Kidou Senshi Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory

Set three years after the events of the One Year War, Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory is a mixed bag. While it boasts strong visuals and action, its mediocre plot and the lackluster characters ultimately prevents 0083 from the full extent of its potential.

The premise 0083's story is very promising at first glance. The valiant and desperate attempt of the Zeon remnants to pave a road for the future of its beliefs and its people makes them commendable antagonists, and the thus viewers are able to sympathize with both sides in the struggle between Federation and Zeon. However, upon closer inspection, one finds the ... story riddled with the juvenile rivalry between Uraki and Monsha, as well as the thoroughly uninteresting romance between Uraki and Nina, which derails the focus from the promising overarching conflict to rather petty squabbles. When the story of 0083 is in high gear, it is quite rewarding, rife with exciting battles and unexpected twists. The problem is, like an aged car, 0083 often finds itself stuck on its low gears in terms of storytelling.

Much of the faults concerning the plot of 0083 can be blamed on the main characters themselves. Uraki is a painfully generic mecha protagonist without much, if any, redeemable qualities. Angsty and lacking confidence, the story does not provide much room in which the view can sympathize with him, even considering the challenges Uraki faces over the course of the story. Nina's role as Uraki's love interest only manages to evoke either terrible boredom or the gag reflex; it is bland and devoid of any trance of genuine emotion. Gato, though certainly better than the aforementioned pair, also gets somewhat tedious from his own over-zealousness -- he is a character who seems to gobble up the very propaganda he spews, which in turn makes it more difficult to hold respect for the character.

Fortunately, 0083 excels in the animation department. Each and every fight is smoothly animated with hand-drawn frames, be it a small training skirmish or a grand space battle. This OVA series features detailed and technical background art and some of the most exciting action scenes from the gundam franchise to date, especially those of the last battle, which can only described as epic in proportion. 0083 also features superb mecha designs not only in the form of the gundams themselves, but also the various grunt suits used by both factions. Even after seventeen years, the visuals of 0083 are still more than enough to lure the gaze of any mecha fan.

The sounds of 0083 are standard fare. Typical gundam sound effects are to be expected here, which is just fine, as they serve their purpose well. The catchy opening theme "Men of Destiny" is full of that nostalgic 90's feel -- it gets the viewer in the mood for some giant robot action.

In the end, the flaws of 0083's plot and characters limit the enjoyment of the OVA series exclusively to fans of the mecha genre. However, mecha fans will be able to find plenty of what they love: superb sci-fi action, and mobile suit battles they'll remember for a long time to come, provided they can manage to endure through the other aspects of 0083, which may feel agonizingly long and difficult.

Ah another mediocre Gundam series.

It started off great with a good story, interesting characters, good music, and mobile suit design, and amazing animation. Sadly it spiraled out of control quickly. I think they tried to do to much in just 13 episodes. They should have expanded it to 24 or 26. First off they add to many characters, which made the story get convoluted, and the end revelations meant nothing since there was no back story leading to it. The ending seemed hurried and boring. The only really good think about this seres is the animation. The series ... was made nearly 20 years ago in 1990, and they animation is better than some anime that come out today. I'm not sure who did the animation, but they did a great job. The music was done really well, but that's it.

Taking place storyline-wise between the original Gundam series and Zeta Gundam, Gundam 0083's purpose in the Universal Century continuity is to reveal how the Titans would come to be when they become the antagonist faction for Zeta. The events seen throughout 0083 mostly serve to feature the buildup of these events through the perspectives of Federation Ensign Kou Uraki and influential Zeon soldier Anavel Gato. For the most part, Gundam 0083 is solid in its plot buildup as more details concerning the motives of Gato and the Zeons come to light and Kou's skills as a mobile suit pilot improve throughout the course of the ... series as he pilots a Gundam. A number of prominent characters among both sides, besides Kou, also get their focus and depth to show that those affiliated with both Federation and Zeon forces have their redeemable and not so honorable traits. In terms of visuals, 0083 is above average in quality for the time period it was made having well-detailed designs of scenery, mecha and characters with fluid and well-animated action scenes.

