Mobile Suit Gundam: Thunderbolt: Episode 1 (2015)

This week I thought I'd go back to Anime as Gundam has had a few releases I need to catch up on, it seems the franchise has been going at light speed recently with multiple Anime releases one after another and OVAs on the side every few months, It kind of worries me in some respects because while I have enjoyed each entry I have viewed so far back in the early to mid 90s the franchise had one series after another non stop and this generally fatigued audiences and made the last of these series, Gundam X suffer with a huge amount of episodes cut.

The latest entry is Gundam Thunderbolt in the format of a four part OVA series which will be released every few months. This entry is interesting as it was originally a Manga with the same name produced by Yasuo Ohtagaki in March of 2012. It's actually still going now which makes me wonder if this series will differ from the Manga or just go in its own direction. The first episode aired on the 25th of December 2015 and has been praised by many.

The series' plot is actually very similar if not the same to the original series as in many ways it is a retelling of that show. The year is again 0079 in the Universal Century and the war between Zeon and the Earth Federation has again been raging. This is the same war, the same factions and pretty much the same ideologies at play, but this is not set in the same universe as that show or any other it is very much its own self contained show.

There seems to be an attention to detail throughout the episode which I suppose is warranted as it is only a very short piece of animation compared to a usual OVA. The scenery is very dark and industrial as are the mobile suits themselves, it really shows that is a war and not a particularly nice one at that. The battlefield is not just dark because it's set in space it's full of the derbies of not only previous battles but of now uninhabited colonies.

This is a theme in the Universal Century where those living in space seem to suffer, the destruction of a colony is the destruction of all life in that sector so really hits home the nature of this war without actually showing you what happened. The amount of derbies really greys out the battlefield but has its uses in that it provides cover for snipers and also multiple objects to dodge when flying at high speed, this can of course be a negative or positive to the pilot but it does make for some interesting scenes.

As I mentioned this episode is only around seventeen or so minutes long, I don't really think this is a negative thing though, it keeps it concise and to the point, there was no scene that I felt was particularly unnecessary and no scene felt like it went longer than it needed to, the plot flowed pretty well although there was not really an in depth look at what was going on. I think what you need to bare in mind while watching this is it's more an advertisement for the Manga which is still ongoing, I don't really feel as though we're going to get some in depth plot as the show goes on for a further three episodes but I could be wrong.

This series generally feels like a war, everything is dark the scenarios and scenery are bleak, the conditions of the ships are super cramped much like in real life and the monotony of the suits launching is much like the almost cog-like format of real military vehicles rolling out. There seems to be nothing flashy about the way in which the suits launch (other than the Gundam) and I really like that, usually it's a big song and dance every time a suit launches in Gundam.

It's interesting as Zeon who is generally portrayed as the 'big bad' of much of the original series time line is so far portrayed as just another side of the coin in that they have suffered losses too, their conditions are much the same as the Federations and their side has dealt with a lot of tragedy from the start. I'd almost argue that Zeon seem more victimised this time around as the majority of the soldiers have artificial limbs from previous battles and they're the only ones who focus on the death of their comrades.

I suppose this series is an alternate take on the original story but so far there has been no focus on certain areas of the original series, the only mentions so far are the two factions, I like that though because in your head you can treat this as you like, you can have it as another battle during the original series if you'd like or just treat it as something totally unrelated and standalone.

I think a big stand out part of this episode was the music, it was only for a few short moments but the main character tends to listen to Jazz music, kind of like what you'd expect from Cowboy Bebop in some respects but much faster, now I've seen pretty much every Gundam series and I don't ever remember there being any Jazz or at least a focus on it to this degree. It's a nice change actually and it's become a part of Io's character as he informs his enemies that as soon as they hear Jazz they better run because he's coming for them.

Although there was only one proper battle scene within the episode I felt it was really entertaining, it focused on a number of Federation suits flying into a heavily littered debris field while trying to locate the enemy. What they didn't know was that the enemy consisted of snipers with high powered weaponry. Needless to say the federation suits were totally destroyed save for a few, almost effortlessly at that, it shows what was mentioned in the original series that the Federation were suffering.

Io as a character is quite fresh to the franchise. He is an utter daredevil as he seems to live for the thrill of the battle, he seems to speed through the battlefield with no regard for the debris around him that claimed the lives of some of his comrades during the battles. He's also very sarcastic and quite funny when insulting the music taste of the enemy when stealing their mobile suits. I like his attitude really he seems unafraid to die and almost quite sadistic in his methods, he honestly feels more like a villain at this point than a protagonist.

