Mobile Suit Gundam has had many entries throughout the decades, though most take place in the same continuity. The Universal Century timeline is still getting anime, manga, films and novels created, allowing it to remain the most popular continuity in the series. Unfortunately, one of the most important newer entries is plodding along as slowly as an actual mobile suit.

Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway was first announced a few years back, with the series of films adapting the light novels of the same name. Sadly, only one entry has been released so far, with the rest possibly years away. While fans certainly don't want to hear this news, it might be for the better, allowing Gundam to reach a whole new audience in the process.

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The Sequels to Gundam's Best Movie Are Taking Forever to Come Out

hathaway noa in front of xi and penelope gundam from hathaway flash

The premise of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway involves main character Hathaway Noa (also called Mafty Navue Erin) as a changed man several years after the events of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack. Seeing how the Earth Federation has mistreated those who were once loyal to Zeon, Noa and his new group use terrorism and assassination to make their aims of freedom fighting known. Given how popular Char's Counterattack still is among Gundam fans, the fact that the series is only now being turned into a set of movies is astounding. The original light novels came out between 1989 and 1990, but the anime movies only began in 2021.

To be fair, the theatrical release of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway's first movie was intended to occur in 2020, but the COVID-19 pandemic made this impossible. Finally seeing release in the summer of the next year, the movie had somewhat mixed reviews given its important relation to Char's Counterattack. Nevertheless, there's definitely an appetite for more, especially since the entire story of the light novels has only had its surface scratched. The latest news on the trilogy's next entry stated that it might not be released until 2024, which is a fairly large gap between something that should've hit theaters in 2020. There's been nothing to suggest otherwise since this statement was made, but Gundam and anime as a whole are now in a somewhat better place.

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Gundam's Hathaway Films Can Succeed Through the Rise of Anime Popularity

Suletta and the Gundam Aerial from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury

In the interim between the first two Hathaway movies, Gundam has become more popular with those who might otherwise avoid it. This is mainly due to the series Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, which has become popular even with those who normally wouldn't watch a straightforward mecha series. Beforehand, Gundam hadn't been mainstream in most non-Asian countries for years. In its place, various other anime franchises had become absolute monsters in popularity, both in Japan and international territories. The result is that anime is far more popular and mainstream than ever before. This has seen non-franchise anime movies like Suzume perform relatively well at the box office, not to mention the major monetary success of Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero and Demon Slayer - The Movie: Mugen Train.

While not connected to any of those franchises, Gundam can piggyback on their success when the second Hathaway movie hits theaters. That's on top of the new fans that The Witch from Mercury has added to the mix, making the ingrained audience for the film much bigger than its predecessor's. Given how well the aforementioned Suzume performed, Gundam should do much better at the international box office, if for no other reason than to see giant robots. A strong box office response to the second film could even light a fire underneath Sunrise, ensuring that the third movie doesn't take quite as long to make. For the time being, the next movie is at least a year away, but it's for the best that Sunrise isn't rushing things. A great Gundam movie is better than anything else, and with how much the franchise has grown, it's sure to have plenty of eyes on it when it finally releases.