{"id":179846,"date":"2025-04-10T05:46:48","date_gmt":"2025-04-10T05:46:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/anime\/first-impressions-mobile-suit-gundam-gquuuuuux\/"},"modified":"2025-04-10T05:46:48","modified_gmt":"2025-04-10T05:46:48","slug":"first-impressions-mobile-suit-gundam-gquuuuuux","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=179846","title":{"rendered":"First Impressions – Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX"},"content":{"rendered":"


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What a thing this is to write up, seriously. There are many interesting elements to this premiere for me. Unfortunately though, the episode itself is the least interesting. I kind of expected that going in, so maybe I\u2019ll be accused of writing a self-fulfilling prophecy. But I\u2019ll stand by my take \u2013 the modus operandi of Gundam<\/em> at this point is \u201csell the sizzle, not the steak\u201d. And it\u2019s pretty obvious what the money behind the franchise considers to be the sizzle these days.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll cop to not being a huge Gundam<\/em> fan up front, as anyone who\u2019s followed the site knows. As I said in the preview, I\u2019ve never found Tomino\u2019s heavy-handed moralizing and teen death porn to be especially arresting. But I\u2019d still take that over what Gundam<\/em> has become, which is incredibly calculated and hollow. Looking at GQuuuuuuX<\/em> (even the name annoys me for all its smarmy cleverness), they didn\u2019t even bother to make the girls look that different from the Witch From Mercury<\/em> pair. The yuri bait is all that matters at this point \u2013 everything else is just window dressing to fill out the 22 minutes.<\/p>\n

I have no doubt GQuuuuuuX<\/em> is going to be a huge hit. Witch From Mercury<\/em> was, and it didn\u2019t look like this show does or have the titans working behind it as is the case here. But that just irritates me even more, because the level of talent behind GQuuuuuuX<\/em> is crazy. Anno planning, Tsurumaki directing, Enokido writing \u2013 come on. As a long-standing anime fan the mere idea of a Gundam<\/em> series coming from Gainax (and Trigger notwithstanding, Khara is obviously the extant equivalent) is as close as you can get to a \u201ccrossing the streams\u201d scenario. Gundam<\/em> is Sunrise, period \u2013 or their progeny at the very most. But Gainax<\/em>? The Eva guys? No fucking way.<\/p>\n

I hate to see all that talent wasted on a product so plastic, so utterly lacking in sincerity. And all that sakuga. My God, it\u2019s full of stars. There are stoopid moments (like a freighter honking its horn in the vacuum of space), but for the most part this is a visual feast. The Gainax explosions are a nice addition to the usual Gundam<\/em> visual motif, which Khara does a good job of weaving into the post-Gainax visual aesthetic. That adds to the sizzle, no question about it \u2013 it\u2019s street cred to the disc-buying audience.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s about as much as GQuuuuuuX<\/em> has to offer in terms of genuine interest, however. Remarkably the incarnations of the franchise that literally exist to get little boys to buy model kits come off as more honest and less cynical. Every \u201ct\u201d is crossed, every \u201ci\u201d is dotted. To get the likes of Anno hooked into the idea of working on a TV series it\u2019s a safe bet that pretty massive amounts of money are expected to be generated here, and I have no doubt they will be.<\/p>\n

Pure fanservice anime are certainly not that rare, but what sets GQuuuuuuX<\/em> apart is, again, the money and level of talent behind it. I can\u2019t totally ignore it, because a mecha anime that has this level of budget and visual flair is<\/em> rare, as good as a unicorn. With Enokido writing some part of me will hope that something genuine might be forthcoming once the audience is hooked in with the bait traps, though I consider that a real longshot. I have no idea if the big guys behind this show are actually Gundam<\/em> fans, though I\u2019d like to think so, even if I\u2019m not. It would at least impact some small crystal of sincerity in the avalanche of cynicism, and might lead to some interesting developments down the road.<\/p>\n

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