Gunpla Build Review: Master Grade RX-79 (G) Gundam Ground

It’s been nine months since my first Gunpla review. Since then, I’ve only had time to build one more model and it’s of the same Gundam suit. This time though, I built a Master Grade version of the RX-79 (G) Gundam. Regular readers will know that I’m a big fan of The 08th MS Team series and it just seemed natural to me to seek out the main Gundam from that series to build as my first Gunpla kit. Why then would I buy a kit for the same Gundam as my second build? The answer is simple enough. I’m extremely new to Gunpla building and I wanted to build a kid that would help me differentiate between High Grade and Master Grade kits. It seemed to me like the best way of doing that was to build the same Gundam in both grades.

Even though I had recently built an RX-79, I got quite a bit of enjoyment out of the Master Grade version. I simply like this mobile suit, so building it is a treat on its own, but the real delight came in comparing the High Grade kit to the Master Grade. Best of all, I found the Master Grade to be superior in all areas which led to this build being more enjoyable than my first one. Part of that definitively has to do with me being familiar with the building process and knowing the basics. That helped me a lot this time around. 

Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam (1985-1986) review

Last year I made the decision to watch Mobile Suit Gundam, the granddaddy of all Gundam series. After finishing the series I wrote at length about it and I had plenty of good and a few bad things to say about the show. As you can surely tell from the title of this post I’ve watched the sequel series titled Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam which was originally broadcast in fifty episodes from 1985 to 1986. Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam was a direct sequel to MSG. That’s actually pretty surprising in itself since MSG was cancelled before it could complete its intended run. In the intervening years between the end of MSG and the beginning of ZG the original series gained quite a bit of popularity. Having recently finished ZG I’m pleased to say that I’m glad a sequel was made since it turned out to be a very good show, equally good to the original series but with much better animation.

Yoshiyuki Tomino, the man responsible for directing MSG, also directed ZG. He wasn’t the only crew member to return as Yoshikazu Yasuhiko once again did character designs and Kunio Okawara returned as mechanical designer, this time aided by Kazumi Fujita. Two notable mechanical designs by Okawara include the RX-178 Gundam Mk-II and the RMS-106 Hizack while Fujita is credited with the design of the titular MSZ-006 Zeta Gundam. The influences of these crew members is clearly felt and seen in ZG as the series feels like a natural progression from MSG for better and for worse. Before getting into more details of the good and the bad let’s recap the basic story of the series.

Gunpla Build Review: HG RX-79 Gundam VS MS-06J Zaku II

A few months ago I decided to watch one of the series that first introduced me to anime, the massively successful and popular Gundam. In doing so I reviewed a few Gundam series. I have a habit of reading about stuff online while I’m reading or watching it. Naturally, I read a lot about Gundam while watching some of the series and I discovered Gunpla which is equally popular as the TV series. For the uninitiated, Gunpla is a portmanteau for Gundam plastic model which is an accurate description of the hobby itself. As a hobby, Gunpla is about assembling plastic models of mobile suits from all the multiple Gundam series. The models are all, as far as I know, articulated in order to allow builders to pose their models and showcase them in unique ways. While all the models are made from plastic pieces, they come in varying degrees of difficulty, size and, of course, mobile suit models.

It didn’t take long for me to get the urge to order my very own Gunpla kit and to give it a go. The problem is that Gunpla building can be very complex, especially for people who (like me) are new to it. I was able to find quite a few helpful links online that offered good introductions to the hobby. My favourite website is Gunpla 101 by Lauren Orsini. Lauren not only did an excellent job introducing the hobby, she also provides additional tips about how to take care of your models once they’re built, things such as cleaning and repairing broken parts. She also talks about customization, which can be a hot topic for Gunpla builders. What I enjoyed the most about Gunpla 101 is that Lauren and her husband are very inclusive with their hobby. There is no sense of elitism or condescension in their passion for what they love. They’re very encouraging to new or aspiring builders. Lauren and her blog have played a big role in getting me started on my journey to discover Gunpla first hand. If you have any interest at all in building, I highly recommend you check out Gunpla 101 as you’ll find a much better introduction to the hobby than I could ever had written. 

Since I was a complete novice I wanted to start with a lower difficulty model and so HG, or High Grade, seemed like a good place to start. I also wanted my first model to be a Gundam from one of my favourite series so I chose the HG RX-79 Gundam VS MS-06J Zaku II kit. The RX-79 is a simple Gundam compared to many models from later series and it came in a dual kit with a Zaku II which also happens to be a classic mobile suit design. I ordered them along with a Tamiya Basic Tool Set which had most of the tools I would need, along with some I would need to use less often. The kit was a good bargain as its price is equal to that of just the most essential tools (side cutters and a hobby knife).

I worked carefully and meticulously by closely following the tips I had read online. I really didn’t want to screw anything up! The first thing I did was unpack the box and made sure that all the runners that came with the kit where included. Runners are the sheets of pressure moulded plastic which hold all of the parts. They come in different colours based on the kind of model you have. Once I had everything accounted for I started to “read” the instruction manual which is all in Japanese. Thankfully the instructions are accompanied by detailed and accurate illustrations of the parts and how they’re meant to connect together.

It’s helpful that the illustrations are so detailed but it’s still a little bit tricky because a lot of the pieces look similar. Since the models are, for the most part, symmetrical in design you’ll also have nearly identical left and right side pieces. If you’re following the instructions in order and only cutting off the pieces you need for each step you’ll likely not get your pieces mixed up. They’re numbered, a letter identifier indicates which runner the pieces can be found on and the number will indicated which piece on a particular runner. As such, part B-12 is easy to find but cut too many pieces and you’ll soon be closely examining each piece to try and identify it with the illustrations in the manual. 

