The Official Gundam GQuuuuuuX Anime Thread Mk I

[domino]

I liked this episode but only because the "Witch" felt less one-dimensional than the main characters (who are all very one dimensional so far). I felt bad for her to be so revenge driven that she abandoned a life with her son.

On the other hand, I'm not sure I really care about Amate as a protagonist and at the moment I'm only slightly intrigued by Shuji's brain-deadness. If either of them died or was injured, would it really matter to us?

It's a shame that they introduced a character only to kill her off in a pretty disrespectful manner. Psycommu or not, there's no way Shuyi should've been able to dodge that many shots at such close range. I would've preferred if he used her wires against her because his perceptive abilities allowed him to identify her "trick" even in the heat of battle. Maybe that's how they'll explain it in the next episode but right now....it just makes him seem like an invincible Gary Stu.

[HussarZwei]

Chris Guanche in his review of ep 4 said that Sayla Mass is implied to be dead.

[Mafty]

Both main characters are rather underdeveloped, Amate is largely quirky, and Shuji mixes quirky with cold depening on the situation. So hopefully more development comes for them by the end of the series/season.

In a general story sense

Spoiler

Character's discuss a civil war within Zeon

, this is an interesting plot thread that I hope actually goes somewhere.

Much like G-Witch, the Battles may given way to actual warfare

Spoiler

especially with people actually dying in them.

[domino]

I liked that this episode touched on the narrative that war is bad and no one truly wins (with the Witch still being consumed with revenge) but then they completely go against it with the "Clan Battle" being a silly game and Shuji declaring that he isn't ready to die then proceeding to outwit a three-way attack by.....using his beam saber as a decoy.

It still really doesn't sit well with me that a seasoned war veteran who hasn't lost her touch (and may or may not be a newtype) lost to a "newtype kid" who barely struggled and when he did struggle, he was able to dodge/block her attacks so much that he didn't even get a scratch.

[Seto Kaiba]

I liked that this episode touched on the narrative that war is bad and no one truly wins (with the Witch still being consumed with revenge) but then they completely go against it with the "Clan Battle" being a silly game [...]

To be fair, I'm not sure I'd say the series treats Clan Battles as a "silly game".

After all, the series has already established that basically everything to do with Clan Battles is profoundly illegal. The battles themselves are timed in part to minimize the risk of the Side 6 military police showing up and arresting or killing the competitors. Competing involves acquiring a mobile suit, weapons, and installer devices on the black market. The mobile suits and weapons used in every bout are military issue and lethal. The whole thing runs on money from underground (criminal) gambling. The implication is that competitors do occasionally die in these bouts, and nobody is all that bothered by it. It's bloodsport.

It still really doesn't sit well with me that a seasoned war veteran who hasn't lost her touch (and may or may not be a newtype) lost to a "newtype kid" who barely struggled and when he did struggle, he was able to dodge/block her attacks so much that he didn't even get a scratch.

Seasoned veterans and ace pilots going down like chumps to some Newtype kid with no prior experience who fell into the cockpit all of 20 minutes ago is a time-honored staple of Gundam storytelling.

Hell, the very first fight in all of Gundam is two veteran Zaku pilots (Gene and Denim) going down like chumps against a Newtype kid who fell into the cockpit of the original Gundam all of like five minutes prior and was literally trying to RTFM at the time.

[domino]

The implication is that competitors do occasionally die in these bouts, and nobody is all that bothered by it. It's bloodsport.

Indeed it's implied and only because we saw such a lackluster response from the audience in the last episode. Even with that in mind, it's akin to gambling on which gang will win the next shootout before the cops arrive. Even sillier is that one of the "gangs" has no qualms about letting a previously-unknown child fight for them in a "bloodspot" (as you say) simply because the child has a new gun they don't know how to use.

This silly game (which as you also said doesn't have the industrial conflict like G-Witch did) cheapens the Gundam "war is bad" narrative. I'm sure like G-Witch the games will give away to real battles but my point stands.

Hell, the very first fight in all of Gundam is two veteran Zaku pilots (Gene and Denim) going down like chumps against a Newtype kid who fell into the cockpit of the original Gundam all of like five minutes prior and was literally trying to RTFM at the time.

