THE MONSTROSITY OF MOBILE SUITS IN GUNDAM HATHAWAY
AN INTERVIEW WITH EXECUTIVE PRODUCER NAOHIRO OGATA

Gundam Hathaway has been a box office phenomenon since its nationwide release on June 11, 2021, raking in 2.21 billion yen and attracting over 1.08 million viewers as of November 14, 2021. This film adapts Yoshiyuki Tomino’s novel trilogy of the same name, written from 1989 to 1990. The protagonist, Hathaway Noa, son of the legendary Bright Noa, assumes the alias Mafty Navue Erin and plunges into an anti-Earth Federation movement. The story intricately explores his motivations for becoming Mafty.

Naohiro Ogata, producer at Sunrise (now Bandai Namco Filmworks), spearheaded this theatrical anime adaptation. As a producer who’s been at the helm of Universal Century-based Gundam series like Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn, Mobile Suit Gundam Narrative, and Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Reconguista in G, Ogata is a cornerstone of the Gundam franchise.

We sat down with Ogata to discuss his approach to this project, the process of bringing Director Murase on board, what sets “Hathaway’s Flash” apart from other Gundam series, and his vision for the second installment, Gundam Hathaway – Sun/Son of Bright.

POURING EVERY OUNCE OF ENERGY INTO REALIZING DIRECTOR MURASE’S VISION

――It’s been over a year since Gundam Hathaway hit theaters. Not only did it crush the box office, but the Blu-ray sales are through the roof. What’s your take on this success?

Ogata: We’re thrilled that our box office revenue has surpassed 2.21 billion yen, and Blu-ray sales have reached 180,000 units. We’ve had a string of theatrical releases over the past decade, but this time we went all-in on the numbers game with our promo strategy. I believe we’ve successfully established a new benchmark for the Gundam series.

――From production to promotion, what aspects of the film did you particularly focus on?

Ogata: Regarding promotion, I’d say persistence was key. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had to postpone the release date three times. We were constantly monitoring the news for updates on emergency declarations and theater situations. Thanks to the flexibility of everyone involved, we managed to maintain our promotional efforts right up until the release date. For the actual film, it was all about bringing Director Shuko Murase’s vision to life. I was confident that if we could faithfully translate his ideas to the screen, we’d have something special. The finished film certainly exceeded expectations in some areas, but I feel we successfully realized Murase’s core concepts. Moving forward, we aim to incorporate even more of Murase’s ideas in the subsequent parts.

――What was your initial vision for Hathaway’s Flash as an animated work?

Ogata: I’m part of the generation that was deeply impacted by Char’s Counterattack in middle school, which led me to read the Hathaway’s Flash novel. The content was quite shocking. When I joined Sunrise, I knew I wanted to adapt Hathaway’s Flash into an anime someday. With Gundam Unicorn, we managed to reboot the Universal Century timeline, and given that these films chronologically follow Unicorn and Narrative, the timing felt perfect.

――Who was the first person you approached for the film?

Ogata: Director Murase was my first choice. He had worked on storyboards and animation for Unicorn, as well as some bonus material artwork. I was eager to collaborate with him on a full project. While Murase is known for his interest in original works, I sensed he might have some unfinished business with the theatrical film Gundam F91. Given that Gundam Hathaway is based on a novel by Tomino, who directed F91, I thought Murase might be interested. Fortunately, he accepted my offer.

――Your first encounter with Murase was on Unicorn, right?

Ogata: Actually, it goes back further. I joined Sunrise in 1997 and was assigned to Studio 1. At the time, they were working on the OVA New Mobile Report Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, specifically episode 3. Murase had done the character designs for Gundam Wing, but he wasn’t there when I arrived. When I introduced myself to the staff, Yoshihito Hishinuma, the character designer for Inuyasha, jokingly introduced himself as “Shuko Murase.” Juniya Ishigaki, the mecha designer for After War Gundam X, was laughing, but I didn’t get the joke. It made me really want to meet the real Murase someday. Later, I joined Sunrise’s baseball club and there he was. That club was full of interesting creators. However, our first professional collaboration didn’t come until Unicorn, years later.

――Looking at Director Murase’s filmography, he’s known for some rather dry and hard-edged works. How did you envision his style meshing with the Gundam series?

Ogata: Genocidal Organ left a strong impression on me. The battle scenes were sharp and dark, and I wondered if Gundam Hathaway might turn out similar. As it happens, it did end up with a darker tone. In that sense, I was expecting it to bring a fresh visual style to the Gundam series. Murase is known for his generally dry approach to filmmaking. I felt the Gundam series needed some emotional depth as well, so we brought in Yasuyuki Muto for the screenplay to balance Murase’s dry style with the more emotive elements of Tomino’s novel. When developing this project, Murase and I discussed making it enjoyable even for those new to the Gundam series. While we certainly wanted to please existing Gundam fans, the first volume of the novel is light on mobile suit battles and heavy on drama. Rather than forcing in more action scenes to fit the typical Gundam formula, we decided to stay true to the novel’s essence. Our hope was that the visual beauty would draw viewers in, gradually revealing to them what Gundam is all about.

