GQuuuuuuX Record #12: That's Why I...

Our Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX coverage finishes with the twelfth episode! There will be spoilers after this point.

After twelve episodes of dancing between alternate history war chronicle and a tribute to the dregs of Gundam, the GQuuuuuuX finale throws everything and the kitchen sink at the audience to satisfy as many people as possible. If you like Char, this episode reaffirms his importance to the canon even as it pokes fun at his loser tendencies. If you’re a Challia fan, rejoice as he takes on not just Zeon but Char himself in combat. Machu and Nyaan shippers are given the pair’s grand reunion and debut as MAVs, while Machu and Shuji shippers (do they exist?) get a kiss and confession of love. Even the Evangelion fans out there are served by the final form of the GQuuuuuuX, which is absolutely an EVA unit wearing Gundam cosplay.

Becoming the mask

The most successful of these threads for me is Challia Bull. This whole time I thought that he was a standard Enokido archetype, a grown man pursuing his stale dream in an airless world with children as collateral. But: surprise! Not only did Challia outplay the fascist Zeon government in pursuit of a better world, but he plotted behind Char’s back with his sister Artesia, too. It doesn’t matter that Char is literally, canonically, the fulcrum of GQuuuuuuX thanks to the Rose of Sharon’s influence. Challia fights him to a standstill anyway.

Since the beginning, GQuuuuuuX has been all about fleshing out characters from Universal Century canon who were previously ignored. Challia is the most successful example of this by far. I was so surprised and proud of him after this episode, that this minor character haunted by the Red Comet was able to come so far. It’s perfect as well that Char skips town after the finale while Challia takes his mask and his place. Lalah could never ensure Char’s safety, but Challia could: by assuming Char’s role in history, while also cleaning up his mess, because Char is an irresponsible jerk.

Your own future

As I expected, past threads from previous works by Tsurumaki and Enokido bore fruit here. The ending, where Machu defeats her crush in battle to liberate a deity from the machine caging it, is just the finale of FLCL again. What surprised me is that Machu doesn’t go home to live a normal life like Naota did. Instead she abandons Side 6 to hang out on the beach with Nyaan, and maybe even go traveling through dimensions to find Shuji. I think it’s significant that while FLCL ends by asserting, “wait until you’re an adult,” GQuuuuuuX lets Machu and Nyaan choose their own future.

That ties into how the episode resolves Lalah’s arc, which takes heavy influence from scriptwriter Enokido’s previous work Revolutionary Girl Utena. Shuji wants to kill Lalah (within the Rose of Sharon) before Char’s inevitable death causes her any more pain. But as Machu says, why should Shuji act for Lalah instead of asking her what she wants? It’s the same problem that Utena had to figure out with her partner Anthy; Utena wants to save Anthy, but the best thing she can do in the end is help Anthy save herself.

Freedom

The core message of GQuuuuuuX, I think, is freedom. Machu was raised from birth to play a role in the Side 6 upper class. Nyaan lived a hard life on the fringes of that colony. Shuji showed them both what another world could look like, in the light of the Kira Kira, but even he had to learn that his idea of the world was not the only one. Now all three are liberated: Machu from responsibility, Nyaan from fear and Shuji from dogmatism. The Char and Lalah of this world, as well, are given the chance to live out of the spotlight.

But there’s one loose thread that nearly unravels the whole thing, and that’s Toru Furuya. Furuya is a popular voice actor who in the past has played Tuxedo Mask in Sailor Moon, Hyuma Hoshi in the baseball saga Star of the Giants, and (of course) the protagonist Amuro Ray in the original Mobile Suit Gundam. But in 2024, Furuya admitted that he had an affair with a much younger female fan of his. Not only did he hit her, but he made her have an abortion. As a result, Furuya was recast in several anime series including Detective Conan, One Piece and Dragon Ball Daima.

Poison

The final episode of GQuuuuuuX reveals that the titular robot doesn’t just look like an EVA unit, but might as well be something like an EVA unit. The spirit inside of it, that holds Machu’s hands, that tells Shuji earnestly that Lalah would never approve of his actions, is Amuro Ray as voiced by Toru Furuya. Without what we know of Furuya’s past behavior, this would be a sweet moment of solidarity crossing generations. With it, Furuya’s (admittedly brief) presence retroactively poisons the entire series. GQuuuuuuX can’t speak on behalf of women while simultaneously platforming a bad actor, even if just for one line.

