This show seriously needed more episodes. None of the big character moments in the finale really landed: like Machu and Nyaan making up, or Shuji and Machu’s kiss, they just kind of happened without much weight. The individual scenes were great, and I loved all the memes the community came up with each week, but the moment I actually stop to think about it, the main trio just feels really underdeveloped, both as characters and in their relationships with each other.
As someone who just started getting deep into Gundam over the last ~6 months in anticipation of GQuuuuuuX, I have to say that it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that I really loved it.
I’ve been a big fan of Gainax, Khara, Anno, Tsurumaki and Enokido for roughly 25 years now, and I feel that GQuuuuuuX pulled the rabbit out of the hat by bridging old and new. I feel that they hit the 7-10 split of making a show that was simultaneously respectful and fanboyish about the original Mobile Suit Gundam, while still managing to fight against it both literally and symbolically. Would it be a good show to watch for someone with a “death to the author” attitude who wants a purely stand-alone story? Maybe not. But I don’t think that’s what GQuuuuuuX was attempting to be.
Say what you will about GQuuuuuuX, but it was absolutely a love letter to 0079, Zeta, CCA, the entire UC timeline, and most importantly, the people who made it–who, had they not existed, Gainax, Gunbuster, Evangleion, FLCL, Diebuster, Khara also would not have existed. Maybe I’m just being sentimental, but I felt that GQuuuuuuX was a statement about life and circumstances. It was a show about all of the other possibilities that could happen in life if things were just a little bit different. And it was a show about how people like Tsurumaki built their life and career on the shoulders of people like Tomino, who in turn also benefited from being the right person, at the right place and time, especially compared to the wartime generation of Japanese people who came just before him.
As such, I think GQuuuuuuX is best enjoyed with knowledge of the UC and an appreciation for the meta-narrative.
I didn’t go into this show (or The Beginning movie cut, which I saw in theaters twice) expecting it to be totally divorced from everything that came before it. From the first minute of seeing GQuuuuuX The Beginning, I was sold on the idea of this alternate-UC, a version of the Gundam UC universe where Amuro doesn’t get in the robot. This show was answering that specific question, “what would Gundam be like if Amuro never got in the robot in the first place?” That was what set the stage for the entire continuity that Machu and Nyan existed in, and I also think they did a good job of exploring not only why such a universe might exist, but also what that would mean for other characters in the UC framework, and even the design language of the mobile suits!
I’ve seen people complain that GQuuuuuuX is either too heavily reliant on UC or that they would have preferred more focus on the UC characters. But what those people fail to understand is that GQuuuuuuX is UC, and so characters like Char, Challia, and Kycilia are just as much native characters to the GQ-UC timeline as Machu and Nyan are. They are not actually even really the same characters as their 79-UC counterparts.
One thing I want to say about the show is how much it evoked FLCL, including the ending:
GQuuuuuuX and FLCL SPOILERS
In FLCL, the young and disillusioned male lead Naota’s life is suddenly and radically changed when the mysterious weirdo girl Haruko crashes into his boring, normal life. By the end of the story we find out that Haruko is in fact an alien who is chasing after an all powerful amorphous entity called Atomsk whose power/essence has been captured by Medical Mechanica, a mysterious organization that is trying to achieve something along the lines of the Third Impact from Evangleion. In the end of the story Naota finally steps up and takes agency over his life, stealing the power of Atomsk from both Medical Mechanica and Haruko, before suddenly backing off to confess his love to Haruko before Atomsk escapes and Haruko, having failed to do what she came to do in the first place, follows. From there, life goes on.
In GQuuuuuuX, it is eventually revealed that this strange stoner kid Shuji is far from a normal newtype, but is actually some kind of strange being from another universe. Is he a real person, or some kind of manifestation of Lalah or the Gundam? (Just like Haruko, we never really learn the full truth.) Shuji exists in the GQuuuuuuX universe for a specific reason, to destroy the universe itself in an attempt to help the mystical newtype Lalah search for a version of the universe where the love of her life, Char, is not killed trying to protect her. (I definitely have to rewatch it to wrap my mind around this, but I think that’s the basic idea.) Machu and Nyan, motivated by existential freedom and a desire to do whatever needs to be done to survive and get by in like, respectively, find themselves in the middle of this battle across universes that is much bigger than themselves, and Machu eventually takes agency over her situation when she shoots the limiter drive within GQuuuuuuX. Much like Naota, Machu both foils Shuji’s plan and confesses her repressed feelings towards him before he disappears. Machu’s life, also, goes on.
