Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

Overview

Universal Century 0085. Five years have passed since the end of the One Year War, which saw the Principality of Zeon proclaim victory, and Char Aznable and his gMS-α Red Gundam disappear in a mysterious phenomenon known as a Zeknova. After running into a girl named Nyaan, high schooler Amate Yuzuriha gets pulled from her quiet life on the Izuma colony at Side 6, into the world of illegal mobile suit dueling after getting into the cockpit of Zeon’s new prototype Gundam, the gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX.

Notes

These notes may cointain spoilers!

Episode 1: The Red Gundam

• One thing to note when the episode started is the stylish animation and use of vibrant colors. Gundam has never look so saturated before and I’m must say I’m loving it!
• Seeing the ZEON converted White Base was a treat too as well as seeing some old faces in this AU retelling.
• The Mobile Suit battles use 3D animation has its the norm now but the animation is good and fluid.
• We have another female protagonist which is always a welcome change.
• The new Gundam is very unique, need to get used to it.
• The music is really good as always and I enjoyed the ending, I haven’t watch the opening yet but it imagine it would just as good or better.

Episode 2: The White Gundam

• Right away love that the episode is in homage of the original series, very nostalgic!
• Seeing how Char got the Gundam was interesting, as this is were the timelines diverge.
• Happy for Char making a new friend in Challia Bull.
• The whole episode was flashback in more ways that one but it sets the setting pretty well.

Episode 3: Mach in Clan Battle

• We get a look at clan battles, similar to duels in Witch of Mercury instead now battles are done in pairs.
• We are introduced to Shuji in this episode, he’s a odd fellow and Machu’s Mav in the clan battle. He seems to be able to tell what the Gundam is saying similar to Elan.
• Shuji has a Gundam with him: Char’s Gundam, how did he came to obtain it?
• Forgot to mention this earlier but the opening is pretty good! Very catchy, I like it.

Episode 4: The Witch’s War

• We are introduced to an elite ace in the Federation army, aptly known as the “Witch”, who’s looking to settle the score with the Red Gundam and so is joining the clan battle to accomplish that feat.
• The Red Gundam took her Mav from her and so she’s justifiably looking to avenge her partner, even if it means losing her family due to it. Something that Machu has trouble understanding. Her obsession of the battlefield.
• In the end the Witch is beaten in the clan battle and with it her life is lost.
• I wonder if Char is fused with the Gundam somehow?

Episode 5: Nyaan Doesn’t Know About Kira-Kira

• Shuji catches a cold so he isn’t able to help much with the upcoming clan battle, leaving Nyaan on her own.
• In the battlefield Nyann awakens to her Newtype powers and wins the match. Thanks to being able to use the Omega Phychomu.
• At the end of episode Machu finds Nyaan getting out of Gundam and is astonished.

Episode 6: The Plot to Assassinate Kycilia

• Chalia Bull meets with the manager of the Pomenarians.
• We get the first mention of Amate’s Dad.

Episode 7: Machu’s Rebelion

N/A

Episode 8: Falling on the Moon

N/A

Episode 9: The Rose of Charon

N/A

Episode 10: Yomagn’tho Blockade

• Chalia was drawn to Char due to sharing the same emptiness in his heart huh? The bromance is strong in this one.
• Yeah, sure, giving a kid a gun has never gone wrong, ever! Wise choice, Chalia.
• Why would you two be in trouble? This is Gundam, everyone carries guns!
• Kycilia poisons Gihren Zabi in this timeline, being a step ahead of Chalia and officially making her move. Things are about to get ugly.
• You too, Kycilia?! I was joking before, you know?
• You sure did, Chalia; not your first nor the last mistake you made either.
• With that, Chalia Bull cemented himself as my favorite character in this series.
• I forgot to mention this before, but the Gundam FreD is so obviously a reference to Eva Unit 01 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Studio Khara couldn’t help themselves it seems.
• Another Zeknova?! A huge one at that, taking A Baoa Qu with it.

