Alternative TitlesEnglish: After War Gundam X Synonyms: Kidou Shin Seiki Gundam X Japanese: 機動新世紀ガンダムX
Information
Type: TV
Episodes: 39
Status: Finished Airing
Aired: Apr 5, 1996 to Dec 28, 1996
Duration:
24 min. per episode Rating:
PG-13 - Teens 13 or older
L represents licensing company
StatisticsScore: 7.441 (scored by 5163 users)
Ranked: #15902
Popularity: #1401
Members: 10,549
Favorites: 82 1 indicates a weighted score
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action drama mecha |
SynopsisWhen one space colony declared its independence from the Earth Federation, the devastating 7th Space War, an all-out war between Earth and space, resulted. The Federation responded to the Space Revolutionary Army with mobile suits, called Gundams. However, the Space Revolutionary forces played their trump card and dropped hundreds of space colonies onto the Earth, plunging the planet into a seven-year-long nuclear winter. The Federation collapsed, but the Space Revolutionary Army was unable to invade the Earth in the aftermath of the colony drop. Fifteen years have passed. The year is now After War 0015, and a New Federation has sprung up on Earth to restore order. In space, the colonial leaders have been rebuilding their own forces as well. By chance, fifteen-year-old Garrod Ran has discovered an old Federation mobile suit, the Gundam X, and now he uses it to help out the Vulture ship Freeden in its struggle to keep the powers that be from repeating the mistakes of the past. |
Related AnimeAdaptation: After War Gundam X
Parent story: Mobile Suit Gundam
Characters & Voice Actors
Staff
Reviews
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spiderjerusalem
41 of 56 people found this review helpful
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39 of 39 episodes seen
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| Overall |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
Ah... Gundam X. How long I had waited to see you.
It's a damn shame that After War Gundam X is the least popular of all the Gundam shows, because it really is an impressive piece of work and probably one of, if not the best of Gundam spinoffs. It has the realism that Wing does not, the maturity missing from SEED, and the extra kick lacking in 00. The only Gundam since the original to be cancelled, and to be honest that's the biggest fault X has. You can't help but wonder what could've been if only that episode count reached 50.
Story: 10/10
At the start of the show we meet Garrod Ran, a young mercenary of only 15 years of age and lets just say, he does some pretty amazing stuff for a guy his age. After taking a rescue job he meets the target, Tiffa Adill, a mysterious young newtype girl. However, upon learning that his employer would only exploit her for her abilities, Garrod turns on him and joins the very group he "rescued" her from, the mercenary ship "Freeden". With the help of Tiffa's abilities, the crew of the Freeden continues their search to help any newtypes who are being unjustly used by others.
Gundam X has one very crucial element that no other Gundam spinoff does. It feels like a U.C. show. In the world of Gundam X, the colonists have seemingly dropped all of the colonies down to the Earth as opposed to just one, and the human population is relatively miniscule. Because of this, many people consider the After War universe to be an alternate reality to the Universal Century, as opposed to a standalone universe such as the Cosmic Era from SEED or the Future Century from G Gundam.
Without spoiling anything I have to point out again that Gundam X ended 11 episodes early at episode 39 as opposed to 50. Because of this a lot of people feel the ending is rushed. I have to disagree to an extent. Although the ending moves very fast(quite a bit happens in those last 8 episodes in very little time) it wraps things up quite nicely and I can't but feel that's almost exactly how the original ending would've gone. Still, I'd love to see those missing 11 episodes.
Art: 7/10
The art style is good, but let's just say the animation could've had a better budget for its time. Roughly the same quality as Wing. Definitely the biggest negative to X in the aesthetics department, but it's more good than bad. The gundam designs are pretty outlandish, but for how badass they look, they aren't invincible, unlike the SEED and Wing gundams, which is great. The Freeden pilots have an uphill battle ahead of them.
Sound: 10/10
Great voice acting and one hell of a score. The Gundam X openings (by the amazing group Romantic Mode) are some of my favorite openings in all the anime I've seen, and in regards to the ending credits, I rarely sit through ending credits but for this show I made an exception. The three ending themes(two of them are different language versions of the same song) are some the best that I've ever heard used in anything, anime or otherwise. As for the score, I'm always humming one or two tracks here and there. Great soundtracks.
Character: 8/10
At first I thought this was the biggest weakness Gundam X had. A few episodes later and I was proved wrong. All I can say without spoiling you is that it's definitely enough character development. At first the show seems to be only about Tiffa and Garrod, but over time it focuses on other characters well enough. Tiffa and Garrod are still the most important characters, but it doesn't terribly overshadow the anyone else. There are still flaws, such as expanding on a few bit characters who don't show up for more than 10 minutes of screen time, and the Frost Brothers up until the last arc, but overall it's all good.
