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[Spoilers] Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX - Episode 1 Discussion
New Gundam Show, Letsgooo!
Liking that the Haru-bots are back, i've missed them.
edit: missed a couple of "u"s on the title, lol
Interesting that they rearranged the episodes from the movie, but this serves as a great introduction to Machu and Nyaan! I'm so excited to see how their relationship develops
Wasn’t sure what to expect going in, but I really liked the blend of callbacks and new ideas. You can definitely feel the UC influence, but it’s doing its own thing too, which I appreciate.
Pacing was a bit fast in parts (probably because of the movie rework?), but overall it didn’t ruin the experience for me. That final scene with the ED song hit hard—Suisei’s voice always adds so much emotion.
I haven’t seen a lot of UC stuff beyond the basics (OG, maybe Zeta ages ago), and I still followed everything just fine. Lots of little references if you know the lore, but not mandatory.
Looking forward to seeing where it goes from here. If episode 2 brings more original content, I’m in.
Pacing was lightspeed compared to the movie, which gave scenes more time to breathe. So you get more moodiness with Machu's introduction, so she comes off more like a wayward teen longing for more out of life. Here, she almost feels like a non-entity other than her piloting abilities. I assume they'll slow things down in the third episode once we meet the full cast and give them time to interact more.
My knowledge of gundam is kinda poor tbh but is it watchable ?
This is made for Gundam fans, i saw the movie and just for that you need to have a very solid grasp on 0079 and Zeta to understand how significant the events being shown are
I've seen the movie, and I am convinced that we're going to see some more plays on the UC stuff later on. Like, the movie randomly introduced Sayla Mass without explanation and has her play a pivotal role and I refuse to believe that's where things will end, especially for that character. There's no way the anime is just about Clan Battle, so when we inevitably meet the resistance faction, I get the feeling Sayla Mass will be important. Or at least Amuro Ray will show up. Plus, what happens to Char makes like zero sense to newcomers. Hopefully they contextualise things better, since the movie was for Gundam fans and this should be going for newcomers.
I'd have honestly rather they just made a whole new universe. Because if they're not going to playing off the elseworlds premise... why even use UC to begin with? So it kinda means they have to. Now it's just a matter of if they contextualise things well for new audiences. And based on my experience with the movie... they won't really. The Char segment was too long for existing fans and not enough for newcomers. Here's hoping episode 2 is better, but iirc, it will be missing footage from the movie.
I'm eagre to see how the next two episodes play out.
If that's not where things end with that character, I'm pretty sure that the next time they are relevant it will either continue to be a mystery on purpose or it will be explained as a revelation for new viewers. Things may make no sense to new viewers, but I think that's on purpose the same way any non-franchise story would be written to have a mystery to build up to.
Personally, the fact that they're bothering to do what they're doing in episode 2
and playing out a recap of the OYW with its divergences instead of just saying what happened in some narration feels like it's meant to onboard new fans just as much as it's paying service to old fans.Many works just don't care about that, and I think a problem is that it might just be a reference, so this pivotal moment is just... unexplained. Because the OYW segment does have some stuff that comes off as purely fanservice. Plus, if that stuff is important, another problem is that that character's thing is going to be old fans waiting for the obvious, so it's not for them. Which is another reason why I question they did the UC spinoff to begin with. But with the OYW stuff, I think the problem is that it is one of those "mystery... unless you google even once" things. Ala Mysterio in Spider-Man Far From Home.
With my experience from the movie, the OYW stuff massively overexplained things that didn't need it, while glossing over things that did need it. It breezes past things, while spending tons of time showing Char piloting the Red Gundam while simultaneously not giving any reason for his revenge against the Zabis. And all for... making another UC work? I still feel like this should have been its own thing, not tied to anything else. There's really no benefit to this being UC other than some fanservice and recognisable names. And I can't picture that changing at all. Even the aesthetic is the least UC of any Gundam show ever. I like the aesthetic, but it could have stood on its own.
It is watchable.
I'm watching this series with four other people, and we all have varying degrees of familiarity with Gundam prior to GQuuuuuuX. Some of us have solid knowledge, and one of us is someone who has not watched a single episode of the franchise prior.
We all liked it :P
I think you'll be fine. The setting itself is coherent enough that you can get a grasp on what's going on without "knowing what's going on" in terms of the timeline / lore. If you're confused about something, there's no harm in asking! :)
We can't know for sure until it's over but hugely disagree that you have to be a big OG Gundam fan already. I think they are fully expecting to bring in a lot of new fans, which is why Episode 1 is all new characters and then Episode 2 is going to recap all the main timeline divergences from OG Gundam. (See also: they started the movie with the OG Gundam stuff because they knew it'd be the huge existing Gundam fans that would be going to the movie version).
I binged the entirety of '79 before seeing the GQX movie. It definitely enhanced my experience and made it easier to digest, but I can tell they're very carefully writing it NOT actually expecting you to know anything they don't tell you.
