Kidou Senshi Gundam: Dai 08 MS Shoutai

In year 0079 of the Universal Century, the Earth Federation initiates Operation Odessa—a full-scale assault to retake a major Ukrainian city from the Principality of Zeon. It is a success, and the remaining Zeon forces scatter across the globe. The Earth Federation gains the upper hand in the One Year War and deploys its ground troops around the planet to hunt down the stragglers.

As part of the deployments, Ensign Shiro Amada is transferred to Southeast Asia to take command of the 08th MS Team—a special squadron of RX-79[G] Gundam Ground Type pilots. In their first guerilla operation, Shiro's team is tasked with distracting the Zeon forces while Federation ground troops locate a mysterious new Zeon weapon. Everything goes according to plan until Shiro runs into Aina Sahalin, an ace Zeon pilot he met in an earlier battle, during a skirmish. Their reunion weakens his resolve to continue fighting, and now the young commander Shiro must prove his loyalty to the Federation—or be branded a traitor.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Amada, Shiro Main

Hiyama, Nobuyuki Japanese

Sahalin, Aina Main

Inoue, Kikuko Japanese

Joshua, Karen Main

Koyama, Mami Japanese

Ninorich, Michel Main

Yuuki, Hiro Japanese

Sanders Jr., Terry Main

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Massis, Eledore Main

Fujiwara, Keiji Japanese

Packard, Norris Supporting

Ichikawa, Osamu Japanese

Zabi, Gihren Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Rosita, Kiki Supporting

Nishimura, Chinami Japanese

Nickard, Jidan Supporting

Nagai, Ichiro Japanese

Maseba, Yutaka Producer

Yatate, Hajime Producer

Ueda, Masuo Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer

Reviews

Sep 4, 2025

theo1763

Recommended

Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team surprisingly caught me off guard in the sense that it was so different from the classic Gundam experience. Instead of massive space fleets clashing with one another or high-level political machinations, this OVA brings things down, in multiple senses, and focuses on a small group of pilots fighting one another in jungles and mountains. That shift of perspective made the whole series feel so much more realistic and earthy than most of the Gundam stories I've seen. You have a really good idea of the mud, the heat, and the fear of close, personal battle. Watching the 08th ... Team deal with ambushes, harsh terrain, and even working with local guerrillas gave me the vibe of a gritty war movie more than a space opera, and that change of pace is exactly what made it stand out for me.

The cast of characters was another strong point. Shiro Amada is a great lead, the kind of commander you’d actually want to follow. He's honest, positive, and genuinely interested in the people he's working with, even when things turn ugly. His relationship with Aina was my favorite thing about the show. Not only did it give the series an emotional core, but it also reminded me that there are good people on both sides of the battle. Aina specifically acted to make Zeon more human in a way I especially enjoyed. Her brother, Ginias, though, did not have the same impact on me since he went too far in playing the "mad scientist" characterization. Then there is Norris, who stole the series for me. He's a dignified and very capable pilot, and his climactic duel was hands-down the highlight of the series. Karen was also decent as the team's veteran, though I wished to have seen more of her. Kiki brought a fresh guerrilla perspective, but she and her crew didn't feel utilized. And then there's Michel. For real, he grated on me. With all the whining going on and getting sidetracked by letters home, he just seemed more obnoxious than lovable.

In terms of production, the show stands the test of time really well. The animation is not quite as strong as it was in Stardust Memory, but the battles are still great-looking, and the jungle and mountain landscapes add so much personality to the battles. The sound effects are sharp too, making the combat dense and menacing. The music fit in well with the series, though none of the songs really stuck with me after the ending credits. And finally, there are the voices. The Japanese cast absolutely aced it like they always do. Nobuyuki Hiyama, voicing Shiro, and Kikuko Inoue, voicing Aina, absolutely brought out the emotional depth of the story, and I couldn't possibly imagine them being voiced any other way now. The English dub was fine, but you can tell that it was marred by some ham-fisted translation choices and some patchy direction. It's not terrible, but compared to the level of sophistication in the Japanese productions, it was definitely a regression.

If I had to criticize, I'd complain that the pace in the middle can drag a bit, and some of the characters weren't developed enough. But overall, I loved 08th MS Team. I gave it a 7/10 because it added something different to the Gundam franchise, focusing on ground warfare and more tight, smaller-scale fights rather than the standard space show. The characters were memorable, the tone was gritty and realistic, and aside from having some weak spots, it made me realize how versatile Gundam storytelling can be. It might not be the best Gundam entry I’ve seen, but it’s definitely one of the most unique, and that’s why it left such a strong impression on me.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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May 23, 2023

Galletita

Mixed Feelings

The 8th MS Team is one of the most popular UC Gundam spinoff series, particularly due to its fluidly animated Mobile Suit battle sequences. And while the animation is definitely worth the praise, the 8th MS Team might not be as good as some diehard fans might regard it.

