General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- (機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-)

Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning- (機動戦士Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-) is a Japanese animated theatrical pre-release film that re-edited episodes of the television series Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX (ジークアクス) for cinema screening ahead of the series broadcast. It was the first collaboration between Studio Khara, the studio behind the Evangelion series, and Sunrise, the studio behind the Gundam franchise, and it opened in Japan on January 17, 2025.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese release	January 17, 2025, in 373 theaters nationwide³
Format	Some episodes of the TV series re-edited for theatrical screening, released before the TV broadcast⁴
Running time	81 minutes; distributed by Toho and Bandai Namco Filmworks²
Staff	Director Kazuya Tsurumaki; series composition and screenplay Yoji Enokido; Hideaki Anno wrote the early screenplay⁴
Box office	Passed 3 billion yen on day 49 (March 9, 2025); final total exceeded 3.3 billion yen with more than 2 million attendees⁵^•⁶
Home video	4K Ultra HD Blu-ray + Blu-ray and DVD released May 27, 2026⁷

Spoilers

Content and relationship to the TV series

The film re-edited a portion of the television series' episodes for theatrical screening before the broadcast.⁴ The underlying story follows Amate Yuzuriha, a high school student living on a space colony who, after meeting the girl Nyaan, is drawn into the illegal mobile suit dueling sport Clan Battle under the entry name Machu, piloting the GQuuuuuuX; a mysterious mobile suit called Gundam and its pilot Shuji Ito appear before her.⁷

The television series Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX then aired for 12 episodes from April 8 to June 24, 2025.⁶ The franchise as a whole received a special award at the 46th Japan SF Grand Prize, given by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of Japan to works judged to have added a new aspect to the history of SF.⁶

Production

The film was the first collaboration between Studio Khara and Sunrise on a Gundam work. Kazuya Tsurumaki, director of the Rebuild of Evangelion films including Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021), directed; Yoji Enokido handled series composition and screenplay; and Ikuto Yamashita served as mechanical designer.⁴ Hideaki Anno, creator of Evangelion, wrote the screenplay for the film's opening portion.⁴

The expanded opening. Tsurumaki said he had originally intended the opening section to be short, in the manner of an avant-title, but it did not fit within the television series' running time. During script meetings the staff suggested making it independent, at which point Anno "plugged in" energetically and sent an enormous plot within a few days. Tsurumaki said no one was better suited to write those scenes, and that Anno, freed from Evangelion, was working with his "limiter removed," recalling the fan-enthusiasm of his Gunbuster and Nadia period. Enokido remarked that only Anno could have written it, doing things he himself would be too afraid to attempt.⁴^•⁸

Release and box office

The film opened on January 17, 2025 in 373 theaters across Japan, ahead of the television series' broadcast on the Nippon TV network.³^•⁴ Its first three days produced box office revenue of about 598 million yen and 352,000 attendees.⁹ It topped the weekend attendance ranking for two consecutive weeks, and by January 27, ten days after release, revenue had passed 1.43 billion yen (1,432.79 million yen) with 856,000 attendees.¹⁰

The run continued to build. By February 2, seventeen days in, revenue reached 1.93571 billion yen with 1.186 million attendees; by February 9 it had passed 2.25 billion yen and 1.38 million attendees; by day 39 it stood at 2.82557 billion yen and 1.722 million; and on March 9, day 49, it passed 3 billion yen.¹¹^•¹²^•¹³^•⁵ Bandai Namco Filmworks later stated the film had exceeded 3.3 billion yen in box office revenue and 2 million attendees; a Bandai Namco Holdings segment disclosure lists 3.34 billion yen for the fiscal year ending February 2025.⁶^•¹⁴ Tsurumaki said at a stage greeting that he had expected it to be only a preview screening and had not anticipated such a hit.⁴

Home video

The theatrical pre-release film was released on 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray combined with Blu-ray, and on DVD, on May 27, 2026. The 4K Ultra HD + Blu-ray edition includes a newly written short story, "17 Bunch Incident" (17バンチ事件), by series composer and screenwriter Yoji Enokido.⁷^•¹⁵ The television series was released separately on Blu-ray, DVD, and disc-less packages beginning January 28, 2026.⁷

Reception

On the Japanese review aggregator Kinenote the film holds an average score of 80.0 points from 306 users, with 46 written reviews.² On Eiga.com it holds a rating of 3.7 from 576 user reviews.¹⁶ Reviewers there noted that the film's opening draws heavily on the 1979 first Gundam series, with one writing that viewers unfamiliar with that series might not grasp its early appeal before the story shifts in the middle.¹⁶ At stage greetings, Tsurumaki and Enokido recounted arguing late into the night, as self-described Gundam fans, over which mobile suit was stronger, the GM or the Dom.⁸^•¹⁷

The film's performance contributed to Bandai Namco's results: the group's first-half fiscal 2025 report credited the film's box office, global distribution, and licensing revenue, and Gundam franchise sales in the half year exceeded 100 billion yen for the first time, reaching 127.2 billion yen.¹⁸

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 21, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026