With its cute, thoroughly modern art style and theme song, plus a premise set in an "if" world of the original Gundam, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX has, ever since the film version, captivated and won over not just longtime Gundam freaks but a whole new wave of Gundam fans. For old-school fans, it's impossible not to be intrigued: a timeline in which Amuro, the Newtype with absurdly broken piloting skill, never boards the Gundam, and the Zeon forces, specifically Char, steal it instead. (Incidentally, since the White Base gets stolen along with the Gundam, the entire original protagonist team may not even exist in that world. We don't know yet, though.) In that case, how did the war between Zeon and the Earth Federation end? So many questions. And so, the TV anime version everyone had been waiting for has finally started airing. On social media, theorizing, fan art, and pure reactions overflow day after day, and it's become so popular that it's guaranteed to hit the trends on broadcast days. I watched it right away, and it really is amazing. After all, it's the first anime co-produced by Studio Khara, the studio behind the Evangelion series, and Sunrise, with Hideaki Anno and Yoji Enokido on script, Ikuto Yamashita on mechanical design, and Kazuya Tsurumaki directing, a lineup of absolute top-tier talent. There's no way not to be excited.
Episode two does whatever it wants!
The original Mobile Suit Gundam, which the first generation of otaku watched as boys and the second generation as young children, is now regarded as a legendary work. But it's a famous story that, at the time of broadcast, its ratings were poor and it got cut short. And that First Gundam's soundtrack is used all over the place in episode two. Whether it's because the audio is good, because the other effects sounds feel properly modern, or because it's been re-recorded or remixed, I can't say, but it doesn't have that "we're just using the raw audio from a 1978 anime" feeling, so even fans who don't know the First should be able to take it in smoothly. And yet, it makes real-time First-generation viewers think, "it's just like back then..." Soundtracks really are a curious thing. The aforementioned scriptwriter, Hideaki Anno, grew up watching Godzilla, Rider, Ultraman, and Gundam, and you can feel him reinterpreting that material, having fun with it, and rewriting it into something of his own. It comes across loud and clear that, ah, this is a man who was an otaku enjoying that era from the bottom of his heart, and it's really wonderful.
The soundtrack is used sparingly, but each and every track is cool!!
As of this writing, three episodes have aired. Episodes one and two are special cases, with episode three being mainly where the story moves forward, but the soundtrack is only used in the "this is the moment!" scenes. Basically, everyday scenes unfold against natural ambient sound with no music. The soundtrack comes in when a mobile suit appears or during battle scenes. The near-future, predominantly electronic cues are captivating. And no wonder, this soundtrack is made by Junsei Terui, a member of the post-rock band Haisuinonasa (signed to Zankyo Record, which stood at the very front lines pulling Japan's rock scene through the 2010s), and Masayuki Hasuo, a member of school food punishment (a band that was a pioneer in the Japanese rock scene for incorporating 00s electronica). Honestly, since I personally was a fan of both bands, I may not be able to shake that bias, but flattery aside, it's incredibly cool, a masterpiece of a soundtrack that you'll want playing in the car or during downtime in your room. Incidentally, beyond that, the work also uses tracks by NOMELON NOLEMON as insert songs, plus a track by Suisei Hoshimachi, who also sings the ending theme. So rather than just "we'll use this effectively as a soundtrack!", you can also pick up on a vibe of trying to raise these artists' profiles through this anime. It feels like an expression of confidence, a conviction that GQuuuuuuX will be a huge, sweeping hit.
Anyway, I can't wait for what's next!!
I've written all this on sheer momentum, but as a Gundam fan, an anime fan, and a soundtrack fan and music fan, an anime I'm this excited about across the board is, honestly, the kind of thing I'd say comes around once a decade. So as one viewer, I'm beyond excited for what comes next. I think it's a work that even people who've never watched Gundam can enjoy, so let's enjoy it together!
Quoted from the official site https://x.com/G_GQuuuuuuX
