So much of Gundam GQuuuuuuX‘s riffing on the legacy of the 1979 original across its 12 episodes has been almost about a yearning sense of inevitability that it could only end in one way—a retread of what came before narratively, and a continuation of the cycle of conflict that has broadly defined the franchise at large and the Universal Century setting that GQuuuuuuX played with in particular. But in its final episode, GQuuuuuuX played with its nostalgic sensibilities one last time to imagine for itself a future that broke the cycle of Gundam, and the thrall of its past self.
A lot happens in “That’s Why I,” the 12th and seemingly final episode of Gundam GQuuuuuuX on its road to imagining that future—much of it grappling with that question about the inevitability of the show’s remixing and obsession with the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. The final battle between Machu, Nyaan, and Shuji (and Challia and Char, the adult spectators to the conflict of a generation beyond them, dealing with the scars of their own conflicts) largely becomes driven by a revelation made early on by Shuji.
The Lalah Sune inside the Rose of Sharon is from a reality where Char died at the hands of Amuro Ray in the One Year War, sacrificing himself to save her, and he has been chasing her across endless realities in that moment ever since, as she desperately tries to find one where Char survives. But she never does, recreating her despair that sundered reality in the first place and distorting those realities beyond existence. In order to stop Lalah from bearing that pain over and over—threatening to bear it once more, should Char reject what she’s done—Shuji decides its time to essentially euthanize her, ending this latest reality before she can destroy it and her original one in the fallout.
© Sunrise/Prime VideoIt’s perhaps telling at this point that this Lalah, very clearly distinct from the Lalah of the original Gundam, has not been able to create (or even contemplate) a possibility that leads to the events of the original Mobile Suit Gundam, where it’s Amuro and Char who survive, and she does not. Even the Lalah of GQuuuuuuX‘s reality, where Char has survived but doesn’t meet her during the war, only had visions of timelines where Char meets his end saving her. The Rose Lalah, the GQuuuuuuX Lalah, there isn’t any dream of a happy future for them: it’s either the pain of loss or the the pain of never knowing this man she still yet somehow knows thanks to her Newtype connection.
In many way it maps to the trajectory of the Universal Century setting as we know it: where the evolution of, deeper connection between, humankind represented by the awakening of Newtypes is constantly cut short by the tragedy of repeating wars between Earth and its colonies. A future where that profound understanding is always marred by a sense of loss, the tragedy what could’ve been, as that cycle of conflict continues. The very act of Gundam being saved from premature cancellation and its spinning out into one of anime’s most enduring franchises almost belies that hope for peace: the hopeful end of the war in the original Gundam gives way to Zeta Gundam‘s setting where Earth has turned further totalitarian in its oppression of the colonies, sparking a resurgence of Zeon that climaxes in Char’s Counterattack. The cycle doesn’t stop there, with new wars and new factions emerging across stories like Unicorn, Hathaway, F91, and Victory, and even eventually implied further still in adjacent alternate universes like Reconguista in G and Turn A Gundam.
© Sunrise/Prime VideoGQuuuuuuX almost makes this literal in having Shuji pilot the image of original Gundam—not remixed, but styled to how it appeared in the original anime—to commit his attempted euthanasia. As Machu and Nyaan battle to stop him, the Gundam blurs reality, growing and transforming into a more literal version of its “White Devil” moniker, an almost literal specter haunting the people of this so-called-aberrant reality. But ultimately, Machu defies Shuji, not by killing him (although she does get to cathartically slice the Gundam’s head off as a finishing flourish, a very potent image given the ideas at play here), but by begging him to break free of this cycle of death and to contemplate a reality where Lalah is allowed to move on from her grief in her own terms. The evolution of Newtypes, as Machu understands it, is in finding strength in the deeper connection it brings, in exploring new potentials and possibilities—that she was made a stronger person in her own evolution as a Newtype in meeting Nyaan and him. In her mind, Lalah can’t find that same strength unless she’s allowed to confront the loss of her own deeper connection to her Char and move on from it, knowing that there’s a world out there where the possibility of them both living lives, albeit separate ones, exists.
In making him realize that Lalah has to be allowed the chance to make that realization herself, rather than be protected from it, Machu doesn’t just win the day, but galvanizes GQuuuuuuX to deliver a hopeful future for its alternate spin on the Universal Century. Char and Challia part ways, the former promising the latter to make a better life for himself that would make the latter proud, after Challia expresses fears that Char’s own loneliness could lead him down a path of self-destruction—as it eventually does in the original setting by Char’s Counterattack. That road even starts with this version of Char finally meeting “his” version of Lalah, giving them both a potential path to a happy ending together. Zeon, free of the fascistic rule of the Zabi family, installs its own version of Char’s sister Artesia as its new ruler, imagining a future where her family’s ideals for spacenoid independence could live on beyond the usurpation of the Zabi dynasty. The series closes on Nyaan and Machu relaxing on Earth—rebonding after their separation in the climactic episodes of the season—hopeful that that this was not the last time they’ll see Shuji, and with Machu even reconnecting with her estranged parents.
© Sunrise/Prime VideoGQuuuuuuX‘s ultimate ending—arguably not even that distinct an ending, considering it leaves the door open for further exploration of this vision of the series in ways few might have expected it to—is not that the cycle of Gundam itself must continue, but that a possibility for the series to imagine new potentials, new visions of even its most sacred aspects. A possibility where this earned peace is not temporary, but sustained—and that Gundam can still be Gundam if it imagines itself contexts and futures beyond that cyclical conflict. It’s a poignantly hopeful denouement to a show that has largely defined itself through an obsessive remix of Gundam‘s past to gift the idea that it does not have to be forever beholden to it.
Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, what’s next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.
English (US) ·