Episode 11: Alphacide

• Machu finds Nyaan operating the Gundam FreD. What a reunion!
• Machu is reunited with Shuji in spirit form. Did the Zeknova kill him? Regardless, Machu follows him.
• The blond guy from the Yomagn’tho development team is Char?! What a twist! I genuinely did not see that coming. One question remains: is he the real Char or just a clone?
• At last, Machu and Char meet.
• Nyaan follows suit, crashing through and almost crushing Kycilia.
• Char’s scent reminds Machu of Shuji, kinda. Well, that’s something.
• While Machu escapes, Kycilia aims at her with her rifle, but she stops before firing due to being shot in the arm by Nyaan. Maybe giving a kid a gun wasn’t such a good idea?
• Char intends to destroy the Rose of Charon, killing Lalah with it. Machu tries to stop him, but sadly, no Machu vs. Char fight. Shuji intercepts them.
• Lalah is waking up. What does that mean?
• Oh, another Zeknova, great…
• This time, instead of energy flowing out to the other side, energy is flowing in. Something is coming.
• Shuji is from the other side?! And his mission is to end the world she created.
• Wait, what does that mean?! Is she dreaming this world in her last moments or something?
• The RX-78 shows up coming from the Zeknova at the end. HYPE!
• We may see Amuro in the next episode. Someone has to piloting it unless is in auto pilot but that rarely happens in Gundam.
• Next episode is the finale, huh? I hope they can give a satisfactory ending. I feel like it should’ve been around 25 episodes to really flesh out the characters and have better pacing, but as they say, the ending is paramount. Maybe they can work a miracle.

Episode 12: That’s Why I…

• The RX-78 makes its appearance and is revealed that is Shuji is the one piloting it, bummer I was hoping it would be Amuro. : (
• With the new threat of the RX-78, Nyaan becomes Machu’s Mav. Joining their powers.
• Chalia finally finds Char, only to engage with him, after seeing visions from the Zeknova. The bromance is over .
• As Machu and Nyaan fight the RX-78, it suddenly increases its mass. Becoming kauji size with the original colors of the RX-78. A nice touch.
• After the dynamaxing of the RX-78, The Gundam FreD gets wrecked by Nyaan manages to escape in her core fighter in time.
• The GquuuuuX awakens and Machu she’s not alone in this fight, could there be something inside the Gundam a la Eri from WfM?
• We get the best fight in this episode in my opinion with Chalia vs Char. Complete with replicating the final Char vs Amuro fight in MSG. Ending a stalemate with both their machines crippled but thankfully both of them live.
• We soon get our answer, once Machu strikes the final blow to RX-78’s head unit. There we learn more about Shuji and his obsession with Layla.
• More importantly Shuji hears a voice from the Gquuuux he doesn’t recognized saying he doesn’t want see the Gundam taking Lalah’s life again.
• The voice is from Amuro?! I didn’t get it at first since I was watching the dub but in the sub Amuro’s VA voices that line.
• Which means Amuro is in the Gquuuuux, Remember when I mentioned that the Red Gundam could have been fused with Char when the first Zeknova happened? Nope me and several other had it reversed!
• Forgot to mention this before but as Gquuuux awakens his mouth opens just like an Eva. So the true Eva unit 01 reference was the Gquuuuz all along.
• At the end of their newtype moment, Machu confesses her feelings to Shuji and he just reciprocated them? Okay weird choice. After all of his obsession with Lalah you’ll think he’ll reject her but uh fine I guess? Felt like they just needed to have a romance there for some reason, they could just doubled down on Chalia and Char but oh well.
• As the battle finally ends, Lalah creates a final Zeknova taking her and Shuji back to their original timeline.
• Chalia asks Char what’s he’s going to do now? Char sneakily replies to live a life when he doesn’t try to kill him. Good call, Char good call.
• We get a short timeskip seeing when everyone is up to know, notably Artesia is coronated as the ruler of Zeon with Ramba Ral in toe! Glad that he’s alive and became kinda like a father figure to Artesia. Would be even cooler to see Hamon with him too.
• We also see Char in a dessert meeting this worlds Lalah for the first time. He finally had he’s happy ending
• Chalia still around but wears a mask a la Char (How fitting.) to hide his identity, now being a treator. I wonder what his new alias is?
• Finally we see Nyaan and Machu on a remote beach on earth where Machu says confidently that they’ll see Shuji again, after all the Gundam said so.

Closing Thoughts

I really enjoyed this series, while the pacing goes to trough a breakneck pace after the first half and there’s still a lot questions that hadn’t been answered like who was sending Machu those text? Maybe Amuro in the Gundam?

This has been the most fun I had with a Gundam series in a while. I love UC Gundam and this was clearly a love letter to fans of the UC timeline specifically MSG. While it didn’t really exceed in being its own standalone story. The references, omages and beautiful animation made it a fun and wild ride! It edges out WfM for me just a tad. It felt more like a Gundam and of course I’m obviously biased to UC shows but still overall the experience was better.

I also like that the ending was optimistic which I didn’t expect at all. This is probably the closes the UC gets to a golden ending. Everyone is happy at the end, presumably even Garma even though we don’t see him in the end. With only less than a handful of deaths and Machu is now the first MC in Gundam history with a kill count of 0!

If kinda ironic that the timeline where Amuro doesn’t exist is the one where everyone is happiest and sad the same time.

The ending being so open ended makes think there’s going to be a continuation in some way I just have a feeling.