Kidou Shinseiki Gundam X

I've heard of Gundam X receiving mixed receptions from fans of the Gundam franchise with some going as far as considering it the "black sheep" of the franchise. So curious to see what the series had going for it, I chose to download the series and see if it was anything worthwhile. Suffice to say, I think I can see why reception to this series is mixed.

Gundam X is supposed to depict a "what if" scenario in the Gundam franchise to depict what would happen to Earth if the war between Oldtypes and Newtypes got heated enough where a space colony drop was implemented and ... devastated the human population and atmosphere on Earth. To a degree, Gundam X does a solid job in setting up its world featuring many people trying to survive on their own and groups of hired vigilantes and thieves known as Vultures taking up jobs for any money they need for their survival or mercilessly destroying and killing anything in their way for personal gain. Remains of the Federation still exist in this new era as they try to reclaim the old power that they once had by conquering areas of the world that refuse to unite under their cause. Newtypes are also focused on as they still face a good amount of prejudice in this world with corporations and Federation forces still seeing them as tools of war and some elements similar to racism are brought up in later episodes regarding differences with the origins of Newtypes and their abilities.

What does work against the series though would be its style of plotting and its very characters. Gundam X is divided up into several plot arcs focused on the journey of Garrod, Tiffa and the crew of the Freeden as they seek out Newtypes, evade hostile Vulture ships, evade Federation forces and try to prevent a second catastrophic event like the colony drop from 15 years ago. While the arcs help to flesh out more elements to the world of Gundam X and occasionally develop the characters, the pacing to said arcs in many instances tend to be a bit slow and cause progression to grind to a halt at points. I also found that the series was trying too hard at dramatizing a number of serious scenes that took place throughout the show thanks to its overuse of angst and melodrama with its major developments. The last arc for the show's final two episodes is rushed in its developments special thanks to said early cancellation of the show as the series tried to cram the major plot developments for said final arc. The final arc is notable in that it reveals the origin of Newtypes, but said revelation felt vague and left a sour taste in my mouth. Gundam fans might not want to take what is revealed at the end at heart considering this is another alternate continuity in the series franchise.

I also had issues with many of the characters portrayed throughout Gundam X as well considering many just followed standard character archetypes found in other anime or being used as plot devices you would have seen done before in earlier Gundam titles. Male lead Garrod's the hot-headed and defiant teen you would have already seen with Amuro and Kamille, only he's not as well-fleshed out as the two mentioned characters and he quite often has to conveniently get his hide saved in life-threatening situations by other members of the Freeden crew or other new characters that happen to be around, which make me question why he even is the male lead of this series. Female lead Tiffa isn't much better off either as her character is much more flat than Garrod's as she plays the all too-common "shy, quiet and reserved female character" archetype needing a male lead to give her a confidence boost which has been done to death in enough modern otaku-pandering shows. As you can pretty much see, I could care less about the romantic developments that Gundam X was pushing with these two because of how shallow and archetypal their characters were. I don't even want to get started mentioning the Frost Brothers as I found them to be the weakest villains I've seen in any Gundam series that I've seen thus far due to how poorly developed and shallow that their motivations were for their actions and manipulations throughout the series.

In terms of animation, Gundam X is of standard animation quality you would find for a mid-90s anime series. Yet compared to Gundam Wing which was made around the same time period, X is better polished in its scenery and character designs and its quality doesn't degrade in heavy action scenes like what occurs with Wing. However, the show still relies on a number of animation shortcuts as reused frames and speed stripes are used rather frequently throughout Gundam X. Much of the music used throughout the series consists of low-pitched and fast-paced tracks used for the title's tense moments and action scenes while more slow-paced and light instrumental tracks are used for the title's calmer and dramatic moments. Both diversities do their part in enhancing the key scenes that take place throughout Gundam X, but nothing memorable stuck out with them for me. And while I did enjoy listening to the English and Japanese versions of the title's ED song, "Human Touch", I didn't think the song fitted in too well for a Gundam series and seemed better suited for a romance drama title.

Overall, Gundam X did present some interesting ideas for its "what if" scenario in the setup of its post-apocalyptic world from the heated Oldtype/ Newtype conflict from Universal Century titles in the Gundam franchise. Unfortunately, the title's cliched characters and style of plotting did hurt its overall quality for me as it didn't seem to want to try making something as significantly different and unique like Turn A Gundam for an alternate continuity series. I guess as many will say, your mileage will vary on how well you get latched on Gundam X as I certainly didn't find myself enjoying it all too well.

Sunrise and yet another Gundam product of the 1990’s along with long time director Shinji Takamatsu (School Rumble, Gintama). Too bad this anime was cut short from the 50 episode mark to 39. This was due to the underwhelming lack of views after the already low mark from the first 10 episodes.

Gundam X is set 15 years after a devastating war ravaged mankind causing inevitably a colony dropping on Earth. Already, there is a plot from the original Gundam series but set after the war focusing on the remnants and after effects of it all. A great idea with a fantastic set up, but poorly ... executed. Remember, the original series was canceled too.

The remains of the two factions, Federation and Space Revolutionary Army, try to reclaim the power they once had. In the case of the Federation, they try to unite Earth again and wage war against space, again. Needless to say, this is the focus of 90 percent of the anime due to cancelation causing the space part only being the last bits.

As the plot is usually slow and character grinding, the main characters of Garrod (pilot) and Tiffa (newtype) along with the rest of the Gundam X cast are incredibly archetyped by the plot and filled with too much over dramatizing and teenage angst on top of it all. It gets to the point of suffering, predictability, and the worst offender of all, re-hashing. Everything from fight scenes to “romantic” developments are constantly re-hashed and not to mention the worst villain(s) to ever come out of a Gundam series. Characters in Gundam X are so blank and insufferable it is no wonder the anime got cut.

Music and art are slightly above average for the time in the mid-90s. Although, consistent re-hashing of fight scenes and fast paces low pitched music create a less impressive overall look to the anime. Really, nothing memorable animation or music wise tends to stand out.

Gundam X has been called a sleeper mech and under appreciated, but a good idea and great setting can’t make up for bland characters and bland execution.

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.

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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.

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.