――The film beautifully portrays the encounters and drama between Hathaway Noa, Gigi Andalucia, and Kenneth Sleg.

Ogata: Absolutely. When I first pitched this to Tomino with Murase as director, he suggested a few films. One was this vibrant piece about a love triangle. I believe Murase had that in mind as well. After discussing it with him, we decided to focus on the drama between Hathaway, Gigi, and Kenneth as depicted in the novel, rather than the ensemble approach often seen in Gundam series and Tomino’s works. We felt this would also play to Murase’s strengths in exploring characters’ inner psyche.

――How did you plan to incorporate Tomino’s flavor, given he’s both Gundam’s creator and the novel’s author?

Ogata: With Tomino’s prose as our foundation, I figured his essence would seep through no matter who adapted it. However, when we asked Muto to write a script that stripped away Tomino’s style, the work lost much of its appeal. So we aimed for a balance, retaining enough of Tomino’s flavor to keep it engaging while making it accessible to newcomers. Ultimately, during the storyboarding phase, Murase shifted it back a bit closer to the novel for this first part.

EXPRESSING LOCATION RESEARCH FINDINGS THROUGH TOMINO’S TECHNIQUES

――For this project, you and Director Murase conducted location scouting in Davao, Philippines, where the story is set. Can you tell us about that experience?

Ogata: Interestingly, Tomino wrote the novel without visiting the location. He likely relied on guidebooks and researched the routes of the former Japanese army. Nowadays, we have services like Google Maps that allow us to investigate in detail, but there’s an intangible atmosphere you can only grasp by being there in person. Initially, we hadn’t planned on location scouting due to scheduling constraints. However, by chance, we met a yakiniku restaurant owner who was familiar with Davao. When we expressed interest in scouting, he offered to guide us, which led to our impromptu trip.

The scouting trip proved invaluable in understanding Davao’s geography and ambiance. Director Murase particularly noted how close the mountains appear to the city. Davao has beaches and coastline, but it’s also surrounded by mountains that feel remarkably close. This sense of depth and scale is something you can only truly appreciate in person. We also got a clear sense of the temperature and humidity. Interestingly, when Tomino saw the completed film, he critiqued that it didn’t capture the tropical heat. However, Davao actually has a pleasant climate, comparable to Japan’s Golden Week temperatures year-round. While it’s geographically subtropical, we realized that not emphasizing the heat actually captures Davao’s true essence more accurately. This insight was a key takeaway from our scouting trip.

――How much did the location scouting inform the depiction of Davao’s cityscape in the film?

Ogata: There’s a park in the film modeled after a botanical garden in Davao, and the scenes moving from this garden into the city directly reflect what we saw during our scouting. Since the story is set in the future, we combined our reference photos with futuristic designs and materials to create a unique vision of the future. We also employed a technique often used by Tomino: even if a building we saw was made of wood or concrete, we reimagined it with futuristic materials for the film. This approach is evident in F91, where the space colony interiors feature European-style buildings actually constructed with advanced future materials. The idea is that space colony inhabitants admire Earth-like designs, viewing European architecture as luxurious. This backstory explains the seemingly anachronistic classical designs.

COMBINING VETERAN TALENT WITH FRESH FACES IN THE PRODUCTION OF PART.1

――In assembling the team around Director Murase, who were some key staff members you brought on board?

Ogata: We brought in longtime collaborators of Murase, such as Tomoaki Okada for art setting and storyboards, and Naoyuki Onda for character design and chief animation direction. A notable new addition was Pablo Uchida. I was introduced to his work during Reconguista in G when Akira Yasuda, our mechanical designer, praised his exceptional skills. After seeing his work, we had him create image boards for G-Reco. He meshed well with both Tomino and Murase, so I introduced him to Murase during Unicorn and entrusted him with character designs for this project.

――How was working with Pablo Uchida?

Ogata: Murase is quite meticulous and rarely approves anything on the first try. He usually goes through multiple revisions. However, with character designs, many of Uchida’s ideas were incorporated almost directly. This speaks volumes about the quality of his work and his alignment with Murase’s vision.

――Gigi’s character design, especially her eyes, felt particularly fresh and innovative.

Ogata: The novel Hathaway’s Flash features characters designed by Haruhiko Mikimoto. However, given Murase’s inclination towards a more realistic style, we decided to take the characters in a more lifelike direction. We particularly reimagined Gigi and Kenneth. Uchida’s design for Gigi really set the tone, with Onda and Murase fine-tuning details like her distinctive eyes.

