On November 6, UC 0079, Principality of Zeon ground forces roll through an abandoned town in Romania on the Eastern European front of the war with the Earth Federation. Unbeknownst to the Zeon forces, Earth Federation Forces soldiers lie in wait and spring a surprise attack on them M61A5 Tanks. The Zeon convoy attempts to fall back, but several Magella Attacks are destroyed. The Zeon forces are boxed in when additional EFF tanks attack from the rear. A Zeon Major panics as soldiers desperately call for backup. The Major calls a Gaw overhead to request mobile suit backup. The Red Wolves team, commanded by Iria Solari, prepares to drop from the Gaw and join the battle. The Gaws take fire from the ground, so Dopp fighters move in to assist. The Red Wolves Zakus jump out of the Gaw just before it explodes. On the ground, a chaotic battle ensues as the Zeon forces scatter in confusion. Dopps open fire on the EFF gun emplacements, and the Zakus deploy parachutes to slow their descent. EFF Saberfish fighters bombard the Zeon ground forces and then turn their attention to the Zakus, targeting their parachutes. The Red Wolves return fire and destroy two Saberfishes before landing on the ground and attacking the tanks. With the arrival of the Zakus, the tide of the battle starts to turn in favor of the Zeon forces. Solari kicks an attacking tank, and everyone relaxes when the EFF units pull back. The Red Wolves take point as the Zeon convoy starts moving again. Ground soldiers check an abandoned EFF building, and the Major reports over radio that they’ve seized the Cluj-Napoca Base. Ony Kasuga, a doctor with the neutral UMRC organization, treats a wounded Zeon soldier. The soldier asks Kasuga if he’s ever seen a Zaku up close like this, and Kasuga answers that he hasn’t, but he has seen their handiwork. The soldier says that while the Zakus are weapons of war, they saved his life today. Solari dismounts from her Zaku and joins the rest of her team. Reid “Chubs” Ghelfi comments on Solari’s last kill and jokes that with that footwork she might be better suited to a soccer field than a battlefield. The Major tells Solari that her reputation is well deserved and he orders his mechanic, Johnson, to have her Zakus ready for combat by morning. He adds that their “contributions” to the battle will be noted in the record, and after he leaves, Chubs complains that their team saved all of them.
Solari asks Johnson about supplies, and Johnson answers that they have Zaku Tanks and multiple trucks coming in with supplies. Johnson adds that he agrees with Chubs and thinks they would’ve been dead without the intervention of the Red Wolves. As the Zeon flag is draped over the captured base, the Major addresses his troops and claims this is a great victory in the war. He says that there were heroes in the battle, but he’s cut off when his own troops start cheering for the Red Wolves. The Major continues speaking and says with reinforcements they’ll be able to chase off the EFF. He declares that Zeon will spread across the Earth to the cheers of his soldiers. As night falls, the Red Wolves huddle around a fire for warmth. Kale Zavaleta hates the rations they have to eat, and Chubs adds that he doesn’t know if the smell of the rations or the forest is worse. Kneeland LeSean complains that he thought he was dying of some Earth virus, but it was just allergies. Solari interrupts their complaint session and says they fight because those are their orders. LeSean asks Solari if something is bothering her, and she answers that she has a bad feeling right now. Chubs jokes about stories that the surrounding forest is haunted. Solari walks through the camp and hears a high pitched whine just before the area is rocked by explosions. She gets up and sees EFF tanks rolling in and attacking. She hears another whine ahead of more explosions and spots the EFF’s Gundam EX mobile suit in the distance. The Major orders her to launch her suits, so she runs toward her Zakus. She yells at the team to launch and prepare to engage an EFF mobile suit. Zaku Tanks roll out to return fire against the EFF tanks. Solari destroys two tanks and issues orders to her team. Solari and Chubs move to engage the Gundam EX, but Chubs is killed instantly when the Gundam EX fires its beam rifle. Zavaleta snipes the Gundam EX, but its heavy armor is unaffected. It then jumps over and kicks Zavaleta’s Zaku before punching through its cockpit and killing him. LeSean tries to attack with a heat hawk, but the Gundam EX severs his arm and slices off his legs. The Gundam EX then charges toward Solari but stops when it comes under fire from Zaku Tanks. Solari scans the area for additional weapons as the Gundam EX chases the Zaku Tanks. She grabs a bazooka and fires it, but it doesn’t damage the Gundam EX. Solari rams into the Gundam EX when it gets close, but it uses its Gatling cannon and beam saber to take down her Zaku. Through a crack in her cockpit, she sees the Gundam EX approaching with its beam saber drawn.
This ONA series takes us back to the One Year War yet again, but in a slightly different way. Created by a mostly Western team using Unreal Engine 5, it bears more than a passing resemblance in style to MS IGLOO (especially with the awkward character animation). Although Unreal Engine 5 has powered virtual sets on series like The Mandalorian, it’s a bit off here in terms of how characters look and move. This was also an issue with MS IGLOO 20 years ago, so it’s a bit disappointing to see that pop up again here. As far as the story goes, it focuses on a Zeon Zaku team in Eastern Europe led by Iria Solari. None of her team really sticks out much as characters, which means their deaths ring empty when the Gundam EX begins its destructive rampage. There isn’t much exposition relayed about the One Year War, so this series already expects you to be a hardcore fan coming into it. Where it does excel is in depicting the Gundam EX as an unstoppable killing machine that the Zakus can’t compare to. Sure, we did see some of that in the original Mobile Suit Gundam, but that was all from Amuro Ray’s perspective. So far, Requiem for Vengeance is interesting enough, but it hasn’t done anything yet to really stand out.
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