Kidou Shinseiki Gundam X

When 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.

Ran, Garrod Main

Takagi, Wataru Japanese

Neate, Jamil Main

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Adill, Tiffa Main

Kanai, Mika Japanese

Sou, Witz Supporting

Nakai, Kazuya Japanese

Frost, Shagia Supporting

Morikawa, Toshiyuki Japanese

Frost, Olba Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

El, Ennil Supporting

Honda, Chieko Japanese

Sys, Pala Supporting

Nagasawa, Miki Japanese

Roy, Roybea Supporting

Yamazaki, Takumi Japanese

Langraph, Duett Supporting

Madono, Mitsuaki Japanese

Yatate, Hajime Producer, Original Creator

Takamatsu, Shinji Director, Storyboard

Urakami, Yasuo Sound Director

Taniguchi, Gorou Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Sep 14, 2024

BloodMachine

Recommended

The best non-UC gundam so far
(having watched gundam in release order until here + witch from mercury)

It follows along the same trail as tomino's work about newtypes, but with a different approach to it.
Where tomino insists newtypes are not tools of war, but rather connection, and this tragically fails because of war, hence we never see them outside of it, gundam x, shows us again and again newtypes in context where they are not fighting, and rather are being entirely fought over, used as a political cathegory, removed from anything they actually are, because a designation of a cathegory to abhore or revere, idealogically depends ... on convinient exclusion. Puppet lacking a body.

The characters are really genuinely charming, with both really in depth, or just downright cute bits of development. Jamil is the best captain any gundam show has had, like a softer, older, quatro bajeena, but with a very different motivation, similar experience leading him to fight against appropriation of newtypes. Enil is cute and has strangely really earnestly written bad straight woman energy, the main couple of Garod and Tiffa is earnestly charming, and even more minor characters tend to come with good smaller bits of charaterisation, or reallly good dedicated episodes.
The actual ideological exclusion and manipulation being such a core thing is really deeply compelling and probably one of the more unique parts of the show as well, since it's somehow something obvious that tomino never eallly went into depth with, and here it is the core of the conflict.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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May 6, 2022

CrumbSteak

Mixed Feelings

A stable entry in a long running franchise. Not much to write home about, but amusing in small doses.

The story starts promisingly, depicting the lives of a scavenger crew as they travel a post-apocalyptic world. It is through these adventures that new characters, motifs, and plotlines are introduced: it works well, and operates similarly to Gundam 79 with enough differences in the setting to set it apart. Regrettably, the last cour dissolves these differences for the sake of producing a sappy ending, with the writing being about as subtle as Wing’s. In this aspect the journey is definitely better than the destination, with the adventures ... in the settlement of Fort Severn and seawater battles standing out from the rest of the pack. I wouldn’t mind an OVA or side story in the setting, as there is some good potential here. It’s just a shame that the direction the show takes is so lackluster. One thread that I do enjoy is the love story - it’s heartwarming, effective, and has tangible effects on the characters and their attitudes. I believe it’s a strong point in its favor that saves the plot from total mediocrity.

In terms of characters, it is a relief that the antagonist twins are the only ones that fall into similar pitfalls as the story. At first, the older brother is defined by his even-keeled nature and belief in superstitions, using tarot cards to draw the duo's fortune in battle: this was a cool moment when it was first introduced, but is never used again. I am certain there is a logical explanation for this, but it doesn't solve the problem that the twins are pretty flat otherwise. The younger one is even worse: his defining traits are that he’s protective and ends all of his sentences with nii-san. I can understand that they have a greater endgame in the story, but they are a boring pair nonetheless. The upshot to this is that the minor antagonists get to shine on-screen: the archetypal crazed raiders, genteel warlords, and all the rest are more than welcome after the wooden twins spit out their lines. The supporting characters are excellent as well - they’re cheeky yet good-natured, providing solid levity whenever there’s slack or exposition. Very few of them are batshit crazy like the ones in Zeta or ZZ, which will either sour or please viewers with little room in between. The protagonist’s arc is an interesting inversion of what I’ve come to expect from a Gundam series - I won’t spoil it, but I believe it works in the show’s favor. A good showing overall.

