Review: Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket

[Paul]

Far from being fan-service for Gundam fanatics, War in the Pocket is a sophisticated and sober look at war from the perspective of a few naïve and idealistic boys. From the very first episode, you will feel this stand alone story tugging at your heart strings but far from being emotionally manipulative, War in the Pocket takes a look at war from a neutral personal stand point; concluding that in the heat of battle, there are no true winners, only losers and those who survive.

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Agree with this review? What do you think of Mobile Suit Gundam 0080: War in the Pocket?

 

[dimlylitmonkey]

I keep reading that there isn't enough mobile suit action in this series,
but I thought there was plenty, and at a high standard too.
The Antarctic battle at the start is one of the best I've seen.
I have to agree that the music was cheesy.
But it was the 80's, even 1983's Scarface had a cheesy soundtrack.
(off-topic here, but 1985's Zeta Gundam had excellent theme music)

But as with any decent Gundam series it's the characters that really make it.
This series is my favourite after the 0079 movies.
I kind of think of War in the Pocket as the Gundam equivalent of Barefoot Gen or Grave of the Fireflies.

Al's eyes are a little scary.

 

[Paul]

I think series like War in the Pocket are the reason why Gundam stands out amongst the slew of mecha anime. It's great being able to see the One Year War from a totally different perspective.

And I agree that the mecha action (what little there was of it) was really well animated and incredibly tense in comparison with the usually episodic battles of the Gundam TV series.