The action of Bandai not letting Toonami aire After War Gundam X subsequently after the success of Wing is the main reason for the franchise's short lived success in the West.
I agree they should have had ocean dub do Gundam x instead of the original Gundam. The original Gundam footage was outdated and as a kid I was turned off because the quality was worse than wing. X would have been a great follow up and would have sold toys.
I must be in a minority, because I am not lukewarm on Gundam X. It's actually one of my absolute favorites in the franchise. It has some of my favorite character writing in the series, and it has this great moody tone.
Same. I loved Gundam X. It’s hard not to fall for the cast. Even with the sped up ending it didn’t seem too fast to process unlike F91. It’s by far the most underrated to me. The animation is peak as well, just next to Turn-A.
One of the most interesting choices that Gundam X has compared to other Gundam shows is that they didn't make Garrod a Newtype. Almost all TV Gundam anime has their protagnist be whatever Newtype expy is in their universe (unless there's no expy like in Wing or IBO). Garrod is just a normal kid, albeit a bit more mature and skilled than others his age. The only time they have done this again was with Asemu in the second act of AGE.
"I can see the toy lines" - first of all, as someone who waited more than 15 years for the MG Double X, fuck you for that 😂💀. There are three noteworthy things why Gundam X didn't do well in the ratings that the video didn't discuss, at least according to the forums, articles, and discussions read throughout the years (I don't keep links so don't ask me): 1. Gundam fatigue - annual AU releases led to audiences getting increasingly burnt out (which may be argued for or against by point 3). 2. The release of Evangelion the prior year shook the whole anime industry to its core. Wing was lucky to dodge the Eva storm by virtue of airing a season earlier and having minimal overlap (which may also explain why Escaflowne (which was also hella experimental to be fair which will sow the seeds for the Code Geass aesthetic in the future) didn't do as well at it should have especially given the amount of resources poured into it). 3. The biggest factor was that it was transferred to a Saturday morning slot. Gundam has traditionally and rightfully gets a primtime slot. Viewership for Gundam X was on par with G and Wing at around 3-3.5% at the time but the transfer killed ratings. Execs may have thought that since the ratings were stagnant and didn't see signs of increasing, it was time to give the annual AUs a rest until they plan for something big in the future (Turn A an future released had gap years). For all intents and purposes, Gundam X had no right being good as it was, even with the lightning fast pace it had in the latter part and still has a good claim for best Gundam show in the franchise. Skipping on the Witz and Roybea focus episodes is kinda sad though. I'm not the first one bring this comparison but Gundam X has several parallels to Final Fantasy IX. Both are highly-rated throwbacks to the franchise which suffer relative lack of viewership/playrate, incredible protagonists and villains that suffer (or will suffer in Kuja's case) from their inferiority complex and lash out by plunging the world into destruction. Lastly, I still can't forgive RUclips for taking down Boofire's Gundam X video, thankfully the newtype video wasn't a casualty. Yes, I really love Gundam X if that wasn't already apparent enough.
The reason why viewership of Gundam X in Japan declined so rapidly and why the cut 10 episodes was because it aired at 0600 am in Japan. That essentially is a death sentence for a mature series. Few other shows have also had the same treatment and it shows in those series as well. Also another fun fact the voice actor for Olba Frost hates the word nii-san. He said it so much throughout Gundam X that he despises it and refrains from using it to this day.
Ennil El didn't actually want to have the Gundam X and steal the controller, she wanted Garrod himself (but it's a kid's show!). This is made more clearer when Toniya meets her in the island where Ennil was trying to live a new life. Her seeing Garrod again reminded her of how he rejected her and destroyed everything she had in the process. Thankfully, it all got resolved sooner or later and femme fatale Ramba Ral ultimately joined the crew in the end.
A few things: It's not that Jamil stopped caring about the New UNE, it's that the guy responsible for the New UNE's imperialism stopped being a solid mass. Also, you forgot the matter of the Char Clone(s). GX has a Char Clone, an Amuro Clone, and the daughter of a Ramba Ral clone.
What I liked about the gundams at the beginning of the show is that they're not unique or special. The GX, Airmaster and Leopard are all showed to be mass-produced during the flash at the beginning. Not only that, but we see another GX during the season.
@@XTempestBusterThis is why Gundam X Under The Moonlight works while Gundam Wing G-UNIT doesn't. The fact that there suddenly was just another strong mobile suit that coincidentally just looks like a Gundam was something I could never take seriously in Wing G-Unit.
Gundam X is my absolute favorite AU (currently). I'm a definite minority there. I might be biased though, since I watched it with my wife and it kind of became 'our' Gundam show. Part of our love for Gundam X probably comes from the fact that we transpose characters' UC equivalents onto them. Jamil is Amuro, Garrod is Kamille, Toniya is Kai, etc. and we think of it as an alternate UC.
Correct, but the kind dolphins aspect aged hilariously poorly after finding out that they are sociopaths that kill sharks for fun, druggies that love smoking that pufferfish pack, and violent gang rapists.
I agree wings is fine but is x that got me into Gundam well seed did but I remember seeing Gundam x online you know the fansubs and thinking it was incredible
I love gundam X, for various reasosn 1- the titular gundam's design is so good, so much that it's being included in a lot of designs of the builders/breakers series. Gundam Artemis and Helios are the best examples. 2- the "fuck the audience" twist near the end about newtypes 3- how closely related to UC it feels (there's not much mental gymnastics to be done to consider it a direct sequel TBH) 4- Jamil is the GOAT and the best Char clone so far. It's a crying shame it got shafted the way it did, and you can clearly see where the cuts to the story were made, specially with Enil (who was supposed to have a gundam type unit) and with the satelicon faction (that was a whole arc reduced to just one episode right there). Overall I feel it was a very good entry to the franchise that wasn't given the chance it deserved.
Yeah looking back is honestly sad how this entry was treated. I’m still upset we never got an official us released of the series thanks to Bandai. Had to sort to fansubs
I love Gundam X. It's a post-apocalypse story that eschews the bleak tones and nihilism typical for the genre for an optimistic humanism I appreciate, especially in the contemporary media climate. It pairs well thematically with Tomino's similarly optimistic Turn A Gundam. There's a lot there about how humans can bounce back after cataclysms through building community and supporting and protecting one another. It also handles Newtypes in the best way for that concept - it concentrates primarily on how they're exploited by powerful systems and weaponized for war when they represent the aforementioned human potential and essentiality to build connection. I also have Eureka Seven in my blu-ray backlog, so I'm pumped about that even more now.
Gundam X was one of the later Gundam series I've watched, and it REALLY clicked with me. Sure, it had it's issues, and is Jamil really that interesting of a character?.. but him being Amuro but with even more trauma just fascinated me. In the end I really like it's feel.
I felt Jamil was Amuro once he grew up, stopped whining, and started acting like an adult. Basically stopped letting emotions get to him and be a leader. Like that time he showed Garrod in redone Gundam X how based on skill alone he was able to shoot Carris bits.
You got a point there about the similarities of Gundam X and Eureka 7. When both anime appeared in Super Robot Wars Z, Renton starts looking up to Garrod as a big brother as soon as the Gekkostate crew joins your team. Too bad the game doesn't have an English translation, but it does have an English walkthrough.
Garrod is definitely one of the best protagonists, as he accomplished all that stuff... without being a newtype or anything similar Also, get ready for possibly the most powerful gundam in history next time
@@XTempestBuster Hmmm while there is no denying that destructive capability...I would say that is about equivalent to the Double X Cannon from Gundam X or the Buster Rifle from Wing. Turn A Moonlight Butterfly appears continuous, ever expanding, and doesn't appear to need to recharge. Its AOE is insane...it can literally merge with weather systems when inside an atmosphere, multiplying its power by creating ionic storms that can cover a much wider area...so tha, unlike the other Gundam's listed, it actually destroyed...(SPOILER BECAUSE IDK IF RECON HAS EVER SEEN IT) ...the world.
@@justsomeguywithsunglasses8418 that is a fair estimate, but we don't really have data to compare it to, so that could either be a high estimate or low estimate... But with the known data, moonlit is definitely the strongest by far. I will agree
Gundam X is such an underwatched show, I always find it amusing that the "I'm a healer, but..." screencap is way more popular than the show itself. The final arc might've been a bit rushed but I really like the way it just outright says newtypes aren't the "be all end all" that certain series make them out to be. Despite being made years before the novel it almost feels like a direct callout to Unicorn lol. 7:25 "I can see the toylines now" too bad Bandai clearly doesn't, given how little kits they've made of it. At least we have decent modern kits of the X, DX, and Airmaster, but Bandai seems to intentionally avoid the Leopard despite there being a Build Fighters kit heavily based off it. (and forget about getting kits of the grunt suits or villain suits...) Also next video is Turn A? Oh man, that's my absolute favourite series so I'm excited to see the discussion around that.
