AFTER WAR GUNDAM X

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MANGA ActionAfter War Gundam X
SPECIAL Mecha30th GUNDAM PERFECT MISSION
ANIME DramaMobile Suit Gundam
MANGA MechaKidou Shin Seiki Gundam X: UNDER the MOONLIGHT
ONE SHOT MechaKidou Shin Seiki Gundam X NEXT PROLOGUE: Anata to, Isshoni nara
MANGA ActionGundam EXA

REVIEWS

• 

  Hablmet

  86/100
  A surprisingly unnoticed Gundam series among the huge pile of others.

  Well...Gundam X had me interested the whole time. I know that's a bad way to begin a review, but please be patient, I'm making this using my vivid memories and poor structured writing.

  Gundam X is easily one of the most underrated Gundam series, period. It is made really well, and the review I'm gonna be writing below this is hopefully gonna explain why do I think this way.
  NOTE: Some of the things below may be considered spoilers. If you haven't watched X, then it's possible some of these parts will lower your joy when watching it. Those parts will be marked in spoiler text, but please make sure you saw X in its entirety before taking a look at this review - I'd hate for you to lose some fun thanks to this wall of text.
  That being said, I'll try and structure the review somehow - the story and writing in general, art, audio quality and overall enjoyment. (I use the x.x numbering system - 5.5, for example. It's ideal for me.)

  STORY AND WRITING: 8.5/10
  The story in Gundam X is possibly the biggest grab it's trying to do. What if a war caused by humans ended up being so bad...that it will just take too long to recover from? X takes a look onto that, and the spin on a typical story of war is rather fresh and invirogating.
  The story revolves around a group of Vultures captained by a man called Jamil Neate. While they seem like normal scavengers in the beginning, their new task to protect Tiffa Adill brings them to rather shocking discoveries.
  The adventures of the crew are actually written rather decently, alongside containing some issues that remain since the pre-war days. Especially things like the use of Gundams, such as the Gundam X. All characters have a sense of motivation. They know why they're doing the things they're doing. And that's what I like about an anime - characters committed to their role and have their reasons to do so. Even the villains have some reasons - although that's where I deduct some points. The villains are...poorly done, let's say. Their motivations are clear, albeit what they want to do is pretty typical and kind of..mundane. Although the way they get there is rather nice and shows what they're capable of.
  The thing that the story needs the most is extra time - apparently it received poor reception in Japan and as such had to be rushed, and that makes me wonder what the viewers thought of this.

  ART: 8/10
  For the 90s that were riddled with strange art decisions, this looks really good! I like the detail on the mobile suits themselves in particular. The characters could use some detail, they seem a bit pasted at times, but I have absolutely no qualms about the art. And all of the important stuff - shots, beams and such look nice!

  AUDIO: 8/10
  Probably what stands out the most about X's audio are the intro and outro songs, which are energetic and feel a considerable bit more electric. The sounds feel clear a lot of the time but there's some hiccups every now and then when they feel like they've been recorded through two walls of concrete.

  ENJOYMENT: 9/10
  Overall I liked X a lot - the only issues I have are with the series in general are the villains and the fact Sunrise had to rush the end, which is a mighty shame.

  In the end, X is an anime worth looking into. It shows the troubles of a ravaged world, skirmishes and conflicts that are brewing behind the scenes.

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• 

  BAVBR

  45/100
  Its cancellation is justified

  Story: 4/10
  It is clearly a plot built from basic premises (everything revolves around Tiffa and, unlike Wing, which had context and motivations, here it is more focused on battles) and expanding in a more or less free way and with objectives simple-minded, when they exist (they know characters, the protagonist's journey of self-discovery and, several times, rescuing the young lady), which can hinder coherence, giving the impression that events are disconnected and take away the sense of where they want to get to and, when they try to give a north, they get lost, with a poorly conceived political plot and bad ending, which makes no sense of what they did and exposes a typical problem of the franchise, which are futile battles and without much sense.

  Art 6/10
  Character Design is competent and the animation, although average by the standards of the Sunrise itself, manages to maintain some consistency.

  Sound 4/10
  Disregarding the main themes, which are very good (although I didn't really like the idea of ​​a TV version and a full version for the endings, where the first one ends up being superior), the soundtrack is weak and discreet, where, depending on the theme, ends up being generic and sometimes poorly inserted in the scenes.

  Characters 6/10
  In general, they are average, with charisma not being a strong point; the problem really lies in the dense protagonist (for much of the story) and silly actions on several occasions (where not all of them can be attributed to immaturity) and Team Rocket style villains, that smile all the time but when the situation gets complicated they they always flee, in addition to weak and questionable motivation - in short, poorly conceived.

