Kidou Senshi Gundam: Senkou no Hathaway

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Tomino’s novel trilogy aims to be a bleak political tragedy, but it never earns the emotional impact it clearly seeks. The inner monologues do provide more psychological detail than the 2021 film adaptation, but that extra context does not suddenly make the cast compelling or even particularly likeable.

On paper, this should have been one of Gundam’s strongest political stories. The Earth Federation is openly corrupt, deporting people into space while keeping Earth as a privilege for the elite. Laws are passed purely to benefit those already in power. Dissent is crushed. This easily could have been Tomino’s equivalent to something like Gundam: The Origin or ... even Legend of the Galactic Heroes.

Instead, most of that potential is wasted on an awkward love triangle and Tomino’s usual mix of sexualised, strange, and often juvenile writing.

The only character who really made me feel anything across the entire trilogy was Bright Noa. That is largely because Bright is already a fully realised character from earlier Gundam. Hearing that he plans to retire and open a restaurant with Mirai was unexpectedly touching. Learning that the Federation repeatedly denied his resignation out of fear of his influence and his ties to Newtypes could have been a fascinating political thread.

Unfortunately, Bright barely appears. These ideas are mentioned only briefly and then abandoned. It feels like a massive wasted opportunity.

There are moments where the novels briefly suggest they might live up to their premise. The revelation that the Kimberly Task Force has been torturing people who merely claim to be Mafty, despite knowing they are impostors, is disturbing. Hathaway’s visit to a town devastated by Federation violence is also a powerful image.

But these occasions ultimately lead nowhere.

In the end, Hathaway loses. The book calls it “bad luck.” He is defeated in a Gundam fight by Lane Aim, a cocky and inexperienced pilot who barely feels like a character at all. Hathaway is captured and executed.

And the bill he tried to stop?

It had already passed.

The novels make this explicit.

Quote from the novel:
“Are you privy to the recent passing of the bill?”
“When?”
“Just before the bombing earlier today.”
“You’re kidding.”
“The advent of communication technologies enables the dissemination of such bills across all Federation government branches. The bureaucrats and government will dictate Earth migration.”

So yes, it truly was all for nothing. You could argue that this is the intended idea: that Mafty’s violence achieves nothing and that the system is too large to be challenged by one person. But that idea only works if the audience is emotionally invested in Hathaway’s struggle. Here, it lands hollow. We are told this is tragic, but the story never makes us care about Hathaway or root for Mafty.

What should have been a devastating conclusion instead feels emotionally empty.

A major reason this fails is Tomino’s fixation on uncomfortable sexual dialogue and romance. Much of the trilogy is consumed by the love triangle between Hathaway, Kenneth, and Gigi, which completely sabotages the political story and makes the characters hard to take seriously.

Some of the worst examples speak for themselves.

Quote from the novel:
For Gigi, she had no choice but to sell her body to older men, so looking at men like them was thrilling to her.
Even so, her position between both men—Hathaway and Kenneth—was one she savoured.

So yes, Gigi’s defining trait is that she is a prostitute who enjoys the attention. And of course, in true Tomino fashion, she is blonde.

Julia, a Gundam mechanic, is written almost entirely as a walking pair of nipples.

Quote from the novel:
“Also, you should at least put a shirt on so those precious tits don’t get injured.”
“I really hate that archaic notion that only men can go topless, you know. We’ve been doing this for a hell of a long time. Besides, guess they’re not all that bad then!”
Julia lithely stood up, slipping out of Hathaway’s sight. He began barking out orders, even as the sight of her young and perky nipples was seared into his memory.

And later:

Quote from the novel:
As usual, Julia wore a t-shirt, and her nipples were pointedly erect.

Kenneth’s inner monologue is no better.

Quote from the novel:
Though the thought of being intimate with her filled him with a primal desire, Kenneth knew it wasn’t worth the risk of shoving the table aside and defiling her, for her feared that such an act might anger the fates and bring upon him a tide of misfortune.

Then there is this scene, which crosses straight into absurdity.

Quote from the novel:
“Hmm, so that’s why you’re into middle-aged men?”
There was some bite in those words.
Gigi sensed that Mace was the type to prey on men.
Gigi casually leaned forwards towards Mace, not minding that her lips brushed her hair, and said, “The Captain must be great in the sack, huh? I bet he even asked you for oral and anal, didn’t he?”
Gigi chuckled, feeling Mace’s neck twitch.
“…!?”

I read this part on a plane and burst out laughing. It felt like something written by a middle-schooler. Gigi baits Mace into slapping her by talking about oral and anal. It is juvenile, tonally bizarre, and destroys any sense of seriousness.

More examples:

Quote from the novel:
“If you say so, it must be true…”
“You can touch my butt and breasts if you want?”
“Well, I appreciate that.”

And:

Quote from the novel:
“I believe that even orgasms allow us to recognise something beyond the act… Otherwise, it’s embarrassing for intelligent humans to have sex.”
“That’s an ideal. The dichotomy between intellect and primal instincts makes us human, and the diversity in sexual—”

These are people in their 20s and 30s having these conversations.

Hathaway himself appears emotionally stunted.

Quote from the novel:
“If I’ve got a girl like Gigi at my side and I don’t make a move, am I the laughing stock?” It was a simplistic line of thought but resonated with raw truth.
“Should I… become intimate with Gigi?”

This is a man who spent his entire youth obsessing over Quess and now has no emotional maturity or real experience with women.

Kenneth’s relationship with Hathaway also feels completely unearned. They meet during a plane crisis, and almost immediately, he respects Hathaway, wants him to work for him, and even tries to recruit him to pilot the Penelope Gundam. Their supposed friendship feels artificial, especially with Gigi wedged awkwardly between them.

The most unintentionally funny moment comes at the end.

Quote from the novel:
“We’ll always be friends. Don’t forget that.”

Kenneth says this before executing Hathaway. I could not help but laugh.

In the end, Hathaway’s Flash had the ingredients to be a grim political tragedy about radicalisation, corruption, and the pointlessness of violence. Instead, it gets dragged down by shallow romance, awkward sexual writing, and a protagonist who is difficult to sympathise with. The ending is bleak, but without emotional investment, it feels empty rather than devastating.

At best, this trilogy is a 6 or 7 out of 10. It is full of strong ideas that never cohere into anything meaningful. Outside of Bright Noa, the story fails to make its characters worth caring about, and that ultimately makes its tragic conclusion feel pointless instead of profound.