I think the use of Io flanking the entirety of Zeons forces and jacking a suit after headshoting the pilot with a standard pistol was brutal yet shows again that Io is not your squeaky clean protagonist and this is war, war is hell for every side.

I absolutely adore the designs of the mobile suits in this show, I had actually bought one of the model kits back when it was only Manga because of this. Generally this series just takes existing suits from the original series but tweaks them in such a way that they remain faithful to their classic look but also have these exaggerated features.

What I mean by this is the base of the suit is the same it looks pretty much the same as its original series counterpart but once you begin adding weapons to it it becomes this heightened version of itself, be it by having huge guns, multiple shields or beefy armour. I also like that this series makes the suits feel more like something belonging to the military rather than a kids robot show. the colours seem more akin to military aircraft or machinery and they also have relevant markings, decals and general wear and tear.

If you're familiar with the franchise as a whole you know they are trying to sell models, they always seem to tweak the original Gundams design ever so slightly in order to sell another model of their flagship suit. This time around the lead Gundam actually feels different enough to warrant a new model to me it's so far removed from what it is based on it's quite refreshing.

I think my favourite scene is when the Gundam first launches and we're treated to a first person point of view shot of the Zaku it absolutely decimates, this scene is really great at conveying the power of the Gundam as the way the zaku moves in first person is like a struggling unarmed person scared for their life, something that is never really done in Gundam.

I feel like this was a good entry in the series so far as it did enough differently in the short amount that it had to make it stand out, the soundtrack the animation and the mobile suit designs are all pretty unique to this show, especially in the way that they are matched. At this point however I feel as though this was a show to promote a Manga and some model kits that had already been out for a few years. This is fine but also bitter-sweet because I believe that even if the West gets this series I believe it will end on a cliffhanger for the Manga to finish.

With the Wests track record for bringing over Gundam Manga I feel that unless a group online begin to translate the Manga then Western fans of this series may never really have the experience of finishing this series without looking up a written synopsis online in a few years time, this kind of bums me out if it is indeed the case.

For someone who has never really watched Gundam I would say this series will probably be a nice easy ride to start with if the first episode is anything to go by, I say this because it's self contained while remaining true to the themes of the original series, beautifully animated and has so decently choreographed fight scenes so far.

The short length of this series' episodes is also a huge bonus to someone new to the franchise, it's only roughly 15 minutes an episode so it's not really much to sit yourself down for, this would make it pretty easy to make a decision on before you've used up too much of your time only to find that halfway through you don't enjoy it.

Overall I think this format has been quite beneficial so far, it's a story that usually would only be told in a Manga that the West would never get and perhaps a few models from the series would appear, but there are so many Manga side stories in this franchise, some quite good  and some downright bizzare but this series shows that they can be animated and used to sell more model kits even if they length of the show is quite short.

The thought of this is really exciting to me and I hope Sunrise and Bandai take advantage of this, it really wouldn't hurt them to do so and would be way better to me to have a short series rather than no animated representation at all. I wonder how this series will fare overall when it's over and I wonder if this will perhaps tip the balance for Sunrise and make them more open to trying new things with their franchise.

Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin I: Blue-eyed Casval (OVA: 2015)

This week I move back to the Gundam series with part one of a new OVA series Mobile Suit Gundam The Origin. This OVA is interesting as it is essentially based on a Manga adaptation of the original 1979 television series which was not produced by series creator Yoshiyuki Tomino but Character designer for the original series Yoshikazu Yasuhiko. The reason for this adaptation was to look at the One Year War in a lot more depth by focusing on the reasons the war started, the politics and also the characters themselves. Due to this there are a number of changes to the story in order for it not to be a complete retread such as Mobile Suit designs, characters and plot points.

The Manga also has entire volumes dedicated to certain characters and their perspective, in one case being series antagonist Char Aznable, how he came to be involved with the conflict and his subsequent awakening as a Newtype. This OVA rather than beginning where the Manga does actually decided to use this volume as its basis and tell the story of Char who at the time was known as Casval. Perhaps this decision was made as not to reanimate familiar scenes and focus on what had never been animated before or perhaps it was due to the popularity of the Char character who has been involved heavily in the majority of the Universal Century time line.

