The Ultimate Gundam Remix – Kidō Senshi Gundam GQuuuuuuX

Posted On March 24, 2025

Quick warning before you invest your time in reading this–I will spoil this film. It’s impossible to review it in a meaningful way otherwise. If you want to go in blind and haven’t read any spoilers (and let me tell you, I was rewarded greatly for doing this) I recommend waiting until you’ve seen the film before reading. 

For how instrumental Gundam has been in my anime fandom, I haven’t written about it much on this blog^[1]The operative phrase being “this blog”–if you click the Gundam tag on my old blog, you will get mostly unintelligible garbage.. While my journey with Gundam is similar to most millennials in the US, allow me to reach for minimal extra e-peen points here: My first encounter with the franchise came when a buddy of mine sauntered into school one day with a bootleg Gundam t-shirt that his mom got him in Thailand, which piqued my interest in the series before it was beamed into my eyes via a sick Toonami promo like many other kids in the US at the time. Gundam was basically the first “real” anime I engaged with beyond entry-level titles like Pokemon and Dragon Ball, and it set the trajectory for my fandom to this day.

Those who know the origins of my online handle will know that I liked me some Gundam Wing back in the day. But unlike many other young fans at the time, when First Gundam started playing on Toonami, I followed it religiously. As some Olds may remember, 9/11 made it difficult to follow First Gundam on TV through to the end, so I only watched through the series properly via strange fansubs by a dude named “Sixty Deuce”^[2]And some other sketchy fansubs that covered the final four episodes, as Mr. Deuce never made it to the end.. From this time through to my college years, I also consumed the film versions of the original series, Zeta Gundam, and the UC OVAs^[3]Not exactly in that order.. While I did step away from Gundam for a bit, with the onset of Covid some years ago, I finally had time to make my way through the rest of the Universal Century–and I am happy to report that it’s all pretty good! So in short, the Universal Century has been with me for a large portion of my life, I think it owns, and I foresee myself continuing to revisit it in the future, warts and all.

And while I love me some UC Gundam, as someone who got into the franchise via Wing, for a while I didn’t discriminate against the alternate universe entries. And as a nascent follower of digisubs in high school, I was keen on watching the newest Gundam series in real time, which at the time was Gundam Seed Destiny. After suffering through Gundam Seed dubbed on Cartoon Network, then taking in the pristine original Japanese version via the DVD release^[4]Paid entirely by a somewhat generous allowance and birthday/Christmas presents? I guess? I don’t remember how I bought all 10 DVDs of Gundam Seed as a piece of shit teenager who didn’t work much., I decided to jump on the Seed Destiny bandwagon in the middle of its run in real time. It was the hottest topic on the MegaTokyo anime forum back in the day, and I felt I needed to get in on the discussion. I enjoyed Destiny in the moment, but when I started collecting the DVDs and revisiting the series, it didn’t hold up to scrutiny. Years later when Gundam 00 dropped, I sampled it, but wasn’t really ready to give it a chance. And while Tekketsu no Orphans/Iron Blooded Orphans passed me by^[5]I was just entering extreme corporate slavery at this point–no time for silly cartoons!, I did catch all of the Suisei no Majo/Witch from Mercury, which I enjoyed, but it didn’t really set my world on fire like it did for some people. 

So, what I’m trying to say in so many words is that when the announcement for Kidō Senshi Gundam GQuuuuuuX dropped, I approached it with caution. While Mercury was okay, in recent years new Gundam series didn’t really do it for me outside of the obvious UC nostalgia grabs. But in the announcement for GQuuuuuuX, it was revealed that Anno Hideaki (one of my favorite guys) was a writer on the project, and that it was a joint initiative between Sunrise and his studio, Khara–a rare combination if ever there was one. Furthermore, the thing jumped out of nowhere–just a month before its release–meaning they were obviously confident enough with the work to just spring it on the public without much of an ad campaign. That said, even with its pedigree, I wasn’t fully convinced by the trailer when it dropped–but the promise of a Khara-helmed Gundam eventually got me, pulling me out to the theater on one of my days off.