Gundam x is my favorite series just due to nostalgia. When I was younger I had a Chinese neighbor who was a few years older than me and had the Gundam X series on VHS with English subtitles. Remember watching it and being amazed by the whole new type thing, mobile bits and flash system. Plus the whole moon station. It must of been around the year 2001 because I remember watching it on vacation in my parents Nissan quest which had a small tv with VHS player in it. I was around 13 or 14 years old.
I actually just finished a rewatch of X. It still holds up as one of my favorite Gundam shows. I'd easily put it in my top three, and I always suggest people watch it if they can. It feels like a "what-if" UC show with Newtypes and the colony drops and all that. I love the vibe, the MS designs are, for the most part, top notch (Leopard is better than Heavyarms, and Virsago is a sexier Epyon), it has some great characters and story's with them and Garrod and Tifa's love story is both realistic and the best romance in the whole damned franchise. I do wish we could have seen the 11 episodes that got cut. I want tonsee how much those extra 5ish hours of content would change things and what would have happened. Still a 10/10 show for me. Never considered the similarities between it and Eureka 7, but that may explain why I adore E7 as well.
Fun fact: as stated on the toonami podcast, toonami was offered gundam x as one of the gundam anime to show but picked a different show instead. I think it was 0079 they went with.
Oh dude the red sky. That's actually scientifically accurate. Just like with smoke a massive number of impacts like what we'd see in the beginning of Gundam x would leave so much dust in the upper atmosphere that the sky would probably be red for maybe hundreds or even thousands of years
From what I've heard the original producer of Gundam X Atsushi Kaji was trying to sabotage Gundam X until he was fired 26 episodes into its airing. This, combined with fan fatigue, being bumped to the dreaded 6 am timeslot and being passed over by the Original Mobile Suit Gundam to air on Toonami over this show was what caused the poor reception to Gundam X. Also from what I can tell the whole Newtype focus in this show was mostly to call out how the concept of Newtypes is stupid and takes away the focus of Gundam, namely the anti war messages. I think that this series started the trend of succeeding Gundam series calling out the flaws of the original Universal Century and I'm all for that. But it'll be quite a long time till we can get to my current favorite series Gundam 00. I may give Gundam X a shot since it seems like a breath of fresh air with the setting and Garrod seems like a decent protagonist. I can easily see how he's the prototype for Renton but with a personality that seems more akin to Yusuke Urameshi. So yeah, seems like an easy sit and I've heard a lot of good things about Turn A Gundam and its hilarious mustache.
I have a soft spot for After X, but it felt like it had a hard time elaborating on its themes: it feels like it's SUPPSOSED to be about leaving the Universal Century behind, since nobody even remembers what Newtypes are supposed to do, or why the Federation and Space are fighting, but that got kinda mixed up with the love story, and the Mad Max, and the Frost Brothers.
Glad to see you overcame your mic problem. I genuinely don't know why X did so poorly with Japanese audiences. The most common argument I've heard was Gundam franchise fatigue at the time, that the cold openings the series employed weren't well regarded, and that the Japanese in particularly didn't want such a ground-based Gundam series for whatever reason. Even still, I'm genuinely shocked Gundam X and Turn A Gundam never got dubs or any kind. Even if these series floundered in their home market, as a Westerner I remember being genuinely thirsty for more Gundam - or mecha anime in general really - around the late 90's and would've taken Gundam Mad Max and Gundam War of the Worlds like manna from heaven.
They probably didn’t want to spend the money on dubbing and international distribution on a canceled television show. It’s not a cult classic either, which is a another reason to dub it.
14:45 It might interest you to know that Fort Severn is actually a real place. It's the northern-most settlement in Ontario, Canada, located on a Cree First Nations reserve, near where the Severn River meets Hudson's Bay. It's nowhere near as built-up as depicted in the show (only 334 people as of 2022), but that's a genuine Canadian winter (Hudson's Bay completely freezes over in winter)!
The Openings Dream and Resolution are awesome and I love the ending song Human Touch and Jamil Neate is badass,Bandai should have dubbed after Wing and G Gundam.
I love that they got Warren Wiebe to perform Human Touch. No awkward pronunciation like you'd have with a Japanese singer, and the emotion he was able to put into it made it just such a good love ballad. Easily one of the best anime songs I've ever heard.
In my country, Gundam X was localized and aired sometime around 1999-2000 on local TV. At this point it followed the local airings of Gundam Wing and G Gundam, and next to those two bombastic series, it was kind of handicapped, since X was most folks' introduction into a more serious UC-like show back then. I didn't appreciate X until about six years later, and by then I had already been exposed to SEED and First Gundam, which are closer in tone to it. I treat X as a huge "what if" scenario from the UC because it's pretty much in there already with all the shared lore. Rushed second half and the Frost brothers' flimsy motivations aside, this is one of my favorite alternate continuities mainly because of the protagonists.
Wow a total population of only 100 million people holy crap. According to the internet the last time we were only 100 million people on the Earth it was 1500 BCE. The colony drops literally blasted mankind back to the Stone age.
Gundam X's low ratings were due to another Sunrise made mecha anime airing in the same time slot on another channel, The Vision of Escaflowne. Escaflowne also comes from a high pedigree of being from the creator of Macross. These two shows devoured each other's audiences. Both were cut short and have a rush to an ending. Just to be clear, I'm not blaming either show for the other's failure. I love both of them. The problem was that they were aired in the same time slot back when watching one later wasn't really an option.
I actually like the episodic arcs of Gundam X (some of which you didn't mention, like Jamil's lost-&-found best friend😉). It really fits the post-apocalyptic adventure that I expected from the premise. But then all bets are off once the protags went to space due to the cancellation. Ennil El was supposed to get her own Gundam.
Gundam X seems to be either loved, or treated as an existent property in Gundam. Luckily, I am in the former. Is it perfect? No, but then again, nothing really is. While the show is Newtype focused, it basically is a critique of how UC has placed so much emphasis on Newtypes and how it basically says screw all that. The final D.O.M.E. monologue is basically how everyone should stop being swayed by the word Newtype and they should do more and be better than being held to by such a petty term. I love this interpretation of it as I find UC to be very samey when dealing with those subjects, in essence, it's UC for people that don't like the direction UC headed in. The openings are rather nice, and Human Touch is one of the few English endings that work well. While nothing other than the Gundam X's feel memorable in MS designs, its strengths lie elsewhere. The Frost Bros are good within the context of the show but are otherwise unremarkable as well. Also X shouldn't be discounted because of the shorter runtime, nobody gives the original crap because it was shortened, pace can be a bit fast but at least it has an ending. Its tone is also much more optimistic when you consider the start is the worst case scenario for the OYW. I didn't think I'd like X more than I did, but I'm glad I gave it a watch, as it's my favorite AC as of yet.
After watching Gundam X for the first time I have to concur this series is severely underrated probably one of the better shows in the franchise with a take on Universal Century+ Gundam Wing, Garrod and Tiffa's relationship is enjoyable along with most of the main cast,I was floored that New types are the main point in an alternative universe show,a unique spin in the story plus the Friedan alert system being like White Base from 0079 is nostalgic
We`re so lucky here in the Philippines that is has tagalog/filipino dub back in 2001 from local tv network. That time the Gundam Wing became more popular but we don`t know that Gundam X came up short in episodes and has a lot of issues in Japan. For me this is my one of my favorite series as it came with unique storyline about the result of war how the human lives after that. Thank you for bringing up this series.