Originally this OVA was announced as a four part series with room for more episodes in March of 2014 as part of the Mobile Suit Gundam 35th Anniversary ~ RISE! project along with the final episode of Gundam Unicorn and its release and the announcement of a new television series set after the Universal Century time line by original creator Tomino titled G no Reconguista which aired its final episode a few months ago. Clearly this event was jam packed with great content for fans and while the latter animations were received quite well how does this OVA fair?

The first episode was released in February of 2015 and sits at just over an hour long as opposed to the 45 minute time frame usually seen within the series OVA's and begins with the story of Casvel and his Sister Artesia as they must survive after their father Zeon Deikun's death during a speech for independence from Earth which would soon be known as the precursor to the Principality of Zeon. We soon find out the cause of Deikuns death was actually due to an assassination via poisoning by the Zabi family who would go on to control Zeon during the One Year War.

We soon see the Deikun family ripped apart as they are moved around for their own protection thanks to the loyal Ral family. But as time progresses and the situation worsens the children are taken away from their mother and smuggled back to Earth.

While the focus is very much on the past of these characters there is a brief action sequence set during the One Year War at the beginning of the animation which I believe was done purely to sell more Gunpla model kits as there is only one mobile suit featured during the main focus of the story, although I'm not complaining as the sequence was quite well done and gives a viewer not familiar with the franchise a quick look at why Char is regarded as the Red Comet of Zeon and an Ace pilot.

What I particularly enjoyed about The Origin was that is likes to focus not only on what happened before the conflict but also the roots of a lot of characters and factions motives which are just sort of there in the original series. For example we get to see the roots of the rebellion from the Earth Sphere via the protests riddled throughout the colonies as well as the low morale of those who would join the side of Zeon. We see that they are not just some evil soldiers like they are presented to be in the original series but a group of people who truly believe that they need their independence and not be governed by Earth.

It also makes use of showing the squabbling and betrayals ridden throughout the Zabi family siblings with numerous siblings plotting the others deaths in a bid to gain complete control of Zeon.We even see one of the siblings die early on from a bomb assassination implied to be by his sister, however it is blamed on the Federation and only fuels the growing hatred between the two parties.

While it does paint Zeon supporters a lot more positively it also shows the Federation in a more negative light, especially during the protests by having the use of tanks and other means as scare tactics to quell the problem. This differs from the way they are portrayed in the original series as the saviours and just side of the conflict. This portrayal actually works really well with the way the federation is portrayed in later series such as Zeta Gundam and Unicorn in that there is no 'good' side during a conflict and each has their questionable methods, this is a portrayal of each side I greatly appreciate as it adds some depth to both sides rather than a simple good v evil storyline.

The Animation quality is quite good all round especially in terms of character designs, however unfortunately it is not as spectacular as the previous OVA series Unicorn which is a shame as that only increased the overall quality of the animation in that case, but perhaps there was less budget to work with this time around and we must remember that there are not as many action sequences with robots pulling off crazy moves like in Unicorn.

Thankfully a few of characters voice actors from the original series make a return such as Shūichi Ikeda who reprises the role of Char in the opening sequence. Interestingly before release there were rumours circulating that the majority of voice actors were to be replaced as they were getting on in years and many important characters Seiyuus had unfortunately passed away in recent years, however much like with the latest Dragonball films using as many if the original voice cast as they can this OVA tried to do the same.

In this first episode there was not a huge reason to do this however as Casval and Artesia were still children and therefore used different Seiyuu, but perhaps as the episodes go on and the need to expand into a complete retelling of the series like the Manga goes on to do then there will be more reason to have a returning cast even if it is only the likes of original series protagonist Amuro Ray. With a number of returning characters in the mix generally it was great to see them again and see how they began their paths to wherever they may end up during or after the war but there was one character who pretty much stole the show for me and that was a younger Ramba Ral.

I really enjoyed the portrayal of Ramba Ral, a character who was more or less the first Ace pilot faced by the protagonists in the original series and a loyalist to Char and the Deikuns, Ral was always shown in the original series as an honourable man who enjoyed a battle and not necessarily one who agreed with the majority of Zeons motives. While he died quite early in to the series he was always a fan favourite character so it is great to see him as a more important entity in this OVA as well as a caring and charismatic ally to the Deikuns with one scene involving him going out of his way to retrieve Artesias cat.