Enjoyment: 10/10
Gundam X is definitely not the best Gundam show, but damn if it isn't the most likeable. It's hard to hate this show. It may not be a masterpiece, but it's one hell of a ride from start to finish. Garrod in particular is just an amazingly well done protagonist. He's impossible to hate, and he's always believable. He's extremely street smart, but not a genius; very skilled in battle but not exactly soldier by any sense of the word. From the very first episode, he is kicking things in gear and you just want to strap yourself in for the roller coaster ride he's going to deliver.
Overall: 9/10
I like to refer to Gundam X as the Daft Punk of Gundam. Anyone who's experienced it can't hate it in the least. I give it a 9 because hell, I can't deny how much fun I had. I enjoyed this more than G Gundam, and that's saying a hell of a lot. A great balance of the always enjoyable shonen heroism while still keeping that tomino-esque reality that the original gundams had. You can even find some parallels between X and Tomino's own Crossbone Gundam graphic novel, strangely enough. If you can watch After War Gundam X, then do so. Chances are you won't be disappointed. read more
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ParaParaJMo
37 of 56 people found this review helpful
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39 of 39 episodes seen
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| Overall |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Character |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
Alll I can say is, this is definitely one of the most underrated Gundams of the franchise, and an underrated anime in general. I don’t get why the hell they can bring SEED and SEED Destiny, and not X and/or Turn A? What I really liked about this series was it took a different direction with the newtype concept that was a re-occuring element in the UC sagas, mostly in Zeta and CCA. Yes, newtypes can be elite pilots, but Tifa demonstrates that newtypes aren’t exclusive to this rolel. Granted the extremity this anime took with that concept felt out of place for Gundam, in no ways did I feel any sense of intensity or suspense was ruined, but I felt it built it up. I would elaborate how unique this series makes its own interpretation of the newtype concept but it would be a spoiler and I encourage you to see the series for yourself to understand what I mean.
But other than that, it still retains the other characteristics from other Gundam series, and redefines and advances them. Garoad you can say is more of a modern day interpretation of Judeau Ashita from Double Zeta. He’s young, but he’s a guy who is out doing his job and circumstances just led him to where he is. What’s also unique is that he’s not a newtype but yet, he just naturally develops his piloting skills. Tifa’s character was just new to me, and I felt the nature of her character felt out of place for Gundam, but because this isn’t the original Gundam and the intention was to go for something different and new, I felt she just simply served her purpose though I don’t personally call her a top 5 female Gundam character. And as usual, the series will still have villains and antagonists you can relate to which the Frost bros do well at. The series does have some interesting twists and turns that will keep you guessing in relation to the characters and the overall story. I feel that because it’s uniquely both characteristically and not characteristically Gundam at the same time give a new distinction it’s trademark characteristics.
Well, this series premiered after Gundam Wing, so most of the color schemes and gimmicks of the mechs will probably not really stand out since it mostly follows the approach that Gundam Wing has. But I guess some of the features of the GX where its main weapon needs to be powered by a satellite brings a new element to the engineering and the firepower that hasn’t been used in past sagas makes it more fresh. And as I stated earlier, the mechs in general don’t have any qualities that are necessarily fresh or new. Like the Leopard is pretty much a green colored firearms, and the design of the GX looks like the Wing Gundam but with a different set of wings.
The character designs mostly in relation to the costume are a little wilder than your typical Gundam series, thus giving some reflection to its post apocalyptic nature. But other than that, you have generic bishounen and bishoujo designs but very tolerable. My favorite design is that of Jamil with a modern day old school approach. He wears a very ancient military style uniform, and his side burns and hair style is something more characteristic of a 1970s anime hero. And Tanya is just simply hot.The character design is nothing really cutting edge but still appropriate for its setting at some capacity. The battles are pretty interesting since a majority of this Gundam series takes place on Earth and I was wondering if there was ever going to be any traditional space battles, which has always been an iconic trait of the franchise. But I feel that the engineering and the gimmicks of the Gundams presented justified keeping the battles on earth territory for most of the series. But the battles are still intense and they excellently know how to apply land and air war fare with a different approach with more reliance on transforming mechs.
