Review by Chris

March 1, 2002

Federation intelligence officer Alice Miller arrives at the Federation's Southeast Asia base and examines the captured wreckage of the Apsalus. Shiro is brought to her in handcuffs, and Alice has him released. She brings him coffee and asks him what happened in his last battle. She says that his story contradicts the data they have, and it is quite probable he is a spy. Alice says Shiro pretended to fight the enemy and left with them to deliver top secret data on the Gundam. After an accident prevented him from escaping with the Zeon, he called the Federation for help. Alice says that is what the senior command believes, and Shiro thinks that is ridiculous. She says she can help change their minds if he tells her the truth. Shiro tells her about how he and the rest of the 08th Team ambushed the Apsalus in the desert to capture it. When the Apsalus broke free of the netting and attacked Michel, Shiro rammed into it to drive it away. The Apsalus then slammed his Gundam into the canyon and severely damaged it before taking off. Alice asks Shiro what happened next, and he tells her he worked with the Zeon pilot to survive. She knows that the pilot was Aina and asks what she means to him. Shiro tells her about how he first met Aina in space and they worked together to get rescued. He then tells her how they worked together again to survive in the harsh cold weather. They were alone for an extended period until Zeon Dopp fighters and Federation Core Boosters begin fighting near them. When a Gunperry attempted to launch a GM to capture the Apsalus, Aina self-destructed it and escaped. Alice tells Shiro that doesn't look good because if he had killed Aina they could have captured the Apsalus intact. She says he allowed Aina to escape twice, and he explains he doesn't want to kill needlessly. Alice says that's a lie and the reason is because he is in love with her. Shiro admits that he loves Aina, and Alice laughs because she has his confession on tape now.

Shiro's court-martial begins, and the rest of the team has a drink at the base's bar. Michel mentions that the pilot Shiro was with was a woman named Aina, and they tell him to keep that to himself. As Shiro's court martial ends, Captain Isan Ryer asks him if he feels he can shoot the enemy now. Shiro says he isn't sure, and the panel decides to confine him to the base. As Shiro looks at the wreckage of his Gundam, Alice tells him that the enemy likes to use women to lure in simple-minded people like himself. She tells him she once knew someone who had mercy on an enemy and was betrayed. Elsewhere, Zaku pilots Topp, Arth and Dell come to Kiki's village and demand food. At the bar, the 07th Team laughs at the 08th Team and passes on the word that the guerilla village is being occupied. Michel and the others tells Shiro, and he orders them to move out. Karen buys a dispatch order from Jidan so that Shiro doesn't get into trouble. Arth causes trouble when he picks up Kiki and throws her aside. The guerillas think she is dead and begin attacking the Zakus. Shiro lays traps for the Zakus, and Dell blows up Baresto's house as he tries to escape. Shiro wants to save the village and the Zaku pilots, and the villagers think he's crazy. Shiro disables Topp's Zaku, and Sanders destroys Dell's with his beam rifle. Shiro tries to convince Topp to surrender, but she panics when guerillas approach and fires antipersonnel charges that kill the guerillas. Afterwards, Shiro is brought before Kojima for disobeying orders. Kojima says that since he destroyed the Zakus, he will give Shiro one more chance. He says his team will have to go behind enemy lines and locate the Zeon base or be imprisoned. As the team prepares to move out, Eledore returns and sees Alice pointing a gun at Shiro. She tells him the Zeon are terrorists and that he must kill as many as he can. He says she is the one who was betrayed, and he vows to fight in his own way. Alice shoots the gun near Shiro's head and says he will die. The 08th Team takes off in a Medea transport plane to begin their next mission.

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.

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Buy this movie on DVD or the Collection (1-12, Movie) from DVD Empire

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