While he is a lot more goofy and perhaps even innocent than he is in the series I think that works well, by having him help in the seclusion of the children he quickly becomes a much more serious man and the episode even takes a quick turn into a sort of noir spy thriller with him by having him go undercover in a bar in order to find his soon to be lover Hamon and get her help in smuggling the children to Earth. I sincerely hope we get to see Ral more as the OVA progresses as a reanimated segment of his battle with Amuro would be absolutely fantastic.

Of course the main focus is on the two children and I found Casval to be quite an interesting character with  the way he becomes almost like an adult  as the innocence of childhood is quickly taken away from him, especially when he meets with the Zabi family to show he is not and will never be afraid of the people who killed his father. Already we can see this will be the man to adopt the name Char and work his way up the Zabi ranks to destroy them internally during the end of the One Year War.

But while his innocence is quickly taken away from him his younger sister remains the same, even though I have seen her as an adult and seen her become a more capable character entirely I believe by having her remain innocent at this age it keeps Casval in check and stops him becoming too reckless as we see when he takes control of a mobile suit for the first time and begins picking off the enemy. If it were not for his sister he surely would have continued killing or got everyone else on board killed.
Perhaps this is why he becomes the man known as Char later on and why his  sister becomes Sayla and joins the protagonists in the original series, because without her he loses his way and becomes a character driven purely by revenge only.


Towards the end of the episode there are some very sad scenes which involve the children leaving their mother forever, which Casval understands but Artesia believes will just mean they will see their mother not long after they arrive on Earth, while some may not find this that upsetting I always find I can't deal with any emotional scenes involving young children or animals for whatever reason and this scene got to me a little!

While the episode begins to change Casval the ending is great because it ends on the child like wonder of discovering new things and looking on at something amazing as the children travel to and see Earth for the first time, which I feel works quite well in that it reminds you they are just kids caught up in this whole thing that they never asked for, but to have Casval explain to his sister the reason they left Earth was because it was beautiful until the humans polluted it really does remind you this is the child who will one day take this to an extreme and try to make the earth uninhabitable for humans to they move on to space and evolve as a species.

While I greatly enjoyed this episode there are a few issues that i've seen mentioned online. For example a number of people seem to complain about the popularity of using CGI in action based sequences as it sort of cheapens the look of the animation and is very noticeable. Personally I have never minded it too much but I have not seen many shows or movies that have actually used it, but more recently when I watched the first of the new Berserk movies I found it to be really bad and not suited to the beautiful art style that was in the majority of the film. While in that case it allegedly gets better in the latter films released in the case of this OVA I actually did not mind it's use at all.

I feel that style actually suits the action sequences because it fits with something mechanical and makes them stand out as more than just animated in the same way as humans therefore if it doesn't look as organic in its movements it actually benefits the whole use of something mechanical.

Another issue I've seen pop up is that there really is not enough action in this episode, which I again don't find as an issue but perhaps that's because I know the battles that will come. I understand that the average viewer of a Mecha Anime are expecting over the top battles but I feel like this series was produced more for the long time fan who want to get a deeper understanding of the events and characters of the One Year War. That is why the focus is on these back stories and more of a political drama at times, I honestly think this is fine but we must remember it is only the first episode and with the second approaching soon there may be more action as we progress.

Overall this OVA acts as a nice little start point for the Origin storyline and gives a wealth to expand upon in the next few releases. While it is light on the mecha action it more than makes up for it in terms of character development so I believe it is well worth the watch for any Gundam fan interested in the Universal Century.

But is this OVA a good starting point for someone new to the series? Yes and no, yes in the sense that it is set before anything during UC and does a decent enough job of explaining what is going on but no in the sense that you don't really know where any of this is going if you don't have prior knowledge to the original series. In my opinion I would recommend viewing the 3 compilation films of the original series which cut out a lot of filler and has superior animation quality and then view this OVA.

How Videogames can benefit Anime

So I was looking at my game collection the other day and realised I own quite a lot of Anime related video games especially for series I've always been a fan of like Dragonball, but there are a lot of titles I picked up on a whim or had originally played at a friends house that in turn got me super interested in a certain series like Naruto for example. The more I thought about it the more it occurred to me that it's down to video games that I am a huge fan of certain Anime and without me playing these games I may not have even given many series a chance.

