Pablo Uchida Design Works: Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway’s Flash

This is a quick review of a neat little art book that I picked up the other week. It features concept art by Tokyo-based Pablo Uchida for the Hathaway's Flash cinematic release from last year. There hasn't exactly been any buzz in figure releases based on the film, Converge as featured nothing since the Xi Gundam in May 2021, the last SD design came out of Senshi Forte in 2017 and both Ensemble and Gframe are giving it a pass (even though Universal Unit did 1:220 scale figures of both the Penelope and the Xi already in 2016).


The book, or rather booklet, features the stylish poster image from last year as its front cover and was apparently being handed out to cinema visitors during the film's 8th week showing (which would be sometime in August last year), I guess as a sort of enticement for fans to go see the film multiple times? I found a copy for 200 yen on the secondary market; I guess they will be rare to come by but cheap when you do.


The booklet contains no written material and is a strict illustration extravaganza only. The first half contains six spreads of one or more motifs either spreading across both pages or as seen here appearing in groups. There are both black and white sketches and full colour plates although the artwork remains in sketch form. The moods are captured really well and invite your imagination to go for a stroll, especially if you -like me- have not seen the movie. Call me cynical but I have a feeling that the mood evoked by the imagery will be more rewarding when you have *not* seen the final screenplay.


The last seven spreads are dedicated to character sketches which is excellent reference material. The fashion style feels very contemporary rather than what we have seen in other Gundam timelines where the designs are often outlandish, this gives it a nice grounded feeling. There are no dedicated mobile suit or vehicle sketches other than them appearing in the backgrounds, I assume they were not the focus of the artist. Overall a nice and stylish little booklet which is great to have if you are in to this sort of thing.