Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX(Official) aired on Nippon TV from April 9 to June 25, 2025. It was directed by Kazuya Tsurumaki, known for FLCL and Gunbuster 2!
Personally, I think the series ended beautifully. It was also an ending that invited thoughts about what might happen afterward. So I want to consider the future of the world of Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX.
The discussion rests on the following assumption—or “fact”:
A Baoa Qu and the forces swept away with it by the Yomagn’tho remain lost.
That may seem an obvious assumption, but some caution is needed. GQuuuuuuX depicts two kinds of Xeknova: one moves things elsewhere within the same timeline, while the other connects to “the other side.” The Yomagn’tho seems to involve the latter, but that is not established beyond doubt. Hence “assumption.”
After all, I thought the first Xeknova had sent Char to another world, only to learn that he had merely been sent somewhere else. We later found out that this happened because Lalah wanted to save him.
On that assumption, the future of GQuuuuuuX looks bleak to me. As the title suggests, I think Challia Bull may end up becoming another “Char,” and Sayla—Artesia—another “Haman.”
I mean that as a prospect to regret, not celebrate. Here is how I arrived at that reading.
*This is a translated version. The original (Japanese) is available here.
- A Dark Future for Challia and Sayla
On the assumption that A Baoa Qu’s forces remain lost, the military balance between Zeon and the Federation is lost and the world returns to war. My prediction is that Challia’s own nihilism and arrogance could make him another “Char,” while the burden of leadership could turn Sayla into someone resembling Haman. - A Hopeful Ending for the Protagonists
In contrast to that bleak political forecast, Machu and Nyaan’s story ends with hope. The ending suggests they will move beyond the past and face the future with strength, apart from the political turmoil I imagine for their world. - A Homage to the Original Gundam—and a Case Against a Sequel
A hopeful future for the protagonists despite a troubled world recalls the hope in the ending of the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Opinions will differ, but I would rather not have a sequel that could undo that ending.
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GQuuuuuuX (2025): Challia’s Conviction and Sayla’s Unwanted Burden
Challia Bull: The “Char-like” Side of Rejecting Char
I think the biggest misdirection in GQuuuuuuX was making Challia Bull seem to be seeking Char as an ally. I fell for it, too.
The final episode instead reveals that he wants to confirm that Char is not the right person, then eliminate him.
What troubles me most is the certainty with which Challia judges Char.
He begins his attack on Char and says:
“I can tell. It is dangerous for you to lead Zeon. Someday, like Kycilia, you will resort to purging the people living on Earth. The ‘nihilism’ you wear tells me so!“
For those familiar with Char’s Counterattack, there is a little humor in this line. But I cannot help being troubled by his categorical way of speaking.
The “nihilism” he sees in Char is precisely what I think he himself carries. He had intended to end his own influence by facing a military tribunal and being removed from service—perhaps expecting a death sentence. Yet his reasoning seems to be: Char does not recognize his own nihilism, so he must be forcibly removed.
Thinking of Char’s life of misdirected effort in the main Universal Century continuity, I can see Challia’s point. Yet he is easily persuaded by Exabe and decides to support Zeon under Artesia.
The result is that a person carrying that same “nihilism” remains on the front line.
Challia declares that he can tell Char would be dangerous as Zeon’s leader. That confidence looks like arrogance to me—the very quality that makes me see something of Char in him.
Challia is shown to have exceptional insight as a Newtype, which lends weight to his judgment of Char. But insight is not the ability to predict the future. If he could do that, events would have unfolded much closer to his plans. Since they did not, we can read his judgment of Char at that moment as another expression of his arrogance.
Even with the Zabi family effectively gone and Artesia leading Zeon, a world in which Newtypes no longer have to fight will not arrive immediately.
With A Baoa Qu’s great military force gone, the balance with the Earth Federation is lost, and the Federation is probably watching for a chance to take revenge. If Zeon’s prosperity were the only consideration, it would have needed to destroy Earth with the Yomagn’tho, as Kycilia planned.
Whatever way I look at it, another age of war seems bound to follow the ending of GQuuuuuuX. Might Challia, sick of that situation, eventually turn to purging humanity? He already carries that “nihilism.”
Artesia Som Deikun: An Impossible Position, and Growing Resentment of Char
Sayla seems to have served as an ace pilot in the Earth Federation Forces in GQuuuuuuX, but she ends up leading Zeon as Artesia Som Deikun.
