Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
ElasticoGomez
This actually blows. I only ever felt bored or angry while watching this. Except for the 1st episode, which is the only decent one. If it had stopped there the 08th MS Team wouldn't have been too bad a show.
First of all, the main selling points of "Gundam but Vietnam" or "the most grounded Gundam" surrounding this OVA are utterly wrong, unless a story taking place in jungle terrain for a handful of the episodes counts as being just like Vietnam...? The main cast are dopes and tolerable at best, insufferable at worst (looking at you Michel). They are all uninteresting as people, and are not developed further than maybe a couple flashbacks or references to their past. Some of the episodes revolved around the main team trying to get along and work together, but this never adds up to anythin…
Read at the sourceFrousties
Gundam 8th MS Team is a pretty good entry, despite its flaws and lack or relevance to the lore.
We follow a group of mostly regular people thrown into the grittier and less glamorous parts of war, following much smaller operations with almost négligeable impact. However we get to see a very different side of the One Year War during it, and even getting to encounter guerilla soldier, fleshing out the civilian part of the world that never really got explored much.
The battles are much slower and deliberate, showing how awkward and clumsy mobile suits really are when grounded and not piloted by #1 Newtype guy.
The characters are generally pretty likeable, some of them having clear reasons to win the war and go back home, which makes for compelling character moments. Though they tend to los…
Read at the sourceleaoviril
First of all, a anime should be evaluated for what it is, not for what it should be.
Gundam 08 MS Team It is often the target of recurring criticisms: its romance is said to be rushed, its secondary characters underdeveloped, and its approach to war superficial. However, these criticisms reveal less about flaws in the work and more about a misalignment between expectation and purpose.
To evaluate Gundam 08th MS Team with the same criteria applied to long or epic narratives like Mobile Suit Gundam is to ignore its essence. This work does not attempt to be a grand panorama of war, but rather a specific, intimate, and limited picture. And it is precisely within these limitations that its strength lies with a commander trying to survive as he returns home with his squad.
Romance here doesn'…
Read at the sourceanotherburnedfox
"Dai 08 MS Shoutai" es una de esas entradas de Gundam para mucha gente, y en general es una serie de ovas que se disfrutan mucho desde lo audiovisual. La animación, especialmente en las escenas de acción, está muy cuidada, los combates con mobile suits son claros, contundentes y transmiten bien el peso mecánico y el peligro del conflicto, algo que siempre se agradece dentro de la franquicia, y no encontrarás nada en CGI aquí.
Los personajes, ciertamente no son demasiado complejos ni profundos, pero son personajes que cumplen su función con solvencia. Son carismáticos, reconocibles y funcionan bien dentro del tono de la serie, lo que hace que sea fácil seguirlos y empatizar con ellos sin necesidad de grandes desarrollos psicológicos. La dinámica del escuadrón está bien llevada y aporta un…
Read at the sourcetheo1763
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…
Read at the sourceUmb3rus
I do recommend this anime, and quite liked it, though it has it's issues.
The setting is quite interesting, following adult soldiers in a ground-offensive is a nice change of pace from the usual child-soldiers-in-space that Gundam usually has. And the characters also suffer psychologically enough, as is to be expected from a Gundam show.
The fights are nice and grounded, literally most of the time, and you can really feel the weight of these machines.
The characters are also, mostly, well written, and their dynamic is very believable.
The problem comes with the shortness of the show. The developing of relationships does feel a bit rushed, and the characters do not rarely behave in illogical ways. If the anime had 25 episodes it could have properly explored all the character dynamics. An…
Read at the sourceRealkaku
The 08th MS Team is one of the best Gundam series I've ever watched. It brings the war to ground level, literally, and focuses on the struggles of regular soldiers rather than ace pilots or political leaders.
The tone is realistic and gritty, featuring intense ground battles and impressive attention to detail. The mobile suit combat feels raw and weighty, while the jungle setting offers a unique atmosphere that sets it apart from other Gundam shows.