With the Naruto example this was back in around 2006, I had always heard of the series being really popular before it was brought over to the West, with many saying it was 'the next DBZ' but Id never thought to actually sit down and watch an episode. However in high school a few of my friends had modified PS2's with a bunch of Japanese titles on them, this was the first time Id really thought that there were more modern (at the time) games that were not released worldwide and really opened my eyes to a lot of titles.

One of the games we would always play was what I believe became the Naruto Ultimate Ninja series in the West, which only had a basic amount of characters and only really went up to the first few arcs of the Anime. I remember thinking the attacks were pretty cool and the characters interesting enough, but I think what really sold it to me was seeing that Naruto had something similar to Dragonball with the nine tailed transformation. It was soon after discovering this that I began to look online and start watching the series.

I have a really big memory of being really sick that Summer holiday and just sitting in my room watching the series from start to finish but skipping out that god awful filler that would lead into Shippuden. This was around the time the Shippuden Anime had just began airing in Japan and quickly I decided to begin reading the Manga as I could not deal with the amount of filler being thrown out. I think over time a lot of people slowly got to the point where they were sick of the series to a degree but were so invested in it that they felt they had to see how it ended, I know I was. Overall it was an enjoyable Manga Series and while I probably would have go into it eventually, It was because of that PS2 game that I took the plunge.

I think video games have hugely benefited a lot of series, especially in the West where a lot of series would otherwise not be considered for dubbing even Manga releases, it's thanks to the release of certain titles that these series can gain a whole new group of fans and get an idea of how successful the series could potentially be in the West.

The biggest example of this for myself is the Dynasty Warriors Gundam series of games which is now on its fourth title. Before I played this game I had only watched Gundam Wing on UK TV and played one game on the PS2 set during the original series, which at the time I assumed was some kind of Wing side story. So for Christmas in around 2007 I asked for a Xbox 360 and the first game I got was DW Gundam as I had been hearing about it online and how it featured a large number of series.

Now in this game it pretty much mashed together all different series and timelines into one big what if story with some proper Anime related story modes along the way, I believe this was really beneficial as it introduced me to so many new characters and Mobile suits as well as a useful section of the game which informed you about everything to do with them albeit briefly. Seeing all these characters interacting and noticing some knew each other previously due to being set in the same universe gave me a huge incentive to research the franchise itself and find where I could watch some of these shows and when they were produced.

Unfortunately in the UK at the time there was no real way to obtain any of the other series legally so I had to resort to downloading them, I don't believe Sunrise have too much of a problem with this as the primary aim of the show was to sell Gunpla models and merchandise, in a sort of glorified toy commercial style and if we're only shown one series we may not even know these models existed. This has changed slightly now with more releases showing up in the UK but also on Gundams official Youtube page in which they will upload entire old series for a set time and also broadcast new episodes of shows weekly just after their airing much like Crunchyroll.

I think the first series I started with was G Gundam, a sort of mix between Dragonball and Gundam and the first alternate universe show in the franchise, which understandably was right up my street. Shortly after I watched Seed which was another alternate universe series but used a lot of plot elements and features from the original series almost as if being a modern adaptation (in 2002). I think it also helped that a series was just airing at the time titled Gundam 00 which I got in the habit of watching weekly, this really made me feel like a part of the fan base because I could discuss it each week with friends and online much like when I used to watch a show on Toonami.

It's fair to say this franchise is one of my all time favourites and if my Gunpla collection is anything to go by it will remain that way for some time, at the moment I've watched pretty much every single thing that's been released, even some terrible Canadian live-action movie, it's almost as if releasing the game in the UK was some kind of master plan from Bandai and Sunrise and in my case it really worked out.

There are of course a few more examples such as the Ghost in the Shell game on Playstation 1 which I played on a demo disc in the late 90s, In all honestly this game was not one I can remember a lot of other than the red mech you pilot during the demo and it is perhaps not the best representation of the Anime overall but I remember the huge amount of demo discs I would have as a kid from magazines and all these now hazy memories of obscure titles id endlessly play. While the Ghost in the Shell game was one of these, I remember playing this game a hell of a lot compared to the other titles on the disc and it was not until the around 2008 that a magazine company in the UK started to release certain Anime titles every few weeks on DVD with a new issue of their magazine.

The first of these was Ghost In the Shell and as soon as I saw this I instantly remembered the name from that demo disc I had enjoyed countless times, I didn't even realise the game was based on this Anime when I first played it but I quickly picked it up and watched it as soon as I got home. As much as I enjoyed the movie I've still yet to watch the sequel or series produced more recently, regardless it was due to a dumb demo disc that I even picked up this DVD in the first place, but I guess that's what the studio was hoping for with the creation of this game.

