V4sh reviews:

After War Gundam X

Animation: 8/10
Story: 9/10
Music: 8/10
Action: 7/10
Overall: 9/10

Length: 39 Episodes

Themes: Romance, Mecha, War, Action

Synopsis – “Once, there was a war,” a fierce battle between the people of Earth and the rebelling Space Colonies. Within eight months, the fighting escalated to the point where the Colonies gave the Earth Nations an ultimatum, accept their independence or face bombardment by falling colonies. In retaliation, weapons arose to turn the tides of war, the Gundams. However, with one drop prevented, it did not matter as dozens more fell reducing the population to less than a million. No longer were there any victors. Fifteen years have passed since then, and a new generation has risen to claim the future.

Brief Summary – In 1995 sunrise produced gundam wing, which despite a few issues was a major success. The following year it was followed by Gundam X. Many fans were overjoyed at the prospect of a similar series. They were sadly disappointed. As they discovered Gundam X is nothing like Wing, or any other gundam series that preceded it or has been made since. Because of this it was a horrendous failure, so bad in fact that the story was rewritten to cut 10-13 (the exact number is not know, but 10 is the accepted value) episodes from it. Now this may seem a funny way to start what is a positive review of the series, however my point is to make it clear that the reason that this was such a failure is because it does not suffer from the stigma of the formulaic gundam series, and although it carries the title, it cannot be compared to them in terms of story. Instead it is more accurate to compare it to Eureka 7, with which it shares many story traits.

Now this series does carry some of the characteristics of the gundam franchise, you have your accidental teenage gundam pilot, gundams are the most powerful mechs, a mysterious char type character (with sunglasses not a mask this time), the earth federation, colonies, and a mysterious girl with newtype powers. However this is where the similarities end, the main character Garrod Ran takes the qualities of past gundam pilots, but without any of the whiny angst, he just gets the job done and doesn’t complain about it. He possesses no special powers what so ever and his skills are a product of the after war world he has grown up in. Much more like Renton Thirston then Ray Amuro. His reason for fighting is not to stop war or to defeat a certain enemy, it is simply to protect Tiffa, and he has no problem whatsoever in killing people to keep her safe, and unlike seed this mindset doesn’t change as the story progresses (so non of that disable the enemy rubbish). Also the main female character Tiffa Adill is much more like Eureka then your standard gundam annoying girlfriend type. The char type character Jamil Neate no longer has his newtype powers, they were lost in the previous war, and as such his only skills are those that he built up as a soldier. Add to this a cast of other likeable characters from a range of different backgrounds, and put them all on a ship travelling the world in search of newtypes in order to save them from being used as weapons by the new earth federation.

The gundams themselves are a lot more realistic then the hacked ones in wing and seed. For example the Leopard gundam is a land based artillery support unit, much like the heavy arms of Wing. However it cannot fly, and has no vernier boosters as it does not need them, which seems like a reasonable design feature for a land based suit, so when fighting at sea occurs it is either not deployed or has to stay onboard the carrier vessel and shoot off of it. Now although Heavy arms was formidable at range with its vast array of gattling guns and missiles, it was even more effective at close range with its tiny knife, and could also do that spinning jump that its pilot could do outside the suit, which to be honest is not all that realistic, a mobile suit should be either mediocre in close combat and long range, or excel at one and suck at the other. So when the Leopard runs out of ammo its game over as it doesn’t even sport beam sabers. Another example of the more believable nature of the gundams in this series is the main beam cannon of the GX-9900. Now wing zero and the freedom both also had super beam cannons, but these were powered by the gundam itself, and would eat a vast amount of power, but could somehow be fired repeatedly. Now the GX’s beam cannon on the other hand requires an external power source. This takes the form of a moon base with a vast array of solar panels and uses a microwave delivery system, which requires the GX to be stationary for a significant amount of time as it locks on, and can only be used when the moon is out.

Unlike most gundam series this is divided into multiple 3-5 episode arcs, some of which could have been longer in my opinion. The final space arc is a prime example of this, but this leads onto the main downfall of this series; its rushed ending. Due to the cancellation the final arc has been condensed, potentially taking a lot out of the story, there is not the build up of tension towards the climax that I would have liked, and the final battle with the frost brothers was a disappointment. But despite this I found myself satisfied with it, all the loose ends were tied up and nothing seemed forced. Even the last minute pairing of uber pimp Roybea and bondage queen Enil El is acceptable, when asked about the unexpected pairing Roybea simply replies, “well, what the hell.” fitting of an uber pimp.
However I do find myself wondering “what if?…”

Animation – Being made in 1996 the animation is typical of the style back then, and is of a similar quality to gundam wing. The action scenes are fluid, however there were a few of reused scenes, especially in battle when grunt suit after grunt suit is getting blown up. However this is kept to a bare minimum, and is nowhere near the level of reuse that featured in 00 lets say. Also the video also suffers from jerking in a couple of the long pan shots, now this may be just a bad copy that I have, and unless you are really scrutinising it then you wont notice. One more issue I have is the designs of the grunt suits, they look somewhat “bargain basement”, like designs that weren’t quite good enough to make it into other series. But the main focus of this series isn’t on the mobile suits, but on the relationship between Tiffa and Garrod, so this can be forgiven and shouldn’t be dwelt upon.

Music – The openings and ending songs for this series are all very good, the endings in particular are extremely nice to listen to (I am particularly fond of ending 3 “gin-iro horizon“). Consistency is also maintained throughout, with the openings being rather fast paced mecha music, reminiscent of TM revolution, and all the ending themes are much slower paced slightly romantic(?) songs. The background music is nice and orchestral and adds to the a sense of drama to the series, well above par for 1996.

Action – The action is well maintained throughout. The battle scenes aren’t as exciting as those in wing, but more satisfying then those in Eureka 7. The weapons featured are justified and believable as I explained previously.

Overall – I absolutely loved this series, and it is probably my favourite of the whole gundam franchise, the story kept me enthralled the whole way through, and at no point did I get annoyed or irritated by any of the characters. The opening scene where Garrod hijacks a mobile suit with nothing but a home made flash bang and a 9mm pistol is brilliant. Over the years Gundam X has acquired a much undeserved bad reputation, and as been ignored and blown off as not a true gundam series. It is not a true gundam series, it is something better, a precursor to Eureka 7 and the likes, it was unfortunate enough to be given the title gundam, and automatically judged as a gundam series, which it should not be. I would strongly recommend watching this series to anyone who enjoyed Eureka 7, or a gundam fan who wants a break from the traditional formula. So give it a try, and if you enjoy it then spread the Gundam X love to others.

Download -
Unfortunately due to the unpopularity of this series most torrents are dead, or as slow as continental drift. However a high speed direct download is available here:
http://www.anime-eden.com/anime/series.755.htm