Anime / After War Gundam X

Is the Moon Out?

...the Moon will always be there...

— Narrator

After War Gundam X (Kidou Shinseiki Gundam X, lit. "Mobile New Century Gundam X") is the seventh Gundam TV series and one of the shortest running installments in the franchise.

A war breaks out between the Earth Federation and the Space Colonies (wait, this sounds familiar...). The war escalates rapidly and culminates in a Mass Colony Drop that kills off 99% of the Earth and colonies' human population. Fifteen years later (AW 0015), the Earth has begun to recover from this tragic war. A group of wasteland scavengers, known as "Vultures", finds itself on a hunt to protect Newtypes, but after group member Garrod Ran saves a young female Newtype, they stumble upon a "fifteen-year-old nightmare": the Gundam X. This discovery sets off a chain of events that threatens humanity with extinction once again...

While scheduled for forty-nine episodes, Gundam X ended up with only thirty-nine due to executive meddling. Even though the show's final arc played out over a compressed three episodes (instead of the planned twelve episodes), it still wrapped up with a coherent (albeit rushed) ending. The show also maintained an optimistic tone despite the subject matter.

The manga sequel, After War Gundam X: Under the Moonlight, serialized in Gundam Ace, became quite popular and ran from 2004 to 2006; appearances by the show's Gundams and cast in the Super Robot Wars games also helped it gain more popularity in (ironically) the new century, and it's been a particular mainstay of SRW Z.

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After War Gundam X contains examples of the following tropes:

• Aborted Arc: The plot point of Tiffa being able to feel the pain mobile suit pilots endure when they die in battle is never brought up again after episode 3.
• Ace Custom: The Gundam X Divider, and later, the Gundam Airmaster Burst and Gundam Leopard Destroy.
• Abandon Ship: The Freeden's crew escapes on jeeps after ramming an enemy battleship to clear Garrod's way into space so that he can rescue Tiffa.
• A Day In The Lime Light: Episode 15 focuses on Roabea and Witz and their background, with no other members of the main cast appearing.
• After the End: Referenced in the title itself. A massive Colony Drop (with multiple colonies dropped to Earth) almost wiped out humanity before the series even began. Welcome to a Planetary scope and Species Extinction scale Apocalypse How.
• Air-Vent Passageway: This is used a couple of times by Garrod, such as when he scouts a Federation ship for escape routes when the crew is captured.
• Alternate Continuity: In addition to its status as an alternate Gundam timeline, the series' backstory strongly resembles a worst-case scenario version of the original series.
• Ape Shall Never Kill Ape: The dolphins that Tiffa befriends have this attitude and dislike humans because of the constant wars they've waged with each other. (Science Marches On regarding this. Since the anime aired in 1996, it's been well-observed that dolphins are not so noble.)
• Apocalyptic Logistics: Despite the world only having barely recovered from a world-changing catastrophe, the Freeden never appears to run out of fuel, ammunition, or spare parts for their Gundams. This is especially unrealistic for the X as it is supposed to be a limited production prototype and the Double X, a one of a kind machine that is based on the X.
• Arc Words: The Moon. Either "the moon is still there" or "you will die without seeing the moon" or something else cryptic. Of course, the Moon is the power source for the Gundam X's Wave-Motion Gun, but there's more to it than mere weaponry. Like the fact that the "first" Newtype is there.
• Armies Are Evil: The heroes of the show are part of a group that is roughly analogous to pirates. Most of the official and major armed factions are either misled (like Fort Severn's militia under Nomoa Long) or plain awful (like the New Earth Federation, which stirs up an ethnic conflict to get their way). Roabea outright refuses to work with a standing national army in the Estard arc, even though Estard's is one of the least malevolent.
• Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: Defunct nuclear reactors behave the same way as nuclear bombs. Apparently if you breathe on something too hard in there, they'll cause a second sunrise (and two of them do).
• Attack Drone:
  • More like Mobile-Suit-sized Attack Drones: the G-Bits. Too bad Jamil shoots them down after they help him fend off a horde of grunts.
  • An upgraded variant of the G-Bits appears later in the series that serve as an automated defense system used by DOME to protect the moon base its housed in. They are all similarly destroyed by the Frost Brothers.
  • The Bertigo uses the traditional funnels similar to the Qubeley from Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam.
• Authority in Name Only: President Willis has no real ability to formulate policy for his people, only to choose between the plans that Grant and Lee make up for him.
• Back-to-Back Badasses: Former rivals Jamil Neate and Lancrerow Dawell in Episode 38, after the latter's Heel–Face Turn.
• Badass Normal: Garrod is one of the rare Gundam protagonists who has no powers or training or special lineage. He's just a normal guy who goes toe-to-toe against Newtypes and wins. Witz and Roabea are in the same situation.
• Badass on Paper: The GX has an amazingly strong BFG that can wipe out even space colonies in one shot and destroy practically anything in its path, equipped with a shield-rifle hybrid to have both armaments in one hand and has the ability to control entire unmanned Mobile Suits using the Flash System. The down side is most, if not all, of these armaments are a lot more trouble than they are worth and are situational at best while being completely unusable at worst. The shield-rifle prevents the GX from defending itself and firing at the same time while the Satellite Cannon can only be used when the moon is out since all the facilities to charge the cannon have been destroyed. The Flash System's "Bit Mobile Suit" ability requires both the specific Mobile Suit it can control as it cannot be used on any random Mobile Suit and also needs a Newtype to use it. One of these individually are hard enough to find, meaning that the chances of finding both are astronomically low.
