Hello again everyone. So the finale of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX ran yesterday, and I decided I'd take some time and share my final thoughts on the series for anyone here who might be interested.
Looking at all twelve episodes of GQuuuuuuX as a whole, I can honestly say that I don't hate the series. Quite the contrary, there are some parts of the series that I liked. At the same time though, I'm not really sure if I like the show enough to buy it on blu-ray (should it ever get a U.S. blu-ray release). I think my two biggest issues with GQuuuuuuX are these:
- The show just left way too many unanswered questions with certain parts of its story.
- The three main characters of the show, Machu, Nyaan and Shuji were hardly developed at all.
That second bullet point is probably the bigger of the two problems GQuuuuuuX had. Machu never became anything more than a typical angst-ridden teenager. Nyaan had some real potential as a character, but they never dived into her backstory or anything like that. As for Shuji, he ended up becoming even more enigmatic than he was at the start of the series. I think the big reason these three characters were never developed properly is because the production staff put most of its energy into filling the series with little tributes to the original Mobile Suit Gundam and Zeta Gundam. As a result, just like with the original Gundam, Char ended up being the best character in GQuuuuuuX, and he was at least central to the show's plot even though he wasn't the final boss or anything like that.
In any case, I think the reason GQuuuuuuX had these problems is simply because its story was just a little too massive for twelve episodes to contain. It probably should've been two twenty-five episode seasons long, or at the very least they could've done the show as three twelve-episode seasons. In fact it's kind of weird that any Gundam series would be so dang short, considering how well-established the franchise is. I mean I get that only doing a twelve-to-thirteen episode anime series is cheaper and thus less of a hit to the studio if the series in question ends up being a flop, but you'd think that any with any series under the Gundam banner they'd give it the benefit of the doubt and give it at least twenty-four episodes to work with on the assumption it would be a hit. I guess it's just a sign of the times in the anime industry.
Anyway, if I were to rate GQuuuuuuX on a scale of one to ten, with one being the worst series (Gundam Wing) and ten being the best (G-Witch), I'd say GQuuuuuuX would be maybe a seven.
It's definitely not a show I'd recommend to anyone who is new to the Gundam franchise, but for anyone who's at least seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam, GQuuuuuuX is definitely a fun ride in spite of its flaws. Now to close the post, here's a music video version of GQuuuuuuX's opening theme that I just found.