What makes this series special is its emotional depth. The characters feel genuinely human, and their relationships are complex yet believable. It illustrates the cost of war, not just on the battlefield, but also on the people involved.
Even though it's a short series, it delivers a powerful and memorable experience from start to finish.
Read at the sourceGrandrave
A great starter for a newbie of gundam, Great story, simple, art still drawn most of it manual, politic were also simple not soo much not tos little, weapon and MS also MA is great.... You should begin your gundam story here... There is a romance.. in art of mechanic, romance between two character were also include in this series... This for me is a masterpiece and an excellent way to getting know about gundam and understanding of how a series of Gundam suppose to be, start from here...
Main character is already developed you don't need to see someone change, the struggle of trust between character is the key of the story it's the most realistic and amazing too see an anime where an effort doesn't betray you. War struggle is included there is so many anime not just anime a gundam series w…
Read at the sourceBlernsballMVP
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-dimension…
Read at the sourceInter_anime
The show Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team (here after to be referred to as "The 8th MS Team") has received critical and fan praise and is oftentimes referred to as one of the better if not the best of the Gundam series. At the time of writing this series has a average score on MAL of 8.01 and is bested only by Gundam 00 and Iron-Blooded-Orphans among the Gundam series. But does the 8th MS Team deserve such praise?
Taking place during the universal century timeline, like most other Gundam shows this deals with the conflict between the Earth Federation and their Mobile Suits against the Principality of Zeon and their mechs. A key difference from most other Gundam series which tend to be space based is that excluding the first episode, this series takes place exclusively on earth, offeri…
Read at the sourceAnemoianArts
8th MS Team certainly stands as being one of my favorites of the Gundam franchise that I consider to be a great companion to War in the Pocket. It has the maturity to analyze the nature of conflict in a very sobering way, but didn't set out to emotionally wreck me - which is something that I can appreciate. No, instead this series stands to highlight a very hopeful message and really sell it in the context of the story, which has a very tragic narrative backdrop.
The animation is stellar. Fighting seems very grounded and realistic, by nature of the mechs being on the ground for the majority of the series and not in space. Each battle ends up being very destructive, with buildings and forestry crumbling beneath heavy gunfire and explosions.
The story is something that I can get behind. T…
Read at the sourceEgoistfan1
A great Gundam show. Like the previous OVAs, this one is different in tone compared to main series. It follows a squadron in the midst of the One Year War, the same setting for the previous OVA series as well. It is unique in that it focuses more on the everyday actions of regular Federation soldiers without being focused on a Gundam pilot saving the world (though that changes somewhat in the last few episodes when we reach the climax and of course the heroes have to confront the villain). It's more gritty and down-to-earth than other series in Gundam, and the closest thing to it is the highly-acclaimed War in the Pocket. There's a strong emphasis on maintenance of the Gundams, and the battles seems much dirtier than normal. Also at the center of the plot is a Romeo and Juliet-type romance…
Read at the sourceEldencheese
This show started with a great premise vietnam with giant robots and a romeo and juliet subplot but no the romance between the those characters is used in 3 episodes max. and the nam with giant robots amounts to 2 mechs just standing there shooting eachother but every 5 seconds lets show the pilots grunting (i get thats 90's mecha but still). the ending is bad. the side characters are underused. the op and ed is mid. and the fanservice is so out of place the show is like "look at that pinup in the corner BOOOOOOOOBIES" im just like idc i want gaint robots. is this worth watching no, at least not for me i'm not a gundam die hard (iv'e seen a couple of them) but the first 3 or 4 ish episodes are good at least like a 6/10 but the show it's self is like a 3/10. wow this is the only negative re…
Read at the sourcewhiteflame55
It's idealism meets the brutal realities of war in this series, and surprisingly, it worked pretty well for me. What started off as a sort of star-crossed lovers story turned into an Earth-based battle between Zeon and the Federation with both sides featuring their share of dudes willing to do whatever it takes to come out on top. There's also a fair share of more honorable people on both sides, but they come in various shades of gray... at least at first. Yeah, there's not a lot of gray by the end - people largely fall on the light or dark sides of the coin, and there's not a lot of room in between. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does mean there's not a lot of depth to the moral conflict. There's more to the actual combat between these two sides, and given where this resides o…
Read at the sourceGalletita
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 colonie…
Read at the sourceplayer_me
I’m not a huge Gundam dan in general. I thought ironblooded orphans was fantastic but some of the older series seem to lose their purpose on me. Despite that I really enjoyed 08th team despite its flaws.
