Another hot topic was the “Which gender is Deux?” debate. Since Deux refers to herself in a boyish way, Gates’s reaction was strangely calm, and her somewhat androgynous design contributed to heated speculation like, “She’s a girl, right? Or is she androgynous because she’s an Enhanced Human?” Fans' imaginations went into full throttle.

The excitement didn’t stop there, as a flood of death flag warnings followed. Enhanced Human, pilot of the Psycho Gundam, and having Bask Om as a superior—this triple threat had viewers worried, saying, “It’s like a thicket of death flags…this is heartbreaking,” and “An Enhanced Human piloting a Psycho Gundam has way too many death flags, please survive!” Viewers’ emotions were deeply shaken as they faced the dilemma of “I want to support her, but I’m scared to.”

The fact that Deux Murasame stirred up so much attention and confusion in her first appearance is truly remarkable. In the end, questions like how the Kycillia assassination plot will progress, or how the Psycho Gundam will be involved, were all pushed aside. Just a few seconds of her changing scene stole the entire spotlight.

“Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX” is the latest entry in the “Mobile Suit Gundam” series that started in 1979. The story follows Amate Yuzuriha (voiced by Tomoyo Kurosawa), a high school girl living peacefully in a space colony, who gets drawn into the illegal mobile suit duel competition “Clan Battle” after meeting the young girl Nyaan (voiced by Yui Ishikawa). Drawing attention for its joint production between Studio Khara, known for the “Evangelion: New Theatrical Edition” series, and Sunrise, the theater-exclusive version released in January ahead of the TV series became a major hit with box office revenue of about 3.4 billion yen. It has been re-released in 368 theaters nationwide since June 20.

(C)SOTSU·SUNRISE

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