Live-Action Gundam Movie Director Defends Gundam ZZ, Shows Love for the Universal Century



Updated: June 13, 4:14 CST.

Much mystery still surrounds the Sunrise and Legendary co-produced live-action Gundam film. Mid-April 2021 we learned the film found its director and streaming giant Netflix will be releasing the feature internationally, with the exception of China, where Legendary will head distribution.

Y: The Last Man and Runaways scribe Brian K. Vaughan is still set to write the screenplay and will also act as an executive producer. Legendary’s Cale Boyter is overseeing the project alongside Sunrise.

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts, of Kong: Skull Island fame, hasn’t been shy in expressing his love for the Gundam franchise in a series of Tweets, specifically for the beloved long-running Universal Century timeline, from the divisive Mobile Suit Gundam ZZ series to the obscure Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Deleted Affair [C.D.A] ~ Portrait of Young Comet manga by Hiroyuki Kitazume. Released in 1986, Gundam ZZ was a drastic tonal shift from its popular brooding Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam predecessor, adopting an initial lighthearted, slapstick comedic atmosphere, to the dismay of sects of the fan base.

While nothing has been reported in the ways of casting, setting or plot, having a fan at the helm of the project bodes a certain optimism for the long-veiled film, announced back in 2018.

Presently, Netflix is bolstering its Gundam library by adding Mobile Suit Gundam I, Mobile Suit Gundam II: Soldiers of Sorrow, Mobile Suit Gundam III: Encounters in Space and Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack. The films are slated to be available June 18, 2021 to over 190 countries on the streamer.

Last Thursday, the streaming service announced they were exclusively releasing the Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash film internationally during their “Geeked Week” event.

First in a trilogy of anime films helmed by Shukou Murase, Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash or Hathaway is the official sequel to the 1988 Mobile Suit Gundam Char’s Counterattack movie. The project was announced in November 2018 to celebrate the Gundam 40th anniversary, adapting the Yoshiyuki Tomino-penned novel series of the same name. The novels were originally released from 1989 to 1990, as a follow-up to Tomino’s Char’s Counterattack: Beltorchika’s Children novel, published by Kadokawa’s Kadokawa Sneaker Bunko imprint.

Story

The year is U.C. 0105. Twelve years have passed since the end of the second Neo Zeon War (Char’s Rebellion). Even after “the Axis Shock,” which seemed to indicate the future of humanity and the Universal Century, the world is still in a chaotic situation where intermittent military conflicts continue to break out. The Earth Federation government is more corrupt than ever, and its leadership has not only accelerated Earth’s pollution, but also implemented an inhuman “Man Hunting” policy in which civilians are forcibly exiled to outer space.

The anti-Federation government organization “Mafty,” led by someone called “Mafty Navue Erin,” has taken a stand against the corruption of the Earth Sphere. Mafty carries out fierce acts of terrorism, assassinating high officials of the Federation government one after another, but it gains a certain level of support from the populace who are growing more opposed to the Federation government.

The person who calls himself “Mafty” and leads this organization is Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa, an officer of the Earth Federation Forces who once participated in the One Year War. Hathaway himself joined the forces trying to stop Char’s Rebellion. With firsthand knowledge of the ideals and ideologies of Amuro Ray and Char Aznable, he has become a warrior following in their footsteps, and plans to clear a path forward through armed resistance. His destiny, however, is drastically altered as he encounters the Federation Forces officer Kenneth Sleg and a mysterious young beauty named Gigi Andalucia.

Cast 

  • Kensho Ono as Hathaway Noa
  • Junichi Suwabe as Kenneth Sleg
  • Reina Ueda as Gigi Andalucia
  • Soma Saito as Lane Aime
  • Toru Furuya as Amuro Ray
  • Kenjiro Tsuda as Gawman Nobile
  • Yuki Ishikawa as Emeralda Zubin
  • Fukushi Ochiai as Raymond Cain
  • Shunsuke Takeuchi as Iram Masam
  • Misato Matsuoka as Mihessia Hence
  • Chiharu Sawashiro as Kenji Mitsuda
  • Atsumi Tanezaki as Mace Flower
  • Koichi Yamadera as Hundley Yeoksan

Ergo Proxy and Genocidal Organ’s Shukou Murase is directing the film project, with scripts by Yasuyuki Mutou. Pablo Uchida, Shigeki Kuhara, and Naoyuki Onda serve as the character designers for the films. Hiroyuki Sawano returns from Mobile Suit Gundam entries Unicorn and Narrative as music composer, with rock-band [Alexandros] performing its theme song “Senkou”. The films’ mechanical design team consists of Hajime Katoki, Kimitoshi Yamane, Nobuhiko Genba, and Seiichi Nakatani.

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