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Gundam X
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Animation - 7.9 |
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Sound - 8.3 |
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Story - 8.3 |
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Character - 8.7 |
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Value - 8.5 |
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Enjoyment - 8.7 |
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Average - 8.4 |
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| Average |
6.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| A typical Gundam story setup, with redeemable characters and a lackluster conclusion. Gundam X -- I expected nothing much from this series, and as a result was not too disappointed. The storyline just plows through event after event, with little surprise. Rather, I think if I were to watch this in 1996, I would be quite impressed with the artwork and the design. However, now that it is 2009, Gundam X seems to be a piece that remains bright only in the memories of those who watched it 13 years ago.
To summarize: 15 years ago, Space Humans and Earth Humans go on an all out-war of superiority. Space Humans no longer want to be colonies and the Earth Humans do not want to let them go. Flying under the banner of "Newtypes" -- "special humans with special abilities", the Space Humans claim superiority over the Earth Humans. Meanwhile, Earth Humans want to create their own Newtypes for the sole purpose of war. Meanwhile, we have these Tier II psychics-oldier-brother created by Earth who do not have the ability to master a certain automated weapon system, and therefore are bitter and fight to the bitter end in the hopes of gaining superiority.
Caught up in the middle of this war is Garrod, who begins as a boy born after the end of the war, and uses the interspersed Mobile Suits as his means of living. As a job-for-hire guy, he comes across Jamil Neete, a previous Newtype solider who wants to find all Newtypes, and in the back of his mind he wants to create this 'haven' for them, if they agree. Garrod's job is to find Tiffa, a Newtype essential to someone's research and bring her back. However, he ends up being part of Jamill's crew to do good.
Like I mentioned before, ALL story related elements are things that have been used and re-hashed in other Gundam storylines. Epic rivalries, hatred of the 'other kind', quest for power and superiority, etc. Unlike Gundam SEED, however, there is less of this philosophical message, and most of the storyline is just spent with Garrod, Jamil, Tifa and crew in trying to survive, trying to collect all the broken pieces after the war, and attempting to rebuild the world.
The absolute best part of Gundam X are the characters, which breathe life into an otherwise mundane Gundam storyline. We have characters of all different maturities, narrow/open-mindedness, intelligence, strength, nobility, crookedness, idealism, hope, etc.... and all put together it really makes a cohesive universe. (Too many characters to list and go into depth about).
The only true weakness (aside from an unoriginal storyline) is the ending... where all the characters get gathered into this one big room and the "truth about Newtypes" is revealed. To this moment, I still do not completely understand the relevance of this ending in relation to how the story unfolded. I guess, in the end, Gundam X is a tale that attempts to tell the story of the strength of the human spirit. I would not recommend Gundam X to anyone who wants complex characters, plot twists, deep philosophical ideals, or flashy animation. Rather, Gundam X is more suited for those familiar with the Gundam universe and just want a cohesive and simple group of characters to follow through their journeys and battles.
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Hands down, one of my top 5 favourite animes of all time. Its my personal opinion that this is the best series of the Gundam chronicles; although it is considered a cannon to the actual Gundam storyline.
The main theme of the series is the colonists procees with the "colony drop" and dessimate the planet. The series picks up 15 years after the incident.
A young man named Garrod a young nomad familiar with mobile suits, is contracted to find a young girl who turns out to be a "newtype". Garrod finds a control unit, but is unsure what it is for. The young girl newtype girl named Tifa Adil leads Garrod to a hidden facility with her clairvoiant powers. Inside the factory is the Mobilesuit X which only operates with the control.
The rest of the series is the search for more newtypes.
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| How far will a person go to survive in the most desolate of times? What hope is there in pursuing a future that seems uncertain, unbecoming, and riddled within the realms of sin and corruption from mistakes of the past? These questions in themselves are intriguing ones which we may ask in thought-provoking context, but the value of these questions hightens greatly when faced with the reality that one moment we think we could have everything and the next moment end up with nothing and having to start anew.
