Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team | |
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| | Alternate title : Kidou Senshi Gundam: Dai 08 MS Shoutai
Studio : Sunrise
Licenced by : Bandai Entertainment
Length : 12 OAV
Year : 1996
Genre : Action - Mecha - Science-Fiction
Synopsis :
Cosmic Era 79. As the One Year War rages on, Federation Ensign Shiro Amada is commissioned as the commander of the 08th MS Team and deployed to Southeast Asia. On the way there Shiro has a fateful encounter with a Zeon test pilot: the beautiful Aina Sahalin. However, Shiro doesn't know that Aina is also going to Asia as the pilot for the Apsalus, an experimental Mobile Armor with enough firepower to take out an entire base with one shot.
With Shiro and Aina in different sides of the battlefield, each burdened with their dreams, feelings and their duties, both will have to face very difficult battles with themselves, each other and the violent world they live in.
Alternate Synopsis
(by Specky)
More proof that Gundam isn't always about the giant robots. This OVA follows the 08th MS Team (go figure) and their battles with the war on the Zeon forces in the jungles on Earth. Shiro is the new commander of the 08th Team who meets a female enemy MS pilot in the heat of battle. (Can we say L-O-V-E interest?) From there, we are treated to the development of relationships with the 08th team itself, and are also treated to some good high quality animated MS action. If you like Gundam, or big robot shows (with some plot even!) then this one is worth looking into.
More Original Universe Gundam. The Zeon are working on a new prototype Gundam, and the 08th MS Team must discover what the truth is about this new machine. In the meantime, the Leader of the 08th team runs across the sister of the Zeon officer who is in charge of the prototype construction. Can there be any romance on the battlefield? With a strong cast of characters, and an OVA budget, Sunrise brings us a Gundam series that proves that the story of the pilots is what make a Gundam series great.
Added : 2002-08-15
Synopsis by : leoxjm
Last update : 2008-04-05
Last update details : Modify info
Score : 7.88
Number of reviews : 8
Link(s) :
Official #1 : Bandai Channel's Mobile Suit Gundam: MS 08th Team Website (Japanese)
Song(s) :
Opening #1 : Arashi no Naka de Kagayaite / Shine in the Storm
Ending #1 : Ten Years After
Ending #2 : Mirai no Futari ni / The Future for Both of Us
Release(s) :
There are no release available for this anime.
Hits : 5279
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Posted by : GRC 
Posted on : 2007-05-14  
Overall - 7.3
Animation - 8.0
Sound - 9.0
Story - 6.0
Character - 8.0
Value - 6.0
Enjoyment - 7.0
One of the most underrated works from the Gundam Dynasty, 08th MS Team is actually a real delight for me to watch. With its conclusive story, likeable characters, nice touch of romance, and a good ending, Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team is likely to be an enjoyable experience for majority of the anime viewers out there.
Unlike most other Gundam series, 08th MS Team does not focus on the ruling elites. And this is a very pleasant change because you will not be seeing the long bullcrap political drivel which will put you to sleep. 08th MS Team focuses on the lives of the junior and ground officers. It is also worth noting that while most 12-13 episode anime which try to focus on more than one genre usually fall flat on their asses, but 08th MS Team have both interesting mecha missions and decent romance. Thus, for a twelve episode anime, this is certainly a commendable achievement.
Still, 08th MS Team is far from outstanding. The creators did not use all the available in the anime to its fullest potential. Instead of spending more time to focus on the love development between Shiro and Aina, the series wasted its few episodes on other matters which are not as important. Though Shiro met Aina in the first episode, the next four episodes have nothing relevant to their relationship whatsoever. The fifth episode could have been substituted with some romance between them two and the story of 08th MS Team might have been even better. I mean, I don't care to know about Eledore's personal life. Why spend the whole episode on him? The fourth episode isn't much better. Zander's backstory is definitely not as important as Shiro and Aina's relationship. Only until the last minute of the sixth episode that both of them would meet again for the second time. The love development is noticeably rushed. Thank god that the characters in this anime are good. Had the characters sucked, this anime would have fallen flat on its surface.