Overall, it was a very enjoyable experience. I used my fiancée’s cutting mat, which she uses for scrapbooking and making Christmas cards, as my working surface in order not to damage my desk. The tool kit I purchased had everything I needed and more. My only complaint is that the file that came in the kit is too rough to smooth out the excess plastic on the pieces once you’ve cut them off the runner. I will have to try sandpaper with a small grain as I think that would do a better job. For these models I used the hobby knife to slice away the excess. The problem with using the hobby knife is that it sometimes left white marks on the plastic. The red pieces were particularly bad for this as the slicing action caused the plastic to stretch and it created white markings. The light grey colour used for most of the RX-79 didn’t leave much white markings at all. At this point, I think the only thing I would use the file for is to create battle damage if I ever decided to do custom damage on one of my models.

For this model kit all I did was a straight build or sometimes called a simple build which means I put the pieces of the kit together and I did no extra work. One of the wonderful things about Gunpla models, and I imagine plastic models in general, is that creative builders can endlessly customize their Gunplas. You can do this in many ways. There is the aforementioned battle damage which can be used to make really cool dioramas with multiple models by adding more detail and increasing the realism of the scene. Some people also paint their models in different colour schemes or add colours to an existing colour scheme. One of the simplest ways to customize a Gunpla is to trace in the lines on the pieces with a very fine point marker. The marker is often black but other colours are used based on the colour of a specific model. The goal in doing so is to make the details of the model pop and give a model a more realistic, three dimensional look.

I had a great time putting together my first Gunpla models and I’ll certainly be doing more in the future, but I’ll be taking my time. It’s precision stuff and sometimes there are tricky parts to the build but overall it’s very satisfying. It’s also fun to pose them but I have a feeling HG models aren’t the best at this because of their relatively limited articulation. I’d like to experiment with some minor customizations in the future but I think I’m still a ways away from that. I’ll definitively be tracing lines soon, if not on my next model than the one after that. Here are some pictures of the build along with some commentary. I apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures. I did my best but it’s clear I need some practice when it comes to photographing my models.

My first leg! It looks pretty sweet.

Some of these pieces are tiny. The parts of the face that are coloured are stickers.

The completed head. The red portion of the crest was a huge pain to do correctly. The crest is a single piece and it pushes into the helmet part of the head but it’s a tiny fit and pushing into the helmet scrapped the red sticker off the crest. I damaged the sticker so much that the colour was being scratched off and I had to add more red with a marker.

My first ever completed Gunpla! RX-79, you look awesome.

The Zaku’s foot looks so much sturdier than the Gundam’s foot. That’s true of the overall design of both mobile suits. The Zaku looks sturdier while the Gundam is sleeker.

Completed Zaku legs in all their sturdy glory.

Another head only shot to give you an idea of the scale size of the models. They’re not very big.

The Zaku nearing completion. The two different shades of green kind of bug me. I like that there is more than one shade of green but there is too much of a different between the two that it’s kind of ugly to look at.

Both Gunplas fully assembled! The different shades of green don’t look as bad now that the Zaku is completed. It could also be the poor lighting, though. I’m glad I went with the pointy head crest on the Zaku. It looks pretty fierce compared to the RX-79 but that could be because the RX-79 just looks so clean. It’s pretty unrealistic considering the way the Gundams were used in The 08th MS Team. I might need to put some mud on there.

Strike a pose! “Shoot the enemy down” is a pretty common Gunpla pose. Look at the legs, that’s basically the maximum amount of movement they’ll allow. Also notice the left arm with the shield is raise in order to keep the whole thing balanced. The backpack kind of messes up the balance but it looks nice so I keep it on.

If you didn’t like how little RX-79’s legs bend, look at the poor Zaku. He barely has any leg movement. Sturdy, yes, but also stiff.

Final pose for the camera. Bro-bots!

One of the things I enjoyed about building Gunpla is that it forced me to pay attention to the design of the mobile suits. On the surface that might appear to be a silly statement because anybody who’s ever seen an episode with an RX-79 and a Zaku II can name several ways in which they defer in design. However, building them has given me deeper and more detailed insight into their differences and similarities. In other works, I’m not just looking at heads, the colours and the most distinctive design features of mobile suits. I’m looking at the entire thing. I spotlighted the legs above but most parts of these two mobiles suits are different from each other. I like both these models for two different reasons. The Zaku II is just a classic design and it has many unique features. The shoulder shield on one side and the spiked shoulder armour on the other are some of the better examples. It’s also looks very functional and militaristic with exception to the tubes which I think are impractical and obviously weak points of the otherwise sturdy armoured look of the Zaku. 

I also really like the RX-79. It’s an updated version of the original RX-78 Gundam but it has sharper edges and more defined detailing. It looks sleek but it also looks functional. The classic blue and white (or light grey) colours with red and yellow accents are put to good use. In my opinion this is just a nicer version of the original Gundam design but I’ll be quick to point out that might because I’m comparing  the RX-79 model to the mental image I have of the RX-78 which is what I looked like in the 1979 anime. By that I mean the RX-78 looks much softer, with rounded edges and less details which make it look like a weaker mobile suit. I could go on writing about Gunpla and this particular kit because it was just so much fun to build and it also provided some interesting thoughts on the realistic elements of mobile suit design. For anyone else who might be interested in trying out Gunpla building, I’d recommend this kit as I think it served very well as a beginner kit. HG models are challenging without being too difficult and they offer a suitably detailed model once it’s completely assembled. I’d also recommend trying to find two-in-one kits as this was affordable compared to other kits. Gunpla building is a great way to be more hands on with your Gundam fandom and I recommend giving it a try.

Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) review

Every once in a while I think about the kind of reviews I write for Shared Universe Reviews. One thing always sticks out to me and is that most of my reviews are of older works. Not all of them, but a significantly large enough amount of it that it sticks out. I’m thinking about that once again because I’m about to write a review for an anime series that is roughly 35 years old. To many anime fans that seems kind of outrageous because such an old show much be damn near unwatchable for a modern audience. It’s nothing new for me though as I regularly sample entertainment from previous decades and a lot of that ties into my philosophy on how I experience my entertainment. Reading old books in a genre I love, something I’ve been doing with my The Blog Fantastic project, allows me to get a greater sense of the history and evolution of the genre. It also allows me to contextualize works in a loose historical chronology. Most important of all, it creates a dialogue between the more recent works I’ve read and the older ones that preceded it. It’s one thing for a reader of George R. R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire to read about Martin’s influence in an interview or an article but it learning of his influences is has very different meaning to readers who have also read the works Martin cites as influential to him and his series.

What does any of this have to do with Gundam? Well, several weeks ago I thought I knew what Gundam was all about but there was a voice in the back of my head (you already knew I was crazy, right?) which said “How can you think you know about Gundam when you’ve never watched the original series?”. Good point. So I watched Mobile Suit Gundam (1979) and I have to say that little voice in my head was right. I’m glad I watched this because as old as it is, it’s an impressive series and it’s changed the way I think about Gundam and anime in general. In other words, Mobile Suit Gundam (from this point on abbreviated to MSG) is old, certainly, but it’s worth your time for being incredibly influential and for spawning an immense anime, manga and plastic model franchise.

Enemy soldiers are people too? Stop making sense!

I don’t want to spend too much time summarizing the events of the series. I want to focus on specific elements and write about what I enjoyed, what worked, what didn’t work so well, and reasons why MSG is an important anime series, let alone important to the Gundam metaseries. For anyone who wants a broad introduction to the setting of the events of MSG, you can check out the introduction post to my Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. There I wrote a piece that works well as an introduction for the Universal Century timeline and for MSG.

As for the series proper, the first dozen or so episodes of MSG are nothing short of stellar. The first episode begins with a bang. The Earth Federation’s new Gundam carrier ship, the White Base, has recently landed on colony Side 7 (also known as Noa) near Lagrangian Point 3. The colony is in the middle of evacuating civilians since the presence of the White Base and the experimental RX-78-2 Gundam is believed to be attracting the attention of Zeon forces. Naturally, three Zeon Zakus enter the colony to spy on the Federation’s activities and everything quickly escalates to a full blown attack on the colony. A young man, Amuro Ray, son of the engineer who built the RX-78 Gundam pilots the mobile suit for the first time in an effort to protect his friends. By the end of the first episode Amuro has already shown an affinity to piloting the Gundam and he, along with some of his friends, are being asked to serve aboard the White Base which is severely undermanned, having lost soldiers in the attack. For the first third of the series the story focuses on the trials the White Base and its crew face as they try to escape the Zeon forces and eventually get officially enlisted in the war effort. 

Those episodes make for a stunning introduction to the series. Not only are they good stories but they set the foundational elements for the rest of the series. Nearly all of the main characters are introduced, some in more detail than others, but they will all get fleshed out as the series progressed. Some of the key villains are also introduced, specifically Char Aznable also known as the Red Comet. In many ways, this exemplary beginning plays the same role for the rest of MSG as the series did for the rest of the Gundam metaseries. But before I get to that I want to talk about the elephant in the room: 35 year old animation.

I can say without a doubt that some people will not like the animation of MSG, begrudging it for being old, unpolished and difficult to watch. Personally, I learned to like it. If you’ve watched anime before, it’s unavoidable that there will be a jarring effect when you start watching MSG. Once I had watched three or so episodes I started to settle in and get used to it. After a while I didn’t mind the older animation and I only noticed just how old it was when I consciously focused on it. If you’re open minded and, like me, can accept that it’s mostly old animation and not specifically bad animation, you’ll be able to focus on the story and the characters as opposed to the fact that most of the explosions are pink and that the mobile suits regularly move as if they’re either made in one solid piece or made of rubber and bend in was they simply shouldn't be able to bend. I think it also helped that I didn’t watch any other animated movies or series during the time I was watching MSG. I imagine if you’re bouncing back between old and new series, this gem from 1979 will always be irritating to watch.

Char "Red Comet" Aznable is one of the best Gundam characters ever. 

It was interesting to watch such and old series though because I realized that there are things about new animation that I like and things that I don’t. Things I like about new animation that I missed while watching MSG was the consistency in the animation. The RX-78 Gundam doesn’t look 100% the same from episode to episode. It also isn’t consistent in the way that it moves. One of the things I dislike about modern animation is the lighting and use of shadows. It’s done well as often as it’s done badly but some series are either over lit or far too dark and shadowing which makes it difficult to determine what’s going on. In contrast, MSG is lit almost objectively. Everything is lit in the same way and you lose that sense of depth and weight that good lighting can provide. There are many other comparisons that could be made between the animation used in MSG and more recent anime series but the point I’m trying to make is that MSG’s animation is not all bad. I’m not suggesting it’s better than today’s animation but it certainly has its charm. Another example is that this old animation has a certain kind of warmth to it, specifically in the motion of characters and the colouring. It has the fluidity of hand-drawn animation that really suits certain kinds of storytelling while computer generation or computer assisted animation fares better with the mechanical designs.

What helps with the (now) sub-par animation is that the mechas, the ships and the characters are really well designed. Many of the iconic visuals of the franchise are lifted straight from MSG or are updated versions of what we first see in this series. It’s from the obvious things like the RX-78 Gundam, the Zakus and the White Base to smaller things like the cockpit of the Gundam, particularly the lever that slides forward and backwards. Even the way that device is used in the cockpit has become a staple of Gundam shows to follow. When a character slams it forward it’s because he is launching into the air or it means that a battle has gotten serious and the character isn’t going to leave any other mobile suits standing.

