Gundam Evolution:Gundam X[1996]Years ago,there was a great war between the inhabitants of Earth & space colonies sparked by the denial of the declared independence among space colonies and it even reached the stage when both sides refused to step down.In desperation,the military forces from the space colonies dropped the abandoned space colonies and devastated Earth so drastically that billion of lives were lost besides leaving scars on the surface,and even an army of Gundam X's could not stop them despite being armed with the powerful Satellite Cannons.This targic event even had the year being changed to A.W.[After War].
A.W.0015,the inhabitants on Earth continue on to make the best of what they had in the devastated landscapes of Earth and this harsh environment even forced teenagers,such as Garrod Ran,learned to survive at such a tender age.After Garrod took care of some dispute,Garrod was approached by a mysterious man wanted him to kidnap a girl named Tiffa Adill who was being kept in a large carrier named Freeden but unknown to Garrod,Tiffa was a New Type that allowed her to foresee the outcome of the events before they occurred.After seeing Tiffa shivered at the sight of that mysterious client,Garrod decided to take her away from him as far away as possible especially he called out for Mobile Suits as the reinforcement.
After series of twists and turns,they both stumbled into a well concealed Gundam X and Garrod decided to activate it so to protect Tiffa with Gundam X easily defeated their pursuiters.Garrod later joined the crew of Freeden after he learned that Tiffa could be easily affected by the surrounding environments mentally and Freeden could provide the care she needed,as Freeden travelled across the deserted lands to seek out other New Type's like Tiffa & their captain,Jamil Neate.Jamil was one of the pilots of the previous war but somewhat "lost" the ability after he felt the screams of the dying people with himself constantly wondering about the purpose in the existent of New Type's.
Along the way,they were stopped by a a pilot known as Carris Nautilus who was an artificial New Type with Garrod lost miserably to him.To ensure his life being spared,Tiffa surrendered herself to Carris as Carris mentor also were interested in New Type but only intend to use them as the soldiers.To motivate the devastated Garrod again,Jamil tried to overcome his phobia of the cockpits and even taught Garrod how to defeat Carris later.After carris,they were later confronted by a twin brothers,Shagia Frost & Olba Frost,who were capable of communicate with each other mentally.
It is already bad enough to be hunted down by numerous factions with great interests in New Type's,Frost Brothers complicated the whole scenarios especially they had an evil intention in mind:To destroy this old world,and they even worked side by side with other parties with similar interest.Eventually,Jamil finally located a builidng called D.O.M.E. which was also the final resting place of the very first New Type besides answering some of the questions related to New Type.After they learned the answer,it was a race against time as the Frost Brothers were preparing to crippled the military forces of Earth but not before Garrod fought back with his Gundam XX[Double X] by firing the Satellite Cannons to nullify the energy blast fired by the Frost Brothers.
After the war was over,Jamil began to work as part of the Earth military with other crew members managed to find jobs that suited their strengths and Tiffa was finally able to live like an ordinary girl with Garrod continue to be by her side,as he made a promise to her since they first met:He would always protect her no matter what happened.
Although giving Gundam a bigger gun in the next series have always been a tradition,this series did not work the same way as "Mobile War Sage----Gundam W" simply because of the ridiculously powerful Satellite Cannons that could easily defeat a military forces effortlessly.Not only they made the series seemed ridiculous,it somewhat reduced the number of the episodes down to 39 episodes as a Gundam series are usually 50 episodes in length.Although not exactly bad,the series somewhat failed to keep the fans entertained especially with the lack of the trademark grand space battles throughout the majority of the series,except the last few episodes otherwise it is rather daring of them to try to interpret the term,New Type,differently.With "Mobile New Century----Gundam X" failed,Sunrise decided to try a different approach to maintain the new viewers with the sequel of "Mobile War Saga----Gundam W","New Mobile War sage----Gundam W:Endless Waltz".
Devious Comments
The context and failure of this series is a paradox that still eludes me up to date: How a tedious series like Gundam Wing; with a recycled plot and poor animation, became an instant success when Gundam X; a series with an original plot, good action and excellent characters, got cancelled and reduced to 3/4 of his original length?
The only coherent explanations I can find are:
-Bishojen factor; 'cause you don't actually need a good story if you can have pretty boys, right? That's how it works!?
-Gundam factor; I cannot deny that series had some awesome Gundam designs, (the Heavyarms TV version still is one of my favorites) and even some outstanding non-Gundam suits (Ex. Tallgeese)... in fact, that was the reason I used to like that series.
I don't think the low raitings necessarily had something to do with my beloved "Satellite Cannon"; (my favorite Super Weapon in the Gundam universe) 'cause the "(Twin) Buster Rifle" of Wing Gundam (0) and the "Full Strike Thingie" (Or whatever it's called! I don't care about SEED...) of "Freedom Gundam" were beyond "spamantasthic" in the actual series when compared to the ACTUAL damage the "Satellite Cannon" done. As far as I remember, Garrod only used it like three times before it was destroyed by Carris Nautilus. The Satellite Cannon wasn't a spammy weapon because:
1) Isn't a reliable device, 'cause it depends on the moon's phases as weird as it might sound.
2) The Earth in Gundam X is already badly damaged as it is; they didn't need to make it worse firing that weapon as if there were no tomorrow.
3) Garrod isn't a frigging psycho like Heero or a unstoppable-killing-machine like "SEED mode" Kira; he doesn't go around killing "faceless grunts" with a full charged Satellite Cannon as if they were targets in a shooting range.
Why Gundam X failed that way when it's one of the best Gundams out there? I still doesn't understand it. The only thing I can say it's that it that it recommend watching it; I enjoyed it it better than Wing or SEED, and it's so sad that it's condemned to be an underrated series.
PS. Sorry for the rant... but it's a matter that always bothers me.
I guess the reason the reason "Gundam Wing" & "Gundam Seed" somehow "worked" is the amount of suspenses,dramas & intense battles,but I certainly won't deny the points you made which are equally valid except "Gundam Seed" has good plot when compared with "Gundam Wing".
Side Note: I must admit that I'm glad to meet somebody with the similar interests as it can be lonely to be a fan of this kind of genre so thank you for sharing your opinions & views.
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