Customer Reviews

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 - Stardust Memory (Vol. 4)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After the release of the amazing OVA (A straight to video anime release) "Mobile Suit Gundam: 0080" Bandai realized that there is room for the Gundam franchise on straight to video format. And thus 0083 came out, now let me just say us Gundam fans have always had the joy of having very good graphics, if you have ever seen "Mobile Suit Gundam F91" it appears as a late 90s film, but actually came out in 91 or so.

Onto 0083, now you don't really need to watch any of the previous Gundam shows to watch it, but it may help to look up the story to MSG to get an idea of the backround. If you like action scenes you are in luck! Gundam 0083 has them in every episode, and may I say they are good action scenes. And I am going to defend the character of Kou Uraki here, people call him whiny, but let me remind you that Kou was forced to try to beat overwhelming circumstances after many of his friends died during an attack, and he was also struggling in his love life, wouldn't you be angsty in that poisiton? I certianly would. With that said characters like Kou, Keith, Nina and Cima are neat, but let critize 0083 for not explaining Cima's backround well enough, I can't remember it to well, so I won't explain it here, you should look it up.

The Mechanical desing is great, notable ones are the GPO 1, 2 and 3, and others, I personally am found of that Guncanon Keith has.

Overall would I suguest the series? Yes. To people allready into mech anime, and people just getting into mech anime. while the characters are no were near as deep as others, the action is good and interesting to watch, the story is good and I love the intro songs :)

I'll have to admit, DVDs 1-2 of this show....well, they sucked . Poor animation, Shoddy voiceover, one would think this would be a horrid Gundam prequal (I say prequal 'cause it was ment to explain the events leading up to Zeta Gundam) in the history of....well, Gundam, so you can imagine the hesitiation i went through buying this volume (4). Once I started viewing the final episodes, I started thinking, "This is amazing"! The final episodes of Gundam 0083 Stardust memory are some of the BEST episodes I have ever seen (bar none). There are some corny moments (Caused by the music)but besides that, These are the best. I just have one last thing to say. They turned the entire 0083 series into a movie (The Last Blitz of Zeon). That movie should be coming to theaters this fall (Along with Mobile Suit Gundam F91,which is a sequal to Char's Counterattack) I have a bad feeling though, hthat the movie will ruin the siries for all future generations. Oh well, Best get this DVD, cause its the 0083, most of us, never knew

Peace out! Matt B.

this is one of the greatest gundams of all time and just might be my favorite only problem is the fact that it's only 13 episodes long. the animation was superb it had exclent vibrant colors and the gundams looked great th animation never went down even in battles it amazed me with the intense amount of detail they used for the show. the story was also top notch even though it was only 13 episodes they got a lot done, it made sense, and the characters couldn't have been better. this show had action, romance, suspense, and a little bit of comedy all rolled into one show. Also there were a few scenes in the show that were pretty tear jerking like farewell to Lt. Burning man that one chokes me up every time. it's a great show and i'd recomend it to gundam fans, anime fans, and the curious.

I am a big fan of the "Mobile Suit Gundam" series. I personally think it is the greatest anime series of all time...in my opinion. I also know, that like all great anime series, there are always a few turkies in the group that seem out of place within a series. "Stardust Memory" falls soundly into the turkey pile.

The premise of "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory" is exciting enough for a Gundam story. Four years since the defeat of the Duchy of Zeon back in Universal Century 0079, the Earth Federation has been at peace. However, that peace is about to fly out the window when a rebelious Zeon movement known as the Delaz Fleet, led by "The Nightmare of Solomon" Anaval Gato, takes it into their hands to show the Federation that Zeon is far from dead. After Gato steals one of two prototype Gundams (Gundam GP-02) armed with nuclear capabilities, it is up to rookie Federation pilot Kou Uraki, with the Gundam GP-01 and the crew of Albion to stop Gato and prevent the rebirth of Zeon. Can he do it before they put the destructive "Operation Stardust" into action? Like I said, interesting story, but there leaves a lot to be desired. I'll get to that.