 

All the girls have to wear pink, OK? Boys in blue, please. Good soldiers.

As teased above, MSG is a microcosm of the entire Gundam franchise. It’s not just responsible for introducing the iconic design of the RX-78 but of many other things that make up the bread and butter of the metaseries. Let’s make a list of recurring elements that were introduced in MSG, just for fun:

·         Political and philosophical debates about war,

·         The visual designs of the series including mecha designs and the sleek (though blocky) design of the White Base which Gundam SEED shamelessly revamped in their even sleeker design of the Archangel,

·         The way battles are setup and choreographed,

·         The conflict between Earth and the space colonies. Sure this changes from series to series based on the specific factions and political or military organizations, but the main element remains the same,

·         Villains that are later portrayed as heroes or at least more heroic than they were at an earlier point in the series,

·         Characters who wear masks,

·         New mobile suits for important characters or upgrades to current mobile suits (side note: just how many mobile suits and mobile armors does Char pilot in this series?),

·         Newtypes or a more physically and mentally advanced population of humanity,

·         Characters dying and staying dead, and

·         The main character always starts of as whiny, brattish and thinks the entire weight of the world (plus the space colonies) rest solely on their should. In the good series the character grows out of it and becomes an interesting character. In the bad series and Gundam SEED, the main character just gets more insufferable and the series goes on. 

I’m sure there are plenty of other things I’ve missed but I’m also sure there are tropes specific to Gundam series that I’m not even familiar with since I haven’t watched all of the series. I think the above list is enough to support my claim that almost everything Gundam related can trace its source back to this series. That might seem like a dumb statement but it’s important to point out because none of these elements would have endured in multiple variations had the origin versions not been good. Some later series improved on some of the elements found in MSG but chances are they wouldn’t have tried it if it wasn’t for MSG’s initial success with it. Above all else, it’s the characters, complex and properly examined during the show’s run, that tie everything else together into a satisfying series.

Ramba Ral. One of the best Zeon officers. You were too awesome for us.

I have to clarify that MSG is by no means a perfect show. Even when you don’t factor in the quality of the animation, this is a very flawed series. While shorter than your average number of episode for a Gundam series (50 or so) I think MSG would have benefit from even less. The series explodes out of the gate and sustains this wild and manic energy for several episodes before slowing down considerably before the middle of the series. It’s here that things seem to meander around for a while and I admit to taking a break from watching it because I got a little bored. It’s crazy to think that I binge watched the first half of the series only to leave it for a few weeks before returning to it. I’m glad I did because the last third of the series picks up considerably and while it doesn’t quite match the impact of the first third of the show it still ended in a satisfying way, though abrupt, way.

Other criticisms would include the female uniforms. Why are they pink? Why can’t everybody be in Federation blue or command grey? Don’t even get me started about the terrible idea of Gundam transformation. Unfortunately, around episode 10, this idea was introduced and it’s just awful. The Gundam’s cockpit is actually a core fighter (think space jet, and you'll get the idea) which can be used as the cockpit for the Guntank, the Guncannon and the Gundam. It’s the most ridiculous and hokey idea of the entire show but I really started to hate it when I realized the recurring use of the transformation sequence in the show. Aside from seeing the segment repeated over and over (occasionally multiple times in a single episode) I completely disagreed with the idiotic strategy to send out Amuro, the only person abord the White Base who can pilot the gundam, in a ship other than the Gundam because it almost always resulted in the decision to have him transform or transfer into the Gundam mid-battle. Things get even worse later on as more parts are given to the crew of the White Base. The Gundam can now be combined with the G-Fighter to produce the G-Armor, they can detach in mid-air! Wow! Who fucking cares? Not me. It’s lame. I admit I’m a bit consoled by the fact that the gunplay model kits outsold any other kind of merchandise that was produced based on this transformation idea.

Sleggar being fly. Don't get too attached, Mirai.

At the end of the day though, this series isn’t fondly remembered for its animation or use of transforming Gundam sequences. People remember MSG because of the story and how the characters are handled. They remember the series because of how realism was incorporated into the series. Being a long series there are several episodic stories here and there, some of which don’t matter at all to the larger story, but some of those episodes contribute to character development. It’s also pretty sophisticated for an anime series about big robots, mostly because it’s not just an anime about big robots. It’s about characters and how the war influence and impact the characters. Amuro’s development throughout the series is fascinating to watch. The changes he faced during the series affected me also. I’ve cared for him, hated him and pitied him in turn. Complex characters make for complex reactions from viewers and this series is an example of that.

"What do you mean we're getting cancelled? Bummer."

It’s easy to forgive a lot of the show’s flaws as with many trailblazing works of fiction, there is a great deal of experimentation, happenstance, studio/publisher/editor interference, luck and marketing that can have a large impact on the work’s legacy. While animes that focused on giant robots was nothing new, MSG heralded the sub-genre of Real Robot. Prior to Gundam, series that focused on giant robot characters were of the Super Robot sub-genre. Mazinger Z is a classic of that genre. The added realism in which MSG dealt with their robots heralded a new form of story. I’m not an anime expert and I’m certain many other people would be better qualified to place MSG in a historical context, but it doesn’t change the fact that MSG was very different from other shows on at the time. However, it wasn’t popular during its initial run. In fact, it was threatened with cancellation and the studio eventually agreed to end the show on a shorter run (hence only 43 episodes). It took a few years for it to be recognized as an important and entertaining series and its continued legacy as one of the pillars of anime is proof of its status as a classic. Some series in the franchise have gone on to improve this one (something I’m a little familiar with but I’ll get a better idea once I’ve watched more series) while others have made a mess of things and can only be remembered for their action sequences and Gundam designs. The fact remains that for die-hard fans of newcomers alike, MSG stands tall as an inspiring series . . . as long as you can accept its animation style.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team rewatch – “Battle in Three Dimensions”

Welcome to The 08th MS Team rewatch! I’ve never watched “Miller’s Report” chances are I’ve never seen “Battle in Three Dimensions” either. In case you haven’t realized it, this rewatch is over. This is the last post.

