A stage greeting to commemorate the re-screening of the theatrical advance version of the latest work in the popular anime series "Gundam", "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-", was held at TOHO Cinemas Shinjuku (Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo) on June 28th, with Tomoyo Kurosawa, who plays Amate Yuzuriha (Machu), Director Kazuya Tsurumaki, and series composition and scriptwriter Yoji Enokido appearing. The final episode of the TV anime series was also a hot topic as it featured the Gelgoog, which is also familiar from "Mobile Suit Gundam", and Director Tsurumaki, who said that the Gelgoog is his "favorite MS (mobile suit)", spoke about his particular preferences.
In "Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX," the Gelgoog, the official weapon of the Principality of Zeon, was introduced, developed based on Gundam data, but its shape was different from that of the Gundam in "Mobile Suit Gundam." In the final episode, the Gelgoog, familiar from "Mobile Suit Gundam," finally made an appearance. Director Tsurumaki was pleased, saying, "I'm glad I was able to use my favorite Gelgoog to my heart's content." He revealed his particular attention to detail, saying, "The official version of the Gelgoog's beam naginata is yellow, and the color designer also came up with yellow. I had it retaken, and it's now blue-white."
In the final episode, there was a scene in which Char's Big Zam and Char's Zudah appeared. Director Tsurumaki said, "I had to explain a complicated setting in one shot. I thought it would be better to express it with an MS, so I used an MS that didn't appear in 'GQuuuuuuX'. The Big Zam does appear, though." It seems he paid attention to the details.
Director Tsurumaki said, "My own particular preference is the scene where Machu climbs the stairs of the shrine. The camera is at the top of the stairs. There's a similar scene in the manga 'AKIRA', and I like staircase scenes. I also like the staircase scene with Exabe and Shalia Bull, and the staircase scene with Artesia. The type of camera I used to shoot it was influenced by 'AKIRA'." He added that he has many other particular preferences.
Char Aznable's "transformation" scene in episode 11 was also memorable. Enokido revealed, "When I was writing the preliminary draft of the script for episode 11, the director said that he wanted Char to appear in his mask and officer's uniform. He didn't want Char to prepare and change into his own costume. So why not just have him transform? When Zekunova occurs and the MS suddenly appears, why not have him transform?" Director Tsurumaki nodded and said, "I was asking for something unreasonable, so I decided that a transformation was the only option..."
In the final episode, there was a scene where the Gundam appeared from "the other side" and became gigantic, and Kurosawa was surprised, saying, "I never thought it would become so big..." Enokido explained, "It was decided from the beginning that the white Gundam would be the final boss. Five years have passed since the One Year War, so how do we make it stronger? We had the idea of using the clone technique, but other Gundams have done that too. The only thing I could think of was hyper transformation. The director wasn't immediately convinced, though."
"Hyperization" refers to the gigantism phenomenon seen in " Aura Battler Dunbine : Char's Counterattack," directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino . Director Tsurumaki commented, "I guess it makes sense if you think about it in the context of Director Tomino's robot anime. There is a spark, but I asked for the hyperization to be expressed in a modern way."
Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX is also a hot topic as it is the first collaboration between Sunrise, which is responsible for the Gundam series, and khara, known for the Evangelion series. Ahead of the broadcast of the TV anime series, a pre-release theatrical version, which reconstructed some episodes, began screening on January 17th, and has been showing again since June 20th. The TV anime series began airing on Nippon TV in April, with the final episode airing late at night on June 24th.
