Original interview from Monthly Newtype (May 2025), original text by Hisashi Maeda and Makoto Ishii; cover image: official character design sheets from the “Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX: -Beginning- MATERIALS” pamphlet by Yumi Ikeda.
There are going to be some quite high tension developments, like a roller coaster
The characters are all going to take it to the limit
— How did you approach Machu, Nyaan and Shuji’s characters when writing the script?
Machu is sort of a textbook protagonist, so it went relatively smoothly with her. In the first episode, she’s introduced as a regular girl living her simple, daily life, and then, all of a sudden, she sneaks inside of a Mobile Suit. It might seem like she’s a bit reckless and eccentric… but in my interpretation, the most unique trait of Machu’s personality is that she doesn’t have prejudices.
— She doesn’t have prejudices?
Side 6 is basically a normal, everyday world, somewhat resembling present day Japan. But there’s an area inside the colony where immigrants —both legal and illegal— and refugees live, people who are relatively discriminated against within the colony. Even in a society with such a dark side, Machu doesn’t hold any prejudice towards the refugees and the illegal immigrants there. Whether that’s because she fundamentally lacks the concept of prejudice, or because she simply doesn’t want to acknowledge it, even I am not totally sure.
If a normal girl were to come in contact with a smuggler of illegal Installer Keys like Nyaan, she’d probably report her to the police immediately. But not Machu, she’d just go ask for the “compensation for her broken smartphone” or something. This is to say, Machu basically considers Nyaan to be her equal. In this sense, inside that Side 6, she’s certainly a peculiar girl.
— I see.
It’s exactly because Machu sees Nyaan as her equal that the moment she notices the bruise on Nyaan’s face left by the military police, she feels so angry inside. She’s thinking, “Why is the police beating up a girl about the same age as me!?”. And then, she gets even angrier at Nyaan’s attitude of it being only natural that they’re being violent against someone like her. Machu’s inner anger reached its limit when the military police Mobile Suits started to arbitrarily destroy the buildings in the refugee settlements, with the excuse that “they’re illegal anyways”. It’s at that point that she decides to sneak in the Mobile Suit —it was a manifestation of all the anger she was bottling up deep inside herself.
Actually, it’s very similar to the anger Amuro felt in the first episode of “Mobile Suit Gundam” [機動戦士ガンダム, 1979], when he saw Fraw Bow’s family getting bombed. That’s why I believe I was able to get Machu to step into the Mobile Suit in the proper, traditional way of a Gundam protagonist.
— So, she might not be hot-tempered, but in terms of sense of justice…
She has one. Perhaps, that sensation is something very closely linked to the abilities of Newtypes.
— What about Nyaan’s character?
Contrary to Machu, Nyaan was very difficult for me to handle. I couldn’t quite grasp the balance Director Tsurumaki wished for. It felt like a déjà vu… it was the same with “FLCL”’s [フリクリ, 2000] Mamimi. No matter how many times I asked the Director to explain that character to me, I couldn’t fully understand her. In the same way, I would make Nyaan feel somewhat like a refugee, then more like a smuggler… but each time, I’d get told there was “something not quite right” about her. In the end, we settled for a “shy illegal smuggler fearful of strangers”. Although, of course, there is a fully correct interpretation of her character still inside the Director’s mind.
— What about Shuji? I think he’s a pretty mysterious character…
As a scriptwriter, Shuji was a rather troublesome character. The Director told me he’s “a character who doesn’t talk much”… Well, thinking of it, characters who don’t speak much are always the Newtype-y ones (laughs)
— Writing the dialogues is a big part of the scriptwriter’s job, after all.
Right. Gundam as a series doesn’t have many characters with signature lines or catchphrases, but I thought it would be better for Shuji to have one; that’s when I came up with his “…that’s what the Gundam is saying” line. Basically, I interpreted the Director’s order that “he doesn’t talk much” as “he doesn’t express his own thoughts much”. So, using the “that’s what the Gundam is saying” line, it’s not Shuji who’s talking, but the Gundam. And Shuji comes across as a character who doesn’t speak all that much.
And then of course, I also hoped that the line would stick with the viewers and catch on (laughs)
— Ahaha. You can tell some of the lines are pretty intentional. Like the smugglers’ “Hello, are you in a hurry?”.
Yes, yes. Reusing that passphrase from Mobile Suit Gundam’s Miharu was my idea —it was like a declaration of intent that “I’ll reference the First Gundam whenever I get the chance to”. I feel like references to the First have been made in so many works to the point of exhaustion, but that’s precisely why I’ll be intentionally making the most fanatic-level, exotic references I can (laughs).
— Talking about lines, the poetic ones that don’t make perfect logical sense, like [Machu’s] “I don’t really get it, but I sort of get it!”, feel really good.
Director Tsurumaki hates explaining things through dialogues, you know. To him, “It’s okay even if it’s not clear”; he’s inclined to think of dialogues with the premise that “that’s how real life conversations work to begin with”.
— But a script is something written rather logically, isn’t it? It must be hard…
It really is! (Wry smile). I can’t quite write like that unless I become a Newtype myself. Oh, but in that case, that would make me an Artificial Newtype (laughs)
— (Laughs). Well then, lastly, please tell us what to expect from the future developments of the story.
It’s going to be like a roller coaster, with some quite high tension developments, so keep your expectations high. Machu, Nyaan, Challia Bull, Shuji, Xavier… They’re all going to take it to the limit, so brace yourself for what lies ahead!
SHINSEIKI 