History Anime / MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam

* EarlyBirdCameo: Remember that PTSD flashback Shiro had of his colony being gassed by a Zaku I? [[AllThereInTheManual According to the]] ''Ghiren's Greed'' games Cima Garahau from ''Gundam0083'' was the pilot.

One of the most popular ''{{Gundam}}'' {{OAV}}s, ''Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team'' is a TwelveEpisodeAnime released in 1996 and 1999 and set [[DuringTheWar during the One Year War]] of ''MobileSuitGundam'' and ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0080WarInThePocket Gundam 0080]]''. The story centers on Shiro Amada, an eager young [[TheFederation Earth Federation]] officer, as he takes command of the titular mobile suit team. Notable among ''{{Gundam}}'' series for abandoning nearly all of the franchise's SuperRobot origins, thereby making it the [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness hardest scifi]] and most solidly RealRobot ''Gundam'' show to date. Eschewing the OneManArmy ace pilot protagonists in SuperPrototype Gundams of the main series, ''08th MS Team'' instead focuses on TheSquad doing their part in a much more localized conflict, just a small part of the larger war. With nary a [[PsychicPowers Newtype]] in sight, and the local Gundams being [[UsedFuture cobbled together out of spare parts]] instead of [[SuperPrototype ubermachines]], ''08th MS Team'' has a much different flavor than the average ''Gundam''.

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Director Takeyuki Kanda died during production, delaying the series by nearly three years, making it the Gundam OVA with the longest release schedule at the time (now second-longest behind ''GundamUnicorn'').

* {{Expy}}: Cool older pilot who took care of a young Zeon noblewoman when she was a kid, acts as a WorthyOpponent toward the hero, and pilots a Gouf... Are we sure Norris Packard isn't [[MobileSuitGundam Ramba Ral's]] lost brother? His English VA, Creator/MichaelMcConnohie, even voiced Ramba Ral in the dub of the MobileSuitGundam {{Compilation Movie}}s.

* ShoutOut: In the final episode, upon seeing a swan flying overhead, Michel claims that he "hates seeing beautiful things". This is a reference to Lalah Sune from MobileSuitGundam, who is associated with swan imagery.

* UsedFuture: While not a particularly good example overall, it's one of the few Gundam shows that attempt it at all. Instead of using pristine SuperPrototype Gundams, the main mecha are stopgap units built out of parts leftover from the project that developed the [[MobileSuitGundam original Gundam]], and they get rebuilt/repaired in a variety of unique ways thanks to a lack of spare parts. Attention is also paid to maintenance and upkeep, especially on long range missions where they're away from support facilities for extended durations.

The series begins with EnsignNewbie Shiro Amada en route to Earth, having just been assigned to command a mobile suit team. Along the way, he becomes involved in a battle and ends up [[EnemyMine working with an enemy pilot]] named Aina to survive after they're both stranded in space. Once he makes it to Earth, Shiro soon has his hands full, between having command of [[TheSquad the 08th MS Team]], dealing with [[LaResistance the locals]], unearthing his team's [[DeadLittleSister emotional]] [[SurvivorsGuilt issues]], and encountering Aina again. Meanwhile, the war heads towards its conclusion, with Aina's brother Ginias working on a project with the potential to win the war in a single stroke...

** BadassNormal: Basically the entire cast, given that [[PsychicPowers Newtypes]] are conspicuously absent from the series (barring the last episode, which [[DistantFinale doesn't really count]]).

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Director Takeyuki Kanda died during production, delaying the series by nearly three years, making it the Gundam OVA with the second-longest release schedule (GundamUnicorn has the longest release schedule.)

* {{Bishonen}}: Unsurprisingly, [[SissyVillain Ginias]] is the biggest embodiment of this trope, though Shiro, Eledore, and Michel are arguable as well.
* BittersweetEnding: In three stages, no less! At the end of the penultimate episode, [[spoiler: both Shiro and Aina are missing and presumed dead]] by the rest of the team, but a final shot reveals them [[spoiler: both alive, struggling to escape the battlefield, with Shiro missing the lower half of one leg and Aina suffering from some pretty nasty burns sustained earlier in the episode]]. The last episode is a semi-DistantFinale, taking place somewhere between a few months and a year or two later, and features [[spoiler: Michel, now an alcoholic (or at least something of a loser), meeting up with Kiki again to look for Shiro]]. After a somewhat bizarre series of events, the final scene shows them arriving [[spoiler: at a cabin in the woods, the new home of Shiro and Aina, with Aina being [[BabiesEverAfter visibly pregnant]]]].
** The game ''Gihren's Greed'' puts a new twist on this: [[spoiler: an ending involving the Supreme Victory of Zeon had some good consequences, one of them being Aina and Shiro living together, considering that the events of the show did not happen as mentioned above and that both pilots now live happily ever after.]]

