By The 08th M.S. Team travels through the jungle while on a mission. Riding inside the Bloodhound, Michel writes a letter to B.B. and asks if she ever had anyone in class who was hard to talk to. That’s how he feels right now riding with Sanders and wishes that Eledore were around. Inside the Gundam Ez8, Shiro checks his map and stops when he spots a long bridge up ahead that spans a wide river. He comments that they’ve reached the halfway point, and the team moves forward to cross the bridge. Unknown to them, a camouflaged Zaku is targeting them from the other side of the river, and another pilot is starting up his Gouf Flight Type. The Zaku opens fire and hits Karen’s Gundam Ground Type, causing it to hit the bridge deck and knock her unconscious. The Bloodhound is barely able to maneuver in time to avoid crashing into her. The Gouf Flight Type jumps into the air and fires at Shiro, but its ammo does no damage. Sanders gets onto the Bloodhound’s machine gun and complains that the area was supposed to be under EFF control. Several spotters with binoculars give aiming adjustments to the Zaku pilot as he prepares to fire the next round. The shot hits near Shiro, and he orders Michel to pull Karen out of her Gundam so they can retreat. The sniping Zaku is out of range from Shiro’s machine gun, and a nearby explosion knocks down Michel and Sanders. As the Gouf Flight Type opens fire again, Shiro turns his back to the enemy to shield Michel and Sanders. The Zaku pilot fires again when Shiro grabs Karen’s 180mm cannon, but Shiro is able to fire and take down the Zaku. He then turns his attention to the Gouf Flight Type, which dodges his fire and uses the bridge as cover to hide in. Sanders gives Michel a machine gun, and Michel gets an idea when he looks at a roll of wire. They quickly fashion a harness for Michel that he puts on before jumping over the side of the bridge. Since he’s able to see the Gouf Flight Type’s movements, he tells Shiro where it’s going to attack him from next. Shiro opens fire before the enemy can and destroys its Gatling gun, but he loses his machine gun in the process. Shiro ejects his weapon container and slams into the Gouf Flight Type, knocking it into the river. The enemy pilot tries to take off, but Shiro rushes in with his beam saber and stabs the cockpit. The Gouf Flight Type explodes, and Sanders pulls Michel up. Later, Michel thinks to himself that nothing changed between him and Sanders. Sanders awkwardly offers him a cigarette, but Michel says he’s too young to smoke. After Sanders leaves, Michel realizes that it was an attempt to socialize and runs out to bring him coffee.
Given the age of The 08th M.S. Team and the many Gundam productions that have followed it, I never expected to return to this series with new material. But here we are. Many things have changed since the last episode’s release in 1999, chiefly the animation process. 08th M.S. Team was produced in the old cel format, but it makes a nice transition to “modern” animation. The old 90s style character designs hold up just fine, and it’s nice to see the old voice cast back, although Karen strangely has no dialogue and is taken down almost immediately. The set up for this story is pretty basic – the team is ambushed, and Shiro has to adapt to fight an enemy that is using air, land and water – three dimensions. I was surprised by Michel’s crazy idea to jump off the bridge to spot the Gouf, which is uncharacteristically courageous of him. It’s also nice to see the Gouf Flight Type get to actually do something, because in the OVA it did nothing before getting blown up. Although the new material here only amounts to about six minutes, it’s a fun way to revisit the series and its characters.
Comments