In the distant future, humanity has become a space-faring race. And though many have left the cultural distinctives of planet Earth behind, humanity just can’t seem to leave war behind with it.
Perhaps it was inevitable. Because after generations of people are born and grow up in space colonies, it doesn’t seem fair that the blue planet with which they have no immediate connection gets to be in charge of how they live. That’s why some of the stronger colonies rebelled against the Earth Federation, calling themselves the Principality of Zeon and sparking a devastating year-long war. And as both sides gear up in giant robotic mobile suits armed with both guns and blades, billions of people perish.
If you’ve seen the original Mobile Suit Gundam movie, you know what happens next: a Zeon reconnaissance team begins attacking a Federation colony, while a teenage mechanic Amuro Ray climbs into the Federation’s newly prototyped RX-78 Gundam and saves the colony. His decision, ultimately, would help Earth win the war against Zeon, too.
Except, what if someone else got to it first?
That someone is Char Aznable, a soldier in that Zeon recon team and (in the original timeline) a major antagonist for Amuro. And after using the mobile suit to achieve victory, Char recognizes that these Gundam models are powerful. And, after reverse engineering the stolen tech, Zeon wins the war.
But independence doesn’t always look pretty, as high schooler Amate Yuzuriha may tell you. She’s living in a space colony independent from both the Federation and Zeon five years after the war’s end. It’s a world where police care little for civilians and few feel like their freedom means much of anything…especially when a Zeon ship appears in overhead.
It turns out, the ship was on a secret mission, hoping to find the location of Char and his Gundam. Both vanished at the close of the war following a strange explosion—before the Gundam suddenly reappeared near the colony and began attacking the Zeon ship. Moments later, colony police, who have donned mobile suits, engaged, too.
Zeon quickly deployed its newest Gundam model, codenamed GQuuuuuuX, in defense … but it wasn’t long before its inexperienced pilot came crashing down into the colony, bringing the battle directly onto Amate’s head. She had been busy learning how to pilot a mobile suit to engage in illegal-but-lucrative underground mech combat fights.
And, like Amuro Ray, Amate acted in desperation, jumping into the GQuuuuuuX pilot seat to escape from the battle. And though she’s likewise inexperienced, she suddenly feels a connection to the robot, one that allows her to control the mech with her willpower alone.
And it’s a connection that just may change her life for good.
People protect others, sometimes risking their lives to do so.
We hear mostly vague concepts that could be connected to spiritual themes:
In this franchise as a whole, some people are called Newtypes, those who’ve evolved to a new stage in human development to better function as a space-faring race.
In general, these individuals have a higher sense of mental awareness. Amate is one of them. Likewise, using an interface called a Psycommu, some Newtypes can move their Gundams via their will alone; their brain’s directives are transmitted to the machine via fictional radio wave-like particles.
Someone claims to be able to “see time.” Someone has a sixth sense about a Gundam’s return. Someone talks as if he can understand his Gundam’s wants and desires.
We see Amate seemingly naked as she encounters strange, vaguely spiritual lights she simply calls kira-kira (“glittering”). No features are visible other than it being evident that her character is no longer wearing clothes. However, while lost deep in thought, Amate does a handstand while wearing a skirt, exposing her underwear to us as well as those around her. Later, she takes a bath, though nothing is seen.
When Amate and another girl accidentally fall into an embrace, the screen shines with sparkles.
A man creepily sniffs the hair of a couple girls.
We see a variety of mobile suits get destroyed in battles, typically exploding or falling apart, presumably killing their operators. We can likewise assume a similar outcome for occupants of massive ships that explode in battle as well.
In one instance, a man kills everyone inside a control center with his Gundam. While we don’t see them die, we do see a couple of their bodies floating around afterwards.
Police on a space colony intentionally destroy homes with their mobile suits. We hear that a war has killed half of the human race.
We hear “d–n” nine times, “h—” five times and “a–” and “crap” once each. Someone uses the acronym “BS” once.
Two men drink liquor and wine.
None.
Quick disclaimer: Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning won’t make much sense to you if you’re unfamiliar with the original series—and not just because the title looks like someone fell asleep on their keyboard halfway through it.
If you’re looking at this film and thinking it’ll be the perfect way to enter the Gundam franchise, you’ll want to look elsewhere. This complicated release (in actuality a premiere for the first two episodes of an upcoming television series) assumes you’ve taken your time to familiarize yourself with the characters, motivations and scientific terms from the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam series.
But if you have familiarized yourself with the original series, then much of the content you’ll find in GQuuuuuuX will be, unfortunately, largely familiar: violence that certainly implies a lot of horrific deaths rather than showing it, as well as the occasional moment of animated near nudity and a bit of language, too.
Kennedy Unthank studied journalism at the University of Missouri. He knew he wanted to write for a living when he won a contest for “best fantasy story” while in the 4th grade. What he didn’t know at the time, however, was that he was the only person to submit a story. Regardless, the seed was planted. Kennedy collects and plays board games in his free time, and he loves to talk about biblical apologetics. He thinks the ending of Lost “wasn’t that bad.”
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