From our other sites
The story
A thread titled “Was it really bad enough to get this much hate?” popped up on 5ch’s Nandemo Jikkyo G board over Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX. Some posters praised the return of Amuro and Char, while others pointed to the abruptness of heroine Machu’s emotional arc, questioned the point of setting the story in a parallel world, and argued that the late-game “high-stakes mobile suit battle” arc was unnecessary. A few defended the show by citing rising overseas Gunpla sales, sparking a broader debate over how to separate a work’s quality from its commercial success.
What people said
But it really did fizzle out toward the end, and the ending itself was a letdown.
Did it really fizzle out that much though?
We got Amuro, Char, and Lalah all together, plus "Beyond the Time" going off — that was hype.
I don't really get that complaint.
She's clearly written as a girl falling for a good-looking guy.
What I don't get is Nyaan — the two of them got close somehow without much explanation.
It didn't bother me, but I did watch it thinking she fell for him awfully fast 🥺
It's just the "what if Amuro had never boarded the Gundam" idea every Gundam otaku has thought about at some point, turned into official doujin work using Anno's big-name clout.
That's all it is — sub-garbage.
It's a butterfly-effect thing — plenty else changed too.
Resources were supposed to be their weak point, yet they're mass-producing that many Big Zams.
That one belongs in the same category.
Overseas viewership shot up like crazy.
The UK even got a Gundam Base out of it.
Is that even relevant?
No, come on, it's obvious.
A high schooler stifled by her circumstances got drawn to a free-spirited guy and his Gundam.
I wonder if the day will come when Machu lands some kind of corporate collab.
Feels like we're comparing a person to a non-person here.
Gunpla sells well even as exports
⬇
That brings in more funding
⬇
Which lets them make a new Gundam show
⬇
Back to step 1
So how does that relate to how good the anime actually is?
Have you ever worked a day in your life?!
So again, how does that relate to how good the anime is?
Of course it's relevant.
Stuff selling well means the mobile suit designs etc. are genuinely good.
Same deal with Iron-Blooded Orphans — the story's trash, but the MS designs get praised.
If you can't see why that's relevant, you just haven't thought it through. Think harder.
Oh right, there was that 'Mabu' thing too.
Already forgot about it.
The 'Aerial' branded snack was actually good!
No way, idiot.
There was tons more — the Bob thing, the tomato-crushing scene, you name it.
Nobody wants to watch a tense, bitter yuri drama.
Why didn't they just make it a cheerful, giggly transform-and-combine Gundam show?
No way — plastic models barely sell in the West anyway.
I'm talking about IF they sell.
I don't know the numbers for the West specifically, but Gunpla sells well enough overseas that it's roughly 50:50 Japan versus overseas.
Source:
https://www.bandainamco.co.jp/ir/library/feature04_02_2024.html
Star Wars' art director playing with Gunpla ⬇
https://youtu.be/xfmD1yYqP6k?si=8ctifHXGU0AZP1zD
Those episodes with the high-stakes mobile suit battle stuff were completely unnecessary.
Agreed on that.
That whole arc could've been cut entirely.
It's needed though — it's the part that shows the worldbuilding and what happened to the old characters afterward.
Witch from Mercury: the anime where Ichiro Okouchi just wants to do yuri, yuri, yuri
GQuuuuuuX: the anime where Kazuya Tsurumaki smirks to himself over idol in-jokes
Come on, Gundam… you doing okay up there?
Sounds like you lead a pretty boring life.
Also, apparently Mercury wanted to lean even harder into the yuri stuff, so now there's a real-life school-life spinoff…
Background and points of debate
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is a 2025 entry in the Universal Century Gundam franchise directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki. Set in a parallel world following the events of Char’s Counterattack, it brings back original-series characters like Amuro and Char. In the thread, opinion split between critics who, comparing it to Witch from Mercury and Iron-Blooded Orphans, argued that the director’s and writers’ personal styles were too heavy-handed, and defenders who simply enjoyed the hype of seeing Amuro and Char return. The sharpest disagreement centered on heroine Machu’s emotional portrayal and whether the second-half “high-stakes mobile suit battle” arc was necessary. Some also pointed to rising overseas Gunpla sales as evidence the show was a “success,” though others pushed back on whether that has any bearing on the show’s actual quality — worth noting the discussion drifted somewhat off-topic at points.
*This article is compiled from excerpts and a summary of the 5ch (Nandemo Jikkyo G) thread “People were bashing GQuuuuuuX so hard — was it really that bad?“.
Leave a Reply