Gundam DVD - The 8th MS Team

Still talking about Gundam anime in this post. Another Gundam DVD I have in my possession is the Mobile Suit Gundam: The 8th MS Team. I like this anime becaue it is about a group of soldiers fighting jungle warfare on the ground. Although this team possess Gundam units, they are not all-powerful. They struggle fighting the enemy to end the war. This anime has 12 episodes and I also have another DVD, Miller's report, which is essentially a movie compilation of all the episodes.

The 8th MS Team

The 8th MS Team - Consists of 12 episodes

In early 1996, Sunrise released this new One Year War side story close the end of Gundam Wing's TV run. Directed by Tateyuki Kanda (Dragonar, Vifam) and Umanosuke Iida (Hellsing), this 12 episode OVA series emphasizes the common soldier aspect of Gundam 0080 and Gundam 0083, which means there are no Newtypes in the series. The story centers around rookie Federation pilot Shiro Amada and his soldiers of the 08th MS Team as they fight the Zeon in Southeast Asia towards the end of the One Year War. Featuring grand orchestrated music and redesigned mecha from designer Kunio Okawara, this series is a treat for fans of the One Year War. Due to the death of director Kanda, the production of the series dragged on for three years, with Kanda being replaced by Iida.

Plot: 3/5
Animation: 4/5
Mecha Design: 4/5
Overall: 4/5

Next up is the movie compilation, Miller's Report.

Miller's Report

For the 8th MS Team, aside from the 12 episodes, a compilation movie with new footage called Miller's Report was produced, and it summarizes some events from the first 8 episodes. In 2001, Cartoon Network broadcast episodes 1-11 on their popular Toonami Midnight Run block. It should be noted that what they broadcast as episode 8 is actually a combination of that episode and the new footage from Miller's Report.

In watching this compilation movie, I see that it takes a different approach than others. Unlike the compilation movies for the original series or 0083's Afterglow of Zeon, this movie creates a new sub-story that intersects with episode 8. We're introduced to the character of Alice Miller, who doesn't appear in the series at all. She is quite a devious woman, and I think it would have been interesting to develop her character a bit further or show her past. As far as recycled footage, there are bits from episodes 1 and 6, but the bulk of the footage comes from episodes 7 and 8. The movie further serves the purpose of bringing Eledore back to the team and tying episodes 8 and 9 closer together. I think what Bandai did for the broadcast of episode 8 was interesting: they added all the new footage from this episode to fill in all those story details. Though this is a compilation movie, it should be seen for its originality and the extra bits of story it contains.

Plot: 4/5

Animation:4/5

Mecha Design: 4/5

Overall: 4/5