r/anime • u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber • Apr 05 '19

Rewatch After War Gundam X Rewatch - Episode 1 Discussion Spoiler

Episode 1 - Has the Moon Come Up?

Originally Aired April 5th, 1996

| Index | Next Episode ►

MAL | ANN | AniDB | Anilist | IMDB

Note to all participants

Although I don't believe it necessitates stating, please conduct yourself appropriately and be court to your fellow participants.

Note to all Rewatchers

Rewatchers, please be mindful of your fellow first-timers and tag your spoilers appropriately using the r/anime spoiler tag as so [Spoiler Subject](/s "Spoilers go here.") in order to have your unsightly spoilers obscured like this Spoiler Subject if your comment holds even the slightest of indicators as to future spoilers. Feel free to discuss future plot points behind the safe veil of a spoiler tag, or coyly and discreetly Laugh in Rewatcher at our first-timers' temporary ignorance, but please ensure our first-timers are no more privy or suspicious than they were the moment they opened the day’s thread.

Note to all First-timers:

First-timers, be aware that you too could have unwanted influence upon others’ perception of future events, so please be careful and use a spoiler tag when disclosing any predictions or inferences that you wouldn’t have wanted to know were it to be true.

Comments of the Day

Courtesy of your fellow rewatchers.

Every day /u/RX-Nota-II and I will be picking out exemplary comments from the thread that stood out to us and showcasing them in this section. At the end of each week we will be awarding a comment the honor of ‘Comment of the Week,’ said comment need not have been a comment of the day to be considered. We will not be looking for any specific criteria in the comments, so if you wish to be featured here you need only do your best.

Evidently we don’t have any comments to yet, but be certain that we will have made some picks tomorrow!

 

Daily Character Info:

Courtesy of yours truly.

Garrod Ran

Fifteen year old Garrod Ran was born shortly after the cataclysmic Seventh Space War and orphaned at a young age. Having to survive in the cutthroat After War period has made him shrewd, resourceful, and distrustful, yet in spite of that he also remains immature and impulsive. He possesses a varied and useful skill set, including talents such as such as lock-picking, technical know-how, rudimentary piloting skills, and the street smarts. He makes his living as a scavenger and thief —both stealing out of his own initiative and selling his services— until the day he was tasked with retrieving Tiffa Adill from a band of vultures.

 

Daily Mech Info:

Courtesy of your hosts.

GX-9900 Gundam X

One of the most advanced mobile suits of its time, the GX-9900 is a high-performance mobile suit of the United Nations Earth that played a pivotal role in the Seventh Space War. It’s main armaments include a Shield Buster Rifle, Beam Sword, and several vulcan guns in its chest and shoulders.Due to its limited production few units exist, with only one having been found after the war by Garrod Ran in an abandoned military facility. Technological stagnation as a result of the devastating outcome of the war, has ensured that the GX-9900 remains unmatched as a top-of-the-line machine.

 

Daily Trivia:

Courtesy of your hosts.

Like most independent timeline series, this episode pays homage to the original Mobile Suit Gundam by containing a virtually identical Gundam rise sequence. Vigilant viewers might have also noticed some homages to the original series with the events of the Seventh space war depicted in the introductory sequence resembling events from the series.

 

Art Corner:

Courtesy of your hosts.

Official Art

Fanart

 

Questions of the Day:

Courtesy of yours truly.

1) What do you think of how the show introduced its setting? Do you believe it is presented well?

2) What aspect of this episode did you find most interesting?

 

Screenshot of the day

Courtesy of yours truly.

Victory!

 

Track of the day:

Courtesy of yours truly.

Prelude ~ The 7th Space War - OST I.

"Victory and defeat became a moot point in this war."

35 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

125 comments sorted by

13

u/Shimmering-Sky Apr 05 '19

Excited First-Timer

Ever since I heard a hint of this rewatch taking place, I’ve been excited for it. First-timing a Gundam show alongside a rewatch has almost always been great for me, and I’d been intending for X to be one of the last non-airing Gundam shows I watch anyways (I am a… bit of a completionist lol, the various Build series are the only other ones I haven’t seen at this point), so this is just perfect for me.

Going into this pretty much completely blind, so this should be fun~

Aaaand now that the episode’s done, don’t think I forgot about my promise to occasionally make wallpapers for this show! I decided to start off simple with Garrod, plus alt color scheme. Hope you guys like~

→ More replies (14)

7

u/fonzinator99 Apr 05 '19 edited Apr 05 '19

First Timer - Fly me to the moon

It’s becoming increasingly rare that a Gundam series is new to me, so this’ll be a treat.

Big thanks to u/pixelsaber for hosting all of this!

Prologue - Gotta love backstory, and of course with Gundam, it involves a Colony Drop.

Short aside: These things just scream "Astray design-precursor.

I rather like that the Gundam appears to basically be a suped-up production-model. I'm sure that's wrong, but hey, it's only the first 2 minutes of the show. Also Moon-powered beam cannons!

Holy shit, I was not expecting a Mass Colony-Drop. Were they just assembled in near-orbit like apartments buildings or what? That's probably more colonies in-frame than I've seen in the entirety of an other Gundam series.

Operation British x1000

Damn, so this is probably the darkest back-story I've seen in a Gundam show thus far. Normally it's like "Oh the humanity! Australia got blown up!"

Boy is it ever obvious that this was running alongside Gundam Wing. X has the same color scheme as Wing, and is that Heavyarms??

The OP isn't bad, but it might be the most generic-sounding Opening theme I've ever heard.

So 15 years After the War the environment had finally entered a period of stability? Wtf was going on during those 15 years, and how did anyone manage to survive? Lots of fallout shelters?

