So I finally got around to watching Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway Sorcery of Nymph Circe (or the Japanese title 機動戦士ガンダム：閃光のハサウェイ キルケの魔女 / Hathway's Flash - The Witch of Circe). Going to my local cinema, the audience was mostly older folks - some older than me, and maybe one 6-7 year old kid, though I'm pretty sure it was because his dad dragged him along.
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| A piece of art I received when I purchased my movie ticket. |
Plot wise, there is a bit more going on, but it's mostly focusing on Mafty's preparation for their attack on the Adelaide conference. Though on the way to Australia from Davao, they make the decision to meet up with the so called "Mafty's Army" in Oenbelli, led by Fabio.
You get to see the Federation's Gustav Karls as absolute menaces when combating "Mafty's Army" at Oenbelli. Since they have no mobile suits of their own, it's essentially a slaughtering of rebels or to borrow an analogy from a certain Pirate Lord - it's like using cannons to hunt rabbits. Later on when Mafty arrive at Oenbelli, the Xi Gundam makes short work of the Gustav Karls - oh, and the Messers help a little bit too.
Even though Mafty was able to acquire the Xi Gundam from Anaheim Electronics, the problem is that most of its equipment was lost in the ocean while fighting off the Earth Federation's Circe Unit. As a result, the Xi has to be treated as a precision tool, rather than a bludgeoning weapon as Mafty no longer has the means to adequately resupply - or even repair - the Gundam. One of the engineers warns Hathaway to avoid using missiles as much as possible, which highlights the dire situation they're in. Keep in mind that unlike the Federation, Mafty is simply a ragtag group of rebels, that doesn't even come close to the Zeon remnants. Whereas Zeon at its lowest point still had connections and means to acquire mobile suits, even older ones, Mafty is not as fortunate. Even during the Gryps conflict, the AEUG had way more resources and troops available, not to mention Anaheim Electronics supplying mobile suits to the group. Combine this with the fact that this conflict is on Earth and not in space, and it's become a game of cat and mouse between Mafty and the Federation, with the Federation slowly closing in on them.
The final battle of the film was a lot more brutal compared to the first movie, and watching this fight, you can tell that Hathaway was holding back in the first fight - When he defeated the Penelope, it was simply to neutralise it and escape with the Xi Gundam. But this time, being haunted by the memories of Amuro and Quess upon seeing the inner core of the Alyzeus, Hathaway Noa went all out with the intention to kill Lane Aim - just to silence Amuro and Quess' voices - if not for a last minute intervention. Some nice little cameos here and there, including the Re-GZ Custom, as well as the Mass Production Nu Gundam, which I think is a nice touch, plus it's a way to connect to Hathaway still being haunted by Amuro Ray. Also, I noticed that one of the Gustav Karls was armed with a ReZEL beam rifle? It was hard to tell, but it certainly wasn't the usual Jegan beam rifle. It nice to have an appearance of Bright and Mirai Noa, though Cheimin is noticeably absent? Hopefully she'll appear in the 3rd film at least.
As for the soundtrack, the opening song (Snooze by SZA) - played more than 35 minutes after the film started - didn't really hit like Mobius did in the first film. On the other hand, the choice for the ending song was a surprise.
Yeah, it was the Guns N' Roses' song Sweet Child O' Mine.
Just like the previous film, this requies some basic UC Gundam knowledge - at the very least, you need to have already watch Char's Counterattack - though that also does require watching the original Gundam, Zeta and ZZ. Watching Unicorn Gundam isn't required, but in the context of Hathaway's Flash, you realise that revealing the truth of Laplace's Box didn't change a thing, and in fact things got worse under the Federation.
It looks like the film will be finishing its run in Japan soon - more than 2 months after its initial release in cinemas. I believe that it will be released outside of Japan next month.
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