Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX

Episode 6

On the A-side of this episode, there was textbook “grown-ups don't understand” teenage angst. And on the B-side: Gundam franchise throwbacks curated to deliver maximum “I know that guy!” dopamine. Apparently the story has progressed to a fun house version of the events of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam in this fractured timeline, placing the distinctly Zeta Gundam plot device of Cyber Newtypes front and center. Just as Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX's inspiration shifts from Mobile Suit Gundam to its sequel series, its plot is also in transition as it seemingly prepares to wrap up the Clan Battle portion of the story and prepare for the next level up: all-out war. Although Kycilia herself only appears in the final seconds of the episode, “The Plot to Assassinate Kycilia” is rife with double dealings and subtle shifts in the balance of power. Machu's struggles may be universal, but the story is becoming increasingly reliant on the viewer's assumed knowledge of Gundam canon to do the heavy lifting. GQuuuuuuX has never stood alone, but it's becoming increasingly challenging to watch without doing your Gundam “homework” first.

It's ironic that the most original portion of GQuuuuuuX is a story we've seen a million times before. Machu's rebellious teenage spirit is universal to the point of being rote. Machu's inability to select career goals, her anger at her mom, and her destructive crush on the nearly-absent (and possibly secretly villainous?) Shuji are so typical that the show can get away with minimal onscreen exploration of these storylines, hoping viewers can fill in the blanks. We've seen only glimpses of Machu's relationships with both Shuji and Nyaan, but after Nyaan steps out of Machu's Gundam, it's crystal clear which one of them Machu will choose over the other. Even though Nyaan piloted the Gundam for Machu's sake, the sulky tomato is furious, peevishly telling Nyaan “that's MY space!” Perhaps before Machu decided the “Kira-Kira” was for her and Shuji alone, she ought to have gotten to know Nyaan a little better. For one thing, Nyaan is quite adept at piloting for some unspecified reason, and now the plot has offered a possible solution: she could be an escaped Cyber Newtype. All too quickly, GQuuuuuuX puts us back in the weeds because Cyber Newtypes are a cornerstone of the plot of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam: the Earth Federation's catastrophic effort to create artificial Newtypes, each of whom gain incredible piloting abilities in exchange for unstable personalities.

This is where things get confusing (if they weren't already). The premise of GQuuuuuuX is “what if Zeon won the One Year War instead of the Earth Federation?” and how things might naturally fall out from there. In Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, this sequel turns the tables from Mobile Suit Gundam and reveals, following Zeon's defeat, that it's actually the “good guy” Earth Federation that's bad, conducting human experiments and the like. That brings us to Bask Om, a reprehensible Federation commander who is one of the antagonists of Zeta Gundam. Since Bask Om is a proponent of experimenting on orphans to create Cyber Newtypes in the original show, his role in this episode is a fittingly evil position that this established villain may as well assume while we're already out here writing Gundam fanfic. Another “oh it's him” moment occurs with Gates Capa, a mentally disturbed Cyber Newtype with a trivial role in Zeta Gundam. GQuuuuuuX modernized his design and turned him into a babysitter for the peculiar Deux, a slip of a thing in a muzzle. Like Four, the most famous Cyber Newtype from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam, Deux has a numerical name and a bizarre personality—turning Gates into the straight man in this scene. Machu needs to get over herself and fast, because this final Clan Battle against Deux won't be bloodless.

Back to the title of the episode. Since Kycilia doesn't factor in nearly as much as I expected, I'll provide the Kycilia/Gihren rivalry rundown next week. But in the meantime, in the original Gundam canon, who assassinated Kycilia? Char Aznable of course: the lodestone of GQuuuuuuX, the very man who all the plotlines lead back to. It makes sense that now it's his number one fanboy Challia Bull who is gunning for the opportunity. It does feel like a Char Moment when Challia calmly saves Xavier's life, rolling up in a hovercraft to casually shoot two guys simultaneously in an alley. Over the course of the show, Xavier has transitioned from pretentious pilot to reluctant covert ops, to the point where he's at a crossroads about whether to trust Challia, the guy who just rescued him. Another exercise in contrasts is the relationship in flux between Machu and Nyaan. It's interesting that Machu has one of the cushiest backstories of Gundam protagonist history (two living parents, plenty of money, plenty of options) but she's angry at Nyaan, a refugee crammed into a tiny apartment, too desperate and hungry to really listen to the courier buying her noodles in order to get advice about connecting with his daughter from another girl her age. (You're barking up the wrong tree trying to ask Nyaan about normal young women, pal.)

Machu does have one actual problem she didn't invent herself: Annqi's seeming betrayal. It seemed like Annqi was a grown-up Machu could trust. But after Annqi makes the classic error of not closing the door while she's having a private conversation, Machu realizes Shuji's in deep trouble, and it's all Machu's fault. Machu's really in it now, and there's only one guarantee: her spiral will continue to lead us through nonstop references from previous Universal Century shows. As someone funnier than me has already pointed out, GQuuuuuuX has become an exercise in shouting “OMG it's Glup Shitto!” at the screen whenever it carts out a Gundam side character last seen in a show from 1985. It's not that I don't appreciate the cameos, but each time I see one, I am less likely to recommend GQuuuuuuX to people who aren't already Gundam fans. Who wants to watch a show with 100 episodes minimum of prerequisite viewing?

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Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video on Tuesdays.

Lauren writes about model kits at Gunpla 101. She spends her days teaching her two small Newtypes to bring peace to the space colonies.