Comment on Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket (OVA) - What do you think of this one?
MelodiousFunk@slrpnk.net 3 weeks ago
@Endmaker@ani.social made some great points. This is one of the reasons I recommend watching in production order: to get that base of knowledge, tropes, tone, etc. before going back and getting the little bits of flavoring shows like 0080 provide.
to address your notes
Al is a kid, yes. He’s also a brat that is kind of used to doing what he wants. He’s selfish and lacks the larger perspective granted by experience. Lots of kids think they’re invincible until they learn otherwise. I don’t particularly like Al, but I do think he’s one of the more realistically portrayed children in the entire franchise. His classmates, though one-note and tropey, are up there too. As much as Al is a naive kid, Bernie is also just a kid. Older, yes. But he still felt the need to boast to an 11-year old. He’s an immature rookie put into an impossible position, made worse by his own insecurity. He’s played like a fiddle by his own side, and torn between playing the good soldier and not wanting to endanger Al. By the time he needs to be The Savior, Al’s childish optimism had won him over. At least externally. Part of him knew it was hopeless, but he acted anyway. And managed to put up a pretty good fight all things considered. Chris was more of a secondary character, akin to Bernie’s Cyclops teammates rather than a lead. This is a subversion of the trope of Gundam pilot = main character. She had just enough screentime to twist the knife of the tragic story arc. Would I have liked to see more? Definitely. But ultimately it’s not her story. It’s Al’s story. Bratty, spoiled little Al. The One Year War spawned countless tragedies, great and small. This was just one of them. Compounding that, Al would be recruitment age once Zeta happens. If he had managed to recover from PTSD by then, it very well might have sent him spiraling. It’s tragedy on every level.
There are also a few meta things going on. One, this is the first (animated?) story told primarily from the Zeon side. Today, not very remarkable. But in context of the day, it was a big shift.
I’m going to try and keep this light on actual spoilers for after 0080 but it’s hard to discuss otherwise:
This is a throwaway line in the show but the Alex
Was supposed to go to Amuro. Being a retcon, obviously he didn’t get it. But had the Cyclops team not been so dogged in their pursuit, the possibility exists that it might have been delivered before the end of the war. At that point, Amuro’s skills were off the charts, and he was casually picking off Doms and Gelgoogs like they were nothing despite having outgrown the RX-78’s abilities. He even had Char dead to rights, foiled only by the Zeong’s cockpit being in the head. Take a step back and imagine what Amuro could have achieved with the Alex. Or let Kakarot197 do it for you, if that’s your thing. Talk about changing the course of history.
And then there's the small matter of the Federation
Testing deployment of newtype machines. This is A Big Deal given later events.
Again, it all hits harder with context.
I’m not going to disagree about the soundtrack, just note that it’s relatively easy to place Gundam shows in a timeline based on the music. Usually it’s mostly the OP/ED, but 0080 embraced the aesthetic and ran with it. For a smaller story amongst grand narratives, it succeeded in changing the tone. It didn’t hold up particularly well, but as a product of its time it is what it is.
I’m glad you enjoyed it though. Looking forward to hearing your thoughts on future shows!