History Anime / MobileSuitGundamThe08thMSTeam

* MundaneUtility: In Episode 9, Shiro used the beam saber of the Gundam to create a make-shift hotspring to keep him and Aina warm in the mountains. [[spoiler: This became a slight Foreshadowing in the last episode of the OVA when a group of ChildSoldier used that technique to create one from a heat axe from broken Zaku.]]

* PsychicPowers: There are almost no Newtypes to be found in this series. [[spoiler:Although the Zeon {{Child Soldier}}s who show up in the final episode are implied to be from the Flanagan Institute, their interactions creeping out Michel and Kiki.]]

* TheRemnant: The DistantFinale deals with a gang of Zeon {{Child Soldier}}s claiming that they're waiting for Zeon to come back to continue the war. [[spoiler:It's also implied that they're Newtypes from the Flanagan Institute, the same place Lalah Sune was brought to in the original series.]]

* MundaneMadeAwesome: 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.

* RealRobot: Probably the most so of any Gundam series to date. The mecha are portrayed entirely as mundane (if powerful) military weaponry rather than any sort of unique or special technology, and they even use reasonable military tactics like combined arms (the 08th Team consists of three mecha and a "hover truck" support unit, and later on they're teamed with an air wing of [[CoolPlane Jet Core Boosters]] and [[CoolTank Guntank]] artillery units for an assault on a major base).

* {{Samurai}}: Norris Packard definitely follows the theme. An honorable warrior, loyal retainer of an aristocratic family, follows orders without question despite his lord being either evil or insane, and ultimately chooses to die honorably in combat rather than retreat, surrender, or be captured? Yep, he's a samurai.

* AnimeAnatomy: Oddly, Aina's scene with Shiro in their improvised hot spring has this, but Kiki's introduction scene of her skinny dipping doesn't.

* ChekhovsBoomerang: Aina's watch, which Shiro ended up with after the first episode, which probably helped his growing romantic feelings for her. When he finally gives it back, it seems like it's finally served its purpose, until [[spoiler: it [[PocketProtector then saves Aina when she's shot by Ginias.]]]]

* EnergyWeapons: The 08th Team starts out equipped with [[LaserBlade beam sabers]] and gets equipped with [[FrickinLaserBeams beam rifles]] about halfway through the series. They still tend to carry a mix of weapons, though; typically the team has a beam rifle, a machine gun, and a {{BFG}}.
* EnsignNewbie: Shiro is the TropeNamer; Eledore (at least in the dub) refers to him as this.

* {{Foil}}: This series can count as one to the previous One-Year War OVA series, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory''. For starters, the former focused heavily on SuperPrototype Gundam units, with the battles fought mostly in space. This series is practically the opposite, with the Gundams in question being limited production MechaMooks, with most of the battles being fought on the ground.

* HighHeelFaceTurn: Aina, as the only prominent female Zeon character, is also the only one who ends up leaving them.
* HighPressureBlood: One of the weirdest examples out there, when Norris Packard stabs a ''tank''. Generally assumed to be [[JustifiedTrope hydraulic fluid or oil or somesuch]] (supported by the fact that it's pitch black when it erupts from the "stab wound"), but it's really obvious what effect they're actually going for.

* LatexSpaceSuit: All mobile suit pilots in space, as is typical for UC Gundam. Amusingly, Shiro wears his (rather than the much more comfortable fatigues that everyone else uses) during his first mission on Earth, and practically drowns in his own sweat because of it.

* RealRobot: Probably the most so of any Gundam series to date. The mecha are portrayed entirely as mundane (if powerful) military weaponry rather than any sort of unique or special technology, and they even use reasonable military tactics like combined arms (the 08th Team consists of three mecha and a "hover truck" support unit, and later on they're teamed with an air wing of [[CoolPlane Core Boosters]] and [[CoolTank Guntank]] artillery units for an assault on a major base).

* ShootTheDog: Shiro, when he's forced to kill enemy soldiers despite his obvious reluctance to do so.

* SilkHidingSteel: Aina, crossed with TheOjou.

* SoleSurvivor: Sanders, multiple times in the backstory. Every team he's been on has been wiped out, leaving him the sole survivor, on his third mission with that team. It's uncertain how many times this happened, but it was enough to give him a reputation for getting his teams killed, as people started nicknaming him "{{shinigami}}" (or "grim reaper" in the dub).

