Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team rewatch – Ep. 09 Front Line

Welcome to The 08th MS Team rewatch! As we enter the last quarter of the series, things are getting serious. Even more serious than before! It’s hard to believe considering Eledore is back and spouting his disbelief at Shiro’s ability to fall in love in the middle of a war. Thought the episode doesn’t confirm it, I bet Eledore wrote a song about it.

Summary: Episode 09 “Front Line”:

Original Airdate: February 25, 1998

English Airdate: August 2, 2001

In a previous episode, Admiral Kellerne spoke to Ginias via teleconference and informed him that his soldiers are relocating to space. He believes the war will be won in space, not on Earth and so he commandeers the Kergeulen, a Zanzibar-class mobile suit carrier currently in Ginias’s possession. In doing so he effectively closed down the Apsalus project which infuriated Ginias. It didn’t really play a role in the episode in which this event occurred, but it setups some of the Zeon specific events of this episode.

Captain Isan Ryer, commander of the Eastern Asian war theatre, deploys the 08th MS Team on a mission. He’s hoping to exploit Shiro’s relationship with Aina and put an end to the Apsalus project. We also learn that Ryer has Shiro under close watch. In fact, Ryer commanded Sanders to report all of Shiro’s activities to him.   

The 08th Team prepares to get airdropped and Karen is noticeably nervous. It’s her first time being airdropped in a mobile suit and she’s talking to herself trying to remember the correct procedures for a successful drop. As soon as she’s out of the plane she sees a Gaul transport and attempts to engage. Shiro drops after here to assist. He tells the Gaul’s pilot to stop shooting, threatening to shoot them down if they don’t comply. They let the mobile suits go and Karen, along with the rest of the team, has a successful drop. Her luck doesn’t get much better though as she’s taken out by and Acguy, an amphibious mobile suit. She’s not injured but her Gundam is in poor shape and the enemy is still attacking. Unable to see due to her monitors being broken (the Gundam’s head was ripped off) Eledore climbs on the Gundam and helps her aim while Michel is distracts the enemy with the hover truck. Together, they manage to defeat the Acguy.

While moving into position, Sanders informs Shiro that Captain Ryer ordered him to report to Shiro’s activity to Ryer. Shiro doesn’t seem upset, in fact he’s sympathetic to the difficult position Sanders is in. They come face to face with several Magella Attack tanks and they’re being led by the captain who was piloting the Gaul. He hails Shiro on the radio and asks him why he didn’t shoot the Gaul when he had the chance? He doesn’t share Shiro’s weakness. He wouldn’t hesitate to attack. Shiro explains that he wanted to avoid needless bloodshed. The captain counters with “Is that why you’re about to shoot me down?” Shiro replies that he won’t fight simply because he’s ordered to but he will fight to protect his friend. This time he’ll actually shoot and he does. He destroys the Magella but the Zeon captain survives.

While the 08th Team was engaged in battle, Aina is helping to unload supplies at a Zeon base. She believes them to be medical supplies. A crate falls and breaks and Aina recognizes one of the drugs which the medical officer is administrating to the soldiers. It’s a stimulant which is being used to keep the soldiers working longer hours to speed up the construction of a new Apsalus under Ginias’s order. Aina tries to convince her brother to stop the Apsalus Project as it’s not only harming the soldiers, it’s also affecting him. Ginias is directly going against Killerne’s order by continuing to work on the Apsalus. In doing so, Ginias is withholding the Kergeulen which is in turn preventing Kellerne and his troops to return to space. Having found out that Kellerne didn’t report his order to end the Apsalus Project to his superior, Ginias traps Kellerne and his last remaining troops in a tunnel and kills them. Since there are no records that the order was given, Ginias is now free to pursue his project to completion.