While I came in with minimal expectations, I walked out with extremely high expectations for where G-Quack^[6]As some are calling it. will go.

Before going any further, as mentioned at the top of this post, this review will have spoilers. While I do like to avoid spoilers when I cover films, the base premise of this film is a spoiler, so only read further if you want to be spoiled on the major conceit of the film. And again let me tell you–I am so happy I went in blind. So if you haven’t been spoiled yet, please think carefully if you want to read further. I’ll drop an image under this paragraph to keep you from sneaking a peek down below. 

Okay, you ready? 

G-Quack opens in the Universal Century. And exactly as we know it, with the narration and montage from our favorite show that dropped over 45 years ago. However, there’s a twist. This time Char is part of the squad infiltrating Side 7, and the White Base crew we know and love–including Amuro–are nowhere to be seen. The result of this what-if situation sees Char stealing the Gundam, and the course of the One Year War changes drastically. As the story goes on, we’re introduced to Challia Bull, who was originally a random one-off character from a late episode of the TV series. He’s given a huge visual makeover for this film and is now a major guy in the story, working together with Char to achieve his goals and help lead Zeon to victory. It’s worth noting that in this part of the film, all the artwork is period-accurate to First Gundam’s 1979 character designs, with an exception made for the robots, which look like they stepped out of Evangelion^[7]Not a surprise, of course.. 

The back-half of the film flashes forward to the main trio you’ve seen in all the posters–Amate, Nyaan and Shuji–and the artwork suddenly shifts into a hard mid 2020s aesthetic. Zeon now rules over society, but in the shadows outlaws use stolen modified mobile suits to engage in battles for sport called “Clan Battles,” with victorious teams winning handsome sums of money for their efforts. Amate runs into Nyaan by chance as Nyaan is trying to deliver a device that allows mobile suits to use their weapons for these battles, and as a result Amate falls in with a group of people who engage in these illegal duels. Fate also leads Amate to Shuji, who just happens to have what looks like Char’s Gundam. Oh yeah, by the way–Char randomly disappears at the end of the film’s retro prologue, and now Bull–still part of Zeon–has made it his mission to find Char, or at least figure out what happened to him.

To be honest, the initial pitch of a Gundam story focused on non-military mobile suit battles didn’t grab me. Mercury, which immediately precedes this, did basically the same thing, and in my opinion the concept was already perfected by G-Gundam over three decades ago. So at first glance, G-Quack felt like a rehash. However, the alternate-history UC angle^[8]Which they cleverly hid in all the promotional material save for one video. spices up the setting tremendously. Ultimately this is a Gundam made by the old men who loved Gundam as kids, so they know what their audience wants. The twist on the UC formula more or less falls into the realm of fanfiction, but Anno has been doing great professional fanfiction of his favorite franchises since Cutie Honey back in 2004, so if there’s anyone who should be involved in crafting a story like this, it’s him. And since he’s on it, he’s clearly making deep cuts by involving obscure characters like Bull, and I want to say Char piloting the Gundam is a nod to the Gundam novels^[9]But don’t quote me on that one.. I am a little bit disappointed that they felt the need to refer back to the original Gundam to sell to the old-school fans… but at the same time, I also took the bait. And as mentioned above, it’s well done, so I’ll give it a pass.

There are a lot of good things to say about this film, and given it comes from the pens of creators who pushed out works with bold aesthetics such as Evangelion and FLCL, let’s start by focusing on how the film looks, feels and sounds. As mentioned above, the film opens with period-accurate 1979 Gundam designs, and makes a great case for redoing the whole original series with new artwork. Furthermore, they reuse the old 0079 background music^[10]Including the kooky sounding shrill track they play when the Zeon are attacking Side 7 in First Gundam episode 1–you know, that track that sounds like it’s played on a theremin. to further soak you into the retro vibe of the film’s prologue. It also seems like certain tracks are original to the film, but adhere strictly to that dank 1970s sound, busting out the funky guitars and disco strings to set the tone.

