Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory: 13 episodes at 23 minutes apiece
Genre: Mecha-SciFi-minor Romance

Art and Animation: 4.5
Story and Plot: 3.5
Characters: 4
Sound Design: 4.5

Taking place 3 years after the end of the one year war, MSG 0083, focuses on pilots who do not have sixth sense like newtype powers. This series takes place in the Universal Century timeline of the Gundam Universe. That is the same timeline begun in the original Mobile Suit Gundam series.

Kou Uraki is a young rookie pilot who is thrust into a newly created Gundam. His mission along with the crew of the battleship Albion, is to hunt to down a stolen Gundam that has a nuclear warhead. The nuclear equiped Gundam was stolen by Zeon pilot Anavel Gato. He is an ace pilot who has dreams of restoring Zeon to it's formor glory. Nina Purpleton is a women who designed the two Gundams and was in love with Gato. Now on the same ship as Kou her feelings are torn between the two. And so it goes...

The animation for this anime is incredible. Produced in the early 90's the feature has no CG animation. Colors are dark and drab with a bit of that 80's influence to character design. The mechanical designs are to die for. There have never been better Gundam designs nor Gundam action sequences designed so beautifully. The Gundam armor that is unvield near the end of the series blows every other Gundam created out of the water. Same goes for the Mobile Armor Zeon suit that Gato gets. The enviroments have a a very realistic look to them. There are dents, dirt, bruises, and just a worn down feeling too everything that is just so life like.

The story involves operation Stardust. In which the Zeon plan on using deception with the nuclear equipped Gundam to drop a space colony onto the Earth. Yes, it is basically the same thing as in all other Gundam stories. Fortunately, the characters and use of misdirection by the Zeon keep things interesting. There is even a female Zeon commander named Cima who defects to the Federation. She adds some good suspense to the plot as the audience isn't quite sure whether or not we should trust that she has actually defected.

The relationship between Kou and Nina is classic cheese and rather boring. I really didn't think they made a good couple. Gato, who is haunted by the past battles he has been in is a great character. With his commanding presense you will really rout for him to win. That is great thing about the Gundam universe. The Zeon and Federation both have noble goals. The Federation try their hardest to control the space colonies from Earth. While the Zeon want indepence from the Earth. Back to characters, Kou is whiny and acts like a jackass most of the time thinking that his way of life is the best. As the main character he does grow up some, but not as much as I would have liked. There was one particularly troubling scene in which he found out Cima had defected to the Federation and then ends up killing her in a mobile suit battle. I lost a lot of respect for him there. They were on the same side after all.

The sound like most everything else is top quality. Action sequences will keep your blood pumping. Using strong orchestral music with deep and heated sound. The opening and ending songs change about halfway through the series and all versions are cheesy pop music, but worth listening to. Sound effects are perfect. Guns, beams, lasers, engines everything sounds just as it should. Very realistic and a bit over the top. Yeah, there is sound in space in this series. Not realitstic at all but hey it's SciFi.

This is the best Gundam series ever released. At thirteen episodes the plot doesn't rap up as nicely as I would have liked, but thats what Zeta Gundam is for. If your looking for incredible action with great a soundtrack and a story that will keep you guessing then this can not be missed. If you haven't watched any of the Gundam series then this is a great starting point. It introuduces you to the universe in a crash course. After this you'll be addicted and will search for the many other titles in the Gundam Universe.