Hogan Reviews

While I do plan on covering a Gundam series next in the older anime reviews bit (once I’m done with the first batch of DBZ Movies anyway) a new Gundam show has aired, so let’s quickly dip into that before anything else (Also: why has Seed Freedom still not arrived on UK shores?! I really am going to have to pirate / VPN it at this rate…) “GQuuuuuuX”, pronounced “Gee Qwucks”, is a Gundam show created by the Evangelion team that’s set in an alternate Universal Century Timeline where Zeon won the war, but about halfway through the series it takes an even weirder turn continuity-wise…

The show starts off in a somewhat familiar way as the previous Gundam series “The Witch From Mercury”, as we focus on our young female protagonist, in this case Machu, who winds up meeting stronger willed female Nyaan leading to the two joining up with a bunch of “Clan Battlers”, Clan Battles being duels between two sets of two mobile suits in space with the winners gaining fame and money. So similar to the duels in WFM only not at school and not sanctioned. We then soon meet one-and-done original series character Challia Bull who in this continuity has managed to live and is now hunting down the “Red Gundam” that Char once used (I’ll get to that in the next paragraph…) and when said Gundam appears he sends his top pilot in Xavier Olivette on board the new GQuuuuuuX mobile suit to take him down. What happens instead is that Xavier crashes and Machu pops on board the GQuuuuuuX and its Psycommu reacts to her far stronger and she soon runs off with it. Machu and Nyaan soon meet the Red Gundam’s pilot, Shuji Ito, and the three hit it off, with both females soon having a thing for him and Nyaan even piloting the GQuuuuuuX when Machu was otherwise occupied, all three seeing the sparkling “Kira-Kira” while they pilot (basically the flashy Newtype thought dimension-like thingy from the original series) With the GQuuuuuuX and the Red Gundam their Clan Battle team begin making waves while Challia is happy to let it happen…

The GQuuuuuuX heads into action… seriously, did the naming guy accidentally hold the U key down or something?

During the first half of the series we also get flashbacks to see how this timeline branched away from the original one, and basically Char went down to Side 7 and ended up piloting the Gundam instead of Amuro, using it to also capture White Base as well, stopping the Earth Federation’s keys to victory from ever getting a chance to start. That being said, the war still lasts a year thanks to the Federation creating other suits and an Earth Federation attempt to drop the Solomon asteroid onto the Zeon-controlled moon city of Granada, an attack that’s stopped by Char in the Red Gundam, though during his struggles his Newtype abilities go out of control and create a “Zeknova” causing him to vanish (similar to the light that Char and Amuro vanished into during the Char’s Counterattack movie) The Zabis still head up Zeon, with Gihren having still killed his father to rule the roost and his sister Kycilia still knows full well what he did and plans to kill him for it. There are also hints that a Titans-like group is forming on Earth though in this case to fight back from oppression rather than control the side they beat with an iron fist, plus plenty of other original UC stuff I’ll mention later. If you don’t know your original Gundam series stuff then some scenes in this will no doubt confuse, or at least have a lot less impact.

Things get complicated in the present when the Earth Federation sneaks the Psyco-Gundam into the Zeon colony to assassinate Kycillia, the Mobile Armour being piloted by Deux Murasame rather than Four Murasame like Zeta Gundam, though she is accompanied by Gates Capa who is actually just straight up from Zeta… Anyway, the plot eventually fails, Shuji and the Red Gundam vanish in a second Zeknova and in the chaos Machu and the GQuuuuuuX are captured by Challia while Nyaan is kidnapped by Kycillia’s men. It’s here that we find out that both Challia and Kycillia are looking for an object called “The Rose of Sharon” and while Kycillia gives Nyaan the new “Gundam G-FreD” mobile suit Challia allows Machu to escape in the GQuuuuuuX assuming she knows where the Rose is thanks to her close bond with Shuji, who apparently mentioning knowing where it is. Machu crash lands and meets this timeline’s Lalah Sune, who thanks to not meeting Char in this series of events is still a prostitute at Kabas Estate, though one who has visions of lives she never led…

Man, look at those eyes and hair, it’s a good thing art is digitally assisted nowadays, that would’ve been hell to hand paint!

Shortly after Machu heads into the nearby ocean and finds buried at the bottom of the sea the Rose of Sharon, and it’s the Elmeth, or close to it, from the original series complete with another Lalah Sune on board!

So yeah, it starts getting pretty crazy for the last few episodes, but crazy in a fun way. The animation is top notch, as is the character designs. I’ll admit the mobile suit designs aren’t great, they look a little… weird? Not sure how to put it. They’ve definitely got a touch of the Evangelions about them, GQuuuuuuX even opens its “mouth” and roars towards the end of the show… Well, anyway, no criticisms about the presentation, anyway (beyond it being on Amazon Prime so I had to put up with adverts because no way am I paying extra to get rid of them when every other streaming service added an ad-supported tier below existing ones… *Ahem*)

Overall Thoughts:

The “Red Gundam” in all its “glory”. Not sure why it needed so many extra eye-like bits…

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX (that’s six u’s if you’re wondering!) was a really fun show for this long-time fan. Lots of the original UC nods within a new continuity plus a really fun main cast that each got moments to shine. While I’m still not greatly into the mobile suit designs that’s not a deal breaker. I’ll happily watch this 12-part show again down the road, and I’m already looking forward to seeing the characters and units from this show appearing in future games, hell this timeline hopping plot is just calling for a Super Robot Wars inclusion!

Challia and his men pick up Machu, the GQuuuuuuX and the “Rose” and bring them all back to space, where Kycillia takes it from them and uses it to power a space laser superweapon called the “Yomagn’tho”, killing her brother Gihren around this time as well, just like old times. Kycillia has managed to convince Nyaan in the GFreD to operate the Yomagn’tho and she actually goes through with it and fires what is essentially a controlled Zeknova blast that destroys A Baoa Qu, at great pain to her. Challia heads out in his mobile armour (and ends up fighting Xavier in a redesigned Gyan suit) while Machu heads out in the GQuuuuuuX, eventually meeting Nyaan and fighting the GFreD to stop her from pointing the Yomagn’tho at Earth. While all this is happening Char is revealed to have been posing as a member of the Yomagn’tho creation team and wishes to stop it as he knows the Rose is from another timeline and it needs to be sent back before it destroys this one. On the way he kills Kycillia with a rocket launcher and a salute just like the original series, which made me smile.

Shuji and Machu have an original Gundam series watch party in the Newtype void. You really can do a lot there, Newtypes really are the next evolution!

Eventually Machu and Nyaan’s battle comes to a close and Shuji appears in the original Gundam (as in the design looks like the original one, not actually the original one) and explains that this Lalah comes from yet another alternate UC timeline where Char was killed instead of her and grief drove her so crazy that she has been popping to (or outright creating) alternate UC timelines one after the other to find one where Char lives, and that Shuji has been following her and now sees the only way to stop the madness is to kill her. Machu refuses to believe Lalah has to die so takes him on alongside Char in the Red Gundam, but Shuji makes his original Gundam turn giant-sized and greyscale (why not?) which causes issues until Machu manages to get through to Shuji that Lalah needs to make her own mind up, not be assassinated, and the two share a Newtype dimensional kiss, which wakes Lalah up and gets her to accept fate and vanish, along with Shuji, who thanks Machu for all she’s done before he goes. We then get some sum up scenes, like Char’s sister Artesia becoming the leader of Zeon, Char finding this timeline’s Lalah and Machu and Nyaan hanging out together on Earth, both confident that they’ll meet Shuji again someday…