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It’s good.

Just saw episodes 1-3 in the theater in Japan.
Went in expecting another Akito or Resurrection or a quick cash grab, but this is something else.

Story:
Set some years after Resurrection. Hokkaido has been occupied by Neo Britannia. Two Britannian brothers, Ash and Roze, must recapture a girl named Sakuya who is the daughter of Hokkaido’s previous leader. Now that’s all I will tell you because literally everything else is a spoiler.

Characters:
I don’t want to say anything because even mentioning things about the main characters is a spoiler.
...
Animation:
I’d say it’s pretty good. Maybe not as good as SEED FREEDOM but that’s a movie and this is a theatrical 4 part series/ONA so it’s not fair to compare the two.

Music:
Good.

Overall:
Definitely watch this. You don’t need to have watched Resurrection to understand this so long as you have a basic understanding of the world of Code Geass.

Best of the SEED series by far.

This movie made me really like the SEED franchise.
The first SEED was too similar to the original Gundam for my taste. SEED Destiny felt like an improvement, until it turned the protagonist into the villain. SEED Freedom does not have any of these problems.

Story:
The story is simple but it does its job. Kira and Lacus are the heroes in the end, but they are neither annoying nor preachy. They managed to introduce powerful, worthy villains in a natural way.

Characters:
This is where SEED Freedom shines. I felt that Kira was not relatable and Lacus was preachy in ... the previous SEED entries. However, here, they are humanized and Kira is shown to have actual flaws. Also, Shin and Luna-Maria are given many moments to shine as well as Athrun.

Action:
Despite the action being CGI, I felt it was really good. It was definitely more natural and fluid than THE ORIGIN. Also, it has some fan favorite mobile suits return and have their time in the spotlight that they always deserved.

Conclusion:
IF you don’t like SEED, watch this movie. It is far better than the other two entries in this series. It will change your mind about SEED. If you like SEED, also watch this movie. It’s amazing and is now one of my top 5 Gundam works along with the original, zeta, IBO and Hathaway. I really have no complaints. Long live SEED.

EVERY DAMN TIME

Studio TRIGGER knows how to make gorgeous visuals, but the same cannot be said for story or characters.

Visuals: 8/10
Personally, the visuals of TRIGGER are not for me, but I admit that they are objectively good so I’m giving it an 8.

Music: 8/10
Music is also very good. Pretty unorthodox for anime, but still good. Not for me though.

... Action: 8/10
Good, but over the top at times. I think it destroys the realistic grounded world building of the original game. The bad tendencies of TRIGGER really show at the end of the series when the anime goes way too over the top.

Story and Characters: 5/10
A simple Akame-Ga-Kill story where everyone dies in the end (except for 2 characters), and the deaths feel cheap. There isn’t a single character arc that is well thought out. Also, villains are boring and so are the good guys.

Overall: 6/10
No amount of visual spectacle or good music can make up for bad writing and boring characters without story arcs. Anime is about characters. Anime is about how characters grow or change. There’s barely any of that in this anime. No, characters getting new powers and abilities is not “growth”. Growth is a change in values, it is something that is internal. I see none of that in this anime. Honestly, I believe Akane-Ga-Kill is better than this anime. At least it had an interesting villain.

Made in Abyss is a great series. I just don’t think Layer 6 is all that interesting.

Season 1 and the movie, in other words Layers 1 to 5, were very interesting and I have no problem with giving them a 9 or 10. However, that is not the case with Season 2 aka Layer 6.

What layer 6’s story amounts to is “exploring a village”. It is far from the adventure that was Season 1, or the dynamic battle with a white whistler lord that was the movie.

The backstory of Ilmyuii (I don’t know her English spelling because I read the series in ... Japanese and watched it in Japanese) is not that interesting. Oh so she got cursed and had to (spoilders) so sad etc… I don’t feel the way I did when Mitty died or Prushka died because we (Rico and Reg) didn’t spend much time with her. Now they’re just going for shock value but it was underwhelming compared to season 1 and the movie.