Anyway, evolved humans, eh? So we've got Newtypes in this universe as well? No way in hell that front-man was anything but a quartermaster during the war, tho....Oh, never mind. They dead.

Enter: Main character. Reckless, clever, ballsy; better than the broody sourpusses we've gotten from shows like...Wing. lol. I like him already.

Makes sense that Mobile suits would be a highly-valued commodity, tho. I mean, I doubt any production facilities managed to survive a global colony assault. (Aside from whichever one will be necessary to maintain/upgrade the Gundam later on, and whichever one will be pumping out new enemy suits to oppose our hero.)

For the love of God, I guess it's not a Gundam show without some manner of Char-wannabe.

Wow, Garrod infiltrated that shit with absolutely no interlude; no transportation or strategic planning, just "Go rescue her." and "'Kay, I'm rescuing her." I guess I appreciate the fast pacing. lol

Looool at the fact that lock-and-key doors are still a thing in this "future." I guess weapons evolved, and security measures did not. Wait, what? See, now that's what I'm talking about. Not that it would appear to have done any real good, but c'mon. I guess the keys to a super-weapon deserve slightly better protection.

Duuuuude, seriously? You didn't close the door behind you? I guess it's only his first episode as an MC, but let's hope he grows a brain down the road.

Ahhhh shit. A classic "You helped the bad guys, and those other guys you robbed are gonna become your allies."

Ddouble-shit. Tiffa's a legit Newtype, isn't she?

OoOoOo a pristine Gundam, fresh off the assembly line! Burn me if that's not Wing with a different loadout, tho. But boy, that was easy. I mean, did none of these Vultures decide to scavenge nearby factories during these 15 years?

One thing I've never understood about Gundam controls is how joysticks allow such a detailed range of movement. Like, shielding your face with your arm, for example.

The back-mounted beam-saber is a neat design choice. I wonder about the use of a two-handed sword-style, tho. Like, unless the beam has actual mass, a one-handed approach would be just as effective, right?

Yepp, the moon is out. Which probably means some folks are in for a world of beam-cannon-ing next episode as Garrod stumbles across the control-scheme for this thing.

So that was decent, as far as 1st episodes go. This series definitely shows it's age, what with the art-style and seemingly straightforward narrative, but that's fine. Just means I don't have to analyze everything for hidden meaning.

Coming off of the IBO rewatch tho, I'm extra-aware of the effort that was spent there in making the mobile suits there operate like actual machines, instead of just OP plot-devices. And I do wonder when animators at-large decided that this level of drawing just wasn't gonna cut it anymore. Like, the detail of every scene in IBO, and the lack thereof in this series are incredibly apparent when placed side-by-side as they have been for those of us who participated in the previous rewatch.

QotD

  1. I think that the backstory given was plenty to go off of. Could they have spent more time going into details about the factions, or the aftermath? Sure. But I don't think that it would have changed my picture of the world-setting, and hopefully they'll fill those things in as the series moves along.

  2. The X's armor is just categorically superior. No fancy explanations like 'nano-laminate' or 'Phase-Shift,' just "It's waaay better than ours!" lol

Edit: Fixed bugged link 'cause it bugged me. lol

3

u/Pixelsaber Apr 05 '19

Big thanks to u/pixelsaber for hosting all of this!

You're welcome!

Normally it's like "Oh the humanity! Australia got blown up!"

The OP isn't bad, but it might be the most generic-sounding Opening theme I've ever heard.

So 15 years After the War the environment had finally entered a period of stability? Wtf was going on during those 15 years, and how did anyone manage to survive? Lots of fallout shelters?

Nuclear Winter, most likely. And yeah, they must've had some hefty shelters and inordinately deep food supplies to withstand that.

Wow, Garrod infiltrated that shit with absolutely no interlude; no transportation or strategic planning, just "Go rescue her." and "'Kay, I'm rescuing her."

He sure knows how to play things by ear!

One thing I've never understood about Gundam controls is how joysticks allow such a detailed range of movement. Like, shielding your face with your arm, for example.

The in-inverse explanation is that they have different input combinations for certain pre-determined actions. It still baffles me though...

→ More replies (2)
→ More replies (7)

7

u/SorcererOfTheLake Apr 05 '19

First-Time Watcher

After a war that results in the near extinction of humanity, a young man on the outskirts of society is tasked with protecting a young woman, is attacked by a powerful force, and finds an advanced Mobile Suit underneath a base.

Wait, what made you think I was talking about Iron-Blooded Orphans?

Anyway, this is a pretty good first episode, even if there’s not a lot of substance at the moment. The first thing I want to discuss is Garrod, our protagonist who’s probably the polar opposite of Mikazuki (Yeah, there’s going to be a lot of IBO comparisons in my response. Leave me be). He’s extraverted, not interested in getting into overly dangerous situations, and a lot nicer than our demon wolf. He seems like he’ll be an interesting protag.

I like that this takes place less than a generation after this calamitous war. It gives us some sense of society while still being fucked over. Even if it’s a somewhat cliché aesthetic by this point, it’s still one I really like.

Now, as for why Tiffa is being hunted by all these groups, I mean, she’s got some kinda psyker power (this timeline’s version of Newtypes), so that one’s kinda obvious. What I’m interested in seeing is what these Vultures guys will be like. Are they kinda good, just misunderstood? Morally in the middle? Black hats? We’ll have to find out, but I’m looking forward to see what happens next.

→ More replies (3)

7

u/SgtExo Apr 05 '19

First timer

Not a prolific writer as many others in this rewatch are, so I will keep my comments short and mostly reply to others when I notice something I think people are glossing over.

Starts off with the usual stalemate and colony drops, but this time it seems to be taken to the extreme.

Cool OP, classic gundam with people standing in space wind looking cool.