* SuperPrototype: A surprising aversion in the ''Gundam'' franchise: Shiro and company only use limited- or mass-production model mobile suits, with the only unique units they have being made that way in desperate attempts to repair battle damage. The Zeon forces do have one example in the Apsalus mobile armor.

* TryNotToDie: Shiro issues this order to his team, usually in the form of "come back alive!"

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

* 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 doesn't even react beyond simply stating "she's pretty". ''Kiki's'' reaction is a bit stronger -- her PervertRevengeMode involves firearms.

* PetTheDog: During "Duty and Ideals", one of the lost Zeon pilots gives a village girl an object made from a machine gun shell as a gift. The photograph in his Zaku's cockpit is likely meant to imply he himself is a father, so this behavior is especially understandable.

** To be fair, said arm was disabled, so it's not like he was going to be able to use it anyways.

* FreezeFrameBonus: If you pause at just the right time during the Apsalus III's start up sequence, it's apparently running alot of mid-90s software and hardware including both an AMD K6 and Cyrix 6x86MX all Microsoft's DirectX.

In 1998, a compilation movie, called ''Miller's Report'', was released, focusing on Shiro's court martial in episode 8 of the series. This movie was never released in North American theaters, but is available on DVD, and scenes from the movie were spliced in with episode 8 in the 2001 {{Toonami}} broadcast. In 2013, a short film, ''Battle in Three Dimensions'', was bundled with the Blu-Ray box set ([[Anime/GundamBuildFighters Ricardo Fellini]] really liked it).

* MundaneUtility: In Episode 9, Shiro used the beam saber of the Gundam to create a make-shift hotspring to keep him and Aina warm in the mountains. [[spoiler: This became a slight Foreshadowing in the last episode of the OVA when a group of ChildSoldier used the technique on broken Zaku that was taught by Shiro.]]

* SissyVillain: Ginias, whose slight frame, {{Bishonen}} looks, emphasis on scientific achievement over martial prowess, and his [[SoapOperaDisease chronic illness]] make him less than manly. This is especially evident in contract to Yuri, a BoisterousBruiser frontline commander.

* MundaneUtility: In Episode 9, Shiro used the beam saber of the Gundam to create a make-shift hotspring to keep him and Aina warm in the mountains. [[Spoiler: This became a slight Foreshadowing in the last episode of the OVA when a group of ChildSoldier used the technique on broken Zaku that was taught by Shiro.]]

* {{Yandere}}: Ginias, and how. [[http://fuckyeahyanderes.tumblr.com/post/14544891634/ghinius-sakhalin-also-spelled-ginias Some actually consider him]] one of the first male yanderes ''ever'' in anime.

* {{Badass}}: Norris Packard, a Zeon AcePilot who pulls off feats of piloting that run the spectrum from extremely unlikely (like successfully predicting -- and dodging -- fire from enemy units that he can't even ''see'') to physically impossible (like using a built-in GrapplingHookPistol to suspend his ~60 ton mecha from a rusty abandoned rooftop water tank) to outright PlotArmor (such as beginning his climactic fight with the 08th Team by bursting from an underground elevator to [[IHaveTheHighGround pose dramatically atop an abandoned building]], leaving himself entirely in the open without any sort of cover for a good 30 seconds, without getting shot to pieces by a numerically superior enemy who were warned of his arrival and aware of his position). And he makes it look ''awesome''.

* ColonelBadass: Norris Packard holds the naval rank of captain, equal to an army colonel. He is also a {{Badass}}.

Like most ''Anime/{{Gundam}}'' shows, ''08th MS Team'' has appeared repeatedly in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars''; it debuted in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars64'', and has since appeared in ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAdvance A]]'' (and ''[[UpdatedRerelease A Portable]]''), ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact2 Compact 2]]'' (and ''[[UpdatedRerelease Impact]]''), ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsGC GC]]'', and, most recently, ''OE''.

* {{Foil}}: This series can count as one to the previous One-Year War OVA series, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory''. For starters, the former focused heavily on SuperPrototype Gundam units, with the battles fought mostly in space. This is is practically the opposite, with the Gundams in question being limited production MechaMooks, with most of the battles being fought on the ground.

* {{Foil}: This series can count as one to the previous One-Year War OVA series, ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory''. For starters, the former focused heavily on SuperPrototype Gundam units, with the battles fought mostly in space. This is is practically the opposite, with the Gundams in question being limited production MechaMooks, with most of the battles being fought on the ground.