First Impression: Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – Beginning

Amate Yuzuriha is a high-school student living peacefully in the space colony Side 6. When she meets a war refugee named Nyaan, Amate discovers that she has been unknowingly entangled in a smuggling plot, and is drawn into the illegal 2-on-2 mobile suit sport known as Clan Battle. During an incident with the local military police, Amate commandeers the Gundam GQuuuuuuX, and activates its experimental technology, the Omega Psycommu. Amate bears witness to an extraordinary vision which she calls “kira-kira” (Japanese onomatopoeia for “sparkling”) and fights her way to safety while demonstrating a natural affinity for piloting the GQuuuuuuX. Driven to relive the spiritual experience of seeing the kira-kira, Amate enters the Clan Battle under the entry name “Machu”. There, she meets a mysterious Gundam pilot, Shuji, who is pursued by the space force and the police, and claims to have seen the same vision as Amate.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – Beginning is the new anime film in the Gundam franchise co-produced by studios Khara and Sunrise, directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL), and co-written by Hideaki Anno (Evangelion) and Yōji Enokido (Revelutionary Girl Utena). With such a stacked production team, even this casual Gundam fan (and die-hard Evangelion fan) knew he had to go check out what the hype was all about. I had read an article saying to go in blind, so I didn’t read anything else about it before I went to see it. But after watching the movie, I kind of wish I hadn’t gone in blind. As it turns out, GQuuuuuuX – Beginning is a movie featuring “re-cut” footage of the first 4-5 episodes of the new anime series that will premiere next month in the Spring anime season. The movie ends like an episode of television, designed to make you feel the need to watch more. But since I didn’t know it was re-cut footage from episodes, I found myself thinking, “What the heck was that ending? Nothing has been resolved!” As a standalone movie, it doesn’t quite work. But as a premiere for a new series? I found it quite intriguing.

Official plot synopses released so far match the opening of this first impression post, but they are intentionally deceiving. The opening act of GQuuuuuuX – Beginning is one I dare not spoil for any Gundam fans. The official press releases from Khara, Sunrise, and GKIDS make no mention of its contents. Suffice it to say, it will surely pique the interest of those who are even remotely familiar with Gundam’s roots, and I found it to be one of the most interesting parts of the series thus far. It is in these 30 minutes in particular that this new series and movie demonstrate one of their biggest strengths: fantastic animation, as you’d expect from studio Khara. The quality of the animation is truly something worthy of being witnessed on the big screen. For a weekly anime series, this is marvelously impeccable work.

Khara’s influence on the animation is matched by its influence on the story. You can totally feel Hideaki Anno’s hand in crafting the narrative—deconstructing the Gundam franchise and introducing spiritual themes. The first 30 minutes feel like Evangelion with the look of 80s and 90s Gundam, but then it shifts gears hard to quirky and colorful characters who look like they are straight out of FLCL. The whiplash of the theatrical cut was a bit frustrating, leaving me wondering what the point was. Only time will tell, once the series premieres, how it will flow from episode to episode. Although adjusting to the change of pace was difficult, the story never ceased to intrigue me. Amate’s dialogue hints at the themes of the series: “The heavens aren’t over our heads, but under our feet. Those of us born in the colonies know nothing of real gravity or real skies. Or naturally, of real seas.” The appreciation of the divine gift of life on Earth present in Anno’s Evangelion theatrical films is felt throughout this first batch of GQuuuuuuX – Beginning episodes. Once Amate got into the robot and had a spiritual experience, I was completely won over. Ultimately, this curious movie premiere did its job in making me commit to see what the series will do. But if you are going to check out the theatrical premiere, just go in a little more prepared than I did!

At the time of this review, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX – Beginning was playing in theaters. It is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.

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