Illustration (Manga Yomitai)
Finished the first Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway film and wondering whether to read the novel or the manga before The Sorcery of Nymph Circe? If you want to meet the next film without knowing its story in advance, you can save the books for later. In the official English Gundam Q&A for the new film, producer Naohiro Ogata recommends watching the first Hathaway film beforehand and suggests the theatrical Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack for extra background if you have time. Neither of those steps involves a book.
If what you really want is to compare the film with where it came from, Yoshiyuki Tomino’s original prose novel is the source to read. Uroaki Sabishi’s manga is a separate illustrated adaptation. They’re two different ways into the original material, not two interchangeable starting points for the next movie, and both are Japanese-language books as far as this guide has been able to confirm.
Official English-dub trailer. Contains scenes from The Sorcery of Nymph Circe.
What to Read After the First Hathaway Film
“What should I read next?” can mean two different things. You might want to revisit the story you just watched through its source, or you might be looking for the first scene that comes after the film ends. Tomino’s novel is a good fit for the first goal. For the second, this guide hasn’t matched the end of the first film to a specific chapter, so we won’t point you to a page and call it the continuation.
The first film’s world gives you plenty to bring to the source. According to the official English story page for the first part, the year is U.C. 0105, twelve years after Char’s Rebellion. The Earth Federation is described as corrupt and the environment as deteriorating, and a policy known as Man Hunting forces civilians off the planet and into space. Resisting the government through assassinations of senior officials is a group called Mafty, led by a figure using the name Mafty Navue Erin.
That leader is Hathaway Noa, the son of Bright Noa. The official character page lays out the double life at the center of the film. In public, Hathaway is a young man training on Earth as a botanical observer. In reality, he leads Mafty. The same page reminds you who his father is: Bright fought alongside Amuro Ray in the One Year War, and Hathaway himself survived Char’s Rebellion as a child. So the son of a man tied to the Federation’s history is leading a movement against the Federation. The official story describes Hathaway as carrying forward something of the ideals and will of both Amuro and Char.
Two more people shape his path in the first part, according to the same official story: Kenneth Sleg, an officer on the Federation side, and Gigi Andalucia. Hathaway first meets Gigi aboard the shuttle Haunzen. Her official profile says she meets both Hathaway and Kenneth there, and that an insight close to foresight draws both men’s attention to her.
Keep that cast in mind, and the reason to read the novel becomes concrete. A double identity, a family connection to the Federation he’s working against, a Federation officer, and a young woman whose insight draws both men’s attention are all things you can meet again in the novel’s own telling. If you read Japanese, KADOKAWA’s 2021 new edition of the novel’s first volume, marked 上 (jō, “upper” or “first”), lets the story set up these people and this world in its own order. Some of it will be familiar from the film. The point of starting at the beginning is to see how the prose builds the same situation, not to skip what you’ve already watched.
The Japanese novel also has a middle volume, marked 中 (chū, “middle”), released in its new edition on March 26, 2021, at 244 pages. Its product description reaches events beyond the first film. If you want to keep the next movie fresh, leave that description unread for now.
How the Film, Original Novel, and Manga Differ
Illustration (Manga Yomitai)
One important difference is the story that comes before Hathaway. In a March 7, 2026 MANTANWEB interview, director Shukou Murase said Tomino’s novel follows Beltorchika’s Children, while the animated Hathaway films connect to the theatrical Char’s Counterattack. Those two predecessors don’t give every later event the same history.
If a detail from Hathaway’s past reads differently in the novel, the different starting history matters. It doesn’t mean the film is a page-for-page version of Tomino’s prose, or that one medium has to replace the other.
It helps to keep the credits straight, too. The official English announcement for the new film credits Shukou Murase as director and Yasuyuki Muto with the script, with the original concept credited to Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate. Tomino wrote the novel himself, so the prose is his own telling, while the films are another team’s adaptation that has to fit the theatrical history.
Murase also explained that the films present earlier events through Hathaway’s point of view. What he remembers or witnessed needn’t cover everything the audience knows. That perspective is part of how the film tells its story, not a reason to read an unseen scene as proof of what happens next.
In an interview with the Japanese anime site Febri, Murase said Tomino hadn’t written the original novel for an animated adaptation. Murase and screenwriter Yasuyuki Muto nevertheless returned substantially to that prose when developing the first film.
Murase described choices in bringing those people to the screen: Hathaway’s design changed little, while Kenneth was adjusted for the new visuals and Gigi was portrayed as older than in the novel. They’re recognizably the people from the source, but the screen versions aren’t identical. If the first film left you curious about their original presentation, the novel begins before those visual choices were made.