After all, our protagonist is a colony school girl. She doesn't have an intimate knowledge of mobile suits or the One Year War. She doesn't seem to know what a Psycommu or a Newtype is and she's going to have to learn, and the viewer will probably be learning with her. Not everything is going to be explained immediately after it's named; that's just how some stories exposit things.
I saw the movie in theaters, having only seen G-Witch, with a friend who is a big Gundam fan. I was able to understand what was happening, and the friend confirmed that everything that only previous fans know is just a bonus. You'll be fine, just pay attention and let context fill in the blanks.
I found it really confusing tbh. Only watched it because Hideaki's in it. But probably dropping. What movie are you guys talking about?
There was a theatrical release of the 1st three episodes
1 episode in and it already feels less approachable to Gundam than G-Witch and that's not really a good thing. I don't get what actually happened but they said "Zeon won the war" and my knowledge of Gundam was that this was a faction form the very first one. Throwing terms that don't mean anything and I swear the conversation between admiral of Zeon and his minions was very difficult to grasp.
Aesthethically this was a very appealing episode filled with many scenes that captivated. The beautiful landscapes of colony and the colors were something that personally stood out to me.
I am not sure if I like the MCs yet because we genuinely did not see much. I felt like the episode focused more on the story and B part rather tha Machu and the other girl. I understand that she needed to get to the titular Gundam and all but I did not enjoy it as much as I hoped.
Honestly, a very solid first episode, We're already jumping right in with the twist that Zeon won the war. So this world is completely different from how it is, from the original Gundam timeline.
Damn I thought this was a standalone Gundam entry and that I don't need to watch the others like TWFM , guess this will be shelved until I find the time to watch the others
from the POV of an old series fan: It's...interesting, I can see some potential in it, which I didn't see back at the first episode of the last series (Witch from mercury). I loved the art direction, the chara design was a bit off what I would expect from a Gundam anime but both the characters and the atmosphere were really "cyberpunkish". The mecha design tho wasn't really good, the reintrepration of the classic Mobile Suit was Really out of place. The preview of the second episode looks very promising, I can't wait to watch it.
For those viewers who are confused, I believe all your questions should be cleared up in the next episode and as the show goes on. There's new things here that weren't in the original like Mav, Installer Key, and Omega Psycommu. The next episode should help a lot for those that were overwhelmed. It's a replacement of the original first episode from Mobile Suit Gundam but deviates greatly due to this different timeline. This was actually shown first in the compilation movie that's in cinemas, and it seems they've moved it to episode 2.
quick, someone make an edit for this series, we'll be needing it down the line in a few weeks, LOL
For those confused, here's my two cents:
The world of GquuuuuuX is set an alternate scenario of the first Gundam, 0079, where a small change creates a butterfly effect that leads to a different faction winning a war. The story of the show itself so far is much smaller in scale taking place in a more isolated colony.
Like many shorter stories set in the original Universal Century timeline, they are much more stand-alone and easier to get into for new people than the full length shows. Though it could escalate depending on how the story develops.
As for what "movie" some are referring to, the first 2 episodes were edited into a feature film alongside a 40 minute prologue that explains exactly how much the world deviates from the original. This prologue part is likely where Hideaki Anno's contributions lie as it very much felt like a Gundam fanfiction made for Gundam fans.
Having only watched the recomplilation films a good while ago, I mostly understood what was going on (mainly Zeon winning the war, which uh yeah) but not much about specifics either due to how long ago I watched those movies or if they cut stuff out, which may be an issue given the "ripple effect" thing everyone is mentioning.
That said I still had more fun than not with the premiere, I did like what little we saw of our red haired lead and the setting is easy enough for me to grasp things at least on a subtextual level. I don't really have the luxury of time right now to watch the full 079 tv show for specific details but I'm willing to raw dog it unless things get too confusing
i keep seeing people be like "oh you have to watch other gundams to enjoy this one." but i honestly dont think so, the only reoccurring characters was a random zeon officer who basically gets introduced and then dies in the original show. the only reason he's alive is because this is an alternate show where zeon won the war.
anyway, THAT WAS COOL!!! I LOVE ALL THE NEW ZAKUS! the police one was cool! and they can have different colored eyes? the red gundam? char is 100% in the red gundam, and i can NOT wait. i love char! and they brought back the haru-bots! holy moly i am already hooked!~ i need to get my self the GQuuuuuuX zaku and gundam. i would love to get the police zaku. if they have it... i hope we see an updated gouf too!
The pacing is so much better without the Char lore dump at the start tbh. Machu Tuesdays is gonna be legendary methinks
im somewhat confused but excited. sucks that i didnt get to watch the movie in a cinema bc 1) must have been really cool to watch it there!!!!! 2) i will now have to wait a week to learn more about what is going on. i will blame this on the misfortune of my birth (they don’t really have anime in the cinema in my country)
but yeah i Am excited.!! the beast like gundams look rad as hell. and char was in the preview for next ep
As someone who's watched nothing but Witch From Mercury before, you definitely dont HAVE to watch the OG to watch this.
