To the delight of its fans, the Gundam saga seems immortal. After having existed primarily through its alternate universes in the 2000s (which brought effective entry points such as Gundam SEED and Gundam 00), the series returned to its main schedule with the 2010s, via globally acclaimed projects. like Gundam Unicorn, Gundam Thunderbolt, and Gundam: The Origin. In April 2018, the Sunrise studio presented the UC Next 100 project, aiming to evolve the timeline of the Universal Century, which began with the film Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative which received a rather mixed reception.

The next project in this key universe is the production of the Mobile Suit Gundam: Senkô no Hathaway trilogy, known simply as Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway internationally, and Mobile Suit Gundam: The Shine of Hathaway at home. Going out in our regions is also a dense subject to which we will come back later.

Originally, Hathaway is a three light novel series written in the late 1980s by Yoshiyuki Tomino, the creator of Gundam, on the illustrations and covers of Haruhiko Mikimoto. A short series of novels with a definite stake: Narrating the events following the film Tank counter-attack, a real decisive point of the Universal Century in more than one respect. Today, this status is to be qualified because stories like Unicorn have emerged, and have allowed us to discover the world after the famous rebellion of Char Aznable.
Regarding the light novel, it should be noted that a reissue has emerged to resonate with the animated adaptation, Mikimoto having signed the new covers.

Thus, these novels are the basis of the ambitious new anime project attached to the Universal Century. Planned as a trilogy, this saga within the saga is directed by Shukô Murase, a wide-ranging animator that fans first got to see in the animation direction of Gundam F91 as well as the character design of Gundam Wing. These two examples clearly show the versatility of the director who has managed to achieve a fascinating result, on which we will express ourselves after this phase of presentation. In the scenario, it is Yasuyuki Muto that we find, a logical choice since the author also adapted the plot of the Gundam Unicorn novels for the OVAs. He is therefore particularly experienced in the work of adapting a literary work for medium and feature film formats. Among the main roles, we note the adaptation of the character-design of Haruhiko Mikimoto by Pablo Uchida, another undeniable strength of this first film. Hiroyuki Sawano, after doing wonders on Unicorn and Narrative, returns to the soundtrack. An arduous task for this composer, some of whom criticize the lack of capacity to renew himself, knowing that the history of L’Éclat de Hathaway is dense enough to highlight registers with which Sawano is perhaps less used to composing.

The son of the prodigy, the bearer of a terrorist revolt

In the year 0105 of the Universal Century, twelve years have passed since the rebellion of Char Aznable which did not result in the massive spatial migration of humanity that the leader of Neo Zeon so hoped for. The Federation retains its hegemony over the Earth and its colonies, but that’s without counting the birth of a new group of opponents: Mafty. This terrorist army acts for purposes similar to those of the late Char Aznable, while pointing the finger at the federal regime, supported by a handful of powerful, which must change.