** ContinuityNod: Fans have [[{{WMG}} speculated]] whether the Zaku gassing the colony in that sequence was piloted by [[{{Gundam0083}} Cima Garahau]], or at least a member of her unit. Later confirmed in one of the ''Gihren's Greed'' games, when a cutscene quickly pans from Shiro, cradling a gassed corpse, demanding to know who could do such a thing, to Cima in her Zaku, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone screaming that she was told it was knockout gas]].

* FanService: Kiki's introduction in the second episode features her swimming naked in a pool below a waterfall. The viewer [[NippleAndDimed gets a good few shots of Kiki's anatomically-correct breasts]]. Although, depending on the person, these scenes are done more as a [[ItsNotPornItsArt form of artistic expression than as a means of simplistic fanservice]]. Shiro didn't even get aroused when looking at Kiki naked, simply stating "she's pretty."

* LaserGuidedTykebomb: In the last episode, Michel and Kiki encounter a bunch of former Zeon kids who were quite obviously meant to be this. Subverted in that a) they don't know where to start and b) they don't really want to...
* MadScientist: Ginias begins the series as a relatively sane, if obsessive scientist. He starts going unhinged when rumors float around that Zeon may cut his funding in favor of some other project, and snaps completely when its simultaneously revealed to him that yes his funding and materials ''will'' be cut and seized, and that Aina is in love with a Federation pilot.

* MidSeasonUpgrade: Subverted by Shiro's Ez-8 and Karen's "GM Head". Instead of being a new and improved, more effective fighting machines, both examples are repair jobs designed to keep the units functioning and are not obvious improvements (though supplementary materials state that the Ez-8 has slightly better performance characteristics than a standard RX-79[G]). The "GM Head" had its original head (which was ''[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome punched off]]'') replaced by a head from a GM model, while the Ez-8 is a nearly complete rebuild of Shiro's machine after it was completely trashed. Both, however, admirably serve their primary purpose -- [[MerchandiseDriven selling more model kits]].

* SenselessSacrifice: Used multiple times to reinforce the fact that WarIsHell. Notable examples include [[spoiler:Kiki's village vs. Topp's Zaku team]], where ''neither'' side wanted any bloodshed but it ends with both sides decimated anyway, and [[spoiler:Norris Packard vs the 08th MS Team]], which is rendered moot by the actions of both side's superiors a few minutes later..

* VillainousBreakdown: Ginias, whose status as a villain in the beginning is debatable at best, but ends up completely AxCrazy in the end thanks to an arguable TraumaCongaLine. Some fans see him as a monster for his actions during it, though others think he deserves some sympathy and see him as more [[FreudianExcuse psychologically damaged]] than evil.

* CapuletCounterpart: Aina, for Shiro, [[spoiler:though she doesn't end up joining Shiro's side so much as both of them giving both sides the finger and going AWOL. Albeit not before she helps to destroy the Apsalus and kill her brother]].

* AuthorExistenceFailure: Director Takeyuki Kanda died during production, delaying the series by nearly three years.

* CapuletCounterpart: Aina, for Shiro, [[spoiler:though she doesn't end up joining Shiro's side so much as both of them giving both sides the finger and going AWOL]].

->''"Dig in!"''
-->--'''Creator/PeterCullen''', ''{{Toonami}}'' promo

* FanficFuel: Ginias's lightly-touched FreudianExcuse and what little backstory was given for him and his sister are just enough to get fans' word processors put to use on occasion. The fact that some fans think Ginias might've been an abused child (extrapolated from the implications of their family being dysfunctional and the belief that his breakdown was fueled by deep-rooted trauma instead of purely biological factors) doesn't help. Needless to say, Ginias probably has the greatest risk of becoming a DracoInLeatherPants out of the cast.

