all time, but It found itself squarely in my favorite television shows of all time as well.

A "cartoon" that showed the horrors of war and the effects it has on people. The struggles of everyone wanting and fighting for freedom. And of course, big freaking mecha. It solidified the U.C. as one of my favorite settings as well, and I devoured as many U.C. shows OVAs and Series as I could get my hands on. The trouble I find is watching everything in Chronological Order.

With a 40 year history, and frequent time jumps back and forwards in both written, and animated form, it can be quite difficult to keep it all straight. Unfortunately, I have a very very cursory knowledge of hiragana, so I'm not even remotely equipped to attempt to read a light novel, so, much of the U.C. has been stuck behind a language gap.

This finally brings us to the topic of today... Gundam: Hathaway.

I was aware of its existence for a while, though I never really went into detail about the whole plot. I was aware it was a sequel of sorts to Chars Counterattack (Which I had previously seen).

Thus I had a fresh view of the film and no real level of expectations.

This film follows Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa the Captain of White Base, and slapper of subordinates.

It seems that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree, as Hathaway very quickly finds himself in a confrontation with a group of hijackers that call themselves members of the "Mafty" terrorist organization, with their Pumpkin-headed leader claiming to be the one and only Mafty Erin. Hathaway, with some assistance from EFF Captain Kenneth Sleg, subdues the hijackers, saving many of the ministers of the Earth Federation.

Hathaway is stuck in the Philippines along with the other surviving passengers and is subjected to questioning. While waiting, he forms an acquaintance with a woman, Gigi Andalucia who immediately deduces his identity as "Mafty Navue Erin" the true leader of Mafty.

This immediately begins leading to complications for Hathaway as an operation begins that is intended to eliminate cabinet members of the Earth federation.

A harrowing escape amid widespread destruction occurs, under the cover of night, illuminated by the beam rifles and fires caused by the combat between Mafty units and a new Model Gundam, the Penelope.

Hathaway spends the next day recounting to the Federation Police force and subsequently makes his way back to his Headquarters, to prepare for a further operation that sees him and his team acquires supplies, as well as the RX-105 Ksi Gundam.

Hathaway stages a rescue of a captured comrade, and with the battle concluded, and with some hints from Gigi, Sleg is positive that Hathaway must in fact be Mafty.

And thus the film ends.

Earlier this year I watched Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative and found it to be pretty exciting and intriguing, posing many new thoughts about the nature of the Gundam Universe. It featured a very Newtype-focused narrative. In contrast to that film, Gundam Hathaway feels far more grounded in a way that I found to be just the sort of style I had been missing from the franchise.

While I've seen some quite critical reviews of the excessive use of darkness and shadow, and the less action-focused plot; it was these very same aspects that tied much of the film together for me. I've always been a fan of both the action and the philosophical conversations in every series.

The best scene has to be the escape from the hotel. the intensity in which everything occurs was quite visceral and shows precisely what it must feel like to be a citizen caught in the midst of a Mobile Suit Battle.

The animation gave weight to every action that the units took, and the after-effects of a stray beam rifle round were sufficiently horrifying. Hot plasma melting objects and people in the streets. Not since the falling shells in Gundam F91 have I been taken aback at the scale of these machines. (Granted, I will really appreciate the scale more once I have the chance to visit the full-size RX-79-2 in Japan). The darkness made perfect sense, as the scene took place at night, and the only illumination on offer were the fires, and the firing mobile suits.

And the battle at the climax took place at night for logical reasons on Mafty's side.

The voice cast was incredible as ever, but at one point there is a line that is supposed to come from Amuro, but I was really disappointed not to have Brad Swaile reprise the role.

While I was not a big fan of Gigi, and apparently I've heard there will be plenty more of her in part 2; I am quite excited to see where this story goes!

It is streaming now on Netflix, as well as Char's Counterattack, so if you haven't seen that one yet, I would suggest doing so before watching this film, it will give you a much better level of context for how Hathaway became the man he is, and for how things have progressed in the absence of Char Aznable.

This film may not be the flashiest in its fights, but the consequences are certainly front and center! I’d have to give it 8/10 from me as a Gundam fan, but casual Anime fans may find themselves a bit lost without proper context!