Where the anime goes right. I great action packed high quality animated Gundam with plenty of fun action. The fights have a sense of grounding to them which makes them very enjoyable and they are all animated superbly especially for the age of the anime. While the style will show this anime’s age the animation it’s self does not. Following a ragtag squad of pilots going about their missions while not necessarily being the linchpin of every major battle really works for me as I feel like I’m really watching what a squad of troops in war would experience.
Where the anime goes wrong. Every…
Read at the sourceRitoDeviluke
**SUMMARIZED REVIEW** go further down for in depth review
STORY [6/10 ]-All in All the story is fair, I don't see it as a masterpiece but it was good enough that it didn't take away from the show as a whole.
ART[7/10]-The Art style I feel is Good. The animation is crisp and clean especially for the time period.
SOUND [5/10]- The soundtrack is not bad by any means but I cannot find myself rating it any better than just average/mediocre, not memorable and not a selling point for the show in my opinion.
CHARACTER [7/10]- Some of the characters designs do come off as plain and it is clear that most of the time went into designing Aina and Shiro look really well together but overall there isn't much to complain about in this category.
ENJOYMENT [9/10]- personally this was one of the mo…
Read at the sourceShellshock123
Mobile Suit Gundam: The 08th MS Team Review. Somewhat underwhelming considering the popularity of Gundam.
This series contains some spoilers till Episode 6 (Roughly). Because thats how long it takes for the main plot to start back up again.
MS Team is about a group of soldiers and there commander Shiro (The MMC) and the enemy's commander's younger sister Aina (The FMC). They originally meet in the first episode and are nice to each other despite being on the opposite ends and trying to kill each other just moments earlier. Surprised at the humanity from each other they promise to meet again and stuff. Now with that interesting start out of the way we are now going to sharp left turn and develop characters no one is going to give a shit about. This series starts decently enough but we get…
Read at the sourcealgoPotaku
I think in this anime gundam makes it not look like a gundam series. To what I mean, you always have a very young protagonist, with deficiencies and for one thing or another they are dragged into war. Here we see a captain who is the ace of the unit, of all the protagonists that I saw in the saga I believe that this is the worst pilot. He was not leading his team, I find it very interesting how the series breaks the typical scheme. We also see a happy ending that there is practically never in the gundam universe that I liked.
The animation is decent for the time, it could be better but it doesn't bother your eyes. The soundtrack meets and the character design does too. There is nothing that stands out above average, but it is still an entertaining gundam series. I can not recommend it beca…
Read at the sourceuWuDesuWooWoo
I come from Seed, Destiny and 00.
Too much melodrama, tropes everywhere, politics makes basically no sense. World War 1 trench warfare makes more sense in terms of strategy, except clearly there's some scenes and animation where they're copying Gulf War 1 footage, some Vietnam, and some Korea.
And then there's random bits where the Sieg Zeon stuff comes out, there's a human experimentation episode.
The show is a confusing mess of scenery, a lack of clarity and realism (sometimes they care about war crimes, and going AWOL, most of the time they don't), and the animation is either terrible or fantastic, depending on how the art director felt that day, I guess.
I would not have finished this show if the character designs for the women weren't so gersh darned passable. The action scenes t…
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