Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-

Note: This post is considered an episode review and it dives into spoilers for the movie.

Right after I started blogging about Witch from Mercury Season 2, Bandai Namco announced the next major Gundam TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (pronounced as “G-kwux” and yes, that is actually the title of the show). I’m not entirely sure if I’ll cover the entire show in episode reviews, it mostly depends on how long it is, but I enjoyed WFM so I’m willing to at least give this new show a whirl. To drum up interest, a theatrical cut of GQuuuuuuX‘s first few episodes subtitled Beginning has been released, ahead of the show’s premiere in April. Usually, I prefer to cover the TV episodes and I only cover compilation films under certain circumstances. But seeing as I got to this movie first, I figured I should write something down to get ahead and have some writing I can later used for the TV show.

There’s some big names attached to GQuuuuuuX. Sunrise is of course back to produce the show but this time, they’re teaming up with Studio Khara, the studio best known for the Rebuild of Evangelion film series. Khara’s founder and the creator of Evangelion, Hideaki Anno, is attached as a head writer, as is Yōji Enokido, who handled series composition on another of anime such as Revolutionary Girl Utena and Bungo Stray Dogs. Mech designs are being handled by Ikuto Yamashita, who also designed the mechs for Evangelion. Among the voice cast are prolific voice actors such as Tomoyo Kurosawa and Yui Ishikawa. Suffice to say, the crew and cast list for GQuuuuuuX is stacked. I suppose there’s still a small chance that GQuuuuuuX might not stick the landing but I’d honestly be shocked if that ends up being the case.

Generally, Gundam is split into two different sets. The first is the original canon set in the Universal Century (UC) timeline. This canon is still active and it remains the largest subseries in the franchise. The second set is a bunch of Alternate Universe (AU) series that share common elements with the former canon but does its own story. With some exceptions such as Gundam SEED, most AUs are one and done deals. GQuuuuuuX however blurs the line between UC and AU. It is a UC show but it takes place in an alternate version of that timeline, branching off from the very first battle depicted in the original 0079 series. This kind of does raise the question as to how accessible GQuuuuuuX will be for newcomers. I think since it is set in an alternate timeline, you can probably digest this series without doing any homework. At least with this movie, the show does re-explain the general conflict that 0079 takes place. That said, I have seen some of 0079 and that prior knowledge did help with catching some callbacks to the original show.

Beginning starts off with an opening narration akin to the one in 0079. Basically, a colonial faction called the Principality of Zeon declared independence from the Earth Federation, resulting in the two factions clashing in a conflict that would become known as the One Year War. While the federation has more numbers, Zeon is able to level the playing field with mecha called Mobile Suits. By UC 0079, half of the population has died and the federation and Zeon have been in a stalemate for eight months. We then see a group of Zeon soldiers, led by a man named Char Aznable (Yuuki Shin), infiltrate a space colony called Side 7. There, they discover that the federation has developed a new Mobile Suit, the RX-78-2 Gundam. In the original Gundam, the RX-78 would be piloted by the show’s protagonist, Amuro Ray, leading to the federation’s eventual victory against Zeon. In GQuuuuuuX however, Char successfully steals the Gundam.

Since Char takes the Gundam and not Amuro (who doesn’t appear at all in the movie), the course of the One Year War completely changes. With the Gundam, Char defeats the Federation soldiers stationed at Side 7 and proceeds to steal a space carrier the Federation was developing alongside the Gundam, the White Base. After Zeon repaints Gundam red and the White Base green, they have Char lead their army into taking down key Federation locations. With the war tipping in their favor, Zeon looks into other ways to expand their army, such as mass producing the MA-08 Big Zam (oh hey, Big Zam). Along the way, Char learns that he’s a member of a new subspecies of humans called Newtypes, who possess heightened mental awareness and are therefore able to pilot mobile suits better than regular humans. Char also develops a tactic called a Mav, where mobile suits work in pairs and back each other up. For his Mav, Char partners up with another Newtype named Challia Bull (Shinji Kawada). From my understanding, Bull is a pretty minor character in 0079 but appears to have a larger supporting role in GQuuuuuuX.

I really dig how this part of the movie’s presentation is a more modern take on 0079‘s. The movie appears to re-recordings or remasters of music tracks from 0079. Any returning characters look fairly close to their original designs in the main UC canon. I’m a little mixed on the mech redesigns though. Like the standard Zeon mobile suit, the Zaku, looks okay but I feel the original one looks sleeker. The RX-78 meanwhile might be one of the ugliest things I’ve seen in Gundam. I suppose the more skeletal look is meant to make it look more like the experimental prototype that it is in-universe but it just looks like an eyesore.