The 13 episode OVA was supposed to take place in the nether regions of the years between the original "Mobile Suit Gundam" and it's sequel "Zeta Gundam," amassing into one of the many side stories of the UC timeline (other, more notable stories being "War in the Pocket" and "08th MS Team"). Basically chronicling what happened after the One Year War and before the Gryps Conflict. It provides for good story material, had it been executed correctly.

Characters are very weak when compared to the major story.The story presents multiple characters, but only places a very small spotlight on the stage. And squeezed in that tiny spotlight are Gato, Kou, and the femals love interest, Nina.

Gato is a wasted villain, not nearly as interesting as Char Aznable or the villain from "Gundam F-91." Which is saying a lot considering the villain from "F-91" was incredibly laughable. He spends most of his time claiming how great Zeon is and how he will help Zeon rise, blah blah blah. Where did this guy come from? How can someone so feared only be brought to attention in THIS series? Apparantly, he has a backstory with one of the other characters but it's so muddled you can hardly make sense of it.

Kou is a horrible protagonist, we feel more like laughing at him then sympathizing whenever something wrong happens his way. However, since he's the pilot of the Gundam in this series we have no choice but to accept him and believe me, as far as Gundam's go...he's no Amuro Ray, hell he's not even a Domon Kashuu.

Nina, I could write a book about her misplacing, is eventually Kou's love interest...tell me if you didn't see that coming. She seems completely out of place when placed against the other characters of the series. Especially when it is impossible to figure out where exactly she stands on the "love interest" scale as her actions are unwelcomely unpredicatable.

All the other characters who make up the Delaz Fleet and the Albion, who seem more interesting and more capable than the main characters, are shoved behind the conflict and literally fly around in space with no idea as to what's going on with the story. Hell, I don't even know why they are on Albion in the first place. The viewers are forced to know who these characters are from the get-go which can cause lots of confusion to the intellectual viewer.

The story takes several dives, twists, turns, somersaults, bunny hops, jumping jacks, and cartwheels all over the place...not knowing where to go. One minute, the Albion crew is in Africa dealing with a Zeon group, next Kou is lamenting for no reason, then all of a sudden we're on the moon. What happened? How did we get here? Why is he doing that? What are they talking about? Get to know these questions because you'll be saying them a lot.

The only credible points to this OVA series, and mind you, most of these points will be the MAIN REASON why people like this series. One, the action scenes are the best this side of "Char's Counterattack." They are truly sights to behold, as things go boom. Two, the music is great. The two openening songs, "The Winner" and "Men of Destiny" are swanky in their unique 80's-like way. Three, the mecha designs. The GP-01 and GP-02 are two of the best designed Gundams, combining elements of the old RX-78 Gundam with bits of the Zeta and Nu Gundams.

However, there is a distinct flaw within those pluses, and I hate to be a stickler. All these are fine and good...but this isn't "Macross." It all adds up, the flight scenes, the designs, the characters, even the music! At times it feels less like "Gundam" and more like "Top Gun!" I'm wondering why they didn't have Kou write "Maverick" on the side of his helmet. Or why Gato didn't say "you can be my wingman anyday!" Or some such.

That, and the battles were pretty...but way too pretty. See, in the Gundam Universe, people are supposed to realize the horrors of war. In "Stardust Memory" however, war is the answer to just about EVERYTHING. It was as if the artists and writers thought to themselves "Hey! Let's see how pretty THIS explosion will look!" Honestly, it's one thing to add something new to "Gundam" but to destroy a philosphy in the process? That ain't right.

Lat thing I can say about this series, I promise, it's anti-climactic. The ending is weak, offers no closure, and leaves the viewer wanting more. This is when directors either DON'T know when to quit, or knew that they HAD to quit before it got inane. Yeah, a lot of good that did.

In the end, "Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory" had the makings of a good Gundam series, had it been given enough time and tweaked around a bit. Hell, this could have been a great addition to the Gundam universe. But for every merit the series earns, it is hit with several different types of flaws. "Gundam 0083" best be left forgotten...like so many particles of stardust.

-RW