The second installment of the “Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash” anime film trilogy, officially titled Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senkō no Hathaway – Circe no Majo (Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Witch of Circe), is set to premiere in Japanese theaters this winter. A new teaser trailer has been released, confirming the film’s title, staff, and release window.
Returning and New Staff Members
Many of the key staff members from the first “Hathaway’s Flash” film are reprising their roles for “The Witch of Circe.”
- Director: Shukou Murase (known for Genocidal Organ) continues to helm the project.
- Screenplay: Yasuyuki Mutou remains the scriptwriter.
- Original Work: The film is based on the novels by Yoshiyuki Tomino, with original work also credited to Hajime Yatate.
- Character Designers: Pablo Uchida, Naoyuki Onda, and Shigeki Kuhara are adapting Haruhiko Mikimoto’s original character designs.
- Music: Hiroyuki Sawano is once again composing the music for the film.
- Mechanical Design: The team includes Hajime Katoki, Kimitoshi Yamane, Seiichi Nakatani, and Nobuhiko Genba, with original mechanical designs by Yasuhiro Moriki and Kazumi Fujita.
- Art Director: Kinichi Okubo.
- Color Design: Takako Suzuki is joined by Yuichi Kuboki as a color key artist.
- Director of Photography: Kentarō Waki, with Yoshihisa Ōyama as the new compositing director of photography.
- CG Directors: Ryukou Masuo and Tomohiro Fujie.
- Editing: Daisuke Imai.
- Sound Director: Kōji Kasamatsu.
- Audio Director: Eriko Kimura.
- Display Designs: Yoshinori Sayama is credited for display designs.
- Planning, Production: Sunrise (now a division of Bandai Namco Filmworks).
Cast
The main voice cast from the first film will also return for the sequel:
- Kensho Ono as Hathaway Noa / Mafty Navue Erin.
- Reina Ueda as Gigi Andalucia.
- Junichi Suwabe as Kenneth Sleg.
- Soma Saito as Lane Aim.
Background and Production
The “Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash” project is planned as a three-part theatrical film adaptation of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s novel series, originally published between 1989 and 1990. The story is set in the Universal Century timeline, in the year U.C. 0105, and follows Hathaway Noa as he leads a terrorist organization against the corrupt Earth Federation government. The first film, Mobile Suit Gundam: Hathaway’s Flash, was released in Japan on June 11, 2021, and was a box office success, grossing approximately 2.23 billion yen.
Producer Naohiro Ogata had previously mentioned that scouting locations in Australia was part of the production for the second film, although the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges. The second part had a tentative title of Kidō Senshi Gundam: Senkō no Hathaway: San of Bright, but the new teaser has revealed its official title to be “The Witch of Circe.” Ogata also indicated that the second part will have some differences from Tomino’s original novel series.
