“Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-“ Review: A Split Theatrical Experience

Japan is no stranger to having theatrically released animated works closely related to animated TV properties. Take the annual Doraemon or Detective Conan feature films, for example, which take the familiar characters of their TV series into mostly self-enclosed adventures that begin and end within the films. Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-, just screened in Indonesian cinemas this March, is also tied to a TV series, but it’s a different kind of experience from the aforementioned examples. It feels more like seeing two different anime in one package.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (henceforth GQuuuuuuX) itself is an upcoming new TV series in the historied Gundam mecha franchise. This new series is notable for being a co-production between Gundam‘s studio Sunrise with khara, the studio founded by former Gainax staff who developed Evangelion. It even boasts a staff of Evangelion veterans that include Kazuya Tsurumaki (FLCL, Diebuster) as the director, Yoji Enokido (FLCL, Diebuster) on series composition, and Ikuto Yamashita (Nadia, Yukikaze) on mecha design. While the TV series is set to begin broadcasting in April 2025, it was also announced that the series would have a theatrical edit of the series’ episodes, called Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- (henceforth -Beginning-). It was first released in Japan in January 2025, followed by other countries in the months after.

In a sense, -Beginning- can be seen as a kind of advanced screening of GQuuuuuuX’s initial episodes, allowing people to have an early look before the series’ regular episodic release. But another important detail is that the first half-an-hour or so of -Beginning- is the backstory, establishing GQuuuuuuX as an alternate Universal Century timeline by depicting how the One Year War in this series diverges from the one in the original 1979 TV series, mainly the titular mobile suit (robot weapon) getting hijacked by rival character Char Aznable instead of getting into the hands of main character Amuro Ray. A commentary by Khara’s president Hideaki Anno explains that this backstory was originally conceived as a five-minute intro at the start of the series, but was expanded on Anno’s suggestion with Anno helping on the script for it.

While this backstory part speeds through the war under its limited duration, there are plenty of references, whether substantial or in passing, to various One War Year War figures, locations, techs, and so on, to please Universal Century nerds. And judging from the KAORI staff’s chat reacting to -Beginning-, those references also pour fuel for lore speculations and debates. From the perspective of someone who has never seen the original Gundam series, though, I’m just glad that it isn’t that hard to follow. The Universal Century has existed for long enough that bits and pieces of its lore have quite proliferated in popular discourse for me to have taken in some of them, intentionally or not. At least I have some basic ideas of what stuff like Newtype or Psycommu is.

But more remarkably, this backstory part also evokes the feel of an anime from a different era, even though it’s produced with a modern digital tool and visually doesn’t look like an old anime. The CG effectively captures the mechanical logic behind the mecha’s movements; like, when the Gundam’s head rotates, it really looks like a moving heavy machinery. What makes this part of -Beginning- feels retro is the sound aspect. It makes use of music from the old Gundam anime for its soundtrack. It’s a demonstration of how music can contribute to defining the atmosphere of an anime (or, perhaps, any work of moving pictures for that matter).

It is these non-plot elements that make the GQuuuuuuX’s backstory and the main story feel like two distinct experiences, more than the fact that these two parts are separated by a five-year time skip and feature different main characters. The music of GQuuuuuuX imagines a space milieu with a set of sounds that is different from what Gundam composers in the 70s did. Character appearances are also different, giving so much contrast as you move from the 70s Zeon officer suits to something similar to contemporary Japanese schoolgirl uniforms, brimming with youthful energy of take’s character designs. It’s quite a bewildering juxtaposition to experience.

To be fair, the backstory and the main story that has been presented do work together to lay out the setting, plot, and mystery that could be explored and developed further in the series. Tension is still brewing even though the war has ended for five years. War refugees lack decent treatment, and military surplus mobile suits make it into the hands of civilians for illegal underground mobile suit battles dubbed Clan Battles. Char has mysteriously disappeared with the Gundam in the final battle of the war. His partner, Challia Bull, leads a crew to investigate sightings of Char’s Gundam with a new prototype Gundam called GQuuuuuuX. As it turns out, Char’s Gundam is now operated by a mysterious boy named Shuji, and a failed attempt to capture it left the GQuuuuuuX taken over by high school girl Amate “Machu” Yuzuriha. How did Shuji come to possess Char’s Gundam?  As Machu and Shuji become partners for Clan Battles, how would the legacy of that Gundam affect them both?

This strategy of putting together these two distinct parts of the story can make the characterisation and relationships of the new characters feel vague if -Beginning- is seen on its own. We do still able to make out the contrast between Machu, a girl living a safe ordinary life in a well-off family but plunges herself into the dangers of Clan Battles because of the thrill of it, and the refugee courier Nyaan, who is involved in the Clan battle not by choice as she struggles to make ends meet. Yet, the interactions between Machu, Nyaan, and Shuji are still limited with the available runtime and something that the TV series would need to work with further. Unexpectedly, it’s Challia Bull who has the more memorable characterisation out of the characters appearing in -Beginning-. He plays substantial roles in both the backstory and main story parts. In addition to having a fresh new look courtesy of the character design, his persistent devotion to Char makes it understandable why -Beginning- has led to his breakout popularity.

That said, given the setup has no active war and has Machu still holding her student identity while secretly taking part in Clan Battles, I’m most curious about how GQuuuuuuX would balance Machu’s everyday life with the mobile suit battles, if at all. Depiction of the characters’ mundane lives not only provides a venue for viewers to attune themselves to the characters’ rhythm but can also immerse viewers into the worldbuilding and get a stronger sense of what structures are hegemonic in the setting to contrast with what those structures marginalise. There have been several mecha series in the past few decades that mix mundane school life with mecha action to that effect like Full Metal Panic!. To some extent, The Witch from Mercury has also tried to do that within the Gundam franchise. But I think there can still be a potential for GQuuuuuuX to do it in its own way, especially considering that, as TheCynicClinic has discussed, Tsurumaki and Enokido have arguably thematised the notion of “Endless Everyday” through mixing wacky mecha-SF shenanigans and the ordinariness of the main character’s life in FLCL.

The Indonesian -Beginning-‘s theatrical screening features dual English-and-Indonesian-subtitled screenings. Unfortunately, the Indonesian subtitle is peppered with noticeable errors. Certain examples like the confusion between the words Side as a term for space colonies and side in the enigmatic ‘the other side’. It appears that the Indonesian subtitle is being produced by translating the English subtitle, as I don’t think such confusion would happen had it been translated from the Japanese language as ‘the other side’ is spoken in Japanese as ‘mukōgawa’. I hope the licensor can pay attention to this issue and consider translating directly from the source language to better guarantee accuracy.

With the contrasting atmospheres between the two different parts and the characters still need to be fleshed out more in the TV series, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- cannot be said to be a standalone cinema experience that stands on its own. It’s better to see it as an advanced screening of the TV series’ initial episodes and an expansion of the backstory. For some people, seeing an alternate take of the One Year War on the big screen alone probably suffice to make it worth it. For those interested in the new characters, keep in mind that you still need to watch the TV series to get more of them. Then again, if -Beginning- leaves you wanting to see more of them, then it has accomplished its job.