Layer 6 itself isn’t all that interesting either. It is basically just a goddamn village. Might as well call it “the village arc”. Like I said before, there is no “adventure” here. Just meeting people. Sure, the movie didn’t have much “adventure” either, but there was a dynamic climactic battle that supplemented that. But we don’t have that either in layer 6. There’s not much adventure or dynamic action. Just talking to people like a chore quest from an RPG.

Layer 6 was the longest arc in the manga too, and the most boring arc. I’m afraid it is the same for the anime. This is not a bad anime. This is a good anime. It is a solid 7/10. It’s just not as good as season 1 or the movie, so I am giving it a “mixed feelings” rating. It definitely does not deserve a higher score than the movie or the first season. I am not hating on this anime. I’m just being honest with my disappointment for the Layer 6 Arc. I hope Layer 7 (season 3 of the anime) will be better.

Nothing special here. Mostly a mediocre straightforward adaptation that adds nothing new

Jujutsu 0 is an adaptation of a good spinoff/prequel to the main series.
Demon Slayer managed to add gorgeous fight scenes to an already good source material. On the other hand, Jujutsu and Jujutsu 0 is a straightforward, standard anime that is good but adds nothing to the Shonan formula.

Story: 6
Straightforward Shonen story. I’ve seen it many times. Boy fights to save damsel in distress etc… Usual “enrollment in supernatural academy”-type plot

Art: 7
Art is decent but inferior to Demon Slayer and other top-level battle anime. MAPPA is a mid-tier studio. Jujutsu really showed the limits ... of this studio. MAPPA has recently been taking a money first approach, prioritizing profit over quality. Jujutsu 0 is nothing to marvel at. There are other far better studios out there like WIT and Ufo.

Sound: 6
Nothing noteworthy here. I felt the laser beams by the elephant cursed spirit had weird sfx. Sounded like scifi laserbeams which was very out of place.
Ending music was good though

Characters: 7
Not enough time to flesh out the side characters.
Okkotsu is a good protagonist. Way more likable than Itadori. I’ve seen many Japanese fans say “make Okkotsu the MC” for the main manga. But is it just me or does Okkotsu feel way too like Shinji? (Akutami is a big Eva fan btw)

Enjoyment: 7
This is subjective so I will not comment

Overall:7
I expected more from MAPPA. Ufo took demon slayer to new levels. So did WIT with Shingeki. MAPPA adds nothing new to an already good manga. This is a one to one adaptation not worth watching if youve already read the manga I’m afraid. Great for newcomers tho.





Additional Note:
I seem to have upset a lot of 13 year old emotional JJK fanboys. They think I’m a Demon Slayer fanboy. I’m not. Both are mediocre typical Shonen anime. However, it is undeniable DS got a far better adaptation than JJK because Ufotable is leagues above MAPPA.

The creator of Unicorn (Mr. Fukui) said “We cannot pretend ZZ never happened”.

Though I am not a fan of Unicorn, I completely agree with him.

ZZ, being a sequel to Zeta and the Original Gundam, had a lot to live up to. It is in no ways anything close to the flawed but nonetheless “masterpieces” that are Zeta and the Original Gundam, but in the grand Gundam series, is still better than most.

Story: 7
The first 12 episodes are boring and you might as well skip them. Things get more interesting at Moon-Moon (the setting for Moon Gundam) and when Mashmar gets replaced for Chara ... Soon, one of the most memorable villains of the show. The story gets even more enjoyable once Puru, a fan favorite character, is introduced and the crew go down to earth. Overall, the story is not as good as Zeta or the original Gundam, but is still far better than F91 or the first half of SEED for example. Points are also taken away for the goofiness in the first part of the show.
By the way, not many people know this, but Char was supposed to return in the second half, and start a Zeon civil war against Hamadan, but halfway through ZZ’s run, Sunrise gave permission for the CCA movie, and thus Char was taken out of ZZ’s story. However, you can still see Char in ZZ’s first opening. Glemmy Toto took Char’s place as Hamaan’s rival. If Char was in ZZ, ZZ would have been much better but we may never have gotten CCA, so it’s hard to say which decision was better. Story: 7/10.