You're really good at missing my point and default to pointing out the obvious. Yes, teenagers have been pwning mobile suit aces since 1979. Still, this episode spent a lot of time to emphasize how dangerous the "Witch" is only to have her lose in a very unbelievable way. If Shuji had a trick of his own (besides piloting the Gundam in ways that would put Trowa or most Macross pilots to shame) then it would've been easier to accept. You basically said the same thing in your first review of the episode.

Remember that in (most?) of the Gundam series so far when a complete unknown n00b teenager pilot defeated a seasoned vet, there was a reason! If there wasn't one explicitly stated, the rest of their team (and sometimes even them) were reasonably shocked that they even survived and hardly ever was it without a single stratch!

At the end of day, none of us want our protagonists to be flat, one-dimensional Gary Stu (or Mary Sues) so that's where my criticism is coming from.

[Seto Kaiba]

Even sillier is that one of the "gangs" has no qualms about letting a previously-unknown child fight for them in a "bloodspot" (as you say) simply because the child has a new gun they don't know how to use.

Now, I wouldn't call it "silly" because it's not whimsical or frivolous or unserious. I'd call it "stupid" without a moment's hesitation because it IS a poorly thought-out narrative conceit intended to allow the series to have mobile suit battles for the sake of mobile suit battles instead of having to justify the fighting with a war that might get in the way of the cutesy nonsense.

In the context of the story, the Pomeranians decision to field Machu and the QuuuuuuX in Clan Battles on their behalf is far from silly. There's obvious logic behind their decision even if it is wildly irresponsible and definitely criminal. Not that the Pomeranians likely care about the illegality, since every aspect of their operation was illegal in some way. Machu damaged their Zaku fighting the Military Police and then brought back an unknown MS that only she can operate for reasons unclear to the Poms. Then she volunteers to pilot it because she wants the prize money. They probably see her as owing them for the damage, she wants to do it anyway, and the whole affair is illegal regardless... so the only thing that's really in question is why the Poms are so willing to recklessly endanger a child like that. It's clearly not something we're supposed to think about, like the sheer impracticality of Clan Battles in general.

This silly game (which as you also said doesn't have the industrial conflict like G-Witch did) cheapens the Gundam "war is bad" narrative. I'm sure like G-Witch the games will give away to real battles but my point stands.

I don't disagree, it cheapens the inevitable "war is bad" message they'll try to insert by having game-ified the fighting that tore the Earth Sphere apart just a few years earlier.

It's just lazy/sloppy writing. I had a similar problem with G-Witch, though at least that series put in some effort to try and make it work in context.

You're really good at missing my point and default to pointing out the obvious. Yes, teenagers have been pwning mobile suit aces since 1979. Still, this episode spent a lot of time to emphasize how dangerous the "Witch" is only to have her lose in a very unbelievable way. If Shuji had a trick of his own (besides piloting the Gundam in ways that would put Trowa or most Macross pilots to shame) then it would've been easier to accept. You basically said the same thing in your first review of the episode.

No, I got your point... it's just that this kind of thing happens all the bloody time in Gundam. It's a staple trope in UC stories, where a kid who fell into the cockpit all of ten minutes prior stomps a veteran ace they should have no business being able to defeat due to possession of a Gundam and Newtype haxx that let them read the enemy better than any oldtype ever could (whether that's "sensing intent" or simply seeing into the future).

At the end of day, none of us want our protagonists to be flat, one-dimensional Gary Stu (or Mary Sues) so that's where my criticism is coming from.

I'm with you there, I'm just saying this series isn't really doing anything new... the problem isn't what Shuji's doing, it's that Shuji has had no character development yet to explain how he came to be an active Newtype in possession of a Gundam or his perpetually blase attitude even when someone is actively trying to murder him.

[Wingnut]

About the upcoming episode 5, I am predicting, in a semi-joking manner that

Spoiler

one of the Black Tri-Stars died during the OYW and while the upper half of his suit was destroyed, the legs remained, and they each took one both as a reminder and an upgrade for their regular Dom/Rick Dom suits.