The animation is something I am lukewarm on. The designs look like outtakes from Wing, and the artstyle can look pretty rudimentary at times. A benefit to this is that the action is quite fluid, with movement and dynamism to back it up. A couple of the designs are nice, like the Bertigo and Virsago chest break. The character design is my least favorite part of the whole deal, but can be forgiven when the characters themselves are generally entertaining.

The sound is serviceable but unmemorable. I think people sing the OPs’ praises enough for it to go without examination, and the Human Touch makes for a nice ED. But while the sound effects do their job suitably, the BGM is weakly nondescript. Not much to love here.

To conclude, After War Gundam X is a series that is not a trainwreck, but not quite a success either. It’s something to pick and choose pieces from to enjoy: certain mobile suits, openings, characters, etc. Even so, it’s a lot more consistent than lesser efforts like IGLOO and ZZ - I would like to think that the silver linings it carries make it worth a try.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Feb 20, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Not Recommended

Historically-speaking, this is the second spin-off (alternative universe) of the ever-expanding Gundam franchise. Despite trying to stay close to the premise of the original, it also added elements of other genres that didn’t mesh very well and turned it into just another superficial, shounen mecha show.

ART & SOUND SECTIONS: 6/10
Typical. TOO typical. The character and mecha designs, as well as the action scenes were not better than an average mecha show. Same thing for the music themes and the character voices. Gundam was always about pushing the limit when it comes to animation. This will not only disappoint fans of the original, it will also ... leave mecha fans in general indifferent about it.

STORY & CHARACTER SECTIONS: 5/10

Gundam is essentially a sci-fi war drama and this series has the same premise. In this timeline, the One-Year-War ends with all space colonies dropping on Earth, instead of surrendering. The result was an apocalyptic event that destroyed almost everything. 15 years later, the remaining humans try to rebuild the wastelands of the surface, only to find many are still using Mobile Suits for profit, while others begin another war for the survival of the fittest race. The protagonist is a young mercenary who is paid to protect a powerful Newtype girl, which possesses the ability to boost a mecha’s psionic capacities. The two enter a Gundam by accident (like in all Gundam series!), team up with a crew of vigilantes and are trapped between the war of Oldtypes vs Newtypes, for the control of the future.

Like in the original Gundam’s normal themes, there is:
- A conflict between the normal Homo-sapiens/Oldtypes and the new Psycics/Newtypes
- Angst before the tragedy of war
- Sorrow for the dead over the struggle for control of the world’s natural resources and the future

Unlike in the original, there is:
- The presence of a kind, magical, beautiful girl with a tragic past that gives the story a supernatural/messiah theme
- More focus on new bigger/better guns that make the story more action-based
- Less focus on character and scenario development, making the series more shallow

The story is very simple, with slow development and almost no plot twists. The characters act too typical and frankly they do not deserve to be remembered about anything they did or said. The ending was also poor, as the scriptwriters gave us a stupid moral message through a metaphysical entity, saying, “There is no difference between Oldtypes and Newtypes”. What is this, a fairy tale with a God-From-A-Machine conclusion? As if everybody else was too stupid to realize something that simple by himself. Not to mention that the bad guys in the story where just two siblings that wanted to kill everyone and were beaten in just 5 seconds. Furthermore the show’s sponsors decided to change the time slot and cut it from 50 episodes to 40, so it had a rushed conclusion which made it look even worse than it already was. To sum it up, there is little story, unmemorable characters and a simple ending. Not suitable for a Gundam series which is supposed to be far more than that.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTIONS: 1/10
If it wasn’t for the name and the basic design of the Gundam in this series, I doubt anyone would care to even try it out. It is just another average-to-bad series that tries to sell by using a renowned title.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: After War Gundam X Episode 12 Discussion DonKangolJones - Jun 16, 2009	11 replies	by Ranxomare »» Dec 10, 7:40 AM
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