Mobile Suit Gundam - The 08th MS Team (Vol. 4)

Rating:
Summary: Best Gundam OVA
Review: 08th MS Team is probably one of the best Gundam OVA and best side story for Mobile Suit Gundam(not talking about Gundam Wing).
Unlike Gundam Wing where the Gundams are almost invincible and the pilots are perfect, this has mass production Gundams which are much weaker and have more of a military look and the pilots are just soldiers of the Earth Federation fighting the Zeons. 08th MS Team includes the best that Gundam has to offer. This DVD is the last one in the 08th MS Team OVA and includes the Final episode named "Last Resort" which Cartoon Network did not show. So if you want to know what happened to Shiro and Aina you should buy it.

Rating:
Summary: A happy ending
Review: At the end of the last episode, we find that Aina and Shiro are alive and well...and Aina looks to be pregnant (gee, who saw THAT coming?)
The first two espiodes is a two-parter and is the final battle between the Federation and the Zeon. I either didn't see the very last espiode ("Last Resort") on Cartoon Network or they didn't show it at all. On the Cartoon Network version, it isn't clear in Aina and Shiro survived the battle, as Miguel (spelling?) tells us that he never saw the two again. However, i am very happy for Aina and Shiro. Love knows no bounds (or sides in a war). A great ending to a great series!

Rating:
Summary: A happy ending
Review: At the end of the last episode, we find that Aina and Shiro are alive and well...and Aina looks to be pregnant (gee, who saw THAT coming?)
The first two espiodes is a two-parter and is the final battle between the Federation and the Zeon. I either didn't see the very last espiode ("Last Resort") on Cartoon Network or they didn't show it at all. On the Cartoon Network version, it isn't clear in Aina and Shiro survived the battle, as Miguel (spelling?) tells us that he never saw the two again. However, i am very happy for Aina and Shiro. Love knows no bounds (or sides in a war). A great ending to a great series!

Rating:
Summary: anime at it best
Review: gundam is alway a good bet to watch no matter what type of anime you like. It a must for all anime fans

Rating:
Summary: The BEST Gundam ever!!! 5 stars plus+++
Review: I am a seasoned Japanese Anime watcher, being an avid follower and collector since childhood. With so many anime titles from the '70s, '80s, '90s, and up to the present for comparison, Gundam 08th MS Team is, without a doubt, rated among the very best of the best.

As a Gundam series, it is without equal. Forget about the recent hyped and fanciful Gundams such as Gundam Wing, or Gundam 0083. For these series may have the best looking Mobile Suits, they are actually being cleverly marketed alongside their plastic model franchises. But for those of us who are looking for a good anime with good storyline, 08th MS Team is the best bet.

O8th MS Team was released with very modest publicity. It did not not have a lavish budget to warrant fluid animation. And its Mobile Suit designs were very plain and workman-like. Many new generation Gundam fans scoffed at its down-to-earth reputation. They should watch the series once again.

What 08th MS Team lacked in its franchise department, has been compensated with a very well developed and mature storyline. Each character has different, and very well defined personality. They will grow into you. They were skillfully drawn to reflect their looks with their behavior. For instance; Eledore the music lover has a punkish look; Michel the day-dreamer is made to look like a nerd; Karen the tough Sgt. is a burly sort of woman who has brownish skin; Ginias Sakhalin was drawn to look like a handsome aristocrat but with greedy self-centered eyes. Aina Sakhalin is my favorite character. She has those dreamy eyes as any young girl in love would have. The tone of her looks was made to match well with Shiro Amada. One can see clearly the two lovers were not meant to be painted separately. One should pay tribute to the sensitivities of the character designer and the artists who had used the savviness of their skills to retell a version of Romeo & Juliet in the form of anime cells.

Action sequences? Believe me, episode 11(Shaking Mountain, Part 1) will take your breath away. If you think the battles between Kou Uraki & Anavel Gato, and Heero Yui & Zechs Marquis were great, check this one out. It is not just a case of two guys brawling and ripping each other's circuits out. It was an intense street battle, staged with both cunning and guile. It makes much more sense this way, and clearly defines what fighting on Mobile Suits is all about.