Art: 7
Not much improvement from Zeta. The MS designs are good (especially Zeon suits like the Doven Wolf and the Zaku 3 and the new Qubeleys), however they’re not as revolutionary as the suit designs in Zeta. Additionally, Qubeley is a Gundam Zeta mobile suit, and not a Gundam ZZ mobile suit, really. The character designs are pretty good. I think it was the right choice not to have Yasuhiko Yoshikazu do the character designs and have a new person do it. Art: 7/10.

Sound: 6
They reuse Zeta’s phenomenal music too much. Sometimes they use lighthearted music right after a tragic scene which is off putting (e.g. right after when Rasara dies there is upbeat happy music). Also, they had upbeat happy music right after Puru died to showcase next week’s episode. I found that very disrespectful and disgusting. Sound: 6/10

Characters: 8
I guess Judo is alright, though he’s pretty shallow and is unrelatable due to the fact that he never gets depressed. He seemed to overcome Puru’s death in a few minutes. Even when his sister “died” he just seemed to recover after a few hours. This is more likely the result of bad writing rather than Judo being a psychopath. The male characters were alright but nothing noteworthy. What really stands out are the female characters. ZZ has strong but likable female characters on both sides of the war. From Roux to Chara to Puru to Hamaan, none of them are Mary Sues although they are all mighty fighters. There is not forceful “feminist agenda” or “gender politics” to make female characters overly strong. Yet, they are still strong, independent, and very likable. Marvel and Disney’s “diversity team” should really learn from Gundam. This is how you do female character properly. Zeta had better male characters, but ZZ has far better female characters. Characters: 8/10

Enjoyment: 8
It’s a good series. If you ignore the first 12 episodes and the childish opening song, ZZ is a good. Although it is nowhere near the greatness of the original Gundam and Gundam Zeta, it can stand on its own as a solid entry. It’s far better than F91 or the first half of SEED or Narrative or most of AGE. I enjoyed it very much.

Overall: 7/10
It is a must watch if you want the full UC picture. It is also necessary to enjoy Gundam Unicorn to its fullest since it is much more of a ZZ sequel than a CCA sequel (with it having so many ZZ Zeon suits, the Nahel Argama, Puru Twelve etc…)
I’d say ZZ is on par with SEED and CCA. Not terrible, and far better than the garbage that is Narrative, recongista, Twilight Axis, most of AGE, and the 00 movie, but nowhere near the level of the masterpieces that are the original Gundam and Zeta Gundam. ZZ, just like SEED and CCA, has tons of writing issues. However, it is still enjoyable as an anime, and that’s what really matters the most.

In light of the RUSSIAN INVASION of Ukraine, I have found renewed appreciation for this work.

Story:
The policy of appeasement the Feds took against Char is disturbingly similar to Chamberlain’s appeasement of Hitler, and Macron/Merkel/every other western leader’s policy of appeasement against Putin. They were completely deceived by a genocidal dictator when they shouldn’t have been:

Char: “I will lay down my arms peacefully and be your friends if you sell me this giant asteroid and give me this patch of giant land”
Feds: “Okay sure thing! Now we can have peace, friendly fascist dictator!”
Char: “Yes! We will have peace my friends! (who I will totally not screw ... over)”
2 seconds later…
Feds: “Oh no! That genocidal dictator is gonna use that big asteroid to kill us all!”
Me: “Huh… Now where have I seen this before…”
This has happened so many times throughout history when it shouldn’t have. And people who warn the world about the danger of Putin/Char/Hitler, are called “War-hawks” or “war-mongerors” or “hysteric”. #Ukraine #WW2

Apart from the real world parallels, the story of CCA is good. Though they could have done better with the 2 kid’s character development. They really messed that part up (more on that later).
The ending of CCA has been controversial since it does not wrap anything up. It just suddenly ends without any explanation or epilogue. However, if you see CCA as a prequel or setup to Hathaway’ Flash, it’s an acceptable ending (though not an ideal one).

Art:
Great for its time

Sound:
Great for its time

Character:
Now here is where there is heated argument (and rightly so). The new characters are really unlikable. Hathaway murders a defenseless woman, Quess is an annoying bitch, and Chain is a kid-killer. Tomino really messed these character-arcs up. However, if you see the whole arc with Hathaway and Quess as a set up to Hathaway’s Flash (Tomino’s true masterpiece), then it is bearable. Also, we have all seen worse characters in the Gundam Universe (SEED, Kira Yamato, Kagari I’m talking to you guys!).

