by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
We don’t often get three-episode drops of new seasons of television. Only a few streaming services, such as Apple TV+ and Amazon Prime Video, do this. There’s an obvious reason for this muddled, middle-ground approach to series rollouts: Most audiences expect to see either a full weekly release or the straight binge. But three-episode drops give audiences a few episodes to get them hooked. Yet the more interesting version of this release model is what anime have been doing: taking those three episodes, combining them into a “film,” and releasing them in theaters.
Does this approach work well for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning? Outside of its… different… name and obscene amount of Us in its name, it is a clunky and heavy-handed approach to introducing audiences to the latest story in this beloved franchise. Mobile Suit Gundam has been a favorite of anime fans for decades, with its cool, giant fighting mech suits, and GQuuuuuuX: Beginning does not disappoint. But a lot of groundwork needs to be established in this film, and much of the 80-minute runtime is just exposition. You get the geopolitical layers of the conflict between Zeon and the Earth Federation. There is the present state of Gundam suits and how they have gotten into the hands of non-military folk. A whole crew of characters from the underground are set up, including Amate Yuzuriha (Tomoyo Kurosawa), our young female protagonist who has a unique connection to these machines. An underground fighting ring going on (which presumably will be the focus of the series) takes center stage by the end of the film. Beginning feels like a sandwich of early and late giant mech suit battles, with more exposition in between. Even the end feels like the end of a television episode instead of a satisfying conclusion to a cinematic experience.
From a storytelling perspective, much of this film is conversational and leaning into setup. For a only 80 minutes, it is a tad long in the tooth. The structure is obvious, as title cards appear for the start of each new episode which makes up the film. There is no hiding that this film is really just a collection of episodes packaged together, and it’s not quite a cohesive story. But director Kazuya Tsurumaki makes up for all that with the striking animation, visuals, and action. The world building is satisfying, and the outer space community, and the battles staged around it, is impressive. But there is an obvious reason the audience is here… Gundam fights. Beginnings delivers on this front. The action is fun, clever, and stacked with awesome weapons and confrontations. At the very least, this film dedicates time to the giant mech suit fighting.
Does this collection of episodes achieve its goals of being both a strong pilot AND cinematic experience? Well… it achieves one of them in a much more obvious way. Beginnings accomplishes a lot of groundwork, setting up a complex world with plenty of layers. But this makes it hard to sell this as a singular experience. There are a few slow moments, but when it is time to lean into the visual spectacle for the theater audience, Tsurumaki delivers bold visuals, big action, and exciting thrills.
Rating: It Was Just Okay
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: Beginning is currently playing in theaters
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