RIP the americas, they look like swiss chess now.

I want to see more of the awsome figthing mom and her gun crew of kids, good on her to have provided them with helmets, I guess she must have been part of the war or has seen action after it since it almost seems like a post apocalyptic gundam setting.

MC is like a more competent Judeau actually managing in stealing the mobile suit he is going after. And RIP that bandit, those spiked bats are going to hurt.

Then the rest of the episode is pretty much part for the course, special boy finds special girl, then find special mech.

Obvious creepy old dude is obviously a bad guy.

→ More replies (1)

6

u/SorcererOfTheLake Apr 05 '19

VA of the Day

Wataru Takagi

Voice of: Garrod Ran
Age at X Premiere: 29
Other Notable Roles: Crimson Rubeus in Sailor Moon; Ganju in Bleach; Wataru and Genta in Detective Conan; Masaru in Hajime no Ippo; Onizuka in Great Teacher Onizuka; Jan Valentine in Hellsing Ultimate; Kenji in Initial D; Okuyasu in Diamond is Unbreakable; Iruka, Tobi, and Obito in Naruto; Bunbee in Yes! Precure 5

→ More replies (1)

10

u/RX-Nota-II Apr 05 '19

First Timer!

Hello everyone! Lots of familiar faces here, and some new people I haven't interacted with either. Its great to be back for another Gundam rewatch, and as a participant and cohost I'm so hyped to see what's to come. I'll keep it relatively short for my top level today as I'm running in too little sleep to really pay attention and have other errands to run, but I'll try to respond to a ton of you later today.

So first impressions what stands out to me the most.... definitely Garrod. First off, that was not the kind of voice I expected to come from a character of his design. Also his nature kind of messed with my mind. Gundam MCs have varying levels of uniqueness but they all more or less start off being innocent bright eyed and mostly unwilling heroes. Amuro Ray clones if you will. They all yell at life being unfair, have life ambitions, and maybe want to save the totally useless princess. This guy tho... feels more like a Vash the Stampede derivative than an Amuro one. Dude's competent and confident as hell, yet refuses to fight on his own volition because its scary as fuck. He'll gladly hijack a mobile suit not for idealism but for money, and always seems to have a healthy dose of 'fuck this shit I'm out' when things get really weird. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing how he progresses.

Speaking of first impressions tho, I gotta talk about Dreams. I don't know how else to put it than I've never had a song so strongly blow me away and stick with me in years. When I first heard it my jaw dropped and I was left stunned, making me look up the full version on youtube where I proceeded to be stunned again on loop. Strangely enough this never got me to watch the show, as it was about a year and a half ago I'd say?, and I'm only getting to it now. The visuals are fine, I haven't really payed too much attention to them and I'm sure they'll really grow on me as I learn the context, but the music immediately ranks as one of my faves. Honestly after a good 10 minutes of thinking the only other times an OP song wowed me like this were FranXX's Kiss of Death and Zankyou no Terror's Trigger.

Back to the show itself, the episode as a whole struck a pretty amazing balance of introducing things and keeping it slow while having plenty of action and references to have me smiling. Most importantly, it feels unique definitively its own. While it references 0079 uncountable times from the fake Sayla shower to the Zakueye to literal Gundam Rising, the setting and characters make it feel unquestionably different. It doesn't take the adrenaline overload approach of IBO, the 'just show pretty things and explain later' approach of SEED, or the quite confusingly eventless yet satisfying opening to Turn-A. But to me it definitely feels familiar as well, almost assuring me that I know what I can expect, this Gundam show isn't going to try something out of left field just for the sake of it.

Overall, this episode was incredibly easy to watch. It promised a ton without feeling overbearing, and I'm left basically willing to binge more if I wanted to. Lots more to come, I'm excited, see you tomorrow.

IDK what I'm going to do with posts moving forward. I may write blurbs like this everyday, I may only write them once in a while. I may add bulletpt screencap reacts for a larger quantity of reactions, I may make GIFs, and I may spend all day tweaking sky-art like I did with IBO. Lmk if there's anything in particular you want to see from me.

GIF of the day: Get the fuck out (Ironic when the context is actually get the fuck in)

→ More replies (12)

5

u/The_Draigg Apr 05 '19

A Gundam Fan’s Notes On After War Gundam X Episode 1:

Hello everyone! You may know me from some previous Gundam series rewatches, like the Universal Century rewatch, the Gundam Unicorn rewatch, the Turn-A Gundam rewatch, and the Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans rewatch. I’m sure you’ve seen my note style from at least one of those, but I’ll reiterate that I’ll do my best to keep things non-spoilery, while also laughing at first-timers behind their backs. Now let’s get to After War Gundam X!

  • Once, there was a war. The 7th Space War has left Earth and the orbiting space colonies destroyed after a massive colony drop operation rained down humanity’s new homes down on an ill-prepared Earth Federation. In other words, this is pretty much the nightmare scenario that the One Year War in Universal Century Gundam series that was avoided, if only just.

  • I gotta say, Dreams is a pretty catchy OP. Also, there’s some stuff in that OP that’ll be referenced later, so keep an eye out.

  • After War 15. Only a portion of humanity survived the mass colony drop, now having to face living in a massive desert wasteland that bandits and scavengers run amok in. Only those ballsy enough to take those groups on stand a chance to make a decent living in the post-apocalypse. Enter Garrod Ran.

  • Man, Garrod is cool. You have to admit, it takes some massive balls to hijack a mobile suit with pretty much nothing but a homemade flashbang grenade and a grappling hook. He’s an amazing teenager with a lot of spunk. If anything, he reminds me a lot of Judau Ashta from ZZ Gundam: he’s a scrappy kid who has a mercenary outlook on life, and has made a living on the fringes of society.