Beyond my praises though, Gundam 0083 does have a number of issues that hurt its quality quite a bit for me. A number of 0083's prominent characters are rather underdeveloped compared to others, making them either rather shallow in personality or having you question the reasons for their actions during certain points of the series. To a degree, this issue takes effect in the rather sloppy and anticlimactic finale to the series as characters betray one another for no known purpose and leave you wondering why they did what they did. Towards the middle of 0083, the series also tossed in an unconvincing love triangle involving Nina and Kou which comes across as flat due to the lack of proper buildup and chemistry between the two in terms of developing such an aspect to their relationship. And while I'm not too hard pressed about it, there may be Gundam fans disappointed to know that none of the major UC Gundam characters from Gundam or Zeta Gundam appear at all in this series outside of cameo appearances by a few supporting characters from both titles.

Overall, I found this chapter of the Universal Century continuity of the Gundam franchise to be a bit of a mixed bag. While a decent addition to the franchise to show what led to the creation of the Titans and having well-animated mecha fights, the sloppy finale, limited depth to certain major characters and unconvincing romances hurt its overall quality quite a bit. I would say watch it so you knew what led to the events of Zeta Gundam, but wouldn't recommend watching it more than once.

I only watched "Mobile Suit Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory" because someone gave the bootleg DVD's to me for free. And since those DVD's only had Chinese subtitles, I had to watch it in dub as my Chinese reading skills kinda suck these days due to lack of use. This may have resulted in lessening my enjoyment of the show, as it doesn't exactly have the best dubs I've heard... but at least they're not the worst either.

From what I can gather, "Gundam 0083" is a continuation of a chain of earlier Gundam series which eventually can be traced back to the original Gundam series, "Mobile ... Suit Gundam: 0079". The original Gundam series is supposed to be pretty good, but it needs to be a lot better than "Gundam 0083" in order to live up to that kind of praise, because "Gundam 0083" is a bit lame. I may not know how good the series sound in Japanese, but given the uninspiring script, I doubt even a bunch of highly skilled voice actors would be able to make it sound good.

It may be because I hadn't watched the previous series, but I found the story in "Gundam 0083" to be somewhat confusing. "Gundam 0083" fails as a standalone series, as it doesn't really provide any background on the seeds of conflict that has obviously been sewn previous to this installment. I don't know who this Zeon group is, I don't know where they've recruited this psycho woman from... I don't even know why they're fighting. They're sacrificing their lives for what ideals again??

At the heart of the "Gundam 0083", there are lots of paper thin characters. Knowing full well they're pretty poor, the producers then sacrificed realism and rationality in order to make them "interesting". As a result we end up with lots of strange twists in the storyline where people make bizarre decisions to try and spice up the predictable plot. The ending is terrible too. If, by some miracle, it managed to resolve anything, I must have missed it.

Having said all this, most of this series was still enjoyable to some extent. The development of the relationship between Nina and Kou is quite pleasant to watch, even though it is a bit predictable. Visually, "Gundam 0083" has some nice and distinguishable character designs, and the battles scenes are competently done, if not exactly memorable. There is one thing that is memorable about "Gundam 0083", however, and that's the second opening theme "Men of Destiny". It's a very cheesey 80's kind of song... and I love it! Its grand and energetic feel means that it works nicely as the theme to a Gundam series. A pity the anime itself isn't nearly as good.

Interestingly, I found my viewing experience of "Gundam 0083" to be opposite to that of "Gundam Seed Destiny". With the latter, I sometimes found it an effort to watch even though I acknowledge the quality of the anime. With "Gundam 0083", even though I knew what I was watching isn't particularly good, I just couldn't seem to stop watching it! Still, I guess I should count that as a positive trait.