Glad you liked Gundam X. This is my favorite series in all of gundam. I usually say that this show is a pretty good starting show because it has enough UC and AU stuff in it for you to go either way for your next show. This is based on my experience since Gundam X made it easier for me to grasp UC stuff more (back in the day when this show was the newest one all you could do was go back to UC after G and Wing and where I lived, I could only do that thanks to Super Robot Wars games). The entire colony laser thing is my proof for the satellite cannon being the best sniping weapon. Garrod was firing them from the dark side of the moon; no other weapon in gundam has that power and range. The nearest other weapons can get are the Zanneck's beam cannon (or gun?) that it uses to snipe from space or the Dynames Gundam's special use sniping rifle that basically did the opposite of the Zanneck sniping from earth into space (both of these are around only a small fraction of the distance the satellite cannons can reach). (There's a video on the DX over on Gamore's channel that explains this better than I can.) Just by design, my favorite MS in the show is the Rasveht (the MS piloted by the newtype that had the MS-Bits that looked like it). Funnily enough, the new Gundam Carris uses in the sequel manga that came out a few years back is based on his original MS and the Rasveht. Speaking of which, there was a new/recent Gundam X manga that acts as the official sequel to Gundam X. What I know of it is that Carris goes to find Garrod, who is married to Tiffa and has a child, and asks him to help stop another war from erupting. The MS Carris gives to Garrod is the Freeden's GX that somehow has its satellite cannon again. On a side note, was that the Daemon X Machina hangar music? Very nice.
I just want to clarify, there are JP commentary channel talks about why gundam X is underrated, one of the main reason is the time to air gundam X on TV is at 6 am which is not a suitable time and its a time when people go to work, causing the huge drop of viewers and the shorten of the episode.
@@Retcon404 yeah this stuff is always never seen on the bigger picture. I’ve seen people be upset about cancellations, but they always fail to mention about other shows that used the other time slot. There’s only so many shows that they can fit into prime time.
Love how X utterly deconstructs and demolishes the very idea of Newtypes. They aren’t godlike beings who can warp reality, they aren’t special people who deserve a higher status than others, they aren’t the saviours of humanity. They’re just regular people who got put on a pedestal. I wish later UC Gundam shows would take a leaf out of X’s book instead of descending into chaotic newtype circlejerks but c’est la vie, we gotta keep having OYW rehashes
I'm a huge Gundam fan it is by far my favorite anime franchise and it's not even close. After War Gundam X is my favorite of the franchise and as such my favorite anime of all time. I am not lukewarm on it and I tell everyone I can about it! I always say that I am a paradox UC supremacy snob who's favorite anime is Gundam X haha!
I liked a lot of Gundam X. For one thing, it doesn't follow the same story pattern that a lot of Gundam shows tend to follow. It feels more like an action serial with individual, self-contained episodes, one-offs, and mini-arcs all contributing to each character's personality and backstory as well as incrementally moving the plot forward. It's a show that never feels bogged down with filler. The X's beam sword is probably the coolest in the series, aside from Turn A. Love that fat, drippy blade. My main gripe with the show is how it squandered its potential by wasting time on the Frost brothers... who _just. aren't. interesting._ They're Team Rocket, but dumber. They're terrible villains. Sunrise could've explored the setting more. They could've built toward the war with the colonies reigniting as the main threat. They could've just had the Earth forces trying to reconquer the planet as the main plot, with the need to unite the scattered remnants of civilization to oppose the reconquest. So many better options than two moustache-twirling buffoons... 6/10. What's good is better than average. New and different. What's not good is about what you'd expect. Would rewatch without reservation, and I kinda want to build the MG DoubleX eventually.
This is easily one of my favourite Gundam series. It's up there with Age for me, and I really like Age a lot. Really sucks how raw of a deal X got. Really wish they'd redo it in modern times, could also get a dub then. The Virsago Chest Break is one of my all time favourite MS (re-)designs. Can't wait to re-watch the show with my partner and see her first time reactions to it.
The few times Gundam X has appeared in SRW titles has been nice cause they always add/change some things from the original telling's. Heck even in SRW alpha Gaiden it felt like Gundam X got a prober ending compared to the anime run
This was dubbed locally in the Philippines in 1997. I watched it every afternoon after school at 5:30PM. Everybody loved the previous series Gundam Wing, but I couldn't stomach the reused animation in Wing watching it in 2017, ad stopping half way.
31:33 I always felt that the Gundam designs of Gundam X were leftovers from other Gundam series. Concepts that got rejected from shows like Wing and G Gundam and were thrown into Gundam X to take up space. They look fine, but they don't pop out and I think because they are basically hand-me-downs explains that.
And Gundam X is better off for it (at least on a reality scale). I just shake my head when after the Heavyarms expends all its ammo, it can simply proceed to gain even more plot armor by becoming quick AF with the combat knife, only justified by the fact that the pilot is a circus performer who is capable of acrobatics so of course the unit has to.
I'm definitely lukewarm on most of its Gundam designs, and almost think it would be cooler if they were replaced by a mix of customized Jenice and Daughtress mobile suits befitting the scavenger setting. That said, the GX-9900 is a top 5 Gundam design for me. I think I just really like the way the satellite cannon folds up in the back and something about the rest of it comes together well too. It's good it works, since its role in the story and backstory and character connections make it the one mobile suit the show absolutely needed to get right.
I feel your pain with the issues with the video I had one a while back where the audio was like a double overlay it had a double voice out of sequence effect don't know what trigger that because the processed video didn't have the problem
was fortunate to have fond memories of Gundam X cuz we got it here in the Philippines (After Wing and G, locally dubbed). Looking back now it definitely is kinda underrated.
That honestly makes a lot of sense. Personally I wouldn’t have minded if this took place after V-Gundam. As clearly the majority of the colonies got tired of the Earth Federation’s shit.
I do wish that Gundam X didn't drop the ball on the setting's initial "Mad Max + Gundam" premise too. The show had a pretty unique post-apocalyptic setting and the former half that did take place in it did surprisingly well in worldbuilding the locations, people and general feel of the world itself IMO while keeping the plot and action going at a relatively consistent pace at the same time, kind of like a predecessor of the type of worldbuilding that you see nowadays with most Isekai anime shows that became prevalent more than 10+ years later. In some ways Gundam X really was narratively ahead of its time in that regard.
The D.O.M.E. is the predecessor to the Laplace Box of Unicorn Gundam in terms of plot device. The two almost have the same purpose within their own stories (being the end-it-all thing to the story but turns out quite something different). Too bad the Leopard didn't have a HG kit, as the HGAW line of kits is the only one I know so far is almost completed when it comes to a main gundam lineup (HGAW Gundam X, X Divider, Double X, Airmaster, Airmaster Burst P-Bandai). At least there's the HGBFT Leopard da Vinci that can be considered as a replacement for the Leopard....
Except the Laplace's Box and D.O.M.E served completely opposite purposes to each other in regards to Newtypes. D.O.M.E's monologue actually severed the concept of the 'Newtype' from it being related to Human evolution at all or even from being Spacenoid or Earthnoid-exclusive, and therefore made being an NT or OT a non-factor in determining Humanity's future, meaning that both need to make their own future together equally for them to thrive. The Laplace Box's message outlined in the original UC Charter, otoh, basically sums up to "Zeon Daikun was right all along" and that NTs not only were confirmed to be the natural next step in Humanity's evolution but also that, as such, NTs should be granted especial privilege and status to rule all of Humanity, and Oldtypes, in order to guide them towards the future themselves. It's little wonder why, despite both trying to answer the question of what Newtypes actually ARE in Gundam, *this* show grew more popular in hindsight while Unicorn is mostly reviled even now for being blatant Zeon fanwank.
Just found your channel. While I have found other channels that go over the plots of the different series, You have a way of doing that I enjoy. PS: I got really in to Gundam with Seed & Seed Destiny and then started watching the shows in the order Wikipedia had them.
I found After War Gundam X thanks to a friend showing me a clip on the Internet after I graduated highschool 23yrs ago and it instantly became my favorite. Especially after I managed to get my hands on the whole series months later
IIRC Part of X's issues was that the target audience was getting burned out on Gundam as a whole by this point which led to the lower numbers and the show being moved to a bad timeslot. Couple that with weak model kit sales and you've got a death sentence since Bandai does not like it when a Gundam season doesn't move model kits. It's a shame bc this is easily one of my favourite Gundams and I would have liked to have seen what it would have turned out like had it reached it's full potential. Thankfully it's legacy still lives on thanks to fans and franchises like Super Robot Wars giving it a chance.