At first glance, Gundam X presents a rather tragic premise and alternative realm in contrast to other Gundam series: a fight between the space colonies (home to an elite group of people called "Newtypes") and the Earth forces to retain power over each other in an attempt to control their futures, and in particular it's one of a rather tense ethnic dispute. Yet, with the rush to win, the Earth forces send a devastating Gundam weapon to wipe out the colonies in a executionary, extraordinary display of power....but it also leads to a reaction that destroys nearly all the inhabitants of the Earth..."in the end, there are no winners...."
Fast forward 15 years into the After War era: a time of internal conflict among the citizens of the Earth, where any piece of technology is a high commodity and can be salvaged and used or bought and sold at high rates. The presence of Gundams is either a high profit job or a good way to earn some quick cash for parts. At least that's what's on the mind of the rambunctious, impulsive and generally optimistic (but sometimes very clueless LOL) protagonist Garrod Ran. But it quickly becomes clear that Garrod isn't simply going to live a life of scavenging on his own anymore once he meets the cute, mysterious Tifa Adill, a Earth-resident "Newtype" who's pursued by a number of groups who want to use her for her extraordinary power. Not only that, Garrod finds himself newly piloting the Gundam X, the very same weapon that was used in the destructive war.
From then on, it's a series of interesting encounters between a large array of characters in the unfolding of a number of issues: the true definition of a "Newtype"; the ethnic conflict between traditional humans (Oldtypes) and "Newtypes"; the struggle for existance in what seems to be a post-apocalptyic world, and the struggle between nations for the quest of power and acknowledgement of existence.
Sound appealing? That's because it is, and Gundam X is interesting in that it actually has a very interesting premise and base for a expansive plot highlighting these among a number of other issues. Matter of fact, I found that this series presents issues comparable to Gundam Seed in that it depicts the conflict between two different races of people, the struggle for existence, and the struggle to define who has the right to craft the future, and how the quest for power can corrupt human thinking. Yet, I watched this series far before Gundam Seed and thought this backdrop was an appealing way to look at the level of human conflict during and in the aftermath of war and internal conflict.
However, the problem is that many may take this series far more seriously than it actually is...and believe me, this series does not take itself too seriously at times, especially to start. Granted, Gundam X is serious in points, but also lighthearted and even quite humorous/comedic. It isn't intended to be a heart-wrenching, complex series on the whole, considering the bulk of the main characters in this series seem more lighthearted and lack development, but not definition, on most manners. However, while the skeptical anime-viewer may find this series to be lagging in points and undeveloped; it's an enjoyable series for it's simple humor, for-the-moment character interactions, and for highlighting such significant issues in a "save the world, save the girl" senario.
It saddens me that the series was cancelled before its scheduled end because, in terms of the arcs of the series, it transitioned from good, to below average, to decent, to very good, and then settling with a lackluster ending. I personally don't think the cancellation was due to the quality of the story, but rather perhaps the progression of it in the beginning arcs, taking on more of a filler-like senario and then transitioning to a story with deeper meanings and intrigue...and then ending up a little rushed because of the cancellation.
Animation is good for the time, but not great for today's standards (1996 production); the music and voice acting is quite nice, above average overall. Story could've been much better in terms of both progression and pacing, but overall it is decent (and underrated) for a Gundam series; Characters vary from very well crafted to downright horrible; some of the secondary characters have more flare than some of the main characters (another issue I'll address further in the indepth review).
Overall...Gundam X has a number of nice virtues, but with an equal number of glaring vices (which I will explore in more detail in my review), but by all means, this is far from being the worst of the bunch in the Gundam series,.
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Ryuga |
2006-02-21 11:34:20 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| What is a “newtype”? This word is well used in the Universal Century shows about some few people with special abilities. The big question now, which everyone is trying to find an answer to, is exactly what a person called newtype really is. In After War Gundam X we get closer to the truth about this than ever before.