0083 is a fantastic visual treat for the eyes when it gets going, but it falters in almost every other aspect.

To wit:

STORY - In the year 0083 U.C., remnants of the Zeon Republic steal a prototype Gundam armed with a nuclear warhead for nefarious ends. A young pilot and the crew of a Federation battleship take to the skies to hunt it down.

This is meant to bridge the o.g. Gundam to Zeta & explain a few plot points that crop up there. In that regard it does a swell job. However, it insists on spending time focusing on the miserable romance between Kou & Nina ... (we'll talk more about that in CHARACTER). This drags the whole experience down everytime it switches, and it loves to ignore the main story a lot.

The story has some good beats when not focusing on them. The sequence after Lt. Burning recovers the briefcase in the mid-late show is fantastic and a great microcosm of Gundam's oft-repeated "war is hell" message. The whole final battle is a fun watch.

There's an odd bit midway thru where Kou knowingly helps a crippled Zeon pilot build a mobile armor meant to fight the Federation. Then the next episode shows up and, well, one guess what happens. It's a odd little bit of writing but it kind of make sense.

ART - Spectacular. Aside from the rare reused shot, the show is gorgeous, the character designs are top-notch, as is the mechanical design. The animation is some of the best the OVA "genre" has to offer.

SOUND - Fair? The first OP, "The Winner" deserves to be in the pantheon of "greatest anime OPs" as its a real banger and unforgettable. The second OP, "Men of Destiny" is pretty damn good (it just fails to measure up to the sheer Top Gun-itude of The Winner). The endings are pretty whatever.

Outside of the insert song "Back to Paradise", the score is bland and not that memorable. I can only think of two songs that I remember - one for its frequent use, and one for the actual composition.

CHARACTER - Hoo. There's not much character to some of these characters. Kou hates carrots and uhhhhh likes to fly mobile suits? He's very whitebread. He likes Nina for some reason, and Nina is a gargantuan idiot who , depending on scene or episode, is either going "I hope Kou doesn't pilot the Gundam today" and "I hope Gato doesn't kill Kou".

Gato, the Zeon lead, is a funnish character who's slavishly devoted to the Zeon ideals and refuses to compromise. Cima, the Zeon pirate, is a fairly fun character though a scene close to the end of the show forgets her "i gassed a colony and regret it every day" and has her cackle like a children's cartoon villain as she commits mass murder of civilians.

Lt. Burning is a fine "mentor" type character. Chuck Keith is the best and his eventual girlfriend, the Amazonian Maura, are super great to watch when they're around.

The Kou/Nina/Gato love triangle is awful and takes up most of the show. The climax to this triangle is infuriating in so many ways and the actual end of the show is baffling when you look at what happened just 10~ minutes prior.

ENJOYMENT - It's fun. The mecha action is some of the absolute best around. The story is decent when not wasting its breath on the miserable romance.

Ultimately its a 5/10 from me. What it does well, it does damn well. What it does poorly? It does really really poorly. The fun action bits and mecha porn are fantastic but that romance subplot drags down the story every time it takes centre stage, and the characters are mostly flat and dull or flat and decent.

warning that this review may contain spoilers

First impressions, so stardust memory’s aka the prequel to zeta gundam which is one of my favourite in the uc time line so far.
In till I watch thunderbolt or origins because I have heard there really good
So I kind of went into this except something that’s somewhat decent,
It was going to explain some of the details that we didn’t see between the first gundam and zeta.
Which I was very happy to find out about,
Because zeta didn’t really go into that much depth of how the titans came into power. It was ... very vaguely explained. So hoping to get some questions I had answered.
Sadly it didn’t really deliver on it.

