MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM GQuuuuuuX ーBeginningー
STAGE GREETING REPORT

A special onstage greeting to celebrate the film’s major success was held on February 2. We bring you a full report from the event, including every word from Director Kazuya Tsurumaki, screenwriter Yoji Enokido, and Shinba Tsuchiya (voice of Shuuji Itou)!

Text by: Kunihide Shida

On February 2, a landmark day that nobody saw coming, the very first onstage greeting for Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- (hereafter, “GQX”) took place at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku. This newest entry in the Gundam series is a collaborative effort between Sunrise and Studio Khara, the team behind the Evangelion series. Director Kazuya Tsurumaki and series composition writer Yoji Enokido have worked together since the original Neon Genesis Evangelion, and they’ve also co-created titles such as FLCL (Fooly Cooly), Gunbuster 2, and The Dragon Dentist. With these two on stage together, it was no surprise that the audience filled every seat.

The moment Director Tsurumaki, Enokido, and Shinba Tsuchiya (voice of Shuuji Itou) appeared on stage, they were greeted by thunderous applause.

When host Chiaki Matsuzawa asked for everyone’s reaction to GQX surpassing one million viewers, Tsuchiya shared his excitement:

Tsuchiya: “I posted on X (formerly Twitter) about it, but one million is such a huge number, it’s really hard to picture. I’ve personally watched GQX three times so far, so maybe I’m responsible for three out of that one million! The recording sessions felt like working on any other project, but knowing now that over a million people have seen it, I get this feeling like it’s really taken flight!”

With that, host Matsuzawa chimed in.

“I’ve gone to see it three times myself, so that makes six viewers between the two of us,” revealing just how much love they both have for the film. Following that, Enokido and Tsurumaki each offered their thoughts:

Enokido: “Someone I know pointed out that ‘the green old man’ is super popular on the internet right now. I had no idea who they were talking about. Apparently, the character’s real name was being kept under wraps to avoid spoilers, so fans were calling him by that nickname. For a second, I wondered if there was actually a character I, the writer, knew nothing about!”

Tsurumaki: “This was originally just meant to be an advance screening, so I didn’t expect it to be such a hit. I’m genuinely thrilled. On top of that, the fan art has been fantastic. I look at pixiv and X often to check out all the illustrations people post, and I have to say, it’s a real joy.”

As the audience chuckled warmly at the thought of Director Tsurumaki browsing pixiv to see fan creations, the conversation moved on.

Next, Shinji actor Tsuchiya joined this stage greeting. It was announced that he would officially serve as GQX Ambassador. Accepting a ceremonial sash from Director Tsurumaki, Tsuchiya echoed one of Shuuji’s lines in a spirited twist:

Tsuchiya: “The Gundam is telling me to give it my all!”

And with that, the first half of the event shifted to a Q&A with Tsurumaki and Enokido, moderated by Matsuzawa.

The first question: “Why depict the setting of the original Mobile Suit Gundam in GQuuuuuuX?”

Enokido: “I’m from the generation that watched the very first Gundam in real time. When it aired, I was 15, the same age as Amuro Ray, so I’ve had Gundam on my mind ever since. Even before I got involved in GQX, Gundam was always there in my heart.”

Tsurumaki: “Originally, I planned to depict that opening section (the part set in the original Mobile Suit Gundam era) in a shorter form, like a quick pre-title sequence. You see, GQX is intended as a TV series, but I kept thinking, ‘We just can’t fit it in; it’s too cramped.’ During one of our story meetings, someone on staff said, ‘Why not make it its own standalone piece?’ That sparked a sudden idea. Once Hideaki Anno got wind of that, he really dove in. We ended up asking him to create the rough story beats for that part. In just a few days, less than a week, he handed us a massive outline that practically covered the entire One Year War. He was clearly having a blast. I truly believe that if anyone was going to tackle that sequence, it had to be Anno. So having him on board felt like the best possible scenario.”

Matsuzawa noted how detailed the lines and scenes felt in that section.

Tsurumaki: “It’s something only Anno could write. Honestly, it scared me a bit, like he went places I wouldn’t dare. I’d probably try to tidy it up or make it ‘cool’ somehow. I could never go that bold. But Anno, now freed from all things Evangelion, approached it without any inhibitions. He brought back that old creative spirit, similar to when we were doing the original Gunbuster or Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water. I wasn’t directly by his side for Gunbuster, but I remember the vibe during Nadia, he was at full ‘fan mode’ back then, and it feels like he’s come full circle (laughs).”

Enokido: “From his point of view, Tsurumaki and I are probably too deferential to (original Gundam creator) Yoshiyuki Tomino. He always tells us, ‘Stop holding back!’ (laughs)”

Matsuzawa asked both men what went through their minds when the offer to direct a Gundam project first came in. Tsurumaki and Enokido admitted they had complicated feelings, being longtime fans themselves.