I remember that red sky messing up the encoding of the fan translated episodes back in the day as soon as that sky poped up the video devolved in to 10x10 mosaic hahaha
Hey, I haven’t had time to watch this one yet, but I just wanted to drop a comment while there are still few enough that you might actually have a chance of seeing it. I absolutely *love* your content. Seriously, your Gundam retrospectives are the videos I’ve been looking for/hoping to find for the last couple years, ever since I got into Gundam as a whole right before the pandemic hit (via Gunpla, of course). They’re the perfect blend of editorial and factual, review and retrospective, and the quality and tone of your writing is a delight to consume. I have this latest one queued up to watch as soon as I have a spare few minutes later tonight, and then I’m going back to check out some of your other stuff! Oh, and I have no words to adequately express how happy it made me to see your video on Escaflowne. That was such a fun nostalgia trip, and as with all of your stuff, a fantastic watch. I hope that you continue to accrue subscribers (you’ve definitely got mine!) and that your channel gets the growth and progress it deserves! :D
You know, I knew that Gundam in the 80s and the 90s HEAVILY borrowed from Macross which was the gold standard at the time but damn I didn't expect them to whole sale rip off everything from the Zentradi attack forward for one of their shows. But the reason Gundam struggled during this time was that it was seen as boring, stale, and that the name Gundam slapped on nearly every mech made them generic. Likewise New Type was never truly explained nor explored and was very VERY inconsistent even within the same universe. Using the UC timeline for example New Type in MSG was different than what it meant in Zeta, but which was different from what it meant in ZZ, which has a different meaning from Chars Counterattack and means something totally different in Unicorn. Don't forget that 0083 has an entirely different definition from the rest as well. In one it just means psychic complete with telekinesis, in another it means high analytical brain power, in another it's something to do with the body and nerves , in another it means it means prep cog and telepathy, in another a sixth sense, in ZZ it means nothing, etc. In other words it became synonymous with generic sentai plot power. The refusal to actually define what it meant only cemented that perception.
God I love Gundam X. Though I will say its probably THE Gundam series that you'll only really appreciate when you watch so much Gundam you burn yourself out. Its a relatively slow but quaint tale of a young couple growing together in a Gundam universe. Its so focused on the character development of so much of the cast that the Gundam background just kinda falls away.... until they mention newtypes and you're like, oh yeah this isn't just a sci-fi story about space people, this is still Gundam. I know its my favourite because its the Gundam series that actually uses the youth of its protagonist to its advantage, Garrod is flawed is all the right ways for a good story but has all the characteristics of kid that just wants to get along with others that you really root for him. He's young, energetic, and not depressed all the time that he makes you forget that Gundam isn't just variations of Feds vs Zeons. Praise Garrod. Though I totally agree the pacing after episode 30 is whack due to cancelation.....sigh. Btw Bandai release a MG X Divider already please.
I had a similar feeling about G-Reco when it comes to planning the series. It almost feels like they were expecting 50-ish episodes, but after 10 were finished, they were told that the series has been cut in half.
The twist with the idea of newtypes really puts Char’s philosophy into perspective. Wonder how they’d react to innovators and coordinators; they’re real.
I feel like I'm one of, like, six people who's favorite Gundam series was X. Sure, it had its issues, but it's still a really good show despite of all that. It's a shame it never had its full run. Lord knows it deserves it.
Its a very underappreciated Gundam entry in my opinion, i just finished it a few days ago too. I also don't see many talking about it either. Its got a unique plot, good worldbuilding, great voice actor choices, some good music tracks and i really liked the characters. Not to mention one of my favorite current Gundam designs: the Double X; I mean a Gundam with microwave powered satellite cannons is pretty cool.
The GX is one of my favorite designs! Got the model kit as a kid in the 90s thanks to a small hobby shop. Before Gunpla was at Barnes & Noble and Target. Always warms my heart seeing Gundam more prevalent. 💛💙🤍❤️
Ive been looking for this show for a long time since i last watched it decades ago in the Philippines... They dubbed it in Philippines and I'm surprised i heard just now there is no dub
Easily my favorite Gundam series. The storytelling and focus on characters rather than a massive political conflict was fascinating and it was the first Gundam series in a long time where I was truly invested in every main and secondary character. I do not have any complaints about it myself but I can understand why it would be the most widely accepted among fans.
I'm not sure why X did so poorly compared to Wing in only a few episodes unless they just thought that X did not have enough pretty boys compared to Wing, and honestly while I like Garrod, Tifa, and the Vultures the other two Gundam pilots did seem mostly forgettable, or at least did not stand out as much as the Wing boys, I mean the fact that those guys hardly ever show up in the crossover games if X gets in at all says a lot I guess. The Frost Brothers were interesting but, while better then the majority of Wing's enemies, they overstayed there welcome to I guess. Still I wish X had got its full length, glad it got some spin offs at least.
It seems to have been Gundam burnout. By the time X aired there had been several back to back Gundam series by that point. People might just have been tired of Gundam at that point, leading to them taking a break until Turn A.
Hey man, I dig your new place looks super cozy from here! I watched this series but my memory of it is obscure...guess it just didn't come across as all that memorable. I just remember it was an OP suit in DWG 3.
Gundam X is my best gundam series ever, sure its not as famous as Wing here in Philippines but I really like Double X ( X the mobile suit not that much ) and its protag Garrod. He's not a newtype, innovator, coordinator or any species with superpowers, just regular human trying to survive being a space scavenger. Even in video games, I always check if X series is part of G Generation or SRW games before playing it just because I want to play as Garrod using Double X once his story is unlocked.
Garrod also has one of the highest onscreen kills as a pilot tying up with Uso Ewin, another significant Ace. Granted pilots like Amuro had to earn the NewType and skills as well, Garrod is pretty impressive. He didn't even need XX Gundam to rack up all of that, he did it with the regular old beam saber and rifle.
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after binge watching gundam several series, i appreciate the lack of screaming child in this series
Another thing: Gundam X is the series where the "I'm a doctor, but..." meme comes from.
The action of Bandai not letting Toonami aire After War Gundam X subsequently after the success of Wing is the main reason for the franchise's short lived success in the West.
I agree they should have had ocean dub do Gundam x instead of the original Gundam. The original Gundam footage was outdated and as a kid I was turned off because the quality was worse than wing. X would have been a great follow up and would have sold toys.
I mean there’s a 0% chance they would do that. It’s weird waste of money from their perspective.
@@baronvonslambert really? Did kids have a higher standard of animation back then?
@@thomasffrench3639 isnt that just natural?
@@g_y.rtz420 I don’t know, in 2009 I was able to watch Hannah Barbara cartoons no problem when I was a kid
I must be in a minority, because I am not lukewarm on Gundam X. It's actually one of my absolute favorites in the franchise. It has some of my favorite character writing in the series, and it has this great moody tone.
Agreed, Gundam X is low key one of my favs.
It has some of the best cast in a Gundam show, way better than Gundam Wing. Main character was not annoying or sociopathic like in other Gundams.
Same. I loved Gundam X. It’s hard not to fall for the cast. Even with the sped up ending it didn’t seem too fast to process unlike F91. It’s by far the most underrated to me. The animation is peak as well, just next to Turn-A.
I second that. It's my number 1 favorite Gundam series. Peace ✌🏻
The post apocalyptic setting is just brilliant
One of the most interesting choices that Gundam X has compared to other Gundam shows is that they didn't make Garrod a Newtype. Almost all TV Gundam anime has their protagnist be whatever Newtype expy is in their universe (unless there's no expy like in Wing or IBO). Garrod is just a normal kid, albeit a bit more mature and skilled than others his age. The only time they have done this again was with Asemu in the second act of AGE.
I love that. And fits with the ending so well.
He accomplished everything despite not being a Newtype, proving Newtypes are not needed.
Yes, you are right. It's mainly his love for a beautiful girl who made him great.
This is something i like about gundam x, Skills over cheat powers.
"I can see the toy lines" - first of all, as someone who waited more than 15 years for the MG Double X, fuck you for that 😂💀.
There are three noteworthy things why Gundam X didn't do well in the ratings that the video didn't discuss, at least according to the forums, articles, and discussions read throughout the years (I don't keep links so don't ask me):
1. Gundam fatigue - annual AU releases led to audiences getting increasingly burnt out (which may be argued for or against by point 3).
2. The release of Evangelion the prior year shook the whole anime industry to its core. Wing was lucky to dodge the Eva storm by virtue of airing a season earlier and having minimal overlap (which may also explain why Escaflowne (which was also hella experimental to be fair which will sow the seeds for the Code Geass aesthetic in the future) didn't do as well at it should have especially given the amount of resources poured into it).
