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Rating: This series of OAV constitutes an episode of the original chronicle of the saga conceived by Yoshiyuki Tomino, one of the two great science fiction sagas of Japanese anime that started between the late 70s and early 80s. The specific term 'original' is necessary because, from what I've read on the web, it seems that over time the narrative thread has been somewhat lost. I've read about the creation of alternative universes (??) under the "Gundam" label, stuff I would call fluff, probably set up to chase after tempting market segments for toy producers.
Despite being a home video product, the story that unfolds is told over thirteen episodes, with a duration comparable to that of a television series, so much so that secondary events find space alongside the main ones. The year of production is 1991, but only recently (2010) has someone awakened to create an Italian version. I haven't seen this version; I speak of the series based on some information learned over time through the web and, above all, based on the memories I have from when I watched it in the original language (…@_@...) on a couple of VHS tapes that I had made ages ago by people who owned the laser disc. Back then, this series caused quite a stir among the youth hungry for anime (putting it that way makes it seem like we're talking about the children of Satan) due to its graphic rendering.
Being an episode of a saga, two main levels of narration can be identified: the storytelling of "historical" events, pieces of the puzzle of the saga's chronicle, and the foreground narration of relationships between the protagonists and their personal vicissitudes. Regarding the first mentioned level, the events on which the series is centered are chronologically placed after those told in the first well-known episode and form the backdrop for the TV series "Z Gundam." Some well-known info to everyone: the war that one of the space colonies (side) where a large part of humanity has gone to live, established as the Principality of Zeon, wages against the Earth Federation to gain its independence, and which is largely recounted in the first episode of the saga, ends with the defeat of the former and the re-establishment of the republic on it. However, scattered groups of loyalists to the principality and its ideals remain, and in “Z Gundam,” these groups come to form pockets of resistance that the Earth Federation tries to suppress with very harsh methods and the use of special forces called Titans. This OAV series contains the story of the Titans' creation and the actions attempted by a group of soldiers loyal to the Principality of Zeon.
It is at this narrative level that the interest the plot manages to arouse is owed. The other level that I previously called "foreground" seems to me to be constructed by recycling a handful of ideas already utilized in previous series. Dominating the scene is the triangular relationship and rivalry between the Earth Federation cadet Ko Uraki, mobile suit designer Nina Purpleton, and Anavel Gato, ace of the Principality of Zeon, which echoes too much the one between the protagonists of the first episode of the saga: Peter Rei (using the Italian series name), Lalah Sune, and Char Aznable. The references between the two series do not end here. Graphically, the characters of Ko Uraki and Gato could have fit well for Peter Rei and Char in a hypothetical remake of the first series. Particular narrative ideas are also reused, like the adventurous way in which cadet Uraki, like Peter Rei, becomes the pilot of the Earth Federation's latest mobile suit prototype. An original element is perhaps constituted by the confrontation between two Gundams that occurs in the first part.
Gundam 0083 was the first major project entrusted to personalities who would later make their way in the world of animation. The character design is by Toshihiro Kawamoto (Cowboy Bebop). His work, compared with that of Yoshikazu Yasuhiko, seeking a comparison with the first episode of the saga, on one hand, has led to an evident improvement in the aesthetics and proportions of the figures, but on the other, in my opinion, it has impacted the expressiveness and consequently the psychological depth of the characters.
And I come to the two most interesting aspects: the mecha design and the battles. The role of the mecha designer is also entrusted to personalities new to the field of animation at that time. Their work is fantastic, a style that I believe later set a trend. Three new Gundam prototypes are designed, two of which are even excessive in form, new models of Zaku, mobile armor, space bases, and a restyling of old models is performed. Totally new lines and forms compared to what was possible to see in Italy when copies of this series began to circulate. A delight for the eyes.
The battles are among the best I've come across in animated productions, particularly recalling the effectiveness of the rendering of the spherical screen in the cockpit of the new mobile suit prototypes. I left anime to their fate several years ago, and those two VHS tapes I no longer have, but if someone gifted me the DVD version of this series, I would gladly watch it again.
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