  Enjoyment 4/10
  Most of the episodes are not at all memorable, being, at times, dragged, whose battles are not so exciting, where the light romance may motivate a little but does not compensate for the problems of direction. They tried to fix this in the end, but it didn't work out very well.

  Overall 4/10
  I am surprised by the popularity and high rating of Gundam X in MAL, wondering if I watched a different anime, but from my experience, the fact that it was canceled ends up not being a surprise (which cannot be compared with the Original Gundam, which, in particular, is superior to this anime, otherwise it would not have won 4 episodes or even the recap films) and it would not be strange if Sunrise itself reneged on it, since the series has been somewhat forgotten over the years. In summary, I do not recommend.

  ---

  História 4/10
  É claramente um enredo construído a partir de premissas básicas (tudo gira em torno da Tiffa e, diferente do Wing, que possuía contexto e motivações, aqui é mais focado nas batalhas mesmo) e se expandindo de uma forma mais ou menos livre e com objetivos simplórios, quando existem (conhecem personagens, jornada de autodescoberta do protagonista e, em diversas vezes, resgatando a mocinha), o que pode atrapalhar a coerência, dando a impressão que os eventos são desconectados e tira um pouco o sentido da onde eles querem chegar e, quando eles tentam dar um norte, eles se perdem, com uma trama política mal concebida e final ruim, que tira todo o sentido do que eles fizeram e expõe um problema típico da franquia, que são as batalhas bestas e fúteis, sem grande sentido.

  Arte 6/10
  O Character Design é competente e a animação, embora mediana para os padrões da própria Sunrise da época, consegue manter alguma consistência.

  Som 4/10
  Desconsiderando os temas principais, que são muito bons (embora não tenha gostado muito da ideia de uma versão para TV e outra completa para os encerramentos, onde os primeiro acaba sendo superior), a trilha sonora é fraca e discreta, onde, dependendo do tema, acaba sendo genérica e por vezes mal inserida nas cenas.

  Personagens 6/10
  No geral, são medianos, com o carisma não sendo um ponto forte; o problema reside mesmo no protagonista denso (durante boa parte da história) e de ações tolas em diversas ocasiões (onde nem todas podem ser atribuídas à imaturidade) e nos vilões padrão Equipe Rocket, que sorriem o tempo todo mas quando a situação se complica eles sempre fogem, além de motivação fraca e questionável - em resumo, mal concebidos.

  Aproveitamento 4/10
  A maioria dos episódios não são nenhum pouco memoráveis, sendo, por vezes, arrastados, cujas batalhas não empolgam tanto, onde o leve romance até pode motivar um pouco mas não compensa os problemas de direção. Tentaram consertar isto no final, mas não deu muito certo.

  Conclusão 4/10
  Fico surpreso com a popularidade e a alta nota do Gundam X no MAL, me perguntando se eu assisti um anime diferente, mas, pela minha experiência, o fato de ter sido cancelado acaba não sendo uma surpresa (o que não pode ser comparado com o Gundam original, que, particularmente, é superior a este anime, senão não teria ganhado 4 episódios e nem os filmes recap) e não estranharia se a própria Sunrise o renegasse, já que a série ficou meio esquecida ao longo dos anos. Em resumo, não recomendo.

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• 

  IsNotAChar

  84/100
  There was something that really hooked me here, and I'm not sure what.

  Gundam X is a show I quite enjoyed, although even I'm not entirely sure why I enjoyed it as much as I did. Historically, Gundam X under performed and was cut short. It released as the last show in a stretch of 4 shows that ran back to back for 4 years (Victory Gundam, G gundam, Gundam Wing, Gundam X). It had the unfortunate position of releasing at a time when people were already getting a bit fatigued from Gundam.

  As I also watched Gundam X immediately after watching G, Wing and Victory. I also had a bit of gundam fatigue going in, but decided to watch X anyway. And somehow it really had me hooked. I finished it in a month, compared to ~3 months for finishing Wing and Victory, and that was despite me being a lot busier. If I wasn't busy I could see myself having finished X in a couple weeks.

  Despite this, I'm not entirely sure why it hooked me so much. I'm going to try and work that out in this review. (There will be some spoilers)

  World and Tone

  X probably has the bleakest world of any gundam series I've watched, Earth is in a post apocalyptic state and has only a fraction of the population it did before the war 15 years ago. Despite this, the whole world feels very upbeat and almost whimsical at times.

  It's also basically a zeon wins timeline (kinda). The Space Revolutionary Army (who use zeon like mobile suits, are based out of the colonies on the far side of the moon, and do colony drops) drop hundreds of colonies on earth instead of zeon's paltry 1 (3 if you include delaz/axis). There are overall a lot of shared elements between the UC timeline and the world of Gundam X.