[Seto Kaiba]

Episode 5 is out... and it's still pretty dull.

Spoiler

So... apparently M'Quve fired the Black Tri-Stars?

Gaia and Ortega apparently got kicked out of the Zeon forces and are now space truckers hauling junk for the junk guild and Clan Battle pilots on the side for extra money. Mash is implied to have resigned before the others were discharged by M'Quve and is now the mayor of a city somewhere and currently in the news for his scandalous affair with his secretary. Apparently they feel that they were cashiered out of the service because Char and the Red Gundam hogged all the glory in the One Year War.

Xavier's gone alone to try and find the QuuuuuuX, and we see him getting the sh*t kicked out of him by some random workers. He learns from some informant that Kycilia thinks Challia Bull arranged for the QuuuuuuX to get stolen.

Machu and Nyan screw around in town for a while.

We're still ignoring how the hell Shuji is maintaining, refueling, and rearming the Gundam all by himself while somehow not being able to afford food and still finding the time and resources to go vandalize the outside of colonies without getting caught.

Was there really any reason to get Machu undressed twice in this episode? It just feels like Anno falling back on his pervy tendencies from EVA so he won't have to actually write character development. Also, don't mobile suits use their armor as radiators in space? Shouldn't the Red Gundam fresh off a sortie in space be basically griddle-hot not cold?

Are we really wasting a chunk of this episode with Machu stuck in a train station locker with Xavier? Apparently we are. So it's an ill Shuji and Nyan fighting this one. Apparently the former Black Tri-Stars now call themselves the Binarys, and they're still using Rick Doms leftover from the One Year War. Shuji apparently passes out from his cold, and Nyan is left to be useless and get helplessly smacked around by the Binarys until the Haro she's with somehow lets her access the Omega Psycommu.

We're back to BS bullet-time dodging like last episode too... only now it's Nyan doing it to a point-blank hyper-bazooka shell. She then proceeds to kill both Gaia and Ortega with one of the Red Gundam's beam sabers.

The episode ends with Machu running off crying because the "kira-kira" is for her and Shuji only and discovering that the pilot was Nyan.

This series really doesn't have much going for it on the character front. All of the three main characters are fairly flat and undeveloped protagonists, which tends to make their interactions rather flat and uninteresting. We get tantalizing hints that there is some actually interesting story going on offscreen in Zeon, but that's not what the series wants to focus on.

The new Rick Dom design is just the old one with a literal third leg haphazardly attached to its back.

[Darth Nichos]

Compared to the fanservice in previous Gundam series, this was pretty mild in my opinion; especially with Anno's other works

I could forgive the lack of character development n this series if it was going to be 24-50 episodes; which was used to be the norm for Gundam works. However, given that we are nearly halfway thru the series, this is getting frustrating. Theoretically, you could cram a large amount of character development in a very short amount of time; it was done with Sven but I don't see that going to be the case here.

My biggest gripe is that you take a great premise, Zeon winning the One Year War, and we have seen very little done with it so far. Other than the tidbits we've gotten so far, I really want to know what's going on outside of Side 6 in terms of the Earth Federation; given that we don't know what the treaty entailed that ended the war.

[gxb]

Yeah the fanservice was just ... can we not?

Spoiler

Anyway, now I'm wondering if there's some sort of mystery behind Nyan and her past, but if that's the case then we have a situation where there might not be enough time to really flesh these characters and their backstories out enough.

Also, looks like we're definitely in a classic Love Triangle situation

Another thought - it almost seems like we kinda sorta got a little more insight into Kira Kira. It seems that the feeling of power, freedom, peacefulness, whatever might be what drives these pilots to get super lethal on the battlefield, which then makes me wonder if they're going to start getting addicted to it.

[Seto Kaiba]

Compared to the fanservice in previous Gundam series, this was pretty mild in my opinion; especially with Anno's other works

Perhaps... but here, it just felt especially forced. Machu is sunbathing on the roof for... reasons? And then Machu's getting undressed on top of the Gundam for... reasons?

It's like the creative team realized they hadn't written anything to make these characters likeable or interesting, and went "Well sh*t, better throw some boobs or something in so we don't lose the audience completely."

