It’s hard to not spoil in this post, so I will make a page break and warning. Unfortunately it is also a spoiler for this piece of advice for the un-spoilt: go in blind if you can. That knowledge itself is a form of spoiler. I think also once the gig is up from Gundam GQuuuuuuX (pronounced like G-quacks) you’ll know there is actually another form of helpful knowledge one can possess before watching, which I will discuss after the spoiler jump.
One thing is for sure, if you enjoy the output of Studio Khara in the past several years, you’ll enjoy this work. The direction is signature Tsurumaki where it counts. In fact some scenes felt straight out of FLCL. This is also, well, a Gundam work that fully embraces the ethos and vibes of other similar alt-timeline Gundam shows. You really know the old timers of former Gainax worked on this, knowing full well what a Gundam title means to them and fans of that generation. Actually as I was going through the end credit roll there were quite a few names I recognize, which kinda sucks that I can’t just go back and reference that easily. The pamphlet doesn’t even have all the credits, but it was surely impressive.
What I watched was the first episode in a theatrical screening, which is coming to America on Feb. 28, 2025 via GKIDS. Rather, I watched it in Japan a few days after it premiered in Japan, so my understanding of both Japanese and Gundam is heavily tested in this experience, to say the least. The rest of Gundam GQuuuuuuX will be a TV anime that begins streaming/airing later in 2025. And for completeness, I saw it in IMAX (wonder if we will have this option in America…?) and the episode was presented as one seamless thing. Maybe it’s just a 90-min pilot instead of 3 episodes, I don’t know.
Also as trivia, after my showing I went to the theater shop to browse for merch. This was at the TOHO Cinema in Hibiya. Turns out a bunch of people were also trying to buy stuff, namely the Gundam GQuuuuuuX pamphlet. So I got to hear a bunch of Japanese people trying to pronounce GQuuuuuuX. Guess what, they can’t either.
Spoilers ahead! Highly recommend you avoid them if you plan to watch this soon. Actually, I will be writing as if you have already seen it, because I’m not going to explain too much what happened. And I hope you also are okay with Evangelion spoilers, because, I think you can figure this out.
OK, so, the first third of the GQuuuuuuX experience is, in my estimation, a fan work. The title would be, “What If, Char Got into the Gundam in the Original MSG Anime, Instead of Amuro”? They grafted this entire thing up front, which is weird as is because this is the kind of stuff you hold back in a late-season reveal while teasing Char to the audience the entire cour or two. It’s also tonally completely distinct from the rest of the pilot/movie. We got these panning glory shots reminiscent of MSG with equally old arrangements of the space battle music. I don’t know how to feel about all of this, other than, well, the guys had fun making this fan film? Right after this part was done we enter the 21st century, and the Vtuber music comes on… I was just too entertained by the clashing vibes.
What was consistent between the back story part and the GQuuuuuuX part is the robot computer graphics. The best explanation I can give is the IDOLM@STER MV Voyager. It’s taking those Khara process pipelines and putting a non-Eva through it, and in the end you get this … Evangelion-like Gundam. This was interesting with all those “rib” shots of the robots. It was over the top when the “arms came into the cockpit” during that scene. Literally the last thing you want in Gundam, for Evangelion fans, is the embrace in the cockpit. Not a figurative embrace, but a real one, and not the Yuri kind.
It’s like when you 3D-print Haruka, and seeing the flesh and sinew reforming an angel that was suppose to be destroyed or something. I am not sure if this is just me and my memories of being emotionally invested in Evangelion back when it was still new, or what.
What is certain is that I did not watch Mobile Suit Gundam while it was still new, so it really pays to have a good depth of understanding of the One Year War. The pamphlet actually helps you out here. This alt-history version of the War trickles through with the Zeons beating the Federation due to Char’s extraordinary heroics with his Gundam, which also lead to other advantages in tech that made the war one-sided. I think there were numerous references to other works of the OYW during the first part of the Gundam GQuuuuuuX pilot. Like I said, it’s a fan flick from Khara and the old timers on the team.
As for the other 2/3 of the pilot, it reads like a standard AU Gundam story. Our protagonist (voice by Moyochi, no less–big applause from me with her big breakthrough role) Amate (or Machu) is a standard Gundam heroine so far. The story takes place at a colony and really largely has to do, I guess, Newtypes. Tell us something we don’t know, I guess. This part, I guess the jury is still out over here. I think the interesting dynamic between the three protagonist characters still have to play out in the series, but we did get a goofy fight scene to highlight something about, say, coordination in space battles.
Anyways, I think in the end all of it needs the rest of the series to make sense of. I liked what I see so far, but if you have to brush up on your MGS or other OYW stuff, now is a great time. It isn’t required–frankly the whole prologue with Char is extra overall. It’s probably going to come back in some way. Looking forward to it!
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