But one area where G-Quack really succeeds is in how it transitions to its modern aesthetic. The one throughline from the flashback to the present-day section of the film is Bull, and his design in the flashback stands out as looking modern, but within the 1970s aesthetic. He comes out of the flashback with a more streamlined design, which eases you into the rest. It also helps that the music changes from said dank 1970s funk to modern-day spacey electronica, and the city the characters live in looks like any modern city in Japan right now. I can’t say I’m married to the simple designs of the new characters, but they definitely work well within the overall aesthetic, and I think they’ll grow on me. The world itself is extremely well realized and atmospheric, making bold use of vivid color and deep shadows to establish mood. There is a lot of detail put into making the world feel like one people live in, be it in the depiction of the smartphones characters use, the detailed maps of subway lines, or the small little shrines that sit quietly in corners of the big city. 

All mechanical animation is done in 3D, but I think it looks great. Some fights have that visceral Evangelion-like feel to them, while others are clear homages to classic Gundam combat rendered in clean CG. What’s important is that robots feel like they have weight, and battles are made all the more exciting because of that. While still not a replacement for good-old traditional hand-drawn mecha animation, Khara has been perfecting CG robot battles since the Rebuild films, and their experience shines through well. They also take a lot of the aesthetic cues from First Gundam and bring them to life excellently with modern technology, such as the iconic pink explosions and psychedelic Newtype mindtrips.

Glancing at the voice cast, out of all the solid performances, the work by Shin Yūki as Char is extremely impressive. I never thought I would enjoy a Char performed by someone besides Ikeda Shūichi, but he brings the character into the Reiwa era deftly, delivering a reserved but appropriately arrogant performance that fits with Char’s character, and certainly feels like what a pretty boy anime character should sound like in 2025. Kurosawa Tomoyo also does a great job with Amate, not leaning fully into the typical anime-style high-pitched cuteness, and giving her an organic roughness that fits with her boyish character design.

G-Quack also gets points for its incredibly dense pacing that helps it go by in a flash. Given the film is a lead-in to a longer series, it doesn’t really need to have an ending–as such it crams in a ton of exposition, helping its fast pace. The first half that focuses on the One Year War bangs through the key points of the conflict at a rapid clip, and while I can follow and enjoy it, I wonder if people unfamiliar with Gundam will be able to. Admittedly this first portion doesn’t strictly adhere to original Gundam, opting to go in its own direction–it even remixes in stuff from other Gundam series–so it’s effectively its own thing, but I imagine newbies would be confused. But for Gundam sickos, it’s great. However, once we’re in the back-half of the story, the film establishes things extremely well with a mix of easily-digestible visual cues and world-building dialogue, with an engaging flow of familiar coincidences that get things moving in a quick fashion, leading to an exciting final battle.

I have to admit that I’m not that hot on any of the characters yet, but they are already more engaging to me than anyone in Mercury, so I’ll give G-Quack points for that. And knowing my experience with this crew, I’ll probably end up liking these quacks and enjoy seeing how they grow. If I had to pick anyone to root for, it would be Bull for now, because he’s tied to one of the more interesting mysteries in the story, and is the most curious addition to the cast of characters. 

I realize I keep calling this a “film,” but it’s difficult to really call it that given that it doesn’t actually end. However, it caps things off at a satisfying point, and I’m extremely curious to see where it goes. While I was initially turned off by the simple Clan Battle premise, the mixing in of UC lore and the film’s alternate take on events leaves the Gundam fan in me hankering for more. It’s clear our team at Khara has a bold vision for their take on this iconic franchise, which is something mainline Gundam has lacked for a long time, so I’ll be happy to follow GQuuuuuuX wherever it goes. 

Kira kira.