• Bait-and-Switch Credits: Unlike what the opening would lead you to believe, only a handful of episodes in the final stretch take place in space. The Frieden is also a land vehicle and is destroyed just prior to Garrod reaching space.
• Beach Episode: Episode 16, because Tiffa sensed a Newtype at the shore. Naturally, it's a good reason for everyone else to get into swimsuits.
• Beta Test Baddie: The Frost brothers are Category F Newtypes and were rejected by the Federation because their Psychic Powers weren't strong enough.
• Beware the Superman: An midway example of this trope in that the existence of Newtypes has made the world worse off, but this is primarily because of opportunistic politicians and militaries exploiting the concept of Newtypes to advance their own agendas rather than anything the Newtypes themselves want.
• BFG:
  • The GX's Satellite Cannon, the X Divider's Harmonica Cannon, Double X's Twin Satellite Cannon, and the Satellite Launcher, which requires both Ashtaron Hermit Crab (the launcher itself) and Virsago Chest Break (the Microwave absorbing apparatus) to connect with each other before it can be used.
  • The Hermit Crab's Satellite Launcher can be used by itself in the G-Generation series of games, however it packs a much weaker punch than if used in tandem with the Virsago Chest Break.
• Big Bad Duumvirate: The Frost Brothers, though the first 10 or so episodes don't make it obvious at first.
• Big Brother Instinct: Subverted because the younger brother is the one who fiercely adores and protects the other.
• Blade Run: Variation, the Correl does this to the Double X's beam rifle.
• Book Ends:
  • The series begins and ends with two Federation soldiers boasting about being Newtypes who fought in the previous war.
  • Variant: The title of the first episode is the question Is There a Moon?, and the title of the final episode is the reassurance that The Moon Will Always Be There.
  • The prologue part of Episode 1 shows Jamil's damaged GX floating in space. The last scene of the final episode shows Garrod's damaged Double X also floating in space. While both of their Satellite Cannons are destroyed, the rest of their respective lost parts differ from each other (the GX lost its head and left arm a la Amuro's damaged RX-78-2 pre-Last Shooting as well as its entire reflector panels while the DX only lost its left leg and its backpack-mounted reflector panels aren't completely destroyed, just severely damaged).
• Boring, but Practical: The X Divider compared to the GX has a much more standard loadout akin to traditional main Gundams with the shield and rifle combo. The X Divider trades the BFG (which got destroyed anyway) and satellite panels with extended flight time and higher mobility. The shield-rifle was replaced with a standard beam rifle and a new "Divider" shield was created which has hidden beam cannons and can function for both offense, defense and even mobility as it can be equipped on the X Divider's back for increased aerial capabilities. Unlike the shield-rifle, the Divider shield's hybrid-function is a lot more practical where it still has ranged options without it. The Divider's Harmonica Cannon may be weaker but it can be deployed a lot faster and be used anytime.
• Broken Ace: Jamil Neate. Though when he does get in the cockpit the of X Divider later on, he manages to gradually overcome this.
• Broken Bird: Ennil El. Jamil is a male version of this. Carris also counts for the Fort Severn arc.
• Brought Down to Normal: Jamil suffered brain damage & lost his Newtype powers during the war. We later learn that the same thing happened to his rival, Lancerow Dowell.
• But What About the Astronauts?: For the majority of the series, all the action takes place on Earth and the rising New Earth Federation is focused on just that, Earth. It's clear that there's something going on with the Moon, but it's not until quite late in the show that we learn that there are space colonies that survived the apocalypse as well.
• Canon Immigrant: SD Gundam G Generation introduced the Gundam Belphagor, a brother unit to the GX, Airmaster, and Leopard, and the basis of the Frosts' Gundams. It later joined X canon thanks to sequel manga Under the Moonlight.
• The Captain: Jamil is this for the majority of the show, until he regains his piloting ability and is upgraded to near-Sixth Ranger status.
• The Cavalry: Garrod, and occasionally the entire Frieden crew, are routinely saved by everything from Newtype dolphins to Pala's G-Falcon to Carris Nautilus.
• Chekhov's Gun: The Space Station on the moon focused on briefly in Episode 2 is later revealed to house the DOME A.I., with the protagonists spending the last few episodes trying to get there and communicate with it (and succeeding).
• Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: The Frost Brothers love doing this to anyone they work with. They make even Scirocco look trustworthy by comparison.
• Colony Drop: This is Gundam, after all, and X has the biggest one in the franchise; the backstory is that numerous colonies were successfully dropped, to the point that humanity itself is an endangered species, as the event is noted to have killed approximately 10 billion people. Other effects of the event are mentioned throughout the series, such as the appearance of a new Colony Disease, a nuclear winter that lasted 7 years, and the destruction of all major governments. In the opening to the series Earth is also viewed from space and it is possible to see major craters on different continents as a result of the colonies impact, with some continents missing entire chunks or pieces entirely.
• Coming of Age Story: For Garrod and Tiffa, particularly the initial arcs where Garrod has to learn that taking responsibility for his mistakes and having a home is better than running away and being lonely.
• Cool Shades: Jamil wears them. He ditches them at the start of the last episode, though.
• Cozy Catastrophe: Sure, the world's been thoroughly trashed by the last war. But for a post-apocalyptic wasteland, things are looking up. Some parts of Asia don't look like they were ever reduced to wasteland in the first place.
• Death of a Thousand Cuts: The Correl is armed with nothing but a weak beam dagger, meaning this is the only way it can destroy an enemy MS (they even say the trope name).
