Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuX Part 1 Episodes 1-3

Universal Century 0085.  Five years have passed since the One Year War ended in victory for the Principality of Zeon.  In the neutral space colony of Side 6, Amate “Machu” Yuzuriha dreams of seeing the oceans of Earth with her own eyes.  The road to her wish coming true begins when she comes into possession of a prototype Zeon Gundam unit, the GQuuuuuX and begins to partake in Mobile Suit Clan Battles.  Fighting by her side is Suji, a mysterious and ethereal young man piloting a Gundam of his own, one colored red and once belonging to the infamous Zeon ace, Char Aznable.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE FROM THE GUNDAM ANIME CORNER!!!!  

And do I have a special gift for you.  Starting today and for the next couple of days to close out 2025, we’ll be looking at the latest chapter of the Mobile Suit Gundam saga, MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM GQUUUUUX.  Originally I was planning to launch this one next year to possibly kick off the Blog’s 13^th Season.  But then I figured, with the Slayers Event running a bit short and I always want to have at least one special review for Christmas Day, this felt like a good compromise.  Plus I get to review brand new Gundam the same year it came out?  Feels like a no brainer.  Anyway enough of that long winded Happy Holidays intro.  Let’s suit up and get to the review proper.
 
The announcement of a new Gundam project of any kind is going to get plenty of attention.  41 years in, it’s still one of the most popular Mecha Anime franchises of all time and still going relatively strong after the last couple of years with The Witch from Mercury and SEED Freedom.  But Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuX has a whole other level of expectation behind it.  I base this soley on the fact that this is a joint collaboration between Studio Sunrise and Studio Khara, aka the studio behind the Rebuild of Evangelion series.  Yep, the forces behind TWO of Anime’s biggest Mecha legends unite to unleash a whole new breed of Gundam upon the world.  We’re in for an interesting ride with this one but right now, how’s does the initial launch go?
 
First things first: if you’ve seen the GQuuuuuX Beginnings preview movie they released a few months before the shows debut, you’ve seen the first three episodes, not much has changed outside of the reordering of episodes and the omission of a couple of scenes.  Actually, the reordering is interesting.  The Beginnings movie ran things chronologically from the One Year War to just after Machu’s first clan battle.  Restructuring the episodes to make the Char Flashbacks the second episode gives me Victory Gudnam vibes.  Incase you need a refresher: Mobile Suit Victory Gundam’s fourth episode was shown as it's first because the powers that be wanted to show off the new Gundam right away, as opposed to Director Yoshiyuki Tomino’s original vision.  It’s not as bad in this case but I still don’t see what the harm in starting at the very beginning does compared to just showing the GQuuuuuX in action before the end of the first episode.
 
Part of that could be because the newly presented Alternate One Year War is the best part of this opener.  You can tell a lot of people who love the original series are working on this show as they faithfully recreate iconic moments but with new players, use the original Gundam series score by  
Takeo Watanabe & Yūshi Matsuyama, and, of course, put the spotlight on one of Gundam’s most iconic figures: the man, the myth, the legend, Char Aznable himself.  This “What if…” scenario where Char gets the Gundam instead of Amuro Ray could make for a show all on its own.  I feel like the flashbacks of Episode 2 are only scratching the surface of what a longer running Alternate History tale of the Universal Century could pull off.  That said, it also opens a can of worms for long time fans as to the fates and whereabouts of other familiar faces from this era and I doubt we’ll be seeing much if any of them consider the focus of the present day UC.  For what it’s worth though, Episode 2 is freaking awesome and a love letter to long time and old school fans of the original series, I personally cheered when they used the OG shows eye catches (SHOW!!!!).
 
Alright, onto the main setting of GQuuuuuX, Universal Century 0085.  Honestly, we don’t get to see much of the new UC at large as much of the story and action is focused on a colony in Side 6.  We get the sense that Zeon isnt popular despite winning the war and the lawless slums of this supposed peaceful colony have fallen on hard times.  There’s even cool looking Police Zaku’s being employed for less than protective means.  I already wanna know more about the rest of this new UC era but given how short this series is, I might need to temper my expectations.  There’s mentions of various ruling Zabi members like Kycillia and Ghirren and it sounds like even Garma avoided his death by Char (and White Base) fate in the original series.  Then, of course, there’s Chalia Bull, who I’m surprised to see being given a beefier role despite his one off appearance in the original series.  I feel like he’s meant to be the Char Clone of this series in the absence of his long lost friend.  He’s got a “I know everything that’s going on including that thing you did that one time” vibe that I’ve never been a fan of in any Anime.  Still, he’s an interesting choice of character to focus on from the original series, probably because of the Newtype angle.
 
As for our trio of leads, if you’re expecting a new Suletta and Miroine romance in GQuuuuuX, well it doesn’t look like it and I’m glad of that too.  Not that I don’t think the series should try that kind of wonderful character work again, but Machu, Nyaan and Shuji might be getting set up for a Macross style love triangle.  While it’s way to early to tell if theyre gonna go that route, the three don’t get the most exciting of introductions outside of Mobile Suit fights.  Machu and Nyaan have cute designs but not a lot of character.  Machu’s defining traits are her scowl of annoyance and her obsession with what she calls “Kira Kira” (and I’m already sick of her talking about it).  Nyaan is just around being mysterious and that’s all.  And Shuji, oh man.  This guy is creepy as all get out from sniffing hair to how he talks and acts.  He’s like what if a stoner got his hands on a Mobile Suit…and why does he even have Char’s Red Gundam for that matter?  That might be the most interesting question posed by Shuji’s existence.  Being this is a Gundam series there’s already a sizeable cast which I know I’ll get into in later reviews.  I will say that no UC Gundam is complete without a trusty Haro and Shuji’s got a small robot called Conch, who looks like a mini Mecha from FLCL.
 
Production wise, a lot of work has gone into GQuuuuuX from an animation standpoint.  Seeing how colossal Mobile Suits are and the slow pans of heads as Vulcan Cannons spray bullets, you can tell this was animated by the people who did the dizzying and stunning fight scenes for the Rebuild of Evangelion films.  There’s also some nice Iron Blooded Orphans DNA added to the Clan Battles which give off a more Gladiatorial vibe with Machu only having a Heat Tomahawk to use for now and when Mobile Suits hit each other, OOOF you can feel how heavy those blows are.  The Mobile Suits themselves…ehhhh they’re a mixed bag for me.  I like the GQuuuuuX and it’s design adds it to a very distinct club of out of the box Gundam designs like the Turn A.  The newly designed UC suits, I go back and forth on.  The Zaku’s, Guncannons and GM’s look good but the new RX-78-2 looks like it was pulled inside out, it’s kind of creepy.  Giving it the Char Red make over helps a little but…yeah there’s a little more Evangelion in my Gundam mechs than I might want.
 
All in all, I thought the Beginnings movie was good and thus, the first three episodes of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuX are the same.  An interesting new world is waiting to be explored and hopefully Machu, Nyaan and…well maybe not Shuji, can give it a good look in this shows runtime.  Don’t worry though, cause this Christmas Gift is coming at you full speed.  Look for Part 2 tomorrow and the second half of the series Next Monday and Tuesday, right here at the Gundam Anime Corner.