The last part of the prologue is where you would most likely feel lost. In a final battle against the Earth Federation, Char stays behind to detonate a lunar base and he more or less reveals his intention to double cross Zeon as revenge against its head clan, the Zabi family. This frankly makes more sense if you’ve seen all of 0079 or you’ve phoned a friend like I did. In this movie, it feels a bit out of the blue since it largely shows Char being civil with everyone else with Zeon. Also confusing is Char’s brief scuffle with a Federation mobile who, through Newtype magic, figures out that it’s someone close to him named Artesia. Again, that’s a deep cut that only longtime fans will get from the get go. Most baffling of all though is Char accidentally causing a phenomenon called the Zeknova. This severely damages the base, causing the Earth Federation to surrender to Zeon, but it causes Char and his Gundam to disappear. Unlike the previous two details I mentioned, this is appears to be entirely new so even prior knowledge of UC lore won’t help. Other than relating to Gundams and Newtypes, this mystery is largely left unexplained in the movie so this is likely something that’ll be resolved further in the TV show.

After Char gets sent to the Shadow Realm, the movie does a five-year timeskip and shifts the plot over to the colony Side 6. Side 6 apparently does make an appearance in 0079 though I don’t know how similar or different this new depiction is to the original. Since the show shifts closer to around the time Zeta takes place, I kind of was worried there might be some sort of deep cut to that show. But after phoning a friend and checking the wiki, there doesn’t appear to be one so far. This part of the movie is where we get to the real plot GQuuuuuuX and I must admit that there is a bit of shift when you get here. Coming off of the prologue looking fairly faithful to 0079, it feels weird to suddenly meets characters who look straight out of a Trigger anime and hear much more modern music.

So at this point in time, Bull has taken command of the Green Base and his crew is currently investigating the supposed re-appearance of Char’s Red Gundam near Side 6. The report ends up being true but Bull can tell with his Newtype magic that Char is not the one piloting the Gundam, which begs the question of what happened to Char and how he lost his Gundam. Since a regular mobile suit would stand not chance against the Red Gundam, Bull decides to send one of his pilots, Xavier Olivette (Seiichiro Yamashita) with the most advanced Gundam in Zeon’s possession, gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX.

I don’t know what possessed Zeon’s engineers to give the mobile suit such a goofy name and what’s even funnier is the “G” technically stands for Gundam. This would mean that the full title of this show is Mobile Suit Gundam Gundam QuuuuuuX. The design however I quite like. One nitpick I have with the main Gundams is they sometimes stick too closely to the look of the RX-78, which is understandable but it can feel too safe. I therefore appreciate just how out there the GQuuuuuuX looks by comparison, with its weird heels and the side horns.

Parallel to this, we get introduced to our main protagonist, a young girl named Amate “Machu” Yuzuriha (Tomoyo Kurosawa). And yeah, this is mainline Gundam‘s second female protagonist, right after WFM‘s Suletta Mercury. It was cool seeing Gundam finally break the mold by starring a girl for a change and Suletta proved to be a very likable and interesting character that made the shakeup even better. I don’t know if lightning will necessarily strike twice with Machu but so far, she shows some promise. I like how different she is from Suletta, being more assertive than her predecessor. It’s also interesting how, despite living a peaceful life, Machu can’t help but think it’s nothing more than a dream or an illusion. Being voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa certainly helps too.

On her way home from school, Machu bumps into a courier named Nyaan (Yui Ishikawa) and she accidentally obtains the package the latter is carrying: a hard drive with programs for a mobile suit. Machu manages to track down Nyaan and hands over the drive on the condition that the courier fixes or replaces her phone, which Nyaan cracked during their first encounter. This scene gets a little bit intimidate or at least I can’t help but interpret it as such after Suletta and Miorine’s relationship in WFM. I’m not going to get my hopes up but it’d be pretty amazing if Gundam did both a female protagonist and a LGBTQ one twice in a row.

Machu and Nyaan head over to the latter’s client, a group of people called the Pomeranians (best group name ever, by the way). They hope to use the drive to update a Zaku they stole so they can partake in an underground mobile suit tournament known as the Clan Battles. The meeting is soon interrupted by the GQuuuuuuX and the Red Gundam, who have accidentally taken their fight to the local area, causing a lot of damage in the process. Xavier struggles to defeat the Red Gundam as he is unable to use the GQuuuuuuX’s Psycommu, an advanced system that would enhance the pilot and mobile suit’s performance. Side 6’s military police soon arrive, prompting both fighters to go into hiding. To find the wanted pilots, the police proceed to ransack the area, showing a disregard to people and their homes due to their status as refugees.

