Gundam: Gquuuuuux feels like it should've been more than what we got. Picture this: An alternate reality UC story where the bad guys steal the original titular Gundam and win the war. Imagine the possibilities. Now sigh; because what we got instead was a sports tournament arc with a sudden cut to the conflict between the Federation and Zeon, that feels like the writers suddenly remembered which setting the show takes place in. I haven't watched Eva and may never, because what I've heard doesn't sound like something I'd enjoy. Gquuuuuux is directed by the creator of Eva and I believe produced by the same people as Eva. Perhaps unsurprisingly; Gquuuuuux takes heavy inspiration from Eva, and many of the things I don't care for in Gquuuuuux have been labeled online as "typical for the creator of Eva/the studio, considering they made Eva." Whelp, so be it. For better or worse.

What do I actually like about the show? The animation is good, full of character, clean, and eye-catching. And I like some of the characters in a vacuum. Particularly, the dual female protagonists. I feel like they deserved a better story than what they got.

What don't I like? Who boy. If I had to summarize; I'd say Gquuuuuux fails to deliver where the previous series, Gundam: the Witch from Mercury (WfM), did many things right. The comparison is more than warranted as Gquuuuuux is riding the coattails of WfM in one critical way: having a female protagonist. WfM is the 1st Gundam series to have a female MC. Gquuuuuux is the second and is following immediately after WfM. So it's disappointing that the relationship between the main characters hinges on their relationship with the main male supporting character, a generic, personality-less, obvious vehicle for viewer (and possible writer?) self insertion. As I watched, I couldn't help but find the way the female protags revolved around him less and less entertaining to watch. This feeling increased when the female protags demonstrated time and time again, much more engaging and believable chemistry with each other than the male supporting character. So much so, that it outstripped the "chemistry" between them and Self Insert Boy by leagues. It felt obvious to me that the reason the female protags were drawn to him was simply because the writers wanted them to be, and not based on how intriguing the character actually was.

The pinnacle of this wish fulfillment came at the moment I've seen the show get the most flak for online. A moment where Self Insert Boy is cooling down by taking off his shirt and relaxing with his back against his giant robot. The female protags join him by stripping down to their underwear and laying next to him. This might have been originally intended to come off as the characters bonding. How it came off to myself and others was: as obvious fan service. A thinly veiled excuse to draw the show's primary characters half-naked.

This is pretty common in anime. It's something I have to cringe my way through most of the shows I watch, because most anime is written for teenage boys, by men who seem to think like teenage boys. It especially sucked here. Because it felt like the show was confirming that Gquuuuuux's female protags don't make decisions based on what the show supports them wanting to do. But simply they do what the writers want to see them do. In other words; it breaks my suspension of disbelief. That these characters will ask in a way that would be convincing, that would be supported by anything other than someone in a writers room saying "And then both girls strip down to their underwear, because I like seeing girls in underwear." And man, don't these characters, and Gundam, and the original premise of Gquuuuuux deserve better than that? All in only the second show to ever feature a female protagonist, as the franchise nears 50 years old. Nice.

As for the actual plot, it feels like a half baked loaf of bread that was put directly into the fire as time ran out in an attempt to finish. The Gundam "bot battle tournament" storyline takes way too long. Once the show moves away from that and starts to get more interesting, it's rushing towards the end and info dumping like the plot is late for work. Coupled with the kids on a playground level space magic, and the admittedly great fight scene at the end felt like watching a half-assed superhero movie climax. The unsatisfying ending was even predicted online as people noticed the show was simply running out of time. The OG 0078 Gundam coming back was cool to see. As the moment was only built up to for half an episode, and was over (along with the whole show) the following episode, it felt like it should have mattered more.

It feels fitting that the last scene of Gquuuuuux features the two female protags half-naked again (this time in bikinis). They talk about their future and Self Insert Boy for a final time, as again, he’s what ties them together. Then the credits roll.

I hope Gquuuuuux doesn’t become a template for female lead Gundam series. I honestly kinda hope it gets forgotten. While the show wasn’t terrible, and the animation was very technically impressive; for me the story was carried more by fan service than what I like about Gundam. Interesting space opera stories about war and how we humans perceive ourselves as rival nations, despite being one species with a shared destiny. Gquuuuuux could have been a great exploration of that. Instead, what I’ll remember most is being amused and annoyed by the amount of times the characters say “Kira-Kira.”