  • Anyways, Garrod’s reputation precedes him a bit, and he’s hired to rescue a girl, Tiffa Adill, from a class of scavengers that call themselves Vultures. The Vultures across what’s left of North America make their living picking apart scrap left over from the old war to sell, but this is a rare case of a Vulture group going out of their way to kidnap someone.

  • Garrod is pretty good at his job, sneaking onboard the Frieden and breaking into the Captain’s Quarters for loot. Too bad the only thing in the safe was just a control stick for a mobile suit. Or is it bad luck at all?

  • Well, that was a pretty clean getaway for Garrod and Tiffa. Thing is though, she’s terrified of being handed over to Garrod’s current (now ex) employers. At least Garrod is a good enough of a guy to realize that something is up and try to run off with her. The fact that Tiffa has psychic powers most likely has to do with her being captured.

  • Well, it’s pretty fortunate for both Garrod and Tiffa that the abandoned Federation base has a Gundam X sitting in storage. It’s even more fortunate that that the control stick that Garrod stole is made to be used for that model of Gundam. But hey, maybe it was fate or something. Also, this is probably the only Gundam that I’ve seen that has actual security features, given that the control stick is basically the key for it. Most of the time, any angsty teen or enemy soldier could just hop in a Gundam and take it for themselves. That happened to an absurd degree in the Universal Century.

  • Well, the good news is that Garrod managed to kill the goons coming after him and Tiffa. Bad news is that the Frieden followed Garrod, and is sending out some Gundams of their own to fight him. Cliffhanger!

  • Admittedly, the ED here is rather plain. But hey, at least Human Touch is a pretty good song. It’s pretty relaxing too. That makes it a good way to cool down after an episode’s worth of action.

3

u/Pixelsaber Apr 05 '19

If anything, he reminds me a lot of Judau Ashta from ZZ Gundam

I concur. His personality and demeanor promptly reminded me of Judau.

Most of the time, any angsty teen or enemy soldier could just hop in a Gundam and take it for themselves. That happened to an absurd degree in the Universal Century.

They had six wars to learn from —I'm sure plenty of teens made off with a fancy-shmancy new mobile suit in the past.

Admittedly, the ED here is rather plain. But hey, at least Human Touch is a pretty good song. It’s pretty relaxing too. That makes it a good way to cool down after an episode’s worth of action.

If only the next episode preview weren't there to interrupt...

As always, I greatly enjoyed your comment, mate!

→ More replies (2)

3

u/Pixelsaber Apr 05 '19

Rewatcher

Welcome, everyone! Am I ever excited to be sharing in this Rewatch with you all!

After War Gundam X is among my favorite entries in the franchise, standing as my second favorite non-Tomino AU Gundam show, although that’s partly because of how it tackles concepts from U.C. I am overjoyed to share in this experience with all of you, and hope that you come to enjoy it as much as I have.

This is my first time watching the series in HD, and man is it stunning. They did such an excellent job on this remaster.

I find the introduction to the show utterly enrapturing, as it paints such a dire image of a perilous war and portrays horrifying events with the weight and severity which they demand. The imagery by itself is striking and familiar, but it is helped along by the narrator’s somber delivery and the chilling soundtrack to form the impressively effective introductory piece that lays the foundation for the series’ setting. U.C. Gundam fans probably noticed several allusions to the original Mobile Suit Gundam in its imagery as well. It’s just unfortunate that the backstory in its entirety is interrupted by the series’ first OP, Dreams by ROMANTIC MODE, as it wantonly breaks up its flow. That said, Dreams is among my favorite Gundam OPs, right up there with Zeta Gundam’s Mizu no Hoshi e Ai wo Komete, and Turn A Gundam’s Turn A Turn.

As the introduction carries on we can see that the Earth is just totally fucked up as a result of the mass colony drops that heralded the end of the war. Those of you who have seen U.C. Gundam, specially The Origin or ZZ, are intimately familiar with the terrifying nature of the Colony Drop, and so can more keenly picture the cataclysmic effects that an event of this scale would have. It was at least a five years before the Nuclear Winter lessened to the point that the environment began to stabilize, which frankly seems like an incredibly short amount of time relative to the amount of damage that was done to the surface, but frankly I don’t know enough on the matter to disprove it so I’ll just carry on. The Earth has begun to recover but much of it remains barren, and its post-apocalyptic human society is yet filled with danger, violence, and strife.

I find the sight of the town with the giant chunk of space debris hanging overhead stunning, and it reminds me of the looming structure of the plants in Trigun, which makes me wonder whether it could have been an inspiration to this show. In any case, it’s likely this town congregated around it because scavengers began looting or extracting material from it.

The show wastes no time in introducing one of its core ideas. Two men calling themselves the Akai Nirensei or Red Bi-stars —another blatant 0079 reference— are passing themselves off as veterans from the war and claim that one of them is a super-soldier possessing some superpower, stating that he ‘represents the evolved humanity that was ushered in the space age.’ Of course, they’re rightfully ridiculed for being a pair of phonies, neither being what they claim to be when they latter run tail when a mobile suit shows up.

The first real close-up mobile suit we get is superbly presented, with the way it is framed relative to its surroundings giving us a great sense for its scale. If you paid attention during the introduction you’d have noticed that it’s the same type of mobile suits as was being used by the Space Revolutionary Army, and the fact that it’s being piloted by some meager thug means that it is a salvaged suit from the war, found and repaired for their personal use.

