GQuuuuuuX Record #6: The Plot to Assassinate Kycilia

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

This week was a transitional episode for the kids of GQuuuuuuX. Machu is having a meltdown. Nyaan doesn’t understand what she did to hurt her. Shuji is Shuji. Clan Battles, which were once a refuge for these renegade children, are now a source of pain. Without the shining Kira-Kira to fall back on, Machu in particular must confront everything that she’s been avoiding. Where is she going? What does she want to become? She can’t stay a jellyfish forever, or dream of standing on the fields of Earth. Or can she?

While the children are away, though, the adults will play. Aside from the second episode flashback, this is the most active the older cast have ever been in an episode of GQuuuuuuX. Annqi faces off against Challia Bull! Xavier dodges spies on the streets of Side 6! Kycilia shows up for a minute on a plane at the end! Meanwhile, an entirely new faction from beyond the original Mobile Suit Gundam waits in the wings.

Ka-boom!

The highlight of this episode for me was the face-off between Annqi and Challia Bull. The two of them have stayed in their own corners for long enough that it’s shocking to see them together in the same place. To her credit, Annqi stands her ground, threatening to detonate a bomb by phone connection if Challia tries anything funny. On the other hand, Challia obtains everything he wants from their conversation: not just the GQuuuuuuX, but even Shuji’s Red Gundam, which Annqi has already found. Annqi appears satisfied to cash in her chips and jet, proving once again that you can never trust adults in a Gundam series.

This turn does stretch the pacing of the series to its breaking point. In particular, we’ve only had five prior episodes with Annqi to get a read on her. She only just had a meaningful scene with Machu last week! I suspect this betrayal would hurt even more if we knew as much about what drives her as we do Challia Bull. Her great line in the first episode (“Even though Zeon already won the war, we Spacenoids will never be free”) is our only clue regarding what sets her apart from the rest of the cast.

Cameos

This episode also flexes its muscles by pulling in characters from a new series. Earlier GQuuuuuuX cameos were primarily from the original Mobile Suit Gundam in 1979. The new clan that appears in this episode, though, is from 1985’s Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. Gates Capa is a “cyber-Newtype” whose arrival is heralded with the same gravitas as a Marvel Studios post-credits scene. His boss, Bask Om, is the leader of the Titans.

Missing in action is Four Murasame, the pilot of the Psycho Gundam and one of Zeta Gundam’s tragic heroines. Instead we have Deux Murasame, whose design is hilariously different from Capa and Om. Her corset, hound mask and sickly white hair marks her as an inhabitant of Machu’s world, as designed by Take, rather than a relic of past character designer Yoshikazu Yasuhiko.

The aesthetic separation between Deux and the other two Titans serves a purpose, I think. GQuuuuuuX is in part a story about direct conflict: two heroes in robots facing off against another two heroes in robots. But it’s also a story about espionage. Annqi is playing Machu’s hopes against Challia’s ambitions to score a payday. Capa and Om are in their own part of the setting making nefarious plans. The tension between the vibrant feelings of youth and the shadow world of adulthood is key to the series.

Bailed out by Bull

Right in the middle of everything is Xavier, who is having a hard time again this episode. He’s pursued by Side 6 spies who plan to execute him in order to set an example to Challia Bull and his crew. Xavier’s unfortunate enough to be right in the middle of things: he’s too old to be a force of nature like Machu and her friends, but too young to swim with the adults. Instead he is bailed out by Bull himself, who descends from the sky with a jetpack and a gun.

Xavier reminds me of Bernie, a character from Tsurumaki’s favorite Gundam series War in the Pocket. Bernie was a young soldier of Zeon whose growing affection for a kid he meets along the way, and his neighbor, puts him right in the path of the One Year War meat grinder. Like him, Xavier reads to me as in over his head but probably good at heart. Then again he’s spent most of the past few episodes running from place to place and being kicked around by other players. I’m curious to see if he’s going somewhere or if GQuuuuuuX just doesn’t have time for him.

Apartment life

What GQuuuuuuX does have time for is a delightful scene between Nyaan and her boss. Instead of just handing her collateral like he always does, he drags her to a noodle shop. There he monologues to Nyaan about his kids and asks what her goals are in life. Perhaps this scene is meant to mirror Machu’s own parent-teacher meeting. Machu’s support network badly wants her to succeed. Yet they can’t see that Machu’s desires don’t fit within the closed world of Side 6. Similarly, Nyaan’s boss can’t begin to understand what she wants out of life. All he can see is the world in front of him.

Later, Nyaan returns to her tiny apartment. It’s barely a fifth the size of Machu’s. The walls are cluttered by paperwork for job applications and pay schedules. She lies in her bath, then ties her hair up and looks out the window at the city lights. Nyaan lives a hand to mouth life that Machu, despite her own spiritual suffering, might never understand. Time will tell if the two of them might one day bridge that impossible gap.

This week’s addendum

The Machu and Nyaan Power Hour: They’re back at the shrine by the end of this episode!

This Week’s Moment of Violence: Challia Bull sniping two Side 6 agents while descending from the heavens with a jetpack.

Animal Spotlight: Jezzi’s dog is back, offering Machu succor in this moment of need.

Nyaan’s Bookshelf: Per bitmap, Nyaan’s bookshelf references the idol Nishino Nanase of nogizaka46. Some of the featured titles include Moto Hagio’s classic science fiction series Marginal, Fumiko Takano’s The Yellow Book, and Kazumi Yamashita’s series Land. Excellent taste! Plus a shout-out to Tsurumaki’s short I Can Friday By Day.

Friends of Gundam: Here is some more Gundam fanart.

Bookmarks

Em Reed wrote about dueling narratives of cultural decline.

Woodaba wrote about Drakengard, a game with a legacy that threatens to overwrite its real affordances as a piece of art.

I thought this piece by Hiromasa Iwasaki, about the career of Roe R. Adams III, was very interesting. Adams was a player in the US anime space, as well!

Ricki wrote about Bridget, everybody’s favorite character from Guilty Gear.

For Sakuga Blog, Kevin Cirugeda wrote about Orb, a series that apparently does justice to its source material despite bearing the marks of compromise.

What I Wrote

For Yatta-Tachi, I reviewed the first third of Raging Clouds, a great new historical graphic novel by Yudoir.

On Beat’s Bizarre Adventure, I wrote about Catch These Hands!, a romance series about two former delinquents navigating an unconventional adulthood.

On Unpacking the Shelf, my friend Alex and I chatted about Smile, the breakthrough graphic novel memoir for children by comics legend Raina Telgemeier.

AMV of the Week

Here's "The Colours Within ft. Porter Robinson - Musician" by Well That's Puntastic.