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4·10 days agoAs someone who just started getting deep into Gundam over the last ~6 months in anticipation of GQuuuuuuX, I have to say that it doesn’t come as much of a surprise that I really loved it.
I’ve been a big fan of Gainax, Khara, Anno, Tsurumaki and Enokido for roughly 25 years now, and I feel that GQuuuuuuX pulled the rabbit out of the hat by bridging old and new. I feel that they hit the 7-10 split of making a show that was simultaneously respectful and fanboyish about the original Mobile Suit Gundam, while still managing to fight against it both literally and symbolically. Would it be a good show to watch for someone with a “death to the author” attitude who wants a purely stand-alone story? Maybe not. But I don’t think that’s what GQuuuuuuX was attempting to be.
Say what you will about GQuuuuuuX, but it was absolutely a love letter to 0079, Zeta, CCA, the entire UC timeline, and most importantly, the people who made it–who, had they not existed, Gainax, Gunbuster, Evangleion, FLCL, Diebuster, Khara also would not have existed. Maybe I’m just being sentimental, but I felt that GQuuuuuuX was a statement about life and circumstances. It was a show about all of the other possibilities that could happen in life if things were just a little bit different. And it was a show about how people like Tsurumaki built their life and career on the shoulders of people like Tomino, who in turn also benefited from being the right person, at the right place and time, especially compared to the wartime generation of Japanese people who came just before him.
As such, I think GQuuuuuuX is best enjoyed with knowledge of the UC and an appreciation for the meta-narrative.
I didn’t go into this show (or The Beginning movie cut, which I saw in theaters twice) expecting it to be totally divorced from everything that came before it. From the first minute of seeing GQuuuuuX The Beginning, I was sold on the idea of this alternate-UC, a version of the Gundam UC universe where Amuro doesn’t get in the robot. This show was answering that specific question, “what would Gundam be like if Amuro never got in the robot in the first place?” That was what set the stage for the entire continuity that Machu and Nyan existed in, and I also think they did a good job of exploring not only why such a universe might exist, but also what that would mean for other characters in the UC framework, and even the design language of the mobile suits!
I’ve seen people complain that GQuuuuuuX is either too heavily reliant on UC or that they would have preferred more focus on the UC characters. But what those people fail to understand is that GQuuuuuuX is UC, and so characters like Char, Challia, and Kycilia are just as much native characters to the GQ-UC timeline as Machu and Nyan are. They are not actually even really the same characters as their 79-UC counterparts.
One thing I want to say about the show is how much it evoked FLCL, including the ending:
GQuuuuuuX and FLCL SPOILERS
In FLCL, the young and disillusioned male lead Naota’s life is suddenly and radically changed when the mysterious weirdo girl Haruko crashes into his boring, normal life. By the end of the story we find out that Haruko is in fact an alien who is chasing after an all powerful amorphous entity called Atomsk whose power/essence has been captured by Medical Mechanica, a mysterious organization that is trying to achieve something along the lines of the Third Impact from Evangleion. In the end of the story Naota finally steps up and takes agency over his life, stealing the power of Atomsk from both Medical Mechanica and Haruko, before suddenly backing off to confess his love to Haruko before Atomsk escapes and Haruko, having failed to do what she came to do in the first place, follows. From there, life goes on.
In GQuuuuuuX, it is eventually revealed that this strange stoner kid Shuji is far from a normal newtype, but is actually some kind of strange being from another universe. Is he a real person, or some kind of manifestation of Lalah or the Gundam? (Just like Haruko, we never really learn the full truth.) Shuji exists in the GQuuuuuuX universe for a specific reason, to destroy the universe itself in an attempt to help the mystical newtype Lalah search for a version of the universe where the love of her life, Char, is not killed trying to protect her. (I definitely have to rewatch it to wrap my mind around this, but I think that’s the basic idea.) Machu and Nyan, motivated by existential freedom and a desire to do whatever needs to be done to survive and get by in like, respectively, find themselves in the middle of this battle across universes that is much bigger than themselves, and Machu eventually takes agency over her situation when she shoots the limiter drive within GQuuuuuuX. Much like Naota, Machu both foils Shuji’s plan and confesses her repressed feelings towards him before he disappears. Machu’s life, also, goes on.