3. The biggest factor was that it was transferred to a Saturday morning slot. Gundam has traditionally and rightfully gets a primtime slot. Viewership for Gundam X was on par with G and Wing at around 3-3.5% at the time but the transfer killed ratings. Execs may have thought that since the ratings were stagnant and didn't see signs of increasing, it was time to give the annual AUs a rest until they plan for something big in the future (Turn A an future released had gap years).
For all intents and purposes, Gundam X had no right being good as it was, even with the lightning fast pace it had in the latter part and still has a good claim for best Gundam show in the franchise.
Skipping on the Witz and Roybea focus episodes is kinda sad though.
I'm not the first one bring this comparison but Gundam X has several parallels to Final Fantasy IX. Both are highly-rated throwbacks to the franchise which suffer relative lack of viewership/playrate, incredible protagonists and villains that suffer (or will suffer in Kuja's case) from their inferiority complex and lash out by plunging the world into destruction.
Lastly, I still can't forgive RUclips for taking down Boofire's Gundam X video, thankfully the newtype video wasn't a casualty.
Yes, I really love Gundam X if that wasn't already apparent enough.
X and the original 79 show both got cancelled and yet I think it helped both shows in a way
The reason why viewership of Gundam X in Japan declined so rapidly and why the cut 10 episodes was because it aired at 0600 am in Japan. That essentially is a death sentence for a mature series. Few other shows have also had the same treatment and it shows in those series as well. Also another fun fact the voice actor for Olba Frost hates the word nii-san. He said it so much throughout Gundam X that he despises it and refrains from using it to this day.
My favourite character being reduced to "Tiffa's taxi ride to the colonies" kinda stings...
All aboard the Newtype express! Nicola is a pretty cool character, would have liked more screentime for him honestly.
Ennil El didn't actually want to have the Gundam X and steal the controller, she wanted Garrod himself (but it's a kid's show!). This is made more clearer when Toniya meets her in the island where Ennil was trying to live a new life. Her seeing Garrod again reminded her of how he rejected her and destroyed everything she had in the process. Thankfully, it all got resolved sooner or later and femme fatale Ramba Ral ultimately joined the crew in the end.
A few things: It's not that Jamil stopped caring about the New UNE, it's that the guy responsible for the New UNE's imperialism stopped being a solid mass.
Also, you forgot the matter of the Char Clone(s). GX has a Char Clone, an Amuro Clone, and the daughter of a Ramba Ral clone.
He worked on ZZ? Explains how Garrod is basically a refined Judau. 13:50 he even has a "Scaring Haman" moment
Judau: Scares a villainess with newtype rage.
Garrod: I cast Gun!
Garrod and Judau are both scrappy underdogs but they are also the only Gundam protags that could be somewhat classified as “normal everyday people”
What I liked about the gundams at the beginning of the show is that they're not unique or special. The GX, Airmaster and Leopard are all showed to be mass-produced during the flash at the beginning.
Not only that, but we see another GX during the season.
Again, you could canonically have a character in universe with a gundam, and it wouldn't be too unreasonable
@@XTempestBuster Yes, or just any mobile suit
@@XTempestBusterThis is why Gundam X Under The Moonlight works while Gundam Wing G-UNIT doesn't. The fact that there suddenly was just another strong mobile suit that coincidentally just looks like a Gundam was something I could never take seriously in Wing G-Unit.
Gundam X is my absolute favorite AU (currently). I'm a definite minority there. I might be biased though, since I watched it with my wife and it kind of became 'our' Gundam show.
Part of our love for Gundam X probably comes from the fact that we transpose characters' UC equivalents onto them. Jamil is Amuro, Garrod is Kamille, Toniya is Kai, etc. and we think of it as an alternate UC.
18:27 training dolphins for military purposes was a real thing during the cold war
Correct, but the kind dolphins aspect aged hilariously poorly after finding out that they are sociopaths that kill sharks for fun, druggies that love smoking that pufferfish pack, and violent gang rapists.
Gundam X is a good example of how popularity does not necessarily equal quality. X is far better than Wing.
I agree wings is fine but is x that got me into Gundam well seed did but I remember seeing Gundam x online you know the fansubs and thinking it was incredible
I’m gonna have to binge this after zeta & G
I love gundam X, for various reasosn
1- the titular gundam's design is so good, so much that it's being included in a lot of designs of the builders/breakers series. Gundam Artemis and Helios are the best examples.
2- the "fuck the audience" twist near the end about newtypes
3- how closely related to UC it feels (there's not much mental gymnastics to be done to consider it a direct sequel TBH)
4- Jamil is the GOAT and the best Char clone so far.
It's a crying shame it got shafted the way it did, and you can clearly see where the cuts to the story were made, specially with Enil (who was supposed to have a gundam type unit) and with the satelicon faction (that was a whole arc reduced to just one episode right there).
Overall I feel it was a very good entry to the franchise that wasn't given the chance it deserved.
Also the protagonist is pretty likeable and is not a broody teenager.
Yeah looking back is honestly sad how this entry was treated. I’m still upset we never got an official us released of the series thanks to Bandai. Had to sort to fansubs
I love Gundam X. It's a post-apocalypse story that eschews the bleak tones and nihilism typical for the genre for an optimistic humanism I appreciate, especially in the contemporary media climate. It pairs well thematically with Tomino's similarly optimistic Turn A Gundam. There's a lot there about how humans can bounce back after cataclysms through building community and supporting and protecting one another. It also handles Newtypes in the best way for that concept - it concentrates primarily on how they're exploited by powerful systems and weaponized for war when they represent the aforementioned human potential and essentiality to build connection.
I also have Eureka Seven in my blu-ray backlog, so I'm pumped about that even more now.
Gundam X was one of the later Gundam series I've watched, and it REALLY clicked with me. Sure, it had it's issues, and is Jamil really that interesting of a character?.. but him being Amuro but with even more trauma just fascinated me.
In the end I really like it's feel.
I felt Jamil was Amuro once he grew up, stopped whining, and started acting like an adult. Basically stopped letting emotions get to him and be a leader. Like that time he showed Garrod in redone Gundam X how based on skill alone he was able to shoot Carris bits.
You got a point there about the similarities of Gundam X and Eureka 7. When both anime appeared in Super Robot Wars Z, Renton starts looking up to Garrod as a big brother as soon as the Gekkostate crew joins your team. Too bad the game doesn't have an English translation, but it does have an English walkthrough.
Garrod is definitely one of the best protagonists, as he accomplished all that stuff... without being a newtype or anything similar
Also, get ready for possibly the most powerful gundam in history next time
Possibly? What is more powerful?
@@justsomeguywithsunglasses8418 god gundam and the power of love
@@XTempestBuster Hmmm while there is no denying that destructive capability...I would say that is about equivalent to the Double X Cannon from Gundam X or the Buster Rifle from Wing.
Turn A Moonlight Butterfly appears continuous, ever expanding, and doesn't appear to need to recharge. Its AOE is insane...it can literally merge with weather systems when inside an atmosphere, multiplying its power by creating ionic storms that can cover a much wider area...so tha, unlike the other Gundam's listed, it actually destroyed...(SPOILER BECAUSE IDK IF RECON HAS EVER SEEN IT)
...the world.
@@justsomeguywithsunglasses8418 that is a fair estimate, but we don't really have data to compare it to, so that could either be a high estimate or low estimate...
But with the known data, moonlit is definitely the strongest by far. I will agree
Only one word for you, agreed
The dolphin thing reminds me of the whales from the Star Trek movie
Well, it was the age for it. The OVA for Macross 7 had space whales.
Dreams is a criminally underrated opening, IMO
And the second OP, “Resolution”, is probably my favourite Gundam OP of all time.
Yup!
Gundam X is such an underwatched show, I always find it amusing that the "I'm a healer, but..." screencap is way more popular than the show itself. The final arc might've been a bit rushed but I really like the way it just outright says newtypes aren't the "be all end all" that certain series make them out to be. Despite being made years before the novel it almost feels like a direct callout to Unicorn lol.
7:25 "I can see the toylines now" too bad Bandai clearly doesn't, given how little kits they've made of it. At least we have decent modern kits of the X, DX, and Airmaster, but Bandai seems to intentionally avoid the Leopard despite there being a Build Fighters kit heavily based off it. (and forget about getting kits of the grunt suits or villain suits...)
Also next video is Turn A? Oh man, that's my absolute favourite series so I'm excited to see the discussion around that.