It seems that I am complaining, but do not misunderstand me, this is definitely not a bad show. Off compared this with the brainless Endless Waltz and the idiotic Gundam Wing which were released at the same time with this series, I would prefer 08th MS Team over those two crap any day. On a final note, some reviewers complained that the final episode is unnecessary. While I completely understand why they think that way, but I think that the last episode is actually the best episode in the series. Mobile Suit Gundam 08th MS Team is certainly a nice addition to the Gundam Dynasty and it's one of the conclusive short series I would not hesitate to recommend to any viewer regardless of whether they are or are not fans of mecha genre.
Animation
Good for 1996 production.
Sound
There are two OP/EDs in this anime and all four songs are of high standard. BGM is performed by orchestra which is a plus. Voice acting is pleasant.
Character
Shiro is a good character. Though Aina is not a great character, but she is nice and lovely. Michel and other officers are likeable. My favorite character, however, is Kiki. She's cool... and oh, she has got nice boobs too :p...
Value
Recommended. Not an excellent watch, but it's definitely a pleasant one-time watch which is very likely to worth your time.
Posted by : ariq
Posted on : 2005-10-23
I think this surpasses Gundam Seed and other Gundam shows that I have watched.
The story to this show is was very nice- it was about a team called the 008th MS team and a young commander named Shiro Amada (24). It is yet again the war between Zeon and Earth Federation, but it is quite different. The show focuses more on the characters than the story; the story is just a big war, but what I loved about this show was that all the Gundams were equal, there was not a "Super Gundam" out there nor any amazingly skilled pilots that seem to pop out of nowhere. That is more realistic regarding to war. The other thing I also loved about this show was how they used military stratagies and tactics to take down Gundams; that is not what you see in other Gundam shows- You would mostly see the main character doing the stuff alone, but in this show they used team work.
The characters in this show wrere cool. Shiro and Aina had a very nice relationship. Both characters had the same dream, of the Zeon and Earth Federation not fighting each other. There were other characters out there that were cool, but they were not developed much
Music to this show was ok. The opening song was ok, but the ending theme was annoying, except the ending theme for episode 11. Some of the insert songs were pretty good also.
Overall, this show was excellent show to watch. It is different from other gundam shows, and it is more of a "war lying" Gundam show, which I came to admire. The two main characters are characters that you come to admire from the first episode. The last episode was out-of-whack at first, but at the end it all makes sense, and gives the show a good ending, but they still left out some characters in the ending... I can go without that, and still enjoy this show a lot. This is one of my favourite Gundam series, and this was the second Gundam series I watched , with Wing being my first. This is only a 12 episode show, but it feels much longer. This is a must watch for all Gundam fans!
Posted by : ZGMF-X13A
Posted on : 2005-07-08
I wasn't sure why many people liked this series so much, saying it's "the best" gundam series out there, surprisingly better than Gundam SEED. So I watched it, and I must say, I was surprised!
First off, the story. Yes, the typical war where one colony doesn't like the other; Zeon and the Fed guys, not much to say about that. Then there comes the relationship with the 2 characters from the opposite sides, it was sort of a inevitable addition to the series, without it, everything would be junk. Of course, the relationship worked out without a problem, they liked each other, some other people didn't like the idea, then at the end, they 'ran away' after everything was over. To me, the whole relationship was kinda boring, another 'too perfect' relationship series, but that wasn't the main problem. After every episode, all they do is end up with a few problems and solve it at the end - a happy ending. It wasn't interesting at all. There aren't many flashy scenes or anything, they only stay at a level where everyone gets saved, but it can't be helped, since they wanted this to be a more realistic kind of Gundam series, but because of that they can't do much, which I thought, again, was boring. Oh well, all that waiting and watching for nothing. There were also some side stories for the other characters, but they didn't matter in the end. So the story was a retro kind of thing, weird and all, then a good ending.
