Monday, July 4, 2016

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Part 4-Episodes 10-12


The Kojima Battalion mobilizes in full for one final push against Ginias Sahalin’s Zeon forces.  The 08th MS Team is at the front of the offensive and they’ve got more than just Zeon to worry about.  A cold blooded Federation commander wants Shiro’s head for his seemingly traitorous stance.  Between deals behind the scenes and the very scariest pilots Zeon has to offer, this could end up being the final mission of Shiro Amada and his trusted team.  As the One Year War draws to a close, the secret love of two enemies may be the only thing that can end this battle once and for all.

Now THIS should have been the movie Miller’s Report ended up being.  The two part epic finale of Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team, The Shuddering Mountain, is one of the most epicly animated, well paced and…overall decent payoffs to a great series and an excellent entry in the Gundam mythos.

Well maybe I was a bit too quick to praise.  Because really a lot of the good stuff in this finale falls to the first half of The Shuddering Mountain.  Norris has placed himself on a pedestal as high as any Gundam, nay Mobile Suit pilot.  He knew how to make his Gouf act like a freaking one man army as he took on a team of Guntanks and the entire 08th Team.  Some of this fighting was intense as hell.  The scene where Norris stabbed the Guntank from above, oil (and probably a little blood) splattering over his Gouf is easily one of the most iconic images from this series yet.  Norris knew he was in control of the entire fight, even up to his heroic sacrifice.  He really was a foe worthy of respect and admiration…and that he was a better suited enemy for Shiro than the final boss, Ginias.
I do not get what Ginias’s deal ever was.  Was he just looking for glory?  Was he really hiding a lot of hurt because of mommy issues like Aina suggested?  Or was he just plain insane?  It really is hard to peg as there’s never been a clear line of reasoning behind him being the villain of this series.  If we had a little more time with him to deepen his character, maybe he could be salvaged.  But when he poisoned his own research team after the nearly worked themselves to death finishing the Apsilas…why?  Ginias was easily one of the weakest elements of this series and fails to live up to Gundam antagonists like Char, Ghiren Zabi or Scirroco from Zeta Gundam.

Who ended up being a better villain was Ryer.  Sowing seeds of betrayal in the 08th Team, mercilessly ordering the shooting down of a Zeon Hospital ship and outright calling for Shiro’s execution, this guy was scary.  If anything, Ryer is a good template for how ruthless the Titans unit of the Federation is destined to be down the line in Zeta Gundam.  Thankfully, he got what was coming to him in a couple of a ways: firstly, getting rejected by Kojima, who lead the 08th Team to stop the Apsalis and simply arrest shirts; and secondly when he got blasted to death by the Apsilas.  So just rewards there.

So after some pointless banter from Ginias and threats from Ryer and a desperate battle, the fight drew to a close.  Shiro and Aina vanish but we know their alive…and the story simply ends.  It’s fitting it does so in such a way.  But I do wish we had gotten an extra bit of resolution as to the fates of the 08th Team.  Karen, Sanders and Eledore were all characters I was highly invested in and I wanted to see what happened to them post One Year War, even if it was just a clips montage.  Still, seeing the stills of the aftermath of Shiro and Aina’s battle with Ginias, mixed to Eledore’s sweet tune, was a not so bad way to wrap things up.


Sigh…

I guess I have to do this, don’t I?  I really wish the series had ended here…but it didn’t.  Nope, there’s an extra twelfth episode that serves as a pointless epilogue and is quite possibly the worst and most needless entry in the whole of the 08th MS Team.  What’s even worse is that Michel and Kiki are at the forefront of the tale.  While there are some good ideas in them finding a ship full of potential Newtype kids, the story serves no purpose as to actually show us that Shiro and Aina are still alive, albiet Shiro’s missing a leg and Aina is pregnant.  But again, we saw them limp away at the very close of the prior episode.  We knew they were ok and we knew they were going to be happy.  Leave it at that.  I didn’t need an extra episode with two of my least favorite characters running around looking for their lost comrades. And if this episode was needed, why not throw in the others as well?  Well Michel in his narraration reveals he was discharged while the others were reassigned…ugh.  At least there was one small consolation knowing that Michel got dumped by the girl who couldn’t wait for him.  The almost faceless BB’s understandable fears of never seeing her boyfriend again because of the war aside…what did she ever see in a whinner like Michel?  I almost don’t want to say it, but I hate this episode and it keeps me, along with my other nitpicks, from giving this series a near perfect grade.

Well, if you look past Michel, Kiki, GInias and Episode 12…and the fact that Miller’s Report could have been easily folded into the existing narrative rather than as a separate movie, Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team delivered on almost every front.  The action was gritty and intense.  The cast was likeable and gelled really well.  The animation varied from time to time but was pretty consistent and well done for the hand drawn era.  And save for a couple of references to place this into the Universal Century timeline, the series survived without much direct help from the original series to stand on it’s own.  There are plenty of tales that can be weaved into the One Year War without focusing on White Base.  Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket did this pretty well and 08th MS Team successfully continued the trend.  If there was a series I would suggest a new fan start with in the Gundam pantheon, I’d point them…to the original series but if they wanted a shorter primer, I’d point them here.  It’s a down to Earth, dirty and rugged setting…but it’s just as much Gundam as any other space fairing entry.  So I’m gonna give it a…

9/10
Next week, get ready, the big summer project gets underway.  Three reviews a week right up to Otakon.  It’s finally time for Code Geass.  See ya then.
 
 

1 comment:

  1. The key with understanding Ghinius is realizing how much his abandonment issues rule his life. I think unfortunately, actually being mentally ill is a key part in understanding him. I think he's actually quite complex, just that his complexity is missed by many people.

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