Gundam x is my favorite series just due to nostalgia. When I was younger I had a Chinese neighbor who was a few years older than me and had the Gundam X series on VHS with English subtitles. Remember watching it and being amazed by the whole new type thing, mobile bits and flash system. Plus the whole moon station. It must of been around the year 2001 because I remember watching it on vacation in my parents Nissan quest which had a small tv with VHS player in it. I was around 13 or 14 years old.
Pre 9/11
The GX Divider is really a good suit. That beam harmonica packs quite a punch.
hahaha Beam harmonica
@@Retcon404 in games it actually is called that
It really is, especially considering that it's made from parts Kid Salsamille scavenged/collected.
I actually just finished a rewatch of X.
It still holds up as one of my favorite Gundam shows. I'd easily put it in my top three, and I always suggest people watch it if they can.
It feels like a "what-if" UC show with Newtypes and the colony drops and all that. I love the vibe, the MS designs are, for the most part, top notch (Leopard is better than Heavyarms, and Virsago is a sexier Epyon), it has some great characters and story's with them and Garrod and Tifa's love story is both realistic and the best romance in the whole damned franchise.
I do wish we could have seen the 11 episodes that got cut. I want tonsee how much those extra 5ish hours of content would change things and what would have happened.
Still a 10/10 show for me. Never considered the similarities between it and Eureka 7, but that may explain why I adore E7 as well.
Fun fact: as stated on the toonami podcast, toonami was offered gundam x as one of the gundam anime to show but picked a different show instead. I think it was 0079 they went with.
I heard pre-flight right I wish they picked X up
Oh dude the red sky. That's actually scientifically accurate. Just like with smoke a massive number of impacts like what we'd see in the beginning of Gundam x would leave so much dust in the upper atmosphere that the sky would probably be red for maybe hundreds or even thousands of years
From what I've heard the original producer of Gundam X Atsushi Kaji was trying to sabotage Gundam X until he was fired 26 episodes into its airing. This, combined with fan fatigue, being bumped to the dreaded 6 am timeslot and being passed over by the Original Mobile Suit Gundam to air on Toonami over this show was what caused the poor reception to Gundam X. Also from what I can tell the whole Newtype focus in this show was mostly to call out how the concept of Newtypes is stupid and takes away the focus of Gundam, namely the anti war messages. I think that this series started the trend of succeeding Gundam series calling out the flaws of the original Universal Century and I'm all for that. But it'll be quite a long time till we can get to my current favorite series Gundam 00. I may give Gundam X a shot since it seems like a breath of fresh air with the setting and Garrod seems like a decent protagonist. I can easily see how he's the prototype for Renton but with a personality that seems more akin to Yusuke Urameshi. So yeah, seems like an easy sit and I've heard a lot of good things about Turn A Gundam and its hilarious mustache.
I have a soft spot for After X, but it felt like it had a hard time elaborating on its themes: it feels like it's SUPPSOSED to be about leaving the Universal Century behind, since nobody even remembers what Newtypes are supposed to do, or why the Federation and Space are fighting, but that got kinda mixed up with the love story, and the Mad Max, and the Frost Brothers.
Glad to see you overcame your mic problem.
I genuinely don't know why X did so poorly with Japanese audiences. The most common argument I've heard was Gundam franchise fatigue at the time, that the cold openings the series employed weren't well regarded, and that the Japanese in particularly didn't want such a ground-based Gundam series for whatever reason. Even still, I'm genuinely shocked Gundam X and Turn A Gundam never got dubs or any kind. Even if these series floundered in their home market, as a Westerner I remember being genuinely thirsty for more Gundam - or mecha anime in general really - around the late 90's and would've taken Gundam Mad Max and Gundam War of the Worlds like manna from heaven.
They probably didn’t want to spend the money on dubbing and international distribution on a canceled television show. It’s not a cult classic either, which is a another reason to dub it.
I feel like Gundam x would benefit the most from recap films that other entries get, especially with such nice suits and a cleanup to the story.
14:45 It might interest you to know that Fort Severn is actually a real place. It's the northern-most settlement in Ontario, Canada, located on a Cree First Nations reserve, near where the Severn River meets Hudson's Bay. It's nowhere near as built-up as depicted in the show (only 334 people as of 2022), but that's a genuine Canadian winter (Hudson's Bay completely freezes over in winter)!
The Openings Dream and Resolution are awesome and I love the ending song Human Touch and Jamil Neate is badass,Bandai should have dubbed after Wing and G Gundam.
I love that they got Warren Wiebe to perform Human Touch. No awkward pronunciation like you'd have with a Japanese singer, and the emotion he was able to put into it made it just such a good love ballad. Easily one of the best anime songs I've ever heard.
In my country, Gundam X was localized and aired sometime around 1999-2000 on local TV. At this point it followed the local airings of Gundam Wing and G Gundam, and next to those two bombastic series, it was kind of handicapped, since X was most folks' introduction into a more serious UC-like show back then. I didn't appreciate X until about six years later, and by then I had already been exposed to SEED and First Gundam, which are closer in tone to it.
I treat X as a huge "what if" scenario from the UC because it's pretty much in there already with all the shared lore. Rushed second half and the Frost brothers' flimsy motivations aside, this is one of my favorite alternate continuities mainly because of the protagonists.
Lemme guess, GMA 7?
Wow a total population of only 100 million people holy crap. According to the internet the last time we were only 100 million people on the Earth it was 1500 BCE. The colony drops literally blasted mankind back to the Stone age.
X is such an underated series.
Gundam X's low ratings were due to another Sunrise made mecha anime airing in the same time slot on another channel, The Vision of Escaflowne. Escaflowne also comes from a high pedigree of being from the creator of Macross. These two shows devoured each other's audiences. Both were cut short and have a rush to an ending.
Just to be clear, I'm not blaming either show for the other's failure. I love both of them. The problem was that they were aired in the same time slot back when watching one later wasn't really an option.
Ouch. That's a sad twist of fate indeed.
Also the franchise is exhausted for 4 straight years(since 1993)
I actually like the episodic arcs of Gundam X (some of which you didn't mention, like Jamil's lost-&-found best friend😉). It really fits the post-apocalyptic adventure that I expected from the premise. But then all bets are off once the protags went to space due to the cancellation. Ennil El was supposed to get her own Gundam.
Who knows? SRW might give Ennil the Gundam she should have gotten.
Gundam X seems to be either loved, or treated as an existent property in Gundam. Luckily, I am in the former. Is it perfect? No, but then again, nothing really is. While the show is Newtype focused, it basically is a critique of how UC has placed so much emphasis on Newtypes and how it basically says screw all that. The final D.O.M.E. monologue is basically how everyone should stop being swayed by the word Newtype and they should do more and be better than being held to by such a petty term. I love this interpretation of it as I find UC to be very samey when dealing with those subjects, in essence, it's UC for people that don't like the direction UC headed in. The openings are rather nice, and Human Touch is one of the few English endings that work well. While nothing other than the Gundam X's feel memorable in MS designs, its strengths lie elsewhere. The Frost Bros are good within the context of the show but are otherwise unremarkable as well. Also X shouldn't be discounted because of the shorter runtime, nobody gives the original crap because it was shortened, pace can be a bit fast but at least it has an ending. Its tone is also much more optimistic when you consider the start is the worst case scenario for the OYW. I didn't think I'd like X more than I did, but I'm glad I gave it a watch, as it's my favorite AC as of yet.
After watching Gundam X for the first time I have to concur this series is severely underrated probably one of the better shows in the franchise with a take on Universal Century+ Gundam Wing, Garrod and Tiffa's relationship is enjoyable along with most of the main cast,I was floored that New types are the main point in an alternative universe show,a unique spin in the story plus the Friedan alert system being like White Base from 0079 is nostalgic
We`re so lucky here in the Philippines that is has tagalog/filipino dub back in 2001 from local tv network. That time the Gundam Wing became more popular but we don`t know that Gundam X came up short in episodes and has a lot of issues in Japan. For me this is my one of my favorite series as it came with unique storyline about the result of war how the human lives after that. Thank you for bringing up this series.
Glad you liked Gundam X. This is my favorite series in all of gundam. I usually say that this show is a pretty good starting show because it has enough UC and AU stuff in it for you to go either way for your next show. This is based on my experience since Gundam X made it easier for me to grasp UC stuff more (back in the day when this show was the newest one all you could do was go back to UC after G and Wing and where I lived, I could only do that thanks to Super Robot Wars games).