――Could you elaborate on the designs for Kenneth and Hathaway? What was the process like between Pablo Uchida and Director Murase?

Ogata: Mikimoto’s Kenneth had echoes of Char, which was likely intentional on Tomino’s part. However, to make the film accessible to newcomers, we decided to move away from the Char-like design. We wanted to emphasize Kenneth’s roughness and coldness as a soldier. When commissioning the design, Murase mentioned being inspired by actor Tomoya Nagase’s look in a drama airing at the time.
For Hathaway, Uchida really focused on the fact that he’s the son of Bright Noa and Mirai Yashima. While the overall impression isn’t drastically different from previous depictions of Hathaway in the Gundam series, Uchida’s subtle adjustments really shine through in this version.

――Regarding voice casting, what were you looking for in the actors?

Ogata: To match Murase’s realistic visual style, we wanted actors who naturally embodied the age and essence of the characters, particularly for Hathaway, Kenneth, and Gigi. For Hathaway, given the deep exploration of his psyche, we held auditions looking for someone who could convey both youthful naivety and a facade of maturity. Kenshi Ono’s performance as Hathaway stood out for its vulnerable quality. We actually had him re-record some lines to emphasize this more natural, naive aspect of the character.

――Reina Ueda’s performance as Gigi was particularly impactful.

Ogata: Indeed. We didn’t have a clear image for Gigi’s voice initially, but Ueda’s audition was completely unique. While Tomino’s heroines tend to be strong and cool, Ueda brought a cuteness that paradoxically made Gigi more intimidating. It was an instant match.

――We’re looking forward to hearing more from Junichi Suwabe as Kenneth in future installments! On the audio front, Hiroyuki Sawano’s music made a strong impression. What led you to continue working with him after Unicorn and Narrative?

Ogata: Sawano has become somewhat synonymous with Universal Century Gundam projects after Unicorn and Narrative. Once you work with him, it’s hard to stop. His music elevates the visuals to another level. While Murase’s film style is somewhat detached, Sawano’s music directly taps into the viewers’ emotions. In the film, for instance, the scene where the Xi Gundam launches, connected to Hathaway’s flashback, is completely carried by Sawano’s music. His ability to synchronize with the visuals is truly captivating.

A NEW APPROACH TO PRODUCTION FLOW FOR PART.2: SON/SUN OF BRIGHT

――After working with Director Murase on this film, what were some of the challenges or particularly memorable aspects?

Ogata: Everything was challenging (laughs). As I mentioned earlier, Murase rarely gives unconditional approval. The only areas that didn’t receive many retakes were the sound work by Koji Kasamatsu and Reina Ueda’s performance as Gigi. For everything else, we went back and forth with Murase, constantly refining. His vision is several steps ahead of conventional thinking, so I think many staff members only truly understood what we were aiming for when they saw the completed film. The final product likely exceeded their expectations, making all the hard work worthwhile. Translating Murase’s vision into visuals, sound, acting, and music was incredibly demanding.

――Did the production process feel different from previous Gundam series?

Ogata: Absolutely. The production of this film was completely different from our previous Gundam projects. For decades, we’ve been creating works with 2D hand-drawn animation, but Gundam Hathaway is primarily 3D-based. We first build the space in 3DCG, then finish it with hand-drawn 2D elements. This means creating the 3DCG first, then using it as a guide for layouts. This production flow was new to us, and it took time to fully grasp what Murase was aiming for. Interestingly, the score Murase gave to Part 1 after completion matched Tomino’s evaluation. While they likely assessed it from different angles, we’re aiming to surpass that score with the next part.

――It sounds like Part 2 will see quite a few changes in the production process.

Ogata: Indeed. For Part 2, we’re completely revamping the production flow and approaching it with a fresh mindset alongside our staff. The new team members joining from Part 2 are coming into this new system, which I believe will allow us to incorporate more of Murase’s vision than in Part 1. This is one of the benefits of creating a series – we can evolve and improve our methods. I’m really looking forward to seeing how Part 2 takes shape with these new approaches.

――That’s fascinating. We’re eagerly anticipating the second film.

Ogata: We’ve already received an initial script, which the director’s tweaking it as he works on the storyboards. As I mentioned, we’re basing our work on 3D, so we’re also pushing ahead quickly with various design elements. I suspect Part 2 will feel the most different from the original novel out of the trilogy. It will likely have a very different feel from Part 1 as well.

――Can you give us any hints about what to expect from Part 2, within what you’re able to share?

Ogata: Part 2 is shaping up to be a real turning point for Hathaway. We’re going to dig deeper into his past and what makes him tick. You’ll see a lot of those plot seeds we planted in Part 1 start to sprout. Oh, and Hathaway’s dad, Bright, is going to show up too. We can’t wait for everyone to see it – I think fans are in for a treat.