I think people have some legitimate complaints about the break-neck pace of GQuuuuuuX. Tsurumaki is no stranger to telling fast stories over a small number of episodes, but it could be argued that GQuuuuuuX had so much to say in its allotted time that it wasn’t able to have as many of the moody and atmospheric moments as shows like Evangelion, FLCL and Diebuster have. (FLCL is famous for being frenetic, but it also has some truly beautiful calm scenes!) We got a bit of that in GQuuuuuuX, like Nyan’s montage in Episode 5, but if the show had a little bit more time maybe we could have spent a bit more quality quiet time with our main characters, especially Machu and Nyan. (On the other hand, people wanted more FLCL, only for the monkey paw to curl with the creation of 4 subpar spinoff cartoon network cashgrabs… Sometimes less is more!)
Overall, I really loved GQuuuuuX.
I spent the last few months really looking forward to every release, watching it multiple times and looking at a lot of the online discussions around it. I haven’t been this excited for, or had this much fun watching a new anime in many, many years. I’m sad that it’s over, but very glad that it was created. As someone who only watched 0079, Z, ZZ, CCA, 0080, 08th MS, Unicorn and WfM this year (with a couple episodes of Wing back in the Toonami days), I can only imagine how a show like this would feel to people who watched all of this stuff when it came out. If nothing else, it was a new Tsurumaki + Enokido show by Khara, with participation by Anno, and an absolute love letter to Mobile Suit Gundam.
You’ve already said you’re planning on it, but Cagliostro is a must. It’s not only a good Lupin film but a classic piece of anime media by Miyazaki.
I’m nostalgic for Season 2 (red jacket) lupin, and while you probably not need to watch them all I think there are quite a few fun and good episodes there too (including a couple of cool and beautiful episodes directed by Miyazaki, which have some interesting relations to his other work).
Also I think the new Lupin the IIIrd film series by Takeshi Koike is quite cool, representing a much darker and grittier Lupin than the light-hearted Miyazaki vision. It’s a great time to get into these ones too, because the final 2 pieces, Zenigata and the Two Lupins and The Immortal Bloodline are coming out in just a few weeks.
2·4 months agoI had pretty mixed feelings about Stampede but I’m glad to Vash and the world of Trigun coming back again. Pretty interesting that Oshiyama is doing the animation character designs. If only they could bring back Tsuneo Imahori (the composer of the original Trigun anime) for the soundtrack.
what the fuck
I’m with you. The spectacle aspect is fantastic, but it definitely rushes through the story.
Do yourself a favor and checkout Gunbuster (1988) and its loose sequel Diebuster (2004). Gunbuster was directed by Evangelion director Hideaki Anno (and it might be his most concise stand-alone work), while Diebuster was directed by his protege, FLCL director Kazuya Tsurumaki.
Both are just 6 episodes, with fantastic Gainax animation, great soundtracks, and masterful storytelling. I strongly recommend watching the original Gunbuster before Diebuster, though it isn’t totally necessary.
I know it may be a hot take, but I am not personally a fan of Gundam. Which seems like a perfect fit but for whatever reason every time I have tried to watch it I just never make it more than a few episodes in.
As someone who is in the process of catching up on all things Gundam before seeing GQuuuuuux (the new Gundam by the creators of FLCL, Diebuster and Evangelion) later this month, I highly recommend giving it another try and sticking with it until at least the second half of the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079). There are a couple reasons for this:
- The back half of Mobile Suit Gundam is significantly better than the front half, and while the ending is a little bit rushed (the show got cancelled, or something like that), there are a lot of really nice Macross and Evangelion-esque concepts that come into it. Gundam really is significant to the history of anime in general and the mecha genre, and by the time I got to the end of it I finally understood why.