Story, 5/10
3 years after the one year between the earth and Zeon forces had ended and peace has been maintained.
A darkness from the past is starting to come forth, as a rouge Zeon group named delaz fleet has risen from the shadows in order to finish an old score with the earth forces and to have Zeon rise again.
Meanwhile In a military base in Australia a top secret project is under way.
The creation of two new prototype gundam units, The zephyranthes and the physalis are under way.
The delaz fleet finds out about this and plans a attack in order to get the new gundam units.
But during their attack they only mange to take the physalis gundam which is now being piloted by the a man known as the nightmare of Solomon.
The only man standing in his way is main character kou who is a training pilot. who while in the attack manged to keep the zephyranthes gundam out of Zeon hands. But to make matters worse the physalis gundam contains nukes.
So join kou and his crew as there race ageist the clock begins to stop major war from braking out.

So the basic story line or plot is pretty much main character and crew mates involved in a game of cat and mouse between military factions. Trying to get this gundam unit back.
Which as a standalone story for a gundam show is all right, Because it takes itself serious enough and it’s still sticks to the theme of war is hell, And the other themes that gundam is well known for. And they have the main charter getting used to active military service and all the things that come with it.
There also a nice little romance as well, Between the main character this engineer chick That I felt was alright handed alright.
So its above average.
(Even though I still question the logic behind putting top secret project and nukes in all honesty Isn’t exactly the most well defended base they could have picked, and of course it was the Australians the dropped the ball)
So any way as a standalone story it all good but sadly that also where its biggest weakness is and my biggest gripe with this show is.
Because this is supposed to be a bridge between the first gundam and zeta gundam. A prequel / sequel and in that context this show is horrible at that aspects if one looks at it through the lens of this is a prequel / sequel.

Because let’s just say that continuity isn’t exactly this show strong suit. In fact the events that take place in this show don’t really have much to connection to what happens in zeta or any relationship to first gundam wants so ever. Most of the things that happen in this show don’t even come into play.
In fact the only thing connecting this to zeta is that though the events of the story at the end.
we find out what trigged the titans forming and we see a few characters from zeta showing up for a quick scene or two. It’s almost like the story came alive and a punched you in the face just for watching and completing it
So while I on the negative train I might as well mention that this story is kind of forgettable and isn’t bringing anything new to the table.
What I mean by that is that this story as a whole is like a copy and paste of ever theme that the uc time line gundam has ever had.
Like the war is hell, freedom for the spacenoids and etc.
Which on the basic level is ok,
but when I think about it isn’t doing much with those ideas and themes. It mostly being used as basic favouring because.
These ideas aren’t really being explored or a new point of view being brought to the table.
Which is sad because they could have come up with something new or fresh but they didn’t.
Now you can argue and say that because this is a prequel / sequel they didn’t exactly have to do anything with those ideas or that those themes and ideas are not the main focus of the show and at the end of the day This is side story. Which just takes place in the same universe.
But this was made quite a few years after zeta came out.
I would think that they could come up with better ideas with the time they had or even a better plot for that matter
But they just gave us the same shit in different rapper.


Characters 5/10

The main character kou was ok.
He this kind of chill dude who has a thing for tech.
who thought out the course of the series becomes more hardened the more he experiences real combat.
Which I thought was nice because it added some depth to his character.
Because in the beginning of the series I really couldn’t put heads or tails on what his personality is . He felt very hollow to me.
Which is a problem for me, Because most gundam main characters usually have a more notable personality or some sort of back story.
Like for example Domon kasshu or kamille bidan,
Who have a more memorable personality.

Side characters are all right,
They did the roles they had well.
They had nice banter I guess that I enjoyed watching

It’s just personality wise, But aren’t really memorable.
They just feel like carboard cut-outs to me.
Which is a thing I am sick of saying but it’s very true.

The only thing that stood out for me character wise was the romance between kyo and Nina.
Which far as anime romances wasn’t bad because I have a bit of chemistry together
Which was nice, but I guess my only nick pick is that there relationship feels a little dry and forced to me.
Because there relationship together progress at quite the fast rate. Like one ep she slightly has the desire to see what type of person kyo is and then the next ep talking about feeling and shit.
Its feels unnatural to me.
Although it could just be that this series only had a 13 ep so they didn’t have time to pad out there relationship.


