By Jonathan Klotz | Published
Gundam is one of the oldest science fiction franchises, dating back to 1979 with Gundam Mobile Suitand in that time it has been filled with different timelines, but there is one that stands out above the rest, for better and for worse. After the Gundam X war takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, exploring the franchise’s war themes and suffering from a different direction, namely after the damage has already been done. On paper, this sounds like a great canvas on which to paint another series of sci-fi masterpieces, but in practice, every good idea is immediately undermined by one of the worst pacing in franchise history and a disastrous ending.
Post-apocalyptic Gundam
After the Gundam X war begins with mercenary Garrod Ren on a simple rescue mission to save a young girl, Tiffa, but since he isn’t given much information about her, you can see one of the twists coming from a mile away . Sure enough, Garrod ended up joining the Vultures, the group that held Tiffa, after his client gave him a hand. It’s a standard start to countless anime, but the biggest problem is that even a mecha battle in a nuclear power plant about to explode can’t 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 Gundam X war ends up introducing Newtypes to this alternate universe, competing philosophies about the nature of humanity and governance, along with the franchise’s usual staples, but by the time that happens, most viewers have since given up a long time. The final third of the 36-episode series goes into overdrive to compensate and crams all the good parts of the story into 12 episodes, but it’s not enough to redeem the series.
Cut short and underdeveloped
Cramming multiple episodes of character development, reveals, and mecha fights together is incredibly awkward, and it’s clear that wasn’t the original plan. After the Gundam X war failed in Japan when it first aired in 1996, and the number of episodes was reduced accordingly, from 49 to 39. The plots are not developed, but there is a conclusive ending, just embrace the sadness and anger of the world instead of ending on the hopeful and inspirational note of other Gundam shows. As a Gundam deconstruction it works, but that’s not even enough to rise to the level of a hidden gem.
Garrod, Tiffa, Jamil, Ennil, Roybea, none of the characters in After the Gundam X war appear on every fan list of the franchise’s main characters, and even the Gundam models, including the GX-9901-DX and its Moon-based satellite cannon attack, have failed to leave much of an impression on the fans. As a result, it is one of the most obscure entries in the long-running franchise, ranking even below the Mobile suit compilation movies, and while this appeals mainly to completists, there are worse anime options. True to its status as the forgotten black sheep of the franchise, After the Gundam X war isn’t streaming on Netflix or Crunchyroll like the others, but for free on Tubi, so at least it’s cheap to check out.