- Watching the original Gundam makes watching Zeta Gundam (the direct sequel) much better, and it’s a show that build upon the lore and characters of the original in a fantastic way. I know it’s a big ask to suggest that someone watch a 50 episode show in order to watch another (arguably even better) 50 episode show, but Zeta is truly a 1980s anime masterpiece in the same way that Eva is a 1990s anime masterpiece.
- If you ever watch the early Bones mecha anime Eureka Seven, which is pretty good in its own right, you’ll be amazed at how much it parallels the story and character development of the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
Gurren Lagann (It seemed okay but I never finished it)
There are a couple of rough episodes in the first half, but I love this show and recommend seeing it through. This is a show where the scale and scope of the story just snowballs into something really big and cool.
Finally, have you watched the SDF Macross movie retelling, Do You Remember Love? Because if not, it’s fantastic and worth seeing.
I really enjoyed Prospera as a character. And reviled her as a person while still retaining some forms of empathy. That’s a pretty big win IMO.
MAJOR ENDING SPOILERS (Mobile Suit Gundam: Witch from Mercury)
First half Prospera was super engaging as her motivation seemed to be to avenge her family and take down the corporations and power structure that lead to them being needlessly murdered during the prologue. She was undoubtedly manipulating Suletta (and in one of her best scenes Miorine calls her out for it, only for Prospera to point out the hypocrisy of that), but it felt like she was infiltrating the system and masterminding the demise of the Benerit Group. I really figured she would be like Char in the original MSG 0079, in the sense that she wasn’t going to be so much of a villain.
Instead she ended up becoming something like Gendo Ikari from Neon Genesis Evagelion with the Data Storm as her Human Instrumentality Project, all of this at the expense of her relationship to Suletta. But then at the end we got something of a “happy ending” where all of the kids are CEOs (or rather, oligarchs), the people of Earth are still subjugated (but I guess at least being “listened to”…), and Prospera is now having a picnic with Suletta and her keychain sister, despite the fact that she just wiped out an entire fleet and almost had both her daughters kill each other. Her arc didn’t really stick for me.
The thing about being Gendo Ikari is that there’s really no way to repair the relationships that you’ve destroyed in order to achieve your selfish goals. Prospera went down that route, but somehow everything turned out OK in the end in her toxic relationship to Suletta.
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Speaking of details, they are everywhere, and they build on one another. Things like using cinematography to mirror an earlier scene, then later doing the same but with a different perspective to highlight the changes in the characters. The symbolism is rampant, some obvious, some subtle. This wasn’t a Tomino story, but it builds on one of his tenets: show, don’t tell. Environmental storytelling. I have a friend that really only engages with Gundam as “second screen” material while she’s doing something else. Unsurprisingly, she’s ambivalent about most of it and actively hostile towards WfM.
Overall I loved the idea, got very immersed in the setting and characters, and was a little disappointed when the pacing fell off. Still an easy recommend.
For sure, the show really looked great and was effective at telling the story. The drama and symbolism were truly great at times. When it hit, it hit. Some of the more intimate scenes with Suletta dealing with shit on her own were really genuinely touching and beautiful.
I also recommend checking it out and think it’s a worthy series. :)
Btw, @[email protected] was kind enough to open up [email protected] for us. And @[email protected] volunteered to mod. So feel free to hop on over there and join us! 👊
I’m in! Still pretty new to Gundam but I’m quickly getting up to speed in anticipation of Gquuuuuux, having just watched 0079, War in the Pocket, 08th MS Team and Witch from Mercury. About 10 episodes into Zeta right now and loving it so far.
The other day I stumbled upon this 3 year old Tested video where they put together a “Perfect Grade” Gundam and they were really impressed by the intricate level of design and engineering that went into it, and I have to say I was too.
To see all of the moving parts underneath the outer armor/shell and the engineering involved to making it all work (not to mention have it stand up even under pretty extreme poses) was damn impressive. At this point I’m more worried about clutter than anything I think. lol
Yeah, that’s exactly how I feel.