Art 6/10

The animation looked alright. It could have been better though.
Because there are a few parts where the animation takes a bit of a dip down wards in quality.

The backgrounds look all right and add a bit of grit to it.

The battles are alright in animation wise because I have a very naturel flow about them.
But on the bad side there not exactly the most fun to watch.

Art style is fine was well.

The charter designs are fine.
Just the standard shit that we have all seen before

I really do like the more up dated mech designs for the older models,
Because they don’t feel that clunky anymore and feel more like well-oiled war machines.


Sound 6/10

I really like the first opening song and the other opening song and there ending themes are very boring to me and don’t really stand out that much. I would have gotten more enjoyment if I listened to paint dry.

But at the same time I see why people might like these,
But for me there just crap.

Ost was quite nice,
Better than I thought it would be.

Some very good tracks in there.
They fitted very well and was on point
But nothing I would gone out of my way to listen to by its self.

The ost was done by Urakami, Yasuo,
Who has worked on shows like,
Project arms and gundam seed.

The dub was alright and so was the sub.

I liked both.


Enjoyment 5/10

As far was enjoyment goes.
I enjoyed this show for what it was,
But my enjoyment doesn’t go beyond that point.
For me was one of those one timer experiences. Because this is something I would not watch again.


Overall 5/10
If you like gundam or basic Mecha shows and just want a quick one timer then check this out.
Because its aright as a whole, But it doesn’t really go beyond that point.
But at the same You could just was easily skip this series because it doesn’t really add much to gundam as a whole.

if you want something that stands out more or in fact isn’t so basic and done to death.

Watch something else.

Man , the end to this show was one of the most frustrating endings I have ever seen.

Like WTF were all those random plot twists supposed to mean, all the important character arcs were just abandoned, for no appearend reason. Like why?

Garahau is set up to be the biggest snitch, I know, but suddenly she was an ally of the feddies all along? ...And Uraki kills her anyways..

Nina has a story arc were she needs to decide what she wants in life and choose her real priorities. She is undecisive and when she is finally about to choose... Well fuck that idea , she was ... Gatos exgirlfriend all along. Then she turns into the greatest BITCH and sides with Gato, for no appearend reason, the murderer of millions of people who is about to drop a gigantic collony onto earth. Well of course her reoson is "i dont want the two men i love to kill each other, without any purpose" , well the reason is one of them is about to drop a gigantic colony on earth. She threatens Urakis life in the last episode and them comes back to earth like nothing happend, with that stupid smile of hers, while Uraki is like " what the fuck are you doing here?!"

Okay to the main plot: Well the colony was going to drop, well everybody knew it was going to happen. The main conflict is the rivalry between Uraki and Gato... and not even that was ended satisfyingly. Srsly the whole show built towards a grand epic final stand, but the didnt finish it, instead Gato kamikazed into a random ship.
Okay you could argue that this fits the motivations of both characters. Like Gato always said, Uraki has no real motivations which is true. Well he himself is blinded by a facist Ideoligie and also just a figure in a greater scheme. So his bright motivations arent that bright after all.
And Uraki was from the beginning a childish character with his impulsive decisions and his only real motivation is to take revenge on Gato... and not letting a colony destroy earth, which is actually not such a bad motivation...
Uraki is left in empty space, living with an empty heart, Gato kills himself with a burning desire for revolulution, you could put it like this,- still unsatisfying-

Well to conclude each and every Character exept best boy Keith and Burning are all very unlikable.

Gundam 0083: Stardust Memory is what happens when you inject all the budget in the universe in a luckluster story with terrible, terrible main characters (and a bad secondary, too. Lookin' at you, Monsha).

The animation and music are fucking godlike, and the two openings it gets (one for the first half, the other for the latter half) are probably the top 2 OPs in Gundam history, with 8th MS Team's being number 3.