In a separate Febri interview, Murase called Gigi difficult to fully understand even after reading the novel. He credited Reina Ueda’s performance rhythm with shaping a film version distinct from the prose character. That’s the director explaining his adaptation, not a claim about how every reader will respond. It does give a reason to compare her first-film appearance with Tomino’s writing if you read Japanese.
Murase also said he wanted the first film to move at a pace unlike a TV series, drawing on the novel’s measured rhythm. His aim was to make the film followable even for viewers new to Hathaway. The producer’s separate recommendation to watch Char’s Counterattack adds background; it doesn’t make the novel a prerequisite. Having seen the first film, you can read the source for comparison rather than as a test of what you understood.
Sabishi’s manga takes a third route. KADOKAWA credits Uroaki Sabishi for the manga, with Yoshiyuki Tomino and Hajime Yatate credited for the original work, and the publisher describes it as a manga version of the novel written as a sequel to Beltorchika’s Children. That puts it on the novel’s side of the continuity split. If you’d rather follow Hathaway, Gigi, and Kenneth in drawn panels than in prose, it’s the alternative. The publisher’s listing doesn’t tell us how far the manga has progressed relative to the films, so we can’t say where it stands against The Sorcery of Nymph Circe.
Readers’ reactions to the prose are mixed. On Amazon.com’s listing for an older Japanese edition of the first novel volume (ISBN 9784044101312), one reviewer marked as a Verified Purchase said on August 27, 2026, that the book deepened their understanding of the screen adaptation. Another, reviewing on July 22, 2026, found some scenes hard to picture and was distracted by the sentence construction. Those are two individual readers of the Japanese text, not reviews of any English edition.
Can You Read an Official English Edition?
Illustration (Manga Yomitai)
This guide hasn’t been able to confirm a publisher-authorized English edition of Tomino’s Hathaway novel or Sabishi’s manga. The limited search recorded for this guide on November 2, 2026, didn’t turn one up. That isn’t proof that none exists, and we won’t predict whether one is coming. Fan translations aren’t authorized editions, so we don’t recommend them.
What we can confirm are the Japanese books. KADOKAWA lists the new edition of the novel’s first volume with ISBN 9784041096208, published February 26, 2021, at 324 pages. Amazon.com also carries an older Japanese printing of the first volume under ISBN 9784044101312. Both are Japanese text; the difference is the edition, and the ISBN is the quickest way to tell which one a listing is selling.
For the illustrated version, KADOKAWA identifies Sabishi’s first manga volume with ISBN 9784041097205. A listing that only says “Volume 1” won’t tell you whether you’re looking at the novel or the manga. Check whether Tomino is credited as the prose author or Sabishi as the manga artist, and confirm the format before you order.
An English storefront, or an English product description, doesn’t make the pages inside English. Before buying, check the stated language, the publisher, the creator credits, the format, and the ISBN of the specific edition.
What to Know Before The Sorcery of Nymph Circe (Spoiler-Free)
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The second film’s official English title is Mobile Suit Gundam Hathaway: The Sorcery of Nymph Circe. Since you’ve seen the first film but not this one, the real choice is whether to compare the source now or meet the next film without advance knowledge from the books. A novel can reach events before an animated adaptation does, so reading ahead can change what feels new when you watch, even if all you meant to do was explore the source.
If you want to keep those discoveries for the screen, steer clear of plot-focused descriptions of the novel’s middle and later volumes. Search results that promise the “novel ending,” detailed character outcomes, or a full list of film-to-manga changes can show you more than you meant to learn. The official trailer above also includes scenes from the new film, as its note says. A book’s author, format, language, and ISBN are enough to identify it without reading its plot summary.
If you have time before the new film and want background rather than advance story details, the producer’s suggestion offers a different kind of preparation. Char’s Counterattack belongs to the theatrical line the animated Hathaway films follow, but it doesn’t require you to open later chapters of the Hathaway novel. Ogata recommended it as additional context if you have time, not as homework. For someone who has already seen the first film, that’s a way to learn more about the earlier screen story while leaving The Sorcery of Nymph Circe for its own viewing.
Summary
Illustration (Manga Yomitai)
If you read Japanese, Tomino’s original prose novel is the source to compare with the first film; Sabishi’s manga offers an illustrated adaptation. The novel and film have different predecessor stories, and the books can reveal developments you haven’t watched. If you want to see The Sorcery of Nymph Circe without advance plot knowledge, wait to read them until afterward. An authorized English edition of either book remains unconfirmed here, so check the language before shopping. For background in the meantime, the producer recommends the theatrical Char’s Counterattack.
The illustrations in this article are AI-generated.