Gundam GQuuuuuuX Ep 12 Review: The Universal Dream
Wow wow wow, the day has finally come. The final episode of GQuuuuuuX is finally here! And we can get a truck load of MS combat with some really crazy stuff happening. The multiverse shenanigans are also resolved. But if there is an aftertaste that you can feel, is that the series definitely need more episodes with the amount of convenient plot devices it has!
We started with a bit of Steins;Gate ‘s World line stuff – well, not exactly the same – but kinda similar to many time-loop series before like Muv-Luv. Basically, the moment Char was killed in an alternate 0079 – because Lalah didn’t really save him this time, Lalah’s shock opened a Zeknova for her to create an alternate reality where Char survives…or so she thought. Char kept losing his life at the hands of the Federation’s White Devil, no matter what she does or which MS she gave him. It is pretty interesting seeing an alternate version of the 4-way duel during 0079 between Amuro, Char, Lalah and Sayla, as well as possible alternate MSes for Char. They really went all out rendering a classic animation style for the fight. And what made me chuckle was that Lalah put Char into a red Zudah at one time, I guess that timeline must be pretty short since Char probably exploded 3 times faster lol. And Ikuto Yamashita’s Sazabi design was given a nod in this scene, which is pretty cool.
But anyway, basically after so many loops, Lalah finally arrived at this timeline – GQuuuuuuX’s timeline. In this one, she made it so that Char got into the Gundam instead. And that seems to do the trick. By turning the White Devil into the Red Comet, Char was able to avoid certain death at Amuro’s hands. However, this lead to the current situation, where this universe’s Char don’t want Lalah to be stuck here, essentially creating 2 “Alphacide” that warps this world’s reality. So Shuji don’t want Char to send Lalah back to her universe and wake her up, breaking her heart when she will be in a world without Char. That leads to Shuji wanting to kill the Lalah in the Elmeth in this timeline, which will “erase” this universe from existence, and allow Lalah to create another one. If Char sent her back, this universe won’t be wiped out. It’s a bit of a brain freeze, so you can just think of it like this: Char want to send Lalah back, Shuji want to stop Char, and Machu want to stop Shuji. Easy, right?
Oh by the way, Char got into the Red Gundam and yeeted Kycilia with a bazooka, just like in the original timeline…but a lot more kaboom this time.
But anyway, basically after so many loops, Lalah finally arrived at this timeline – GQuuuuuuX’s timeline. In this one, she made it so that Char got into the Gundam instead. And that seems to do the trick. By turning the White Devil into the Red Comet, Char was able to avoid certain death at Amuro’s hands. However, this lead to the current situation, where this universe’s Char don’t want Lalah to be stuck here, essentially creating 2 “Alphacide” that warps this world’s reality. So Shuji don’t want Char to send Lalah back to her universe and wake her up, breaking her heart when she will be in a world without Char. That leads to Shuji wanting to kill the Lalah in the Elmeth in this timeline, which will “erase” this universe from existence, and allow Lalah to create another one. If Char sent her back, this universe won’t be wiped out. It’s a bit of a brain freeze, so you can just think of it like this: Char want to send Lalah back, Shuji want to stop Char, and Machu want to stop Shuji. Easy, right?
Oh by the way, Char got into the Red Gundam and yeeted Kycilia with a bazooka, just like in the original timeline…but a lot more kaboom this time.
After Machu and Shuji’s “friendly” talk, it’s time for Machu and Nyaan. The downside of the series became much more visible through this exchange, when Machu talked Nyaan into becoming her Mav and basically erased all the bad blood between them to become BFFs again. And Machu even talked Nyaan into fighting Shuji – the boy who she was prettttty ready to blow up the Earth to find again. I would definitely like to see more deliberation between Machu and Nyaan, or Nyaan with her inner-self. But alas, ain’t noone got time for that when the fight of the century is going down. Nyaan and the GFreD quickly assist Machu in fighting Shuji’s RX-78-2.
This version of gramps is quite…under-equipped. He only has a shield and a beam saber – no long range weapons. I don’t think Shuji even use the head vulcans. But of course, the GQux and GFreD also likes to just go in melee style. The action scene is quite satisfying, with Shuji’s signature Snyder-slow-motion dodge. He’s trying his best to emulate 0079 Amuro but more…acrobatic I guess.
However, Shuji wasn’t able to gain the upper hand quickly, so he has to resort to his last approach – taking a page from Attack on Titan. Yes, this is the first time in Gundam history that this phenomenon happen: a Mobile Suit grows to giant size because “fuck you, that’s why!”. Khara went absolutely insane on this one. I don’t think anyone has this on their bingo card for GQuuuuuuX. Everyone was probably like: Oh, Amuro is probably gonna be here, and some stuff….but no (or ackchually…), Shuji was in the RX-78-2 pulling some insane fuckery. It seems like he was bestowed the abilities to warp realities from Lalah.
This version of gramps is quite…under-equipped. He only has a shield and a beam saber – no long range weapons. I don’t think Shuji even use the head vulcans. But of course, the GQux and GFreD also likes to just go in melee style. The action scene is quite satisfying, with Shuji’s signature Snyder-slow-motion dodge. He’s trying his best to emulate 0079 Amuro but more…acrobatic I guess.
However, Shuji wasn’t able to gain the upper hand quickly, so he has to resort to his last approach – taking a page from Attack on Titan. Yes, this is the first time in Gundam history that this phenomenon happen: a Mobile Suit grows to giant size because “fuck you, that’s why!”. Khara went absolutely insane on this one. I don’t think anyone has this on their bingo card for GQuuuuuuX. Everyone was probably like: Oh, Amuro is probably gonna be here, and some stuff….but no (or ackchually…), Shuji was in the RX-78-2 pulling some insane fuckery. It seems like he was bestowed the abilities to warp realities from Lalah.
