Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe Review

Synopsis:
After securing the powerful Xi Gundam and fully reuniting with his comrades, Hathaway Noa continues to struggle with his conflicting emotions as Mafty undertakes new missions, assailing previously unseen enemies and forging unlikely new alliances. All the while, Colonel Kenneth Sleg of the Earth Federation Circe Unit strains under the pressure to find and eliminate Mafty, even with the precognitive assistance of Gigi Andalusia, who pushes the complex triangular relationship between her, Kenneth, and Hathaway to new levels. 

Release Date: 
2026

Timeline:
UC 0105

My Grade: 
B-

Coming out of 2021's Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway, I had tentatively high hopes for the sequel. My summary of the first film was essentially that it is a beautifully animated movie filled with intriguing characters whose motivations (and elements of the overall story) are very unclear. In the follow-up, I reasoned, these concerns would hopefully be addressed. Unfortunately, however, the story painted in The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is even more muddled and confusing than the original.

Our titular hero (?) Hathaway Noa continues to act as the face of the terrorist organization Mafty, though contrary to his implied positioning in the first film, it's revealed that Hathaway is in fact not the group's leader, and is instead more of a symbolic figurehead. The natural sense of internal conflict he exhibited  previously is suddenly amplified into a serious anxiety disorder for which he must take medication (though he often refuses). Apparently, Hathaway is tremendously haunted by the events of Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, specifically by his relationship with the late Quess Paraya and his involvement in her death. This would be more interesting if Quess hadn't been an absolutely despicable character - seeing Hathaway tortured by her passing isn't exactly sympathetic when she was so utterly insufferable.

Hathaway's mental state is further challenged by the return of his old flame, Kelia Dace - this is a character that was never mentioned or seen in the first film, other than in a brief stinger at the very end, and whose presence here feels like part of a much bigger backstory from the source novel that is only barely touched on in the film. Unfortunately, this leaves her with little to do other than shave her head and fuss over Hathaway, and their relationship ends with little fanfare or impact - indeed, it seems like the overall plot would have likely played out identically if she had been absent from the story completely.

In another example of book backstory just barely eking its way into the film, there are numerous references to the improbably named Quack Salver, a man who never appears in the film and whose connection to Mafty is never explained. The history of Mafty itself faces a similar storytelling problem, being implied in only a small handful of split-second flashbacks. It's still unclear exactly what they want or how murdering politicians is supposed to improve the world, and on multiple occasions Leah and I found ourselves completely lost as to what Mafty's goals were, who they were fighting, and why they were doing anything. All these storytelling mishaps added up to an extremely opaque plot that demanded we look things up online in order to comprehend what we had watched.

Speaking of not understanding what we saw, the mobile suits in The Sorcery of Nymph Circe remain as ridiculous-looking as ever and yet again appear almost exclusively at night in the dark for the film's single action set piece at the end. The silhouettes of the Xi and its opponent are jumbles of angular plates that seem to serve no function other than to confuse the viewer, and it's hard to imagine these behemoths actually being able to move at all, let alone perform complex combat sequences.

Despite its storytelling and mech-design problems, The Sorcery of Nymph Circe is just as spectacularly animated as its predecessor. Everything looks crisp, lighting is dynamic, and even simple scenes of characters talking in a room (of which there are plenty) are staged with interesting camera angles. Though the plot does drag, the visuals remain compelling for the entire film, and that goes a long way in a visual medium like anime.

Though I was ultimately disappointed that The Sorcery of Nymph Circe compounded - rather than resolved - the issues I had with the first film, I can only hope that the third time will be the charm for the Hathaway trilogy. With gorgeous animation and compelling (if confusing) characters, I really want this series to stick the landing and end on a satisfying conclusion.

Off to redecorate!