I think people have some legitimate complaints about the break-neck pace of GQuuuuuuX. Tsurumaki is no stranger to telling fast stories over a small number of episodes, but it could be argued that GQuuuuuuX had so much to say in its allotted time that it wasn’t able to have as many of the moody and atmospheric moments as shows like Evangelion, FLCL and Diebuster have. (FLCL is famous for being frenetic, but it also has some truly beautiful calm scenes!) We got a bit of that in GQuuuuuuX, like Nyan’s montage in Episode 5, but if the show had a little bit more time maybe we could have spent a bit more quality quiet time with our main characters, especially Machu and Nyan. (On the other hand, people wanted more FLCL, only for the monkey paw to curl with the creation of 4 subpar spinoff cartoon network cashgrabs… Sometimes less is more!)
Overall, I really loved GQuuuuuX.
I spent the last few months really looking forward to every release, watching it multiple times and looking at a lot of the online discussions around it. I haven’t been this excited for, or had this much fun watching a new anime in many, many years. I’m sad that it’s over, but very glad that it was created. As someone who only watched 0079, Z, ZZ, CCA, 0080, 08th MS, Unicorn and WfM this year (with a couple episodes of Wing back in the Toonami days), I can only imagine how a show like this would feel to people who watched all of this stuff when it came out. If nothing else, it was a new Tsurumaki + Enokido show by Khara, with participation by Anno, and an absolute love letter to Mobile Suit Gundam.
I love that you loved it. 👊
@wjs018 I’m really happy with this show. Might be my fav Gundam anime.
I was so confident that there’s no way the studio can wrap this up in one episode, which means that they would announce a second season immediately.
But I was wrong; they somehow told the story in just 12 episodes.
This show was way too short, but hey, at least it doesn’t overstay its welcome. I dislike filler episodes and plots that drag on way more than something rushed.
The other thing I was surprised by is the lack of tragedy. Like, the only significant on-screen deaths are of the Zabis. Everyone related to Machu survived.
Also, I was left wondering: was that Amuro’s soul in GQuuuuuuX? Given that it expressed regret for
Gundam spoiler
killing Lalah
It sucks that we don’t get to see Amuro at all, but at least we got to see Artesia. From what I infer, the world would be the most peaceful under her rule. I think I like this timeline best.
Banner: profound quote
was that Amuro’s soul in GQuuuuuuX?
Maybe? I was surprised to hear Furuya’s voice in there (backed up by IMDB), what with the credible SA allegations and all. They didn’t use Ikeda for Char, so… (though the flashback battle sure sounded like him).
It sucks that we don’t get to see Amuro at all
I agree. Maybe they didn’t want to tie down his character to a specific destiny here in case they do future stuff in this universe.
Done!
Knee jerk reaction: this show was more spectacle than story. The nostalgia tugs were very effective, but I was a little disappointed that the core trio were almost side characters, mostly serving to link everything back to Char/Lalah/Challia. It’s like, just as their personal arcs and motivations were peaking, everything took a hard pivot to supporting the alternate timeline.
I do like the reveal of how things were initially set up. And I’m glad I was wrong about the setup. (I did go back and look at the rose salvage scene, and I saw where I got confused - the close ups of the cockpit were kind of mottled. I mistook that for damage, but Challia and Comoli(sp?) were discussing how it looked distorted.)
I also went and double checked the clone newtype line - it was Xavier who said that Gihren was looking to deploy clone cyber newtypes. At first I was irritated that it seemingly violated Chekhov’s Gun. Then I realized, is this supposed to imply that Bask was working with Gihren? Those episodes were full of allusions to something fishy going on, but with all of the narrative jump cuts I was having a very hard time following. If this was obvious to others watching, well, nobody ever accused me of being the brightest bulb lol.
Also, they really let the Eva flag fly during the finale.
In all, I definitely enjoyed WfM more. GQX seemed like it couldn’t decide what it wanted to be. And I definitely did not enjoy the frantic non-linear storytelling. But the nostalgia bits hit all the right neurons, and it was definitely an experience.
This was a rushed, self-indulgent mess. The second Shuuji showed up the plot and characterization started careening downhill. The only good thing about this is that I’ll forget about it soon.
