Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (機動戦士ガンダム 第08MS小隊) is a twelve-episode Gundam OVA series. Released from 1996 to 1999, the series details the adventures of an Earth Federation Space Force ground unit during the One Year War - specifically before the original 1979 Gundam series and into the final weeks of the war. 08th MS Team is the first Gundam series to show the war from the viewpoint of the average soldier. The epilogue episode, called "Last Resort", was released a few months after the series ended, and featured a more surreal plotline than the rest of the series.

The series taking such a long time to be released (Last Resort was released a full three and a half years after the series began) was largely due to the sudden death of director Takeyuki Kanda in July 1996. GONZO's Umanosuke Iida took over production of the series until it ended. The first 11 episodes of 08th MS Team were shown on Cartoon Network in 2001. "Last Resort" was never shown on television because Cartoon Network allegedly did not want to show an episode that revolved around children being drafted into the military. However, all twelve episodes are on the DVD release.

Plot summary
The series is set in Universal Century year 0079 in the jungles of Southeast Asia. The Earth Federation and the Principality of Zeon are fighting a brutal guerrilla war for control of the area and its resources. Zeon’s best hope for victory in the region rests with an experimental mobile armor and its pilot, Aina Sahalin. Meanwhile the Earth Federal Army, which has been fighting the Zeon in the region, receive reinforcements in the form of Ensign Shiro Amada, newly named commander of the 08th MS Team. Aina and Shiro know each other from a mutual rescue in space, but when Shiro discovers that Aina is in fact the pilot of the Zeon mobile armor he is arrested for treason. The Federation offers Shiro one chance at redemption: He must take the 08th MS Team deep into Zeon held territory to find Zeon’s hidden base. With the Zeon backed into a corner, and the Federation dependent on Shiro and his team for victory, the star crossed lovers must decide where their true allegiances lie: with each other, or with their respective sides.

Main characters

 * Shiro Amada
 * Lieutenant Shiro Amada is the newly appointed commander of the Earth Federation's 08th Mobile Suit Team stationed in Southeast Asia. Before he assumes this position, however, he befriends a Zeon pilot named Aina Sahalin up in space and unbeknownst to both of them their fates become intertwined.


 * Aina Sahalin
 * Aina Sahalin is the daughter of a noble family from the Principality of Zeon. While piloting her prototype Zaku amidst a debris field in space, she meets Shiro Amada and form a bond with him despite the fact that they are fighting on opposite sides. Although the two of them part ways, they are destined to meet again on Earth after Shiro takes command of the enemy's 08th Mobile Suit Team.

Supporting characters

 * Eledore Massis
 * Petty Officer 3rd Class Eledore Massis is a veteran member of the 08th MS Team. He serves as operator of the team's support hovertruck. He's not very brave and openly admits he's not cut out to be a soldier. Despite this he doesn't hesitate to put himself in danger when he has to, especially when Karen is involved.


 * Ginias Sahalin
 * Rear Admiral Lower Half Ginias Sahalin is a Zeon officer charged by the Sovereign Degwin Sodo Zabi to build a mobile weapon powerful enough to destroy the Earth Federation Forces military headquarters of Jaburo. He is also the older brother of Aina. Although Ginias is quite brilliant, he also clearly suffers some kind of mental illness as revealed later in the course of the series.


 * Karen Joshua
 * Master Chief Petty Officer Karen Joshua is the 08th MS Team's tough, abrasive second-in-command and NCO. The team's longest-serving mobile suit pilot, Karen is initially underwhelmed by her new commanding officer Shiro Amada. As a former medical student, and the widow of a military doctor, Karen can double as a field medic in cases of emergency.


 * Kiki Rosita
 * Kiki is the daughter of the leader of an anti-Zeon guerrilla resistance. She encounters Shiro Amada just before he is taken captive by the guerrillas. When Shiro finally convinces them to assist the 08th MS Team Kiki follows him, coordinating support and providing communication between the MS unit and the resistance. Throughout all of this, she maintains a mild infatuation with Commander Shiro.