• Die or Fly: The Frost brothers sic potential Newtypes on the Double X in the Estard arc on the principle that it takes a life-or-death battle for the abilities to emerge. It only works for the final pilot. And since the Frosts want to kill all Newtypes, they shoot him on his return.
• Disaster Scavengers: Most people on Earth. Hence the term "Vultures", although there are plenty of individuals (like Garrod, at the start of the series) working on their own.
• Disproportionate Retribution: The Frost Brothers murder dozens of people and plot mass murder just because the New U.N.E. considered their Twin Telepathy to be useless.
• Disk-One Final Boss: The battle in episode 4 and 5. The way Episode 5 ends makes you think the show ended here... until the black screen with white letters saying PREVIEW comes up. And if you didn't know there are 39 episodes.
• Due to the Dead: Episode 15 has Witz leaving a bottle of liquor at his father and brother's gravesite. Later in the episode, Roabea showers the grave of his first love with champagne.
• Downer Beginning: The 7th Space War destroyed most of the world and its population, leaving mostly Shell Shocked Veterans and children to pick up the pieces. Banditry and piracy are rampant, and most people are living by the skin of their teeth.
• Dub Name Change: The official English release features very minor changes to some characters names. For example, Roybea becomes Roabea, Sala becomes Sara, and Tex becomes Techs.
• The Empire:
  • Despite the name, the New Earth Federation uses very imperial tactics. When they're not stirring up proxy wars to ride in as the savior, they're conquering outright and putting local leaders to the firing squad.
  • The Space Revolutionary Army in the Backstory and prologue, fills this role to the United Nations Earth's Federation. Revealed to still be around in Episode 30-31.
• The End of the World as We Know It: See Colony Drop, which was so extensive that it exterminated over 99% of humanity.
• Everybody Lives: The entire main cast does. In an unique example for the franchise, the main villains also live - they're incarcerated instead of killed, while the Distant Epilogue shows them as free (if still somewhat spiteful) men.
• Everyone Can See It: Between Garrod and Tiffa. Everyone on the Frieden ships it, including Jamil himself.
• Evolutionary Levels: Newtypes also exist in the Gundam-verse. Subverted later when it's revealed that being a Newtype isn't all that different from a regular human.
• Evolving Credits: The first opening gets updated significantly for episode 11 with all shots of the titular Gundam X being replaced by the X Divider due to Carris totaling the X in a Curb-Stomp Battle against Garrod and then again for episode 21 which replaces the Gundam X silhouette at the very beginning of the intro for a shaded Double X. The second opening is changed for the final episodes by replacing the Leopard with the Leopard Destroy after it too gets wrecked in a battle against the Frosts and adding a few quick shots of the G-Falcon. Oddly enough, the crew shot encompassing the cast roughly in the middle of the intro does not get updated despite Pala joining the cast alongside the G-Falcon, which is her support mecha.
• Fake-Out Make-Out: Ennil and Dr. Techs Farzenberg do this to escape from the Feds.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • The Space Revolutionary Army is big on the "spacenoid master race" philosophy. They even intend to wipe out humans on Earth.
  • Same can be said for The Frost Brothers' plan, which involves wiping out all Newtypes.
• Fauxlosophic Narration: While standing at a crossroads in episode 15, Roabea says that one path must lead to heaven and the other to hell... which is Lampshaded by Witz immediately saying he can't stand people who use that kind of line. (At the end of the episode, however, they agree that hell was on both routes and wonder if there is such a thing as heaven.)
• The Federation: The United Nations Earth, which is wiped out after the massive Colony Drop. Later, it is resurrected in the form of the New United Nations Earth, which subsequently begins conquering vast swathes of territory in order to regain its lost power.
• Fictional Country: Due to the distant future and post-apocalyptic setting, like San Angelino in California, then Estard and its neighbors (somewhere in Southeast Asia).
• Final Battle: Between the New Earth Federation, Space Revolutionary Forces, and the crew of the Frieden around the moon in order to get to D.O.M.E.
• Final Solution: Two attempted ones.
  • The Frost brothers wish to wipe out all Newtypes out of a personal vendetta, having been rejected for not being Newytpe enough themselves.
  • Seidal Rasso wants to wipe out all humans on Earth. Garrod and Pala put a stop to it.
• Foreign Language Theme: The first ending theme ("Human Touch"), sung in English (by Warren Wiebe). It switches to a Japanese language version during Fort Severn.
• Forgotten Superweapon: The titular Gundam. Gundams themselves, while rare, are not the singular quantity that they are in most series—however, the X's Satellite Cannon is, and it's capable of melting huge chunks of the landscape into glass. Comes Great Responsibility most definitely applies.
• Fragile Speedster: The Correl, a Mobile Suit stripped of all excess weight, giving it insane running speed. After doing a fine job nearly totaling the Double X, it gets blown to bits by the latter's vulcans.
• Frontier Doctor: Techs Farzenberg. Also a Warrior Therapist.
• Funbag Airbag: Happens twice with Garrod and Pala.
• Gatling Good: The Gundam Leopard, which could give Heavyarms a run for its money.
• Get A Hold Of Yourself Man:
  • Jamil (and Dr. Farzenberg) pass on this epic manly philosophy into Garrod before Garrod faces Carris once more in a manner most awesome: "When a man strays from the right path, a kind man needs the courage to raise his fist and correct him." Garrod doesn't actually punch people to get them into shape, but his actions after Jamil's advice prove that those words really did have a positive effect on him.
  • Also subverted in Episode 31. After several attempts by the crew to break Garrod out of his Thousand-Yard Stare when Tiffa is abducted and taken to space, Witz gears up to punch him in the face until Dr. Farzenberg interrupts and provides the antidote: the portrait that Tiffa had drawn of herself and Garrod.
