Mobile Suit Gundam: Record of MS Wars (review)

In UC 0078, the Principality of Zeon Musai class cruiser Brumel approaches Granada. Frederick Brown, a young mobile suit pilot trainee, is excited to see the new mobile suit Zaku II in action. The ship’s captain tells Brown that the future of warfare belongs to mobile suits. Brown and the other pilot candidates take a Launch down to Granada and report for their duty assignments. An officer assigns them to different teams and comments that Brown’s academic record is terrible. Brown recalls being teased for struggling at school and all the hard work he had to put in to get here, even though he was ranked at the bottom of his class. The next day, mobile suit training begins and Brown knows that Zeon is desperate to have mobile suit pilots for its inevitable war with the Earth Federation. Brown survives 10 months of intense training, although some of his comrades are killed in accidents in space. Brown is awarded the rank of cadet officer in the mobile infantry division of the Mobile Assault Force. His new teammates include commander Lt. Bulk and CPO Houndsman. One week after Brown joined the new unit, Zeon declared war against the Earth Federation and mobilized its troops for combat. The Bulk team launches and is tasked with delivering GG poison gas to a space colony that will be dropped on Earth. Brown, unaware of the true nature of their mission, is chided for asking if the civilians were evacuated. The gas pumps into the colony and starts killing civilians, which shocks Brown. The Bulk team then comes under attack from a Salamis class cruiser and moves in to return fire. The five Zakus easily take down the battleship, and afterward Brown is promoted to petty officer, second class. At the same time, the Federation is deep into the process of developing its own mobile suits.

Later, Brown wakes up from a nightmare at a military hospital in Granada. During the Battle of Loum, Brown’s Zaku took a direct hit from a Salamis’ main cannon, and he hovered between life and death for three days. Many months later, the Federation’s Operation V comes to fruition with the deployment of the Gundam, Guncannon and Guntank mobile suits. Brown attends a briefing on the Gundam and its mothership White Base, nicknamed “Trojan Horse” by the Zeon. As time passes, Brown is promoted to sergeant and word comes down that Earth Assault Force Commander Garma Zabi was killed in combat with the White Base. Brown’s team is sent to the Zanzibar to travel to Earth as reinforcements. Brown sees the new mobile suit Dom on the ship and meets Gaia, Mash and Ortega – the ace pilots known as the Black Tri-Stars. He mentions having fought alongside them at Loum, and they’re surprised someone as young as him isn’t a rookie. Gaia lets Brown try out the cockpit of the Dom, and he’s amazed by how its power readings compare to the Zaku. The Zanzibar enters the Earth’s atmosphere and Brown is unprepared for the harsh desert heat on the surface. He orders milk at a bar on a Zeon base and is mocked by another soldier. He slaps the soldier away and then gets knocked down. The soldier says that the infantry puts their lives on the line and that he can’t stand pampered mobile suit pilots. Brown then headbutts the soldier, but Bulk steps in to break up the fight. One week later, the Federation begins its assault on Odessa, with Brown’s team in the middle of the fight. They come under fire from a Big Tray land battleship, and Brown orders his subordinates Naumann and Model to break formation and return fire.

Brown’s team continues to attack the Big Tray, but a soldier with a bazooka blasts off the head of Naumann’s Zaku. He ejects from his Zaku just as the Big Tray stops moving from the damage sustained by its engines. They spot a Dragonfly plane attempting to take off and prevent its launch. Naumann draws his pistol on the pilot, a high ranking Federation pilot. Houndsman arrives and tells Brown that his team has to move out because their rear lines have collapsed to the Federation. Brown has Naumann and the prisoner get into his Zaku’s hand so they can all escape. After dropping off Naumann and the prisoner, Brown’s team hitches a ride on Dodai YS craft. They return to the frontlines and find many wrecked Zeon suits, and Brown watches helplessly as Bulk’s Zaku is destroyed by a beam weapon attack. Brown spots the Gundam and moves in to attack, managing to hit its shield with his heat hawk. Brown’s Zaku has its arm damaged by the Gundam, which then blasts Model’s Zaku. Brown reports to Houndsman that his Zaku is still intact, and he takes another go at attacking the Gundam. Houndsman slams into the Gundam, which recovers and uses its beam saber to slick off the legs of Brown’s Zaku. Brown is upset that he lost to the Gundam, but Houndsman opens his cockpit and informs him that Zeon lost badly. Their next move is to travel on foot until they reach a medical truck filled with wounded soldiers. With M’Quve escaping to space, the scattered Zeon forces on the ground become easy targets for the Federation. 

Following the defeat at Odessa, Zeon forces deploy for an attack on the Earth Federation’s Jaburo headquarters based on intelligence from ace pilot Char Aznable. Brown and Model have now been assigned Doms, and Brown thinks to himself that if they had them earlier, maybe Bulk would still be alive. Bulk was replaced as Brown’s commander by Gates, an officer who transferred in from the African front. Brown doesn’t like Gates, who gave an angry speech that they needed to emerge victorious at Jaburo, no matter the cost. Brown wonders where Naumann went, and Model says he’s probably brooding about still having to pilot a Zaku. Brown finds Naumann in a spell of homesickness as he looks at a photo of his mother. Naumann apologizes for being distracted, and Brown tells him he has to get through this because someone is waiting for him at home. He then realizes that he hasn’t even thought about how his own mother might be doing. Brown’s team then drops out of a Gaw, but Model is shot down during the descent. Brown lands on the ground and finds Naumann in a panic over Model getting killed. Gates yells at them for not attacking the enemy, and they come under fire from the Federation’s mass produced GM. Gates pushes Naumann forward and orders them to hold this position while he takes command from the supply depot. Brown yells at Naumann to have some pride as a pilot and says he’ll never protect his mother with that spirit. Naumann rushes forward and destroys a GM, but another appears and slices into his head with a beam saber. Brown’s bazooka is out of ammo, but the GM is destroyed from behind by Houndsman. Brown is upset that Gates has called for them to reinforce him, and he borrows Naumann’s machine gun. Gates is surrounded by GMs but is rescued by Brown and Houndsman. Brown drops off Naumann, and Gates punches him in the face for destroying valuable military property. Brown then moves to punch Gates in the face, but Houndsman stops him. Houndsman then punches Gates in the gut, and Gates vows that he’ll send Houndsman to a tribunal after the battle. Brown angrily asks what they’re fighting for and runs off. He launches in his Dom and vows that he’ll take on all of the Earth Federation. Brown fights off enemy forces until he’s targeted by a pillbox. However, Houndsman jumps in the way with his Dom and takes the damage instead. Brown pulls Houndsman out of his cockpit as he dies, and Houndsman tells him that a good soldier always maintains tactical awareness. He says the real terror is to kill from the hatred in your heart and that human life is sacred and must be preserved. Brown cries out in anguish when Houndsman dies, but he has no time to grieve due to incoming attacking GMs. Brown returns to his Dom but has lost his bearings in the chaos of the battle. However, he spots a nearby Komusai and is able to get to it. He then spots the Gundam fighting on the ground and is surprised that it was at Jaburo all along. Brown returns to space and pilots a Gelgoog at the Battle of A Baoa Qu, but his fate after the battle is unknown.