The entire colony laser thing is my proof for the satellite cannon being the best sniping weapon. Garrod was firing them from the dark side of the moon; no other weapon in gundam has that power and range. The nearest other weapons can get are the Zanneck's beam cannon (or gun?) that it uses to snipe from space or the Dynames Gundam's special use sniping rifle that basically did the opposite of the Zanneck sniping from earth into space (both of these are around only a small fraction of the distance the satellite cannons can reach). (There's a video on the DX over on Gamore's channel that explains this better than I can.)
Just by design, my favorite MS in the show is the Rasveht (the MS piloted by the newtype that had the MS-Bits that looked like it). Funnily enough, the new Gundam Carris uses in the sequel manga that came out a few years back is based on his original MS and the Rasveht.
Speaking of which, there was a new/recent Gundam X manga that acts as the official sequel to Gundam X. What I know of it is that Carris goes to find Garrod, who is married to Tiffa and has a child, and asks him to help stop another war from erupting. The MS Carris gives to Garrod is the Freeden's GX that somehow has its satellite cannon again.
On a side note, was that the Daemon X Machina hangar music? Very nice.
I just want to clarify, there are JP commentary channel talks about why gundam X is underrated, one of the main reason is the time to air gundam X on TV is at 6 am which is not a suitable time and its a time when people go to work, causing the huge drop of viewers and the shorten of the episode.
The reason why shows are placed in those time slots are because they aren’t successful, and only air to recuperate some of the losses
I mean, it aired at 6pm on fridays for the first 26 episodes before it was moved to the morning slot. It was already unpopular when it was moved.
@@Retcon404 yeah this stuff is always never seen on the bigger picture. I’ve seen people be upset about cancellations, but they always fail to mention about other shows that used the other time slot. There’s only so many shows that they can fit into prime time.
Gundam X deserves more love. For no other reason than it’s opening/ending themes alone.
Jokes aside I wanna watch it again. I liked it.
A new video. Just after I've watched the G-Witch Prologue video... for the 3rd time
👍🏾
Gundam X rules and I absolutely believe it would've been huge in the US if Bandai had allowed US syndication.
Love how X utterly deconstructs and demolishes the very idea of Newtypes. They aren’t godlike beings who can warp reality, they aren’t special people who deserve a higher status than others, they aren’t the saviours of humanity. They’re just regular people who got put on a pedestal. I wish later UC Gundam shows would take a leaf out of X’s book instead of descending into chaotic newtype circlejerks but c’est la vie, we gotta keep having OYW rehashes
YES!! My absolute favorite Gundam series! THANK YOU FOR COVERING THIS!
I'm a huge Gundam fan it is by far my favorite anime franchise and it's not even close. After War Gundam X is my favorite of the franchise and as such my favorite anime of all time. I am not lukewarm on it and I tell everyone I can about it! I always say that I am a paradox UC supremacy snob who's favorite anime is Gundam X haha!
I love the fact that you used the music from front mission 3 while giving an awesome retrospective
I liked a lot of Gundam X. For one thing, it doesn't follow the same story pattern that a lot of Gundam shows tend to follow. It feels more like an action serial with individual, self-contained episodes, one-offs, and mini-arcs all contributing to each character's personality and backstory as well as incrementally moving the plot forward. It's a show that never feels bogged down with filler. The X's beam sword is probably the coolest in the series, aside from Turn A. Love that fat, drippy blade.
My main gripe with the show is how it squandered its potential by wasting time on the Frost brothers... who _just. aren't. interesting._ They're Team Rocket, but dumber. They're terrible villains. Sunrise could've explored the setting more. They could've built toward the war with the colonies reigniting as the main threat. They could've just had the Earth forces trying to reconquer the planet as the main plot, with the need to unite the scattered remnants of civilization to oppose the reconquest. So many better options than two moustache-twirling buffoons...
6/10. What's good is better than average. New and different. What's not good is about what you'd expect. Would rewatch without reservation, and I kinda want to build the MG DoubleX eventually.
Gundam X has two great OP songs as well.
I really love "Resolution" have it in my spotify rotation. The first OP is also great.
After war Gundam X is my 2nd favourite series. Not just because the mecha designs, the story, and the everything.
This is easily one of my favourite Gundam series. It's up there with Age for me, and I really like Age a lot. Really sucks how raw of a deal X got. Really wish they'd redo it in modern times, could also get a dub then.
The Virsago Chest Break is one of my all time favourite MS (re-)designs. Can't wait to re-watch the show with my partner and see her first time reactions to it.
The few times Gundam X has appeared in SRW titles has been nice cause they always add/change some things from the original telling's. Heck even in SRW alpha Gaiden it felt like Gundam X got a prober ending compared to the anime run
This was dubbed locally in the Philippines in 1997. I watched it every afternoon after school at 5:30PM. Everybody loved the previous series Gundam Wing, but I couldn't stomach the reused animation in Wing watching it in 2017, ad stopping half way.
that Armored Core music is peak
I still wonder why this anime was not originally released outside Japan.
The premise, character and character design and story are really great!
I mean it was the only Gundam show cancelled besides the original series. I see why they didn’t release it outside of Japan.
@@thomasffrench3639 Some people in the comments mentioned that it was released in the Philippines after Wing and G finished airing.
31:33 I always felt that the Gundam designs of Gundam X were leftovers from other Gundam series. Concepts that got rejected from shows like Wing and G Gundam and were thrown into Gundam X to take up space. They look fine, but they don't pop out and I think because they are basically hand-me-downs explains that.
And Gundam X is better off for it (at least on a reality scale). I just shake my head when after the Heavyarms expends all its ammo, it can simply proceed to gain even more plot armor by becoming quick AF with the combat knife, only justified by the fact that the pilot is a circus performer who is capable of acrobatics so of course the unit has to.
I'm definitely lukewarm on most of its Gundam designs, and almost think it would be cooler if they were replaced by a mix of customized Jenice and Daughtress mobile suits befitting the scavenger setting. That said, the GX-9900 is a top 5 Gundam design for me. I think I just really like the way the satellite cannon folds up in the back and something about the rest of it comes together well too. It's good it works, since its role in the story and backstory and character connections make it the one mobile suit the show absolutely needed to get right.
Gundam X does the New Type thing right imo.
The most underrated gundam ever
I feel your pain with the issues with the video I had one a while back where the audio was like a double overlay it had a double voice out of sequence effect don't know what trigger that because the processed video didn't have the problem
X is one of my favorite gunam series and the double X is my favorite gundam design
was fortunate to have fond memories of Gundam X cuz we got it here in the Philippines (After Wing and G, locally dubbed). Looking back now it definitely is kinda underrated.
Gundam X has got to be one of the best soundtrack in the entire Gundam franchise
This background music you have playing is making me excited for a new Armoured Core. I hope From Software gives us something soon, even a trailer
In my headcanon, Gundam X takes place decades after Gaia Gear and G-Saviour in the future of the Universal Century.
That honestly makes a lot of sense. Personally I wouldn’t have minded if this took place after V-Gundam. As clearly the majority of the colonies got tired of the Earth Federation’s shit.
I do wish that Gundam X didn't drop the ball on the setting's initial "Mad Max + Gundam" premise too. The show had a pretty unique post-apocalyptic setting and the former half that did take place in it did surprisingly well in worldbuilding the locations, people and general feel of the world itself IMO while keeping the plot and action going at a relatively consistent pace at the same time, kind of like a predecessor of the type of worldbuilding that you see nowadays with most Isekai anime shows that became prevalent more than 10+ years later. In some ways Gundam X really was narratively ahead of its time in that regard.
The D.O.M.E. is the predecessor to the Laplace Box of Unicorn Gundam in terms of plot device. The two almost have the same purpose within their own stories (being the end-it-all thing to the story but turns out quite something different).
Too bad the Leopard didn't have a HG kit, as the HGAW line of kits is the only one I know so far is almost completed when it comes to a main gundam lineup (HGAW Gundam X, X Divider, Double X, Airmaster, Airmaster Burst P-Bandai). At least there's the HGBFT Leopard da Vinci that can be considered as a replacement for the Leopard....
