A new Gundam series has been announced. It is titled Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (the pronunciation is something like “G-Quacks”) and is slated to get a theatrical cut in Japan on January 17, 2025.
This will be the 16th installment of the franchise, but what caught everyone’s attention was that this is a collaborative project between Sunrise (the traditional Gundam studio) and Studio Khara, which produced Rebuild of Evangelion. Legendary Evangelion creator, Hideaki Anno, is in charge of the scripts.
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This is the first time Anno has been officially involved with a main Gundam series, but he’s been a huge fan of the franchise (and he was even interviewed once alongside Gundam creator Yoshiyuki Tomino). So what exactly can we expect from it?
It’s Still A Gundam Series
Tackling politics and the consequences of war
Well, this might have Anno’s sigature, but it’s still a Gundam series. It’s going to tackle issues like war and politics, which are not unfamiliar to Anno, who has also worked on another series known for having political subtexts (maybe the texts are not so sub, though), delivering the fantastic Shin Kamen Rider movie.
Given the synopsis to this series, it’s going to tackle not only wars, but the humane consequences of them, with a refugee as one of the main characters. The trailer reminds Gundam: Witch from Mercury a bit, not only of its tone but also because it includes illegal Gundam battles, that, in this case, seem to be related to rich people or shady organizations (which are generally related to rich people anyway) — maybe in a sort of Kengan Ashura way, but apparently more grounded (or it could be something like rich people just have weird hobbies).
It would be nice if those battles tackled differences in economic classes. Like, they are just fun for the rich to watch, while poor people are trying to move up in the world, because they don’t have many other options, and things could go very wrong from here (that would be quite Gundam-ish, but also a very hard theme to tackle properly).
The subjectivity of warriors
Maybe an “Evangelion-like” approach
While the trailer has this sort of Witch from Mercury tones, it also seems to have an “Evangelion touch” to it. However, it’s important to remember Anno is not directing the series. Kazuya Tsurumaki, who is considered Anno’s “protégé”, is the director (but he has directed Rebuild of Evangelion movies so he does know what an “Eva touch” would be like).
Evangelion starts as quite plot-driven, but focuses a lot on the subjectivity of the characters, especially on how everything impacts Shinji’s mental state. Back then, this was a new approach to mecha series, and it’s no surprise it resonated a lot with teen audiences, who tend to have similar struggles to those Shinji goes through (except that regular Japanese teens do not usually drive high-tech military steerable weaponry). Despite the controversial original ending, people generally like the show. We can expect well-written characters for this series (not that they are lacking in Gundam universe).
Anno’s works are mostly known for subverting genre/tropes expectations and also for intertextuality. He is just writing the scripts, so a lot of decisions will depend on how Tsurumaki will approach Anno’s ideas and bring them to life. Anyway, everything on this new Gundam looks promising! Those in Japan will be able to watch it this month, but the production team asked overseas fans to “wait for more information”, which means they are planning to drop the movie internationally too.
Anno is only in charge of the scripts, and is not directing the series. Kazuya Tsurumaki, who is considered Anno’s protégé, is in charge of the direction.
