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[Spoilers] Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX - Episode 2 Discussion
Char is back! And he stole a Gundam to boot. Extremely likely the same as the red one we see in ep1. Very interesting indeed.
I did not expect this show to even take place in UC, let alone have Char and Zabi family.
Info for new people:
My memory is a bit hazy on the matter, but here is the gist.
Ep 2 is an alternative timeline of Universal Century 0079; in the original show (from our 1979) 2 Zakus infiltrate the colony and wreck havoc (the pilots are not relevant). Amuro Ray gets to pilot the white Gundam made by his father. Then destroys the 2 Zakus the infiltrated the colony. The White Base (with captain Bright Noa) tries to escape the colony but is attacked. Amuro is the only available pilot and saves the White Base ship from being destroyed, with the Gundam. Some time later the White Base is attacked by Char Aznable, piloting his famous red Zaku. Rivalry between the two occurs etc etc. it's good television.
In this show, ep 2 happens before ep1. Instead of 2 random Zakus, one is piloted by non other than Char Aznable, a formidable pilot. Char seems to find the Gundam instead and steals it, along with White Base. This basically means that pretty much everything that happened in Mobile Suit Gundam is irrelevant.
I strongly recommend to new people to at least watch this prequel to everything. It explains what happened prior to the first Gundam show, and also this GQuuuuuux as well.
Kidou Senshi Gundam THE ORIGIN
It feels like 1/3rd of the 0079 alternate universe was cut from episode 2, didn't have M'Quve order the fleet of Big Zam to be sent out, or even Sayla show up when Char was going to infiltrate Lunar II. . . basically the whole part with Lunar II and Challia Bull piloting the MAN-03 Braw Bro. It makes sense for runtime etc., but also shows we need to have GQuuuuuuX Beginning on AniList separately as it has a moderate amount of content that isn't included for TV watchers.
Did you see the movie?
Yah, it already felt like a rushed partin the movie (admittedly they did have 43 episodes to condense into a short amount of time), but the stuff they cut gave more context to the new version of Challia Bull, the whole mav aspect introduced in GQuuuuuuX and what happened to certain members of the Zabi family.
Yeah they super condensed stuff in this version, I wonder if it'll come back in a later episode or if it'll be trapped to bonus features on the eventual blu ray. Heartbroken that they cut my favorite character Sa- Big Zam
The fleet of (two) Big Zam's was still there, when M'quve was attacking Lunar II, just no order to send them out
Challia Bull really wants his boyfriend back.
Char sounded bored during the whole episode lol
Weird episode, it felt like a recap of a previous season... which it is in some way but that whole story sounded more interesting than the clan battle thing that seems to be the focus of GQuuuuuuX.
Hopefully, the 2 storylines will merge nicely.
That was an absolutely amazing episode there's so much love in the homages to the original series and in the technical details. From the use of old sound effects, the mid-episode stingers and the pink tinge to the explosions. I would love to see a compete reimagining of 079 by this team, not that would ever happen.
I have absolutely no idea what happened in this episode. It's just confusing for me as a newcomer to the Gundam franchise.
yeah, some of this stuff kind of was glossed over huh. basically just watch a recap of the original show and you would be mostly fine.
Is the original show more like this episode? I didn’t really enjoy the first one, but this episode was really interesting and i kinda wanna see more.
This is my problem with this show as a Gundam fan. I wish it contextualised things for new fans better. Like... they literally don't explain what a Newtype is despite it coming up numerous times. Sure, they can do that later, but I can tell you as someone who watched the movie that they definitely aren't doing it in episode 3. Three episodes is a long time to barely contextualise anything.
While it's true they don't outright say exactly what a newtype is. That whole scene with Char and the engineer gives you most the context you need to understand the basics. That being that they have skills and abilities that are beyond the average human and stretch into the superhuman. Also it is highly likely they will delve into newtypes more as it's clear that our protagonist is one.
