‘Gundam GQuuuuuuX' Ends With Some Multiverse Magnificence

Forbes

3 days ago

'Gundam GQuuuuuuX' has come to a fascinating end.
The past few episodes of Gundam GQuuuuuuX took us down a multiverse rabbit hole, but the finale was something special.
Obviously, heavy spoilers will follow, so if you've not seen the episode yet, you have been warned.
I held off on covering the last few episodes because it was revealed that Lalah and her Elmeth had 'crossed over' into this universe.
As I wasn't sure where this would end up, I wanted to see the whole arc before writing my thoughts up about it.
While the initial batch of episodes were almost cut-and-paste monster-of-the-week affairs, they were mostly standalone. These last few episodes were different, though.
In short, we have various nefarious plans by the Zabis, an all-new Newtype-powered super weapon, and the reveal that Lalah's grief created a multiverse.
The grief in question was borne from Amuro killing Char in the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
Except, in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Amuro kills Lalah as she pushes Char out of the way.
This act, and the Newtype bonding between Amuro and Lalah, intimating that they're soulmates, is the root cause of the animosity between Amuro and Char through the rest of their story, from Zeta Gundam to Char's Counterattack.
In that, Char cannot admit that Lalah loves Amuro, and Amuro cannot get over the fact that he murdered his soulmate.
It's a truly tragic aspect of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but in this instance, it never happened.
Instead, Char dies, and in her grief, Lalah shatters the universe to bring him back. This shattering pushes the Elmeth through multiple timelines, with some nerdy Mobile Suit Variation designs shown to denote that progression.
However, it turns out that Shuji is somewhat the spirit or will of Amuro, and has been chasing Lalah to end her grief by killing her. In doing so, wiping the GQuuuuuuX timeline from existence.
This is where things get interesting, as Machu and Nyaan want to not only save Shuji but also Lalah. Challia also figures out that Char is actually a hollow narcissist now that the Zabis are gone and realizes he will be no better in shepherding the future of Newtypes.
The result is an Aura Battler Dunbine-infused final fight between a 'hyper' enlarged version of the RX-78-2, albeit in its Grey Ghost coloring (shown above), and Lalah awakening and taking herself and the original Gundam back to their own universe.
Char and Challia have their 'last shooting' moment, in which Char understands that he needs to be a better person so Challia won't kill him.
We end with a montage of Artesia taking the Zeon throne, which is a much better idea than Char, as we all know how his reign of Neo Zeon turned out in Char's Counterattack.
Leaving with Nyaan and Machu on Earth at the beach, with Machu saying that the Gundam will help her find Shuji.
As a finale, it's definitely a good one. It also addresses one of my main issues, that Char was treated as some kind of hero in this series. He was always meant to be a cautionary tale and to show the dangers of narcissism.
It's clear that the team on this somewhat gets that, but I do still feel that they are overly pro-Char, which does come across as odd if you've seen the rest of Gundam.
The latter point is also a noteworthy one; almost all of the above only really makes sense if you are very well-versed in Universal Century Gundam.
It's likely why we started out with clan battle high school hijinks borrowed from Witch from Mercury, only to switch up at the end and leave all the newbies scratching their heads.
Gundam GQuuuuuuX is definitely an interesting take on 'what if' certain events played out differently, and the multiverse element is also new for Gundam (kind of). I'm just not sure that it all sits together properly.
Oh, there's also the neat aspect that the Gundam mobile suits in the GQuuuuuuX timeline all treat the core fighters as their main boosters. This was an idea Shoji Kawamori pioneered in his design of the GP-01 in Gundam 0083, although I doubt he will be credited here for that.
Overall, Gundam GQuuuuuuX took a while to get good and interesting, but definitely delivered on the latter half of the series. I would strongly recommend you watch as much Universal Century Gundam as you can in order to 'get' all that's being referenced here, as it does go deep on the lore in a way that is great fun for nerdy Gundam fans like me, but may leave newer viewers at a loss.
The series also ends in a rather open-ended way, with Shuji's fate unknown, and Machu and Nyaan teaming up and looking for him. I would be curious to see a second season, but only if they drop the entirely unnecessary clan battles and follow through on the multiverse aspects.
Gundam GQuuuuuuX is now streaming worldwide via Amazon Prime Video.
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