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Forbes
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
‘Gundam GQuuuuuuX' Ends With Some Multiverse Magnificence
'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. Follow me on X, Facebook and YouTube. I also manage Mecha Damashii and am currently featured in the Giant Robots exhibition currently touring Japan.
Gizmodo
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
The ‘GQuuuuuuX' Endgame Is About the Messiest Relationship in All of ‘Gundam'
What is Mobile Suit Gundam about? Sometimes, it's about cool robots. Sometimes, it's about the horrors of war. Sometimes, it's about the balance of power, and the exploitation of have-nots by the haves, a cycle of class conflict that is inextricably interwoven through the cycle of military conflict. But really, a lot of the time–especially in the series' foundational Universal Century setting–Gundam is a story about the two most divorced people to have ever not been married. And now Gundam GQuuuuuuX, in its own remixing of that timeline, is seemingly going to close out being about Char Aznable and Amuro Ray too. I've written before that GQuuuuuuX's narrative has been haunted from the very beginning by the 1979 anime's main characters. Char has been the most present of those specters, both in how the series has repeatedly flashed back to his exploits in the One Year War, to the man himself lurking in the background waiting for pieces of his plan to fall into place. Now, in GQuuuuuuX's penultimate episode, Char begins making his moves in the open, casting off his 'disguise' as Shirouzu as he makes clear to everyone around him his aims: to stop the Rose of Sharon and its mysterious alternate Lalah from inadvertently destroying reality as this 'remix' of the Universal Century has come to know it. Char and our heroes alike, however, find themselves at odds. Machu can only see the struggles of the Lalah she encountered on Earth in this trapped alternate version of her, and so Char's desire to save the world by destroying her sees Machu race to stop him. It further turns out that Shuji, making his grand return to the story after mysteriously vanishing a few weeks ago, is by her side against Char: purportedly first as an extension of the dormant Lalah's psionic will, but then, in a climactic heel turn, through a revelation that he too is from the same reality as Lalah… pulled into this aberrant timeline in an attempt to erase it. How Shuji intends to do that, and why, is left unclear, save for GQuuuuuuX's most audacious twist in the episode's final moments: emerging beyond the Rose of Sharon's psionic gateway to another world comes a Gundam. The Gundam. Not the re-imagined Mobile Suit we've seen in the show's prior re-imagining of the One Year War; there is no lanky, skeletal, almost Evangelion-esque frame here. This is the RX-78-2, as seen in the classic Mobile Suit Gundam—and, presumably, inside it is some version of Amuro Ray. That bit remains uncertain, to be fair. Perhaps the reality Shuji is from is one where he is the pilot of the first Gundam, perhaps, just as Char said of Lalah, he is using his vast powers as a Newtype to somehow possess Amuro and fling him at his new foes like an attack dog. Perhaps it's someone else in there entirely, or no one, and it's the Gundam itself being puppeteered by Shuji. For what it's worth, GQuuuuuuX's invocation of 'Beyond the Time' in this episode, the rock-ballad anthem that acts as the ending theme of Char's Counterattack, almost feels like it has to be Amuro in some form or another, rather than a fake out. We already know Lalah has seen visions of other worlds that play out the fateful encounter between herself, Char, and Amuro that ended with her sacrifice in the original series over and over in infinite combinations. Surely now then, it is time to see that battle play out again, but this time with the fate of a universe at stake. Because after all what is the story of the Universal Century if not that of Char Aznable and Amuro Ray? The evolution of Char and Amuro from wartime rivals to uncertain allies, to once-again foes yearning to understand their confounding connection to each other, is one that plays out across Gundam as a series for the best part of its first decade. Bonded by Lalah and the emergence of them both as Newtypes—capable of this heightened connection and understanding, but forever only on the brink of actually understanding each other and their visions for the world they fight for—the cycle of Gundam, in the Universal Century at least, is largely defined by the relationship between these two men. We haven't seen a GQuuuuuuX version of Amuro throughout the series so far—his role in the alternate version of past events is left pointedly out of the picture. Perhaps that's the true aberration Shuji speaks of in the creation of this world is, in some ways, that there could be some version of Char's story without him, one that lacks this fundamental figure that defines so much of it in the original Gundam. If GQuuuuuuX is going to make reframing and remixing the original Gundam its defining trait, there's probably no other way it could've ended than Char and Amuro, in some form or another, making their deal the whole universe's problem.
