MSG 0080: War in the Pocket (1989) - REVIEW
“…It seems that people die really easily, don’t they?”
Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the pocket is a 6 episode OVA series that released in 1989. It was the first OVA in the franchise, coming out just 10 years after the original Mobile Suit Gundam series. It was directed by Fumihiko Takayama, who had previously directed Super Dimension Fortress Macross, and would go onto direct Bubblegum Crisis, and the third Patlabor movie.
It’s a series that tackles the grounded side of the war in Gundam. It opens with a stark juxtaposition of the two warring factions violently losing soldiers and both sides feeling the loss in very real, traumatic ways, with showing children in an idyllic small town playing a game of war, and talking about how the war doesn’t have anything to do with them.
It doesn’t shy away in the slightest from showing the atrocities of war, and how it can pull even innocent children into its grip. When showing violence, it doesn’t cut away, or try to downplay it - it shows it in full force, and shows the effects that violence has on people of both sides. Whether you’re pulling the trigger, being shot, or just an innocent bystander, war will have an effect on you. Due to the limited run time of the series, it’s able to showcase these themes in an arguably much more efficient and powerful way than the full 1979 run could.
The anime primarily tells its story through two different perspectives. One of the perspectives is a rookie soldier, who’s only dulled his toes into the war. There are scenes with him that show him struggling with PTSD, juxtaposing it with other soldiers who make light of the war, and have fun going over their kill-count and comparing them. All the while, the other perspective is that of a child who doesn’t know the brutality of war, and will often “play war” with his friends, only because the war doesn’t rear its ugly head on their quaint town…until the war is finally brought to them.
The meticulously detailed frames with gorgeous cel animation and the haunting themes of the cycles of war and violence all come together to ensure that Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket lands itself a spot on the Definitive Top 100 Anime of All Time List.
My Current MAL Rating: 8/10
Top 100 Contender: Yes
Current Top 100 Ranking: 27/100
