YMMV / Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash

• Awesome Moments:
  • The Action Prologue has Hathaway go full One-Man Army against the fake Mafty hijackers, taking out most of their forces with nothing more than a handgun and hand-to-hand combat. The animation is simply the cherry on top, smoothly portraying the movements while still keeping an exciting level of tension. The fact that this, compared to the mobile suit fights, is among the most dynamic should tell you about the darker nature of this film.
  • That said, the debut duel between the Xi Gundam and the Penelope is no slouch either. The movements and flight patterns of both 5th-gen MS may look lumbering compared to the dynamism and near-omnipotent power of the previous Unicorn series of MS, but they convey the expected weight, sheer physical strength and intimidation factor (especially compared to Red Shirt Federation and Mafty suits) such behemoth fighting machines should have.
• Awesome Music:
  • Courtesy of SD Gundam G Generation
    • Hathaway's theme, "His Name is Mafty Navue Erin", does a great job at portraying the futile struggle he goes through and the general tone of Universal Century stories. Available in G Generation Spirits and Gundam Extreme Vs flavors, (the latter of which is reused for Super Robot Wars V).
    • "Assault", the rocking theme of the Mafty organization (though the Extreme Vs series appears to have made it Lane's Leitmotif).
  • As expected of Hiroyuki Sawano, the movie's soundtrack provides some absolute knockouts that compliment the Darker and Edgier tone perfectly.
    • "EARth" is simply gorgeous, combining Sawano's stylistic synths with a grand orchestra that lets Earth's ethereal beauty and gravitas shine in the opening sequence.
    • "CC···12yl" is a high-energy track that kicks off with a sequence of synths that only keeps escalating in scale, adding plenty more synths before finally adding a full orchestra right at the end. Its quieter moments add to the already-tense soundscape, lending itself beautifully to the first fight scene of the first movie.
    • "Möbius", the opening theme of the first movie, whose lyrics go through Hathaway's mix of Revenge Before Reason Power Of Hate feelings and You Are Better Than You Think You Are La Résistance call to stand up to a corrupt world until you force the system to change, together.
    • "TRACER", despite being solely used as a transition track between Hathaway's monologue and the deployment of the Messers, goes through the former's motivations for what he does, in contrast to the largely unthinking EFF; His commitment to fight and kill for the sake of the Earth, the new generation oppressed by the old, and the future. And how even if blinded by grief, he can still easily see the broken world for what it is. The intro and outro cut from the film itself also sarcastically asserts his enemies within the Earth Federation can become true heroes who actually make the world a better place by dying under his gunfire.
    • "ESIRNUS" starts off with tense, dramatic music that follows Hathaway and Gigi's attempt to escape the attack on Davao on foot, but then culminates in a somber, slow, and heartbreaking strings movement that feels like all of the grief and pain of the Universal Century put into music. (It doesn't hurt that it accompanies one of the most beautiful shots in the movie.◊)
    • As soon as Hathaway resolves to cut all ties to the past in order to fulfill his mission and enters combat with the fearsome Xi Gundam, "XI" plays, carrying another classic "Sawano drop" moment amidst a sea of electronic notes and beeps, clearly influenced by his previous tracks for Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn ("UNICORN", "MOBILE SUIT" and "BANSHEE", respectively); fitting, considering Hathaway's character arc as a Darker and Edgier Gundam protagonist is almost a direct foil to Banagher's paragon status.
  • The ending theme of the first movie, "Senkou" ("Flash') by popular band [Alexandros] is simply awesome, putting some incredible vocals against a rocking landscape that narrates the unique hardships Hathaway faces on his journey.
• Continuity Lockout: Newcomers who haven't seen Mobile Suit Gundam and Char's Counterattack would be confused with the mentions of several UC characters such as Amuro Ray, Char Azanable, and Quess Pariya and how they are relevant to Hathaway's story. The movie has footage directly from the Char's Counterattack movie where Quess jumps out of the jeep that Hathaway is driving to stop the brawl between Amuro and Char. This is also the reason Netflix made the 0079 compilation movie trilogy and Char's Counterattack available overseas before the film release so that viewers can understand the context.
• Iron Woobie: Bright. After all the tragedies he went through since the first series, war after war, he ends his career with his own son being executed in petty revenge by the very government he spent most of his life to uphold.
• It Was His Sled:
  • Bright is put in charge on paper of the execution of his own son Hathaway, who he has no idea is the one the Earth Federation government is putting to death until they leak it to the news days later. For some, this is literally all they know about the story. Others suspect from events such as Char's Counterattack and Unicorn that the film version may have things play out differently.
  • To a lesser extent the fact that Hathaway Noa and Mafty Navue Erin are the same person, as it is very difficult to talk about the majority of the story without referencing that first act twist.
• Memetic Mutation: The fake Mafty's pumpkin mask spawned a lot of parodies, chief among them being the infamous "Pumpkin Dance" sped up and set to the tune of [Alexandros]'s "Senkou".
  • The Gustav Karl has become a popular subject of "Oh lawd, he comin'" memes, with lesser mass-produced Federation MS filling out the lower positions in the Chonk Chart.
• Nightmare Fuel: The attack on Davao sequence in the first movie, full stop. More than any Gundam series prior, it really drives home how massive and horrifically destructive mobile suit combat is from a civilian's point of view. The worst part by far is that in comparison to previous wars, the attack isn't even that bad in terms of damage or casualties - not that it helps the innocent people on the ground any.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Hathaway is one of the most despised characters in Char's Counterattack because his subplot with Quess had nothing to do with the final showdown between Char and Amuro and in the end all he does is kill Amuro's love interest. Hathaway's Flash adds considerably more depth to his character, making him into a Byronic Hero who fights the corrupt Earth Federation. Despite his ending, readers consider it a massive improvement on Hathaway's characterization.
• Tainted by the Preview: Long-time fans were pissed when Nozomu Sasaki revealed on his Twitter that he will not be voicing Hathaway for the Trilogy, despite voicing the character for decades.
• Watched It for the Representation: Filipino Gundam fans watched the movies in order to see the accuracy of Davao City and the representation of various food chains, including Jollibee and Baliwag.
• Win Back the Crowd: After the extremely divisive Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, Hathaway managed to bring back a lot of the more disgruntled Universal Century fans, to the point even 4chan (yes, you heard that right) has almost nothing but positive opinions of the movie.