Tsurumaki: “It started when one of our producers at Studio Khara said that Sunrise (as it was known then) had approached us with the idea, basically, ‘Can Tsurumaki do a Gundam?’ So the producer came right to me. I love Gundam, but not necessarily in the sense that I’d want to direct one. Still, I said, ‘Well, if they want a proposal, I’ll write one up.’ With Gundam, there are multiple directions. There’s the Universal Century timeline and then the alternative timelines. Sunrise hadn’t specified which direction they wanted, so I suspect they assumed we’d probably pick an alternate timeline approach. But right from the start, I was certain I wanted it to be Universal Century. So I wrote the proposal that way, fully prepared for them to turn it down.”

Enokido: “The planning for GQX actually started while we were still working on Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time. Even before that, I’d heard rumors that Tsurumaki might be doing Gundam. I was sure if it was Tsurumaki, it would have to be something set in the Universal Century. Then he revealed his idea for GQX, and it just blew my mind. But precisely because it was so new, something no one had tried before, I found it fascinating. Over time, it’s become clear to me that Tsurumaki’s concept might be the perfect way for us to take on Gundam. I’m really glad we got to make it happen.”

Both Tsurumaki and Enokido are known for distinctive works like FLCL, so Matsuzawa asked about the difficulties of portraying the Gundam world.

Enokido: “That’s a tough question. Gundam makes people act like it’s life or death. I remember one night we spent a full hour arguing about whether a Rick Dom could beat a GM in a fight. There’s no such scene in ‘G-Quuuuuux’ itself, but eventually, it got so heated it was almost like we were fighting. I’d say, ‘There’s no way a Rick Dom could lose!’ and Tsurumaki would come back with, ‘Yeah, but the GM is basically a Gundam!’ And I found myself thinking, ‘So that’s who Tsurumaki really is…’ (laughs) But I don’t think we’d ever get that fired up if it wasn’t Gundam.”

Tsurumaki: “It’s a classic ‘boy thing,’ though I’m old enough that I’m no boy at this point. But if you’re an anime fan, Gundam is in your bones. Everyone has their own personal connection to it. People zero in on whether the Rick Dom is strong or not, and everyone’s got their own nitpicks and points they don’t care about. During staff meetings, I’d find people incredibly particular about things I considered trivial. I can only imagine there are fans out there doing the same with GQX, which is actually a bit nerve-wracking.”

At this point, the second half of the stage greeting began, and Tsuchiya took over as host, his first job as the newly appointed GQX Ambassador.

Tsuchiya: “Let me start by asking: from the very early planning stages, you decided to include iconic characters like Char Aznable and Challia Bull. Could you tell us what elements you considered most important in reintroducing them? Let’s begin with master Enokido.”

Enokido: “…’Master?’ You called me master just now! Anyway, going back 25 years, when we were making FLCL, Tsurumaki would talk about Gundam quite a bit. Even then, he’d say, ‘It’d be cool to do a remake of Gundam with Challia Bull at the center.'”

Tsurumaki: “I didn’t realize this until later, but apparently, director Shinji Higuchi also said somewhere that a Gundam story focusing on Challia Bull could be really interesting. I guess people in our circle just had that collective instinct. Challia Bull appears in only one episode of the original series, but there was something compelling about that character that made you want to dig deeper.”

Tsuchiya: “What aspects did you focus on when you depicted the mobile suit battle scenes?”

Enokido: “Director Tsurumaki told me from the start that he didn’t want to rely solely on beam rifles to carry fight scenes. If I asked, ‘Then what weapon does the Gundam use?’ he’d say, ‘A heat hawk.’ That was the moment my brain completely shorted out. I pleaded, ‘Couldn’t we at least give it a beam saber?’ but he insisted that beam sabers and beam rifles make fights too quick, and thus less interesting. He wanted to do a Gundam that intentionally relied on heat hawks. Seeing the final footage, I have to say his robot battle scenes really are thrilling. He’s truly a consummate professional.”

Tsurumaki: “It might not be directly about the battles themselves, but I remember Tomino saying that doing Gundam involves collaborating closely with toy companies. Most of the anime I’ve worked on never changed much based on external input, so part of me was curious. I thought, ‘Maybe designing a mobile suit specifically for the sake of the model kit could be fun.’ So that was also in the back of my mind. I discussed all of this upfront with mechanical designer Ikuto Yamashita, explaining that while we want these mechs to look amazing on screen, we also want to make sure they’ll translate naturally into Gunpla kits.”

Tsuchiya: “The term ‘M.A.V. (Mav)’ appears in the story to describe two-pilot combat tactics. Master Enokido, is there a particular meaning behind it?”