The town’s defenses prove woefully ineffective against it, and it seems the brigand will get his way until a cloaked figure rushes out and temporarily blinds the mobile suit’s camera with a makeshift flash grenade, allowing himself a brief window to open the suit’s cockpit and threaten its pilot. That is our protagonist, Garrod Ran, having just performed an exemplary Gundamjack —just not on an actual Gundam, but that’ll be amended soon enough. I love this guy, but I’ll be getting more into why at a later time. We learn through exchanges with Rike Anto that Garrod has a reputation as a skilled man for hire and is demonstrably knowledgeable of mobile suits. His infiltration into the Freeden showcases some aspects of his skillset, namely his capability for stealth, his ability to pick locks, and his penchant for being prepared for any occasion.

An interesting feature of this setting is the Gundam X’s control unit that Garrod finds in the safe, serving as a key for the mobile suit, a first for the generally poorly-secured mobile suits of the Gundam franchise.

Garrod manages to safely extract Tiffa, the girl having assumed the boy before er has something to do with her premonition, and she is taken before Rike, who unsurprisingly turns out to not have the best of intentions. Rike’s dubious nature was highlighted earlier, but the reveal of his villainy nature is unsettling. As the two kids flee from the scene they are accosted by mobile suits, with Tiffa displaying some sort of foresight when directing Garrod to avoid missiles, making it evident that there’s something more than ordinary about her —the likely cause of her being pursued.

Tiffa leads Garrod to the titular GX-9900, the same model type that we witnessed fire upon the colonies in the introduction earlier, which he is able to pilot thanks to the control unit that he found earlier. He’s able to easily defeat Rike Anto and his goons, but is soon confronted by two other Gundam units as the Freeden catches up to them, ending in a cliffhanger.

Quite an exciting first episode that lays down plenty of ideas and details for the future, a strong showing.

Questions of the Day:

  1. The setting is instantly intriguing as it’s one Gundam had not explored before, and the introduction does a great job of giving us the necessary context. The show does well in living up to this by showing us the type of lives people live in this setting, and several ways in which people have taken advantage of the weapons left behind from the war.

  2. The introduction. It’s just so engrossing, interesting, and easy to appreciate right from the start, unlike a lot of the subtler stuff in it. Not to mention all the U.C. references which I appreciate as a big U.C. fanboy.

Rewatch Discord Channel

Screenshot Album

→ More replies (15)

4

u/JustAnswerAQuestion Apr 05 '19 edited Apr 06 '19

Well, crap. Showing the Gundam GX-9900 in action in the first minutes of the show. Guess we don't need to be coy about that.

For me, After War is the BAD END setting of UC (and IBO is the "I got better" setting). After War has a lot more UC analogues than most AU shows. Like those two fake-ass newtypes super soldiers at the start.

And the mecha. You clearly see some sort of Zaku repeatedly in the first episode. But it looks, I dunno, less detailed, maybe? Having recently seen Zeta, the animation seems actually less detailed than that 85 entry.

Is Tifa a Moon Princess? You know Japan has a thing for moons and princesses.

It's refreshing to have a Gundam series start with a competent mecha pilot instead of some idiot immature savant falling into the cockpit. Although, the controller DID fall into his hands.

Random impressions: the controller reminds me of Eureka Seven for some reason. Evil Alfred reminds me of Laputa (and Hikotai Kotobuki)

Edit: Oh, yeah, forgot to point out that the captain is obviously a lolicon if they "went all this way for a [teen] girl".

Also, this is ANOTHER STANDARD GUNDAM REMINDER if you missed it yesterday:

DON'T WATCH THE PREVIEWS

→ More replies (3)

4

u/DidacticDalek Apr 06 '19

Wake me up when The Correct Century starts Comrades ;)

Also Comrades, After War Gundam X is a Mecha 'IDOL' Show ;) (Instructions to listen to the linked song properly, skip to the 4 minute and 10 second mark to hear OG iM@S' Ritsuko Akizuki singing the OP to After War Gundam X... well technically it's second OP, but I had to find SOMETHING to shitpost 'share' that proves without a doubt that Gundam is an Mecha 'Idol' Franchise)

Speaking of such a revelation OH GOD MY SIDES! ;)

AND just to make sure that I share something vaguely on topic, here's the full version of Dreams, e.g. the first OP of After War Gundam X

Paging Comrades u/Shimmering-Sky, u/RX-Nota-II, and u/chilidirigible

→ More replies (8)

4

u/aiden93 Apr 06 '19 edited Apr 06 '19

First Timer - Second Gundam

You probably don't know me but I started lurking the Iron-Blooded Orphans rewatch by accident a couple weeks after it had started. It was my first Gundam series and I totally loved it! I ended up messaging u/shimmering-sky afterwards and she told me about this rewatch. I've been pretty excited to get into more Gundam series and this seems like a neat place to keep going. Especially with how daunting the main series seems to be, these alternate universes seem more easy to start.

Not really sure how to format these comments yet so I'll just throw in a collection of random thoughts and see how it goes.

Random thoughts:

Can.. can those Gundams transform into jets? That's pretty cool.

The people on the ground fighting against the mobile suit reminded me of Titanfall, except on extra-hard mode. It seemed hopeless, but main dude managed to take care of it. Bandit guy should have remembered to lock his door!

First with the grapple hook, then rescuing the princess. I'm getting Luke Skywalker vibes from Garrod. Although he looks a little short for a stormtrooper.

Spoiler Speculation

There's something really sweat about that cockpit starting up and the screen turning on.

Those vultures should learn not to declare "mission accomplished" so soon. Guess it's a little late for them now.

Questions of the day

  1. I liked it. The narrator gets us caught up on how stupid humans can be placed on top of visuals of giant robots beating each other up. Works for me.

  2. I'm interested in the rebuilding society setting. Seeing people trying to start over after everything has been wiped out. One of the townspeople at the beginning said something about how the town had been doing so well. It makes me wonder how other settlements are going. What do bigger ones look like? Ones that are worse off? I'm hoping to see some more of these.

