Sentou Mecha Xabungle

On the planet Zora exist two societies: the Innocent, an advanced culture that lives in domed cities, and the Civilians, who are forced to live in the harsh desert wilderness. As dictated by the Innocent, any Civilian that commits a crime is forgiven if they are not brought to justice within three days.

Civilian Jiron Amos seeks revenge on the villainous outlaw Timp Sharon who murdered his parents, despite the fact the three-day period has long since ed. Hoping to get his revenge by stealing the mecha Xabungle from the merchant Carrying Cargo, Jiron teams up with a group of bandits known as the Sandrats and kidnaps Cargo's daughter Elchi, who ends up being sympathetic to his cause. Jiron's quest for revenge soon grows into a conflict much bigger—one that will eventually see the Civilians rise up against the Innocents' rule.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Amos, Jiron Main

Ootaki, Shinya Japanese

Cargo, Elchi Main

Yokoo, Mari Japanese

Uralo, Rag Main

Shimazu, Saeko Japanese

Big, Fatman ing

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Chill ing

Tarako Japanese

Sharon, Timp ing

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Narrator ing

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Rank, Arthur ing

Shiozawa, Kaneto Japanese

Biel ing

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Memuma, Cotsett ing

Hiromori, Shingo Japanese

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Director, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, Original Creator

Imagawa, Yasuhiro Episode Director, Storyboard

Kase, Mitsuko Episode Director, Storyboard

Takizawa, Toshifumi Episode Director, Storyboard

Reviews

Aug 18, 2019

ggultra2764

Recommended

Xabungle is a mish-mash of genres combining westerns, mecha action, sci-fi, and comedy focused on a young man named Jiron Amos who partners up with a gang of sand bandits and the crew of the landship known as the Iron Gear to seek out the whereabouts of the murderer of his family named Timp Sharon. Within the world of Xabungle, mechs called Walker Machines are used by landships to combat one another and there is a three-day rule in place where all crimes have to be resolved within that time or else they are pardoned. In addition, there exist two living beings within the series: ... the Innocent who live lavishly in domed cities and the Civilians who live out in the harsh planet landscape.

Xabungle was directed by famous mecha anime director Yoshiyuki Tomino, sandwiched between his work on the more darker and serious Space Runaway Ideon and Aura Battler Dunbine. The series is more lighter fare with its focus on Jiron and other characters as comedy rears its presence frequently throughout the series to parody typical tropes of the mecha genre and usually breaking the fourth wall with characters being self-aware of their status as fictional characters and whatever roles they have to fulfill within the series. Some characters even aspire to be greater than the roles they personify or attempting to seem tough and intimidating, yet their comical and klutzy behavior goes against whatever role they are attempting to come off as. The comedy actually helps to allow Xabungle to stick out from the many mecha titles that were made throughout the 1980s trying to come off as serious, as the series is self-aware of its roots and doesn't take itself seriously on enough occasions throughout its 50-episode run.

Outside of the comedy, Xabungle also sticks out for the rather unique world it has to offer up in its mixing of sci-fi and western story elements. On the surface, the series seems to be a western with the attire, settings, and weaponry employed; mixed in with the more advanced technology such as the Walker Machines and landships used by the Civilians. But as episodes progress, more is revealed about the workings of the world that Xabungle is set in that eventually leads up to a conflict between the crew of the Iron Gear and those under the influence of the Innocent. A good chunk of what is revealed is pretty typical of sci-fi and mecha focused anime, but the mentioned comedy rears its head enough to keep things from getting too overly serious.

In regards to characters, the series has a fairly large cast considering its length and the scale of which its main conflict onfolds. Some characters, notably the villains, are pretty standard with their motives and character types. Others, like major characters among the Iron Gear, do get a good deal of fleshing out that let them have more to them beyond their character types as Xabungle shows how a number of characters are affected by the escalating conflict with the Innocent and there are a few characters within the Innocent concerned about how things are escalating with their influence on the Civilians. In spite of how typical a number of the character types are, Xabungle still does a solid job with exploring how each side is affected by the developing conflict between Civilians and Innocent.

Overall, Xabungle makes for a fun and engaging mecha show thanks to the humor coming off its self-awareness of being a mecha anime, as well as the unique blend of western and sci-fi storytelling tropes implemented in its exploration of the Iron Gear's conflict with the Innocent. Old-school mecha fans looking for something unique for the genre should definitely consider giving this a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Sep 28, 2020

punishedsneed

Recommended

Xabungle is a Tomino mecha anime that is fully light hearted, it does not take itself seriously. This is a good thing and makes it very enjoyable. There are roots to concepts seen in more serious Tomino mecha anime - like Zeta Gundam - within Xabungle, and the same beats are hit... but while this normally causes the show to feel repetitive if you've seen other mecha works of Tomino, Xabungle is different enough that it doesn't suffer at all from this. I've seen a lot of Tomino mecha anime and while almost all of them are good, they do hit on the same characterization, ... the same themes, the same dynamics, the same plots... and for shows like Gundam, Dunbine, and Ideon, which are more serious, it becomes necessary to take a break before starting - or else you'll get deja vu every other episode. Xabungle covers up this deja vu with a different tone and every episode you end up having fun with.

I'm giving Xabungle a '9' and L-Gaim a '9' because both of these shows break from Tomino's formula and prove more engaging because of their humorous characterization. However, Xabungle is far sillier. Tomino's other serious shows are just as enjoyable but they don't stick out as much, which can be unfortunate.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 4, 2022

WickedRei

Recommended

I just finished this anime yesturday, I'm surprised at how fast I devoured this anime!

For a 1982 anime, I must say the art is pretty decent and I got used to it quickly. The soundtrack is appealing and the characters design is alright. The voice acting is well done and the seiyuus are well choosen, but noisy it's at time. (a lot of screaming or loud voices but i'm sensitive so maybe that's just me) The sound quality is good for a 40 years old anime.

The characters are lovable and the personnalities are varied. The villains are also as lovable as the mains ... characters. The fight scenes were fun to watch, often creative. The story get really interesting as the episodes goes by. The humour is refreshing and very lighthearted , it has a taste that you rarely find in moderns animes. The last scene of the ending made me laugh a lot it was simply perfect I rarely laughed that much in a last episode. Considering it's a 40 years old anime, I must say the females characters were pretty modern and badass for it's time.

But I must say it's an anime of it's time, it has a lot of free violence (underlings getting hit randomly, Chill (8-9 years old girl) getting hit pretty often by some crew , Girls getting hit and slapped often etc. It is mostly used in a comedic way but it can be triggering.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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