After a delay as a result of COVID-19, a new trailer has confirmed that the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway project may finally see a release when the first part of the three-part anime film trilogy hits Japanese theaters this May.
Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is an interesting project in the Gundam franchise. The light novels are the only semi-canonical work of Gundam fiction created by the franchise’s founder Yoshiyuki Tomino, and its story is more intriguing again. The series centers on soldier-turned-terrorist Hathaway Noa aka Mafty Navue Erin, committing his acts in a prototype RX-105 Ξ Gundam. With a new release date, a trailer for the upcoming Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway has been released.
The trailer serves mostly as an introduction to the story. We get introduced to Hathaway before he founds the Anti-Earth Federation Organization Mafty, who want the Federation to recognize their wrongdoings and shift public opinion against them. Prominent staff are showcased in the trailer, including director Shukou Murase, who previously worked on the likes of Genocidal Organ and Ergo Proxy.
The Gundam franchise, in its original incarnation and the one Tomino worked on, placed the series on an anti-war footing, something many later incarnations took to heart. The best works in the franchise have taken this concept in more challenging directions, and Hathaway does this as well by centering its story on the lives of immigrants and the displaced, and in this case refugees.
The bad acts Hathaway wishes to expose place criticism on the work of the Earth Federation to forcibly deport undesirable and underprivileged citizens in a way which can be easily reflected onto real-life politics, even 30 years on from the light novel’s initial publication. This series arguably couldn’t be more relevant today.
Following the release of this latest trailer, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway is set for release on 17 May.