Now the characters. No one is genetically modified, so yes, they're normal. Normal emotions, normal situations, etc. Nothing too deep that one character literally hates the other, so nothing interesting. Shiro, being the main character, was a rather boring and helpless character, even in the MS. He relies on his luck to beat the enemy, no skill involved, so he didn't actually learn anything from the beginning to end except that near the end it took him longer to kill the enemy. His allies were ok, my favorite was the old guy, being the most interesting character (no big role though). I found the guerillas dumb and annoying, especially the girl (forgot name), but then again, many characters were dumb. The best one was that Norris guy, who did the first and last flashy moves, and also the only one with actual motivation. Everyone else was either crazy or normal. Characters here were quite disapointing IMO.
Animation: One of the things I had high expectations for, and then lost all hope. Lets start with the characters. They all had the weirdest shapes and sizes along with the weirdest expressions and haidos. Now the MS, well I already was expecting something not as good as SEED, but jeez, everything was BULKY. Sure there wasn't reused animation like SEED, but even the first battle of SEED was 10x better than all the battles here!! The MS were slow (except the Apsalus, but in the end it was slow) and had pretty low quality animation (people were saying "This series has high quality animation!! Don't miss it!!" what the heck?! were they like from the 70s?!! jeez), and dull battles where the MS run away, attack again, hide under some bushes/behind a tree, etc. All the battles were REALLY dumb especially the last one. The best one was the first apsalus batle with sanders. Also practically everyone was like "OMG!! IT'S A BEAM WEAPON!!!! GEH" whereas in other series, a beam weapon is like spoons and forks. I guess they were poor or something! Ah well, this was a 1995 series, so nothing much could be done (except for evangelion, which was ALSO done around this time and had 300X better EVERYTHING than this). So, with high hopes, I was VERY disappointed at this part.
Music. auughh. Do I have to rate this? Almost every series I've watched has a better opening and ending theme than this and again, people said "This music rocks!!" or "it wasn't half bad!!" It was all bad for me!! The music was garbage compared to evangelion, even more to SEED (obviously).
Overall, lets see, story was ok but predictable, characters were dull, animation was bad, music was horrible, so all in all it was HALF of what I expected, no wait, LESS!! therefore 4/10. I don't even know why I watched this in the first place! If you want to see gundam action, a decent story, good characters, and great music (so basically everything), don't get this. You'll be bored in the first few minutes unless you're a 70s kind of guy, or you have nothing else to do but watch anime (no life).
Stick to Gundam SEED/ SEED DESTINY if you want gundams and stuff.
Sure, SEED/Destiny may get sort of boring at parts, but 008th MS Team PALES in comparison to SEED in just about everything. I still don't know why so many people like this better. Well everyone, 008th MS Team, a realistic and boring series. 4/10
Posted by : glidedream
Posted on : 2005-06-21
This is the best Gundam series I've seen, better than Wing or Seed or the original. This series does the best job with the premise of the Gundam genre, of being a war story that has real meaning beyond pointless mecha fighting, but at the same time enough action with said mechas to be fun to watch.
The characters are all very believable and while the romance aspect is a little rushed, that's to be expected with 13 episodes. Still, I think this anime shines in the characterizations of a lot of the villains, and I really enjoyed the second mountain episode. The music is pretty good, maybe a little too happy sounding for a war anime, but not bad. While some people may say this series is just another Gundam show about romance blossoming in the middle of war, I think that assumption fails to realize that this is not an anime about love. The focus is on war and the realities of war, with the love theme thrown in for another angle. If you enjoy Gundam series' then definitely watch it, even the American dub is high quality.
Posted by : GW_Heero
Posted on : 2005-06-14
This is my second favorite gundam( after Gundam Wing) and is one of the best shows I have ever seen. Two enemies are trapped and are forced to work together to survive and try and overcome their diferances. They end up falling in love and that is the start of an epic adventure to eather go aganst their fellings and fight or to deny their country and to love each other. It may be a romance, but no gundam would be complete withought huge mech battles, and this one has just that. The fights are amazing and are very well done showing how ordinary mechs fight and how a real battle is won through thought and planning and not just through poweful machines.The figts are one of my favorite parts ( but realy, what kind of gundam fan does not watch a gundam for the fights, thats the whole point of a gundam).
