Parents' Guide to Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway

This is an anime sequel that's best enjoyed by fans of the universe depicted therein. Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway is an anime based on a series as well as a trilogy of novels. While superfans will have much to enjoy about this story, so much depends on context, and for those unfamiliar, much of the story is difficult to follow. It can be downright confusing at times, and all the conversations and reflections of the characters don't really help matters. Part of the problem is that while there's some complexity and depth to the lead characters, it's difficult to feel any sense of sympathy for them based solely on what's happening in this movie. The bad guys are either decadent and corrupt government officials or their loyal stooges, and the slightly-better guys employ terrorist actions to try and quicken humanity's exile from Earth for the planet to heal from humankind's devastation of the environment.

While the animation is of a high quality, and a sense of what's at stake for these characters does emerge despite all the confusing side stories and references to past events, what lingers is a feeling of being left out. This isn't a stand-alone sequel, one in which the viewer can truly enjoy if they're not immersed in the long-term story arc of these characters, arcs that go way beyond this movie. It gets frustrating for those not versed in the Life and Times of Hathaway Noa. However, for those who do know this world and these characters, there should be much to enjoy, despite the occasional slow pace between action sequences. For everybody else, the lack of context is alienating.