Gundam X takes place in another alternative universe called After War (the original Gundam series took place in Universal Century - UC). However, this calendar is more of an alternative continuation of the One Year War in Gundam 0079. “What if the war ended in a disaster?” The idea and concept behind this anime is precisely that.
Already in the first episode, this show seemed quite interesting. As I continued watching, I hoped strongly that this wasn’t the same as with Victory Gundam. While Victory also started great, it quickly became dull. Gundam X on the other hand, got even more interesting as I watched further. Honestly, I wasn’t bored a single time during these 39 episodes. Not all of the episodes were great, but I didn’t think there were any bad episodes either. So why exactly this particular Gundam show was cancelled is one big mystery to me. I will not try to find a good answer to this question. Anyhow, you should not be affected by the fact that Gundam X was cancelled. Though it was, the final episodes weren’t as rushed as I’d feared. The ending of the series, also the characters and music were some of the best I’ve experienced in a Gundam show till now. I believe that all the characters had excellent development, from start to end. Also animation is good for the 1996 standards. They’ve managed to create some of the best animated and most realistic fighting scenes I’ve seen an older Gundam series.
After finishing Gundam X in less than a week, I’ll consider this to be the best Gundam series right after Gundam SEED. If you want some more details, then read on. All I can say is that you shouldn’t miss this one whether you’re a Gundam fan or not.
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Gundam X is definitely an underrated series. I just finished reviewing Genshiken, and I'm not in the mood to review another anime, but seeing it graded as 8.3 is the worse.
Like I said, this is an underrated series and obviously it would after the success of Wing. Bishonens + 5 Gundams is a formula accepted by many Gundam fans (no wonder Gundam Seed appeals to many after Wing). But the plot and story doesn't really drop or deteriorated. It still has nice plot and compared to other mecha animes (not Gundam), this series tops them all.
Newtypes, a popular UC term. Me, being born without ever seeing a UC timeline Gundam series, I was thankful that this series introduced the term. It is such a powerful term and this series revolves on "NEWTYPES" alone. For me it sounded like a series explaining the origins of UC's Newtypes. But the philosophy beneath it is really amazing. Newtypes as evolved human beings, Newtypes are the future etc. What I like is the idea that Garrod Ran doesn't believe in any of it. He changed every prophecy Tiffa made, which is this anime's (or Garrod’s) strong point that is revealed in the end.
It gave the viewers lots of lessons in life. A trait, in my opinion made Gundam series popular, and this series is not far behind from them.
The characters in this anime are also well developed. Tiffa Adil is one of the cutest girl protagonist I've seen (Gundam series only, maybe after Lacus Clyne). Her eyes looks like Relena's but she's cuter than Relena. Her character is really developed well and I like how she communicates to people, which really reflects her identity. Garrod Ran, opposite to Wing's Hero Yuy is not bad for a protagonist. Just careless, but I prefer the silent-type. His knight-in-shining armor relation to Tifa made this series a cliché but it was portrayed in a good way, a plus grade if you ask me.
Mechas? Well, since this is a nice series, I think I should speak about mecha designs in a non-offending way...Okay fine, they're RIP-OFFS of past Gundams. This is my first impression after seeing Leopard. Really similar to heavy-arms and one of the Frost Gundam reminded me of a model in Wing. They also made a mistake in X’s upgrade. It looks (in fact I like it more) stronger than Double X. But like I said, the story is not bad so I'll let it pass. Besides this is better than the crappy G Gundam designs.
All in all this Gundam is worth your time. I beg to disagree if you gave it a bad rating. It still has the Gundam feel and I think the directors desperately wanted for this series not to look like trash seeing it was released after Wing, so it’s not really bad like what many people say it is.
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PowerBarEX |
(2005-07-14 02:44:25) 2005-07-14 02:36:37 |
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| Average |
8.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Gundam X is like a UC Gundam/Gundam Wing hybrid. While most of the series brings back the style of realism in terms of war, technology and politics, some of the mecha designs and animation itself is more current and reminiscent of Gundam Wing.
