After successfully escaping, a memorable scene occurs when a colony guard calls out, "Nice taste you've got there. How much would you sell it for?" Despite being in the midst of war, the mobile suit is treated as an object of "taste." That temperature gap is fascinating.
Furthermore, this unit is also used for Quess Paraya's piloting training. The scene where Char evaluates Quess, who demonstrates acrobatic flying unthinkable for a first-time pilot, by saying "You seem to have talent," leaves complex feelings when you know the tragedy that follows. The Hobby Hi-Zack also appears as an "innocent vessel" symbolizing Quess standing at the entrance to war.
The reason the Hobby Hi-Zack remains in memory isn't just its cuteness. It's because, within the heavy and suffocating narrative, it exists as something that briefly reminds us of "the everyday life that might not have been war." While the color scheme catches the eye on first viewing, after finishing the story, it likely evokes memories of that scene's entire atmosphere.
In "Char's Counterattack," the Hobby Hi-Zack radiates a distinctive presence as a unit wrapped in an atmosphere reminiscent of peaceful everyday life—glimpsed only for a moment.
The theatrical film "Mobile Suit Gundam: Char's Counterattack" was released in March 1988. It was the first Gundam film produced as a theatrical original work, set in Universal Century 0093, fourteen years after "Mobile Suit Gundam." The anime "Mobile Suit Gundam" is a robot anime produced by Sunrise and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino. It pioneered a new genre called "real robot anime" and had an enormous influence on subsequent robot anime. Although viewership ratings during the original broadcast were poor, popularity soared with reruns and theatrical releases, giving birth to the "Gunpla" boom. Numerous subsequent Gundam series and spin-off derivative works have been produced, and it continues to enjoy high popularity today.
(C)SOTSU·SUNRISE
