#now it's time for me and my illegitimate N3.5 level japanese to read the books

[journeytojaburo]

Hathaway (the movie) thoughts...

Besides the whole Mafty thing and Quess visions (?), Hathaway seems like a mostly well adjusted young man. I really love that he's using the Noa name for clout. I'm a little sad that Cheimin never got brought up in the movie, but at least both of Hathaway's parents get mentioned in some fashion.

(Side note: I really thought this was gonna be Cheimin until they said her name. Fake names are abound here though, so that could still be on the table...not that I particularly think she needs to get involved in all this.)

The Earth Federation has always been twisted and slowly more uncaring about the common people, but they're even more so in the dark twisted future of 0105. They don't have anything really distinct to fight besides Mafty, and even then Mafty doesn't seem to be that established yet, so most of that aggression is going towards the average person. I'd hate to see what the space colonies are going through these days just off how Earth is.

I'm not sure I care for the bulkiness of the mobile suits introduced in this movie, but they look a little bit better in motion. The 3D used for them is really nice, and it's definitely a step up from the last modern place I saw it being used in Gundam (the Origin OVA).

The music, background-wise and the pop songs made for it, were both excellent. Just like with TM Network, I feel like I should go listen to some more [Alexandros] because the few other songs I've heard from them before were decent.

I don't know why I'm surprised considering people will make mountains out of molehills for any relationship ever, but I was a little surprised to find out that Hathaway, Gigi, and Kenneth don't really like each other at all considering how much mysterious throuple art I saw of them. Maybe later in the story, they'll actually at least become friends or even move beyond acquaintances. One-on-one though, I was really amused by how much Kenneth wanted to be Hathaway's friend possibly because of his (obvious?) proximity to Bright, and his insistence on trying to recruit Hathaway into his squad. In regards to the original point though, I will say this whole scene had the faintest bit of tension...

A minor part I thought was interesting is how characters (primarily Kenneth) are weirded out or confused by how Hathaway doesn't show much interest in Gigi. This could lend itself to a gay or asexual reading of Hathaway (neither of which I would disagree with), but even just addressing the social pressure that even men who are attracted to women should be attracted to every woman just because they're women is interesting to me. And on top of all this, no one thinks to ask Gigi (the "object" of affection or not) her opinion on the matter.

I was gonna get mad about the amount of leery camera shots emphasizing Gigi's body, but Hathaway also kinda gets that treatment, so it's the slightest bit less irritating...I guess? I was gonna find screenshots to substantiate my point, but this random listicle-esque thing I saw looking for pictures captures the idea better than I could in a hilarious way (bear with the crispy auto-translate here)

I enjoyed watching this movie, but the ending made me laugh a little. I know it comes from being an adaption of a book trilogy, but it had to be probably one of the more abrupt "The adventures will continue..." type ones I've seen. I'm excited to see where Hathaway's and Gigi's stories will go next when the second movie comes out, and I'm also excited to see if the minor Mafty members like Emeralda or Kelia get more screen time because I like their designs.