Her position is enormously difficult. As noted above, A Baoa Qu’s forces have been lost, and there may still be Zeon soldiers devoted to the Zabi family.
Domestic politics alone will be difficult, and the Earth Federation will not remain idle. Whoever leads Zeon is likely to be buffeted by renewed turmoil in the Universal Century.
Artesia probably chooses that difficult path of her own free will. Still, every so often she might spare a thought for her brother Casval—Char Aznable—getting along nicely with Lalah: “That bastard, taking it easy!”
Char, meanwhile, might grow impatient when the “age of Newtypes” fails to arrive, and try to contact Artesia.
By then, Lalah will probably have given him quite an “education,” so I doubt it would be like his appearance before Haman Karn in Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. But making contact at all is the problem.
Seeing him behave that way, might Artesia become angry, stubborn, and less flexible—just like Haman?
In Zeta Gundam, what Char needed to do was say, “Haman, I was wrong. Let’s start over, the three of us, with Mineva!” and begin a new life. In GQuuuuuuX, what matters is “doing nothing.”
Lalah would probably stop him, but I cannot help thinking about these possibilities.
That is roughly how I imagine the aftermath. In a sentence: “An endless hell begins, much like the main Universal Century continuity.”
It is a gloomy train of thought. But something important is missing from everything I have written so far: Machu and Nyaan.
Why I Hope GQuuuuuuX Does Not Get a Sequel
I’m Not Worried About Machu and Nyaan
When thinking about GQuuuuuuX, it is easy to focus on how its world works, or where that world is heading. But we must not forget that the protagonist of the story is Machu.
And I think Machu’s story comes to a wonderful conclusion.
It closes with “Gundam says we’ll meet again someday.” That could be read as lingering attachment or romantic feelings toward Shuji.
But the important detail is that she says it directly to Nyaan. I read this as showing that her feelings for Shuji have been transformed into something she can carry forward, rather than as an expression of regret or an inability to let go.
Shuji led Machu and Nyaan toward “somewhere other than here,” and the two of them succeed in setting off for that somewhere—even if they are still wanted fugitives.
I imagine Machu continuing to face life with strength, having all sorts of experiences on what she calls her journey to find Shuji. Nyaan may be with her, too.
Either way, the ending gives me reason to think they will move forward with resolve, so I am not worried about their future. That is why neither appeared in my gloomy political speculation above.
For me, the ending of GQuuuuuuX is so good because it leaves me thinking: “The protagonist’s world may be mired in turmoil, but Machu will keep going nonetheless.”
The Ending as a Homage to the Original Gundam
I want to consider that ending a little further through a comparison with the original Mobile Suit Gundam.
Sequels to the original series in the main Universal Century continuity went on to depict seemingly endless warfare. A certain resignation about humanity hangs over it all.
Real humanity has not overcome war either, so perhaps that is understandable. Still, I would like to see at least something resembling hope.
Thinking back, I feel that the original Mobile Suit Gundam already contained that hope.
First, and most importantly, the One Year War does end. Amuro Ray has been caught up in war and has, in effect, lost both parents. What makes the ending so wonderful to me is his clear recognition that he has a place to return to.
Suppose Mobile Suit Gundam had never received a sequel. We could still have imagined the political turmoil afterward, as I have done here. But what would we have imagined for Amuro himself?
Wouldn’t that ending have left us thinking, “A lot has happened, but Amuro Ray will face life with strength”? The same goes for Bright, Mirai, Katz, Letz, and Kikka. Although Mobile Suit Gundam ultimately became the beginning of an “endless hell,” I think its ending really did contain hope.
Seen this way, could we say that the ending of GQuuuuuuX, which leaves us feeling that Machu and Nyaan will surely face life with strength, is a superb homage to the original Mobile Suit Gundam?
Please, Leave It Alone: The Argument Against a Sequel
I have been considering what might follow the ending of GQuuuuuuX. My conclusion is: politically, everything seems bound to descend into turmoil, but Machu and her friends will keep going.
A sequel could send things the way of the main Gundam continuity. Machu and Nyaan’s own lives might become entangled in that turmoil, losing the hope the ending gave us.
Precisely because the ending was so good, part of me does want a sequel. Even so, I would very much prefer that one not be made.
What do you think?
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