I think all that's needed to be known is what several others are saying:
This is an alternate version of the OG Gundam where the "bad guys" win, which explains the green mobile suits' behaviour in the city.
Other than that I assume context will be given to us newcomers as the episodes go c:Not sure how much I like this compared to the movie. I thought the movie frontloading all the lore stuff with Char and the like would be really uninviting for newcomers, so I'm glad they moved that back son we get introduced to the main cast faster. However, this feels really fast. I'm not sure if it's just me misremembering the movie, but I feel like scenes got a lot more time to breathe during that, whereas this episode moves a lot faster. Which is both a good and bad thing. But at points it just felt like a music video.
Still, gonna keep going.
Liking what I see so far, loving the soundtrack, and we have some of the grit back that WFM lacked. Though WFM did have an awesome premise in the prelude which ended up not really making it through to the actual show so I'll have to reserve judgement until I've seen more. I'm cautiously optimistic.
I do like Machu and Nyaan so far, nothing much to say about the clan battle guys they met.
In just the first episode I really enjoyed how thought out the "Zeon won" concept was, I admit I kind of lost my mind at the sight of the white base in zeon colours, and at the mention of M'Quve and Kycillia, I really hope the rest of the zabi family make an appearance later.
Overall was really impressed by the first episode, I've been very optimistic about the mobile suit designs and general concept for the series so I'm absolutely seated for the next ep.
To clarify, not newbie friendly like iron-blooded orphans and the witch from Mercury?
I wouldn't say it's entirely non-beginner-friendly. We simply just don't know yet, just from the first episode. They'll most likely explain most of the needed UC stuff later on in the series, so while you can def watch this as your first gundam, the experience will be much better if you watch some of the prior stuff
Solid first episode, but what is this show trying to do exactly. At a glance, this seems to be aimed towards the WOM audience, but from the first episode I think it's safe to assume that you need somewhat decent knowledge of some of the prior series. The usual Gundam vibe isn't there, but It's not exactly aimed towards new watchers either. Im aware of pretty much all the prior lore with some gaps here and there, so I think I have a decent grasp of the plot, but some parts were still confusing. Regardless, this was still an enjoyable episode, so im looking forward to this
I've been listening to the OP even before the show dropped, so yeah—it's an absolute fucking banger. Not the biggest fan of the ED though
Yeah it's a bit odd. I decided to watch all of Gundam because of Witch from Mercury, and just finished off the original run of UC series up to Char's Counterattack the other day. I didn't love it but it does have a very particular feel because of on Yoshiyuki Tomino's writing and style of animation, and it's very strange to have this, which feels entirely different, try to plug directly into that world. I like the frenetic, punky, stylish bones of Gquuuuuux, and I like the idea of interrogating Zeon's self mythologising by showing an Earth Sphere where they won, but I'm not convinced that those things belong in the same series yet.
It was fine.
But nothing too crazy. I think next episode will be the one which will convince me, since I was like "what the heck happened with Char and during the one year one in this series????".
Also, why they yuri + LGBT tag when there is zero units of real gay stuff and only whatever subtext?
Not really feeling it but will continue watching since I love anything Gundam. My main concern is that the clan battles and main characters will be the least interesting part of this anime and with only 12 episodes to work with I'm worried they'll waste a lot of time on that when I'd rather see other stuff. I want to know what's going on with Zeon, what's happening on earth, did the Earth Federation suffer complete defeat, is the White Base crew safe and alive and other stuff like that.
I also really don't like the Gundam designs in this show, they're so freaking weird. The character designs are also pretty lame, they feel like they belong in a show for children. Bandai should've never given this project to studio khara or contracted the character design from Pokemon of all things, this would've been a million times better visually if it was an in-house Sunrise production.
Yeah, I'm not sure on this one. I just don't have a feel for anyone in this story yet. The only character I could kind of empathize with was the guy that guy got Gundam-jacked . Gets thrown out there on his first battle without them even bothering to test the damn thing which nearly gets him killed. Then he barely gets through his battle only for some random person to jump into his machine and have MC-powers that allows them to use the system he couldn't. At least he didn't die. Though explaining that some teenager stole his suit isn't going to go well for him...
It looked fine. I don't love the Gundam designs, but oh well. The animation was fine and the action looked good. It was frantic, but that was appropriate.
They did seemingly want to highlight the yuri ship...kind of. I don't think either character was actually introduced though . Sure, I could look it up. But I think the show should probably handle that. One girl jumps into a Gundam, the other...walks off. Which I mean...fair enough.
Will certainly give it a few episodes. But yeah, wouldn't say this was one of my favourite first episodes ever. It was kind of all over the place.