Except the Laplace's Box and D.O.M.E served completely opposite purposes to each other in regards to Newtypes. D.O.M.E's monologue actually severed the concept of the 'Newtype' from it being related to Human evolution at all or even from being Spacenoid or Earthnoid-exclusive, and therefore made being an NT or OT a non-factor in determining Humanity's future, meaning that both need to make their own future together equally for them to thrive. The Laplace Box's message outlined in the original UC Charter, otoh, basically sums up to "Zeon Daikun was right all along" and that NTs not only were confirmed to be the natural next step in Humanity's evolution but also that, as such, NTs should be granted especial privilege and status to rule all of Humanity, and Oldtypes, in order to guide them towards the future themselves.
It's little wonder why, despite both trying to answer the question of what Newtypes actually ARE in Gundam, *this* show grew more popular in hindsight while Unicorn is mostly reviled even now for being blatant Zeon fanwank.
Just found your channel.
While I have found other channels that go over the plots of the different series, You have a way of doing that I enjoy.
PS: I got really in to Gundam with Seed & Seed Destiny and then started watching the shows in the order Wikipedia had them.
Kinda reminds me of robotechs storyline, I watched Robotech as a kid and was shook when the earth got destroyed and the humans had to rebuild.
I found After War Gundam X thanks to a friend showing me a clip on the Internet after I graduated highschool 23yrs ago and it instantly became my favorite. Especially after I managed to get my hands on the whole series months later
Your channel is 🔥🔥🔥
FINALLY MY FAVOURITE SERIES
IIRC Part of X's issues was that the target audience was getting burned out on Gundam as a whole by this point which led to the lower numbers and the show being moved to a bad timeslot. Couple that with weak model kit sales and you've got a death sentence since Bandai does not like it when a Gundam season doesn't move model kits. It's a shame bc this is easily one of my favourite Gundams and I would have liked to have seen what it would have turned out like had it reached it's full potential. Thankfully it's legacy still lives on thanks to fans and franchises like Super Robot Wars giving it a chance.
Absolutly true Gundam was a yearly release at this point so it went from V gundam to G gundam to Wing to X.
This became the inspiration for MS Saga which in turn was the inspiration for Iron Blooded Orphans
I wonder how that dudes jacket is staying on with the wind blowing like that.
I remember that red sky messing up the encoding of the fan translated episodes back in the day
as soon as that sky poped up the video devolved in to 10x10 mosaic hahaha
Hey, I haven’t had time to watch this one yet, but I just wanted to drop a comment while there are still few enough that you might actually have a chance of seeing it.
I absolutely *love* your content. Seriously, your Gundam retrospectives are the videos I’ve been looking for/hoping to find for the last couple years, ever since I got into Gundam as a whole right before the pandemic hit (via Gunpla, of course). They’re the perfect blend of editorial and factual, review and retrospective, and the quality and tone of your writing is a delight to consume. I have this latest one queued up to watch as soon as I have a spare few minutes later tonight, and then I’m going back to check out some of your other stuff!
Oh, and I have no words to adequately express how happy it made me to see your video on Escaflowne. That was such a fun nostalgia trip, and as with all of your stuff, a fantastic watch. I hope that you continue to accrue subscribers (you’ve definitely got mine!) and that your channel gets the growth and progress it deserves! :D
Great video. Good recommendation Eureka 7. I was fatigued with Mecha. But when Eureka 7 was released, it really made Mecha fun for me. Cheers.
I got hooked on your gundam Reviews
You know, I knew that Gundam in the 80s and the 90s HEAVILY borrowed from Macross which was the gold standard at the time but damn I didn't expect them to whole sale rip off everything from the Zentradi attack forward for one of their shows. But the reason Gundam struggled during this time was that it was seen as boring, stale, and that the name Gundam slapped on nearly every mech made them generic. Likewise New Type was never truly explained nor explored and was very VERY inconsistent even within the same universe. Using the UC timeline for example New Type in MSG was different than what it meant in Zeta, but which was different from what it meant in ZZ, which has a different meaning from Chars Counterattack and means something totally different in Unicorn. Don't forget that 0083 has an entirely different definition from the rest as well. In one it just means psychic complete with telekinesis, in another it means high analytical brain power, in another it's something to do with the body and nerves , in another it means it means prep cog and telepathy, in another a sixth sense, in ZZ it means nothing, etc. In other words it became synonymous with generic sentai plot power. The refusal to actually define what it meant only cemented that perception.
God I love Gundam X. Though I will say its probably THE Gundam series that you'll only really appreciate when you watch so much Gundam you burn yourself out. Its a relatively slow but quaint tale of a young couple growing together in a Gundam universe. Its so focused on the character development of so much of the cast that the Gundam background just kinda falls away.... until they mention newtypes and you're like, oh yeah this isn't just a sci-fi story about space people, this is still Gundam.
I know its my favourite because its the Gundam series that actually uses the youth of its protagonist to its advantage, Garrod is flawed is all the right ways for a good story but has all the characteristics of kid that just wants to get along with others that you really root for him. He's young, energetic, and not depressed all the time that he makes you forget that Gundam isn't just variations of Feds vs Zeons. Praise Garrod.
Though I totally agree the pacing after episode 30 is whack due to cancelation.....sigh. Btw Bandai release a MG X Divider already please.
I had a similar feeling about G-Reco when it comes to planning the series. It almost feels like they were expecting 50-ish episodes, but after 10 were finished, they were told that the series has been cut in half.
The twist with the idea of newtypes really puts Char’s philosophy into perspective. Wonder how they’d react to innovators and coordinators; they’re real.
Gundam X is my favorite Gundam series of all time, I love it with all my heart!
I feel like I'm one of, like, six people who's favorite Gundam series was X. Sure, it had its issues, but it's still a really good show despite of all that. It's a shame it never had its full run. Lord knows it deserves it.
Hey! Hey! Hey!....
I spot that Armored Core Artificial Sky theme!
Its a very underappreciated Gundam entry in my opinion, i just finished it a few days ago too. I also don't see many talking about it either. Its got a unique plot, good worldbuilding, great voice actor choices, some good music tracks and i really liked the characters. Not to mention one of my favorite current Gundam designs: the Double X; I mean a Gundam with microwave powered satellite cannons is pretty cool.
The GX is one of my favorite designs!
Got the model kit as a kid in the 90s thanks to a small hobby shop. Before Gunpla was at Barnes & Noble and Target. Always warms my heart seeing Gundam more prevalent. 💛💙🤍❤️
Ive been looking for this show for a long time since i last watched it decades ago in the Philippines...
They dubbed it in Philippines and I'm surprised i heard just now there is no dub
Love Gundam X so much. It my 3rd fav Gundam series. Love its take in newtype philosophy
Easily my favorite Gundam series. The storytelling and focus on characters rather than a massive political conflict was fascinating and it was the first Gundam series in a long time where I was truly invested in every main and secondary character.
I do not have any complaints about it myself but I can understand why it would be the most widely accepted among fans.
Glad you covered gundam X. I love this series and wish more people could warm up to it.
I LOVE these vids. Personally I'm dying to get to 00 gundam I loved that series.
I'm not sure why X did so poorly compared to Wing in only a few episodes unless they just thought that X did not have enough pretty boys compared to Wing, and honestly while I like Garrod, Tifa, and the Vultures the other two Gundam pilots did seem mostly forgettable, or at least did not stand out as much as the Wing boys, I mean the fact that those guys hardly ever show up in the crossover games if X gets in at all says a lot I guess. The Frost Brothers were interesting but, while better then the majority of Wing's enemies, they overstayed there welcome to I guess. Still I wish X had got its full length, glad it got some spin offs at least.
It seems to have been Gundam burnout. By the time X aired there had been several back to back Gundam series by that point. People might just have been tired of Gundam at that point, leading to them taking a break until Turn A.
Hey man, I dig your new place looks super cozy from here! I watched this series but my memory of it is obscure...guess it just didn't come across as all that memorable. I just remember it was an OP suit in DWG 3.
18:22 wasn't it just the albino dolphin that was a newtype?
Gundam X is my best gundam series ever, sure its not as famous as Wing here in Philippines but I really like Double X ( X the mobile suit not that much ) and its protag Garrod. He's not a newtype, innovator, coordinator or any species with superpowers, just regular human trying to survive being a space scavenger. Even in video games, I always check if X series is part of G Generation or SRW games before playing it just because I want to play as Garrod using Double X once his story is unlocked.
Garrod also has one of the highest onscreen kills as a pilot tying up with Uso Ewin, another significant Ace. Granted pilots like Amuro had to earn the NewType and skills as well, Garrod is pretty impressive.
He didn't even need XX Gundam to rack up all of that, he did it with the regular old beam saber and rifle.