Welcome to Gundam Plus II, the successor to the original Gundam Plus site.
Episode 1
It’s been a while since I’ve watched 0080 so I wonder if I’ll like it as much as I remember. Scary thought time as I watch the title with the year it was made…in 2 years the series will be 20 years old. Scary eh?
We start off with the Glob Glob of a sub travelling underwater alerting Cyclops Unit to be ready for launch. We also now the Zeon symbol on the sub so we know it’s something against the Feddies. When they do launch we discover they’re all in Gogg’s, well…modified Gogg’s. That’s cool, because I think the Gogg is one of the neater MS units in the Gundam universe. As the squad leader is given out the basic orders and going over their attack plan we get a look at the various members and see bits of their personality i.e. – pretty boy, guy into porn, drunkard, etc.
As the Gogg’s leave the water we see that we’re in the arctic area as there’s ice all over the surface. Now the attack on the Feddie base begins and I have to say, the animation here is top notch. Looks like the base has some sort of special cargo as the Fed troops are more worried about getting that onto a shuttle than actually fully defending the base. That being said, some GM’s are scrambled to stop our Zeon friend’s. Cool scene here where one of the GM’s had its hand shot off and the gun keeps firing so it spins and shot the GM apart. Looks like Cyclops’s Unit are Vets or Aces as they are easily taking apart the GM’s.
Seems our friends are after the “cargo” we saw earlier as they are searching the base for it. They run into trouble as a GM is doing a good job of guarding the shuttle port and manages to take out on of the Gogg’s in the process. It looks like the “Pretty boy” who we learn is named “Andy”. As he falls, Andy’s rocket launcher fires and knocked the leader of the unit into the space port just as the Shuttle blasts off into space. So close and yet so far away. We now see the aftermath of the battle, including the unit leader emoting over the death of Andy.
Episode title comes up: “How many miles to the battlefield?” We get the opening song for the series along with some neat animation of space and taken to one of the space colonies. We see how peaceful said colony is during the song and opening credits as we follow some kids play fighting and the what not during their daily life on their way to school. We focus in on one kid in his classroom drawing a zaku. Ohh those crazy kids of the future. The girl behind him fibs him out to the teacher. Typical female pulling that sort of crap. I had the same happen to me in grade 5 when I was doodling instead of doing my math work and the girl behind me fibbed me out but I digress.
We see the child in question is named is “Al” and look to be your average grade school kid. Seems Al’s and his friend’s have crappy lunches due to the war and lack of supplies and what not. Boys being boys start going on about one of their pal’s brother having a feddie pin because he’s a mobile suit pilot. Of course, the gal from before walks by and says that the federation doesn’t have mobile suit pilots. Ummm…then who does the one guy have a pin? Stupid know-it-all girls. This leads to an argument where Al claims he has seen a feddie mobile suit but sadly has no “actual proof”. The girl calls them liars and one of Al’s friend’s garbs her she kicks him in the groin. Ouch. Al then attacks the girl and they start to fight in which Al and his pal gets in trouble while the girl cries her way out of it. I’ve seen that happen many times and the woman’s rights group wonder why guys don’t take them seriously when they pull this sort of crap. The boys appear to have a plan to get proof as Al runs home to pick up something (looks like a camera) before heading to the space port. And we hear the plan as Al is travelling on the streetcar, get photos at the space ports of feddie mobile suits and Al will get the one guys pin. Sounds like a good deal to me though I would have held out for a few draft picks.
Al gets to the space port and after getting his pass, he sneaks off in hopes of finding a mobile suit. What we spots is the same cargo container we saw earlier being unloaded at this port. The container is marked “Nt1”…hmmmm…are you pondering what I’m pondering Pinky?
I think so Brain but wouldn’t changing the end of Zeta screw up ZZ?
Not now Pinky, that’s another day. Back to the ep, Al continues to poke around a bit not happy he can’t find a mobile suit. He gets caught and says he’s looking for the bathroom for which the workman sends him off to. Great security you’ve got there. Just as the screen starts to fade out we see the container open up and something Gundam looking is inside. Hmmmmmmm. Now we’re with Al as he’s met up with his father and they’re talking about school and other stuff. Al doesn’t look too happy here as his Father asks him to give his mother a letter. I hope it’s not a “Dear Jane” letter, wouldn’t that suck? As he’s walking back to his house he bumps into his neighbour, Christina McKenzie who is just returning form Earth and clearly older than Al. We see as she starts to unpack that she has a Federation uniform packed and she tells Al she’s doing “Government work”. Hmmmmm. The scene ends with them catching up and drinking tea. Al returns home and gives his mother the letter which she isn’t pleased to see. Oh man, maybe it really is a “Dear Jane” letter. Al is back to being sulky and pissed off. Jeez kid, you didn’t see a MS, there’s already tomorrow, no need to get all emo about it.
Al is awaken by his alarm is opens his blinds and grabs his binoculars and starts looking at Christina. Damn, he’s a peeping perv but then again, if I had a neighbour that looked like her I’d probably take a peek too. She spots him and they joke about it but I guess being his age she doesn’t see it as being an issue. They walk for a bit while AL moans about how he hates school and then Al takes off. As Al gets to school and takes about the past days events with his friends there’s a big explosion in the distance. At this point the kids spot a GM that then gets shot up by a Zaku. Once again, the animation here as the Zaku and now a Dom looking MS are fighting the GM’s in the city is amazing. The people who worked on SEED should watch this and take note for their future projects. Al and his friend’s are all amazed by this even as a damaged Zaku lands less than 5 feet away form them. As the Zaku flies over the school Al takes off after it. He finds the fallen Zaku in a nearby park and heads to it, camera in hand. He gets close to it and starts taking pictures with his camera and as he’s taking pictures he posts the pilot of the zaku through his camera standing on the unit with a gun pointing at Al.
Final Thoughts: Definitely different and it started to bog down a bit in the middle but now things get interesting at the end. What will Al do? Will the Zaku pilot shoot Al or take him hostage? And what does Christina have to do with all of this? Al is a tad annoying but he’s at least as close to what a kid his age is suppose to act instead of being a whiny teenager a-la Kira Yamato. As noted through, the animation is top notch and really shows that some of the old ways are still the better ways. Good start for the series and definitely worth checking out.