Right, but like I said, everything so far is "we'll explain later". Usually you do that so you can focus on something else, but here, it's not to focus on the characters. It's not to set up some big plot. It's just to make an extended music video in episode 1 then an extended homage to OG Gundam in episode 2.
And they spend time on the Newtype stuff... while also not showing the specifics of Char's very Newtype-y death, which is almost directly referenced later on (which will be in episode 3) in a way that won't be as easy to just be explained to Machu (unless they have Sayla show up after they removed her in the show version to explain). As a movie, it'd be fine as an introduction to this world to leave so many things unanswered, but it's a different thing to have that for three episodes/weeks for what should be a gateway series.
I feel it'll come up with them asking how she pilots so well after a clan battle or two and then someone will be like "You must be a newtype!" and she'll answer "Newtype?" Then comes exposition dump that tries to explain it well enough so everyone understands. Thats usually how these things happen.
I do agree though, they should have released the movie online to everyone right before the release and in that way freed up ep 2. I mean using 1 of 12 eps just to have backstory/exposition is a pretty big waste in my opinion when there was a movie that explained it all.That's what I mean, the Newtype stuff is easy to dump later on. They didn't need to do it here, since not only do they not explain anything, but Machu doesn't hear it -- only the character they kill does! Way easier to exposition dump about Newtypes than about how Char died.
This ep also fucks the pacing. Imagine being a newcomer, coming into this and liking Machu... and bam! Your second episode is this borderline irrelevant flashback (it explains the world... badly, since they don't even explain what the One Year War is about) that they only contextualise in the last minute! Just a weird decision. This probably should've just been a standalone prologue, like what Witch from Mercury did. That way, it's not the first thing someone who just wants to watch GQ will see, but also doesn't screw the pacing of the main story.
This show is in the middle of a bit of an identity crisis. It's based on an alternative timeline of the UC saga, so they could've taken their time to explain the existing lore in the first episode to make this a comfortable watch for new watchers, but they decided not to? So, now despite it not being a part of the OG series, it's aimed towards old fans. Just watch recaps of the UC timeline or watch the entire thing in release order (recommended) to build a better understanding of the series
This episode ruled so hard. I had seen beginning, but at the time I had yet to start watching 0079, so I was wholly unprepared for how giddy this sequence would make me now that I get the references and can see exactly how they remixed the story.
I can understand how it might feel intimidating or confusing to new viewers, so if you were confused by this is recommend watching the first episode of the original Mobile Suit Gundam as that will give you all the context you realistically need (buy honestly the show is really good so you should go back and watch all of it lol).
Hello, all my Gundam knowledge is limited to Keroro Gunsou (Sgt. Frog).
I decided to start with Gquuuuuux because I liked the character designs, however I'm seeing classic characters here, what should I watch before watching this anime?
The original 1979 series or the three compilation movies. This anime is a "what if" alternate universe of what happens in the original Gundam.
Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) or the compilation films of it. I haven't seen the compilation films so can't speak to how good a job they do of condensing the story down.
If you want to just watch some Gundam without having to have seen the original series, you can just jump into one of the ones which have no connection to the original continuity at all like SEED, 00, The Witch from Mercury, or Iron Blooded Orphans.
All you realistically need is to watch he first episode of Mobile Suit Gundam from 1979. It's a great show I would strongly recommend, but Watching the whole thing probably isn't necessary. I would even say you could get by without the first episode, as despite having classic characters this is an alt universe where essentially nothing is the same anyways. If you can though, I would watch the first episode as it gives context for what this episode was remixing
The most common recommendation is to watch the series up to episode 39 and then Encounters in Space.
So, pretty sure Char killed Bright and maybe Amuro?
also I wonder where Lalah isI wanna believe that Amuro isn't dead because they mentioned the civilians were evacuated (unlike 0079) but Bright is turbo screwed o7
On the side of tin foil hat territory, the nonexistence of Lalah leads me to think that rather than Char finding her before the war like in the Origin, they wouldn't have met until after Char's transfer to Kycilia involved him more with Newtypes (which is how I interpret things in 0079) but the Gundam's effect on the war means he was never brought into contact with her. It's possible she was never considered as necessary to train as a pilot with how dominant the Red Gundam was on the battlefield, so there wasn't an opportunity to meet during the war.
