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I just saw the movie without English subtitle so I only understand the conversation a little bit. I gotta say the direction is superb, the voice-acting is top-notch, sound design is impeccable and the battle animation is great and even breathtaking in parts.
We spend so much time on the characters which is not a bad thing at all. In fact, the on-screen chemistry between Hath & Gigi reminds me a lot of Lelouch & CC (especially when Hath is supposed to be the leader of a terrorist organization, like Lelouch) but less over the top and more grounded. Of course, HF was written much much earlier so Code Geass is probably the one that took some inspiration from the HF novels. Other characters like Kenneth & Mafty members are also enjoyable to follow.
As I said earlier, the animation is great, but there is a segment in the middle of the movie when Hath went to the beach and boarded a sailboat where the animation became iffy. You've seen this in the very first teaser of HF where they tried to merge & composite handdrawn characters & sailboat, photorealistic scenery, and CG ocean water that don't blend quite well and can be a bit of an eyesore. Thankfully, that segment was kept short. Speaking of visuals, I'm actually pretty disappointed with Hath's pilot suit. I get that it's supposed to be more practical & comfortable, but I adore the Macross-inspired pilot suit from the novel & really want to see it animated but I guess beggars can't be choosers. It's good enough that Xi's design is closer to the novel than the Katoki design.
The sound FX that they created for the Minovsky Flight is pretty nice although it can be a little bit Bayformers-ish. We also got new beam shot sound which is....fine, I guess. It's not as iconic as Gundam's beam rifle or Unicorn's Beam Magnum sound.
As for the MS battles themselves, most of the MSs are CG, so be prepared for it. Still, it's not necessarily bad. The battle direction is stupendous and every action & explosion matters. We got a lot man-on-the-ground POVs which made the Suits (which are already gigantic for UC standard) look even bigger & scarier. Many of the battles happened at night so the MSs will obviously be obscured but you'll see some beautiful lightshow where sparks, missiles, explosions and even Minovsky Flight particles look awesome on screen. One more thing: do not expect a hype reveal of Xi Gundam like you saw for Unicorn Gundam or Freedom Gundam. Just like Zeta Gundam in its own show, Xi Gundam's reveal is pretty understated & lowkey. It just got out of the containment and started shooting. Could've been better but what we got is not bad at all.
As expected of the first entry in a Trilogy, the ending doesn't feel like an ending but it was a good stopping point. Once I saw the movie again with proper sub, I might add more points. But, at the end of the day, HF movie 1 is a great watch.
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