People are going to be divided on this gundam entry. To say it's rushed or that it's story beats are undeserved isn't wrong per se, but it isn't exactly right either- it's just paying off things from 40 years (and 100+ episodes) ago, just not things that are introduced or explained within this series. And that's a shame- with more episodes that could entirely have been avoided and this show made more self-contained, but from what I read so far in interviews I guess that wasn't the show Tsurumaki and Studio Khara had in mind when making it.
See, Tsurumaki is making a show that's almost entirely coasting on subtext and vibes, but unlike FLCL you need to have an almost encyclopedic knowledge of a fictional history that rivals the complexity of the real world, and I'm not sure that works at all- when something surprising or unexpected happened in FLCL you, as the audience, just kinda rolled with it, whereas here you kinda need to place everything either in a (fictional) socio-economic political context, OR you need to parse what the characters represents based on their archetype established in a series of 40 year old Japanese cartoons. Because at the end of the day, going "oh, there's a metatextual reason why I've written my main character to just be yanked around by events beyond her ken or understanding" doesn't exactly change the fact that following your main character getting yanked around isn't exactly compelling storytelling in-and-of itself. And that level of metatextual-ness is why I'm having a hard time evaluating GQuuuuuuX- as the target audience a lot of this show works for me because I can follow the same storytelling shortcuts Tsurumaki is taking (at least on some level), but I keep wondering if absent that preexisting context I would feel the same. I suspect not.
(Although, if I do have one complaint it is that the ending is entirely too hetero for my liking. WHERE'S MY SLOPPY CHARxCHALLIA MAKE OUT SESH KHARA! YOU HAD ONE JOB!)
What I can say with certainty, is that this show is a fitting love-letter to the Universal Century and Tomino's work in general, and a way for a character whose legacy, whose "curse of Gundam" was to be eternally fridged for the character development of the two male leads, to finally regain her agency and her dignity.
And in that, I can say that I'm more than a little moved.
This show's writing is basically the same as your average fanfiction. It was not a disaster, but ended up not really appealing to me, especially with all the Evangelion style magical nonsense this episode. Char getting Garma'd was very funny though - and even then this is probably their best ending yet.
But alas, the Gihren's Greed ending we are getting is Sayla's instead. As Liberallia Bull proved, you just need the right people in power!
Also, Mr. Sex Pest shows up in a VA cameo. Not too surprising tbh, but still awkward.
Overall, my verdict: MID / 10
The best thing this show could bring about is a new Gihren's Greed game that finally gets a release outside of Japan.
And I suppose it's going to be pretty good for SRW!
I mean, it's a fix-fic to unfridge Lalah Sune and create a timeline where Char doesn't become an asshole
Don't slander my man, he didn't say that, he just said that Char can't be placed in power, and my dude obviously watched Char's Counter-Attack cos he's right.
Besides, Chairwoman Artesia Zum Deikun and Premier Ramba Ral will lead the People's Principality of Zeon to Fully Automated Newtype Luxury Space Mobile Suit Communism under the watchful guidance of Challia Bull's ~~Space K.G.B.~~ Newtype Corp.
(Ok real talk, I need a Gundam Double QuuuuuuX just for all The Man in the High Castle alt history stuff, because now I need to know if Sayla libs it up as badly as Minerva does in the main timeline, how much of a menace Scirocco becomes, the fate of the Plu's... there's still so much left to explore past once we get past Char and Lalah. Ironically, this universe where Zeon "won" has the best shot at the Earth Sphere becoming socialist!)
Char and Lalah's original VA's returning: Based, good.
Amuro's VA returning:
I was hoping they'd take the opportunity to recast him but I guess that's asking too much of Bandai execs.
To be fair to Char, he was actively running away from any serious leadership roles for the longest time. The Federation coopting AEUG and Haman coming out with a revanchist Neo-Zeon pulled his irresponsible ass into trying to be a leader.
I know the Psycho Gundam appearance was the payoff for the Titans stuff in this one, but it really felt like a bit of wasted effort in a 12 episode show.
I think UC Gundam is weighed down too much by the weight of Charmuro to do much more than this show did.
They could have had a stylish subtitle card thing with no voiced line, even.
To be fair, it kinda is a small miracle we got this show in the first place, and that the show succeeded in addressing Lalah's fate by re-centering it on her place in the universe quite literally (even if that success came at the expense of, I dunno, a cohesive independent story)... I'll take it.
Probably keeping him around for Hathaway 2, which just got announced. Bleh. And I was looking forward to that movie too.