My biggest gripe is that you take a great premise, Zeon winning the One Year War, and we have seen very little done with it so far. Other than the tidbits we've gotten so far, I really want to know what's going on outside of Side 6 in terms of the Earth Federation; given that we don't know what the treaty entailed that ended the war.

That's been a consistent problem with the series for a few episodes now... the hints that've been dropped about what's going on in Side 3 are VASTLY more interesting than anything that's going on in the actual plot.

Spoiler

Thus far, we've had three different parties hint that Zeon's gearing up for war again... with the tantalizing hint that it might actually be civil war inside the Principality of Zeon as Gihren and Kycilia fall out over control of the autocratic nightmare they've created.

[Darth Nichos]

One of the problems I am having with this series is that we really don't know where they are going with it. If Gundam GQuuuuuuX was a 24-50 episode series, I could forgive the lack of content so far; but we are literally almost halfway done and all we have is:

Spoiler

A more than likely Zabi Civil War coming, Red Gundam wants to go to Earth to pick a flower, Nyaan's a refuge from some conflict we don't know about, the three main cast are possible Newtypes, and Challia Bull is looking for Char for some reason

Also, I refuse to believe that the Earth Federation has Been doing nothing since the end of the War. Even with Luna II lost, Zeon was still kicked off the Earth and the Federation has the resources to rebuild. Given both Nation's State at the end of the war, the peace treaty could not have been that slanted in Zeon's favor

The only thing I can see as a motivation by the people behind this series is that maybe Gundam GQUUUUUUX is a launching point for future works in this alternate timeline. Perhaps we are meant to get very little because we will get more in-depth series after this one.

[BrentD15]

Spoiler

I find it highly unlikely that Mash would've been a politician, let alone a city mayor.

[mcred23]

Spoiler

I find it highly unlikely that Mash would've been a politician, let alone a city mayor.

I'm just glad he lived.

[domino]

I hope I'm not getting my hopes up too high but seeing Nyan go berserk using the psycommu was pretty interesting. They also implied several times that she's either familiar with the Gundam or with psycommu. I'm looking forward to them delving deeper into this even though I'm not a fan of the love triangle angle or the "friendly rival" being forced

It's disappointing and disrespectful for the Black Tri-Stars to be introduced only to be dispatched so quickly but...I'll assume from now on that the Gundams will only face real challenge from other Gundams (assuming that more will be introduced in the future)

[Seto Kaiba]

The only thing I can see as a motivation by the people behind this series is that maybe Gundam GQUUUUUUX is a launching point for future works in this alternate timeline. Perhaps we are meant to get very little because we will get more in-depth series after this one.

Oh I hope not... because GQuuuuuuX is some super weak tea at best.

After the last few titles, I kind of wish Bandai Namco would give Gundam a break for a few years. It feels (to me) like they're really struggling to find ways to put a fresh spin on the same old formula they've been clinging to for more than 40 years now.

It's disappointing and disrespectful for the Black Tri-Stars to be introduced only to be dispatched so quickly but...I'll assume from now on that the Gundams will only face real challenge from other Gundams (assuming that more will be introduced in the future)

To be fair, it's not that different from how they fared in the original Gundam series and movies. Mash was a one-fight wonder who died in the episode the Black Tri-Stars were introduced in (#24) and the rest of the team are wiped out in the very next episode (#25).

[Deacon Blues]

Oh I hope not... because GQuuuuuuX is some super weak tea at best.

After the last few titles, I kind of wish Bandai Namco would give Gundam a break for a few years. It feels (to me) like they're really struggling to find ways to put a fresh spin on the same old formula they've been clinging to for more than 40 years now.

May want to check their financial statements because they're raking in all sorts of dough from it.

But, like Ogata has said, you're an Oldtype. Not everything will appeal to you, and that's okay. Bemoaning every release is old hat, so I'd really reel it in going forward if I were you. It's getting incredibly tiresome to hear it from you every time something new comes out.

[Seto Kaiba]

May want to check their financial statements because they're raking in all sorts of dough from it.