Enjoyment:
Very enjoyable if you like UC. Minus the annoying kid characters and a child-killer female love interest. These are CCA’s biggest problems and what prevents it from being a masterpiece.

Overall:
Like the End of EVA, CCA is a flawed work, but the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the release of Hathaway has given me a renewed appreciation for this movie. I really didn’t like this movie when I saw it in 3rd grade (I remember being “What the F*CK did I just watch!?”). But with recent events changing the course of the world, and the release of CCA’s sequel, I have come to view CCA differently. CCA is a solid 9/10 movie, though it is not on par with 0079, Z, and Hathaway’s Flash which are Tomino’s true Gundam masterpieces.



Edit: I take back most of what I said. This movie is still a mess. 7/10 at its best. The action scenes are too quick to comprehend what’s going on unless you rewind multiple times. This movie is super flawed. Even Tomino says this movie is a 55/100. So I change this movie’s rating back to a 7/10

The first 2 episodes are really good.

Skip the rest.

I watched this show after completing the visual novels.
I was really disappointed.
There is nothing unique or interesting about this anime.
Characters are boring.
Story is boring.
Music is generic.
... The robots are not that interesting.
The BETA are not scary because they do not kill any important characters unlike in the original novels where they were actually creepy. here, they are just bullet sponges and do not pose a threat.
It is a really generic robot mech anime with lots of boobies.
While the visual novels are a masterpiece, this show is boring.
It is like the Phantom Menace. A boring spinoff to a masterpiece trilogy.
Just watch the first 2 episodes and don’t watch the rest.
You are better off replaying muv-luv or watching some other anime.
I have warned you

Hidden Gem of this Season!

This is an attempt by Bandai-Sunrise to create a robot anime that is NOT GUNDAM.

While Gundam is a popular and long-running franchise, it is daunting and hard for kids and new fans to get into.

Kyoukai Senki (literally: “Border Wars”) is an attempt to create a more accessible robot franchise.


Story:
So far, pretty good. While not as flashy as Gundam, the story is simple but good. It is a typical “on the run fugitive protagonist anime”, with the robot-piloting protagonist running away from numerous occupational forces that have conquered and colonized Japan. Some episodes are heart-warming such as episode 2. If ... you want flashy animation and ridiculous laser-beam wielding robots that fight in space at super-sonic speed, this is not the show for you. Go watch Gundam SEED.

Art:
It is animated by Sunrise Beyond, a subsidiary of Sunrise and a relatively new studio. I must say, for a weekly anime that will probably be 50 episodes long, the animation is really good. I am also impressed by how this anime uses absolutely ZERO CG despite being a robot anime. I also like how the mechs don’t use ridiculous Gundam laser guns or plasma laser swords. Melee weapons are made of metal, and the guns fire live rounds, not ridiculous Gundam SEED rainbow energy beams. So far, no ridiculous flying robots like the ones that ruined Code Geass have appeared. This show reminds me of early Season 1 Code Geass and Gundam IBO. I hope the protagonists don’t get flying space battleships or winged robots with rainbow-colored laser swords.

Sound:
Again, this is Sunrise. Sound is good. Opening and ending songs are good too.

Character:
Good so far. No annoying characters like Kira Yamato (“War is bad! I’m gonna stop war with more fighting!”). No annoying preachy protagonist like Shiro Emiya (“People die if they are killed!”). Protagonist is a nice guy and is likable.