 

The most recent example of a video game enticing me to view a series is with Jojo's Bizarre Adventure All Star Battle on Playstation 3 which was a title I originally saw being discussed on forums every so often, but what really caught my eye with this title was it's amazing looking visuals which looked as though they were taken straight out of the Manga pages themselves. This game was developed by CyberConnect2 who are known for their amazing look Naruto titles and the Anime inspired Asura's Wrath, both of which I had previously played and was impressed with visually, so I knew this title would be worth a look.

However I did not want to import the title just because I thought it looked nice, so I looked online and researched the series as best I could and luckily saw the A new animated adaptation of the Manga was in the process of airing in Japan. I began watching the series right away and while I found the first half of the first arc to be slow I found the ending and the entirety of the second arc to be amazing, I've even begun to read the Manga way past this point and thoroughly enjoy it.

What is most interesting about this game is that a huge number of fans began importing it purely because they had enjoyed watching the Anime online, due to this the developers used this new found Western popularity to finally announce a physical Western release in certain stores and because of the nature of the game going all the way up to the 8th arc of the Manga it has opened up the entire series to a new audience which has allowed Viz Media to license a USA release.

After I played this title myself when it was released in the UK I was honestly blown away, not because it was a super amazing game but because of the quality and care taken by the developers to produce something that actually looked like it came right off the page, I think the developers really know how to handle Anime related titles and have proven this time and again, especially with the amount of fan service they add to these titles in the form of subtle references, the attention to detail and the use of perfectly choreography, even really little things like having a certain super move breaking another players super depending on who the character is that you're against (think Saibamen Vs Yamcha in a DBZ game), truly this is a great title to own if you're a fan of the series.

There are many other examples of games that have got me into certain Anime such as Koeis Fist of the North Star games, the Sengoku Basara series and even some Bleach games and I'm glad I played each one of them, because each title I've mentioned opened up an enjoyable series to me, while some my have lost steam along the way or may not have been as enjoyable as their video game counterparts they were all still worth the watch.

While video games can be great for getting someone in to a series they can also be used to breathe new life into a series that may have already ended. The biggest example of this can be the Dragonball series of video games before and after the release of the new movie. Now Dragonball is a good case because it's a series that is so immensely popular across the world and has had a huge amount of games produced but there are only so many times you can play through Raditz to Kid Buu without getting tired.

While this is counteracted by perhaps making the gameplay change depending on the series such as Budokai to Tenkaichi, generally the inclusion of what if scenarios was introduced. Now this was probably the best thing to happen to a lot of games as the series is such a wealth of possibilities both character wise and story wise. For example Budokai had the infamous Cell absorbing Krillin stage as well as the what if fusion prominent in the second game, whereas Tenkaichi focused more on the what if story aspects such as having Raditz join up with Goku and Piccolo or Zarbon plotting against Frieza.

To an extent this kept things fresh and was welcomed by many who were getting tired of playing over the same story over and over again, I think over the years developers of these titles have got the message and tried to incorporate as much new content like this as possible, while that is a lot easier now with new movies being produced the recent Xenoverse title has adapted this in full force by having the entire game revolve around the idea of the story we're all familiar with being changed to a certain degree.

While a lot of this was inherited from Dragonball Online the way that the developers expanded upon it and added a number of new scenarios as well as the ability to create your own character have only proved that this fresh air breathed into the series is welcome, especially if the numbers in which the game has been selling are anything to go by. It's pretty clear that if used well what if ideas can certainly keep the popularity of some series afloat long after they have aired and also continue to bring new fans along the way.

I always found it quite strange that these titles are generally well received as opposed to most movie licensed games, but perhaps the concepts within these shows are a lot easier to work with or perhaps it's because in a lot of cases it's fans of the series who are working on the games and actually put a lot of time and effort in to them rather than working towards a release window of a certain movie. Regardless it's clear to see that Anime and Videogames go hand in hand and can greatly benefit each other if used correctly.

But I'm curious are there any titles that got you into a certain Anime, let me know via Twitter or something!, thanks for checking this out as always.

