Review of Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX

Very disappointed with the direction this series went. For context, I am a relatively new Gundam fan, I haven't watched a lot, but what I've most enjoyed by far is the UC series (the original series compilation movies, The Origin) I've seen so far. I am also a massive fan of Neon Genesis Evangelion, so the staff for this series really had me excited! First of all, the positives. I really enjoyed the visual direction for the series, especially the sequences set during 0079. Khara recreated the style of the original series with so much love, and every episode that had a flashback was myfavorite. The sound is good for the most part, but I was a bit iffy on the placement of some of the music. Certain episodes have a vocal track in their climax that I don't feel improves the context of the scene they are placed in, but the original tracks are for the most part excellent.

Now what I had issues with.

1: 12 episodes was WAY too short for the story they were trying to tell here.
The show always feels like its moving way too fast, and it introduces characters that are relevant for 1 episode and then are never important or brought up again. Every arc feels like its been ended right in the middle. I think the show would have had way more room to breath if it was 12 episodes for the initial Clan Battle arc, and then another 12 for the rest of the series.

2. The characters SUCK.
I wanted to like Nyaan (worst Gundam name ever btw, she should have been named Neon) and Machu, but oh my god their character arcs go absolutely nowhere. The whole conflict between them is extremely contrived and I was saying to myself "Wait, is this seriously what's happening? There's no other layers here? THIS is the conflict?". I get that the characters are teenagers and their conflict is very much rooted in their immaturity, but Gundam has had better writing for its characters in the past I feel. Almost every character in 0079 is a teenager or a child and their conflicts (for the most part) are informed by the backdrop of the series in a war that's annihilated half of all humanity. They do bicker occasionally but its never the main problem they are facing.