08th MS Team is a touching and moving chronicle. It is like a brilliant prose that pulls you heartstrings. It is such an egrossing experience watching this series.

Rating:
Summary: The Best Gundam Series Out There
Review: I'm used to watching Gundam Wing, which I saw on Toonami. I thought it was one of the best series. I've seen every Gundam Wing episode and I even own the Endless Waltz movie. I was mad when they stopped showing it but my friend told me about Mobile Suit Gundam:08th MS Team and I thought it wasn't even going to compare. Well, I'm rarely as wrong as I was when I made that statement!!!! I liked it much better than Gundam Wing. In the action department it is lacking compared to Gundam Wing but it has a much better storyline and I love they way they depend much more one their mobile suits unlike Gundam Wing. It seems much more realistic than Gundam Wing.
In the begining of the series the main character Sheero is trapped in an abandoned space ship with a woman from the enemy military, Zeon. The two escape together and through the whole series there is an unmistakable romance. I liked this series much better than Gundam Wing. If you don't want to get it because it doesn't have as much fighting, trust me, you'll get more than enough. The only problem with this series is that it's not long enough, but that means it won't cost as much:)

Rating:
Summary: Superb series -- comparable to Zeta Gundam
Review: I've been a Gundam fan since the late 80s. This was the last major Gundam series that I hadn't seen. What a mistake I made by waiting! The 08th MS Team is wonderful, combining good characters, striking action sequences, a love story, and an often wrenching portrayal of the savagery of war. It's everything you want from Gundam.

This series is so good it could stake a claim to the title of "Best Gundam Series." Yes, it might even be a match for the 1985 landmark _Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam_, which Bandai, insanely, has not brought to US shores yet. (It's coming this year.) Zeta's 50 episodes allow it to tell a tale with greater scope and grandeur, but each one of 08th MS Team's 12 episodes is packed with good moments to a degree that even Zeta can't always equal. The lethal, land-bound mobile suit fights in city and jungle here are a match for Zeta's slashing space duels. And both series deliver equally powerful scenes of loss and betrayal.

Basically, the hierarchy of Gundam series breaks down like this:

Excellent -- Zeta, 08th MS Team, Gundam 0080

Old, but a Classic -- Mobile Suit Gundam (original series and early-80s movie trilogy)

Good -- Gundam 0083, Char's Counterattack, Victory Gundam, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

OK -- G Gundam (ludicrous, but guilty fun), Gundam Wing TV series (flashy, shallow), Gundam ZZ, Gundam F-91.

Back to the review. Shiro Amada is a fine lead, a kind and admirable guy. In fact, part of the strength of the writing lies in getting you to view someone who is arguably a deserter in wartime (at the end of the series) as admirable. His squad includes two very sympathetic characters, Karen and Sanders, one kinda interesting one, Eledore, and one annoying, but realistic one, weak-kneed Michel. This tight focus befits the relatively short length of the series.

Then there's Aina, the Zeon pilot who falls in love with Shiro. What a fetching character! "The Face that Could Bring World Peace," as one fan jokingly put it. Strong acting by gentle-voiced Kikuko Inoue only heightens Aina's impact. This is the best love story in the Gundam saga -- which has a hit-or-miss record with such things. For every effective portrayal, like the odd but moving relationship between Camille and Four in Zeta Gundam, there's a dog, like the lifeless Nina-Kou thing in Gundam 0083. Sure, Shiro and Aina's tale is very High Romance: love at more or less first sight after they meet as enemies in the orbiting wreck of an abandoned space battleship. But I buy it. The writers, combined with the intergrity of a great Japanese voice cast, sell me. The very animation of the series, which is always good, seems to kick up a notch when Shiro and Aina are together, as in episodes 1, 7, and 11. It's as though the animators' pens dote on her just as Shiro does. The idealistic, Romeo and Juliet quality of their love contrasts poignantly with the violence of the gritty war machines, and the cynical machinations of the Federation and Zeon military leaders in the series.