Everything else? Mediocre to terrible, with the only decent characters in the crew kinda vanishing from the story as soon as protagonist Kou Uraki and local neurotic individual Nina Purpleton hog more and ... more screentime with their zero-chemistry love story.

So basically, the best way to enjoy Stardust Memory is by watching fight scene compilations on Youtube and listening to the OPs on Soundcloud.

Thanks for nothing, Bandai.

Okay, so as I make my way down the UC timeline, to date in order of occurrence. The figths are amazing and hand drawn. Thats all I can say or want to, you can read someone elses or just watch it.

My biggest reason to write this is to express my disappointment with these characters. Kou Uraki is your typical whiny sulking bitch-boy who knows too much about Gundams for his own good. The plot device of a woman known as Nina is a shit engineer who frequently just cries over him or her ex, who for some reason still feels devoted to protect. In my ... opinion, these two some how oversaturate the story, without allowing me to feel any connection between the two, nor did I even want to like them as much as they irritated me with their shit elementary school crushes.

You can tell there was a shift in directors because the supporting characters that were just as enjoyable to watch as the fights themselves quickly took a backseat to the madness that became hard to follow the last 6 or 7 episodes. The op's and ending songs were very good, and if anything more compelling to want to watch the next episode.

Only watch if you are going down the line, if not, just go straight to Zeta.

Stardust Memories (SM) is the second side story Tomino made before tarnishing the UC continuity after Char’s Counterattack with pointless sequels. Assuming you are aware of how the timeline of the show goes and have read my review of the original show, so I won’t have to repeat myself, this is how it goes. SM takes place between the first and second seasons and even attempts to bridge them together by explaining how those assholes the Titans got to power. Other than that, the whole show is a cheesefest.

A major problem with the show is that it involves a major battle that could have changed ... the course of history, yet none of the major pilots from the first series appears or is even mentioned. In a similar fashion many pilots in this series are considered to be elites but are also never mentioned in the main storyline later on. So as a side story it is thrown in the main events in a very sloppy way. This was not a problem with the previous side story, War In the Pocket, because none of its characters were major players in the war, and all the events that took place there were just an unimportant scrimmage that went unnoticed.

Aside from that, even the overall story feels like a dumbed down rehash of the original show. The evil dudes steal a super mecha, the idealist protagonist steals an equally super mecha to stop them, and then you get the usual battles in each episode. There is a sort of a plot twist towards the end regarding a major treason and a second secret weapon of mass destruction but not even that managed to affect the showdown in any significant way.

Even the characters feel too simplistic to care. Despite being elites and military higher ups, they barely have much of a backdrop or are fleshed out much. The protagonist in particular is a complete shounen cardboard, with absolutely nothing to remember him about. Also, there is so much action in this show that it ends up overshadowing character appeal for shallow entertainment.

As far as action goes, it is great for the time it was made and if you are watching it just for that you will love it. The production values are very good, although I found the character designs to be typical and some robot designs too bulky and impractical.

In all, this side story took the exact opposite route of War In The Pocket. You are going to watch it for the cool action and not for its characters or the story. And since we are already getting lots of good action in the main storyline, not even those save face after awhile. I mean the pacing is ok and the characters are rather colorful but nothing stands out enough to matter. Thus I recommend it only for mecha maniacs and Gundam completists. Those of you who are not deep into the franchise can skip it altogether.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 9/10
Analysis: General Artwork 2/2, Character Figures 1/2, Backgrounds 2/2, Animation 2/2, Visual Effects 2/2

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Analysis: Voice Acting 2/3, Music Themes 3/4, Sound Effects 2/3

STORY SECTION: 5/10
Analysis: Premise 1/2, Pacing 1/2, Complexity 1/2, Plausibility 1/2, Conclusion 1/2

CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10
Analysis: Presence 1/2, Personality 1/2, Backdrop 1/2, Development 1/2, Catharsis 1/2

VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Analysis: Historical Value 1/3, Rewatchability 1/3, Memorability 2/4

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10
Analysis: Art 1/1, Sound 1/2, Story 1/3, Characters 0/4

VERDICT: 5.5/10

Before getting into details, I'll summarize: this anime could have been more objective.
There are too many long sequences that get lost from the main story, making the experience tiring until the events really start to unfold.
The story is acceptable, but nothing memorable, and it hurts to say that, considering the huge potential this anime had, specially having its storyline between Gundam 0079 and Zeta Gundam.
By the first episodes, things are quite clear, the goals are comprehensible and the events are justifiable by the plot, however, as the episodes advance, things start to unfold in unclear ways, with turn of events that weren't well ... built and that didn't affect the main plot in any relevant way, with characters that weren't developed at all showing up as possible antagonists or villains, leaving some confusion to the story. Man important events are only mentioned while in my opinion it would be important they were shown so things would be clearer. In some moments, I was unsure of what was going on.
The art is fair, nothing too good, nothing bad, but I think they could have invested a bit more in certain moments, we get many takes that have no movement at all, action takes with parts that were used more than once and some battle scenes just don't make it clear what's happening. By the other hand, some moments are amazing, with great direction, emotion and well animated combat scenes; all of this gave me the impression the energy of the creators was intensely focused in some specific moments of the animation while other moments didn't get the attention they deserved.
The sound, in my opinion, is one of the best things about this anime. The openings are very well directed, the songs are very good and well used along the episodes.
The characters maybe are the elements I liked the less, unfortunately. A lot of screen time is spent with characters that really have no objective or relevance to the main story, with conflicts that go nowhere and some romantic subplots that sounded out of place in my view. They could have focused more in fewer characters and develop them better. After 13 episodes we still know so little even about the main characters, some of them sound empty when it comes to reason or motivation. A lot of time spent with mecha details like doors opening or ships taking flight/landing that don't add much to the story could have been invested in the main characters, whose past is only mentioned and barely showed.
I did enjoy watching this anime, but mainly during the first episodes and then the last episodes, with the middle of the story making me a bit tired, it felt a bit dull for me, since the story sounded lost in circles, giving us subplots that wouldn't take the characters or the story anywhere. Some "romantic" moments sounded out of place for me, and to be honest, with the magnitude of the events of the story, anything romantic needed to be very well written and executed to fit in, and the impression I got was that part was superficial, with a confusing turn of events that also didn't take the story anywhere, I also feel bad for that, since the characters did have potential to be better developed, as well as the links between them. I feel the story got a bit lost and they had to rush things in the last 3 episodes. The characters' growth to me was minimum, if present, they seem all the same from episode 1 to episode 13. I really wanted to see more of the story of characters like Gato and Kou, in this case, more about Gato's past and the kind of person he is and more about Kou's future. In my opinion, there has to be a good cohesion between the characters, the story and the events, and that cohesion is a bit loose in Gundam 0083, the characters seemed a bit lost in the story in my perception, and it's sad because they had so much potential, if certain things had been executed differently in this anime, maybe if it had less episodes and focused more in the relevant events and character development.
Still, I'm a fan, I liked this anime and I think Gundam fans and mecha fans might like it. I really enjoy playing games where Kou and Gato are playable and I absolutely love the songs of this anime. Gundam 0083 can be interesting and fun, but I wish it was more objective and focused more in what mattered, like the main storyline and character development.

For now the weakest series of gundam. The truth is I like the romance they put in but in the last chapters it is how it gets distorted and there is no more. In other words, the protagonist gives more importance to the old relationship than to the new one, the truth is shit. The main character is very flat, he has nothing to highlight this there to see his null evolution, he is always the same idiot. I was very disappointed in this anime hopefully they haven't done other trash like this. Be careful, this is comparing it with its own series, compared to ... a series of generic mecha has its own thing, the universe where it takes place is very well built as always in gundam.

