GQuuuuuuX Record #4: The Witch's War

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

Three months after the release of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning in theaters, and three weeks after the premiere of the television show’s first episode, we have finally reached new material with episode four. It’s a make or break moment for the series. Everybody who watched the film already knows Machu, Shuji and Nyaan, as well as why everybody wants Shuji’s Red Gundam. So what happens after that?

The fourth episode, “The Witch’s War,” wasn’t quite what I expected. But I’ve certainly seen it before. It’s a spin on Revolutionary Girl Utena’s Black Rose Arc, taking the “what if Utena had Gundams” premise that powered its franchise predecessor Witch From Mercury in a new direction. One thing's for certain: Yoji Enokido is back on his bullshit.

Against the rock

This will require some explanation. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows the titular character as she wins another girl named Anthy in a dueling game. She fights a succession of opponents for Anthy's hand in marriage with the Sword of Dios. At first they are members of the school’s student council, each of which wants Anthy (or what she represents) for themselves. That initial part of the series is dubbed the Student Council Arc.

Next comes the Black Rose Arc, which broadens the ranks of competitors. Various minor characters steal the swords of student council members and take their places in the duels. Every one of them is doomed. As the saying goes, “in this world there are chosen and unchosen. The fate of the unchosen is to die.” These fighters crash against the rock that is Utena and are destroyed; but who can blame them? Minor characters they might be, they cannot help but aspire to more.

Gravity well

The previous Gundam series, Witch From Mercury, also borrowed ideas and character archetypes from Revolutionary Girl Utena. But Utena took place in a strange theatrical world where what you see might very well be an illusion. Witch From Mercury by comparison is a much more literal science fiction story about the scions of weapons manufacturers competing to marry the daughter of the solar system’s leading CEO. These are larger than life royal youths who desire material things. They live in a world shaped by money.

GQuuuuuuX is different. Sure, the setting is material. The characters are subject to the winds of politics just like in Witch From Mercury. Both Nyaan and Shuji want money so they can fulfill their goals. The battles are also very real, not much like Utena’s illusions at all.

But the Red Gundam is a gravity well that warps the story's science fictional universe into something strange and metaphorical. Char, the legendary Red Comet, may still be inside of it. His former subordinate Chalia Bull relieves his past romance by watching the machine fight on pirate television. Even outside players like Kycilia Zabi fear its influence.

There are no chosen ones

Then there’s this week’s player, Shiiki Sugai. An Earth Federation pilot once known as “The Witch," Shiiki lost her MAV partner to Char during the war. Since then she has married and had a child. But when she spots the opportunity to duel the Red Gundam on behalf of the CRS, “a promotional clan for a military security corporation,” she takes it.

Why would Shiiki be willing to throw her life away in pursuit of the Red Gundam? She has a husband and child to lose after all. But Shiiki wants both her family and her revenge. She has set her eye on something impossible, eternal. The memory of the explosion that claimed her friend, the flowers she laid on the gravestone. “There are no chosen ones,” she said back then, “who can have everything they want.” Still, there is always hope. The faint possibility that Shiiki might seize the lever of history as Char once did.

The fate of the unchosen

Shiiki does everything she can to keep others out of her battle with the Red Gundam. She knocks Machu far away from the action, and even abandons her new MAV partner. All so that she can take on the robot alone, the only way she knows how: at blistering speed, sacrificing her machine to do as much damage to the enemy as possible. Shiiki is skilled but that isn’t enough. She is unchosen, and the fate of the unchosen is to die.

Shuji, the pilot of the Red Gundam, is chosen. His Newtype abilities allow him to dodge attacks that flummoxed Machu. Rather than overpower Shiiki’s frontal assault, he sneaks behind and stabs her in the back. He does it alone, without the need for help of any kind. He kills her alone, without a thought for her husband and child. Shuji can see her thoughts, her face in the enemy’s machine. He doesn’t care. In the face of his own goals, buying a ticket to Earth, Shiiki’s life is unimportant.

Selfishness

This is a story, then, about selfishness. Shiiki gives up her life in the present to pursue unfulfilled dreams from the past. Shuji sacrifices other people’s dreams without a care to pursue his own humble goals. Other characters like Challia Bull, Cameron Bloom and even Mosk Han are all bit players from canon Gundam aspiring above their station.

Which leaves us with Machu, who doesn’t know what she wants. She says on her career survey that she wants to be a jellyfish, drifting through life. Machu can and will punch a cop without thinking of the consequences. If given the chance, she would probably not kill Shiiki; after all, Shiiki reminds her of her own mother. But there’s nothing Machu can do to stop Shuji from doing so. In this series it’s Anthy, not Utena, who holds the Sword of Dios, and may kill whoever she pleases.

This week’s addendum

The Machu and Shuji Power Hour: tfw your boyfriend kills someone who made you remember your mom in cold blood

That’s Right, Enokido: “The world is absurd…there are no chosen ones who can have everything they want. I accepted that and settled for living a normal life. And yet…”

This Week’s Moment of Violence: The battle this episode between Shiiki and Shuji was the best so far. I loved how Shiiki’s “stigma” technique is a magic trick rooted in practical tools, and how this rubs up against her disbelief that Newtypes are real. The episode was boarded by Tetsuro Araki, a very talented action director famous for adapting Death Note and Attack on Titan into anime; here’s a link to a sketch he drew commemorating the episode.

Animal Spotlight: Jezzi’s dog had a memorable moment in this episode. I hope we see more from them in the future. That said, I’m a little bummed by how few cats have appeared in this series so far. Where are they? I demand equality.

Friends of Gundam: Here is some more GQuuuuuuX fanart.

Bookmarks

For Anime News Network, Coop Bicknell wrote about the banning of manga at libraries across the United States in 2025. Definitely an important story to follow; manga has always been subject to the whims of censors here, and the Trump presidency has only made things worse.

I also enjoyed this conversation Coop had with Steve Jones regarding stop-motion animation as part of the ongoing column This Week in Anime.

For Gizmodo, Isaiah Colbert interviewed GQuuuuuuX director Kazuya Tsurumaki.

For Vulture, Kambole Campbell put together a good list of action anime to check out.

For Read Only Memo, Wes Fenlon interviewed the fans who recently translated the classic video game Sakura Wars 2 into English.

AMV of the Week

Here’s “A Jedi’s Survival” by SilkAMV.