I could praise a lot of other stuff about 08th MS Team, like the final episode, which seems to switch to an unrelated story, but actually sheds light on the emotional themes of the series. But the last thing I want to single out, being a true mobile suit geek, is the wicked street battle in Episode 10, where Aina's guardian Col. Norris Packard takes on the 08th MS Team in his souped-up Gouf Custom. What a fearsome mobile suit. What a sequence.

As a fellow below put it, this is "nearly perfect Gundam." Strongly recommended.

PS: The English dub is not bad! The Japanese is still superior, but Animaze's cast deserves a hand. I hope they get to dub Zeta Gundam for its US release, and not the hapless folks who dubbed the original Mobile Suit Gundam for Cartoon Network. Yeesh.

Rating:
Summary: Superb series -- comparable to Zeta Gundam
Review: I've been a Gundam fan since the late 80s. This was the last major Gundam series that I hadn't seen. What a mistake I made by waiting! The 08th MS Team is wonderful, combining good characters, striking action sequences, a love story, and an often wrenching portrayal of the savagery of war. It's everything you want from Gundam.

This series is so good it could stake a claim to the title of "Best Gundam Series." Yes, it might even be a match for the 1985 landmark _Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam_, which Bandai, insanely, has not brought to US shores yet. (It's coming this year.) Zeta's 50 episodes allow it to tell a tale with greater scope and grandeur, but each one of 08th MS Team's 12 episodes is packed with good moments to a degree that even Zeta can't always equal. The lethal, land-bound mobile suit fights in city and jungle here are a match for Zeta's slashing space duels. And both series deliver equally powerful scenes of loss and betrayal.

Basically, the hierarchy of Gundam series breaks down like this:

Excellent -- Zeta, 08th MS Team, Gundam 0080

Old, but a Classic -- Mobile Suit Gundam (original series and early-80s movie trilogy)

Good -- Gundam 0083, Char's Counterattack, Victory Gundam, Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz

OK -- G Gundam (ludicrous, but guilty fun), Gundam Wing TV series (flashy, shallow), Gundam ZZ, Gundam F-91.

Back to the review. Shiro Amada is a fine lead, a kind and admirable guy. In fact, part of the strength of the writing lies in getting you to view someone who is arguably a deserter in wartime (at the end of the series) as admirable. His squad includes two very sympathetic characters, Karen and Sanders, one kinda interesting one, Eledore, and one annoying, but realistic one, weak-kneed Michel. This tight focus befits the relatively short length of the series.

Then there's Aina, the Zeon pilot who falls in love with Shiro. What a fetching character! "The Face that Could Bring World Peace," as one fan jokingly put it. Strong acting by gentle-voiced Kikuko Inoue only heightens Aina's impact. This is the best love story in the Gundam saga -- which has a hit-or-miss record with such things. For every effective portrayal, like the odd but moving relationship between Camille and Four in Zeta Gundam, there's a dog, like the lifeless Nina-Kou thing in Gundam 0083. Sure, Shiro and Aina's tale is very High Romance: love at more or less first sight after they meet as enemies in the orbiting wreck of an abandoned space battleship. But I buy it. The writers, combined with the intergrity of a great Japanese voice cast, sell me. The very animation of the series, which is always good, seems to kick up a notch when Shiro and Aina are together, as in episodes 1, 7, and 11. It's as though the animators' pens dote on her just as Shiro does. The idealistic, Romeo and Juliet quality of their love contrasts poignantly with the violence of the gritty war machines, and the cynical machinations of the Federation and Zeon military leaders in the series.

I could praise a lot of other stuff about 08th MS Team, like the final episode, which seems to switch to an unrelated story, but actually sheds light on the emotional themes of the series. But the last thing I want to single out, being a true mobile suit geek, is the wicked street battle in Episode 10, where Aina's guardian Col. Norris Packard takes on the 08th MS Team in his souped-up Gouf Custom. What a fearsome mobile suit. What a sequence.

As a fellow below put it, this is "nearly perfect Gundam." Strongly recommended.

PS: The English dub is not bad! The Japanese is still superior, but Animaze's cast deserves a hand. I hope they get to dub Zeta Gundam for its US release, and not the hapless folks who dubbed the original Mobile Suit Gundam for Cartoon Network. Yeesh.

