It was a long time coming to see Machu and Nyaan duke it out. I kind of wish the rivalry between the two was handled better. The foundation being the love triangle with them and Shuji is a bit flimsy. In hindsight, Shuji didn’t justify the intrigue the show set him up with and neither girl had particularly strong chemistry. Still, Nyaan becoming Machu’s equal and Machu feeling insecure about it was an interesting turn of events. I was hoping then that the big fight between Machu and Nyaan would amount to something. In the end though, the big fight sort of fizzles out. You have the GQuuuuuuX and the GFreD trade blows but it’s short-lived and it hardly takes advantage of the show’s budget and the staff’s craft. Even the pep talk where Machu confronts Nyaan over her decision to join Zeon and help commit some giant war crimes doesn’t pan out to anything meaningful.
The fight abruptly ends when Machu attempts to free the alternate Lalah, using the GQuuuuuuX’s Omega Psycommu system to break through a barrier that causes time to freeze around the Rose of Sharon (which I guess is a thing in this show). Hard to say if the plan works as it triggers an explosion and knocks Machu and Nyaan down. Upon waking up, Machu is greeted by what appears to be Shuji’s spirit. This sort of phenomenon is apparently pretty common in Gundam, it’s certainly happened in the few series that I’ve finished, but it always feels out of place to me. Anyway, Shuji guides Machu to a different location and Nyaan follows the two in the GFreD.
Something that I failed to bring up in the past couple of blog posts is the brief appearances of a character Shirouzu. This guy joins the research team for Yomagn’tho and manages to survive Nyaan’s attack when she enters the facility. I didn’t think much of this guy and that’s entirely my fault. In hindsight, the show was clearly setting him up to be important, especially since the guy’s voice and appearance ought to have been familiar to the viewer. In this episode, Shirouzu is confronted at gunpoint by Kycilia, who confirms that the guy is actually none other than Char under a new alias.
Obviously, there’s a lot of questions surrounding Char’s five-year disappearance and we get some idea thanks to a couple of scenes. It’s implied that the first Zeknova sent Char to another universe and over there, he met Shuji and he either met or became aware of that universe’s Lalah. At some point, he gave the Red Gundam to Shuji. Somehow, he’s come back to his universe to get rid of the other universe’s Rose of Sharon to prevent any further damage. Mind you, this is the bare minimum. The episode skims through any nuances to this period of time. We get little to no glimpse of the other side, Char’s relationship with Shuji is summed in just one line of dialogue, and the episode doesn’t really explore Char’s relationship with Lalah (which is a big deal to his character in the original UC timeline). Honestly, how Char managed to come back is the least of this episode’s problems. What we get is enough to somewhat understand what’s going on but it’s insufficient in actually caring about it. All this stuff should have been its own episode or at the very least, a lenghty flashback sequence.
Before Kycilia can shoot Char, Machu accidentally falls through the ceiling and interrupts the two. Nyaan then busts through the walls with the GFreD. I have to admit that this moment is pretty funny. After the Rose of Sharon fires a clothes beam that makes Char wears his classic uniform (I’m not making this up), Machu realizes who he is and learns some of the stuff that I went over in the last paragraph. The two then stumble upon the Red Gundam, which I guess made its way over to Yomagn’tho. I don’t know, maybe Shuji triggered a Zeknova on the other side to the come back. If the writers stopped caring, maybe I should as well.
Char commandeers the Red Gundam once more to attack the Rose of Sharon, prompting Machu to comically find her way back to the GQuuuuuuX which, for some reason, she ditched in an earlier scene (not sure why). I do like the moment where Kycilia attempts to shoot Machu, only for Nyaan to shoot at her and escape. Nyaan constantly goes back and forth on what she wants to do so this checks out. Joking aside, it’s nice to know that despite how complicated her relationship with Machu is, she still cares about her.
With the GQuuuuuuX, Machu confronts Char though the two are quickly interrupted by Shuji. Apparently, the Red Gundam has the Psycommu that the Rose of Sharon received in its universe. Since they have parallel versions of the same tech, the two resonate with each other, triggering another Zeknova. Shuji pulls Char and Machu into Kira Kira Land, confirming to Machu that he’s from the other universe. In order to protect Lalah (and yes, this show didn’t really go over this), Shuji declares that he has to destroy the GQuuuuuuX universe and he summons the RX-78-2 Gundam from his universe, presumably via the Zeknova. This one sports the classic 1979 design, which I admit is a little cool. I’m curious if Shuji being in possession of the RX-78-2 is supposed to imply something about his identity. Like, maybe he’s his universe’s equivalent of either Amuro or Char. I wouldn’t put it past the show do that kind of twist but it’s possible that he really is just a new character who happens to have a version of the original Gundam. I’m not entirely sure how Shuji can destroy a universe with the RX-78-2. Unless, it’s an absurdly supped up version, it ain’t doing much. That said, this show lost its marbles a long time ago so you know what? Surprise me.
Watch Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX on Amazon Prime Video
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