A very special time for anime fans is nearly upon us: next week, the next entry in the Gundam franchise, GQuuuuuuX, begins, taking us into a bold and exciting spin on over 45 years of giant robot history. Interested but not sure where to start? We’re here to help.
What Is Gundam GQuuuuuuX About?
GQuuuuuuX is set in the year 0085 of an era known as the Universal Century—but not the Universal Century that most Gundam fans will know, the primary timeline among several in Gundam (home to the continuity established by the 1979 original, its successors in Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, Char’s Counterattack, and more). GQuuuuuuX instead operates in an alternative version of that timeline where, six years prior, the secessionist space colony known as the Principality of Zeon won the infamous One Year War against the Earth Federation, having managed to successfully steal the prototype Gundam and claim it as their own.
The Gundam—as well as its pilot, the legendary ace Char Aznable—disappears at the end of GQuuuuuuX‘s version of the conflict, but mysteriously returns in 0085 piloted by a young boy named Shuji Ito. While Shuji goes on the run from the Zeon forces chasing him, he crosses paths with two young colonists, Nyaan (a refugee from the war now making money as a courier for smugglers) and Machu, an eager young girl who finds herself inadvertently thrust into the world of underground Mobile Suit fights known as “Clan Battles”—and through that, manages to somehow find herself piloting Zeon’s latest experimental Mobile Suit, the titular GQuuuuuuX.
Do I Need Watch Any Other Gundam Before I Watch GQuuuuuuX?
In theory, no. In actuality… it’s complicated.
GQuuuuuuX‘s nature of being set in this “what if” alternate reality of Gundam‘s most famous continuity means there are a lot of elements it draws on and extrapolates in its world building, from mecha designs to characters and concepts. It’s difficult to say just how much that stuff will really matter in the show yet—Beginning, the prequel movie released in theaters as a compilation of the first few episodes of GQuuuuuuX, included a prelude retelling the alternate events of the One Year War in this timeline, and we don’t know how much, or if any, of that background information will appear in the show. But the primary aspect of the show itself, around Shuji, Machu, and Nyaan, largely leans on new material, so you could ostensibly jump in and see the series through their perspective.
That said, it would be ideal, if you didn’t see Beginning, to have at least watched some of the original 1979 Gundam to appreciate the context of what GQuuuuuuX is doing. But 43 episodes of anime is a lot to try and binge if you want to be on board with GQuuuuuuX when it launches. There is an alternative option: a trilogy of compilation movies that condenses the original show down to a handful of hours. But ironically, they have their own issue here—one 1979 character that has suddenly become very important to GQuuuuuuX‘s story, the Zeon commander Challia Bull, is cut from the movie edit entirely, because he’s only in a single episode of the original show.
The original Gundam is streaming on Crunchyroll, if you want to check it out. The show holds up remarkably well, and is a classic of the genre for a reason.
What Makes GQuuuuuuX Stand Out Compared to Other Gundam Shows?
There have been pieces of Gundam media that imagine alternative outcomes of the One Year War and the Universal Century before, from games, to manga, to even the original novelization of the show, and while many of Gundam‘s myriad other timelines often riff off ideas and elements of the Universal Century, there hasn’t been a mainline show like GQuuuuuuX that explicitly roots it in a direct parallel version of it.
But it also stands out for the sheer amount of notable talent behind its production. First off, the series is developed by Evangelion studio Khara, rather than Gundam‘s own studios at Sunrise and Bandai Namco, and with that comes a lot of that fascinating behind the series crew: the show is directed by Kazyua Tsurumaki, who directed FLCL, Diebuster, the Evangelion rebuild films, and multiple episodes of the original anime; and it’s written largely by Yoji Enokido, who has worked on Evangelion, Sailor Moon, , the aforementioend FLCL, and Revolutionary Girl Utena, alongside an assist from Evangelion creator Hideaki Anno.
The show’s radical takes on the classic Gundam mechanical designs are developed by Ikuto Yamashita, who not only developed the mecha designs on Evangelion, but also contributed mechanical design to Atlus’ recent smash-hit JRPG Metaphor Re:Fantazio. And then there’s the character design itself, provided by none other than Take, the artist best known for being the architect of modern Pokémon character design since Sun and Moon. The scope of the creative team here definitely makes GQuuuuuuX stand out, whether you like Gundam or just like anime in general!
Where Can I Watch Gundam GQuuuuuuX?
Gundam GQuuuuuuX will begin streaming worldwide on April 8 through Amazon Prime Video. While details have been kept under wraps up to this point (including what time exactly episodes will release), the show will debut both a subtitled and dubbed episodes on a weekly basis simultaneously.
So, Uh… How Do You Pronounce GQuuuuuuX?
It’s a fair question, as that’s a very intimidating looking word! While we haven’t heard how the English dub will handle it yet, the Japanese katakana for the title is read as Jīkuakusu—which in English would suggest we end up with something like “G-Kwux.” The name, many U’s aside, is derived from the computer programming term Qux, a metasyntactic variable: it’s a common placeholder word programmers will use in coding with the intent that it will be replaced with actual terminology at a later date.
This makes sense within the world of GQuuuuuuX too. The titular Mobile Suit is presented to us as an early Zeon prototype of the next generation of combat mecha, developed out of the technology Zeon managed to reverse-engineer from the Gundam and from its own Mobile Suit development teams. Maybe it keeps the Qux designation for the duration of the show, or maybe it’s eventually christened with its final name, we don’t know yet.
Why So Many U’s Though?
Well, that we don’t really know officially. It makes for a cool looking logo though!
For what it’s worth, it’s not just stylization for the series’ branding. Although no one in the show pronounced a long string of ‘u’ sounds when saying its name, the titular suit’s official designation in-universe is the gMS-Ω GQuuuuuuX. At one point in Beginning, some characters exploring its internal systems for the first time do actually balk at seeing it written out in such a way, so honestly—the characters in the show seem to know as much as you or I do.
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