Enjoyment:
Really enjoying this anime. Hope there won’t be any ridiculous flying aircraft carriers or winged Code-Geass robots with rainbow colored swords or psychic super-powered Mary-sue Newtype mech pilots with overpowered psychic abilities. These things seriously ruin mech anime, and have ruined countless franchises. I prefer gritty mech anime like IBO and 86. Seems like the whole industry is trying to avoid Gundam SEED/00-like flashy space mech anime. Everybody is tired of flashy mech anime with ridiculously strong protagonists. Also, it is a good thing that this anime is not preachy. I got so sick of Gundam SEED and Gundam 00 and Season 2 of Code Geass preaching all about how “war is bad” and “people die if they are killed!”, despite the fact that these mech anime portray war in a very cool and flashy way and make money by selling toys of murderous killer war robots (how hypocritical). None of that preachy Jesus Kira Yamato nonsense is in this anime. This anime is very similar to 86, Gundam IBO and Season 1 Code Geass (Code Geass when it was actually good and when it was a genuinely meaningful anime that addressed the issue of “colonialism”, and the fine line between being a “terrorist” and a “freedom fighter”). If you enjoy 86, Gundam IBO and Season 1 Code Geass, then you will greatly enjoy Kyoukai Senki. So many people giving are this show a 5 or 6 even though they’ve only seen the first episode. They must either be a Gundam-fanboy who downvotes every non-Gundam mech anime, or just plain ignorant (I am a Gundam fanboy but I also deeply respect other mech anime). Such a shame. However, the episodes that have been uploaded on YouTube by the official Sunrise Beyond website have 100,000s of views in Japan, so it is getting a decent audience in Japan.
If you like mech anime, give this show a shot. It might surprise you.

A PERECT Gundam Movie
Edit: and also probably the most realistic one

Now I don’t give out 10/10s very often. The only times I have are with the original Legend of the Galactic Heroes, original Gundam, Attack on Titan Season 3 part 2, and only a few other times.

I generally rate Gundam series very harshly, for example I have only given a 10/10 to the original Gundam, and even rated Z 9/10. I gave UC a 7/10 and things like NT, 00, SEED something between 5 to 6 out of 10 because although they were sometimes enjoyable, they were disappointing and somewhat boring on some level.

But I ... have decided to give Hathaway’s Flash (yes the Japanese title is “Hathaway’s Flash” and not “Hathaway”) a 10/10 for the first time since the original Gundam. (Please note I’m not a boomer who worships the original Gundam just because it’s the original. I’m in my early 20s and I judge all Gundam series pretty objectively according to the standards of their era)

Story:
The story is about a group of anti-government eco-terrorists called “Mafty” who want to purge the bloated Earth Federation government to “force every human into space to save the earth’s environment”. Mafty wants to rid the world of corrupt politicians. Considering the fact that this novel was written 30 years ago, it’s amazing how the topics this work deals with are more relevant than ever. However, what’s great about this anime is how it’s not good vs evil. Mafty is correct in that it wants equality, wants to preserve the earth’s environment for the future of humanity, and wants to purge corrupt brutal government officials, but they are terrorists who bomb hotels with innocent civilians (although they are aware of this and do apologize every so often). So is Mafty evil and the Earth Federation good? No. The Earth Federation is an oppressive bloated regime which does not care about the earth’s environment and allows its own officials and politicians to live on earth while sending the poor back to space. They use brutal man-hunters to kill or forcefully evict those who won’t obey them. Additionally, during the battle of Davao, we see that the federation are far more less caring about the citizens of Davao. They carelessly fire many missiles at Mafty mobile suits, which sets many parts of the city of Davao ablaze. Mafty only bombed the hotels and sure they killed civilians, but it is clearly portrayed that the Feds are far far worst. Neither Mafty nor the Earth Federation are perfect. They are both flawed and both have done good things and bad things. The fact that there is no clear cut villain or hero is what makes this anime so realistic. In Gundam, the Gundam mobile suit ( giant robot ) is the symbol of justice and good and hope. The fact that both factions have Gundam (Mafty has the Xi Gundam and the Feds have the Odysseus Gundam aka Penelope), shows that both sides have their own sense of justice and that neither side is the clear “hero”. Great storytelling.

Art:
The art is fantastic. Way better than UC or NT which I saw in the theatre a few years ago. This is sunrise at its best. The city of Davao is beautiful and it really feels like the Philippines ( I lived there for 5 years so I can confirm). I generally think this movie is on par with weathering with you and demon slayer in terms of art. This movie transcends Gundam and mech anime. The mobile suits are really clean. CG is used for the Penelope sometimes but it is very clean and I had no problems with it. MAPPA better learn from Sunrise. The characters move around like realistic human actors and not 2D big-eyed anime cartoon characters.
The most beautiful part of the movie was the Battle of Davao. the fight at the middle of the film, not the end. The night battles and destruction of Davao were beautiful. I still can’t forget the Messer landing in the middle of a coconut forest.

