REVIEW ‘Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX’ Episode 1

Directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki and written by Yoji Enokido and Hideaki Anno, Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX features character designs by Take and mechanical designs by Ikuto Yamashita. Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 is the inaugural episode of the new series, with a high-octane action battle that lasts the whole episode while building out this Gundam world.

Set five years after the Principality of Zeon won the One Year War, a notable change defining the 16th series in the Gundam franchise as an alternate timeline, Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 centers on Amate Yuzuriha (Tomoyo Kurosawa). A high school student who lives a quiet life on a space colony named “Side 6,” Amate meets Nyaan (Yui Ishikawa), who is running from the police, and her world is turned upside down.

Even though Nyaan is running away from the law, she doesn’t say much. Instead, her mystique and hints of physical prowess in this episode drop pebbles of doubt that she’s not revealing her full skill set yet. The fateful encounter pushes our heroine into an underground Clan Battle where mobile suits have become ripe for illegal and high-stakes dueling.

Meanwhile, in space outside Side 6, a budding Newtype pilot who is fresh and top of his class in the academy, Xavier Olivette (Seiichiro Yamashita), is sent out to capture the Red Gundam that disappeared at the end of the One Year War five years ago—but has reappeared now. Xavier pilots the gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX, a prototype Gundam meant for Newtype pilots to catch the elusive Red Gundam. Unfortunately, he’s unable to activate the Gundam’s full control capabilities through something known as the Psycommu System Omega-type.

As a reactionary response to taking the Gundam fight between Xavier and the Red Gundam away from Side 6, Amate quickly jumps into the cockpit of Xavier’s inoperable Gundam. Surprisingly, she’s able to activate the mobile suit as well as the Psycommu System Omega-type, which Xavier failed to do. Then, she fends off the Police Force mechs trying to stop her too.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 launches us straight into battle.

The use of old Gundam sound effects for the fights stands out, but not in a bad way—it adds to the nostalgia of watching the original series. With enveloping color-mixing and distinct line work, this mecha-action anime continues the streak of revitalizing one of the oldest anime franchises in history.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX is an alternate version of the Universal Century timeline, diverging from the original Mobile Suit Gundam series’ continuity. In this timeline, the Principality of Zeon wins the One Year War against the Earth Federation. What’s great is if the general audience watches the first episode, they’re not thinking this is an alternate universe. Rather, this is the established world for them to get introduced into the world of Gundams from scratch. The series leaves events open, pushing the viewers to explore and learn more about this altered timeline.

So far, the Red Gundam is the MacGuffin of the series. No one knows who’s the pilot but Commander Challia Bull (Shinji Kawada) and the Principality of Zeon want the Gundam for unexplained reasons right now. Different main characters have different motivations and goals by the end of the season, despite some of them being unclear at the moment.

Xavier is trying to prove that he’s good enough to catch the Red Gundam, and Amate is searching for a way off of the space colony Side 6. Amate infers that Nyaan stole the hard-drive device to activate a civilian mobile suit to win the prize money from the illegal Clan Battles, but Nyaan doesn’t confirm or deny Amate’s claims—making Nyaan’s goals uncertain.

Forgoing exposition over action pays off big time.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 spares no expense, introducing its characters and jumping into the action. This is a bold strategy but a significantly successful one. Even the most successful action anime pilot episodes provide a close amount of exposition and action. This first episode is about 25% of characters explaining important details about this world, and 75% is either action or conversations related to the fighting happening throughout the whole episode.

Studio Khara and Sunrise team up to bring this gorgeously made anime to television. It features many talented animators who animated the newest Evangelion films. From the opening shots of Nyaan running into Amate, the character designs pop with their vividly colored eyes.

Every character maintains some kind of color that stands out and distinguishes their character from the rest. Using different colored hair and eye colors to tell characters apart is a smart storytelling device, especially when various important characters are first introduced. For example, Amate’s red hair contrasts Nyaan’s dark purple hair or Challia with his sage green hair.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX’s music is composed by Yoshimasa Terui and Masayuki Hasuo, who help ramp up the action unfolding within and outside of the space colony. Surprisingly, the first episode features two full-length songs already: “The Girl on a Space colony (I_006A)” by Yoshimasa Terui and “Plazma” by Kenshi Yonezu. Usually, these songs are saved for the series’ intro/outro themes but they make it work into the story by adding it in when the characters aren’t talking too much and performing a bunch of actions.

The music adds emotional and exciting beats to Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1. While Amate and Nyaan quickly bond, the music adds to their fateful meeting like a love-at-first-sight moment. A soundtrack song pops off again when Amate fully activates the GQuuuuuuX Gundam.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 is perfect.

Most importantly, Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 isn’t shying away from the space politics on Side 6. Throughout the episode, the two police mechs are told they can engage in tracking down the disturbance in the lower-class areas. The command instructs them that the people living in these areas built their houses illegally, and they won’t be liable for the destruction were a fight to break out—and a mech fight does break out in the slums. The police dialogue in this episode shows social class division and the mistreatment of war refugees.

For a show about cool mechs duking it out in space, subtle layers in the storytelling, like these examples, drip through the overarching story. In one episode, the Principality of Zeon is painted as evil rulers or leaders of this space colony. The police don’t care about civilian casualties as long as the Zeon people are safe. The conversations between the police and military and the leniency to allow the Gundam fight show the injustice towards the Earth Federation citizens.

Based on the first episode, Amate and Nyaan share some great chemistry from the start. Amate is the wild, outgoing one, while Nyaan is the quiet, astute person just there for the ride. Nyaan doesn’t have much dialogue for the whole episode, but she quickly trusts Amate—who looks impressed with Amate’s cunningness to deduce Nyaan’s intentions for stealing the mobile suit hard-drive device.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 is a perfect season premiere, bringing exciting content for new and returning audiences. The animation and music are on point, holding nothing back. The politics don’t bog down the pacing of the episode. Instead, the politics are set up with brief conversations or one line a Police Force member says. As soon as viewers see Amate hop into the GQuuuuuuX, that’s where the magic happens. Mecha anime is back, Mobile Suit Gundam anime is back, and it looks like it’s here to stay strong for the next generation.

Mobile Suit Gundam: GQuuuuuuX Episode 1 is streaming on Prime Video.