Review of Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX

Clearly made by OG Gundam fans, made for OG Gundam fans. GQuuuuuux gets a little greedy, setting a secondary goal of attracting younger generation audience. Having the trendiest pop singers in their OP, ED and OST. Sharing the character designs from latest Pokemon generation. Starting the story with a simple and engaging sports-like premise that is Clan Battle. Lastly, Machu, the main character, is written to be more relatable to the modern younger generation, with her anti-conforming attitude towards the school system, and her puppy love towards Shuji. Unfortunately, despite setting out to entertain both old and new viewers, GQuuuuuux is limited with the12 episode format. Initially, the colony Clan Battle arc was pretty decent, introducing us Machu, Nyaan and Shuji. But as time goes on, more and more of Zeon's military side is shown, zooming out to the bigger picture of the story. Perhaps due to time restraint, our main characters' roles are diminished in the later episodes to make way for the OG characters. So when we reach the finale, the story suddenly remembers it has to shift its focus back to the main characters, only for the underdeveloped characters to form an unconvincing resolve and unfounded emotional growth. While Machu's heroic sequences and talk no jutsu were cool, her immediate maturity comes off as superficial. The fumbled main characters aren't the only issue in the super rushed finale, of course. With little to no setup beforehand, bunch of Newtype magic nonsense started happening, and I could barely buy the horrible amount of infodumping behind them.

Still, I did enjoy watching GQuuuuuux. In the first 11 episodes, although some skipped details due to the accelerating pacing, it is still simple to follow. Even without prior knowledge of the OG Gundam anime, there is only a few OG characters who play key roles in the main story, and they each have enough screentime to flesh out their motives. In its short run time, the series is packed with many well-choreographed action scenes, with unique mech designs and movement. Even in dialogue sequences, the lighting and shadowing on the characters always have a cinematic feel to it. A lot of narrative flaws in GQuuuuuux can be easily compensated by its sheer quality animation, much like and more so than its recent predecessors.

I'm glad the fans in the anime production get to celebrate their favorite original, and I'm glad for the OG fans getting such luxurious fanservice. However, this anime ultimately felt like a parade that is welcoming at first, attempting to entertain newcomers, but gradually get a little too self-indulgent and do their own thing. I've watched IBO, 00, Hathway, SEED, Wing and WfM. While GQuuuuuux is the least disappointing series, thanks to its short episode count, I think I would rather watch a series that doesn't set out to humor a specific audience that isn't me.
That said though, GQuuuuuux is a big Gundam series with the shortest episode count, so newcomer looking for a low commitment introductory to the franchise can easily start with this one. But if I were to spark one's interest in the OG UC timeline with a modern Gundam anime, I believe the Hathaway movie is a far better recommendation. Not that I ever started watching a 45 year old anime afterwards though.