Summary: “Battle in Three Dimensions”:

Original Release: February 22, 2013

This special short is set during the middle of the series. Eledore is away being treated for his injuries and Michel is stuck co-piloting the hover truck with Sanders. Michel is writing a letter to B. B. and we learn that he feels Sanders is a difficult person to talk to and it makes for awkward situations when he has to spend time with him.

The 08th team is out on a mission. They reach a large bridge and begin to cross. Karen’s Gundam gets hit by a Zaku sniper and she is knocked out by the blast. A Gouf Flight Type jumps over the bridge and shoots at Shiro. The Gouf’s pilot remarks how tough the Gundams are, obviously expecting that his surprise attack would have been more successful against Shiro’s Gundam. Shiro manages to use the sniper rifle from Karen’s mobile suit to destroy the Zaku sniper. That evens out the battle and makes it a one-on-one fight. The Gouf’s superior manoeuvrability gives it the advantage and Shiro isn’t able to make a successful hit. The battle isn’t really one-on-one though since Shiro has Michel and Sanders providing him support. They use a cable to send Michel over the bridge to communicate the Gouf’s movements to Shiro who uses it to shoot the Zeek pilot’s mobile suit. Shiro manages to destroy the Gouf with the use of his beam saber.

Michel and Sanders become chummy as soon as the fight ended but things return to the familiar awkwardness in the evening. Sanders seems to realize how uncomfortable things are so he offers Michel a cigarette and he refuses since he’s underage. Embarrassed for asking, Sanders walks out of the hover truck. Michel runs after him and says that he’s sorry for turning him down but, if he offered coffee, he’d have a drink with him. He hands Sanders his cup. The episode ends, suggesting that they bond over coffee.

Commentary:

The title refers to the fighting style of the Gouf pilot. Gundam wikia has this to say about the experimental mobile suit:

Developed as a refined version of the MS-07 Gouf Fligh t Type, the MS-07H-8 was a prototype unit designed to test the concept of an atmospheric flight-capable mobile suit, However, the Zeon military halted this unit's development to focus on the creation of a flying mobile suit. Despite the cancellation of the program, several experimental units still occasionally found their way into the field for testing. The MS-07H-8 featured an improved backpack fitted with more powerful thrusters and thermonuclear jet engines. Aerodynamic control surface wings were added to the backpack and waist armor, giving the MS-07H-8 more stability in flight. Although the unit was a vast improvement over its predecessors, tests revealed that the H8 still suffered the same problems encountered by previous versions: the engines were prone to overheating and consumed a lot of fuel at high altitudes and high speeds, limiting its range and flight time. 

So battle in three dimensions because the Gouf is effectively flying above and around Shiro’s RX-79(G) Ez-e Gundam, which is a ground type mobile suit. The title of the episode does not refer to 3D animation as I previously thought.

The episode is short. It’s about 9 minutes long including the credits. Because of the short length we do not get anything spectacular as far as character development goes but the inclusion of Michel and Sanders budding friendship does add a bit more depth (even if only a tiny bit) to what could otherwise have been a shot length action video of a Gundam battle.

The animation during this short is much better than anything previously seen in The 08th MS Team. It’s a joy to watch. I think it was a smart decision to focus on a mobile suit battle as opposed to characters because it’s easier to appreciate the level of animation when there is a lot of movement on screen. There is use a computer generated graphics but it’s mostly used for background like clouds and jungle vegetation. All in all, it’s a smoother integration with the more two dimensional characters and mobile suits compared to how CG and digital animation have been integrated in the past, particularly in the early 2000s.

It’s kind of shitty that Karen gets taken out so early in the episode. I think it would have been nice to see her participate in the battle. Mostly though, the show exists to give Shiro yet another good mobile suit battle. On a final note, I love seeing the Gundams with their backpacks on. They’re just so big and blocky. What do they have in there?

Last Stop:

Here ends my rewatch (and part . . . first watch) of the entire Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team. I have to admit that going into the rewatch I was equal parts excited and worried. Excited because this, as far as I could remember, is my favourite Gundam series but I was worried that it wouldn’t hold up well under additional scrutiny. I was also worried that the less than stellar episodes (and the one really terrible episode) would only be worse than what I remember. I realize now that I shouldn’t have worried because The 08th MS Team holds up pretty well.

The themes developed in the show are rather typical for a Gundam series as well as for military fiction. Several characters are defined by the way they view and interpret the acts of war or peace and two characters in particular (Shiro and Aina) are complicated by their opposing ideals of peace and their roles in the war. While nothing is really done with these themes to make the show more memorable than another, they’re handled well for the most part. The consistency in Shiro’s behaviour during the revelation and development of his character arc is well done. What makes the show really stand out is its attention to realism in the context of the larger Gundam metaseries.