• George Washington Slept Here: A variant occurs when Roabea and Garrod separately visit a particular mechanic. He knocks down his fee if they let him take a picture of him standing in front of their machines, since being known as a mechanic who services the famous Gundams is great advertising. (This also clues the Frost brothers in to Garrod having been there recently, though.)
• Ghibli Hills: Occasionally, in parts of the world that weren't so devastated. Witz's agrarian hometown is one example.
• Ghost Story: Some sea-going vultures relate spooky tales about the singing ghost of the "Sea of Lorelei", named for a supposedly siren-haunted rock in the Rhine. Garrod buys it instantly, but the others are somewhat skeptical. Dr. Farzenberg recites some of the poem until Kid shuts off the lights in the rec room, panicking everyone (except the doc, who couldn't remember the rest of it).
• Global Currency: Averted. In episode 20, when the Frieden arrives at a prosperous port city, the crew is shown exchanging their currency at a booth.
• Grand Theft Me: Since she's kept inside a capsule, Lucille uses her powers to possess Tiffa's body and use her as a medium so she can reach for her "little brother" Jamil.
• Green Aesop: The Frieden gets in on the 'save the dolphins' push of the 90's when it takes on a quest to save a Newtype dolphin and her pod from having their brains harvested for pirates' navicomputers.
• Grenade Hot Potato: During the escape from the Feddies, one of them lobs a grenade at the crew. They simply yell "You threw it too early!" and kick it back, where it detonates.
• The Guards Must Be Crazy:
  • The guy who guards prisoners on the Frieden is repeatedly gassed by Garrod but puts it down as just a lack of sleep. Later, he stands next to the hinged side of the door while guarding Katokk, so that not only would his view of the doorway be blocked, Katokk can slam the door into him.
  • When the Federation captures the crew, they toss most of them into one room without any surveillance devices inside, allowing them to plot their escape and even scout through the air vents. It's only Ennil's information that betrays them.
• Grand Theft Prototype: This is Garrod's day job. Hell, his Establishing Character Moment is jacking a Jenice with just a flashbang, grappling hook, and a pistol! In fact, he pulls this off a total of three times, two of them in the same episode: The aforementioned Jenice, then the titular Gundam X, and finally much later the Double X.
• Guns Akimbo: Gundam Leopard is just loaded with almost all kinds of gunnery a la Heavyarms. Airmaster is Dual Wielding two guns.
• Happy Ending: A rare one for Gundam. Olba and Shagia are defeated, the Satellite System is destroyed, the NUNE and the Colonies make peace, and the various couples live on happily in a recovering world...oh, and did we mention all the main characters live? Kill 'Em All Tomino wouldn't ever have let that happen. Note that Olba and Shagia are simply defeated but don't die. Super Robot Wars Alpha Gaiden, Super Robot Wars Reversal and Another Century's Episode 3: The Final, OTOH, has them fighting the heroes to the bitter end.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted. Garrod realizes after losing to Carris that unless he trains furiously in simulators to get used to fighting against Bits, he's never going to win against a Newtype. He also gets to see Jamil's technique in battle, which is also sans Newtyping.
• Heel–Face Turn: Carris Nautilus and later, Ennil El and Lancerow Darell, join up with the protagonists later in the series to fight the NUNE and SRA.
• Hero of Another Story: Jamil, whose exploits more or less mirror Amuro's as detailed in the prequel manga.
• Heroic Sacrifice and Redemption Equals Death: Katokk
• Heroic BSoD: Garrod, after Tiffa is kidnapped and sent into space. Doesn't last very long though.
• History Repeats: It turns out that the war between Earth and the colonies isn't as over as it appeared, and the leaders of both sides want to finish it permanently—which will probably wipe out all of human life, rather than just most of it.
• Hit So Hard, the Calendar Felt It: The calendar ended after the Colony Drop. Now, it's After War 0015.
• Holding Back the Phlebotinum: The Satellite Cannons have a laundry list of conditions in order to be useable—the Gundam's, for instance, can only be used when the Moon is visible and the charging station has a clear line-of-sight to the Gundam's receivers.
• Humongous Mecha: The Newtype-driven mobile armor, Patulia. At 617 meters, it's over half as as big as the SDF-1.
• Idiot Hero: Early in the show, Garrod has no idea about teamwork, blunders because of it, and tries to correct by doing something equally stupid. He spaces out while helping to load cargo and injures one of the crew. He feels terrible and tries to make up for it by doing a solo raid on a defunct nuclear reactor... without scouting it out or considering how safe it is (not safe at all), and he gets in over his head with Ennil El's Vultures. Jamil is hurt bailing him out during the second sunrise^note ignoring the error that nuclear reactors don't become nuclear bombs when they melt down so Garrod feels terrible and gets a What the Hell, Hero? from Sala. So he sells the Gundam. The incredibly powerful Gundam with a Wave-Motion Gun that can turn forests to glass that should not be allowed into just anyone's hands.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Every single episode title is a line spoken in that episode.
• I Lied: A rare heroic instance pulled off by Garrod and Pala late in the series. They hold a Kill Sat hostage in exchange for Tiffa—when the colonists give her up, he and Pala destroy the Kill Sat anyway because the colonists were going to fire it on Earth. He mocks them for falling for it, too.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl: Tiffa, but just once. When she went skinny-dipping with Newtype dolphins.
• It Runs in the Family: The Frost Brothers.
• I "Uh" You, Too: Garrod and Tiffa. Garrod's taken with her from the start, but he's really awkward about expressing it. Tiffa reciprocates, but she's even worse at communicating than a normal teenager.
