Finally gave this latest Gundam iterations a watch after it finished original airing recently. At first I thought this series called Gundam Gqux will be another "miss" due to unusual approach in visual direction to appeal younger audience. This might have been a consecutive failure after Witch from Mercury if executed poorly but it proves to be otherwise! Deep down, Gundam Gqux is a Legacy Project that involved legendary figure, Hideaki Anno which results in a Gundam series from the joint effort of Studio Sunrise and Khara. It is truly an honor for outsiders to be bestowed an opportunity to work on Gundam series considering Studio Sunrise tend to be very protective with their IP and Anno and studio Khara production team decide to make a Love letter to Yoshiyuki Tomino and Universal century which UC fans will appreciate.
Gundam Gqux features an alternate UC timeline where Zeon and EFSF One Year War conflict came into stalemate with the Zeon holding advantage which seemingly allow Spacenoids gain their freedom for a time. However in this Universal Century settings crafted by the production team behind Evangelion, the true peace still will not come until Zabi Family are destroyed and the main heroine of Gqux will get a front row seat in the intrigue that will bring forth a new page of Universal Century.
In Gqux, the Universal Century history is heavily shaped by Char Aznable who somehow obtain the Gundam in this timeline and plays a significant role in enabling Zeon steamroll EFSF in space until his mysteriously disappearance near the end of OYW. One of the minor character in original MSG, Chalia Bull played a major role in driving the storyline of Gqux as he seeks closure of his former comrade fate who will cause the main heroine going for an adventure of a lifetime as she have a fateful Encounter with a Gundam unit with code name Gqux.
Even after I finished watching the series, I still don't understand the name meaning behind Gqux and perhaps it is intended to be so. Nevertheless, Gqux is a well crafted Swan song by the creator of Evangelion to pay respect for Yoshiyuki Tomino and Gundam series contribution to the Japanese Pop Culture industry. In this sense, it serves the same purpose as Turn A Gundam, a proper finale to end any Gundam Fans journey. Given his advanced age, Yoshiyuki Tomino might not be able to create any new anime anymore but given their extensive relationship, Anno wants to pay respect to the Legacy created by Tomino. I think Anno really think highly of Char Aznable to give him really big spotlight in Gqux.
Gqux mecha design may be weirder compared to previous Gundam series, but it is actually quite good as long as you can give it a chance to appreciate just like Turn A Gundam. My main favorites are not surprisingly devoid of Gundams and instead have Guncannon, Braw Bro (Kikeroga) and Gyan become part of the list. Personally I would recommend any prospective viewers to watch several Universal Century series especially Tomino,s MSG-Zeta-CCA before watching Gqux to fully appreciate what Gqux to fully offer. Not exactly difficult compared to Turn A which requires to watch most Gundam series for full appreciation.
No comments:
Post a Comment