When news broke that the next entry in the long-running Mobile Suit Gundam series was going to be co-produced by Studio Khara and Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno, I couldn’t have been more excited. The new show is everything old-school Gundam nerds could have asked for in a re-imagining of the classic series… although the overall execution might feel strange to old-school fans. Keep reading to find out what I think of the new Gundam GQuuuuuuX anime series!
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The First Gundam Alternate History
Ever since 1994’s G Gundam, it’s been common for many Gundam series to set their stories in an alternate timeline. This allows new fans to avoid having to learn decades of history about the One Year War, the Principality of Zeon, and the many conflicts between the spacenoids and the Earth Federation. But this is the first Gundam alternate history that’s set in a version of the Universal Century timeline we already know.
What if, instead of Amuro Ray, it was Char Aznable who got inside the Federation’s experimental Mobile Suit, the RX-78-2? What if Zeon used these advantages to destroy the Federation fleet and force a decisive victory for the humans living in space? That’s the setup for the new series, which takes place five years after the One Year War.
In the show, we follow a high school girl named Amate Yuzuriha living inside Side 6. She encounters a war refugee named Nyaan and learns about the seedy world of underground Gundam dueling known as “Clan Battle.” Under the alias “Machu,” she pilots a mysterious mobile suit known as GQuuuuuuX (“Zeke-Axe”) and wins her first battle. Who pilots the mysterious “Red Gundam,” if Char Aznable really died five years ago in the One Year War?
High Expectations for the First “Gainax-Influenced” Gundam
Kidou Senshi Gundam GQuuuuuux is the newest entry in the legendary sci-fi mecha anime series from Sunrise. But this time, it’s getting a lot of fresh ideas from several former Gainax creators via Khara, the studio formed by former Gainax founders. It’s great to see what ideas Hideaki Anno (Evangelion, Aim For The Top! Gunbuster) and Youji Enokido (FLCL, Bungou Stray Dogs) will bring to the Gundam universe.
Trigger Warning: Those Character Designs…
Coming from staff that worked on FLCL, Gurren Lagann, and Kill La Kill, it’s not surprising that Gundam GQuuuuuuX will have gotten some influence from Trigger, the other studio founded by former Gainax staff. This shows up in several places, including the design of the main GQuuuuuuX mecha. The character designs from artist Take (known for designing Pokémon characters) are also somewhat unorthodox for a Gundam series, and may take some time to get used to.
This is a Gundam series totally separate from the style and vision of creator Yoshiyuki Tomino, which is immediately apparent. But it’s also a re-imagined universe in which Amuro Ray doesn’t exist. Perhaps this is because Amuro’s voice actor Tooru Furuya couldn’t keep his ‘beam saber’ in his pants? This project has been under development since 2018.
The Perfect Gundam for Fans of “Gear Porn”
Without a doubt, one of the stars of the new Gundam series is the mechanical universe the story takes place in. The robots are all awesome to look at, with excellent balance in the battles we’ve seen so far. But what’s really amazing is the detail we’re shown inside the rotating space colony Side 6. The animators show us what the “sky” would look like, and give us an intense battle in a curving hallway.
One YouTube channel I enjoy watching is run by Paul Chato. He’s a comedy writer and former network executive who provides commentary on the modern state of entertainment. One of the themes he talks about a lot is how modern entertainment has moved away from “gear porn,” meaning the cool hardware that’s at the center of so many successful sci-fi franchises. This term covers everything from characters repairing the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon to the meticulous way Tony Stark creates the original Iron Man costume. As a card-carrying fan of “gear porn,” I can say that the Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is really satisfying to watch!
How Should Fans Pronounce ‘Gundam GQuuuuuux’?
How are we supposed to pronounce Gundam GQuuuuuux? The kana pronunciation is きどうせんしガンダム ジークアクス, which is “Kidou Senshi Gundam Jīku-akusu.” Since it’s hard to memorize a strange name like that, you’ll be pretty much okay pronouncing it “Gundam Zeke-Axe.”
And what even is a “GQuuuuuuX”? It turns out it’s a placeholder for variables in programming circles that got created at Stanford University in the 1970s. The term quux was used alongside nonsense words like “foo” and “bar” in programming, sometimes with extra u’s inserted.
Will Gundam GQuuuuuux Bring Us Sexy Yuri Fan Art? Yes!
One measure of the popularity of an anime is how much the fans are “shipping” the characters in the show, creating sexy fan art on Pixiv or creating parody doujinshi. When Kemono Friends exploded onto the scene in 2017, it surpassed the amount of fanart that Steins;Gate had amassed within two weeks.
What about Gundam GQuuuuuux? Will fans respond to the new show by making yuri fan art of Machu and Nyaan? I’m happy to report that the answer is yes! Image boards are filled with fun fan art of all kinds for fans to enjoy. (Above image sauce is here.)
Thanks for reading this post about the new Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuux mecha series from Sunrise and Studio Khara. What do you think of the alternate history setting? And the new approach to character designs? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below!
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