08th MS Team Vol. 1 |
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For me, the Gundam series has
always been sort of an enigma. Sure, it's lauded as a
classic among anime fans worldwide, but I never could get
into it. Gundam Wing was full of pretty boys and stilted
political story lines, so I avoided it after a few
viewings. I tried to give the old 1979 series MS Gundam a
chance, but I gave up after twelve or thirteen episodes.
Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS team fared much, much better
with me. Great character designs, terrific animation, and
simple straightforward plots are a few of the things that
put this series head and shoulders above the other Gundam
series released here in the states. The series starts off by throwing you into the Gundam universe, with little to no back story. For those of you who haven't watched Gundam in the past, it's basically about the future, when certain colonies of Earth rebel against the Federation of Earth by declaring their independence and calling themselves the Principality of Zeon. The Gundam series chronicle the battles between these two powers for control of the Earth and it's colonies. Of course, there is a whole bunch of stuff about the horrors of war, and how no one side is truly "good" or "bad," but let's not sweat the small stuff here. The show starts when Shiro Yamada and his group of soldiers en route to Earth. They'll soon become part of a ground unit that has Mobile Suits at their command, the Federation's most powerful weapon. Shiro is gung-ho and can't wait to arrive, but his friend Michel seems a little wary and pessimistic about the whole operation. Before they can land on Earth, the crew of the ship spots a battle on what is supposed to be a peaceful area of space. The eager Shiro takes to space, hoping to help out the Federation in any way he can by joining in the battle. He ends up holding his own on the battlefield, until an explosion leaves him and a Zeon soldier stranded in an abandoned ship in the middle of space. The Zeon soldier, a woman, is alarmed when Shiro does not shoot her when he gets the chance. Instead, he tries to tend to her wounds that she received during the battle. They team up in order to find a way to signal their ships, and although the Zeon woman is rescued first she makes sure that Shiro's rescue party is not attacked. Both sides are shown that the enemy can be just as compassionate as they are, this early in their service. Once they get to Earth, Shiro meet up with the team he will command. They include the already mentioned Michel, hard-ass commander Karen Joshua, cocky and careless Eledor, and Terry Sanders, a commander that has lost many men in the past. The team's first encounter with the enemy leads Shiro stranded in the middle of the jungle with almost no hope. Spotting a naked girl swimming in a pond, Shiro soon learns us that the crime of peeping can often lead to getting shot at. Luckily, Shiro returns from the fray of battle, once again proving Michel wrong. The last mission on this disc is a sneak attack on an occupied village. Unable to fight the enemy head-on, Shiro launches a plan that involves a sneak attack on the enemy. Unfortunately, going off alone yields the same results for Shiro that it did during the last battle. Captured by guerrillas in the jungle led by the same girl he was previously peeking at, he convinces them to give his team some help. The drawback is that they get to loot a lot of the Federation's equipment when it's all over, but hey, every plan has some drawbacks, right? When writing these reviews, I feel that I write way too much description of the plot than what's needed. For this review of Gundam, I felt that I actually wrote just the right amount. Simple always doesn't equal bad, but 08th MS Team was one of the few titles that I didn't have to watch again when writing a review. The feeling of 08th MS Team is episodic, even though the events happen in a sequential order. I personally love it, and it isn't bogged down by too many of the politics that in my opinion detract heavily from the other Gundam series. As a matter of fact, I believe that this is the only Gundam series that I wanted to see more of when each episode was over. As of now, it doesn't have that "one robot destroys millions of others in every battle without getting hurt" syndrome. I may have pointed it out before, but I wasn't a fan of giant robot shows until I saw Evangelion(which actually is not much of a giant robot show to begin with), and the previously mentioned syndrome was always something that bothered me. The (relative)realism and the exotic setting make it very unique from most giant robot shows I've seen. The look of the characters and their designs are simple but full of flair and style. Toshihiro Kawamoto got his feet wet in this show and in Golden Boy in character design before his major breakout in Cowboy Bebop. In a way, they remind me of Evangelion's Yoshiyuki Sadamoto character designs, except for being a little more colorful. The video is excellent, except for a few rainbows here and there. My guess is good source materials, as the show is from 1995 but looks as if it were made yesterday. The music of MS Gundam 08th Team is your standard anime symphonic material, but it does fit the show very nicely. I have to note that the dub is very, very excellent, and there were a few brief moments when I switched tracks where I was confused as to which language I was watching. It may sound strange, but if this has ever happened to you, you'll know what I'm talking about. ZR0 Limit Productions once again produces a dub I like as much as the original language. I'm extremely happy that Bandai didn't use the same studio they used to dub the original MS Gundam. The menus are very cool, and a passerby might think you were watching CNN if anime characters didn't pop up so often. Aside from a few lagging menus, Bandai is catching up to Pioneer when it comes to producing cool menus. Bandai also did a really nice thing by producing reversible covers for this volume. The art on both sides is great, and really matches the exotic jungle locale of the show. As far as extras go, on this first volume we get a creditless version of the opening, along with some bonus footage from the series. At first I was annoyed that the bonus footage wasn't subtitled or dubbed, but it only featured a couple of lines of dialogue and appeared to be a trailer for the series. To sum everything up, this is a great looking and sounding disc. I'm actually starting to like a Gundam show, and while this may be a sign of the end of the world, I wouldn't worry too much about it. While I could've caught the whole series for free on the Cartoon Network, I felt it was good enough to wait and fully experience it on DVD. If you're a Gundam fan, pick it up. If not, this is a good place to start. -Bob Mackey |
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| All text, original pictures and HTML © 2001 Bob Mackey. All rights reserved. |