The hand drawn animation is great for the time and it does a good job of presenting the Universal century machines in a more realistic way. The main cast are all likeable characters, and like most Gundam series I've seen the villains aren't presented as 1 dimensional villains with no humanity. The Gundam shown in 08th ms aren't flashy and spiky like those in Wing or Seed, they in fact look a little basic. But they fit the shows aesthetic, I just don't see anyone rushing out to buy Gunpla of them.
HEAVY SPOILERS
Something holding 08th MS back is that the main character Shiro, starts off as an awesome fearless pilot who is a joy to watch. Attacking a Zaku (combat mech) in a large ball with arms, Shiro is seriously cool in episodes 1-7, thats when the romance side plot kicks in.
The Romance in this show is a dead weight. Shiro hardly ever see's Aina, yet he spends the whole time lusting after her. In episodes 1-7 it isn't too invasive, but after he comes back from the Himalayas all he does is whine about not being able to shoot the Zeon, because he want's to have sex with one of them. All this does is hold back the action.
The show picks back up when Shiro finally decides to start shooting again (its not clear why he just suddenly stops being a little bitch). And the crew fight the coolest character in the show Norris Packard, a little fat man with a stupid tufty haircut. The fight with Norris and his custom Gouf Zaku is nothing short of amazing, I love that scene.
Then the show nose dives in quality again for the last few episodes. When the main villains dumb mech turns up. I can't really call it a mobile suit, its more like a metal turd with spikes and a ludicrously tiny zaku head poking out, I HATE this thing. All it has is a big laser with seemingly infinite range. Which begs the question why not use it from space where the good guys can't shoot back at it. Surprisingly the good guys do shoot it and Shiro gets in his gundam with Aina and they stab it, then it blows up. Disappointing doesn't quite cover it.
Then there is a painful to watch episode where Kiki and Michel look for Aina and Shiro who have gone missing. They spend the whole episode dealing with these irritating kids, the pay off of them doing this is that they find out that the kids don't know where Shiro and Aina are, but they met them once and were named by them. I admit I skipped through this episode trying to pick up what was relevant. Then at the end they get to a Lake and see-
Well lets just say the ending was at least satisfying and conclusive.
Watch the 08thms team if you like Either Gundam or stories about the army. Otherwise give it a miss. Even some Gundam fans may not enjoy this anime. Its not about awe inspiring mechs flying round in Space shooting lasers, its more about soldiers fighting a ground war. The Romance sub plot is bad and will not save the anime for you, if you like romance and are trying to get into gundam and have heard this has a love plot, look elsewhere.
Otherwise the series was good. I can recommend the dub as I found the way that Japanese Shiro shouted a little grating.
