Trivia / Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway's Flash

• Actor-Inspired Element: Kensho Ono helped choose Hathaway's expression in the final scene of the first movie at Director Shoko Murase's request.
• All-Star Cast: The 2021 movie features well-known and rising names such as Kensho Ono, Reina Ueda, Jun'ichi Suwabe, Soma Saito, Kenjiro Tsuda, Yui Ishikawa, Fukushi Ochiai, Shunsuke Takeuchi, Misato Matsuoka, Chiharu Sawashiro, Saori Hayami, Atsumi Tanezaki, Kōichi Yamadera, and Nozomu Sasaki.
• Cast the Runner-Up: In an interview with Japan's TV Guide, Soma Saito stated that he initially auditioned for Hathaway. While he would lose to Kensho Ono, he eventually was given the role of Lane Aime.
• Marth Debuted in "Smash Bros.": For Latin American viewers, this is the first Gundam production from the Universal Century continuity that features characters from previous continuities that either weren't dubbed (like Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn) or even shown at all (basically everything else from the franchise outside Mobile Suit Gundam Wing, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz and Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans), causing some characters, like Hathaway, Quess and Amuro, to appear for the first time for viewers from that region.
• No Dub for You:
  • Not only averted for just English: It's also averted in basically almost any language when the Gundam franchise is normally shown sub-only in their regions, now that Netflix will stream the film outside Japan. This is especially relevant for some regions, like Latin America: The last dubbed Gundam productions there were Mobile Suit Gundam Wing and its sequel, Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz (not including a previous attempt on dubbing Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam to Venezuelan Spanish, which never materialized), both were dubbed in Mexico at 1998, that means 23 years ago. Curiously enough, this is also the only Gundam production dubbed in Mexico City, as the already mentioned Gundam Wing, as well as Mobile Suit Gundam: The Witch from Mercury, were dubbed in Cuernavaca, Mexico instead.
  • The same goes double for Spain: The film is the first Gundam production to be dubbed, since all the few others series and films who were brought there, including the aforementioned Gundam Wing, were sub-only.
• The Other Darrin: Multiple examples:
  • Lane was originally voiced in SD Gundam G Generation F by Koichi Hashimoto, but was replaced by Takahiro Mizushima from Spirits all the way through the 2010's.
  • Akio Ōtsuka voiced Kenneth in Sunrise Eiyuuden instead of Fumihiko Tachiki, who voiced the character in every other video game before the 2020's.
  • Finally, Nozomu Sasaki himself, who voiced Hathaway all the way back in Char's Counterattack, confirmed on his Twitter account that he would not be reprising his role for the films while Naohiro Ogata revealed there would be new actors for the main cast, separate from any of the prior video games. Examples include Kensho Ono, Reina Ueda, Jun'ichi Suwabe, and Soma Saito as Hathaway, Gigi, Kenneth, and Lane respectively. Nozomu Sasaki ended up voicing another character named Gass H. Huguest.
  • In the English dub, Hathaway and Quess are voiced by Caleb Yen and Anne Yatco respectively (replacing Bill Switzer and Jocelyne Loewen who voiced them in Char's Counterattack) as studio NYAV Post (based in New York and L.A.) has been handling the dubs for all the major Universal Century installments since Unicorn, taking over The Ocean Group who are based in Canada.
• Referenced by...
  • Even though Hathaway's Flash did not have an Animated Adaptation until 2021, it had previously made several appearances in the SD Gundam G Generation series, with F and Spirits adapting its story. Through Downloadable Content, Genesis is the latest to incorporate it.
  • Hathaway and the Xi Gundam are playable in Gundam Extreme Vs: Full Boost; Lane and the Penelope join the fun in Maxi Boost.
  • The novel makes its Super Robot Wars debut in Super Robot Wars V. However, its story is not adapted in the game proper, likely because it'd be hard to portray the protagonist in a plausible, yet positive light. Within the game's back-story, Hathaway almost killed Chan Agi like he did in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack, but the light of the Nu Gundam's Pyscoframe brought him to his senses, allowing him to realize the death of Quess Paraya was nobody's fault - it was simply another tragedy of war. When Hathaway appears in the present of V, he's still a young teenager rather than an adult (likely due to his counterpart in the novels being a case of Older Than They Look), and is a civilian test pilot for Londo Bell, forming a notable friendship with Banagher Links and participating in the events surrounding Laplace's Box (particularly in regards to Loni Garvey). That being said, the events of the novel do happen in the back-story of the Alternate Universe from which the Mobile Suit Crossbone Gundam and Space Battleship Yamato 2199 characters come from^note In Universal Century canon, Crossbone is set about three decades after Hathaway's Flash; upon being told of what his alternate self was like, Hathaway resolves not to turn out as "Mafty Navilles Erin". Aside from Hathaway using the Xi Gundam as intended, Lane Aim in the Penelope appears as an enemy, but can join the team if players fulfill the proper requirements.
  • BB Senshi Sangokuden had two characters that were each based on both the Xi Gundam and Penelope, respectively Shiba-Shou Xi and Shiba-Shi Penelope, sons of Shiba-i Sazabi.
• Release Date Change: Three times nonetheless! The first film was supposed to be released on July 23, 2020, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic; the release date was changed to May 7, 2021. It was then pushed back to May 21, 2021 after a new state of emergency was put in place, only for it to be pushed back again to June 11 after the state of emergency was extended.
• Role Reprise:
  • Tōru Furuya makes a surprise cameo as Amuro Ray in the first movie, despite his character not being around in the original novel trilogy. Maria Kawamura also reprises her role as Quess Paraya as well.
  • Lucien Dodge returns to voice Amuro's cameo appearance in the first film, having first played him in the dub of the Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin anime.
• Troubled Production: According to the producer Naohiro Ogata, the production of the 2nd movie is ongoing but they had a hard time trying to do some location scouting in Australia due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
• You Sound Familiar:
  • Koichi Yamadera (Hundley) voiced Gyunei Guss in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack.
  • Saori Hayami (Kelia) voiced Lalah Sune from Mobile Suit Gundam: The Origin.
  • Nozomu Sasaki (Gass) was the original voice of Hathaway in Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack and also voiced Olba Frost in After War Gundam X.

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