X has a consistent and casual pace to its plot but still carries plenty of gundam action (probably nearly a fight every episode). The primary main characters (Garrod, Jamiil, Tiffa) are not immediately lovable because of their complex and realistic nature, but once you watch them develop and all the facets of their character are shown, you can truly appreciate how non-one dimensional they are. These characteristics are what make the Gundam franchise so popular. The story/plot stay fairly tight, consistent and logical (unlike the current Seed Gundams). Unfortunately, the ending is a bit rushed (rumor was it was forced to wrap up early due to cancellation).
The animation is a little outdated even for its time, but the detail, the mecha damage, character and mecha designs were still great. The sound boasts your typical epic Gundam soundtrack (which is good). The premise and the animation isn't as exciting and flashy as the recent Seed series' or even the UC timeline. But the plot, characters and story are tight with high quality. No overly sappy plot that tries to win over the mainstream audience, just another solid genuine Gundam series.
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Silver |
(2005-06-18 17:27:27) 2005-03-21 05:58:25 |
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Wow I just love this Gundam Series. I watched a lot of the other Gundam but this one appeals me the most. This has the best romance between the characters than the others because it seem so funny and innocent. Especially love the interaction between Tiffa and Garrod. The plot is really interesting though it seems a bit dull at the beginning but after that it gets more interesting. I am just really mad that it was cut 10 eps. They should have used a different timeslot and it would have a good ratings. Other than that this series is AWESOME!!!!
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| Average |
7.7 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Gundam X is actually a very underrated series. But I still can't believe the animation of it though. We went form Gundam Wing (1995) to Gundam X (1996) yet the animation is worst for a year later. It's more like the early 90's. That's what had me disappointed. But the story isn't that bad. I'm enjoying it. The characters can grow on you but then again they don't go into the past of the character too much. Just the Gundam pilots and the Newtypes. you basically get the answer of what ever happen to the new types in this series. This gundam X is pretty much a "What If" happened in Universal Century. I thought it would be more "Mad Max" like but not really. But don't underesimate it. The Animation may not be great and the story may seem weird. But it kind of gets stuck to you. you want to see what happens to the characters and such.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This show deserved to have been completed. The animation is similar to gundam wing and the mecha are obviously inspired by wing and uc shows. The characters were likeable, but everyone's motives were transparent (no mysterious characters), except for the frost brothers. The show's ending is compacted and that causes some three episodes featuring new enemie superpilots dying back-to-back-to-back. The ending didn't even have a final duel. The show was very enjoyable though. This series could use a remake to add the last 10 episodes.
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aniMAXXX |
(2004-10-11 11:52:15) 2004-10-11 09:25:51 |
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| Average |
8.3 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| +A Gundam Series not to be missed!
+Appealing main characters
+Mysterious main story, about "Newtype"
+The ship captain in action!
+I LOVE this series ending..For a war based anime.
-Damn.. i hate the Old Gundam series opening/ending themes..*sleepy*
-Little too episodic, can be reduced to ~30 episodes with fast action pace.
Well aside from all that this main story i saw from this series is teach two naughty brothers not to play with fire and weaponary ;-)
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Radeonic |
(2005-08-31 21:18:01) 2004-06-29 20:16:03 |
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| Average |
7.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| A decent Gundam anime. This story focuses on the "What if" to the UC One Year War.
Animation is decent but not spectacular. The mech designs are nice, following the lineage of UC while retaining some uniqueness without being ugly.
The story, especially the ending could be improved. But since this series was cancelled prematurely, the rushed ending is understandable.
An enjoyable Gundam anime, but the lack of the depth is obvious when compared some of the other Gundam series.
