They should have just done the One-Year War with Char Aznable as the first Gundam pilot instead of Rey Amuro I would most likely be knocking on your bedroom window telling you get on this bandwagon right now because you're missing out. But alas, I have to face facts.

This is a show that if anyone asked me if watching Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuX is a good way to get into the franchise as a newcomer, I'd tell them to stay away or watch the over 20 or so anime show/movies that have been done prior to this. This particular anime seems to have an identity crisis going into it. It seems to want to be Mobile Suit Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundan Unicorn, Mobile Suit Gundam G Fighter and The Witch of Mercury all in one. With a few other ingredients thrown in for good measure.

I also want to point out before going into this that I'm a big Gundam fan, watched most of the series/movies, games etc. I also haven't had time to watch the prequel movie so if my opinions change after watching it I will gladly take the L and alter this review in the future. And also, this review has some major spoilers for later episodes!

1. Story - Oh boy, this is my biggest problem with the show, so I'll write in multiple paragraphs revolving around a particular subject.

• The lack of an identity, The show throws so many ideas from other shows into this that it's a muddy mess. The Clan-Battles are unnecessary and pointless and clear nod to G Fighter where two Mobile Suits are to battle another duo to go up the rankings and earn money. The One-Year War is pretty much the same but changed that Zeon instead win the war, Char Aznable was the pilot of the first Gundam instead of Rey Amuro and many of the battles outcomes are either switched or altered to suit this show. The constant hints that multiple characters are aware of another universe heavily hinted at it being Gundam 0079. The lackluster character development between Machu, Nyan and Shuji makes you really not care what happens to them.

• [Episode 10 Breakdown] Well, the entire series has really focused on two things so far, a Zeon civil war and the search for Char Aznable. In episode 10 for the first time this season we see Gihren and in a mere minute of him making appearance he dies by poisoning from Kycilla and shifts entire civil war plot line in the favour of Kycilla all the anticipation I had for a great tale of war, revenge, injustice etc was farted all over my face with faeces particles. Really they kill an established character after like a 1-minute appearance in the entire show.

• [Episode 11 Breakdown] This story continues to derail in a way that actually makes me wonder if I'm living in a parallel universe or the matrix at this point. I was holding out for a slim slither of hope that the whole Char Aznable plot line would salvage what's left of the show. They have literally, and I mean literally, thrown shit to a wall and hope it sticks.

It turns out Char Aznable was always here, just 'undercover' and in hiding from the Zabi family....okay I'll let that slide I guess.
But no, they throw the crazy curveball that basically GQuuX timeline is a mistake and the very end of episode 11 that Lalah from Mobile Suit Gundam 0079 created the GQuuX timeline by accident when she used her Newtype powers to cross dimensions. Bare in mind, there is two the GQuuX Lalah and 0079 Lalah in this timeline.
Then they throw and another crazy fucking curveball that Shuji is from 0079 sent to GQuuX to destory the latter timeline that 0079 Lalah had created. Turning this into 'Gundam: The Terminator', with one final curveball showing the 0079 Gundam coming through the dimensional portal to the GQuuX timeline
You can probably tell from that description alone wacky and fucked this story is, and we still have more episodes. At this point, I just want to see how far they'll go just to screw this and 0079 timeline.

• [Episode 12 Breakdown] Just going to come out and say this but, that last episode had pretty much no redeeming qualities. Besides the fights, visuals and sound. Everything else was just leaving me in a state of 'what the fuck just happened?'

It continues from the last episode the White Gundam from Gundam 0079 has now appeared and thank the lord Rey Amuro wasn't in the pilots seat instead it was Shuji. He explains that 0079 Lalah has been creating countless universes in order to have one where Char survives because in her own universe Char is killed by I presume Rey Amuro in the White Gundam as he's trying to protect Lalah. Sorry I know it's fucking confusing. While the GQuuX Char is trying to send the 0079 Lalah back because he doesn't like how she's apparently influenced every outcome in his life.
At this point, it just proceeds into a visually good looking fight but, every other aspect of these fights are just laughably stupid. MAchu and Nyann end up fighting Shuji who partway through the fight suddenly makes his Gundam grow to the size of what would seem like a small colony laser I shook my head in disappointment at this scene due to how ridiculous it looked.
Also amidst all this Challia suddenly attacks Char on the basis of 'I don't trust you because of your lack of emotion for anything' believing that this will make Char suddenly kill everyone on earth. Also prior to all this happening these two work together for a brief to take down Kycilla's battleship.
In the end, the fighting continues until 0079 Lalah wakes up says thank you to Shuji which I presume is for him basically always being there every time she goes through the same ordeal trying to help. Because Shuji at one point mentions this has happened multiple times, her creating new timelines and himself going over there to kill her, at least that's how I interpreted it. So this part ends where 0079 Lalah activates a zeknova sending her and Shuji back to 0079.
As for everyone else, Challia you don't really know what happens to him but it's presumed that he's working under Lady Asteria who is now the leader of Zeon. Char is at some decrepit refugee camp where he meets the GQuuX Lalah. Machu and Nyann are on some beach on earth still hiding from the authorities because they're still both considered criminals. Then they do a sequel bait where Nyann and Machu are talking about that they still have to search for Shuji. The end.