Enokido: “I’m… not really a ‘master.’ (laughs) Anyway, Tsurumaki proposed the concept of a clan battle with two-on-two mobile suit fights. In the world of Gundam, Newtypes are never truly alone, Amuro has Lalah, for instance, and that ‘spiritual connection’ awakens the Newtype ability. So having two-on-two battles has special significance in the Gundam universe. We wanted a term unique to this story that would embody that idea. ‘Buddy’ is a common modern word for a partner, but I found myself thinking of the word ‘Mav.’ When I suggested it to Tsurumaki, he liked it right away. It works as a military term, but it also feels very casual. Friends or lovers might use the term ‘Mav’ in this world. These days, words like ‘friend’ and ‘best friend’ can be tricky, some people meet online, never in person, yet still call each other friends. It’s complicated. So rather than use the word ‘friend,’ we decided to coin a new word that captured that bond.”

Tsurumaki: “I thought it was clever that it could exist both as everyday slang and as military jargon. If we went with something ultra-technical—like a ‘Whatever System,’ it wouldn’t flow naturally in daily conversation. But ‘Mav’ kind of hints at ‘mabu-dachi’ (BFF, bro, real friend, etc), so you get the gist as soon as you hear it. I loved it and adopted it immediately.”

Tsuchiya: “This series has two standout female characters, Machu (Amate Yuzuriha) and Nyaan. There’s that scene where they first meet at the subway turnstiles. What was the idea behind that moment?”

Enokido: “When Nyaan vaults over the turnstile and bumps into Machu, I thought, ‘This is so Tsurumaki!’ I was shocked when I saw it on screen. Back when we worked on FLCL, the heroine, who’s this alien girl on a Vespa scooter, first meets the boy protagonist by smacking him in the head with a bass guitar. When Tsurumaki originally described that, I remember my mind going blank (laughs). But that’s what a Tsurumaki protagonist is all about: collisions, literal or figurative. It’s just so him.”

Tsurumaki: “I wasn’t consciously repeating myself, but it did end up that way. I guess having characters just pass one another on a street feels too tame to me. I realized that about myself all over again.”

Tsuchiya:“What about the scene where Shuuji and Machu meet?”

Tsurumaki: “We really wanted to flesh out the reality of a space colony, and show some places within it that you never see in Gundam. I thought, ‘Let’s go with something like a London canal, but inside a colony, under a bridge.’ I’m also a big fan of parkour videos on YouTube, and those teams always do parkour under bridges. FLCL had some memorable scenes under a bridge, too. I just love that sort of environment. So I thought, ‘Let’s put our most significant moment, where Shuuji meets Machu, under a bridge.'”

Enokido: “I’m the same. When depicting a space colony, it’s fun to show things that don’t feel ‘colony-like.’ Canals, shrines… I kept suggesting locations that haven’t been used much in a colony setting before, and whenever I did, Tsurumaki was happy.”

Tsuchiya: “I noticed the colony in GQX uses place names that seem derived from old Japanese references. Can you tell us more about that?”

Tsurumaki: “There’s a Gundam series called Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket that’s also set during the One Year War, in Side 6. They actually show several place names there. Since real people live there, it can’t just be ‘Block 15’ or ‘3rd Street,’ it has to have real-sounding names. This time, we added a subway system to our Side 6, so we had a perfect excuse to show station and district names. I love that kind of thing. I decided that this Side 6 might use Japanese as its second official language. From there, Enokido suggested a ton of specific name ideas.”

Enokido: “Early on, Tsurumaki asked if we could find names that sound somewhat like archaic Japanese but could also feel like colony names. I might start with, say, ‘Izumo,’ then twist a character or two to become ‘Izuma.’ We’d bounce these back and forth, refining them to sound like real colony place names.”

Tsurumaki: “We joked about ‘Okachimachi Colony,’ but that would be a little too on the nose, too obviously ‘close to home,’ so we tried to split the difference. We wanted them to give off a hint of Japanese while also being fictional enough for a space colony.”

Enokido: “In the original Mobile Suit Gundam, Side 6 is depicted as kind of a naïve, carefree place even in the midst of war. It’s almost a caricature of ‘Japan during wartime,’ so leaning into that Japanese vibe for the colony fits perfectly with Tsurumaki’s vision.”

The more they talked, the more details emerged. The stage greeting extended well beyond the usual 30-minute mark, with all three sharing remarkable insights. Then came a surprise from host Matsuzawa:

Matsuzawa: “Today, February 2, is actually Director Tsurumaki’s birthday!”

Amid thunderous applause from the packed house, Tsuchiya, on behalf of GQX, presented Tsurumaki with a birthday bouquet. Holding the flowers, Tsurumaki offered a final message to the fans:

Tsurumaki: “GQX is going to keep playing in theaters for some time, but if it moves to television, I doubt it’ll run in this exact format. There are scenes and cuts you can only experience in the theater. I’d love for you to keep that in mind as you watch it on the big screen. Thank you so much for your continued support of GQX.”

With radiant smiles, Tsurumaki, Enokido, and Tsuchiya exited the stage. This first onstage greeting for GQX concluded with a rich, satisfying discussion that surely delighted the many fans who attended.

Source: Gundam Ace No.272, April 2025 (pages 8-11)