Mobile Suit Gundam, The 08th MS Team (OVA: 1996)

Mobile Suit Gundam the 08th MS team is an OVA series produced between 1996 and 1999 by Sunrise which falls in to the Universal Century time line of the Gundam franchise, this time line spans a multitude of series leading from the original 'Mobile Suit Gundam' to in many ways the latest series 'G no Reconguista', rather than getting in to the specifics of this time line however we shall primarily focus on this OVA.

This series is set during the 'One Year War' depicted in the original series between the Earth Federation and the opposing Principality of Zeon, however what this series focused on was not your typical young boy finds a super weapon trope that is apparently in the majority of Mecha related Anime, but it chose to follow the 'average' solider during this war and the struggles that came with it, there are no plot armoured protagonist Mobile Suits in this series, but a general ground combat suit designed to look like the original Gundam in order to strike fear in to the enemy.

At the time this was quite new for the franchise as it never seemed to focus much on the grunt units or the behind the scenes aspects save for side story mangas and audio dramas that may have been released during a series run, and it is fair to say now with examples such as 'Gundam Unicorn' that
lower or grunt units to get their time to shine a lot more often perhaps thanks to this series showing off that fans really can appreciate units other than the power houses they are used to seeing. (And of course showing Bandai that people such as myself will buy as many grunt suit models as they need).

This series consisted of 12 episodes released between 3 years and remains to this day a popular choice amongst Gundam fans as a series not only to recommend but also revisit, however how does this series fair now, lets take a look in to this deeper. The 08th MS Team had always been one of my favourite series within the Gundam franchise, perhaps due to the fact it was one of the first I had watched after getting in to the series a number of years after 'Gundam Wing' aired on UK television, or perhaps because the tone of if is rather different from the other series I had watched, regardless I decided to re-watch this OVA series recently to see if it still held up in my mind, unfortunately it did not, but why is it that my opinion of the piece could change?

Good points:

With most OVA's it is expected that the animation quality will be top notch for it;s time, and this series does not disappoint in that department, although now it is not anything to be in awe of the animation quality presented is quite charming and does set the tone for the series with the darker colours representing the grittiness of the battles ahead and the type of terrains they will be fighting on. The animators also make it a point to show the weathering effects on the machines rather than having them typically looking brand spanking new every battle, we see clear indications of rust, dirt and battle wearing on more or less all of the suits in some for or another, something we generally do not see in other series, movies or OVAS surrounding this franchise.

The battles themselves are also a great factor in this series, with the MS being a lot slower, clunky and ill equipped compared to what we see in more modern series, these units had to rely primarily on shell ammunition rather than the beam weapons we're used to in Gundam, team work, planning and above all tactics, as we see in one episode where the gang are camped out in camouflage in the Dessert (hiding a robot can be tough!), or when they team use their support vehicle to listen in to the radio chatter of the enemy and spring an ambush on them, sadly this kind of combat is absent from the latter half of the series which we will get to other than one particular battle where we see how and ace of the enemy does things.

My personal favourite part of the entire OVA is that of the fight between the 08th Team and Norris Packard's Gouf Custom (Seriously youtube this shit), In which it is an entire grunt unit against a single and powerful Ace unit, although the team had planned for such an assault they did not account for Norris' own tactics in which he would rappel from building to building, hide behind debris and know exatly where to hit the enemy in order to take out vital parts of their machine such as the main camera, I personally thought he should have won the battle and left the team limping however with him being the enemy and up against the main character this wasnt very likely.

A particularly great moment in this battle is when the Gouf Custom leaps upon a tank unit and impales it with its sword, splattering the oil housed within the unit all over the facial area of the attacker almost as if it were a hunter catching its prey.

Honestly I have not actually watched the Japanese release of this series and have always gone to the English Dub, now I don't want to argue which is better overall but generally the dub for this series is very good, I have no complaints with any of the performances and in fact thing the VA for Norris in particular was pretty great. While the OST is nothing to write home about overall both the Opening and Ending themes for the series are great and something I always seem to be humming, the Opening in particular is pretty great at giving you an idea of what you're in for visually too, so be sure to check that out.

