It is the year 0079 of the Universal Century, a new calendar to mark the start of forcibly emigrating most of the human population to space colony clusters known as Sides. Renaming itself the Principality of Zeon, Side 3 launches an alleged war of independence against the ruling Earth Federation and takes an early lead by using towering mecha known as mobile suits. The Federation responds by producing their own but when Zeon stumbles upon the test site, the resulting chaos sees the prototype Gundam being hijacked by a young man- Char Aznable, decorated Zeon ace.

…Wait, what?

Yes, from the off GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- chooses to explore the question of what if Amuro Ray never had his fateful encounter and the iconic Gundam was instead secured by his once rival. The result is a radically different UC from the one viewers are familiar with and the film explores that both during and after the One Year War.

Before going any further, it’s important to highlight this is a compilation preview of the early episodes of the newest Gundam series that launches next month, so whilst there’s a sense of completion here don’t go in expecting a fully resolved story.

The first half of the movie is a clear love letter to the original 1979 series that inspired much of the talent from Khara who are collaborating with Sunrise to produce this. There’s a lot of recreations of iconic shots and plays on famous quotes as the original story starts to unravel in this new timeline. It’s all presented quite effectively even if you’re completely new but I will admit it goes down easier if you’re an established fan. After the theft we’re fast tracked through the changed events of the original series we’ve mentions of unseen characters and events that will mean nothing to newbies but give nerds like me the warm fuzzies.

The more easily grasped and interesting part is the world seen a half decade after the end of the war. The tone here changes to something closer to modern anime, including replacing the lovingly Yas loyal character designs with ones by Take of Pokemon fame. We’re introduced to Amate Yuzuriha, an eccentric young woman who is bored of the artificial nature of life in the simulated colonies. A chance encounter with a fleeing black market courier sees her drawn into the illegal sport of Clan Battle, where struggling refugees using decommissioned mobile suits in the pursuit of cash prizes.

Being a longterm Gundam fan I enjoyed the retro throwback that begins the film but it was in this second half I kept catching myself wearing a big goofy grin. I was really hesitant about the alternate history concept, especially as in recent years official productions have a terrible habit of whitewashing Zeon. Luckily that doesn’t happen here and we get to see a world that not only hasn’t fixed the problems Zeon pledged they would but has created new ones. The original 1979 series highlighted the plight of refugees, so I’m very happy to see focus on that issue retained here.

That’s not to say, however, that there isn’t a jovial tone here. Directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki of FLCL fame there’s a high number of cute and hilarious sight gags throughout. Indeed there’s a few similarities here to previous Gundam mega-hit The Witch From Mercury, prioritising the franchise’s focus contemporary youth audience and even dropping a few sly meta jokes about the original series (having had their fun in the first half, the old men are not against firing shots in their own direction).

An interesting note is that many of the returning characters have new voice actors, with not even franchise stalwart Shuichi Ikeda returning to voice Char. We’ve been slowly seeing this trend for well over a decade now and a particular recent controversy likely forced this situation.

Visually the film is stunning. There have been no shortage of 0079 throwback animated projects in recent years but returning to that comfortable style is welcome and makes it all the more impactful when Amate’s story starts, with the entire world seemingly inspired by Take’s vibrant character designs.

This is probably one of the most charming Gundam productions in a while. In it’s almost 50 year history it’s inspired countless imaginations and it’s great to see creators who were inspired by the original Gundam boom working to share their love and inspire the next generation of fans. Highly reccomended.

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- will be shown in select UK and Ireland cinemas Saturday 15th March.

The post Review: “Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- (UK/Éire Theatrical Release)”: A Dazzling Theatrical Display appeared first on Anime Superhero News.