Just because a franchise installment is making money doesn't mean it is well-written. After all, franchises depend heavily on established fanbases to turn a profit and a large enough fanbase can lead to installments with substandard execution still turning a profit. We've seen that quite a bit from the Star Wars and Marvel franchises in the last decade.

But, like Ogata has said, you're an Oldtype. Not everything will appeal to you, and that's okay.

Y'see... this is just a deflection by audience-blaming. Essentially, "You're part of <arbitrary category>, so your opinion is invalid."

Of course, we've also seen this tactic tried by a lot creatives in the last decade or so as a way to defend films or series from audience criticism. Both Star Wars and Star Trek have tried to defend shows from widespread criticism by claiming that the people criticizing it are just racist, sexist, etc. when the criticism has nothing to do with matters of race or gender. Our most recent example being Disney's Snow White, which is blaming Russian bot farms for its failure at the box office rather than acknowledge that the criticisms of many aspects of the project's handling were correct after all.

A well-written series can draw in audiences outside of its target demographic and get them invested in its characters and their struggle. I sample a lot of shows outside my comfort zone because I love finding those titles, and I can usually count on finding at least one or two every season. This series just isn't one of them yet. Might never be be one, I dunno, but I'll give it the chance to hook me all the way to the end.

I'm here for a compelling story, and five episodes in we have yet to have any real character development for any of the three main characters. That's kind of a problem, narratively speaking. What is driving Machu to risk her life to participate in illegal blood sport with a stolen mobile suit? She gets involved with Nyan because her phone got broken by the cops chasing her, but there's no clear motiviation for her to risk her life. She doesn't spend much time with Nyan onscreen, but as of the most recent episode they're apparently such good friends that Machu will assault the police to protect her? Her jealous attraction to Shuji similarly comes out of nowhere. She's initially annoyed and put off by his spacey-ness and lack of hygeine, and even though they haven't really spent any time together onscreen she's suddenly crushing on him so hard she's stripping off in front of him to keep him from looking at another girl and in tears when someone else sees "the sparkle" that she thought was just for them. Never mind that we haven't gotten any real exposition for Nyan or Shuji yet. The lack of character development, combined with the lack of a clear conflict to drive the series, is really problematic from a writing perspective. You can get away with a slow start in a 50 episode series... but this isn't a 50 episode series. We are already 1/5th of the way through this show's total runtime.

Bemoaning every release is old hat, so I'd really reel it in going forward if I were you. It's getting I[]incredibly[/i] tiresome to hear it from you every time something new comes out.

It's not my intention to upset you or anyone else with my honest thoughts on the series... but if they are consistently upsetting you please remember that reading and replying to my post(s) is a choice that you made for yourself. You can stop anytime. You can even change your preferences on the BBS so that my posts will not be displayed to you if you wish.

[Deacon Blues]

Just because a franchise installment is making money doesn't mean it is well-written. After all, franchises depend heavily on established fanbases to turn a profit and a large enough fanbase can lead to installments with substandard execution still turning a profit. We've seen that quite a bit from the Star Wars and Marvel franchises in the last decade.

I dunno, you typically don't see a huge influx of fanart and whatnot for shows that have craptacular writing. Nor do you see people moved to buy stuff for a franchise all the same. Obviously, it's written well enough to rope in new fans and capitalize on some segment of the existing ones. Financials have been pretty clear that a swath of new fans drove a good chunk of profits. Sure, established fanbases do play something of a role, but the execs have been pretty adamant that it's not a hard reliance, at least for the newer entries. Yeah, they'll have their own titles to satiate their needs, but the "new" Bandai is being a bit more bold with things and will continue as things move forward. People are definitely having a difficult time accepting the "experimental" side the company is embracing. Either way, don't go trying to drag American IP titles and markets into the mix for comparison. It's not the same and won't work here.

Y'see... this is just a deflection by audience-blaming. Essentially, "You're part of <arbitrary category>, so your opinion is invalid."

Except that it's not deflection. If we're well outside the target demographic, then yeah, our opinion on it does get discounted just a smidge. Every week, you seemed to take issue with G-Witch. So when you come off as incessantly railing against it, when quite literally are NOT in the target demographic, yeah you sound like a petulant child when all you could muster was that it had "poor writing" and whatever else. It was actually pretty funny because "old guard" like you pretty much ticked every single box in the category that kept screeching that "this isn't Gundam!" because it wasn't war-centric, was totally unrelatable, etc. It's turning into the same for this with you, too.

