Review of Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX

Gundam: You Can (Not) Redo Evangelion What initially seems to be a fun “what if?” premise where Char steals the Gundam and Zeon wins the war is bogged down by it’s need to do references to the original. References tend to work best when they are fun, unobtrusive nods that fans will get but do not substantially affect the plot. Unfortunately, a lot of one’s enjoyment of GQuuuuuuux’s hinges on the audience’s ability to understand the significance of characters and scenes from the original series. Without that context, a lot of the latter half of the series seems less accessibleto newer viewers.

The show is not without merit though. There is some genuinely smart writing about power dynamics and the direction and animation production are generally very good. The shifting alliances and cloak and dagger spycraft between Zeon factions was a lot of fun as well. It’s all the more frustrating that the main theme of breaking free from the expectations of previous generations is also mostly refrencing moments from the previous generation. The series was initially focused on character and narrative and decides towards the end to focus more on metafiction fanfic and multiverse shenanigans.

I do genuinely like the show and I can’t really fault it for not going the direction I wanted it to. However, I wish there was more meaningful focus on character and narrative towards the end. Machu and Nyaan had a complicated dynamic and it would have been nice to see it fleshed out and developed more.