• Kill Sat: The Space Revolutionary Army's Colony Laser. They destroy breakaway colony Satelicon and plan to wipe out human life on Earth with it, but Garrod destroys it before they can make the shot.
• Karma Houdini: Neatly subverted. The Frost brothers survive the final battle, Olba without a scratch and Shagia only bound to a wheelchair. However, this is arguably the cruelest punishment for a Gundam villain ever. They get to survive, to see all their plans and efforts to bring about a war that would destroy civilization fail, with both Spacenoids and Earthnoids restoring peace with each other and the Newtypes that they hate so very much able to live happily and not be abused as tools for war.
  • Indeed, Gundam X is one of the few, if not only, series where nearly all the assholes who made the world a shitty place got theirs, including (for once) the asshole leaders on both sides of the war.
• Knowledge Broker: Many of these are around, making a good living selling information to Vultures. Information on the Gundam X soon becomes quite valuable.
• La Résistance: Two examples.
  • The National Liberation Front in the Estard region, which Roabea is briefly involved in when his girfriend Yurina turns out to be an agent. They are wiped out after the New Earth Federation takes over.
  • The space colony Satelicon broke away from the Space Revolutionary Army and Cloud Nine. Garrod meets one of their pilots, Pala Sys. They, too, are destroyed, but by the SRA.
• Libation for the Dead: In episode 15, Robea buys a bunch of roses and visits all of his ex-girlfriends to give them out and catch up on what they've been doing. Throughout the episode he has a bottle of champagne he's saving for an important person and the episode ends with him visiting their grave and pouring the champagne over it. His dialogue reveals that she was the one who gave him his Gundam.
• Lighter and Softer: As noted, in spite of its post-apocalyptic setting, X is one of the most upbeat and optimistic series in the entire Gundam franchise. All the main characters in it get to live, make the world a better place than it once was and receive happy endings.
• Love Triangle: A few, although they don't devolve into a massive Love Dodecahedron. Ennil and Tiffa both display an interest in Garrod, although Garrod only has eyes for Tiffa. Deputy Captain Sara also has one between The Captain Jamil and Chivalrous Pervert Roabea. Thankfully, everyone behaves like adults and nobody tries to Murder the Hypotenuse. And everything in this regard gets settled by series's end.
• Master Race: The Space Revolutionary Army teaches the colonists that everyone born in space is a potential Newtype and that the people of Earth are "oldtypes" who are now evolutionary dead-ends. To really drive it home, Rasso describes the people of Earth as "pollution" and decrees that they must be exterminated en masse for the space colonists to return there.
• Meaningful Name:
  • In the Estardo arc, General Lee does not get along at all with Willis's political advisor Grant.
  • Abel Bauer gets murdered.
• Mecha Expansion Pack: The G-Falcon serves as an expansion pack for all three Gundam lines (the X, the Airmaster and the Leopard), granting two more beam cannons and a whole lot of missiles.
• Mid-Season Upgrade:
  • Garrod ditches the GX (Divider) for the Double X once he steals it from the New Federation.
  • The Divider simultaneously plays this straight and averts this. Compared to its original form, the X Divider is more mobile, has more conventional firepower, and is overall a better option for straight-up battles. However, its Harmonica Cannon is downright pathetic compared to the raw firepower of the Satellite Cannon and would in theory be useless against Colony Drops. Fortunately (sort of), there aren't many colonies left to drop by that point, so it's not an issue.
  • Witz and Roabea upgrade their Airmaster and Leopard to Airmaster Burst and Leopard Destroy. Had the series gotten its originally planned 52 episodes, Ennil would've also gotten to upgrade to a Gundam-like "Esperansa II". Arguably, the lack of this upgrade makes her more badass, since the finale instead has her kicking ass^note albeit as point defense of the Frieden II rather than out-and-out offense in her severely outdated Jenice Kai.
  • The Frost Brothers realize partway through the series that they're getting outpaced in terms of technology, so they also make sure to upgrade their Gundams for the final battle, into the Virsago "Chest Break" and the Ashtaron "Hermit Crab". Both of their new Gundams are equipped with the components of the Satellite Launcher, which is as powerful as the Double X' Twin Satellite Cannon.
  • Few episodes after Garrod upgrades to the Double X, Jamil returned as a full-time pilot while retaining his position as the Frieden's captain, inheriting the X Divider from the former (He previously piloted a GX in the past, and in the present time, a Daughtress and Carris' Bertigo). His long-time rival, Lancerow, was a pilot of a Zeong-Expy, the Febral but is now piloting a custom Crouda.
• Modesty Towel:
  • In the first episode, Garrod is sneaking around the ship, when suddenly Toniya burst out from the bathroom clad in a towel to complain about the water going out, almost catching Garrod. A similar scene occurs in episode 20, this time with her bursting out of the bathroom in the same towel to complain about the room being flooded and distracting Miles as he was inspecting the ship.
  • In episode 7, Ennil is taking a shower aboard a vulture ship, when she hears someone enter the bathroom. She picks up her gun and pulls the shower curtain to point her gun at the intruder, now clad in a towel which she somehow quickly put on. The intruder turns out to be just Zacotte who came to invite her to drink wine.
• Mood Whiplash: In the beach episode, Roabea, Toniya, and Witz start out ribbing Garrod for his crush on Tiffa and giving him advice... and quickly segue into Roabea and Witz's laments for time lost, Sara's uncertainty about moving too quickly, and Toniya wondering where the somber mood came from all of a sudden.
