Cheap Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 - Stardust Memories (Vol. 3) (DVD) (Atsuko Kase, Takashi Imanishi) Price

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Customer Reviews of Mobile Suit Gundam 0083 - Stardust Memories (Vol. 3)

The story is a surprisingly compelling one - in bringing a pair of prototype mechanized giant armors - Gundams - to a test base in Australia, the crew of the Albion finds one of their nuclear-equipped Gundams hijacked right from under their noses by the remnant of the rogue government that Earth defeated just four years before. Pursuing this stolen Gundam across Australia and Africa, this crew has to desperately try to stop Zeon - the rogue government - from using this Gundam as the lynchpin in rebuilding their forces.

Two things really struck me about this series. One was that it was really more about the interpersonal relationships between the characters than about the Gundams (although there's lots of tech and battle sequences for the die-hard Gundam fans as well). The other was that it's quite beautifully animated. The colors are surprisingly vibrant and the animation quality is impressively good for a series that dates to the late 80s/early 90s.

The video and audio quality seem quite good - at least to my rather archaic television. The extras were quite nice as well: the usual textless opening and ending as well as a miniatue Gundam encyclopedia full of Gundam and vehicle stats and - something especially useful for me and any others new to the series - a timeline in the DVD insert.

While this disc hasn't sold me on the entire Gundam franchise, it has sold me on the rest of this series. It balances action, romance, angst and fear in a very well-realized world. I recommend it as much for the anime fan not familiar with (or traditionally not interested in) Gundam as the die-hard fan. I will be awaiting the rest of this series with interest

This is Gundam the way it should be!
Back in 1979, Mobile Suit Gundam first aired in Japan. Now over twenty years later, the Gundam Invasion has come to America. And it has landed with a resounding "bang".

Mobile Suit Gundam 0083; Stardust Memory is perhaps the strongest story arc in the Gundam U.C. universe. Set three years after the end of the One Year War (which was the setting for the original Gundam series) this thirteen episode series is finally coming to DVD.

The story centers on Ensign Kou Uraki, an Earth Federation mobile suit pilot who is forced to face his many fears and overcome seemingly impossible odds while coping with the many interpersonal relationships all against the backdrop of war. Although this is a very common theme in anime and throughout the Gundam saga, Stardust Memory keeps it fresh and invigorating. Never once do you feel that plot drags or that the characters are not believable.
Unlike many other anime titles we are allowed to see the enemys point of view. Uraki's nemesis, Zeon ace pilot Anavel Gato, is not portrayed as some inhuman monster, but as a dedicated man who just happens to fight for "the enemy". Gato is one of the more compelling characters in this series. He finds that he has more in common with Uraki than he first thought( at the risk of giving away a critical plot element I won't divulge what it is here, you'll have to watch to find out).

Technically the animation is superb. Although it was made over ten years ago, it really does not have a dated feel to it. The battle sequences are as intense I have seen ever in an animated feature. Some of the combat sequences rival those in many live action films. The only criticism would be that the action may be too intense for many younger viewers. But that's a parents call.

If you are going to own one Gundam saga on DVD, this definitely would be the one.

Note; This review is based upon the VHS version which I have owned for over two years. As of this writing the DVD has yet to be released. Any information on special features are not available to me at this time.

Good Gundam
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 :)