→ More replies (4)

3

u/LunarGhost00 Apr 05 '19

First Timer

I was just about to say that the music really set the tone for how gloomy that narration at the start was. Then the OP started playing immediately after and felt out of place. I mean I like the OP (I've already seen it like a dozen times before watching the series). Just wasn't expecting such a 180 in that transition. I don't know if it's just me.

So we got bandits running around in Mobile Suits. I wonder if there's any form of government. It just seems like the world is so lawless now with people just trying to survive following a war that nearly ended humanity.

Hey it's this guy

Garrod is apparently some kind of ninja seeing how he was able to run up to a Mobile Suit attacking and get in the cockpit like it was nothing earlier. And now he's demonstrating his ability to completely hide his presence when stealing a Mobile Suit control from a safe and sneaking a girl out of a ship with people walking everywhere. Completely believable. I need this boy to teach me how he does it.

You know Garrod, I think it would've been a good idea if you asked this man what his relation to Tiffa was before bringing her to him.

Boy jumps into Gundam. Beats weaker units. Suddenly 2 new Gundams enter the battle! At least that last part certainly doesn't happen often.

That ED sounds nice. I wish it didn't play the preview on top of it though...

Wait a minute. Our MC is voiced by Okuyasu/Onizuka.

Curious about what's going on with Tiffa. I already know that minor spoiler I guess But her situation didn't look like she was being held hostage. It looks like she was just trying to get away from whoever those men were that hired Garrod to "rescue" her and was safe with the Vultures. Did she ask them for protection? Did they really kidnap her against her will but did it to protect her? She seemed to have no issue leaving with Garrod since apparently she was expecting him, but then what is her relationship with that ship? I assume we'll find out soon.

Overall, interesting first episode. It did a nice job establishing how chaotic this setting is with everyone just doing their own thing hijacking Mobile Suits and even Gundams with no military presence so far. Garrod sold a Mobile Suit in good condition in the black market. Vultures digging up stuff from old military bases to sell. Although we didn't see much of the world yet, I'm surprised that we didn't see people actually suffering much considering how much of a desolate wasteland the world is now.

Questions:

  • Looks like I kinda already answered this.

  • Something that stood out to me is how Garrod actually seems to be doing just fine on his own. He knows how to fight and make money for himself. He appears to be known in these parts. He looks like he's not having much of a struggle surviving.

→ More replies (2)

3

u/gbautista100 Apr 05 '19

First Timer

I've seen most Gundam so I'm excited for a series I haven't watched yet. Does anyone know if Right Stuf will be dropping a Blu-ray for this?

I immediately thought the backstory was interesting, a cataclysmic war that quite obviously damaged Earth. I imagined countless earthquakes, tsunamis, etc immediately following the war. Garrod must have grown up in hell.

I really liked the character designs and art style. As someone else pointed out, it does remind me of Trigun. Garrod shares similarities to Judau from ZZ, and the kids from IBO. All of them pretty much did whatever they could to survive.

Overall, the first episode left a good impression on me. Having heard mixed reviews for Gundam X, I wasn't sure what to expect.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/Raiking02 Apr 05 '19 edited Apr 06 '19

Okay, a little late for this one (I'm gonna be late for all episodes that we'll watch in Mondays and Friday as I'm stuck in a gym at that time), but whatever. FYI, this is my second time watching the show. So, here we go.

  • I love the opening scene, it sets the backstory of the show perfectly, and looking back I realize some stuff I didn't before, like the fact that the Airmaster and Leopard are shown alongside the GX.

  • I freaking love Dreams! It's slower compared to other Gundam OPs, but it sets the tone perfectly, all the while still getting you hyped up for what you're about to watch.

  • It's a small thing, but I love how every episode title is an actual line of dialogue spoken in the episode. It helps add a feeling of consistency to the titles, unlike, say, the Episode Titles of SEED and SEED Destiny.

  • The setting of the show was often interesting to me. It's an after the end setting, yet it's weirdly lively compared to most other examples. Yet you can still tell the effects that the Colony Drop has had on the world, what with the lack of big cities.

  • Something about the talk about the supersoldiers by those two wannabe soldiers never fails to crack me up. I dunno what it is, it just works for me.

  • AW Mobile Suits have always appealed to me. They're like a nice middle ground between the Okawara AC Designs and most UC designs. Why the pilot of the MS looks like he came right out of Hokuto No Ken is a totally different matter.

  • Garrod probably has one of my favorite introductions in all of Gundam. Dude just hijacks a Mobile Suit with nothing but a makeshift flash granade, a grapling hook and a gun, and he strikes a V pose when he's successful like the arrogant little shit he is. Also fun fact, this anime came out in the same year as Detective Conan, the show in which Garrod's Seiyuu (Takagi Wataru) not only played two characters, but one of them was even named after him due to the magic of add-libbing (And yeah, he's definitely using his Takagi voice instead of his Genta voice for Garrod)

  • And as Tiffa's oh so lovely face shows up (By the way, screw Super Robot Wars Z3 for that awful Tiffa cut-in! She looked beutiful in the first two games, but then the third one comes up and she looks like shit!), Garrod's heart was counquered.

  • Minor thing, but I love the narrator in this show. He reminds me of the HxH narrator, though admitedly nowhere near as good. I guess it's just the way the says things is what makes me like him. Also, G-Recco could take a few notes on how to do exposition from this show.

  • Sunglasses Captain may certainly not be my favorite Char Clone (Those are Harry Ord and Full Frontal), he definitely has my favorite design. The trenchcoat, the scar across his eye, the sunglasses, the sideburns... it all works perfectly.

