Following the start of the Gundam GQuuuuuuX series last week, we now have a time skip back to a very different version of the One Year War.
Much like in the movie version of GQuuuuuuX, called Beginning, the latest episode called “White Gundam”, after last week’s “Red Gundam”, is all about the big “what if” scenario that underpins this new Gundam anime.
In short, the whole premise of this episode is based on the following: what if Char Aznable found the RX-78-02 Gundam instead of Amuro Ray?
This is not a new idea, as the Gihren’s Greed games already went down this route and created a similarly red Casval Gundam to emphasize its change of pilot.
However, while exploring this idea in games is fine, it does feel quite odd once ratified into an anime.
This is because the whole purpose of Char as a character was that he perceived himself as the hero. In reality, he was a deeply flawed and broken narcissist whose shortcomings were only emphasized in his subsequent bitter rivalry with Amuro Ray.
Not because Amuro was in any way spiteful but by simply surviving and thwarting Char’s plans and subsequent delusions of grandeur. Amuro was simply a narrative foil to lay out Char’s immense sense of entitlement.
Something that writer and director Yoshiyuki Tomino explored in great detail across Mobile Suit Gundam, Zeta Gundam, ZZ Gundam, and finally Char’s Counterattack. Char was not a good guy by any means, but instead, a selfish and profoundly lonely person, which in turn limited his Newtype abilities.
So, from the off, this version of Char feels wrong despite looking and acting the same way that he used to. It also doesn’t help that Char’s Japanese voice actor has changed, which only adds to this eerie ersatz retelling.
Back when I saw the Beginning movie in the theater, this whole setup just felt off. Especially how it also compresses events from the older series, with the equivalent of the Axis Shock from Char’s Counterattack effectively happening at the end of the One Year War.
Not to mention that much of this whole “what if” setup only works if you are a die-hard old-school Gundam fan who actually knows what’s being referenced.
Considering that the main story is aimed at a newer and younger audience, which I am entirely for and actually want, it feels bizarre to tether that to something that fans in their 40s and 50s will only appreciate.
That said, now that this “backstory” has been mostly told, we can get back to the current timeframe, which is where all the interesting stuff is happening.
Again, I am still having issues with Ikuto Yamashita’s new mecha designs, as they feel overly done and lack a clear semblance of form-follows-function. Although I feel that given time over the course of the series, I will mind these mecha designs less and less.
There’s still a lot of new interesting ground to cover, but much like Axis and its bitter memories, I will feel much happier the more this fanfiction-fuelled backstory remains behind us.
Gundam GQuuuuuuX is now streaming worldwide via Amazon Prime Video.
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