In one episode they call for a lunch break in the middle of a mission. There is as much interesting conflict outside of the mobile suits than there is in them, not everything is about the mobile suits (but they still play the primary role in the series). The inclusion of a support team piloting the hover truck is a nice way to ground the action but the best of all is that these Gundams sustain battle damaged and it doesn’t magically disappear once the credits role. Not only that but the Gundams break down and sometimes it’s for a simple a reason as a filter clogged with sand. It’s also refreshing and interesting to see battles fought on the ground as opposed to the free for all, no rules combat in space. The added realism to this series also increases the viewer’s concern for the characters’ well-being since we’re shown multiple times that these Gundams are not infallible. Both those elements combined with good character development (some of these characters are more developed than the main characters of Gundam Wing and Gundam SEED) make for a slightly more serious Gundam show that isn’t without humour or impressive action sequences. Not only would I recommend this show to fans of all things Gundam but I would also try to introduce someone to the metaseries with the help of this show.   

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team rewatch – “Miller’s Report”

Welcome to The 08th MS Team rewatch! I’m such a fraud. I’ve never seen this before so I can’t truthfully call it a rewatch, can it? Well yes, I can. As long as I use a disclaimer! Caution: not actual rewatch ahead. Commentary might be poor due to the lack of familiarity with “Miller’s Report”.

Summary: “Miller’s Report”:

Original Release: August 1, 1998

The episode begins with a recap of the desert episode where the 08th team set up an ambush for the Apsalus. It shows the beginning of the ambush up to the point where the Apsalus flies away with Shiro in tow. The title card appears and a voiceover by Alice Miller describes the setting of the story. She’s been sent to the Kojima base to investigate the development of a new Zeon mobile armour (the Apsalus). We’re introduced to Miller properly when Shiro is brought to her by other soldiers. She’s in a hangar and she’s studying the wreckage of the Apsalus. This takes place ten days after Shiro’s return to base, presumably after his inquiry. Miller is familiar with the details of the events of Shiro’s time in the mountains with Aina. She informs him that he’s being investigated for espionage. Shiro dismisses the accusations as ridiculous and Miller agrees with him but she tells him that it’s very difficult to convince the higher-ups to change their minds. She tells him that the only way to prove his innocence is to tell the truth about what happened in the mountains.

Miller knows about Aina and when she tells Shiro, he thinks back to the events of the first episode and parts of it are replayed. While he appears to be remembering these events, he’s actually recounting them to Miller. He also tells her about the events of the inquiry.

The viewer is also privy to more information as we get a scene that takes place at the base’s bar while Shiro is in the inquiry. The other members of the 08th team are talking about Shiro. Sanders is very vocal in how much he likes the captain. Karen isn’t as nice. She thinks Shiro is too simple minded and it’s that personality trait that makes her think he’d make a poor spy. These events are expanded upon from those we see in “Duty and Ideals”. It’s a very good episode and it’s nice that we get to see the consequences of that battle. Kojima decides to trust Shiro a little because he defeated the enemy but the mission he assigns him to is an extremely dangerous one with a low probability of survival. That mission is the one where they get air dropped: “Front Line”.

After he’s done telling the truth about the events that happened while he was with Aina, Miller confronts Shiro about the contradictory nature of his belief in peace and his actions against the Zakus. She fails to convince him to forget about his non-lethal strategy towards warfare and, with the support of his team, Shiro heads out on his new mission.

Commentary:

This movie is essentially a clip show which uses a combination of clips from episode of the OVA series and new clips which expand on them. After having just watched all 12 episodes, it’s kind of a bore to rewatch bits and pieces of it intercut with Miller’s interrogation of Shiro. It’s so uninteresting in fact that I can’t help but wonder why it was ever made.

I admit I wasn’t paying all that much attention to the short movie, my mind just started to wander, but I’m pretty sure that Miller doesn’t find out new information that viewers and fans of the OVA don’t already know. It makes me wonder who the intended audience for this short movie is. Surely the point can’t be for to show viewers that Miller attempted and failed to reform Shiro as a mindless soldier of the Earth Federation Forces. What this movie does it take some the good episodes (desert ambush, inquiry episode/Zaku attack on the guerrilla village) and cuts it up with new footage of Miller’s investigation and the result is a re-edit of those episodes that lessens their impact. I get a feeling it was meant to do the opposite and make it more interesting but it fails to do that.

The focus of the story is Shiro’s relationship to Aina because that, Miller believes, is the key to understanding Shiro. By getting a good understanding of Shiro she will be able to determine whether or not he is a spy and poses a risk to the Federation. The problem is that concentrating on Shiro and Aina is to focus the short movie (well, more of a long episode) on one of the most uninteresting and poorly development storylines of the series.

The conversation between the members of the 08th Team is the most enjoyable scene in the movie. It’s nice to see their personality being expressed for an entire scene. Most of the series gives us snippets of each individual while keeping the center of attention on Shiro. Such a small scene doesn’t make up for the otherwise uninteresting movie, though.

The best part of the episode is just the 08th team talking about their situation. I like this bunch and just having them talk to each other is more interesting than the clichéd diatribe Miller spouts throughout the movie.

The only thing this movie is successful at is tarnishing the superior OVA episodes that precede it. Yes, even the first episode and the one with Shiro and Aina in the mountains are better than this movie. Two decent episodes and two very good ones are used in what amounts to an extended and poorly re-edited montage of good and bad scenes from the series.

At least the next mini-episode, the subject of my final post in this rewatch, was made up of entirely new footage. It’s also pretty great. See you tomorrow.  

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team rewatch – Ep. 12 Last Resort

Welcome to The 08th MS Team rewatch! The rewatch has successfully confirmed that this is a good Gundam show but this episode might ruin everything. I remember it being bad. Really bad. Will it redeem itself after years of being aired? Probably not.