Suletta’s and Miorine’s likability was the only thing that kept me on board until the end, but ultimately it felt like a show that walked right up to the edge of saying something meaningful about modern society (be it corporate capitalism, LGBTQ issues, women’s issues, war, etc.) but then stepped back for no reason.
Cool news about the Gunpla. I’ve never made a model but I’m getting dangerously close to getting into it after watching all of this Gundam stuff recently. I wonder how the GQuuuuuuuuuux models are going to be?
The story in the games is pretty convoluted, but I think it’s really cool to see them broadening out into a full-fledged anime with Guilty Gear. Hopefully it’s good!
What’s the other one?
For me the age isn’t really a big deal, as I’ve been really digging into 80s and 70s anime recently, including the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam.
I think Gunbuster is probably my best point of reference for comparison since it came out just a year prior to War in the Pocket, and in my opinion it’s a better show in every way. But then again, Gunbuster is kind of a masterpiece to me.
Akira was also roughly the same time, but that’s hardly fair… :)
Not overwhelming at all, and I enjoyed the read. Thanks for taking the time!
Like many in the west, my first exposure was to Gundam Wing on Toonami, and while I remember thinking the character and mech designs were cool, it never really clicked for me. I never watched it from the beginning, however, so I don’t think I can fairly judge it.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) Vague Spoiler Talk
I really enjoyed the original Mobile Suit Gundam (0079), having just finished it. Despite being aware of Gundam for my entire life as an anime geek, it always felt to me like its own niche thing. For some reason I always had the [false] impression that it was really super dry, with a focus on the military/technology aspects over character drama and storytelling. Initially I wasn’t sure whether to watch the series version or the film retelling, but I wanted to try experiencing the whole thing in its original form and I’m glad I did.
I did find it a bit slow at times, particularly towards the very beginning at around episode 3 when the focus was primarily on the battle dynamics between Amuro and Char. But once the story started to get into the human/psychological effects that the war was having on Amuro and others, I was able to really get into it and easily binge a few episodes per day. I wont say too much about the ending, other than that it was truly epic, ambitious, and very well done. I only wish some of the concepts that were important at the end would have been gradually worked into the show sooner, but obviously that’s hindsight that the creators didn’t have the benefit of.
As a HUGE Evangelion (and Gainax in general) fan I always knew that Gundam was a big influence on it, but I was still really impressed and fascinated by the many parallels–not just in terms of the story and characters, but also in the direction (like the style and timing of the cuts), and even the soundtrack (there are a few Gundam OST cues that I wouldn’t be surprised were used as placeholders or references during Eva’s production) . To a lesser extent I also like the original Eureka Seven, and the parallels there are even more strikingly obvious in retrospect–from the Gekko State being kind of like White Base, to the 3 kids on the ship, and some story beats being very similar. These shows obviously do their own thing too, but I really enjoyed picking up on the various ways in which Gundam had influenced them.
So yeah, I really liked 0079… Both from an “important part of anime history” perspective, but also just as a very good and ambitious 70s anime in it’s own right. I come away from the experience as a budding Gundam fan, and I think I’ve really been sleeping on the show. I’m looking forward to checking out more of the series.
Because I don’t have a lot of time before Gquuuuuux (what a name Khara… lol) premieres, I won’t be able to hit all the best stuff in order. So my current plan is to get a sampling of different well-regarded stuff from different eras. I’m thinking about going straight for 0080 War in the Pocket next (Small Gainax connection there too), then 08th MS Team, and then maybe checking out a bit of Witch from Mercury if I have time. Basically I’m going for the Gundam sample platter. lol
Finally, anything I should know about watching the series vs the films? Are the 0079 films meaningfully different (in terms of story, animation quality, etc.) than the series to warrant checking them out too? Would you recommend speeding through the Zeta films or waiting until later when I have time to watch the full Zeta series? Also, are there any standout must-watch films in the Gundam series in general?
Based on Tsurumaki’s past work on Diebuster and the Evangelion Rebuilds, I’m guessing it’ll feel very separate but also be connected in interesting ways.
The overall aesthetic of this show is so, so perfect. That was a fantastic trailer too.