En español:
Por ahora la serie mas floja de gundam. La verdad me gusta el romance que meten pero en los últimos capítulos es como se distorsiona y ya no hay. O sea le da mas importancia a la antigua relación la protagonista que a la nueva la verdad una mierda. El personaje principal es muy plano no tiene nada que destacar esta ahi para ver su nula evolución siempre es el mismo idiota. Me decepcionó mucho este anime ojala no hayan hecho otras basuras como esta. Ojo esto es comparándolo con sus propias series , comparado con una serie de mechas genérica tiene lo suyo, el universo donde transcurre esta muy bien construido como siempre en gundam.

Imagine being served a beautiful birthday cake, your favorite kind, whatever that might be, but it's topped with regurgitated pickles instead of a cherry. It would almost be exactly what you want, but that ONE detail would render it inedible.

That sums up how this show makes me feel.

The synopsis sounds absolutely thrilling, if fairly expected of a UC Gundam show: "After the One Year War, an Anaheim Electronics-designed Suit with nuclear capabilities is stolen by Zeon soldiers trying to revive the regime. Our Feddie protagonist has to get it, tragedy ensues".

It also looks and sounds amazing, my eyes were never bored from start to finish. ... The animation is as fluid and detailed as you'd expect a late 80's-early 90's OVA to be, and every Mobile Suit battle is a delightful spectacle of mechanical gore.

It's also the exact kind of plot-bridge that makes Zeta Gundam understandable (quite a task cause that show is often a mess). The political theater is so much clearer having watched Stardust; The motivations of each faction are consistent with their ideals, this is a critical moment for the development of the in-universe history for the UC timeline so it is worthy of being told. At a macro-level, this is exactly what a middling show like Zeta needed to be easier to follow, but that's the good part, the problem is the characters.

The chemistry between the main character and his love interest is bafflingly superficial and I struggle to believe either of them would truly have any romantic feelings, she acts like a gullible and stupid woman around him, which is not consistent with how the rest of the show tries to portray her. The main focus is on characters whose motivations and personalities are so shallow and hard to buy into that they immediately break my suspension of disbelief.

It's truly, truly disappointing execution in storytelling, in the most heart-breaking way. Stardust Memory is like being told, in detail, about the development of the Second World War through the lens of a cartoonishly fake soldier written by a sheltered teen who's never fought anyone or been in love.

As it stands, I would have much rather watched the supporting cast focused on since they're actually likeable and act like believeable humans rather than caricatures of dysfunctional people with unclear, unresolved issues. That way you'd still get supremely executed animation and the suspense of the overarching political situation, without the camera being focused on a gutless idiot and his spineless girlfriend, both of whom would feel at home in a bland throwaway romance show made for teens who'd rather mope than face their problems.

I'm absolutely torn. At a technical level this show is impeccable, from sound to animation everything is just right for me. The problem is only who the camera is focused on most of the time.

the fights were alright and animated well enough and the episodic episodes fit the show.
most of the episodes follow the depressed npc mc screwing up getting to a gundam then either fixing it and making it worse. And then the side characters who throw him a pity party and are slowly drained from their personalities they had at the start of the show because of him.
The ending was anticlimactic and was even more boring than the show as a whole which is not to undersell how boring this show is.
BUT
my main point on why this is not a negative but a mixed feeling review ... is because "magic" the first ed is amazing and a great listen even if you don't watch this show.

Story: Main plot is great, side plots are real dumb. For an OVA there are to many under developed moments.

Art: Phenomenal mecha designs, attention to detail is excellent.

Sound: Classic Gundam sound, good music.

Characters: Boring, barely one dimensional, outshined by some side characters.

Overall: 6.8
This OVA is so close to being good but what holds it back really holds it back. The more you watch the other shows around this one the more things can make sense, which I guess it a bit obvious, it's a side story in itself to explain some events between main arcs. A bit more focus on the main plot and ... the flat out dropping of some of the side stuff would have done wonders.