“The White Gundam”

Presenting: The world’s most expensive Mobile Suit Gundam fan film

Zigg’s Thoughts

This episode is, I think, emblematic of all of the things people anticipated that GQuuuuuux was actually going to be, both in a good and a bad way. It’s good because it’s clearly a loving, deeply reverent homage to the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam. And it’s bad because, well, it’s a loving, deeply reverent homage to the original 1979 Mobile Suit Gundam. What this episode tells us is that GQuuuuuux is not going to shy away from its status as an alternate-history Universal Century – instead it’s going to embrace it wholeheartedly and without reserve. Where that decision takes us is where the tension and fascination that has defined the show so far is rooted.

For those of you less familiar with a nearly fifty year old mecha show, more detail is probably appropriate. The beginning of this episode is close to a 1:1 remake of the beginning of episode 1 of Mobile Suit Gundam, with of course one very important difference: Char ends up in the Gundam rather than Amuro. Even though the story rapidly diverges from that point, the episode continues to stylistically ape the old show, abandoning the art style of and character designs of episode 1 in favour of a close imitation of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko’s iconic 70s look. Were it not for the updated mechs I could easily have believed this was an episode of Mobile Suit Gundam THE ORIGIN, such is the fidelity to the older style.

It’s not just visually that the episode displays its credentials, as the script also shows off a plethora of references and nods that will delight the obsessive Gundam crowd. Subsequent interviews have confirmed that this flashback section was the part of the script which most came under the purview of Hideaki Anno, and that makes a lot of sense given the extremely hardcore-fan nature of a lot of the story here, digging into long debated what-if scenarios and pulling out deep continuity cuts. It’s certainly in line with Anno’s recent work on Shin Ultraman and Shin Kamen Rider, productions which fetishised their source material perhaps to the point of creative sterility.

That’s ultimately the main issue with this episode – it’s just kind of boring. Hell, I would class myself as a mid-to-upper-tier Gundam sicko and even I found this pretty draggy at times, so I can’t imagine what the experience would be like for a fresh pair of eyes. It’s worth pointing out that the Beginning movie was arranged so the material was in strict chronological order i.e. the contents of this episode came first. I think the TV show made the right choice to lead with the ‘present day’ material since it’s a much stronger hook, but that does mean that by putting this stuff in the second episode slot you sort of check any momentum the story had before it’s even really gotten rolling.

Beyond the novelty value of seeing an alternate history unfold, I don’t even think the material on show here is actually up to much. The gradual lionisation of Char Aznable is a decades long process you could literally write a book on, and I’m not going to get into it here, but this episode doesn’t do much to dispel the common criticism of him as an overpowered Mary Sue who single-handedly turns the tide of wars. To me at least Char is most interesting when used in a supporting role, where his struggle with his divided loyalties and inherently self-sabotaging nature can play out in the background of the hero’s story. An episode of him narrating how awesome he is to himself (which, to be fair, is entirely keeping in the style of how the character is usually written) doesn’t hold much appeal.

It’s also extremely noticeable that the show consciously sidelines Ghiren Zabi, the most openly fascist and tyrannical of the Zeon leadership, relegating him to a few mentions and focusing on the comparatively more digestible realpolitik of Kycilia. I’m sure people are thoroughly sick of us talking about the rehabilitation of Zeon down the years, but it’s still something which bugs me whenever it comes up and while GQuuuuuux certainly isn’t the worst offender, it’s still an uncomfortable theme running under a lot of this episode. Speaking of bad old habits returning, the backstory laid out here also involves a lot of patented Gundam Space Magic, something which I’m really not a fan of even in the very best shows. Though it’s not quite as clear in the televised episode, the additional footage in the movie made it clear the climax is meant to be a recontextualised version of Axis Shock which…I dunno, it’s an iconic moment, but even fans have to admit it’s an enormous deus ex machina and I don’t think the show has earned using it barely 40 minutes into the runtime, as opposed to the climax of three whole TV shows and a feature length movie.

If it sounds like I’m being harsh on this episode, then I sort of am, but I hope you can understand why. The promise of a new studio, with new (to the franchise) creative talent is that they would inject life into the franchise with novel approaches and fresh stories. Strapping them to such a bloated legacy with such retrodden characters and dynamics is something of a betrayal of that promise. Honestly, I hope this is pretty much the only glimpse into Gundam history that we get because GQuuuuuux is much more interesting when it’s telling its own story in its own style. Let’s get back to the future and see more of that please.

Random Observations

• I do like Yuuki Shin’s performance as Char. Shiuchi Ikeda’s voice is iconic of course, but it’s nice to hear Char actually sound like the twentysomething he’s supposed to be, and Shin does a good job of preserving some of Ikeda’s tics and performance style while bringing his own energy to the role.
• The classic commercial bumper is another example of slavish recreation but it still made me smile.
• The movie version of this episode included a massive chunk more content covering Char’s assault on the Solomon asteroid, including (SPOILERS) him being attacked by a GM piloted by his sister Artesia/Sayla Mass.
• OP is mid, ED is a delight.