Compared to other UC spinoffs (War in the Pocket, Gundam Thunderbolt), this series has a longer runtime of twelve episodes and takes place mostly in Earth during the final months of the One Year War. The protagonist Shiro Amada, unlike the teen protagonists of the main UC series, is a fairly experienced Earth Federation ensign who is ... assigned as the commander of a ground division at the Far East front. One of the series most important developments take place at the beginning: while traveling to Earth from the space colonies, Shiro has a fateful encounter with the beautiful Zeon soldier Aina Sahalin and spares her life. After arriving to Earth, Shiro receives a hostile welcome from his new teammates, formed by two tragic war veterans and two inexperienced youngsters. Their first team operations are pretty rough, suffering mostly due to the team´s initial lack of communication and distrust on Shiro´s abilities as a commander. After lots of infighting mostly to help character development, the team gets to face the series´biggest threat: the return of Aina now as a pilot of an extremely dangerous experimental armor that puts the Federation´s advantage on Earth territory on risk.

Shiro´s reunion with Aina on the battlefield sets an important change on both the pace and tone of the series, now advocating for peace, Shiro and the team try their best at stopping the weapon´s development while trying to reason with Zeon foes with non lethal tactics and attacks. Aina, initially indifferent to the morality of her side´s actions, starts to question her orders and rebels against her superior and older brother. While star-crossed lovers from different factions is an usual trope present in most Gundam series, Shiro and Aina are one of the most proactive couples, actively pursuing each other on the later half of the series regardless of the consequences. Although the romance aspect of the series is present from the first episode, the development of Aina´s and Shiro´s relationship is extremely rushed. Having just shared a few words and tender moments, both characters fall madly in love with each other, becoming brassy and reckless and enforcing their own vision of pacifism.

While Shiro´s teammates get their fair share of character development and are overall likeable and relatable characters, the characters present on the Zeon faction are, for the most part, cartoonishly evil and terribly one dimensional, failing to give a realistic look on the struggles of said faction. One of the series´most interesting aspects is the showcase of non aligned civilian guerrillas, their focus episodes displaying a realistic portrayal of war. Even so, this gets overshadowed by the borderline cliche writing of later episodes and the cheesy love story.

Mobile Suit battles are very present in this series, their detailed animation being some of the best in the franchise. The battles portrayed are extremely gritty, while not being gruesome, displaying the particularities of Mobile Suit combat on Earth and ground support from tanks and such. Tactics inspired by guerilla fighting are also portrayed frequently, giving a fresh approach in comparison to other Gundam series. The mobile armor and main threat on the series is similar to other armors seen before in the Gundam series, but its absurd power level seems extremely unrealistic for this specific series and its realistic approach to battles.

On the sound department, the 8th MS Team has wonderful OP and ED themes fitting with the mild optimistic tone of the series. Sound effects are very well done and the Japanese voice acting is very good, especially for the members of Shiro´s team and Aina.

Overall, the 8th MS Team is a decent watch, especially worth it for fans of mechanical animation and UC completionists (though you can always watch the fight compilations on Youtube). While the plot is not offensively bad, the romance could´ve been handled better, as seen in the more subtle Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket. For non Gundam fans, this series might be hit or miss depending on how high are your expectations.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 31, 2025

BlernsballMVP

Not Recommended

Up front, I'll say that I'm in no way a Gundam fan. I'm watching the franchise for purely academic reasons-but that doesn't mean I can't give credit where it's due, as with the original 79 Gundam that had a lot of surprises in store for such an old show.

8th MS Team, though? Not much credit is due at all. The art and music is largely pretty good, the vocal perormances are adequate, and when the show tries to take its war stories seriously and in good faith, there's occasionally some good action or interesting ideas regarding how Mobile Suits work.
There's a lot more wrong with ... the show, though:some things endemic to the franchise as a whole, like the weak romance, the overt Zeon-sympathizing, and annoying comic relief characters, others unique to this entry, like the comicly one-dimensional villain or the protagonist peeping on a underage girl (in what is supposed to be a love story, remember!).

The real fundamental problem, though, is pacing. The first half or so of this 12 episode series is dedicated to character work, only to suddenly shift to all out plot and melodrama mode, concluding everything in the span of 4 or 5 episodes. It means that *nothing* is developed properly and everything is shallow and weird. The main antagonist, in particular, starts acting in ways that seem completely inexplicable.

Overall, 08th Team feels like a cliff notes version of other UC stories, with all the baggage that contains, and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who either isn't already a die-hard UC fan or who can't just zone out between the (somewhat sparse) mecha fights.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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