Commentary:

This episode marks Eledore’s return and he’s surprised to hear that Shiro has a girlfriend fighting on the other side. Eledore can’t get over it and he keeps bringing up Aina throughout the episode trying to get the rest of the team to share everything they know about her with him. It’s nice to have him back because he’s a good source of comic relief. He’s not a total goof though, he’s also a skilled soldier and it’s that balance in his character that makes me like him so much. There are two other small character moments that I enjoyed in this episode. It was surprising to see Karen so nervous to be parachuted to the drop site. She’s usually confident in her ability to perform and she has a very self-assured attitude. Seeing her be so nervous doesn’t diminish the other aspect of her personality but it does help to balance things out and make her a well-rounded character.  I also enjoyed watching Sanders struggle with his conscience. He wants to admit to Shiro that he’s been reporting to his superiors before telling him later on in the episode. It’s a small moment but it shows just how much they’ve grown as a unit and how close they’ve all become. If he wasn’t close to Shiro he wouldn’t struggle with the decision to tell him. He would just continue doing as he’s told and leave his friend and commander in the dark.

It’s interesting that three important characters in this series have similar character arcs and all of them are related to individuals acting against the orders of their superiors.  I’m talking about Ginias, Shiro and Aina. All three of them are on good terms with their superiors and comrades when the series begins. As the series progresses, events in the war develop in a way that forces them to reject orders from their superiors in order to focus on personal goals. Ginias belives the Apsalus should be a priority for Zeon and when asked to shut down the project, he attacks Kellerne who is now an obstacle in the way of completing the Apsalus. Their allegiance as Zeon soldiers no longer holds any importance for Ginias. Likewise, orders to wage war in an efficient and cold blooded manner don’t sit well with Shiro. He does whatever he can to complete missions without killing the enemy’s troops is a difficult balancing act. His behaviour throughout the series informs the choices he will make in the episodes to follow. Aina, who doesn’t appear to be soldier per se, works for her brother on the Apsalus project. As soon as it became clear Ginias didn’t support her relationship with Shiro and her growing belief that the Apsalus will only result in increasing the number of casualties in the war, she begins to work against her brother.

Aina shows that her motivation to support her brother with the Apsalus Project might have been the result of her brother convincing her it’s the best thing to do. In an earlier episode she mentioned that she believed the Apsalus was a way to end the war quickly and therefore lead to peace negotiations more quickly. Now, she’s trying to convince Ginias to put an end to the Apsalus project as he was ordered to do. Ginias counters by asking her how she plans to end the war. His solution is to build stronger weapons and win by force. She doesn’t present one but she stands firm in her position that drugging their comrades is morally wrong. It’s a change in how her character perceives the war, specifically the necessity to wage war in order to achieve peace. It’s a change that resulted from her second encounter with Shiro, something that has affected both of them.

Aina shows that her motivation to support her brother with the Apsalus Project might have been the result of her brother convincing her it’s the best thing to do. In an earlier episode she mentioned that she believed the Apsalus was a way to end the war quickly and therefore lead to peace negotiations more quickly. Now, she’s trying to convince Ginias to put an end to the Apsalus project as he was ordered to do. Ginias counters by asking her how she plans to end the war. His solution is to build stronger weapons and win by force. She doesn’t present one but she stands firm in her position that drugging their comrades is morally wrong. It’s a change in how her character perceives the war, specifically the necessity to wage war in order to achieve peace. It’s a change that resulted from her second encounter with Shiro, something that has affected both of them.

             

I want to highlight once again just how much effort is put into making The 08th MS Team a more realistic Gundam series. I really appreciate. It’s simple things like the idea that mobile suits get airdropped and use a combination of parachutes and thruster packs to slow their descent. One of the things I disliked about other Gundam series is just how unrealistically the Gundams fly around (I’m thinking about you Mobile Suit Gundam). It’s also nice to see Gundams routinely break down. You might think that this series makes mobile suits look fragile in comparison to how they’re handled in other series but I think it makes sense. Mobile suits, especially Gundams which are often experimental or prototypes, are extremely complex machines. The more complicated a machine is, the easier it is for something to damage it in the way that will hinder its intended function. Two Gundams get damaged in this episode (Karen’s and Sanders’s) and it hinders the 08th team’s ability to complete their mission.

This episode mostly serves to setup the next episode which is in two parts. It’s putting the characters in place. It’s by no means a bad episode. We revisit characters we haven’t seen in a couple episodes and the viewer is brought up to speed on what all the characters are doing. The most notable of these are Eledore, Aina and Ginias. The episode still manages to make this setup interesting and include some good bits of action. It’s nice to see the Gundams parachuted down to their location and the Magella battle, though short, was nicely done.