I really wonder if this is gonna end up yuri like the witch from mercury. They had the sparkle hug scene in the last episode and now that ending. Was this planned or slightly edited in due to how well witch from mercury was received?
also on an unrelated note damn that new opening killed my bit rate from amazon making it all look blurry. XDlast week I didn't get to see the ending because that point my amazon account still had autoplay on that skips to the next episode or a random other show in like 3 seconds with no way to stop it from what I saw.
Based on an added scene from the theatrical version, I am 99% sure we're going to get rug-pulled out of a WLW relationship again.
Absolutely loved everything about this ep. My favourite part is the eyecatch sequence. I'm surprised they kept the original audio tracks. It's only 7 seconds but hearing the suspenseful percussion and strings build up to the choir chanting "Char!" at the end made me squeal with joy!
I wonder if any fan older than 50 is watching this. Would love to see their reactions.I didn't see the GQuuuuuuX movie so this episode leaves me wondering: Since Char successfully steals Earth Fed's White Gundam and thus becomes its first ever pilot in history, does Amuro even exist in this AU?
Someone uploaded the '79 vs GQuuuuuuX eyecatch and title comparisons side by side. Enjoy :)
He never comes up in the movie. Sayla pilots a white Guncannon that looks a lot like the classic Gundam in parts, though, and she's the one who gets Char killed this time. Apparently according to other material (I assume freebies in Japan), she's also the one who beat Dozle.
!!!!!! NO WAY
Yeah, the show version removes her. In the movie, during that final battle, Char was planning on sabotaging Kycilia's plan so that the federation and Zabis would lose and he'd come out on top. But then Sayla in the white Guncannon sneaks up on him, he senses it's her (even says 'Artesia') and she manages to screw up his plan. Then the Zeknova thing happens and he and his Red Gundam vanish. We don't learn what happened to Sayla after that in the movie.
Thanks a million!
Alright episode, I just wish they used a flashback framing device at the start, so newcomers aren't blindsided by this really different pace and style. They did shorten this from the movie, but it's so weird that they took out the context for Char's death after having us follow him for a whole episode. I guess that is the most continuity-dependent (not a spoiler since it's not here, apparently, but it was Sayla Mass/Artesia Som Deikun, Char's sister, who distracted him during that final operation, which led him to miss a rendezvous, which led to him "seeing time" and basically going through Char's Counterattack type stuff) but it's still just weird. If Challia was there the entire time then it'd be better, especially if the story was framed from his perspective so we see Char's abrupt disappearance from Challia's perspective, but as it stands, the protagonist of this episode vanishes in a completely unexplained lightshow. I'm still hoping Sayla shows up again. She's the most underused of the original Gundam cast (because of the absence of her voice actress) outside of The Origin, so I'd like to see her have some time to shine. Plus, seeing Challia meet his dead boyfriend's sister who got him killed would be kinda fun.
So far, if I had to pick between the two, I'd say the movie of GQuuuuuux is definitely the better way to watch it, even if this segment is kinda drawn out. The Machu stuff is paced better (so far) there, and you at least get some more context for Char, even if it's a bit confusing for newcomers (the lack of context here is also that, though, so... yeah).
I sorta get it from a marketing perspective, they want a hook to draw in TV watchers but for the movie you weren't highly likely to walk out 1/3rd of the way through but lots of TV watchers might not come back next week if this was the first episode unless they were very nostalgic for the old series.
No, I get that. Really. I was glad that they didn't make this the first episode. Here, newcomers can at least theoretically get attached to the new cast in episode 1... except they barely established anything about them (they really rushed the part from the movie they made into episode 1) before segueing into this borderline unrelated thing for a whole episode. I feel like they should have really reduced this down to just the cliffnotes if they're not gonna explain it properly. Like, what is the point of Char's Newtype stuff? They don't explain it, and it's gonna need to be reexplained later for Machu to know anyway. Or it isn't going to be important, in which case it's useless because newcomers won't know what it is so it's just another new term that they don't explain.