* {{Expy}}: Cool older pilot who took care of a young Zeon noblewoman when she was a kid, acts as a WorthyOpponent toward the hero, and pilots a Gouf... Are we sure Norris Packard isn't [[MobileSuitGundam Ramba Ral's]] lost brother? His English VA, MichaelMcConnohie, even voiced Ramba Ral in the dub of the MobileSuitGundam {{Compilation Movie}}s.

* BiggerBad: Ginias may be the series' BigBad, but the presence of the Zabi family (and especially [[CompleteMonster Gihren]]) can be felt throughout the show. Gihren's speech is broadcast in the first episode, portraits of both he and Degwin adorn the walls of Ginias' headquarters, the "Sieg Zeon" salute is given in front of said portraits, and so on and so forth. The Zabis essentially plays the same role in this show, as AdolfHitler will in almost any World War II movie.

* VillainousBreakdown: Ginias, whose status as a villain in the beginning is debatable at best, but ends up completely AxCrazy in the end thanks to an arguable TraumaCongaLine. Some fans see him as a CompleteMonster for his actions during it, though others think he deserves some sympathy and see him as more [[FreudianExcuse psychologically damaged]] than evil.

* {{Expy}}: Cool older pilot who took care of a young Zeon noblewoman when she was a kid, acts as a WorthyOpponent toward the hero, and pilots a Gouf... Are we sure Norris Packard isn't [[MobileSuitGundam Ramba Ral's]] lost brother? His English VA, MichaelMcConnohie, even voiced Ramba Ral in the dub of the MobileSuitGudnam {{Compilation Movie}}s.

-->--'''Peter Cullen''', ''{{Toonami}}'' promo

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotAwesome: Norris Packward walking alongside his Gouf Custom as they head out for combat. He's literally doing nothing but walking through the hanger, but they do their damnedest to make it really cool.

* AcePilot: Norris Packard. [[hottip:*: [[MemeticMutation He's an]] ''[[MemeticMutation ace!!]]'']]

* FanService: Kiki's introduction in the second episode features her swimming naked in a pool below a waterfall. The viewer [[NippleAndDimed gets a good few shots of Kiki's anatomically-correct breasts]]. Although, [[YourMileageMayVary depending on the person]], these scenes are done more as a [[ItsNotPornItsArt form of artistic expression than as a means of simplistic fanservice]]. Shiro didn't even get aroused when looking at Kiki naked, simply stating "she's pretty."

* TheLastStand: Norris considers his last fight against the 08th MS team to be this, and he is far from wrong.

* ATeamFiring: Poor Shiro suffers from a bit of this during the climactic battle with Norris. See MoreDakka, below.

* MoreDakka: [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] when Shiro attacks Norris by sliding down a building while firing all of the Ez-8's weapons, only to miss entirely. Norris even [[LampshadeHanging comments]] "Well, that ''looked'' impressive".

* ShootTheDog: [[spoiler:Shiro is forced to kill one of the Zaku pilots holding a village hostage after the vengeful guerilla villagers charged on the desperate pilot, who then killed them using an anti-personnel weapon.]]

* FreudWasRight: Let's just say that attentive viewers might not look at the Apsalus's mega particle canon the same way after watching episode 11. [[hottip:*: "Is that why you've built this iron womb around yourself?"]]

* {{Yandere}}: Ginias, and how.

One of the most popular ''{{Gundam}}'' {{OAV}}s, ''Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team'' is a TwelveEpisodeAnime released in 1996 and 1999 and set [[DuringTheWar during the One Year War]] of ''MobileSuitGundam'' and ''{{Gundam 0080}}''. The story centers on Shiro Amada, an eager young [[TheFederation Earth Federation]] officer, as he takes command of the titular mobile suit team. Notable among ''{{Gundam}}'' series for abandoning nearly all of the franchise's SuperRobot origins, thereby making it the [[MohsScaleOfSciFiHardness hardest scifi]] and most solidly RealRobot ''Gundam'' show to date. Eschewing the OneManArmy ace pilot protagonists in SuperPrototype Gundams of the main series, ''08th MS Team'' instead focuses on TheSquad doing their part in a much more localized conflict, just a small part of the larger war. With nary a [[PsychicPowers Newtype]] in sight, and the local Gundams being [[UsedFuture cobbled together out of spare parts]] instead of [[SuperPrototype ubermachines]], ''08th MS Team'' has a much different flavor than the average ''Gundam''.

''RomeoAndJuliet'' [-[[RecycledInSpace IN 'NAM]]-] with HumongousMecha.