Sound:
Amazing. There is a Disco scene that transfers straight to a war scene and it was amazing. You gotta see it. It’s hard to explain with words. The sound of mobile suits and their weapons was amazing. Far better than NT. This is some of the best sound design I have ever heard in film. In terms of sound, this is up there with GuP das finale part 3. You have got to see this in theatres.

Character:
The protagonist, Hathaway is Greta Thunberg with giant robot weapons to use against corrupt politicians. However Hathaway is less vocal than her and far more calm. Additionally, Hathaway recognizes his ideology is not perfect. We see this when he goes around in the city of Davao and when a taxi driver tells him about how he is disappointed Mafty doesn’t attack man-hunters (who are a more pressing concern to ordinary people than any corrupt minister opt federation big-wig) and how people like him can only think so much about the future as he is preoccupied with the present. Mafty and Hathaway are portrayed as flawed activists who have grand ambitions and are genuinely trying to change the world for the better, but such grand plans are not necessary gonna help ordinary people such as those seen in Davao who just wanna go about their daily lives of fishing in the sea or driving taxis to make a living. If anything Mafty is going to ruin their day to day lives as they are planning to forcefully make all humans relocate to space.
Gigi is just Quess 2.0
Colonel Keins is the opposite of Hathaway. He is a commoner and seems grateful the federation has given him a good life for his service in the Federation military. He tries to hunt down Mafty no matter what, even using torture and hostages.
Neither Hathaway or Keins, neither Mafty or the Feds are completely right. Just like in the real world, there are no clear cut heroes and villains. This is why this movie is great.

Enjoyment/Overall 10/10
This is a perfect Gundam movie
I’m sick of anime and Hollywood movies that try to label a certain faction as evil villains. Hollywood always does this with Someone whether it be Orcs or space aliens invading earth or Germans or terrorists or whatever while they glorify the US or middle earth humans or a super soldier or superhero or whatever. Gundam has been doing this with Zeon or Titans or Gjallarhorn or Ribbons while glorifying the Gundam pilots and earth federation or Gundam meisters or tekkadan or whatever.
I was sick of this toxic trend of good vs evil.
Hathaway’s flash is on par with LotGH on how it refuses to romanticize or glorify one side.
This and the beautiful music and animation and scene composition are why Hathaway’s flash is a perfect Gundam movie
My favorite parts were
1. The battle of Davao
2. The day time scenes of Davao right before the night battle
3. Penelope vs Xi gundam

Additional edits:
I would like to mention that Hathaway’s Flash gets rid of the occultic supernatural elements in previous UC gundams. The UC series has recently been plagued by supernatural Mary Sue characters and Mary Sue gundams. This movie has none of that. Ever since series such as Zeta and Char’s counterattack, there has been non-stop supernatural elements in the universal century timeline. The chief abuser being Unicorn and Narrative most recently. In Hathaway’s flash there are no Mary Sue characters or mobile suits. It is a gritty war story. Also, although the Xi and Odysseus Gundams are powerful, they do not have bullshit supernatural superpowers like the Nu Gundam and
Unicorn gundams.Hathaway is not an overpowered Mary Sue Camille or Banagher, and neither are his enemies. I’m glad there is less supernatural Mary Sue bullshit in this movie

Concerns:
I’m certain part 3 will be even better than this movie because of the source material they are adapting, but I am concerned for part 2 because part 2 does not have a big fight scene. There is no Xi vs Penelope. I hope they improve on the original novels because part 2 is the weakest of the trilogy



New Edit: “Hathaway is the most scientifically realistic Gundam anime.”

REALISM: 9.5/10 (for a Gundam Film)

This movie scores a 9.5/10 in terms of realism in a Gundam anime.