I think the staff of GQuuuuuuX wanted to pay their respects to the Gundam of the past while imagining what the Gundam of the future might look like. At its best, the series surfaces themes of anti-authoritarianism, capitalist inequality and the cruelty and corruption of adults that were there in the 1979 original all along. Yet it frustrates me that GQuuuuuuX is simultaneously so tied up in what Gundam was that its staff cannot imagine, say, what it might look like without Toru Furuya. It’s no different from the Clan Battle competitors who sacrificed their lives for a glimpse at infinity,

Generations

I think they’re aware of this, too. Before GQuuuuuuX, some of the same staff worked on the final Rebuild of Evangelion film at khara. That movie ended by asserting that while old men have their preferences, it’s up to future generations to make the future they want. GQuuuuuuX wraps up similarly enough that I have to think it’s on everybody’s minds at khara. The future of anime cannot be Evangelion or Gundam. It has to be something else.

Of course I agree with this, as somebody who’s always championed original works over much more popular adaptations. The problem though is that there are fewer opportunities these days to develop these works. Gundam is one of the only remaining spaces in the world of anime where you can tell original science fiction stories at scale, so long as you can overcome the conservatism of its owner Bandai Namco.

Sparkling in the Kira Kira

2022’s The Witch From Mercury, as entertaining as it was, could not overcome that conservatism. As much as I appreciate GQuuuuuuX, I don’t think it overcomes it either. The best it can do is to center and interrogate that conservatism. Even when you put aside the stain of Furuya’s involvement, that's not quite freedom.

So what comes next? Well, I think that Machu and Nyaan have the way of it: their future is somewhere beyond the sea and sky, beyond the borders of their world and maybe even the franchise itself. I see it in the actual play podcast Friends at the Table. I see it in epic mecha poetry like Cosmic Warlord Kin-Bright. The next generation is sparkling in the Kira Kira. So says the Gundam.

This week’s addendum

The Machu and Nyaan Power Hour: Shuji gets the love confession, but it’s Nyaan hanging out with Machu in the final minute. I wonder how long it takes before they end up at each other's throats again?

The Char and Bull Power Hour: In a funny inverse of Machu, Nyaan and Shuji, it's Lalah and Char who end up together, but it's Challia who assumes Char's mask and his life on the world stage.

Robot Central: The GQuuuuuuX baring its teeth EVA-style is a good one, but I have to shout out the ridiculous image of the White Gundam expanding into what looks like a planet-sized robot. That’s the typical Enokido trick of making the metaphor literal: “what if everybody’s fear of established canon appeared and then became very, very big?” Of all the scenes in this series, this one reminded me the most of Diebuster.

Annqi Shows Up: Annqi is here! She doesn’t have much to do, but I’m happy that the series didn’t totally forget about her. Give me the “Annqi Fucks Around and Finds Out” crime drama spin-off, please.

Friends of Gundam: Some Gundam fanart, one last time.

Bookmarks

For Anime Feminist. Jonny Lobo wrote about the Elon Musk-esque villain of the OVA El Hazard: The Magnificent World.

For Anime Herald, Daniel Dockery covered Animazement 2025.

The mecha podcast On the Shoulders of Giants did an episode on the excellent OVA Giant Robo: The Day the Earth Stood Still.

For Anime News Network, Kennedy wrote about Kowloon Walled City, a version of which makes an appearance in this spring’s anime series Kowloon Generic Romance.

Also at Anime News Network, Lynzee Loveridge interviewed the producer, director and screenwriter of my beloved sci fi dramedy Apocalypse Hotel.

For scrmbl, Alicia Haddick discussed the new asadora series Anpan, as well as asadoras (morning dramas) more generally.

What I Wrote

For Crunchyroll News, I wrote about the very contemporary and yet classic magical girl series Maebashi Witches.

Over on Unpacking the Shelf, my friend Alex and I recorded an episode about the very good comic series Giant Days.

AMV of the Week

Here's "IMMATERIAL" by sailormoonfreak.