GQuuuuuuX really gave me a hard time, it was very pretty to look at, the character are really cool, I liked the music which is extremely rare, and it's another female lead Gundam show I've been dying for, it even expands into real war rather than endless duels of G-Witch, there is a lot to like except I couldn't figure out what it was about. In a great story, everything happens for a reason, not mechanical reason not cause and effect, but thematic reason, this is an important element that separates mediocre stories from great stories. After 3 days of chaotic sleep patterns, reading the gundam till 5am last night, I think I finally got it this morning, when I heard that song from episode 12 in my head it finally clicked for me.

Longing to find a sense of freedom

We ran like crazy from the start
Perhaps we were both too alike
Never saw the pain we caused
Some may say we're being weak
To fantasize and dream of what the future could be
We've always held out hope to change this troubled world
And each step of the way, we've laid the building blocks for tomorrow

This review will discuss the central theme and some events from early in the show. Obviously it is better to watch it blind and figure this out yourself but the fact that you're here means you're looking for the next best thing which I think is going in knowing what the central theme is, but not the details of the story.

This is a story about chasing dreams, an endeavor that often goes wrong, when other people don't agree with us, when they "get in our way" it can be tempting to run away from them, ignore them or even sometimes, remove them. The show warns us against this impulse and argues that dreams can only be achieved through mutual understanding and conversation. Yes "conversation" is a rather traditional Gundam theme but GQuuuuuuX applies it in a new way, it's not just about wars anymore, war seems distant (maybe not for long) to us today, but dreams, everybody has them.

Every major character echoes this theme in their journey, the more one tries to bulldoze obstacles in isolation the more they fail, while every victory is gained through understanding and cooperation.

Even the mech design is an embodiment of this theme, when "New Type" mode is activated in the GQuuuuuux the regular joysticks fold in and are replaced with some weird robot hand, and that's exactly what it looks like, the pilot holding hands with the mech. It sounds goofy when spelled out like this and maybe they shouldn't have gone this far but the fact that they have tells you how much thought is put into the show. Another example is re Red Gundam's funnels or bits, it originally had 6 of them, but only 2 remains at the beginning of the show, yes mechanically speaking it's just battle damage, but like I said before, everything happens for a reason in a great story, the other bits are lost because the pilot convinced himself that his allies are only getting in the way of his dream. Challia here is the traditional masked man, even though he's not wearing any physical masks, he doesn't need one, he is merely hiding his true motivations. However if you already learned the theme of this show it is possible to figure out what he wants before the reveal, and I challenge you to have a go.

All of this is admittedly a little cryptic, I didn't get any of it at all the first time watching, and looking at other reviews, I suspect most have not either. There is instead a focus on the what-if stuff, as in how would the 1 year war differ with Char having the Gundam. While that is fun speculation and reference, we should instead focus on if and how it serves the theme of the show because repeat with me, everything happens for a reason.

Char in this timeline has got all of the most physically powerful weapons, yet he still can't save the day because he choose to be on a solo mission instead of trusting his allies. I think that's enough of the themes, now let's talk about mechs. I didn't talk about the main characters because the primary turning points that relate them to the core theme are spoilers, that's why they are main characters after all.

The battles are intense because the main suits aren't particularly fast, not particularly strong and certainly not immune to even basic weapons. It is made clear that the only upper hand characters like Amare has with the Gundam is she can activate the NT system and basically pilot the suit like her own body. There's no special armor, no special gun, you can't just stand there and take hits without getting damaged, and I love this setting.

I like how there is an emphasis on the difference in power between the heated axe and the beam saber. The axe can only cut through thin material like weapons and maybe limbs with hard hits. Against torso armor it has a hard time, every time, even when wielded by a main character.

Overall I like the clear distinction between physical mech performance and NT magic, even the NT magic is clearly explained in terms of what it can and cannot do, it stays consistent almost the entire time. It's not like in Unicorn where the main suit suddenly can time travel an cast literal magic spells. Consistent power level rules like this make all the fights more exciting because you understand the danger, since you can trust they don't just pull a new power out of their NT ass to save the day.

It is tough to do all this in a 12-episode show but I think the result is reasonable. It is obviously going to be very dense and like I said one watch is probably not enough to catch everything, but on a second watch I was immediately taken back by how much stuff there is. In the first episode almost every line of dialog and every scene, all the backgrounds are actually exposition of some kind, but well camouflaged as to not draw attention or ruin the immersion.

In terms of weaknesses, I only have one complaint, Shuji one of the three main characters. He's somewhat of a walking plot device. Yes there's built-in reasoning why he does what he does but still, he often show up to push the plot forward in a new direction, probably to save screen time.
Also I want more Yuri, we have some hints but it's not nearly as yuri as G-Witch and I'm disappointed.

When it comes to any new Gundam show I think there is often a "get off of my lawn" sentiment with fan reviews. I claim to not have that bias and change is welcome as long as it is good. I also don't want to get the opposite bias and only rate new shows better because they're new, I thought G-Witch was a huge disappointment because it never got over the endless duels in the school, and into anything serious.
I like the OGs for serious tone, war, political plots and grounded realistic mechs (for the series that have it)
I like the new series for cute anime girls, high production value, and modern mech designs.
GQuuuuuuX almost has all of these things, I don't think I love the visual mech design though, I love it's more realistic, I love the foot is just a thruster, even if it looks ugly.

I feel like this show could be just a little longer, maybe two more episodes one at the end one in the middle.
I wouldn't want it to be 25 without significant expansion into the story, rather it be dense than filler.