Personally, I loved Takagi Wataru’s unique approach to playing Garoad Ran. Even though he’s achieved world fame as Onizuka Eikichi from GTO, I loved how he still retained his nasal voice and make Garoad come across as a teenager and as a wise ass. I thought it was a very brilliant performance. Granted Garoad has comedic traits, I think Takagi’s addition who mostly does comedy roles does a great job in a more serious role such as this one himself. I think Jamil’s voice actor, Horiuchi Kenyuu who is famous as playing Raiden in the Metal Gear Solid games brought a unique charisma to his character and also made him sound very intimidating. And another unique actress is Mitsuishi Kotono, who was also still playing Sailor Moon at the time is also the voice of Tanya, the bridge captain. Later she would come back to Gundam SEED. as the Captain of the Archangel. With her role in Gundam X, she brought Misato’s party girl side to her character.
The music is just intense and beautiful. The opening theme DREAMS just has this militaristic feel with how it opens, but yet transitions to this powerful song about hope and determination, and the ending themes sung in English sound like Love Lift Us Where We Belong, but brought a refreshing feel to the series. The background music is very appropriate for the series.
Well, sadly, this Gundam had to be cut due to low ratings, but I heard that this series is finding rejuvenation in Japan with the DVD releases and people are appreciating it more. Artistically as I said earlier, it really does nothing to advance Gundam but I think it still maintained its spirit and really brought a unique and distinctive redefinition to some of its original foundation. Such as the themes and concepts behind the series with new types was what made it unique and was first brought into an alternate universe of Gundam which would later be brought back in SEED which I think they did a bad job of that concept in that series. I say it is required to have some familiarity with the original Gundam to understand the origin of its concepts such as colony drops and newtypes, and some familiarity with Gundam Wing to understand the mech design and style. This is something truly made for Gundam fans, and I think this is probably something that a casual anime fan or a hardcore anime fan that isn’t into Gundam could probably handle.
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Recommendations
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Both animes using a group of main characters, they are also travelling together as Gekkostate in E7 and with Freeden in Gundam X.
Jamil = Holland
Tiffa = Eureka
Garrod = Renton
Ennil = Anemone
…
Both shows deal with a mysterious little girl. Also, both are mecha and have a man who wishes to save said girl, who also has an interesting past. Both main characters get caught up in the man's journey and end up on his ship, and love the main female character.
Both anime are about boy skilled in mecha operating/maintanence joining a "pirate" ship, whose purpose is deeper than it originally seems. They also have rather similar romance subplot.
Both Start with a organization sought by the government (Gekkostate in Eureka Seven, Vultures in Gundam X) who try protect some special person/species (Coralians in Eureka Sevan, Newtypes in Gundam X). Progatonist, some secundary characters (renton = garrod, eureka = tiffa, talho = Toniya and Mischa = Techs) and your relationship are similar (GarrodxTiffa and RentonxEureka).
Both main casts are "Freedom Fighters" in a sense that they're a small group of well talented people that strive to bring change by repelling the powers that be.
Both series have a plucky, headstrong hero who falls head over heels in love with an emotionally aloof, but super strong-willed girl. Their love is but one part of the series' entire purpose, but are perfect examples of non-gimmicky innocent romance.
Both are above-average mecha series that don't exactly focus on the mecha. Both are paced EXCEEDINGLY well, and are very well written.
After War Gundam X was cut short from it's broadcast run(although... that part doesn't subtract it's goodness), so you may feel a bit saddened by what "could've been". It's mecha fights, whilst not bad, aren't in the same league with Eureka 7. The romance here isn't as potent here either.
Eureka Seven's romance is a bit more prominent since it goes hand-in-hand with it's other story. Likewise the romance progresses faster, with more extremity, and with more daring choices. The mecha sequences are some of the most smoothest, most inspirational ones you'll see around!
Gundam X can almost be considered as the anime that influenced several plot aspects of Eureka 7. Garrod and Renton are very similar in the fact that they both join up with a group of individuals on a ship in order to protect a mysterious girl they immediately fall for (ie Eureka and Tiffa).
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In each anime, the protagonist is an immature and loud-mouthed, yet well-meaning, young boy who grows up and learns to view the world less selfishly after a mysterious girl happens into his life (Kouichi encounters Emi, while Garrod is hired to rescue Tifa). And in both instances, the girls bestow upon them an awesome mobile armor (Kouichi is made a co-Factor of the Linebarrel, and Tifa shows Garrod where to find the long-forgotten Gundam X).
Both anime also focus a lot on the characters, and not so much the political warfare of the battling mecha.
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Opening Theme#1: "Dreams" by ROmantic Mode (eps 1-26)
#2: "Resolution" by ROmantic Mode (eps 27-39)
Ending Theme#1: "Human Touch" by Warren Wiebe (eps 1-13, 39)
#2: "Human Touch - Japanese Version" by Re-Kiss (eps 14-26)
#3: "Gin-Iro Horizon (Silver Horizon)" by Satomi Nakase (eps 27-38)
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