Content warning: Discussions of colonization and civilian casualties
What’s it about? Amate is a high-school-aged girl living in a space colony called Side 6, which just lost a war with Zeon and is now, while technically as “sovereign state,” effectively under its thumb. She bumps into a girl named Nyaan on the run from the police, who plants on her a mysterious device that seems to let you use a civilian mobile suit as a weapon. How will she use it?
Hi, it’s Tony, your friendly neighborhood AniFem Editor, here to talk about the newest Mobile Suit Gundam series, Gquuuuuux. (Did I get the number of Us right?) I am here on behalf of all the Gundam Newbies of the world who hopped on at Witch from Mercury having seen not a single other piece of the franchise. I couldn’t tell you what the difference is between a normal mobile suit and a Gundam, nor tell a Char from a Haro–which is the entire reason I wanted to review this show!
Okay, not the entire reason. The other reason is the insane pedigree behind it–with a script by Enokido Yoji of AniFem fave Revolutionary Girl Utena and Anno Hideki of Evangelion, with direction by Tsurumaki Kazuya of FLCL, I could not not watch this show. This is Enokido and Anno’s first new original (non-Eva) anime in many years, so to be able to see them return to the writer’s room left me with high hopes.
Strangely enough, however, it was the writing that was the greatest challenge for me. Truthfully, I found this episode was fairly neatly divided in two–one half in the ring colony, the other half in the ship of the military that seems to control it. In other words, one half reasonably possible to understand character-driven action adventure, the other half utterly incomprehensible military drama.
Honestly, on first watch I couldn’t understand any of what was happening on the military ship. I vaguely grasped that people had thought Char may have returned in the Red Comet Gundam, and that Side 6 seemed to be de facto controlled by some occupying force that didn’t think of the colony inhabitants as human, even as it claimed that Side 6 was a “sovereign nation.” However, much of the dialogue was so suffused with Gundam jargon, lore, and proper nouns that I found myself struggling to piece together what all of it meant. Are we supposed to know what Zeon is? What a “psycommu” does? I am sure many long-time Gundam fans are following just fine, but even on rewatch, I still have no idea what a “Mav” is. To Google I go!
On the other hand, the Side 6 narrative was quite charming, and, though much of the characterization was done far more through visual storytelling and animation than through dialogue, establishes our leads well. Our red-haired protagonist Amate remains fairly mysterious–the co-protagonist believes their uniform is fake, after all, and she seems awfully competent at Gundam for somebody who has never piloted before. The relationship she builds with Nyaan is playful and engaging, with just enough lesbian overtones (sparkles when they touch! blushing!) to feel like this show is building on what Witch From Mercury did so well.
The show also seems to be starting to touch on themes quite common in the larger Gundam universe, such as geopolitics, the status of “citizens” in defeated nations, colonialism by other names, and many others. It is far too early to say what the show intends to say about these themes, but a common motif throughout the episode was the falseness and decrepitness of the world that Amate inhabits—conveyed in the falseness of Side 6’s sovereignty, the false sense of protection even the buildings in Side 6 can provide (when they can be torn apart by a battle at any time with no recourse), and even the false gravity and waters that Amate has access to. I am quite excited to see where the show goes with this.
Top it all off with the show looking absolutely gorgeous, and you have yourself a fun time. The animation is everything I love about the post-Gainax universe with none of what I hate—cartoony, bouncy, and non-realistic while not having any of the migraine-inducing overstimulation of an Imaishi work. The music slaps, with fun insert songs that convey characters’ personalities and lend a peppy atmosphere to even a dystopian narrative.
All of this made the confusion I felt well worth it. In short, Gquuuuuux is the anime embodiment of Trinity the Tuck saying: “I don’t know what the fuck she’s saying, but girl, I am living.”
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