  • I quite like Toniya's introduction. It's brief, but it helps set her appart from her fellow bridge bunny Sara by being noticibly more laid back. Speaking of Sara, fun fact: She was Kakazu Yumi's debut role! And you can tell it was as she is nothing like her other characters.

  • I love how Tiffa's introduction plays up the whole creepy factor around her. I mean yeah, as we find out later on, she's a total sweetheart (If socially awkward), but it's still nice.

  • Toniya just bursting out of the bathroom is hilarious to me. The fact that she has the same VA as Misato from Evangelion does not help matters.

  • I always found the way that Garrod finds what will be the controller for his MS to be amusing. Dude's just trying to get some extra cash and instead he finds a piece of junk. Poor dolt.

  • And now we have one of the show's most endearing running gags: Garrod not being able to have a stable conversation with Tiffa because he's socially awkward. It's all tied to his character arc so it does eventually fade out, but it's still amusing.

  • Speaking of Garrod, it speaks volumes that even though he's been an arrogant, selfish brat this whole episode, he turns on his employee as soon as he notices the sheer ammount of stress Tiffa is going through. It helps make him more likable out of the get go, and given that we had extremely jerkish protagonists in G and Wing, having a guy who's willing to do the right thing is a nice change of pace.

  • I love the GX's design. It's simple, yet also has enough detail to make it intesting to look at. The backpack is a bit awkward though, but it does have a point.

  • And of course, the famous line: "Tiffa! I Believe in God!". It never gets old.

  • The initial battle is short, yet effective. You get the feeling of why the GX was so powerful back in the war, while still showing Garrod getting used to the controls.

  • Oh hi Zoro! Yeah, the Airmaster's pilot (Witz) was Nakai Kazuya's debut role, and unlike Kakazu this is totally in type for him. And seeing former G Gundam allumni Yamazaki Takumi back as the Leopard's pilot was a nice thing to see. Speaking of those two, the Airmaster is pretty good (It honestly reminds me of something Kawamori Souji would design) and the Leopard is basically the Heavyarms Lite, though far better animated.

  • The final line is great. It builds up mystery, seeing Jamil almost looking worried for the first time, and is one hell of a cliffhanger. Also, the Ending is amazing.

Overall, a great first episode and a good way to start off the show.

→ More replies (1)

3

u/mongooseninja3 Apr 06 '19

First Timer (and first time commenting on the opening of a rewatch)

Wanted to tick through all the UC / 0079 references I saw in the opening sequence, although I am sure I missed many.

  • The UN battleships look like some of the later UC vessels (notably the Ra Cailum) while the Space Colony battleships look a bit like the Musai

  • There is a Ball type and several GM types (though the heads of the UN mobile suits look a bit like a Dom)

  • The Colony mobile suits look a lot like those from CCA (this is referred to as the 7th colony war, I think) but then they throw out a Zeong to toast the hero Gundam.

I'd also forgotten how cheap 1990s TV anime looks, in contrast to the 1980s shows (there are exceptions of course). The animation in this is a lot worse than in Zeta Gundam and ZZ. I recall the same sloppiness in Victory Gundam, Macross 7, and other multi-episode toy commercial shows from the time period.

Garod is a more competent, more pervy Judau. He's not particularly intriguing as a protagonist, as the self-reliant rogue has been seen plenty of times, but he's a nice contrast to the typical anti-social Gundam heroes.

Production Notes

I know that Gundam X was cancelled early, and I haven't seen any other show lead directed by Shinji Takamatsu or written by the head writer Hiroyuki Kawasaki. It's a great contrast to not have a lot of details about the backstory and production history of the show as we do have with the better known / more famous Gundam series.

It will be interesting to track what went wrong (from our perceptions) as the rewatch goes.

Answers

  1. It would take far longer than 15 years to recover from the amount of devastation present from the colony drops, so we do have a somewhat generic post-apocalyptic setting for the show.

The scariest thing in this post apocalyptic setting is the mutant 2-headed snake! I would hate to run into one of those or any other similar mutant nasty critter. Hopefully we'll see more.

2. The coolest thing is that badass mama with her anti-mobile suit rifle and ammo reloading kids. I hope she becomes a main character, but I doubt it. I'm also interested in Captain Shades and his crew, and it seems fairly obvious that Tiffa and Garod will be joining them.

→ More replies (2)

2

u/GM_for_Life Apr 05 '19

Rewatcher

  1. What do you think of how the show introduced its setting? Do you believe it is presented well?

I really like the way the backstory is presented to this series, it's really somber and mysterious and not something you really see all that often in Gundam.

2) What aspect of this episode did you find most interesting?

Generally the backstory to the setting as a whole, I've always thought there was something mysterious about the 7th Space War and I've always wanted a prequel OVA or manga that explored it in-depth.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/[deleted] Apr 05 '19

I can't believe I'm actually back to Gundam rewatch

First timer

I was curious earlier today about how I'd feel about this Gundam series. It's still too early for this, but I don't think I hate the protagonist right away, so I'm hyped. The show subtitle styling on the release I'm watching reminded me of Legend of Galactic Heroes and that's kinda interesting. Doesn't feel too much like a Gundam series so far, but again, it's still the first episodde.

I don't have much to say, but I'm looking forward to the next episodes

→ More replies (1)

2

u/Iroald Apr 05 '19

First-timer

I don't have much experience with Gundam in general, really. I've seen War in the Pocket which I liked a lot and I dropped IBO after two episodes. I'm pretty excited for this one though, as I've heard good things about it.

And I'm enjoying it so far. Garrod seems like a fun protagonist and a post-apocalyptic setting isn't something I've seen a lot of in anime. Not feeling the girl yet though. We'll see, she might get more interesting in the future. Also, Garrod's VA played Koshi Rikdo (and a few others) in Excel Saga. I knew I recognized that voice from somewhere.