This is one gundam that I believe there are no gundams, but that shows how true wars are fought, not with great wepons, but with ordinary men and wemon putting there lives on the line for what they belive in (but great wepons are usefull and make a great story). The men and wemon in 08 MS Team may not be the best and not have and undefetable wepon, but they still fight and that is what makes it so great to me.. I love how these are just ordinary people doing the extrordinay, even though everyone else is agianst them and their love. The animation is great and the music is good, but what I remember the most is the caracters. They all have their own reasons for fighting and their own lives, and each is unforgetable. Each carater is unique and different but they all make a part of a whole.
I can not really commit on the end of the story as how it went of the air just a few episodes before the end, but I would not want to ruin the story for anyone who has not seen it anywhay. The ending that I saw whas greatly done thought, for anyone that is wondering.
The only part that brings it down is that the real point of the story, the main bad guy, does not show till the end, and this is just one short anime.
If you are a Gundam or war fan, this is for you. Stop starring at this screen and go and watch it.
Posted by : shoangore
Posted on : 2005-03-04
Out of all the Gundam series, 008th MS Team was one of my favorites. Short and to the point, this series sticks to one major plot; unlike other series, you won't forget what it is, either. The animation is amazing for its time - it is smooth and has no recycled clips like you see in other series.
The music overall was well done; it wasn't overly dramatic or bland. I thought that they did a good job there, as anime back then lacked music that fit well with the situations.
The characters I thought started out as generic and obviously placed. There were arrogant or self-infatuated, or the loner that everyone seemed to dislike. However, as the series progresses, you begin to see subtle development and can tell that although they start out so blandly, they grow into people you can really bond with.
Overall, this series is a definite classic for the Gundam fan. If you haven't watched it, you ought be ashamed of yourself.
Posted by : ninjo61
Posted on : 2005-01-10
008th MS Team is another great addition to the Gundam universe. The setting takes place during the One Year War, and follows the exploits of Shiro, a new CO for the 8th MS team. The 008th series presents a very interesting war story from the view of a "grunt"; we get to see some of the micro-details of war instead of the big epic battles that other series offer. We also get a love story between Shiro and a high ranking enemy officer.
008th MS Team has a double edged sword in terms of the shortness of the series. There are only 12 episodes! The lack of length meant that every episode was packed with lots of details, developments, and battles. I found it amazing that this series does what some of its predecessors took 50-60 episodes to do.
The high point for me in this series, like most Gundam series, is the mobile suits. The Gouf custom is one of my all time favorites. Even the M.S. design is practical and fairly basic, no big bells and whistles just MS's capable of being mass produced.
This series does a fantastic job of portraying each M.S. as an individual soldier, important but expendable. The battles are some of the most realistic, no invincible hero stuff.
This is a mandatory series for fans of the genre and a great short anime series for everyone else.
Posted by : Kaiser
Posted on : 2004-07-10
So far I have only seen 3 full gundam series (Gundam Wing/Endless Waltz, Gundam SEED and this one 008th MS Team) but 8th MS team has made the best impression.
The story is down to earth, about normal soldiers (particularly a squad of soldiers in the 8th Mobile Suit Team) fighting a brutal war. The fighting is mostly done in small engagements and lacks the epic battles you see in the other gundams but this is one of the best points with the series in my opinion. The soldiers are believable characters as they fight and struggle to survive, deal with their fears, etc.
Characterization is the best in all the gundam series I've see so far and the story/romance as well. This is truly a war story, I guess it can be compared to something like "All Quiet on the Western Front" a sort of documentary on a soldier's life with a tragic romance twist.
I highly recommend it if you enjoy Gundam or war stories. No fancy powers, invinicible super humans, just plain people who answered their country's call to duty.
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