• More Dakka: The Gundam Leopard. It fills the fire support role (even more so as the Leopard Destroy) but is in fact the most versatile model.
• Mythology Gag: It wouldn't be a Gundam series without several of these to the original series.
  • During the Estardo arc, the Frost Brothers promise potential Newtypes a two-rank promotion if they defeat Garrod. Ramba Ral was similarly offered one.
  • In episode 31, when faced with mobile suits equipped with beam rifles while trying to destroy a space shuttle to prevent Garrod from making it into space to chase after Tiffa, Shagia Frost, in his red Virsago, takes down one of the mobile suits and declares, "It doesn't matter how powerful your weapon is if you can't hit me!" Remind you of what a red-mobile-suit-piloting Commander said in the second episode of a previous series?
  • Episode 32, Lancerow Dowell's flashback of the previous war is entirely this: at the end of the last war, the experienced lead ace of the space colonies fights the teenage Newtype ace of the Federation, piloting a mobile suit carrying finger-mounted beam weapons, and escapes death due to the head-mounted cockpit, while the Federation's Gundam ends up losing its left arm and head in the fight. Shades of RX-78-2 vs. Zeong indeed....
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Garrod's rather violent rejection of Ennlil's advances in episode 8. Granted, he was in a bad place emotionally at the time, but even if he couldn't return her feelings, his mistrusting overreaction turned her from a rival into an enemy.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: By turning their Satellite Launcher on Bloodman and Zidel, the only two who really wanted to go to war, the Frost Brothers did more to pave the way for peace than any other single action in the series.
• No Honor Among Thieves: When several Vultures and bandit attack Garrod and Tifa in the X, eventually they start turning on each other to settle scores or taking advantage of the others' vulnerability when their Mobile Suits get damaged.
• No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Imzat treats Jamil and Tiffa to dinner after capturing them to discuss the war and the place of Newtypes in the new world order. Neither of them have any appetite for it.
• One World Order: The New Earth Federation ruthlessly pursues this goal and achieve it quite quickly in Europe, Asia, and Africa, though they're still having trouble in the Americas by the end of the show. The Space Revolutionary Army is trying to achieve One Space Order, on top of wiping out the Federation.
• On the Next: Used a bit differently from the usual "30 second preview after the credits" all Gundam shows before and after X used. Specifically, the preview is integrated with the ending credits in a window, and it plays for the full duration of the credits, after which a character will provide the quote which is the name of the following episode.
• Out of the Frying Pan: Quoted by Garrod in Episode 32, upon making it to the Space Colonies.
• Patrick Stewart Speech: Garrod usually replies to an enemy with either this or Shut Up, Hannibal!.
• People Jars: Lucille Lilliant, Jamil's Cool Big Sis and first love, was put in a coma and placed in a capsule in suspended animation.
• People's Republic of Tyranny: The SRA, ruled from a colony dubbed "Cloud Nine", is hailed as a paradise for Newtypes (enough that Nicola, a high-ranking official, insists that Tiffa is better there than on Earth). In reality it's a dictatorship where any dissent is not tolerated, and they still harbor a deep grudge against Earth's denuded population.
• Person of Mass Destruction: The original X Gundam is this, and in fact was designed to be a Weapon of Mass Destruction. It was made to shoot down space colonies with its Satellite Cannon, and though it may be Awesome, but Impractical due to it requiring the moon base and significant charge-up, one sustained fire of it in Ep 2 is enough to demolish mountains and alter the landscape.
• Poor Communication Kills:
  • Drives the plot of episodes 6-8. It's initially largely Garrod's fault, but it turns out to be rather endemic to the setting. Outside of the Frieden crew, none of the characters have any real loyalty to each other at this point.
  • When Nicola decides that Tiffa would be better off in space, he ignores the fact that he's having to physically drag her and that she's screaming for help. It's not until much later that he gets she was happy and safer with Jamil's crew, and by then it's too late.
  • How Ennil El and the crew of the Freeden end up enemies. Ennil sneaks into Garrod's room in the middle of the night; he pulls a gun on her, and accuses her of trying to kill him and steal the Gundam X. In reality she was there because she wanted to sleep with him. Needless to say, she didn't take the accusation well.
  • In the final episode, despite everyone else's encounter with DOME, the Frost Brothers still have plans of their own with the Satellite Launcher. They first aim at Seidel's ship, making him believe the Federation went back on their word on a ceasefire, but gets blown up before he could actually attack. Bloodman at first was worried what was going on since he ordered said ceasefire, but is then satisfied to see the enemy's ship destroyed. That is until the brothers immediately kill him as well.
• Psychic Powers: Newtypes, of course, and they're big targets because of it. But in the end, DOME (the original Newtype) discounts the idea that Newtypes or anybody else are "more evolved" than other humans. Psychic powers are no different from something like above-average intelligence; it's a personal talent, not a sign of the next step in evolution.
• Psycho for Hire: In a twist, the Estard arc (eps. 25-28) sees the Frosts sending psychotic Newtype candidates against the Frieden; while they already work for the New UNE, they're promised a two-rank promotion if they destroy the Double X. Also somewhat crosses into Monster of the Week.
• The Remnant: The Federation, now known as the New UNE is still around, albeit in a much weaker state. As it turns out, so too are the Spacenoids themselves. And there are factions within both sides who are still seeking to finish the war.
• The Revolution Will Not Be Civilized: The Space Revolutionary Army and their colony drop fifteen years ago wiped out almost all human life on Earth at the expense of many of their own colonies. Fifteen years later, they still call themselves Revolutionaries, in reality maintaining their own dictatorship in space under Seidal Rasso.