Upset at the police’s actions, Machu takes the clients’ Zaku to fight them. Machu’s scuffle takes her underground to where Xavier and the GQuuuuuuX are hiding. Figuring out that the GQuuuuuuX is the stronger mobile suit, Machu decides to ditch the Zaku and commandeer it instead. This was obviously inevitable since Machu is the protagonist and the GQuuuuuuX is the titular main mobile suit in the show. Funny how this super advanced giant robot gets stolen by a civilian girl, partly because of the ease at which Machu pulls it off but also a cheeky nod to how Amuro ends up with RX-78. It almost feels like karma towards Zeon.

After some initial hurdles, Machu does manage to defeat the police with the help of the Red Gundam and by activating the GQuuuuuuX’s Psycommu system (which therefore implies that Machu is a Newtype). This is a pretty entertaining fight, primarily thanks to the combined animation efforts of Sunrise and Studio Khara. I particularly like that the GQuuuuuuX is exclusively a melee fighter at the moment, which still enables some fun chereography but lets the movie obscure how powerful the Gundam could actually get. The fight triggers a phenomenon that Machu later dubs the “kira kira”, where she finds her mind in some sort of outer plane and can communicate with the Red Gundam’s pilot. This kind of space magic moment is a recurring thing in Gundam. I always find it bizarre since Gundam tries to be a little more grounded with its sci-fi but at least GQuuuuuuX does the smart thing of establishing this at the beginning, as opposed to saving it for the end like some other shows in the franchise.

Following the fight, Machu leaves the the GQuuuuuuX in the Pomeranians’ care. Since they lost their Zaku and since Machu is the only one capable of piloting the Gundam, the Pomeranians’ leader Annqi (Mariya Ise) proposes that Machu fight in the next Clan Battle on their behalf. Annqi’s teammates oppose the idea while Machu shows some interest, presumably because she wants to prove herself and find something more meaningful with her life. While mulling over, Machu’s space magic makes her aware that the Red Gundam’s pilot is nearby. After following the signal(?), Machu discovers that the pilot is a young boy named Shuji Itō. Due to his late introduction in the movie, we sadly don’t get to learn much about Shuji. It’s a shame as I find him to be the most interesting of the three lead characters, what with how aloof and mysterious he is. Nyaan coincidentally shows up to deliver a package for Shuji. Due to an accident, Shuji can’t pay for the delivery so Machu suggests he be her Mav in the next Clan Battle. If they win, they’ll earn enough money to pay for the package and, more importantly, get Machu’s phone fixed.

Machu returns to the Pomeranians to accept Annqi’s offer and she receives her pilot suit before heading into the Clan Battle. The space suit looks about in line with others seen in Gundam though the lack of a helmet is a little odd to me. Like, what’s the point of wearing something that’ll help you survive in space if you don’t have something that let you breathe while in space. That said, Machu does get a cute beanie so I’m willing to put this nitpick aside.

The Clan Battle then commences, with Bull and Xavier watching it via a televised broadcast. Because Machu gave the tournament her nickname, Bull can’t immediately identify her. Very funny that you can just watch the duel on TV. Bull wants to keep the GQuuuuuuX’s existence under the wraps but this just seems like a massive security breach. I half expected the movie to cut to the higher ups at Zeon freaking out. Having Bull witness the fight is beneficial. Not only does it set up Zeon possibly looking into Machu, it also allows Bull to explain how the Clan Battle can play out. He provides some interesting details like how important it is for a mobile suit not to be spotted first or to get the first strike and how the Mav tactic can compensate for this. Part of me does think the fight doesn’t demonstrate Bull’s input too well. Like, Machu has the most powerful mobile suit at the moment; if she screws up, she can recover just fine. That said, there are still some really cool team-up moments with her and Shuji, thereby proving Bull’s point about the importance of Mav.

With a victory for the Pomeranians and a quick escape from the military police, GQuuuuuux -Beginning- comes to a close. A bit of an inconclusive ending but then again, this is a feature length edit of a couple of TV episodes. I figured the movie would end like that. There’s still a couple days left in the American theatrical run at the time of writing this post but fortunately, the TV show is just a month away so I wouldn’t fret if you can’t get to this movie. Obviously, this movie doesn’t really stand on its own but as an extended preview to the TV show, it managed to get my attention. The deep cuts are a bit lost to me but I’m still curious to see where this story goes next.