Blue Gale Xabungle

Havoc that leaves nothing standing!

Life on the planet Zola is harsh. On the one hand, you have the Civilians eking out an existence as best they can in the desert, mining Blue Stones, squabbling over them, and trading the stones for food, water, and technology. On the other, the mysterious Innocent reign from their domed cities, demanding Blue Stones in return for scraps of their wealth. The only law of the Civilians is this: if you commit a crime, no matter how heinous, if you escape retribution for 3 days, you are home free.

Into this world bursts Jiron, a young man forced to watch as his parents were gunned down in cold blood by a mysterious drifter. Unlike the people around him, Jiron suffers from a strange malady: he can’t let things go after just three days! In his quest for revenge against his parents’ killer, he will drag an entire crew of misfits – The Sand Rats Rag, Blume, Dyke, and Chill; the Carrier Elchi Cargo and her landship the Iron Gear; and many others besides – into a struggle that will eventually expand to engulf all of Zola.

With that set-up, and a creative staff including Chief Director Yoshiyuki Tomino (Gundam, Dunbine, Ideon, and many other classics), Character Designer Tomonori Kogawa (Dunbine, Ideon, Tekkaman Blade, and many more), Mechanical Designer Kunio Okawara (Gundam, VOTOMs, Layzer, etc), and a script-writing team including people known for their work on classics such as Blue Comet SPT Layzner, Armored Trooper VOTOMs, and various entries in the Gundam franchise, you might expect this to be the sort of show that earns Tomino his nickname “Kill ‘em All Tomino”. And yet, nothing could be further from the truth!

Xabungle is a slapstick comedy, a wild and raucous stampede through the deserts starring a cast of egotists, idiots, fools, and clowns. It’s Bugs Bunny meets Mecha, Westerns meets Comedy. Even the heartless killer Jiron chases across Zola for half the runtime of the show is revealed to be… a buffoon. Timp Sharon is a villain, yes, but he’s as likely to accidentally swallow his cigarette in the middle of a speech or slip and fall down a mountain as he is to actually succeed at any of his more villainous goals. Add in an additional growing stable of foes who spend more time as comic relief than true threats, and what you end up with is a rollicking good time for anyone who can get past the sometimes-dated animation and the always frustrating gender politics of 1980s Japan.

Which is not to say that it’s enjoyable or even good for the entirety of its considerable length. There are episodes which drag; there are racist caricatures of Native Americans; there is far too much time spent in the back half of the series on a plot which undermines the chemistry of the core cast. There is questionable fanservice.

But Xabungle never loses sight of how silly its set-up is, or how ridiculous its characters are, even when it drags or when you are wishing it’d stop spending so much time focusing on the antics of less-interesting side characters. That consistent wink at the audience – that sly acknowledgement that, yes, this is all ridiculous – might be tiresome in another show, but in Xabungle it's endearing. When Jiron points out he’s the main character, after all, you’re nodding along with him. When characters are complaining about tropes, you’re shrugging along side with them. It all feels a bit more Looney Tunes than Ideon.

Xabungle languished in obscurity for a long time. Its mecha designs are silly. Its tone is unusual for a show that is at least on paper more “Real Robot” than “Super Robot.” Its animation can sometimes be exceptionally potato-like. It makes the mistake of indulging in some of Tomino’s intensely problematic takes on gender, and contains the aforementioned racist Native American depictions. But however often it stumbles, Xabungle always ends up back on its feet, running forward towards the next gag, the next adventure, the next gleeful puncturing of someone’s ego.

More than anything else, Combat Mecha Xabungle is fun, and sometimes that’s good enough.