From Jonathan Klotz
| Published
Gundam is one of the longest-running science fiction franchises, dating back to 1979 Mobile Suit Gundamand during that time it has been filled with different timelines, but there is one that stands out from the rest, for better or worse. After the War Gundam X set in a post-apocalyptic world, it explores the franchise’s themes of war and suffering from a different angle, namely after the damage has already been done. On paper this sounds like a great canvas on which to paint another sci-fi masterpiece series, but in practice any good idea is immediately undermined by the worst pacing in franchise history and a disastrous ending.
Post-apocalyptic Gundam
After the war Gundam X It begins with mercenary Garrod Ren on a simple rescue mission to save a young girl, Tiffa. However, since he doesn’t get much information about her, one of the twists can be seen from a mile away. In fact, Garrod joins the Vultures, the group that held Tiffa, after his client shakes hands with them. It’s a normal beginning for countless Animebut the biggest problem is that not even a mecha fight in a nuclear power plant about to explode can overcome the painfully slow pace.
There’s no intrigue between the competing factions trying to rebuild civilization, and while the Vultures are interesting characters, it takes over a dozen episodes to get there. After the War Gundam X Eventually you manage to introduce Newtypes into this alternate universe, competing philosophies about the nature of humanity and governance as well as the usual franchise classics, but by the time it does, most viewers have long since given up. The back third of the 36-episode series goes into overdrive to compensate, packing all the good parts of the story into 12 episodes, but that’s not enough to justify the show.
Cropped short and undeveloped
It’s incredibly cumbersome to cram multiple episodes full of character development, reveals, and mecha battles, and it’s clear that wasn’t the original plan. After the War Gundam X When it first aired in 1996, the series was a flop in Japan and the number of episodes was cut from 49 to 39. The storylines are undeveloped but there is a coherent ending, it just has to deal with the desolation and anger of the world instead, ending on the hopeful, inspirational note of other Gundam shows. As a deconstruction of Gundam it works, but that’s not enough to even reach the level of a hidden gem.
Garrod, Tiffa, Jamil, Ennil, Roybea, none of the characters After the War Gundam X appear on all fan lists of the franchise’s top characters, and even the Gundam models, including the GX-9901-DX and its moon-based satellite cannon attack, didn’t make much of an impression on fans. As a result, this is one of the darkest entries in the long-running franchise, ranking below that Mobile suit Compilation filmsand while it will appeal primarily to completionists, there are worse anime options out there. Befitting his status as the franchise’s forgotten black sheep, After the War Gundam X It’s not streaming on Netflix or Crunchyroll like the others, but rather for free on Tubi, so it’s at least cheap to watch.