I believe that this movie is also the most scientifically accurate Gundam movie. In Gundam anime, we have bullshit physics such as mobile suits in space stopping in the middle of space to shoot its guns without decelerating. Bullshit physics is everywhere in sci-fi shows including Gundam. Also, we have massive heavy space ships like the white base or the Ra Cailum being able to enter the earth’s atmosphere and being able to float despite it not having any thrusters on the bottom of the ship to allow it to float (because gravity makes heavy objects fall), or Minovsky Drives (Minovsky Drives were invented just before Hathaway’s Flash so it does not make sense for the White Base and Ra Cailum and other older UC ships to be able to float). Obviously it’s not just Gundam that have committed these crimes and things like the Star Destroyer from Rogue One are also guilty of this kind of bullshit physics.
Well thankfully in this movie, there are no bullshit space battleships entering the earth’s atmosphere and floating. In that sense, this movie is far more accurate than any other Gundam anime UC or other. Hathaway solves many of the problems with science and physics that all Gundam anime have been suffering from by setting the entire story on Earth and none of it in space. (FYI, Mr. Tomino has said that the cylindrical space colony model does not work in real life (he is right), which makes even the original Gundam unrealistic. Luckily no cylindrical sphere colony appears in Hathaway because its not set in space).

Hathaway’s Flash solves 95% of the science/physics-related problems that the Gundam franchise has had by setting the whole damn story on Earth. The only unrealistic elements about Hathaway are the giant humanoid mobile suits, Minovsky Particle technology(including Minovsky Flight) and the New-type (esper) element. (It is heavy implied Gigi is some sort of esper or New-Type as they are called in Gundam).

Additionally, since there are no space combat scenes, there is no need to justify the fact that there is sound in space despite there not being any air. Yes I know. The recent justification for Gundam weapon sound effects in space is that “the mobile suit’s camera captured footage from outside of the suit and adds sound effects instantaneously for the pilot”. But come on, we all know that this is just an excuse and besides, it does not explain the exterior shots still having sound effects. Gundam Hathaway’s battles all take place on earth so there is no need for bullshit sound effects in space combat because there aren’t any space combat scenes.

Also, I was getting tired of shows like 00 and SEED where mobile suits are able to hover in mid air even where there is gravity, and can stop to fire its guns without having large forward thrusters or having to decelerate with them, despite traveling at Mach speed. Gundam Hathaway has a bullshit technology called “Minovsky Flight” but at least they explain it. Also, the fight scenes between Messers and Gustav Karls are realistic air-to-air mobile suit fights because they have no Minovsky flight capabilities and have to fight in free-fall. Unlike bullshit SEED or 00 fights (not shitting on the story or characters of these anime, just shitting on the bullshit physics in these shows)

Another realistic part of the anime is that there is only 1 mass produced suit per faction. Mafty only has the Messer (although they have 3 variations of it: the F1, F2 and the commander type), while the Federation only has the Gustav Karl (yes they also have the Jegan Hunter-type but that’s only in the anime and they are not combat suits, they are auxiliary suits. They are jegan type A s that are the older models which fought in CCA but are now being replaced by the C and D types so they have been handed to the Hunters.). This is realistic because in real life, there is “economies of scale” which incentivizes militaries to standardize their equipment. Tomino was allowed to do this because there were no toy company heads telling him to add more and more mobile suits to sell toys. Tomino made this novel for himself and this was the only Gundam story that he had complete creative control over.
Of course, I’m guessing they will add more mobile suits in Part 2 to sell Premium Bandai Model kits. They’ll probably add a few Re-Zels or a THE-O or something for the Xi Gundam to fight in part 2 of the anime but oh well, whatever...

Conclusion: Gundam Hathaway is the most scientifically realistic Gundam anime to date, minus of course the Mobile Suits, New Types and Minovsky particles which are necessary.

When writing Hathaway’s Flash 30 years ago, for Tomino, this was the one Gundam story where he did not get any bullshit interference from the anime studio higher ups or the toy manufacturers and that this was the one Gundam story where he was truly able to create what he wanted to make, not having to worry about budget, time schedule, making the story draw out longer to take up TV slots, introducing a ridiculous amount of mobile suits to sell more and more toys (hence why there is only 1 mass produced suit per faction in Hathaway) and etc... He never expected this book to get an anime adaptation and never planned to make an adaptation himself. The result is a masterpiece that can rival the original Gundam