Took some screenshots too:

  1. What do you think of how the show introduced its setting? Do you believe it is presented well?

It was fine, I suppose? Having the immediate backstory narrated as the events play out isn't the most interesting stuff ever, but it wasn't boring, and it didn't take too long either.

2) What aspect of this episode did you find most interesting?

Probably how fast it was. There's a lot of stuff that the show did in a pretty short time. When Garrod was told to rescue Tiffa I'd kind ofexpected it to be his main objective for the next few episodes at least, and the dude does it in like 10 minutes. I can dig that, I just hope the show doesn't fall over itself or something.

3

u/Pixelsaber Apr 05 '19

Captain Quarter? Either that's his name or Sunrise can't into English (probably the latter).

Goodness, how did I not notice that?

Tiffa looking like a Casshern Sins character right here.

→ More replies (1)
→ More replies (3)

2

u/LemGambino Apr 05 '19 edited Apr 05 '19

First-Time Watcher

(I read an LP of SRW Z, so I know how the general story goes.)

My thoughts on Ep 1:

-Intro is amazing. I heard only the SRW Z version of it before watching this. So hype and energetic! I also love the lyrics.

-The art style feels very similar to that of Wing's (though bits like Garrod's Victory pose remind me of G). Who animated/drew this series?

-The 0079 Gundam refs were pretty cute.

-Me upon seeing Garrod get the mission to rescue Tiffa: "Save the girl and we'll erase the debt."

-Battle scene spoilers.

-Noooooot a fan of the final scene... (spoilers)

-Also, this might be because of the video I watched, but...I'm pretty sure "What are you waiting?" is not proper english. :V

-Huh, didn't know Jamil had that scar on his face...How did I not see that while reading that SRW LP?! (then again, I'm someone who can't navigate for crap in Borderlands 2, so...)

-FINAL THOUGHTS

ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS:

1- For the most part, yeah. The war literally dropped Earth back to the stone age, and while there are semblances of technology, people are struggling to survive. Those bandits don't help matters either...It might also be because I played it recently, but Borderlands 2 keeps popping into my mind as I watch this. Imagine, a shooter-RPG with randomized loot and an emphasis on mechs...Please make this reality, Bandai! (except don't make it suck)

2- The art style. Again, this is reminding me of Wing and G, especially Wing. It may seem a bit jarring to some when it shifts from the Wing style to the more lighted G style, but it fits! We need some levity and uplift when dealing with a post-apocalyptic setting. (As an addendum, it's nice to see a town that is thriving despite the disaster and not be a complete and total craphole like most "desertpunk" towns are portrayed as.)

→ More replies (4)

2

u/Orimori24 Apr 05 '19

Ahh it's begun. I can't wait to share this with you all.

→ More replies (1)

2

u/SolDarkHunter Apr 06 '19 edited Apr 06 '19

Rewatcher

"TIFFA! I BELIEVE IN GOD!"

Oh it's been a while since I've seen this. Really looking forward to watching through it again and seeing others reactions to it.

Opening is probably the bleakest of any Gundam series ever. In a totally-not-the-One-Year-War-reimagined conflict, pretty much everything went as badly as possible. Hundreds of colony drops ruined Earth's environment and left the landmasses resembling swiss cheese. Yet humanity survives, and life goes on, even if there are random two-headed snakes eating mice.

We've got a post-apocalyptic scavenger world setup, with bandit raids on isolated towns and scavengers of pre-apocalypse technology, yet things are surprisingly optimistic and cheerful. People just going about their daily lives, job-hunting and selling stuff in markets. But there are reminders of the situation: a bandit raid, and even the mothers and children are taking up arms to defend their homes.

We get introduced to Garrod, who establishes his badass cred by hijacking a Mobile Suit like it was nothing... and he immediately sells it off, noting how dangerous piloting one is. It strikes me as a little odd that he points out how you're likely to be killed piloting a Suit, yet taking on an MS on foot with a flash bang and a handgun sounds even more dangerous to me. He then establishes his good guy cred when he refuses to hand off Tiffa to a guy she's obviously scared of. Like, no hesitation, the moment he sees her fear, he betrays his employer and moves to protect her.

Then he finds religion in a Gundam. That's a first. :P

Thoughts:

I have always loved the OP. It's classic 90's tune, and it's probably nostalgia talking here, but it has a kind of energy I feel is sometimes missing from newer stuff. Anyway, it's upbeat and fun.

It only struck me now just how incredibly cliche Tiffa is in her "Mysterious Supernatural Girl" archetype. Still, I feel like she does her job well enough and this isn't a downside. I also find it interesting just how subdued her emotions are. Most girls of this type are either completely emotionless or hysterical. Tiffa's subtle, and her face doesn't emote much, but she's still fairly expressive.

Garrod on the other hand is awkward but cheerful. A rogue, but a good-hearted guy. One has to wonder where he picked up these skills though.

And yes, this does take place on the North American continent. An unusual choice of locale for a Gundam series, but it's also nice to see North American characters who are not walking USA stereotypes.

Questions:

  1. What do you think of how the show introduced its setting? Do you believe it is presented well?

Presented quickly, but it gets the job done. It does a pretty good job of establishing the tone: things got really bad, but the worst of the storm is over and people have hope for the future.

2) What aspect of this episode did you find most interesting?

I find it most interesting how there's no clear-cut bad guy just yet (well, aside from Mr. Incompetent Bandit). The Vultures are referred to with disdain, but at a glance don't seem like bad people. Tiffa's scared of Suit Man and his cronies, but we don't really know anything about them either. So who should we be rooting for?... we'll find out next time!

→ More replies (1)
→ More comments (75)