Rating:
Summary: The Gouf Custom's Grand Appearance
Review: Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team is one of if not the best Gundam series out there, and this final DVD to wrap it up is by far the most action-packed. In Episode 10, Norris Packard goes head-on against the whole 08th MS Team in his heavily armed & formitable looking Gouf Custom. This is my favorite of all the 08th MS episodes purely for the battle sequences and the emotional interaction between Norris and Aina. This gives you the feel for the more undeveloped character of Norris, the stead-fast retainer of the Sakhalin family, and somewhat of a father in Aina's eyes. Combined with the master artwork and along wtih Episodes 11 & 12, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Volume 4 is a DVD you must own a experience for yourself.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST Gundam ever!!! 5 stars plus+++
Review: Often when an anime series becomes wildly popular, it spawns several sequels, spin offs, and other such things. The "mobile Suit Gundam" series is one of those series. It's been around for 20 years and shows no signs of stopping. But can an anime so amazing transcend through time and still manage to keep the same themes without becoming cliche and also be fresh? Yes, yes it can. And "Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team" is proof.

"8th MS Team" is one of the many Gundam titles that Bandai has released as part of it's Gundam invasion. The 12-episode OVA series came out in 1996 and takes place in the year U.C. 0079 of the Gundam Timeline. The story chronicles the story of Fedearation pilot, Lt. Shiro Amada and his team of Mobile Suit pilots as they try to survive the remainder of the One-Year War. But Shiro's fate is altered by the war when he falls in love with a Zeon pilot named Aina Sahalin. How can love survive in a battlefield filled with hatred? Watch and see.

Unlike other Gundam series, that often involve dynamic battles that take place on both Earth and in space, "08th MS Team" strictly remains within the imposing environments of South-East Asia. Also, unlike the wildly popular "Gundam Wing," the Mobile Suits in this series are not shown as celestial gods, but what they were originally intended to be; war machines. The Gundams in this series are treated more like tanks and airplanes rather than "the ultimate harbringers of death" like in many anime series featuring giant robots, a staple theme in the Gundam series.

The story is well-done and brings a new-light on the Gundam story from 20 years ago. The events in this story take place at roughly the same time the events in Mobile Suit Gundam take place. Having the story take place on the neglected Earth battlefield allows for a perspective that does not screw up the Gundam history (*cough cough* Stardust Memory *cough cough*) and at the same time allows for something new.

The characters are very interesting. As with most of the Gundam series, watching the characters interact with one another is just as amazing as watching the Mobile Suits battle. Each character has his or her own dillema and manages to develop themselves as better characters through out the entire series. This is possibly one of the best cast acts seen in any anime, almost surpassing that of "Fushigi Yuugi's" and "Patlabor's," and that is a lot.

The animation is also extraordinary, there is rarely a dull moment in the action portrayed on screen. And since the series is only 12 episodes long, it allows for animation that can rival most Hollywood movies. It also allows for no re-used scenes in any of the action sequences, which anime like "Dargon Ball Z" and "Ronin Warriors" has become so fond of doing.

The music is also well-orchestrated and paced in quite well with the rest of the series. True, although it's not the amazing pieces created by Two Mix for "Gundam Wing," it's still something you would want to hum to when in the car.

My only gripe with this series is that it leaves a few things up in the air as far as backgrounds go. Sometimes, I wondered more about the deeper stories the characters have to tell, I'm quite sure they are as interesting as the main story. Well, it IS a 12-episode OAV so there is not enough time to dive into every one's stories, but it's still a wanted addition that would have probably enhanced the series.

Also, if someone doesn't know what a Zaku or a Gouf is, then they will be left in the dark as to some of the terminology used in the series. Luckily, DVD's 2, 3, 4 have bonus clips and MS Encyclopedia's under their extras that will turn a beginner in the Gundam universe into a Mobile Suit Master.

In the end, "The 08th MS Team" is a highly reccomended anime, and a must-have for any fan of Gundam, as well as a must-have for anyone who fancy's themself a Gundam-head. This series will want you to suit-up...again...and again...and again...

-RW