Summary: Episode 12 “Last Resort”:

Original Airdate: July 25, 1999

English Airdate: Never aired

December 24, UC 0079. The One Year War has ended. On Earth, Michel is on a board and he’s thinking about the end of the war and the giant machines left behind on old battlefields. We learn that the members leftover from the 08th MS Team where shipped around the globe as part of the post-war reorganization. Michel received a discharge and he now spends his time looking for Shiro who he believes is still alive. He does this with the help of Kiki. They find a Zeon spaceship that crashed into the jungle. They investigate and find out that someone is living in the jungle. They spend the night in the ship.

When they wake up the next day, Kiki and Michel find themselves tied up on a raft piloted by the children from the Zeon ship. They float through a village that has been flooded during the war. The children are taking them to their leader and on the way there, they pass a few graves in a field. Upon arrival they are ask to provide their names and rank. They’re very hostile towards them. The kids were drafted during the war and now that it’s over, they’re just trying to lead a peaceful existence in an abandoned village in the jungle.

Michel is speculating as to why they don’t come out of hiding and surrender themselves to the Earth Federation. He thinks they crash landed their ship on purpose to escape from the war. Thanks to Kiki’s quick thinking, they escape. The find the kids digging yet another grave in the field. They bury a girl with blue hair. She’s bandaged and we can’t see her face. Kiki interrupts them, taken aback by their lack of respect for their dead friend. Kiki puts numerous flowers into the grave and conducts a makeshift funeral. Kiki doesn’t understand how strangely the kids are behaving and she gets them to talk about the woman and how they knew her. One of the kids says her name was Aina. Kiki and Michel are surprised. She shows them a picture of Shiro asking them if they recognize him. The oldest of the children tells them Shiro is dead.

Later, Kiki confronts the leader and asks him who that girl really was. She says Aina wasn’t that young. She thinks the children are hiding things and she wants to know what it is. The next night Kiki and Michel go grave digging. They feel bad about it but finding out the truth is that important for them. The kids, without the leader, arrives and tells them the graves they’re digging up are empty. The children share their story. A man named Dr. Flanagan was conducting tests on them. After their ship crashed the man died and the children were eventually found by Shiro and who taught them how to survive. They gave all the kids some names (the names of the members of the 08th team and their friends). That’s what the leader of the group is scared of losing. He worries that Kiki and Michel will take away his name and his identity. Kiki calms him down by telling him that she, no anyone else, can ever take away his name.

Later, it begins to snow. They use the wreck of a Zeon mobile suit and they use it to warm up the water in the river and they swim around. It’s a trick Shiro showed them. The leader tells them where Shiro and Aina went. They’ve travelled North in the hopes of finding a new world to live in. When Kiki wakes up the next morning, she finds that the kids have disappeared and they haven’t even left a single footprint in the snow. She and Michel start to think maybe they never met them. Michel is thinking either an illusion or ghosts but Kiki just thinks they left in search of a new world, like Shiro and Aina.

That’s basically what Kiki and Michel have been looking for. A new life. That’s why they’re searching for Shiro and Aina. The episode ends with them finding the pair. Aina is pregnant. D’aaawwww.

Commentary:

While “The Shuddering Mountain, part 2” was a bland ending for a series, in part because of its lack of denouement following the show’s climax, “Last Resort” is no better. Actually, it’s worse. It doesn’t give us much of anything to enjoy. The story with the kids is forced and filled with clichés. More importantly, they don’t matter at all. They’re just an aside to the main story of Kiki and Michel’s search for Aina and Shiro. With such vague directions as simply travelling North, it’s difficult to believe that they even find them in the end. Why Michel and Kiki? They’ve both lost someone important to them and I guess Shiro is now the most important person in their lives which isn’t all that hard to believe because he has that endearing naiveté and strong personality which makes for a memorable friend.

Attempts at character development are made. Michel carries around a picture of B. B., the woman he wrote to during the entire length of the series. In the picture she is seen wearing a wedding dress and accompanied by a man (who’s face has been scribbled over) and holding a baby. That’s kind of rough for Michel, especially when you consider that her letter earlier in the series in which she said she can’t deal with the uncertainty of whether or not Michel will survive the war was probably bullshit. She just found another guy.  

The sad thing about this episode is that it doesn’t offer the viewer anything interesting. It doesn’t even work wells as a story about what soldiers (enlisted and guerrillas) do after a war is ended. Again, it’s all clichés. Michel becomes a lazy drunk with no ambition and Kiki becomes obsessed with finding a man who once rejected her love for him. What is she going to do when she meets Shiro? Does she plan on living with him and Aina and butting in our the life they’re making together? It just seems odd as I would have picture her living the rest of her life in her village, surrounded by friends. I also don’t know why Michel stayed on Earth. I guess he’s still heartbroken by B. B.’s decision to marry another man and start a family of her own? Since I’m asking questions, can anyone tell me why is the episode called “Last Resort”?

This episode is the fucking worst. I’m done rewatching Gundam: The 08th MS Team OVA but there are still two posts left. Next up is “Miller’s Report”.

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team rewatch – Ep. 11 The Shuddering Mountain, Part 2

Welcome to The 08th MS Team rewatch! There is still one episode to go after this one but really, this is the big finale. The final showdown against the Apsalus. Will the 08th Team survive? Probably, they’re the stars of the show!

Summary: Episode 11 “The Shuddering Mountain, Part 2”:

Original Airdate: April 15, 1999

English Airdate: August 6, 2001

Ginias is celebrating the completion of Apsalus and calling it his son. Blood drops out of his mouth as he stands victorious in front of his completed machine. Aina asks him where his research staff is (he murdered them in the first part of this episode) and, when he doesn’t respond, tells him to put on flight suit. The episode recaps what happened during the first part including the launch of Apsalus III and Shiro’s decision to resign from the service.

