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The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise has experienced a turbulent journey throughout the 2020s. Following the remarkable success, albeit divisively received, of Witch From Mercury, the world-renowned mecha anime series released a subsequent installment that resonated only with its most dedicated fans. Unfortunately, this series, titled Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, fell short of standing out as a high-quality production.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX had the potential to become a standout masterpiece, rather than a haphazard attempt to cash in on nostalgia. Initially, the series presents a compelling alternate universe narrative with captivating and distinct characters. However, it quickly spirals into a confusing mix that fails to appeal to audiences unfamiliar with the intricate details of every prior Universal Century installment. This misstep squandered opportunities that might have allowed it to surpass the achievements of Witch From Mercury.
The Universal Century timeline is both a unique asset and a significant challenge for the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise. On the one hand, it offers a rich and expansive space opera saga that dates back to its origins with the first Mobile Suit Gundam series in 1979, recognized as one of the greatest narratives in its genre. On the other hand, the long-standing continuity creates a barrier for newcomers, making it even more daunting to dive into than series such as One Piece.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX Abandons its Great Ideas For Universal Century Nostalgia
The Universal Century continuity is both part of what makes the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise so special, and the greatest anchor around it. On the one hand, the overarching saga that began with the original Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979 is one of the greatest space opera epics ever told. On the other hand, it’s been going on for so long that any new series or film set in the continuity is more impenetrable to new viewers than even One Piece.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX was promoted as being set in an AU of the Universal Century timeline, and as being accessible to newcomers to the franchise, while still offering greater value to those who are familiar with the larger context of the story. The first three episodes, which were initially compiled into Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: The Beginning, fulfill this promise, as they set up an easily understandable, entertaining story about new protagonists Amate “Machu” Yuzuhira and Nyaan, while also clearly explaining the context behind how the actions of fan-favorite villain Char Aznable shaped this world.
For the first seven episodes, there’s an overarching sense that the series may not have enough time to do everything it wants to, but it’s still a great time nonetheless, with the final installment in this run escalating the stakes substantially, and tricking viewers into thinking things are only going to get better. Episode 8 then proceeds to ruin all the tension built up by the absolute destruction of the status quo by spending 22 minutes in the past and, somehow, it’s still a better episode than any of the ones to come after it.
Episodes 9, 10, 11, and 12 uniformly ruin Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX, and render it both the worst mecha anime of the 2020s, and one of the worst Gundam series of the 21st Century. These episodes shove Machu, Nyaan, and their stories to the sidelines, to the point that they feel wholly incomplete and unsatisfying by the end of the series. And while this is terrible enough for anyone who was invested in their stories, the episodes are also flat-out boring, nonsensical, and an absolute chore to get through for anyone without an encyclopedic knowledge of Universal Century lore. They are packed with fanservice and absurd, ridiculous concepts that are wholly detached from what GQuuuuuuX initially seemed to be, and while longtime fans of the franchise may have gotten something out of this, newcomers were left profoundly disappointed.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX Could Have Told an Amazing Story About Machu & Nyan
The most disappointing thing about the direction Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX ultimately takes is that it gets off to an outstanding start. Before it goes completely off the rails in the final third, the series does an amazing job building up its characters and the conflicts between them, and the unique, intriguing nature of its setting, all while being fairly simple, easy to understand fun. And while there will always be more Universal Century AU content, and the “Clan Battle” setup wasn’t anything new, the big losers of GQuuuuuuX’s shift in direction are its supposed main heroes: Machu and Nyaan.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX has a lot working in its favor. Its production values are spectacular, with great animation and a fantastic score, its imagining of a world where the Principality of Zeon won the One Year War is a brilliant idea, it was riding the hype of the still massively popular Witch From Mercury, and it had Machu and Nyaan. For the first seven episodes, Machu and Nyaan alone make GQuuuuuuX worth watching, as fans get to learn more about the pampered rich girl with a longing for freedom and a love for violence, and the tortured refugee just looking for a place to belong, and see them go from strangers, to friends, to enemies. While Shuji is initially also present as a main character, he ultimately turns out to be little more than a plot device and, even before fans knew that, the anime initially gave Witch From Mercury lovers the idea that Machu and Nyaan’s dynamic would be something of a dark mirror of Suletta and Miorine’s.
In the end, however, the story of Machu and Nyaan ended up getting an even more rushed conclusion than that of everyone’s favorite lesbian capitalist wives, and Witch From Mercury’s ended, while generally loved, was undeniably poorly paced to start with. Machu’s personal arc goes nowhere, Nyaan never has to reconcile with the tens-of-thousands of people she kills via her war crimes, and all the social and class tension between the two gets first absorbed into a downright silly love triangle plot, before being forgotten entirely as they wind up living together on a beach, all alone.
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX was under no requirement to go the Yuri route the way Witch From Mercury did, but at least that would have given the girls something, as opposed to suddenly rendering them bit players in the stories of Char Aznable and Challia Bull. If the anime had leaned more into the personal conflicts between the two, and perhaps even taken a whiff of time to actually explain why they both rapidly become so obsessed with Shuji, the 12-episode series could have actually told a small, personal story for everyone to enjoy, one that actually appropriate for its extremely limited runtime.
Mecha anime have never been more popular than they are now, and Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX failed to take advantage of this. Had the series cared more about telling a great story than getting cheap cheers from Universal Century fans, it could have been outstanding, Machu and Nyaan could be icons on the same level as Suletta and Miorine, and the world of GQuuuuuuX could actually be worth re-visiting in the future.