• Ruthless Modern Pirates: Though plenty of Vultures are just buy-and-sell scavengers, some of them act entirely as bandits, terrorizing recovering communities. And there's a seagoing subset of Vultures that are the worst, nicknamed "Orcs" for how vicious they are.
• Sapient Cetaceans: The arc where Tiffa befriends a pod of dolphins with her Psychic Powers, the pod being led by a white dolphin that's basically a cetacean Newtype. They're intelligent enough to communicate their distaste for humanity and use good tactics against underwater pirates.
• Scavenger World: There's so much scavenging going on, there's a name for doing so. Vultures. It's more or less the entire economy for the first part of the series.
• Screw Destiny: Every time a Newtype gets worried about a terrible future or event coming, Garrod leads the charge to avert the crisis. DOME eventually states in the final episode that those views of the future will not become true unless people actively takes steps to achieve that future.
• Security Cling: While Dr. Farzenberg recites a poem about Lorelei, a siren-like figure who caused men to shipwreck, Kid shuts off the lights. When they come back up, Toniya is clinging to Sara, Garrod is clinging to Tiffa... and Witz is clinging to Roabea, who isn't too pleased.
• Shipper on Deck: It doesn't take long for most of the Freeden to start shipping Garrod and Tiffa and give them love advice.
• Shot at Dawn:
  • In episode 35, the Federation ships the crew to Siberia on a train and then forces them to line up before a pre-dug trench. The soldiers take up the classic firing squad position—thankfully The Cavalry comes in to bail them out before anyone can pull the trigger.
  • Nicola Fafas is executed by the SRA (blindfold and all) for discovering that Newtypes can be born on Earth and for suggesting peace negotiations with the Federation, both of which would upend the "spacenoid master race" philosophy that Rasso is using to justify his power.
• Shout-Out: It's Gundam, so there are a few.
  • One notable is the Psycho for Hire Mobile Suit, Gable, probably named after the psychotic Ace Pilot Yazan Gable from Z Gundam.
  • Gundam X is similar to Wing Gundam weapon-wise, being armed with a single beam saber, and a single, Awesome, but Impractical Wave-Motion Gun capable of destroying multiple enemies in a single shot. Its Superior Successor, the Gundam Double X, has double of those weapons just like Wing's own upgrade, the Wing Gundam Zero (also, their respective doubled Wave-Motion Guns have almost (if not all) of the impracticalities that their single counterparts possess been ironed out).
  • Gundam Leopard is a Gundam Heavy-Arms Custom in function, but given how versatile it's shown to be in-show (and the ground rollers), it's functionally a scaled-up AT.
  • Gundam Airmaster is a Re-GZ remake in its Mobile Armor mode (a focus on heavier firepower), while a Zeta remake in its Mobile Suit mode (focus on agility and precision) - essentially the Re-GZ Custom.
  • Gundam Virsago is basically a Palette Swap of Gundam Epyon with the weapons of Shenlong Gundam from Gundam W.
  • The G-Bits resemble GM's, whose Mecha-Mook status is taken up by the Daughtress line, and they face off against the not-Zaku Jeniss line.
  • There is an operation before the colony drop where the Colonies send out 5 prototype mobile suits to attack the Earth. Turns out they were all destroyed when they entered the atmosphere (a la Gundam Sentinel, which also features a friggin' huge Mobile Armor designed to blow away... well, everything).
  • In the beginning of the first episode, we see hundreds of Mobile Suits that look like Zaku IIs and Gelgoogs.
  • Jamil Neate. Amuro, if he dressed like Quattro and got slapped around mentally by Sirrocco, taking over for Bright and ultimately getting right back into a Mobile Suit like Char while still leading.
  • The entire backstory is the beginning of the year 0079 of the Universal Century, only with slightly updated graphics and different Mobile Suits... And more Gundams. And a more catastrophic Operation British.
  • Carris's Mobile Suit when we first meet him is pretty much a Dom or Dwadge in Qubeley colors. Only with Bits instead of a large rocket launcher. It even has the model number RMSN-8, which is a reference to the Qubeley's planned Principality of Zeon model number (as laid out in MSV supplementary material), MSN-8.
  • The Correl's pilot, Demar Griffe, has the nickname "White Death", which is also the nickname of the famous Finnish sniper Simo Hayha.
• Shown Their Work: The firearms many characters use in the series are all real guns recreated in impressive detail.
• Shut Up, Hannibal!: Garrod's go to response for a Breaking Speech, "The Reason You Suck" Speech or MotiveRant.
• Sink The Life Boats: In episode 19, the Orc crew that Olba was working with take heavy damage to their submarine and are forced to escape in a lifeboat. Olba blows the lifeboat up in the name of "operational secrecy."
• Sixth Ranger: Ennil joins the crew permanently in time for the Estard arc. Pala joins as well after the return of Garrod and Tiffa back to Earth (since she accompanies them on the trip and has nowhere to go due to Satellicon getting wiped out) in episode 34. Carris (who stays behind in Fort Severn after his miniarc) eventually joins at the call for aid of the Frieden crew for the Vultures' combined final stand against both the New UNE and SRA forces, in episode 36.
• Snow Means Death: Used pretty flagrantly in the Fort Severn arc. When Carris decides to get himself killed by Garrod's hand, he attacks amid a snowshower. Later, when he wanders off to die of exposure, the snow starts falling again. And as soon as Garrod convinces him to live, it stops.
• Spoiler Opening: Both openings have Tiffa holding a ball of light in her hands. It's DOME, one of the major players in the finale and answerer to many questions about Newtypes.