Honestly I feel like they should have released the movie online to everyone before the first ep so they could have had a better understanding and not have to essentially waste an ep doing an exceedingly rushed recap of the original. I did want to see it but unfortunately I was dealing with some stuff when it was out and missed it since it was only in select theaters for a very short time and there was no where for me see it before GQuuuuuuX came out.
That said I do like where things are headed still and that GQuuuuuuX has more bite to it than WFM it seems if they are willing to put this in as the second ep then it will have to be essential to the story down the line otherwise they could have crammed the very bare bones basics into an even shorter time frame.
Didn't like this a second time as much as I liked it in the theatre.
Some movie content is missing. Don't think that's the reason though. But the obvious rushing isn't helping.Yeah, 12 episodes for a flagship gundam series seems like a real crunch.
I feel like I'm the only newcomer who didn't have a problem with this episode lmao
It gave some needed context to how the story got to the place it is, the context of the red Gundam and why it's wanted
For things like Newtype, I feel I can make a safe assumption about what they mean, and this goes for other things brought up, it's not too hard to connect the dots.
I don't feel like every little detail about UC needs to be mentioned, or explained. We just need enough context about the Red Gundam, and how the factions got to where they are, really.Also won't anyone point out how damn cool it was that they replicated an old 80s art style?? And even the music and sound effects we're straight out of that era, it was super cool!
Much hype to getting back to the main plot now though c:A little fast-paced, but they nailed the classic Gundam vibe, imo. The direction was great and ESPECIALLY the music. Easily one of my top episodes this week.
The OP visuals could’ve been better, though. I love the song and that Zeta reference, but most of it felt bland and generic. Definitely not what I expected from a show with such a strong style.
I assume episode 2 was a "prequel" to episode 1? At least, that is what i got from it, and the fact at the end it said "continued with ep 1." Love the episode, and have a feeling this will be a great show.
My memory is a bit hazy on the matter, but here is the gist.
Ep 2 is an alternative timeline of Universal Century 0079; in the original show (from our 1979) 2 Zakus infiltrate the colony and wreck havoc (the pilots are not relevant). Amuro Ray gets to pilot the white Gundam made by his father. Then destroys the 2 Zakus the infiltrated the colony. The White Base (with captain Bright Noa) tries to escape the colony but is attacked. Amuro is the only available pilot and saves the White Base ship from being destroyed, with the Gundam. Some time later the White Base is attacked by Char Aznable, piloting his famous red Zaku. Rivalry between the two occurs etc etc. it's good television.In this show, ep 2 happens before ep1. Instead of 2 random Zakus, one is piloted by non other than Char Aznable, a formidable pilot. Char seems to find the Gundam instead and steals it, along with White Base. This basically means that pretty much everything that happened in Mobile Suit Gundam is irrelevant.
I strongly recommend to new people to at least watch this prequel to everything. It explains what happened prior to the first Gundam show, and also this GQuuuuuux as well.
Kidou Senshi Gundam THE ORIGIN
No new comer actually needs to watch The Origin just to watch this, learning what led to the war is quite unnecessary to grasp what's going on just like how it was unnecessary back then, that said, go for it if you're curious or want to dive further into the franchise beyond this season and know for sure you can't tolerate watching a 1979 show, The Origin is a great starting point, but beside either anime, I would more than anything recommend reading The Origin manga instead, it both covers the anime events and is a retell of the original 1979 anime and ought to save time.
I was really looking forward to this show but I guess I'll put in on backlog for when/if I watch original show because it's not fun at all atm, I have no idea what's going on, what they're saying and who are these people:D they use a bunch of terms for ships/suits/places/factions that are basically white noise with no context
This episode was so much better and im thinking im correct that the 2015 ova is want to watch before this series!