We learn through the use of a flashback that Karen was ordered by Ryer to kill Shiro if he deserted. When Sanders see that there is a mobile suit weapon locked on Shiro’s Gundam, he realizes that the higher-ups got to her too. She doesn’t kill him but she yells at him and Shiro’s Gundam walks away.

Aina, quite aware of her superior firepower, burns a perimeter at the bottom of the mountain. She gives the Federation commanders an ultimatum: if they do not cross that line she will not attack them. She hasn’t entirely given up her ideals of peace. She wants to evacuate the sick and injured from the mountain base. Karen comments that she understands why Shiro loves her, she’s as naïve in her way of thinking about war and peace than Shiro. War isn’t that simple, Karen thinks.

The Federation says they will not be intimidated but they agree to a ceasefire. Captain Ryer lied though and orders snipers to take out Aina who’s excited her cockpit. While outside watching the Kergeulen take off, Ginias steps into the pilot’s chair and starts attacking the Federation’s mobile suits. Captain Ryer orders that his forces shoot the Kergeulen. They do and it is destroyed. Kojima says to himself that the Federation is no better than the Zeeks, something that Shiro has been saying for a while. Infuriated by the Federation, Aina strikes out in angers and fires a beam shot right about the Federation’s command center and destroys a huge part of a nearby mountain.

Aina and Ginias argue over their conflicting philosophies. She pities him for attributing so much value to war and his Apsalus Project. He shoots her and she falls off the Apsalus but Shiro manages to catch her with his Gundam. Ginias blames Shiro for influencing Aina and making her disagree with her brother. He accuses Shiro of being the reason she died. A mobile suit shoots one of the legs of the Apsalus and it crashes to the ground. Ryer tells Karen to capture the enemy pilot, Aina, and execute Shiro since he deserted in the face of the enemy. Kojima disagrees with Ryer. He orders Karen to assemble the troops; they’re running a different mission now. Kojima goes against his superior’s order stating that even though they’re waging war, there are certain lines that cannot be crossed and Ryer crossed it when he ordered the Kergeulen, carrying sick and wounded passengers, destroyed.

Kojima’s orders are to destroy the Apsalus and take Shiro into custody. Reunited once again, Shiro and Aina are happy. The rest of the 08th Team, accompanied by Kojima, are racing to the Apsalus. They want to get there before the sniper does so that they can capture Shiro and prevent the Sniper from killing him. Aina and Shiro are piloting the Gundam (damaged while battling the Gouf in part 1) together and are trying to destroy the Apsalus. The Sniper destroys the Gundam’s entire right arm but Shiro and Aina are still alive. Ginias turns his attention to them. He’s preparing a full power blast to destroy the remaining Federation troops. Shiro apologizes to Aina letting her know that he plans on killing Ginias. Ginias fires at the command centre, killing captain Ryer and many others but most of the troops survive because Shiro pushed the Apsalus out of the way.

After firing the Apsalus, Shiro’s Gundam and the Apsalus fall into the heart of the mountain. Shiro’s voiceover says that not long after that day, the war ended. They never find Shiro or Aina but Michel writes to B. B. that he believes that Shiro is still alive.

The last shot is of Aina helping Shiro walk out of the mountain base.

Commentary:

I like the progression of the 08th Team throughout the series. In the beginning they’re very much a rag-tag team. Through hard work and having shared the hardships of several missions, they’ve become a tight group of respected colleagues, if not outright friends. Still, superior officers of the Federation military have contacted Sanders and Karen in an attempt to have greater control on what the team does. Orders from superior officers are threatening to pull the team apart. Sanders struggled with his conscience during the first part of “The Shuddering Mountain” but he overcame this when he confided in Shiro. He likely sided with Shiro and his team because this is the first time that Sanders is in an MS team that hasn’t be destroyed during their third mission. He’s never really had enough time to build camaraderie with his fellow soldiers and he can’t let that go, even if ordered to do so by Captain Ryer.

In this episode, we learn that Karen was ordered to execute Shiro if he deserted. Ever since the events of Episode 8 “Duty and Ideals” it’s been clear that Shiro’s commanding officer, Kojima, no longer believes in Shiro’s ability to wage war with the enemy. He is of the opinion that Shiro is blinded by unrealistic ideals of peace. Karen’s a different kind of person than Sanders. She’s by the books. She takes insubordination seriously and has even been known to point it out to her commander when her own team members acted against orders (such as in episode “The Broken Order to Standby”). She can’t follow through on the orders to kill Shiro but she does call him out for his decision to abandon his team. She doesn’t deal well with abandonment, likely because her husband died doing a heroic (read: foolish) gesture. Something she’s had difficulty forgiving him for.

Shiro’s decision to kill Ginias is compatible with his behaviour throughout the series. At first he was trying to damage the Apsalus and make it unfit for battle but after Aina told him that Ginias is preparing for a blast at full power, he changes his tactics. The full power blast would destroy the entire area. He wants to protect his friends and the only way to do that is to destroy the Apsalus which will also kill Ginias.

The most disappointing this about this episode is the ending. It’s a bit of a letdown after the stellar action from the first half of the episode. It also doesn’t successfully deal with the implications of Shiro’s decision to leave the Federation forces, Aina’s decision to aid Shiro in putting an end to her brother’s plans or the consequences of Karen and Sanders breaking a direct order from a superior. It’s likely that Kojima let the Karen and Sanders off the hook because the orders came from Captain Ryer who proved to have no respect in how war is waged. In short, my main problem with the ending is that it feels like the two-part episode wasn’t really building towards anything other than the destruction of the Apsalus and when that happens, the episode just stops. There isn’t a denouement and that’s affecting the overall quality, not only of this episode but of the series as a whole. I guess that’s why they made another episode which serves as an epilogue. If memory serves me right, the episode marks a further decline in quality that this episode.