To be fair, growing big in mecha anime is almost always a losing flag – unless you’re Gurren Lagann or if your enemy is growing bigger than you. It made you a bigger target, made your targets harder to hit, and more blindspot yada yada… And sure enough, Machu was able to slip onto Gramp’s arms and and channel her inner Suisei to turn her beam cutlass into a giant axe, and did a slam jam on him. Oh and did I mention the GQuuuuuuX finally opened its mouth? Because yep, that’s what it did…colored me surprise. But what actually surprised me is…the voice inside GQuuuuuuX. From Eva’s experience, I kinda expected that the GQuuuuuuX is sentient itself, which it showed a few times before when it protected Machu from inside or outside the cockpit. But I didn’t expect it to be Amuro himself. Furthermore, during the 4-way duel from before, they also got Keiko Han and Shuichi Ikeda back as Char and Lalah. Basically, the original characters that laid the foundation for Gundam in the beginning has all reunited in this moment. I think this is a pretty big one.
After awakening, the GQuuuuuuX is obviously the stronger unit, and Machu cut down the RX-78-2 like Levi cutting down a Titan. And then Machu confronted Shuji inside the Kira-Kira as well, and performed her Talk-no-Jutsu on him. At the end, she even pulled off the Kiss-no-jutsu that basically stumped Shuji (lol rip bozo). Afterwards, kaboom and everything ended. The other world’s Lalah woke up, understood what she had to do and willingly withdraw from this world, leaving it intact.
After awakening, the GQuuuuuuX is obviously the stronger unit, and Machu cut down the RX-78-2 like Levi cutting down a Titan. And then Machu confronted Shuji inside the Kira-Kira as well, and performed her Talk-no-Jutsu on him. At the end, she even pulled off the Kiss-no-jutsu that basically stumped Shuji (lol rip bozo). Afterwards, kaboom and everything ended. The other world’s Lalah woke up, understood what she had to do and willingly withdraw from this world, leaving it intact.
On an additional note, Char wasn’t able to join the fight against Shuji because he was busy fighting…Challia Bull of all people. I gotta say, Mr. Mustache Man is a man full of surprises. He went from suicidal to becoming Char’s best bromance, to seeking him and the Red Gundam out for his entire career pretty much. And then…he just went and betrayed Char right then and there after revealing he was allied with Artesia aka Sayla Mass – a Federation ace of all people. Challia said that letting Char lead Zeon and ushering in his era of Newtype is dangerous, and Lady Artesia is much better suited to it, and just started blasting. Dude must have seen Char’s Counterattack sometime during the series and just went “Yep, I gotta off him asap.” Basically Challia Bull planned to wipe out every single person who was, is, and could be Zeon’s leadership except Artesia. Bro truly toppled an entire empire. Still, Char was THE original Newtype, so he wasn’t shot down, and just ran away after the battle.
During the epilogue, we saw that Artesia and Ramba Ral is on their way to assume control over a new Zeon, battered, but hopeful. Artesia is definitely more geared towards peaceful approach. And what made me chuckle was that she was also a big name in the Federation – so basically they kinda came out on top after everything. Char later found this universe’s Lalah on Earth and I hoped those two found a peaceful life together.
On the beach somewhere, Machu and Nyaan was chilling. Machu announced her plan to go find Shuji’s original place on Earth, with Nyaan in tow. And this is basically where the ending song take place since they got all the stuff we saw in the ending. It seems those two will stay together and found some sort of solace. However, I’d definitely like for Nyaan to express some sort of regret after she blasted A Baoa Qu and almost blasted the Earth. I understand it is for her survival and she was just going along with the flow, but making her more empathetic since she is a NewType doesn’t sound that bad to me.
During the epilogue, we saw that Artesia and Ramba Ral is on their way to assume control over a new Zeon, battered, but hopeful. Artesia is definitely more geared towards peaceful approach. And what made me chuckle was that she was also a big name in the Federation – so basically they kinda came out on top after everything. Char later found this universe’s Lalah on Earth and I hoped those two found a peaceful life together.
On the beach somewhere, Machu and Nyaan was chilling. Machu announced her plan to go find Shuji’s original place on Earth, with Nyaan in tow. And this is basically where the ending song take place since they got all the stuff we saw in the ending. It seems those two will stay together and found some sort of solace. However, I’d definitely like for Nyaan to express some sort of regret after she blasted A Baoa Qu and almost blasted the Earth. I understand it is for her survival and she was just going along with the flow, but making her more empathetic since she is a NewType doesn’t sound that bad to me.
Overall, this episode definitely feels like waking up from a fever dream just to find myself in a lucid dream instead. Towards the end of the series, the viewers can definitely notice the rushed pace along with many plot holes still present. However, due to the insane levels of fan-service and production quality for the animation, one can also see clearly that this series is meant to be a giant fan-fiction by Khara themselves, and shouldn’t be taken too seriously. It is essentially a very cool What-If for the 0079 timeline with many tributes to the original series as well as putting in Khara’s special touch (which is Eva and some other Gainax work like Gunbuster). We have many interviews out there with Tsurumaki and Enokido about the series – which kinda confirm that this series is basically their fanfic of 0079, so it’s best to just take everything as it is and enjoy the ride! I don’t think it will get a second season, but maybe a movie or OVA down the line.
=Aaron=
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