 * Michel Ninorich
 * Corporal Michel Ninorich serves as navigator and gunner of the team's support hovertruck. Between battles, he writes letters to his girlfriend B.B., who still lives in the space colonies. Like Shiro, he was transferred to the Earth Federal Army and assigned to the 08th MS Team.


 * Norris Packard
 * Captain Norris Packard is an ace pilot originally sent to observe the Zeon Forces in Southeast Asia, but gets stationed at the hidden base where Ginias Sahalin is working on his Apsalus Project. There he observes Ginias' sister Aina Sahalin as she tests the three Apsalus Mobile Armors. Packard is like a surrogate father for Aina and is probably a family friend.


 * Terry Sanders Jr.
 * Chief Petty Officer Terry Sanders Jr. is another veteran member of the 08th MS Team. He has gained a reputation of being cursed due to several notorious strokes of bad luck: Every team he was assigned to would be completely annihilated on their third mission together, save for Sanders himself. This earned him the unfortunate nickname of "Shinigami Sanders", "Sanders the Reaper" in the English version.


 * Yuri Kellarny
 * Rear Admiral Yuri Kellarny is the commander of a Zeon military division in Europe and an old acquaintance of the Sahalin siblings. Although he acts gruff and ill-mannered around the Sahalins, he is an honorable soldier who is dedicated to the well-being of the men under his command. After the Odessa base falls to the Federation, Yuri leads his fleeing soldiers east towards Ginias's development base, hoping to use it as an escape route back to space.


 * Kojima
 * Kojima is the base commander of the 08th MS Team and their fellow units. Throughout most of the series, he is a typical by-the-book officer who does whatever he is told by his superiors. Towards the end, however, he is visibly shaken by the brutal tactics of Captain Isan Ryer and defies him, thinking that enough good people have already died.

Theme music
Opening:
 * Arashi no Naka de Kagayaite (嵐の中で輝いて, lit. Shine in the Storm) by Chihiro Yonekura

Endings:
 * 10 Years After by Chihiro Yonekura
 * Mirai no Futari ni (未来の二人に, lit. The Future for Both of Us) by Chihiro Yonekura (episode 11)
 * Arashi no Naka de Kagayaite (嵐の中で輝いて, lit. Shine in the Storm) by Chihiro Yonekura (episode 12)
 * Eien no Tobira (永遠の扉, lit. Gateway to Eternity) by Chihiro Yonekura (Miller's Report ending theme)

Compilation movie
In 1998 Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team had a compilation movie released. Titled Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Miller's Report, the movie largely focuses on the court martial of the main character, Shiro Amada, for his concerning attitudes towards the enemy. Mainly composed of footage from episodes seven and eight of the series, Miller's Report also takes bits from episodes one and six to use as evidence against Shiro during his trial.

Miller's Report also has a lot of new footage, and it introduces a new character that was not seen in the series, Alice Miller, an Earth Federation investigator sent to assist in the court martial of Shiro Amada and to determine if there was a Zeon spy in the 08th Team. A new scene where Eledore Massis comes back to the 08th Team after his leave of absence is also included, and the 08th Team is shown being given the orders and launching for the mission they would be on in episode nine.

Miller's Report ties together episodes eight and nine, which previously had felt a little disjointed. Miller's Report was not fully shown on TV in America, although the new scenes were all spliced into the eighth episode for the Toonami broadcast. Miller's Report was released on DVD in America separately from the main series, but is included as a fifth disc with all 12 episodes (4 discs) in the Collector's Edition Box Set.

Episodes

 * 1) War for Two (二人だけの戦争)
 * 2) Gundams in the Jungle (密林のガンダム)
 * 3) The Time Limit on Trust (信頼への限界時間)
 * 4) The Demon Overhead (頭上の悪魔)
 * 5) The Broken Order to Stand By (破られた待機命令)
 * 6) Battle Line on the Burning Sand (熱砂戦線)
 * 7) Reunion (再会)
 * 8) Duty and Ideals (軍務と理想)
 * 9) Front Line (最前線)
 * 10) The Shuddering Mountain, Part I (震える山(前編))
 * 11) The Shuddering Mountain, Part II (震える山(後編))
 * 12) Last Resort (ラスト・リゾート)