The signs of Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe’s visual downgrade from its predecessor were visible as early as its teaser trailer — I remember tuning in to that anticipated first look and feeling flummoxed by the dubious CG and awkward running-in-the-rain cut. I associate Hathaway’s Flash with strong-to-sublime 2D animation and solid-at-worst 3D mechanical objects, with the only distraction being the occasional incongruity between the ultra-detailed backgrounds and the human cast. So, this was not at all what I expected.
The full movie is not consistently disappointing on the 2D animation front as I’d feared, though the general bar does feel lower than the first film’s. What bothered me more was that while Hathaway’s Flash provided animation highs that I still think back to fondly, like Kenneth Sleg slamming Gawman Nobile’s face into a table or Gigi Andalucia messing with a pen, what I remember most from The Sorcery of Nymph Circe are the not-so-good bits. One shot caught me off-guard with how unpolished the horses galloping in the far distance looked, while another featured increased fluidity that felt overdone and out-of-place compared to similar instances in other anime.
As for the CG, I was neutral about how they looked in the first movie, but I did remember the mobile suits projecting the sense of being mechanical giants and weapons of terror. Here, metallic objects like the Mafty ships and mobile suits usually come off as obvious 3D models with a flat, unappealing look (some non-metallic CG or VFX elements like the ocean water and explosions are similarly unconvincing). During the aerial battles, the movement of the massive, overwrought Gundams of Hathaway conveyed the weight of puppets instead of actual mechs. As a result, I had added appreciation for the return of the mobile suit cockpit scenes — outside of the cool and immersive factor, they provided momentary respite from the exterior’s visual quality.
Nonetheless, The Sorcery of Nymph Circe was still a delight to experience in theaters. Years ago, I opined that Hathaway’s Flash “does a good job of conveying a 3D sense of space in its scenes.” That’s still true here, with the storyboards* and layouts (and the tools/techniques supporting the movie’s approach) working to sell the idea that Hathaway and the rest exist in a physical world, whether the scene takes place in a crammed cockpit or the interior of a luxurious Hong Kong apartment. One ambitious sequence even puts the audience in the first-person perspective of a rebel on the ground during a chaotic battle with Federation mobile suits. The Sorcery of Nymph Circe’s camera is keen to immerse you in the movie’s world.
The sound effects, too, play an important role. As dissatisfied as I was with the CG, I still felt goosebumps during the movie’s two battles, especially the final one, because the drone of the lasers, the whoosh of the missiles, and the shrieks of the mobile suit thrusters sounded that good in the theater. The sound direction (and cockpit shots) defied the goofy CG models, making the encounters feel exhilarating.
If the 2D animation and CG had been better, The Sorcery of Nymph Circe might’ve been truly bewitching. Even so, the cinematography and sound effects make it possible for me to recommend this as a theatrical experience, despite the animation making me wince at times.
*I only managed to recognize the kanji for director Shuko Murase’s name out of the four credited ones before they scrolled past, but according to KeyFrame Staff List, the other storyboard artists are Shinichiro Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo director), Hiroyuki Okiura (Ghost in the Shell character designer, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade director), and Kotomi Deai (Skip & Loafer and Rolling Girls director)