• The Starscream: The Frost Brothers, sorta. It becomes very clear that they're not looking to lead so much as eradicate.
• The Stoic: Jamil Neate. Quite a contrast with his Cheerful Child former self...
• Stripperiffic: Ennil El is one of the few pilots in Gundam history who strips down when piloting her robot.
  • In fact, she may have jump-started the entire Gainaxing trend in Super Robot Wars via her appearance in Alpha Gaiden.
• Super Prototype: Averted with the X, Airmaster, and Leopard, as they were mass-produced during the 7th Space War seen in the prologue. Played straight however, with the Virsago, Ashtaron, and later, the Double X.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: In many Gundam shows, the Humongous Mecha can stomp around without apparently worrying that they're going to squash someone by mistake. In episode 6, Garrod gets careless while towing something, which results in injury to several of the crew.
• Tag Team Twins: The Frost Brothers.
• Taking the Bullet: Shagia takes an energy blast for Olba. Who does NOT respond well.
• There Is a God!: Used semi-seriously episode 1. Garrod finds an abandoned Gundam, but when he tries to use it to fight off some pursuers, he finds it doesn't have a control stick. He pulls out a disconnected control stick he found earlier and mutters:
  Garrod: (thinking to himself) If this works, I'll believe in God! ... "Tiffa! I believe in God!"
• This Is Reality: In episode 10, Garrod duels his first Newtype opponent, Carris, and declares that even a Newtype won't beat him. Cue a brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that utterly wrecks the Gundam X before Carris combines this kind of speech with a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
• Those Two Guys: Kid's two assistants, who have Undying Loyalty to their much-younger boss and little mention of their own names.
• Title Drop: Curiously for Gundam, every single episode title is part of a dialogue within their respective episodes. This also applies to the series title as well, with "After War" being a term constantly used in the series to describe the 15-year era of rebuilding that took place after the last war between Earth and the Space Colonies.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Tiffa (girly) and Pala (tomboy). Also, Toniya is the Genki Girl Hard-Drinking Party Girl to Ennil's Broken Bird.
• True Companions: Eventually, the Frieden's crew. Initially they're all amiable with each other but with the understanding that they're there to get paid, but by the end they're together like glue.
• Twin Telepathy: The Frost Brothers again. (And given how effectively they use it, you have to wonder what the hell the Federation was thinking when they rejected them. Not being able to find a use for long-range, unblockable and uncrackable telepathy isn't holding onto the Idiot Ball, it's playing full-on Idiot Billiards.)
• Unfit for Greatness: Prince Willis of Estard is ruled by his advisers and being constantly pushed and pulled between their opinions. He's aware of his failings, but he lacks the savvy and self-confidence to step up and take definite charge.
• Used Future: The Federation and the Colonies are both trying to get out of it, but not entirely successfully...
• Victoria's Secret Compartment: Ennil and her trusty flashbang grenade.
• Villainous Breakdown: Shagia Frost, in spite of defeats and setbacks throughout the story, never loses his Smug Snake status until the very end, when Garrod is able to override his manual control of Satellite System microwave emitter and thereby interfere with him setting the new war into motion. Even his usually loyal little brother is stunned by him.
  Shagia: Im-impossible! We're supposed to be in control of the Satellite System!
  Olba: Brother!
  Shagia: SHOOT THE DOUBLE X!
  Olba: But it hasn't charged yet!
  Shagia: I DON'T CARE!!!!!!!!
• Walk on Water: Subverted when someone is shown not to be standing on water, but on the top of their submerged submarine.
• Wave-Motion Gun: The Xs' Satellite Cannons remain among the most powerful single weapons carried by a mobile suit in the Gundam Saga. It's so powerful, the suit itself cannot power it, and must have the energy to fire it beamed from the moon.
• Wham Episode: Episode 30, in which the Space Revolutionary Army is revealed to still around and abducts Tiffa to be brought into space.
• Wham Line: From the end of Episode 30:
  Lord Bloodman: "If they land in North America and join with the resistance there, the outcome will be catastrophic. Let us disclose the information before that can happen. The Space Revolutionary Army is alive and well. We must reveal this state of affairs and get them to realize that the true enemy we must fight is out in space! That the war never ended!"
  • In Episode 20 when Jamil and Katokk are talking about the war, it's revealed that the colonies that the SRA threatened to drop on Earth belonged to the UNE and were still inhabited. Suddenly it explains just why Jamil is so badly shell-shocked, not only did he fail to stop the drop, even if he had succeeded he would have had the blood of a sizable fraction of the human race on his hands. Also since the UNE government knew, it really isn't a good thing that they're still around, as was revealed a few episodes earlier. It's later revealed that the dropped colonies had already been depopulated by the SRA, so the blood of their citizens was on the SRA's hands. Both Jamil and Katokk knew this; Katokk lied about it to intensify his guilt trip toward Jamil, but Jamil played along with the lie because he felt so guilty about the event anyway.
• "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: The last episode shows the fates of the crew of the Freeden after they went their separate ways.
  • Tiffa and Garrod leave together, having fallen for each other.
  • Jamil gets together with his advisor Sala and works as a liason between the rulers on Earth and in the Space Colonies.
  • Techs resumes his medical career in field hospitals.
  • Witz, having proposed to Toniya, accompanies her, Ennil and Roybea to his hometown.
  • Kid opens a repair shop with Shingo, Paula, Lokoko and Nine.
• Yandere: Olba Frost may count as an example. Ennil El goes through a phase of this early on as well... although people don't seem to remember that as well (because the episode where she makes friends with Toniya overshadows all that).

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The Moon will always be there.

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