Bad Points:

One slight flaw I found with the series was that it never truly goes in to why each character joined the war and what their motivations were save for a few off hand remarks or in the case of Shiro a very short flashback to the gassing of a colony (Also depicted in Gundam 0083 Ova) that he may or may not of lived on and his horror at what the Zeons had done. We only get this flashback after the Director change and again it only seems to be Shiros we see, perhaps the original director wanted to keep their reasons hidden as they were just 'cogs in the machine' or maybe it was just another case of Federation = Good, Zeon = Bad that we've seen in most of the Universal Century time line. Personally I could have done with some look in to the past of the major characters in a little more detail as Shiros motivation to stop Zeon did make some sense, however this goes out of the window with the Romance sub plot.

I think what one of the major problems surrounding this OVA series was its focus on Romance as a sort of sub plot that eventually with the change of Directors halfway through would take center stage, this romance between the protagonist Shiro and a Zeon solider Aina was the typical 'Romeo and Juliet' story we're all familiar with in which two members from opposite and often fueding sides come together in one way or another and falling in love. In this case it is a member of the Federation and a member of the opposing Zeon who have been fighting a war as depicted in the original 1979 Gundam Series.

This romance begins rather suddenly when the two are locked in a small skirmish during the first episode in which Aina is testing the abilities of a new MS, as these two become locked in battle they eventually both wind up without MS and alone in the remains of a battleship, thinking they may die before rescue eventually comes from them, they put their differences as soliders aside and begin to help each other until they are saved, eventually they get to know each other and Aina leaves Shiro with a watch to remember her by. Shiro is pretty smitten with her but believes they will never meet again.

It is only closer to the director change that these two do meet again but this time with Aina testing a Mobile armour, which in Gundam terms is a giant Mobile suit capable of mass destruction. The team again have a few skirmishes with Aina and she begins to realise that it has always been Shiro and his troops that have been standing in her and her brothers way during the war, but this does not change the way she feels. Only closer to the end of the series with the climatic battle between the team and the Ace unit pioleted by Norris, Ainas close friend and at times father figure that the two begin to get a bit over the top with their feelings.

One examples being that Shiro begins to scream he loves Aina and will marry her whilst beat the tar out of the enemy unit with the lopped of arm of his own MS, and with Norris' death Aina goes full depression mode and decides all the federation need to be wiped out, until of course her brother does the same thing and she then decides its wrong because she knows Shiro is an alright guy during the final battle. Eventually these two become M.I.A after the last battle and it is only during the end of the final (and mostly filler) episode that we see these two have been living in a shack and are expecting a child, which is actually the best ending any couple have had in Gundam. It's fair to say their relationship had it's oddities.

A lot of these decisions can be linked to the change in director from Takeyuki Kanda (Eps 1 - 6) to Umanosuke Iida (Eps. 7-12), although this was not something that was an executive decision by Sunrise as unfortunatly Kanda passed away during production. At this point the show became focused more on the Romance sub plot, moving away from characters who were not Shiro and Aina and also attempting to make the show slightly more 'flashy' in terms of Mobile suit combat, which was not necessarily a bad decision as it did bring one of the greatest battles in the franchise with the 08th team being pitted against a single ACE unit, but it is rather clear when watching the OVA when the directors were changed.

Overall I think this series does still hold up and is a great place to begin if someone is looking for a well animated and short introduction to the Gundam series and more specifically the Universal Century time line, as it does introduce you to the key elements of the Feds Vs Zeon Campaign albeit from a perhaps more misinformed perspective of the ground troops who never saw the major battles set in space during the original series. It also goes well with another OVA series set around the same war but from a civilian perspective (Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (1989). I would say that to me however the series ended with episode 11, as episode 12 just feels like filler with some of the side characters searching for Shiro and finding him right at the end with a now pregnant Aina, but you guys may enjoy that episode.

The series really does show you that War in these circumstances does have its effect on the characters, it shows you how important team work can be in these situations and it shows you a lot of tactics used as well as the downsides of Mobile suit Combat such as having to use spare units parts for your own MS and having to routinely clean the machine do it doesnt get clogged, it's something I wish other series would take note of, how many times do you hear about what maintenance needs to be done of the titular robot, how often do you even see the mechanic team doing anything?

There is a lot mecha series could take from this OVA both in terms of what they could focus on and what they could avoid but again this series does still stand on its own and is a relatively short series at 12, 30 min episodes for anyone regardless of their knowledge to enjoy, I would strongly recommend you check this out if you are curious about Gundam or just want to see a new spin on Mech anime.

Thanks for giving this a read, it's a little rough around the edges but hopefully you'll give me some pointers and come back for more if I ever get around to it

Perhaps next time I'll review 'War In The Pocket'.