Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket Part 1-Episodes 1-3

(Welcome dear readers to GUNDAM MONTH MARK II.  To kick off Year Four of the Gundam Anime Corner and celebrate the Gundam franchises 38^th Anniversary, I’m doing special Gundam themed content for the whole month of April.  New reviews, new Top 5’s, I’m going all out on this one.  And it starts right here with Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket.)

UC0079.  In the neutral space colony of Libot, 11 year old Al Izuruma dreams of Mobile Suits and space battles as the One Year War rages on.  As luck would have it, he gets his chance to join the conflict when a Zeon special forces unit infiltrates the colony.  Their mission: to destroy a Newtype Specialized Gundam Mobile Suit.  All his life, Al always thought of war as a game.  But now the battle comes to Libot and his life is about to change forever.  The One Year War is almost over, but the true horrors of war have yet to be seen. 

The Mobile Suit Gundam franchise turns 38 this month.  While it does seem like just another birthday, I’m going to celebrate the month my most beloved Anime saga came into being by reviewing two Gundam OVAs.  The first up is Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket, the entry that marked Gundam’s 10^th Anniversary in 1989.

Even before the first of this six part miniseries ends, you know you’re watching a very special entry in the Gundam mythos.  While it uses the One Year War as a backdrop, this story dares to be bold and only have passing mentions to the events going on outside of the colony of Libot and not have any appearances by some of the wars most major players.  The biggest nod you get so far is that the Alex Gundam is meant for Amuro Ray (actually expanding on a plot point from the original series: That Amuro’s skills were quickly surpassing his legendary Mobile Suit just before the war entered it’s final phase…ok geek moment over).  Other than that, this is a new tale nicely weaved into established events that stands very well on its own.  There might be a nitpick or two but we’ll get there.

Our main focus of the story revolves around three characters: Al, Bernie and Christina.  Al has the most attention, which is fitting given that this is meant to show how the horrors of war don’t feel real to kids kept safe from it until it shows up on their doorstep.  Al is both likeable and irritable.  You gotta admire his guts and drive (running into a battle to get footage of Mobile Suits, joining the Zeons ).  He engages in dares just to partake in the war he’s idolized, not really know what it will probably cost him in the end.  Bernie is an interesting one.  He’s not an ace but a poor guy with bad luck that has landed him as the “secret brother” of Al and the “Ace pilot” that has been added to the Zeon Cyclops team.  Despise him as much as you want for using Al the way he does to get information.  But there’s a good likeness to Bernie in that he does seem to care about the kid in his own way.  And then there’s Chris.  God what a beautiful woman, though she probably gets the least amount of screentime of the three chief characters.  Her main contribution though: she’s test piloting (successfully mind you) the Gundam meant for Amuro…boom, nothing else needs to be said.  Well that and she’s such a freaking sweetheart.  Chris is the girl next door who loves her mecha that every guy would want for a girlfriend.  And don’t think I noticed some of the smaller moments between her and Bernie…that’s not going to end well.

Seeing as how this was a milestone entry for Gundam, War in the Pocket has some good production qualities all across the board.  The animation is golden.  In a way it reminds me a lot of a Studio Ghibli production and, honestly, if Ghibli were to do a Gundam production, this would be it.  The effects of war seen through the eyes of a child is something they did in spades in Grave of the Fireflies (in fact I think they came out the same year, or Fireflies was a year earlier).  I also have to give the soundtrack a mention.  Not only are there some awesome battle tracks but some of the more peaceful colony scenes have a very innocent quality to them, like the kind youd find in a childrens tale.  I think a retrospective rewatch might produce some tears if this series goes the direction I think it’s going in. 

This is one of Gundam’s more human centered stories but there is plenty of action in the first three episodes, including a great opening scene with the Cyclops Team attacking a Federation base in the artic before the unfinished Gundam escapes.  It gets the ball rolling and then fights get a bit more sparse but not in a bad way.  Still, if action is your first priority, you might be a bit let down.  The Alex Gundam itself isn’t even seen in action save for a few moments with Chris in the cockpit running a simulation.  I had a similar complaint about Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz with holding the Gundams back until the last act.  Here’s hoping the Alex gets plenty of screentime next week.  And one other quick nitpick…who the hell would trust a military Colonel named Killing?  It’s clear this guy has it in for the Cyclops Team, even assigning rookie Bernie…just sayin, the guys name is Killing that’s…man is that a red flag.

Character names aside, there’s a lot of heart to Gundam 0080 that’s stronger than in most Gundam entries.  And as the series builds up to what will likely be a pretty dark and heavy second half, you can feel the tightness around that heart.  Gundam knows how to break hearts in big ways and I think a real tear jerker is in store…and when Mobile Suit Gundam can pull off a tale like that, you know why it earns my standing as the “Greatest Anime Saga of all Time.” 

See ya back on Friday for the conclusion of War in the Pocket…bring the tissues.