• The wasted potential of fan favourite characters, so many established and well-known characters are either missing, sidelined or relegated to not being there whatsoever.

Char Aznable as the main protagonist in a re-telling of him being the “first Gundam” pilot and the Hero for Zeon winning the war literally has my brain going into an orgasm seeing this. So what do they do here? Show a dozen scenes of him in the One-Year War and relegate to a treasure trophy that Zeon is trying to look for. Don't Get me wrong, this is a great idea but, I'm watching from a characters perspective that I don't want to watch namely Machu, Nyan and Shuji.
Rey Amuro truly is not in this show. Same with Char, with the alternate re-telling they had such great potential to turn Rey into the bad guy and rival of Char during the One-Year War but, they don't mention him. There's like one scene where Char and Challia are fighting the Federation Gundam and Char is like “I recognize this wave length” hinting that the pilot might be Rey Amuro, but again we don't know.
Challia Bull ls just on a treasure hunt, the prize being Char Aznable. Again, this is a great idea but, it's told from a new character perspectives that I just don't enjoy.
Kycilla and Gihren have both had so little screen time that it's not even worth thinking about them unless their story arc goes crazy later on. What I mean by that, they are both pretty at odds with one another that could threaten a civil war within Zeon this story arc I am interested in!
Lalah's arc at the moment because she's only just appeared as of episode 9. Is fine it's the same as before she's in an Indian Brothel and working there, the only difference is that Char hasn't taken her away from there because he's currently missing.

• The new characters don't bring anything new to be honest, you could literally copy and paste any other character model or established characters into their roles, nothing would be lost from that. Machu is just a girl is just infatuated with Shuji and having this kiwi-kiwi moment with him I just don't care. Shuji has an interesting potential if they implement his role correctly in the plot, but it's just so messy that I don't know anything would satisfying in the end. Nyan is just there? She's a refugee that was trying to earn a lot of money but, just soon gets thrown out the window when Kycilla basically hands a lush lifestyle on a silver platter.

1. Art - The art style is interesting. Outside of the Mobile Suits it's good typical art that you would expect from a Gundam show. However, the Mobile Suits themselves are a different story. Some of them look great like the Zaku, DOM and the GM cause the extra detail to like the armor, ammo, piping, inner workings the lot looks fucking great. But then the Gundams just look ass and messy like the Red Gundam just looks thrown together at the last moment. The GQuuuX clearly has elements taken from The Witch of Mercury and just looks weird here. So again there's good here and bad.

1. Sound - If there's one thing this show has done great in is the sound aspect. The voice actors even if some of the characters I don't like are still great. The sound of explosions, lasers and ballistics are still fucking good and if they weren't, I would be pissed. The opening and ending is good and unique and the soundtrack has taken some cues from the Gundam 0079 with a few twists.

1. Enjoyment - At the moment, I am coping with this. There are some good elements here that has the potential to make this a great instalment into the franchise, but right now there's a lot of shit to wade through to see it and imagine where it could go from here. But then will have to ask ourselves three or so episodes from the end of the show, was it worth going all through this just to get a banging section of storytelling? I don't know.

At the end of the day I will continue watching this to the end cause there are some good beats that I hope does pay off. And if they do, I'll definitely alter the review to fit my new viewpoint. But, right now if you're new Gundam and you're thinking should I start with this I can tell you now that there other better Gundams out there before this. Watch Gundam 00, Gundam Iron Blooded Orphans, Gundam SEED, Gundam G Fighter, Gundam 0079 etc.

And I'm a lot of people will be like “you're behind the times”, “you're misogynistic because you're just complaining about female characters” or “this is for a new generation of fans”. Look I get it I do but there's a right and wrong of doing things and this is the wrong way.
I want good fucking female characters, just because I'm shitting on them doesn't mean I hate every single female characters I come across in all media. To put it into perspective, two of my favourite animes feature an almost exclusively female main cast that's Symphogear and Cross Ange and make them likeable and where I want to root for them. Here in Gundam GQuuX I want to bash my head against a brick wall whenever I see Machu and Nyan.
I'm up for the Gundam trying new shit all the time. Heck there's a reason why people like Gundam Build anime series cause takes a different, and you know from the start what that is. Unlike here, you are shoe horned into thinking it's going one way, and then you're suddenly thrown about in a fucking tornado stumbling all over once you're finished!

The show retcon's so much of the Universal Century timeline in both events and lore that it's both laughable and painful at the same time.

I will watch the prequel movie, and who knows maybe that will make me see this show in a new light. Or maybe a few years down the line I will watch again and view in a different light, I have known myself to do that in the past. However, right now I would rather watch the many other Gundams shows, heck even The Witch of Mercury over this.

Hopefully the next show they do doesn't annoy me as much as this did.