To start off, Episode 10 of GQuuuuuuX has some of the messiest pacing I’ve seen in the show so far. That shouldn’t be too much of a shock; this show’s pacing has gradually been deteriorating for some time now. Still, I’m overwhelmed by just how much stuff is crammed into this episode. It feels like this show desperately needs more episodes under its belt.
So last episode ended with Machu discovering what appears to be an alternate version of Lalah. It’s a pretty crazy note to end the episode on but what’s even crazier is that this episode brushes that off aside. You do find out later what happens to the Rose of Sharon and, by extension, the other Lalah but the thread about there being a Lalah from another world isn’t brought up again. Instead, the plot centers around Zeon preparing for the opening ceremony of Yomagn’tho, the project finally nearing its completion. While Kycilia meets up with Ghiren ahead of the ceremony, Challia plots to take them both down and he trains Machu in preparation for the upcoming battle.
One thing I do like about this episode is seeing Machu interact more with the Sodon crew. There’s some fun banter between Machu and Comoli, with the lieutenant getting annoyed whenever Machu ignores how the crew operates while still looking out for her. Honestly, I wish these two got to meet each other a lot sooner. A more noteworthy scene is when Challia explains to Machu while he felt empty and became disillusioned with Zeon after an expedition to Jupiter and the One Year War, as well as his friendship with Char. Perhaps this scene would work better if Machu had more of a report with the commander but I can still buy Challia confiding everything about himself to her. Perhaps he recognizes that Machu feels just as listless as he did. At the very least, this scene is pivotal in elaborating his motivations, implying that he opposes the Zabi family because of how Zeon uses people and to finish what Char started. Challia has been an enigmatic character for some time now (and to be fair, he worked well in that regard) so it’s nice to finally know what his deal is.
I kind of figured Kycilia would kill Ghiren during their meeting. GQuuuuuuX appeared to be setting Kycilia up as its main antagonist so it may as well remove the only thing stopping her from seizing control of Zeon. That being said, Ghiren’s death is laughably bad. Like, from my understanding, this guy is one of the big bad villains of the original series and within GQuuuuuuX, he’s mentioned quite prominently. In the end though, he just has two minutes of screentime before Kycilia poisons him to death. Even if you’re not that familiar with UC Gundam, there’s a good chance that this will feel incredibly anticlimactic to you. At the very least, that’s how I feel about it.
We then get a pretty cool battle scene where Kycilia sends her forces to eliminate anyone loyal to her brother and seize Yomagn’tho, where the Rose of Sharon is now situated. With Nyaan and the GFreD, the battle quickly tips in Kycilia’s favor. As the battle dies down, Nyaan embarks on a special mission assigned to her by Kycilia where she enters Yomagn’tho and connects the GFreD into the facility. This allows Nyaan to trigger a Zeknova, which she uses to warp A Baoa Qu, a key Zeon base loyal to Ghiren, into oblivion. While I really like seeing the visual of the Kira Kira used in such a destructive matter, I am mixed on seeing Nyaan do the dirty deed. I can buy it in that Nyaan has been indoctrinated by Kycilia and that she hopes that Zeknova will allow her to see Shuji again. But I don’t know, it’s a bit of a giant leap from her killing some dudes at a Clan Battle.
Despite managing to play 3D chess with everyone, Challia somehow did not foresee Kycilia killing Ghiren and committing war crimes so he and Machu head off. Machu gets surrounded by Kycilia’s forces, including Xavier, though Challia holds them off to let her escape and confront the GFreD. Have to admit that I didn’t really see Xavier fighting Challia one day but given where their loyalties lie, pitting them against each other makes sense. As for Machu versus Nyaan, this has been to be expected for some time now. I feel the show could’ve done their rivalry better but I’d lying if I said I wasn’t curious to see how this all ends.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX on Amazon Prime Video
Xenodude Scribbles 