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SouSou |
(2004-01-15 02:06:58) 2004-01-15 01:54:54 |
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| Average |
8.7 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I bought this DVD because I'm curious of this Gundam series. It's kind of short (39 episodes), but it's an interesting series. It is boring sometimes, but the character development is excellent, somehow similar to Turn A Gundam. Some newtypes involved. This series also redefine the definitions of "Newtype". I guess this series serve as an end mark of the "Newtype".
In general, this series is not for everyone. depends on people's interest. Get this anime a shot if you are curious about this gundam series.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
6 |
| Story |
0 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
0 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| I for one only caught this series just recently, thanks to the release by SuYu.
I haven't really watched that many gundam shows, and for the AU section, I only caught SEED and X (no wing, although i've heard much ^^)
The mecha in this series is a bit more practical than the ones in Wing and makes more sense and are more unique. (sonic cannon anyone?) For one, they actually explain to you why and how that G-X's Satellite Cannon seems to have jaw-dropping firepower, unlike the twin buster rifles of Wing Zero. Well, I dunno, maybe by that time they already created micro nuclear reactors which could fit on the rifles? ^^;
Anyway, since I'm only halfway through the whole thing, I'll update at the end of everything. Of course, that is if SuYu continues subbing it. The animation by today's standards is not that good, but I'll give it the benefit of doubt since I haven't watched any anime from that era cept for Eva, so I don't know whether the animation for its time is good or not. Sound wise, X didn't really create anything spectacular, but the characters and plot are somewhat turning out quite nicely so far, and I'm looking forward to the next episodes.
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Despite standing out as the first and only Gundam series to be canceled, I can think of a dozen reasons why this series is better than Gundam Wing. For one thing there's a lot of character development, something Wing was lacking. Actually the series sometimes devotes whole episodes towards character development and then treats us to a lot of mecha action in the following episodes. Oh... Did I mention that there are only 2 pretty boys in this series (Roby & Olba) as opposed to at least 7 in Wing? You'll also be happy to know that the main character Garoad Ran is not an emotionless bastard like Heero Yuy, and Garoad is probably the most normal protagonist in the whole Gundam Universe. He's just your average 15 year old guy trying to act like an adult and trying to score with the very cute Tifa Adil. The way the two interact with each other is one of the main things that keeps this show on its feet.
Gundam X takes place after a full scale war between the Earth Federation and the Revolutionary space colonies, a war that bears many similarities to the original Gundam sagas. The Federation eventually looses this war when Newtype pilot Jamil Neete (A scarred version of Amuro Rei), opens fire on a colony that descends into Earths atmosphere, killing billions of people. The Federation collapses and pirates called Vultures reign supreme in a war torn world. Fifteen years later Neete, trying to atone for what happened, uses his ship the Freedin along with 3 Gundams to find and protect Newtypes that were abused in the last war. Sounds good right? Unfortunately the basis for the plot is really the only plot we get, as this series is somewhat lacking in that aspect. However the plot picks up towards the middle of the series when the New Federation is formed and tries to reunify the people of Earth in an attempt to launch a retaliatory strike on the people of the colonies. Little does either faction know that the devious Frost brothers, and their demonic looking Gundams, have their own little vendetta to settle.
While its plot is somewhat nonexistent in the first half of the series, it makes up for that with great characters, excellent battle sequences, well drawn mecha, great music, and bits and pieces of comic relief, something that wasn't seen in a Gundam series since Double Zeta. While given a bad reputation due to its cancellation, Gundam X stands out in my book as the best Alternate Universe Gundam saga. I highly recommend it to fans of mecha, Gundam in general and to those of you who couldn't stomach the pretty boys of Gundam Wing.
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Kyou-Kun |
(2004-09-30 15:41:46) 2003-01-23 12:50:11 |
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| I liked this alternate universe far better than that of Gundam Wing. It clearly is superior in every way. In my mind it is one of the top Gundam series, along with Z Gundam, Gundam 0079, and Turn A Gundam (although I haven't watched Turn A Gundam yet), in my opinion.
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