  The state of the world also changes significantly throughout the show. It starts as this sorta mad max kinda world where traveling "vultures" (scavengers of pre-war sites and general traveling mercenaries) are the focus. Our protagonist Garrod joins up with 1 vulture group due to reasons, and most of the groups they interact with or come into conflict with are fellow Vultures.

  In the second half, the state shifts as it transforms into a more traditional gundam setting with the new UNE taking over most of earth and the SRA being introduced. Now It's earth vs space again, except our protagonists actively avoid taking a side in this conflict.

  There's this kinda wild west vibe to it as the vultures and small independent states get pushed out by the return of UNE governance to earth.

  Characters

  The war and the aftermath that immediately followed is this dark time that most characters are reluctant to address directly, yet it's impact and legacy clearly influences everything. Basically all antagonists and a lot of the supporting cast are still driven by motivations that are directly linked to the war and its consequences. Only our protagonists, the post war generation (Garrod and Tiffa), are able to act unburdened by the past.

  I just generally like all the characters. The freeden crew, Garrod and Tiffa, a lot of the people they meet along their journey (Carris, Ennil El, etc) were pretty likable and many had pretty good character arcs of their own.

  I'm a bit more mixed on the Frost brothers. They are the running antagonists of the series. My main problem is that they just appear to much. They're like if Char was involved in every arc of the original Gundam and every second episode involved Amuro fighting him. They lose a lot of their ability to be a threat by the 17th time they lose to our protagonists are have to run away due to reasons. They get back some of their threat when they get upgraded suits near the end at least. I'm also still not entirely sure what their problem was, but I get them enough for them to ok villains.

  Special mention to Lord Bloodman for having the most blatantly evil name and being just kinda pathetic. The frosts manipulate him into starting a war with the same finesse of someone convincing an elderly relative to invest in their pyramid scheme.

  Garrod and Tiffa have a good? romance (for gundam anyway). It does start a bit abruptly with Garrod seemingly falling in love immediately, but then goes on to have a fairly well paced development across the whole anime. Garrod was a good protagonist I think, I like him. Tiffa was also good, other then how many times she got kidnapped.

  Pacing and story structure

  The individual arcs early on are a bit more disconnected, strung only together by the quest to track down newtypes. This allows them to tell more complete and self contained stories with each arc. The fort seven arc with Carris was probably the best arc in the whole show.

  I think part of the reason I was so engaged to keep watching is that throughout the first half the episode cliffhangers do a very good job of making me want to watch just one more episode. It's more amazing that it does this without feeling, to me at least, like it's stringing me along.

  In the second half there's a more linear progression of events as they deal with the rising New UNE and the return of the SRA. In the very end it suddenly becomes the race for D.O.M.E. This is where I think the show could have benefited from a few more episodes, to both expand a bit on the first space arc and the race for D.O.M.E.

  Newtypes

  More then any other gundam show, this is about newtypes. As is usual with newtypes, I'm still not entirely sure what their deal is, but this is still probably my favourite depiction of them. Newtypes in X are mysterious, and used as tools of ideology by all sides. Even what a newtype is depends on who you're listening to.

  To the UNE newtypes are those with powers and are tools to be exploited. To the SRA, newtypes are those adapted to space (whether or not they have powers) and represent the next stage of human evolution. To Jamil? He isn't sure, but he desperately wants to know.

  I like how X manages to focus so much on newtypes while maintaining the mystery around them. Also unique is that despite the focus on newtypes, Garrod is not a newtype. This gives us a more outsiders view on the whole newtype topic.

  Mobiles suits

  While I do like the mobile suits here and there were definitely a few standouts, I'll only go over 3.

  1. The frost brothers' gundams. Their both just kinda weird in the best way. The long limbs and crab claws, the hidden cannon in the middle, the fact that olba's upgraded gundam is literally called the Hermit Crab. They have that perfect combination of goofy and menacing design.

  2. The Gundam X and double X. The satellite cannon is cool and the firing sequence is cool. Made better by how sparsely it is used. When the main gundam has some signature weapon, I was expecting it to be used very regularly (and it was in the first few episodes), but it quickly becomes something reserved only for special occasions. That really works at making its uses feel special.

  3. The patulia. It's an absolute beast and I was surprised that something like it was used so early. It really felt like an end of series boss mobile armour, instead it ends up as the final boss of one of the earlier arcs. It does a very good job at being a seemingly insurmountable foe to overcome.

     Conclusion

  The combination of a world that genuinely changes over the course of the show, characters that are fun and have genuine characters arcs, and the best exploration of newtypes, make Gundam X a genuinely enjoyable show. I liked and you may too.

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COMMENTS

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