Of course, we've also seen this tactic tried by a lot creatives in the last decade or so as a way to defend films or series from audience criticism. Both Star Wars and Star Trek have tried to defend shows from widespread criticism by claiming that the people criticizing it are just racist, sexist, etc. when the criticism has nothing to do with matters of race or gender. Our most recent example being Disney's Snow White, which is blaming Russian bot farms for its failure at the box office rather than acknowledge that the criticisms of many aspects of the project's handling were correct after all.

I'm sorry, but stop trying to draw comparisons with markets that aren't even remotely similar here. This is Gundam. I don't give a flying fart about Star Wars, Trek, Marvel, etc. Everyone knows the general discourse on all that is a raging dumpster fire. None of them are relevant to the discussion at hand here.

A well-written series can draw in audiences outside of its target demographic and get them invested in its characters and their struggle. I sample a lot of shows outside my comfort zone because I love finding those titles, and I can usually count on finding at least one or two every season. This series just isn't one of them yet. Might never be be one, I dunno, but I'll give it the chance to hook me all the way to the end.

Still, as I said, you seem to be railing against every single Gundam series that's come out since at least 00. Maybe it's just time to step away and accept that you won't find something that satisfies you? And, again, if we look at a huge smattering of commentary, even drawn from the JPN side of Twitter, there's no shortage of comments that have people chatting about how they never bothered giving Gundam a shot but shows like Witch and GQX have ended up drawing them in. So obviously there must be something to the writing that's enough to hook them in. And this extends to people who are both old and young. There's quite a few older folk that even lamented about how they wished they'd gotten into it sooner if they knew how good it was.

I'm here for a compelling story, and five episodes in we have yet to have any real character development for any of the three main characters. That's kind of a problem, narratively speaking. What is driving Machu to risk her life to participate in illegal blood sport with a stolen mobile suit? She gets involved with Nyan because her phone got broken by the cops chasing her, but there's no clear motiviation for her to risk her life. She doesn't spend much time with Nyan onscreen, but as of the most recent episode they're apparently such good friends that Machu will assault the police to protect her? Her jealous attraction to Shuji similarly comes out of nowhere. She's initially annoyed and put off by his spacey-ness and lack of hygeine, and even though they haven't really spent any time together onscreen she's suddenly crushing on him so hard she's stripping off in front of him to keep him from looking at another girl and in tears when someone else sees "the sparkle" that she thought was just for them. Never mind that we haven't gotten any real exposition for Nyan or Shuji yet. The lack of character development, combined with the lack of a clear conflict to drive the series, is really problematic from a writing perspective. You can get away with a slow start in a 50 episode series... but this isn't a 50 episode series. We are already 1/5th of the way through this show's total runtime.

Heaven forbid there's a slow burn and things aren't spelled out in the first two episodes? I swear, people have grown so impatient as of late and immediately dismiss any and all series that doesn't vomit everything at them right away as somehow having inferior storytelling. Given the commentary from the voice actors, everything has a reason for it, all of which becomes clear by the end, apparently. Just because you get a few pieces to the puzzle doesn't mean you'll see a clear picture right away. Although, to be fair, GQX has a lot of aspects to it that are uniquely Japanese, doubly so for aspects from the creatives. The sense of claustrophobia that is the Izuma colony is a parallel to Niigata, something that you wouldn't necessarily understand unless you were a teen living there. So yeah, minute stuff like that can go over peoples heads when it isn't directly obvious, but things like that don't make it "bad writing."

It's not my intention to upset you or anyone else with my honest thoughts on the series...

I'm not saying this as an attack, but if we're being honest here, you're literally trotting out the same handful of excuses for every entry. Witch, Requiem, Freedom, and now this all have you saying pretty much the SAME thing. It's seriously old hat. We get it, you hate Gundam now and everything's a disappointment to you. At least come up with some decent commentary instead of just parroting everything from one series to the next.